Just kidding, nobody sends any mail anymore. However, Chikorita #157 was essentially trolling for linkage regarding "older girls". Azusa Miura, sure, we looked at her previously, although then again, is there anyone hotter than Kotori in that show? And the prompting article left me rather unimpressed.

I’ve noticed that I frequently prefer characters which are “mature” and “authoritative”, but not “old.”

Oh, bah. Zero eye for quality.

I think we ought to agree that Momoe (Sanemori) kicked a massive amount of ass.

Still... If we just look at the art side of it, what anime girls are most pleasing? I was sorely tempted to debate the issue in Steven's comments. But the subject merits better. I do believe that overall, recent anime trends this way:

The results of the bifurcaiton pain me a lot. I had to to skip watching the 2nd part Sekirei for crying out loud. And Rouna is a part of the problem, not the solution.

Certainly I understand that tastes differ. And as Russians used to say, "любимой женщины должно быть много". Still, could we at least make one small step towards normality?

Or even a regular step?

P.S. As I flipped through my screencap stash for Nodame, I noticed things that were outside of the main focus back then. Nodame herself can be very pretty when she goes into the trouble of bothering. Saiko's white-hot anger and tragedy were blogged, too. But I never mentioned how ridiculously hawt Kiyora was.

I just miss great anime like that. Compared to it, the boob size race we're enduring is irritating, even insulting.

UPDATE (for #2): I am not well-versed in the game side of iM@S. However, I happen to know that Sora and ID:[OL] were recorded long before the TV anime. From that I think that Kotori's background has began to be filled in canonically even back then, even if we consider the differences with anime continuity. Possibly the pressure by the fans influenced the process. In ID:[OL] Kotori wants to sing and gives no sign that she was an idol previously. In TV anime, she was co-produced by Messiers Kuroi and Takagi. In any case, she is canonically the oldest female character in any media (except Mai Hidaka, obviously).

Even so, 25 is time to blossom. Exhibit 1:

UPDATE: Steven is willing to compromise, which is great, but I'm not here to drive his taste in the upper measurement. It's the sense of anime creators that bothers me.