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EP. REVIEW: And you thought there is never a girl online?

I don't see that it matters if it's virtual rather than physical sexual harassment; it's out of bounds and probably (depending on country) over the line into being illegal, especially for someone of Ako's age. And I didn't see anything which even remotely suggested that Hideki saw her as having been sullied.

The show spent 7 episodes prior to this one reinforcing EXACTLY what you said, that Ako was having issues distinguishing between "Game" and "IRL". In that sense, it seems entirely reasonable to me that Hideki would at LEAST see someone doing something to Ako "in the game" as equivalent TO HER as doing it "IRL"

I'm willing to give him the benefit of any doubt. But he was getting preeeetty close to it here:

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/PLQMZY/AnimeShots/Rusian1_zps0s47utib.png

(Also, altho everything was fine when he went to see her, I'll remind that he has already had her strip naked BECAUSE of their "game" relationship, and altho it turned out nothing happened, the hacker requested something similar)

It matters because of power dynamic and threat. Obviously, being harassed online can be very scary and gross. But that's just not the same as receiving what would be the same harassment in person.

As a woman online, if someone sends me a threat, I would be weirded out or unnerved, but unless they give proof that they could hurt me, I am not yet concerned for myself. Compare that to someone catcalling me or threatening me on the street, and I take that very seriously. (Because I could and may be in immediate, physical danger.)

I think it's important for shows that deal with these things to better portray the nuance and be careful about it, if it's going to be serious with it. Heck, even if it was portrayed comically, they should still avoid being disingenuous about it. If these things aren't better portrayed, we end up with confusion that we just saw in which you said you don't see the difference. i understand if you mean harassment is harassment, and that's true; but there's still a huge difference from being harassed online than in person. (Especially for female-identified people.)

It matters because of power dynamic and threat. Obviously, being harassed online can be very scary and gross. But that's just not the same as receiving what would be the same harassment in person.

Isn't it effectively the same thing for Ako though, since she conflates the game with reality?

Fortunately, Ako actually does have a brain after all

Fair enough. I can only speak from a male perspective, though, and I can empathize with Hideki quite a bit here; I think a situation like this would bother me every bit as much as it did Hideki, even if the person I saw as my girlfriend wasn't actually in danger.

Isn't it effectively the same thing for Ako though, since she conflates the game with reality?

For a real person, then yes, I agree that there's a difference in seriousness, even if both are skeevy. But for Ako, game = real, as shown by her not understanding that an ingame relationship doesn't equal a real-life relationship.

FilthyCasual wrote:

Isn't it effectively the same thing for Ako though, since she conflates the game with reality?

That's exactly the point. The raison d'être of the gaming club was to help Ako overcome that debility.

The violation of her and Rusian's avatars should have been a great opportunity to help her see the difference and they mostly blew it.

This is what's commonly called "taking things completely out of context."

Let's be honest, for at least a couple of members, the "point" of the club is to play games on cool computers at school. I think the ACTUAL point for MOST of the members is:
-Master, have "real life" friends to hang out with, and play the game together
-Akane, play on a cool computer, secondarily "help" Ako
-Hideki, "help" Ako
-Ako, play the game with her friends

I really think the whole "help Ako identify reality" is mainly an EXCUSE that the others use to meddle in Hideki's life.

I really do not get the total handwave about a crime that has been committed.

Hacking someone and stealing things that have monetary value is a crime, and once again like so many crimes in anime, (some way worse, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder) it is totally blown off as...

Not sure.
Not a pretty portrait of the Japanese judicial system.

As demeaning as that sounds about Ako, there are plenty of full-fledged adults in this world who are total messes without a partner to help them, much less teenagers.