The anime is Genshiken (2004), I picked it up on a whim. It’s alright so far. Very “by weebs, for weebs”. The manga is from 2002.
The 80s and 90s being a pass of the baton from veterans of the early days to more modern staff, which already grew up with anime, and the success of Evangelion and merchandising had some awful long-term consequences even if it was probably unavoidable under capitalism.
For me, it’s foreign, even alien, that there’s this widescale and persistent and aggressive “the younger, the sexier” fixation from increasingly older and disgusting Hollywood/anime industrial people. Even when I was a hormone-flooded teenager, I had the hots for people my age or older, and that stayed roughly the same as I got into my 20s, then my 30s. I started seeing younger people, especially teenagers, as what they are: children.
I can’t help but assume that’s typical and dare I say it healthy for a stable society. Old men shouldn’t be creeping on children, and entertainment shouldn’t emphasize old men creeping on children either.