SLBP and IkeSen MC's age
Mar. 16th, 2020 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waterscrollInspired by a conversation with Scytale...
I think SLBP and IkeSen are intentionally coy about MC's age to allow us to self-insert better. In IkeSen I feel like the MC really could be any age from early 20s to early 50s. She's about to start her dream job, so she could be right out of school or at the peak of her long career. As a fashion designer she could be stunning at any age. I didn't see a lot of 'youthful innocence' tropes with her. So she could be young, or not. Since the warlords don't have canon ages, you could imagine them as younger or older depending on the age you give to MC.
With SLBP, we get a few more clues.
In the Mitsunari route she's stated to be older than Mitsunari, and also old enough that Sakon is surprised by how old she is. But that might not be saying much, since Mitsunari might be pretty young and Sakon originally thought she was a teenage boy. MC does refer to herself as a 'young girl' towards the end of the first route. Mitsunari's two routes last a long time in real-world years, they start when Nobunaga is in power and ends after Hideyoshi's death, so even if she's young at the beginning she's probably not so young at the end. In the Fates ending her mother retires and she takes over the restaurant, so she's old enough to have an elderly mother. But she's also young enough to get pregnant relatively easily. My guess is around 25 at the start, around 35 at the end.
In Hideyoshi's route it's a major plot point that she is kind of innocent and sexually inexperienced. While that doesn't necessarily make her that young, it's a set of tropes that work better with someone younger. So I'd say mid-20s at the oldest, maybe younger.
Nobunaga's MC I think is the youngest, maybe late teens or early 20s. The whole business about how it's so cute that she (futilely and powerlessly) resists his advances could really only work with someone young. I don't think Nobunaga would find it cute if someone older headbutted him. He's also very into how virginal she is, again in a way that works better with someone younger.
I read Shingen's MC as the oldest of the group, although you could also read her as younger if you're into daddy kink. She's very self-directed and independent. In her first sex scene with Shingen she seems like she knows what she's doing, so I could see her as having a previous relationship or even being a widow. I think of her as around 30.
Mitsuhide's MC would have to be young enough that they could talk about having lots of kids, but other than that I didn't get a sense of her age.
Do you have headcanons for MC's age? If so, are they the same across routes or different for different routes?
I think SLBP and IkeSen are intentionally coy about MC's age to allow us to self-insert better. In IkeSen I feel like the MC really could be any age from early 20s to early 50s. She's about to start her dream job, so she could be right out of school or at the peak of her long career. As a fashion designer she could be stunning at any age. I didn't see a lot of 'youthful innocence' tropes with her. So she could be young, or not. Since the warlords don't have canon ages, you could imagine them as younger or older depending on the age you give to MC.
With SLBP, we get a few more clues.
In the Mitsunari route she's stated to be older than Mitsunari, and also old enough that Sakon is surprised by how old she is. But that might not be saying much, since Mitsunari might be pretty young and Sakon originally thought she was a teenage boy. MC does refer to herself as a 'young girl' towards the end of the first route. Mitsunari's two routes last a long time in real-world years, they start when Nobunaga is in power and ends after Hideyoshi's death, so even if she's young at the beginning she's probably not so young at the end. In the Fates ending her mother retires and she takes over the restaurant, so she's old enough to have an elderly mother. But she's also young enough to get pregnant relatively easily. My guess is around 25 at the start, around 35 at the end.
In Hideyoshi's route it's a major plot point that she is kind of innocent and sexually inexperienced. While that doesn't necessarily make her that young, it's a set of tropes that work better with someone younger. So I'd say mid-20s at the oldest, maybe younger.
Nobunaga's MC I think is the youngest, maybe late teens or early 20s. The whole business about how it's so cute that she (futilely and powerlessly) resists his advances could really only work with someone young. I don't think Nobunaga would find it cute if someone older headbutted him. He's also very into how virginal she is, again in a way that works better with someone younger.
I read Shingen's MC as the oldest of the group, although you could also read her as younger if you're into daddy kink. She's very self-directed and independent. In her first sex scene with Shingen she seems like she knows what she's doing, so I could see her as having a previous relationship or even being a widow. I think of her as around 30.
