Yeah I really do have a problem with “random anime girl” as the mascot to the WOTC union.

First of all: Tired of young girl characters being a mascot. Cuz the male mascot character are more active Like being a super hero where female mascots are just there to “be cute” and nothing more. Like an animal.

Second of all: MTG and D&D are not “anime”. They aren’t anime properties. They might have had anime art recently, but they’ve been the mainstays for “Western fantasy art” media. So random anime girl is like… yeah I see you there 4channers.

Third.: There’s a lot of female characters within both story lores that they can use if they REALLY need “pretty face to put in this”. (that are also not children)
Chandra comes to mind. (MTG)
There are SO MANY for D&D.
So I can only see that they want “anime waifu” for their union which.. It reeks of gross to me.

Maybe fourth or just rambling.
There’s a lot of history to anime. Most people are NOT media literate to see the trends in anime and anime fandom and just regurgitate whatever new word they learn like “waifu”*.
They don’t even think about what “We have anime girl mascot!” and what that says in it’s relation to anime and Japanese culture as a whole.

Like when you learn why Hatsune Miku is 16 and how that ties into idol culture and how little girls are to a point literally consumed (as objects to buy and sell). It’s fucking gross. (I would even go so far to say it crosses the line into pedophilia considering gravure exists).
Women are thought to be “past their prime” only at age 25 and at 35 you are considered an “old lady”.

[Note: Kaito doesn’t have an official age. Men are allowed to simply exist. Len only has an age (14) being twin to Lin.
Gakupo and Meiko are based on Gackt and Haigou Meiko (actual humans) so their ages are probably whatever age the singers are]

Basically: Little girls in anime are seen as a consumption item. Having an anime girl mascot says SO MUCH without using words. Even if it’s not intended.
——
* Waifu (ワイフ): This is just the English word “Wife” so using it as “waifu” conveys a bit of racism (I’ve been told) due to making fun of the Japanese language and the way Japanese people speak English.

It was a term Japanese feminists adopted as the other term “kanai” meant ‘in the house’.
Now Western anime fans have turned it into ownership. “Wife material”. <Insert history of marriage as property ownership

It’s use in English/Western lexicon is from some character simply saying “my wife” in Azumanga Daiyo, so people putting a spin on it to have the whole “this character belongs to me” nuance on it is…(gross)

Cuz let’s be real here. Before that, tons of people liked characters and maybe some said character was “their wife”, but making it out that EVERY female character EVEN WHEN THEY AREN’T 18 is “wife material” is fucking gross as shit.
So if you use “waifu” unironically. Not only are you being that bit racist, but also a bit misogynistic.

Note: Husbando was created AFTER this and I’m not sure it’s even Japanese in origin as use and simply a reaction of a “Japanified” word. So.. more racism?
—-
I want to say I originally read the term was used in Japanese VN/dating sim communities as a way to refer to their fave characters. And it feels that the English use comes from this.
But it’s hard to find in the sea of the word being everywhere.

There is no harem anime that is good. By it’s nature of being about a man collecting women as sexual suitors it’s misogynistic garbage from the beginning. You can try to rationalize that one is “good” because it doesn’t have this or that, but it’s still shit. I will say there are shows can “do it better” bit it’s still a shit pie.

There is no harem anime that is good. By it’s nature of being about a man collecting women as sexual suitors it’s misogynistic garbage from the beginning. You can try to rationalize that one is “good” because it doesn’t have this or that, but it’s still shit.
Also reverse harem/man harem doesn’t have ecchi. Period. Because none of the men are sexualized or objectified. Ecchi (H) -> Hentai -> Requires sexualization. Women are taught to not objectify men and to even avert their eyes of the male form. They are fed abs up “sexy” art. And because men have an aversion to dicks, women are taught not to want to see the dick because then that would mean art featuring possible outlines of dicks. “Nobody wants to see that!” Except fooor gay men.
You want to see men being sexualized? Look at gay art. The most I see of gay art out in meatspace is…. abs up “sexy art”. To see the “good” stuff you have to go looking for it. It is otherwise suppressed.

Two women with large breasts pressing themselves against each other, glancing sideways at the camera? On the cover of that anime over there. Multiple women wearing lingerie leaning against and even wrapping their arms around each other.. Victoria’s Secret has you covered.

So why is it the lesbians I know more or less want to see the exact same thing straight men want to see, but straight women somehow want a more chaste looking man compared to gay men? The answer is right there!
(“But straight men don’t want a tall built woman!!!11” *points to lady Dimetrscu who was quick to be called the “Steppy Weppy Dommy Mommy”*)

This also ties into the face that female characters even if they aren’t human, has to look always look human. There are very few female characters where the face is covered, and in those cases you can believe the body is going to be of a 20 something year old woman. That is if it isn’t looking YOUNGER.
On the other hand women are taught to love male characters that don’t even look human at all. Beauty and Beast is a good example. It’s like a training fable for young women because most were married off against their wished because women are property. Harem anime keep that fact alive by making women “collectable” and “interchangeable”. Tsundere, Kuudere, Yandere, are all flavors of women (girls mostly let’s be real hear). Yes men come in those flavors, but remember men are people so the story is going to center the man. In harem anime the story… centers the man and the women are just there to help it along in some way.
Our world is fucked and things associated with women are tailored to serve and not upset men.