Serah's character design

Well it's true, she did look very young to me. Funny I felt the same about Vanille and they both look the same age (aka they both look 14 even though they are 18/19). I think it did look awkward. I didn't quite like it. That's why I wanted Snow x Lightning, but in reality, it's not a bad pairing in retrospect. It just looks very odd. If anything, they should've spent time making Snow look more like he suited her. He's a very tall, hairy guy lol.
 
It annoyed me greatly. It was pretty obvious Snow was designed as the 'big man'. He's very tall and well built. Serah is small, thin, innocent looking and almost child-like. The clear contrast makes me uneasy, as it feels incredibly patriarchal/sexist. The 'big manly man' almost owning the pretty sex object (dressed as a school girl and everything.) Serah had zero personality- she was there just to be the love interest/plot device/ object/ ego-massage to the lead macho guy.

Their relationship was very immature for a couple supposedly late teens/early twenties.

Having said that, when you think about it- a lot of FF characters don't look their age. Lulu and Wakka from X seem older than they are for example. Perhaps they were trying too had to make her cute (but that in itself is annoying- I hate token 'pretty girls', put there for very little else other than to massage the males ego, or be pretty for the players to look at -_- )
 
Rydia said:
Did it bother anyone else that Serah looked like she was only about 12 years old? The scenes between her and Snow were awkward for me because it made Snow look like a pedo XD. And it wasn't like an adult who looks a little younger, she really looked like a little girl. (The school uniform outfit didn't help either)

How old was she supposed to be?
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it doesn't help that i got a friend who cosplays, and makes herself appear to be 18-19, but is really 16, but yeah, felt uncomfortable about that as well

-Kamui
 
Rydia said:
Did it bother anyone else that Serah looked like she was only about 12 years old? The scenes between her and Snow were awkward for me because it made Snow look like a pedo XD. And it wasn't like an adult who looks a little younger, she really looked like a little girl. (The school uniform outfit didn't help either)
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YES.

It was very, very, very weird. Not just awkward, not just creepy, but down right, straight up deranged. At first, I thought that her and Snow were like big brother and little sister.

Then they opened their mouths.

My reaction was like this:

7418.jpg



Yeah.

School uniform doesn't help either, as Rydia has pointed out. I get the whole 'protective older sister' thing, but there needn't appear to be such a drastic gap in their ages. They could make the two appear closer in age, with Lightning still the older. It isn't such a leap of imagination to make such a thing impossible.

Also, her behavior struck me a lot as being younger than she was supposed to be. The way I figure it, adults don't burst into tears every scene they appear in. :hmmm: But then, I could be wrong, but it didn't help her appear any more mature, to be quite honest.
 
Rydia said:
Did it bother anyone else that Serah looked like she was only about 12 years old? The scenes between her and Snow were awkward for me because it made Snow look like a pedo XD. And it wasn't like an adult who looks a little younger, she really looked like a little girl. (The school uniform outfit didn't help either)

How old was she supposed to be?
Click to expand...

Well what do you expect? You have to remember who were the people who created this game. Nowadays both the filming and the gaming industry have a thing for exploiting the "cute damsel in distress" whilst venturing into the "forbidden fruit" kind of theme. Besides, Snow is the typical 'macho' who has to be dating the hottest -well maybe not the 'hottest'- girl around. Besides, almost everything in FFXIII is filled with sexual innuendos; from Vanille's provocative way of mounting her summon to how Snow's riding his dual Shivas.


Dark Fantasy X said:
it doesn't help that i got a friend who cosplays, and makes herself appear to be 18-19, but is really 16, but yeah, felt uncomfortable about that as well

-Kamui
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That's quite common nowadays. Lots of teen-girls pretending to be older and bullseye-ing older men (Snow-Serah anyone?). These are the times I thank God I don't have any sisters, because honestly, the role of a 'protective big-brother' must be a royal pain in the gut these days. :jtc:
 
Besides, Snow is the typical 'macho' who has to be dating the hottest -well maybe not the 'hottest'- girl around. Besides, almost everything in FFXIII is filled with sexual innuendos; from Vanille's provocative way of mounting her summon to how Snow's riding his dual Shivas.
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LMAO.

xD You make a very good point, my fellow!

I still think, though, that the anvilicious 'RESPONSIBILITY' theme was more annoying than anything else. If I hear one more damn speech about 'facing my fears' and 'doing what's right', I'm gonna camp in front of the SE building until the writers come out and I can brick them to death.

