Koikimo & Higehiro: adult men chasing high school girls is romantic, right?

In Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Kimochi Warui, it is the pureness of the school girl protagonist that makes the adult co-lead want to pursue her:

Amakusa Ryo is a womaniser who one day leaves the apartment of his latest one night stand without breakfast. He gets dizzy trying to walk down the stairs towards the subway and is saved from falling by Arima Ichika, who also ends up giving him her lunch. When the two unexpectedly meet again because it turns out she is a friend of his younger sister, he tries to reward her by offering to sleep with her. She refuses and he is smitten by her purity and declares her his one and only. From there on he starts wooing (from her point of view, harassing) her through gratitious romantic gestures. And that’s the premisse of the series. He tries to flirt with her, she finds it disgusting, hilarity ensues. She by the way is the only one bothered by all of this. His sister supports his advances and even helps him, her mother finds it all charming that she gets flowers from a mysterious lover.

In Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou, salaryman Yoshida, fresh from being rejected by his crush, stumbles across a high school girl, Ogiwara Sayu, near his home, who promptly offers to “let him do her” in exchange for a place to stay:

Yoshida is not that kind of man however. He lets Sayu stay at his place, but not for sex. Sayu it seems comes from Hokkaido, had run away from home six months ago and had made a habit of sleeping with strange men in return for food and shelter. Yoshida vows to break this habit and rehabilitate her, by doing household chores. I can’t help but feel there are better ways of dealing with this situation. Are there really no social services in anime Japan?

Two series in one season that feature a romantic situation between an adult man and a high school girl. One presents stalking as comedy, the other thinks that trading shelter for sexual favours can be explain by selfishness. Which is worse?

With Koikimo the series at least understands that being romantically pursued against your will by a much older man is scary, even if only Ichika thinks so. Higehiro on the other hand presents an equally uneven relationship as something noble because Yoshida doesn’t immediately wants to have sex. That he still holds power over Sayu because he can withdraw his protection at any moment is never even recognised by the series. Which is worse?

Koikimo continually contrasts the “purity” of Ichika with the supposed nastiness of an adult woman’s sexuality; Ryo seems to hate the women he sleeps with. There’s a scene where one of his past lovers bumps into him and Ichika and warns her about him, but it’s shown as her being jealous, not concerned. Higehiro instead has the high school girl as aggressor, promiscuous, treating sex as a commodity, with the male lead having to train her out of this habit. Which is worse?

For me, it’s the second one. While purity culture is dangerous and obnoxious as well, the idea of a young girl as temptress so universally used as an excuse for pedos that it makes me more uncomfortable. Check out for example the lyrics of this little ditty I listened to by sheer coincidence today:

Thirteen summers past by your door
You think its time to score
Alright but don’t tell all the neighbour boys
Your mamas out of town
Thirteen summers got left behind
The minute you found out
Indeed that your blues eyes could hypnotise
Drive a man insane

That’s “Hold Me Back”, by British prog rock group Patto. And while it is from 1970, that attitude is still alive and kicking today. Again, Koikimo at some level seems to at least understand that a ‘romance’ between an adult man and a high school girl is wrong, even if it calls it “gross” rather than criminal. Higehiro on the other hand seems to say that as long as you don’t immediately have sex with her, you could have a romance like this and not be scum. Me, I doubt it.