Mitsuhide's MC would have to be young enough that they could talk about having lots of kids, but other than that I didn't get a sense of her age.
Do you have headcanons for MC's age? If so, are they the same across routes or different for different routes?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 02:45 am (UTC)Of the two routes I've played much of: I can see Mitsuhide!MC as maybe up to late 20s: still moderately young but old enough to know who she is. Yukimura seems pretty young, maybe even late teens, and Yukimura!MC is presumably not a lot older or someone would comment on the age gap. But I can see her being a moderate amount older than him, like early to mid twenties.
Ha! I looked up when the historical Yukimura was born, and in 1564 (when Oichi got married) he was...three. I like younger men romances but that's a little much even for me...
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 08:13 pm (UTC)I feel like in many genres the 'default' female character is about that age, unless there's a plot reason to make her older or younger. Or unless she's a teenager.
I can see Mitsuhide!MC as maybe up to late 20s: still moderately young but old enough to know who she is.
That makes sense! She's very confident and has a strong moral compass.
Yukimura seems pretty young, maybe even late teens, and Yukimura!MC is presumably not a lot older or someone would comment on the age gap. But I can see her being a moderate amount older than him, like early to mid twenties.
In Mitsunari's route there *are* comments, which makes me wonder how young he's supposed to be. But he's also had a lot of life before we meet him, including a previous long-term relationship, so he can't be *that* young.
Haha yeah we can't use historical ages for anything. But if we go by history - which again we can't - Mitsunari was 40 when he was executed, and MC is older than him, so that would make her early-mid 40s by the end of the routes. Which could actually sort of work.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-18 01:07 am (UTC)That's really interesting about Mitsunari!MC. I tend to imagine time and ages in SLBP as being ambiguous and non linear: Shingen is decades older than Yukimura but also as young as you want him to be on his path etc.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 05:03 pm (UTC)For SLBP!MC, I mostly read her as younger than me -- so late teens, early twenties? She's old enough to be an adult, but still young enough that the route's events are the first Big Thing to happen to her after adulthood. Shingen's is an exception, because she's just so strong-willed -- I read her as older than me.
There are some more hints in the other routes. She does need to be able to pass as a teenage boy in a few routes (Masamune's, for instance, where she ends up as a page boy).
Saizo's route gives us a range, though I forget the specifics. We know he and the MC met nine years ago, when she was a girl. She was old enough to make him some dango on her own and bring it to him and then to remember it for nine years and have it be a formative experience... So, early to mid twenties?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 08:24 pm (UTC)IkeSen's MC really could be late 40s, though. Especially if we imagine that as a fashion designer she'd get plastic surgery etc. There are no babies in canon and she seems to assume there won't be any. I had figured that maybe she got an IUD before going back in time (because she seems sexually experienced), but her being older could also work.
But I do think SLBP MC is intended to be late teens/early twenties, and while there's wiggle room it's not much beyond that. When I started playing I took the demographic survey and the oldest cohort was 36+, so I guess they don't see themselves as needing to find ways for people my age to self-insert. But in IkeSen the oldest cohort was (I think) 45+, and I can see that they've at least given an occasional thought to making MC self-insertable for people who aren't young.
Of course IkeSen MC is so different from me in SO MANY other ways, like the F- with prejudice she clearly got in the history class she took a very long time ago. So I still can't self-insert on her very easily.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 09:06 pm (UTC)When I started playing I took the demographic survey and the oldest cohort was 36+, so I guess they don't see themselves as needing to find ways for people my age to self-insert. But in IkeSen the oldest cohort was (I think) 45+, and I can see that they've at least given an occasional thought to making MC self-insertable for people who aren't young.
Huh. I don't remember taking the demographic survey but it's interesting the way they break down the cohorts. o.o It's really not that hard to add more radio buttons...
And I bet that IkeSen!MC spent all of history class drawing historically-inspired outfits. If only she'd known just how hot those warlords were, she might have taken more of an interest!
no subject
Date: 2020-03-17 09:25 pm (UTC)And I bet that IkeSen!MC spent all of history class drawing historically-inspired outfits.
I'm sure she did! Also possibly scoping out the cute guys in the class. Just for flings, nothing serious.