Serah is still creepy young, though. She looks like a porcelain doll.
 
Dragon Mage said:
LMAO.

xD You make a very good point, my fellow!

I still think, though, that the anvilicious 'RESPONSIBILITY' theme was more annoying than anything else. If I hear one more damn speech about 'facing my fears' and 'doing what's right', I'm gonna camp in front of the SE building until the writers come out and I can brick them to death.

Serah is still creepy young, though. She looks like a porcelain doll.
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That's why I haven't bought FFXIII and limited myself to reading reviews and watching youtube. Square-Enix is heading on a completely different way than 'Final Fantasy' was originally following. At this rate, the franchise is heading south... way south.
 
I too felt weird about it and I knew from the start she was meant to be 18.

I guess japs love their younger looking girls... but ugh, Snow looked so old and she looked so young and in that beginning cut scene I was like "WTFFF noo she's only a baby!!!"
 
well if square says she's 18 then she's old enough to dress like a whore and get pounded by guys three times bigger than she is imo :monster:

reminds me of when I used to visit hentai sites. For some reason, they'd always make a disclaimer saying that the characters featured in their hosted images were over the age of 18 despite obvious loli.
 
actually I think her design was fine nothing out of the ordinary to me.
I think what made her look bad was thet in comparison to her Snow was the size of a bear..
Serah was suppose to be cutsey and girly wich she was but putting something thet averaged three other people beside her just made it look wrong.
If you think about it in terms of Sera being lightning it still looks wrong since roughly they are the same in every way except Lightning isnt as chipper as her sister.
 
Well to me she looked about 16 not 12. the only dodgy thing was the size comparison to her and snow. I think she looked fine ;)
 
Oerba Yun Fang said:
The 'big manly man' almost owning the pretty sex object (dressed as a school girl and everything.) Serah had zero personality- she was there just to be the love interest/plot device/ object/ ego-massage to the lead macho guy.

Their relationship was very immature for a couple supposedly late teens/early twenties.
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her presence was simply justified by being Snow`s love interest, no personality or qualities were ment in her figure (she disappears form the greatest part of the game, it`s just the idea of Serah that moves characters actions) and I figure that squaresoft simply underlined this aspect by giving her that appearence
 
Rydia said:
Um, were not being shallow. We just noticed that she looks like a little kid and where she is supposed to be 18 years old. In Japan, little school girls are considered very attractive. And often older business men sleep with these girls who are about the age of 13. There is a mutual trade off because the girls see sleeping with these men as a right of passage. I was wondering if SE was going for that as a way of making her sexy. Instead of making her a 13 year old school girl to avoid controversy, they made her look 13 and said she was 18. So if that were the case, then SE would be the shallow ones.

Think of it this way. In IX, what if they decided that Eiko and Steiner should be a couple because Eiko was little and cute. But to avoid the controversy, they said that Eiko was 18 years old and an adult.
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and cause of this yes, Serah`s image was probably built up on the japanese idea which considers a tiny little girl,probabily much younger than 18, as a perfect example of sex attraction,as that was the main role she had.

by my side, figures as fang or lightening would have much more appeal ;)
 
I thought she looked her age. She does look young, but I wouldn't have said anyhting under seventeen. The size difference between her and Snow was noticeable, but I can't say it bothered me ...
 
I can only echo what others have said and state that I too felt awkward watching the 'tender' scenes between Snow and Serah. Snow looks to be in his late twenties, whilst Serah looks as though she is still a schoolgirl. Then there's the overplayed tension between Snow and Hope...
 
When I first saw Snow and Serah being a couple, I was suprised and I had too look up on their age because Snow look around 25-30 and Serah about 14-15. She look so small, young and fragile. They look very weird together at first.
 
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Last I checked news on Serah (I think it was gamerpicture) I remembered looking st something about here looking an awfully like a hentai character =/

Don't know if this is even true or not but she does look younger than 18.
 
Soltharn said:
I can only echo what others have said and state that I too felt awkward watching the 'tender' scenes between Snow and Serah. Snow looks to be in his late twenties, whilst Serah looks as though she is still a schoolgirl. Then there's the overplayed tension between Snow and Hope...
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I'm ashamed to say I've gotten used to it. You see it in many Japanese produced fiction, it's not even funny. I've just reached to the consensus that it's a otaku cultural thing. I don't have as big of a problem with her appearance/age/size or whatever, as I do with how brutally, terribly written her and Snow are. Then again, you know what game she's in, so it's safe to say it's a given.
 
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