Discussion History YMMV / TheLegendOfKorra

1) Aren\\\'t you western and writing from a western perspective, therefore making your points invalid? 2) He went to Hell to save her and all that! Doesn\\\'t that mean he loves her? 3) Why do you say it\\\'s father/daughter and not romantic? Is it just because he is older? 4) But Sesshomaru\\\'s mother said he was becoming like his father in a strange way! Doesn\\\'t that mean he\\\'s courting her since his father had an affair with a human? 5) Isn\\\'t Sesshomaru keeping in touch with Rin by visiting her and bringing her gifts? 6) But he gave her a kimono. Wasn\\\'t that traditionally a courting gift, given by a mother or suitor? 7) What about the Tale Of Genji and other works where things like this happened? 8) But didn\\\'t that kind of thing happen all the time historically, with young girls being trained by women to marry Lords? What about Inuyasha saying \\\"so she can choose when the time comes\\\"? 9) But isn\\\'t that kind of thing more acceptable in Japan? 10) Okay, so Rumiko\\\'s not automatically gonna be okay with it just because she\\\'s Japanese. How DOES she feel? 11) Why does it matter? It\\\'s love, not sex, so why does it matter if it\\\'s romantic love and not platonic? 12) But isn\\\'t Rin independent of him, like when she gets her own food? 13) But he isn\\\'t very nurturing of her, doesn\\\'t that mean he isn\\\'t a father figure? 14) But what about Inuyasha/Kagome and Inuyasha\\\'s parents? 15) Isn\\\'t it all okay as long as I make it \\\"Older\\\" Rin? 16) But he left her at the village! Doesn\\\'t that mean he\\\'s not a father figure now, and he didn\\\'t raise her and isn\\\'t brainwashing her? 17) What if I change it in fanfic so all ties are severed and they lose touch somehow for a long time, or they don\\\'t meet until she\\\'s grown? 18) But isn\\\'t their relationship too deep/unique to be \\\"simply\\\" labeled father/daughter? 19) How could Rin see Sesshomaru as a father figure? He\\\'s too hot! 20) But isn\\\'t Sesshomaru \\\"not mature enough\\\" to be a father figure? 21) But she doesn\\\'t bow to him or call him father! 22) So then, who IS Sesshomaru\\\'s canon love interest? 23)Are you saying that there\\\'s something wrong with me for shipping/writing them, or that I shouldn\\\'t? 24) Didn\\\'t Rumiko Takahashi go against a ban on lolicon, meaning she supports it?

Q: Aren\\\'t you western and writing from a western perspective, therefore making your points invalid?

A: Try again. I\\\'m an Asian immigrant. I still hold a green card. I am really shocked at seeing people make these claims about Asian culture. Korea and Japan were originally part of China before they became their own countries, and Chinese beliefs are very heavily influenced by Confucius, which has also been transferred to us and our moral beliefs are pretty much the same.

In Asia, certain things that may be seen as a romantic thing here-or ever-are completely disregarded when it comes to children. Such as bathing together and sharing the same bed. When it\\\'s a child, it\\\'s not seen the same way and it isn\\\'t taken seriously at all. Family members will do this. It\\\'s very common. A common display of affection to a kid is a pat on the rear-to a child, it\\\'s not seen as romantic or sexual. General belief is that it\\\'s really not possible for those kind of feelings to arise between adult and child. Western audiences often think there\\\'s something going on when there really isn\\\'t.

Q: He went to Hell to save her and all that! Doesn\\\'t that mean he loves her?

A: Indeed, he loves her. But that does not mean he loves her like a lover. There\\\'s nothing that he\\\'s done that a good father wouldn\\\'t have done for his little girl. Concerned parents will exhibit the exact same kind of devotion to their children. What good father wouldn\\\'t risk life and limb for his daughter?

Q: Why do you say it\\\'s father/daughter and not romantic? Is it just because he is older?

A: Rin and Sesshomaru, while they are shown to love each other, have zero romantic connotations whatsoever. In fact, Rin herself is HAPPY about Kagura possibly having feelings for Sesshomaru (she even tells Jaken they should trust her more after that, seemingly trying to get them together) and roots for them to get together, the same way Kagome was HAPPY about Sango having feelings for Miroku-things Rumiko Takahashi, the Queen of love triangles and jealousy, would NEVER put in there if she had meant for someone to be a character\\\'s love interest-specifically saying that this is not a romantic thing, but platonic.

As you can see below, Rumiko\\\'s given very clear hints that she HATES these kinds of pairings. When Koharu came in and everyone found out Miroku had proposed to an eleven year old girl to bear his child when she got older, they were shocked, disgusted and revolted. The situation was used to solidify his character as a pervert and a lecher. They didn\\\'t care if she was now fourteen and he was seventeen-they were still disgusted and thought he was taking advantage of her naivete. Even before then, there was Akane, who was relentlessly mocked for her crush on Dr. Tofu and later lost him to her sister Kasumi, who is around his age.

Now does that sound like something that would\\\'ve been written by someone who has no problem with this kind of thing? Nope. She\\\'s made it pretty clear that she finds it ridiculous.

Also, Rin is OBEDIENT to Sesshomaru like a child is to their parent. He has power over her. He makes rules for her. And no, she is not a servant-a servant like Jaken gets ordered to do things that benefit Sesshomaru, not things that benefit themselves. And seriously, what Takahashi couple do you know where the girl OBEYS the guy? It doesn\\\'t matter if this was the Feudal Era-as you can clearly see, NONE of the women in the series are obedient to their men like Rin is to Sesshomaru-unless the man is some sort of FATHER FIGURE. If the man in question is a love interest, the girl is NEVER obedient to him.

That signifies that they are not equal. So they can\\\'t be lovers. They can\\\'t be \\\"just friends\\\". They\\\'re not brother and sister since they don\\\'t share a parent figure like siblings do. Father and daughter makes sense since he is raising her.

And yes, he is raising her. Only after Sesshomaru steps in does she clean up. Only after Sesshomaru tells her to feed herself does she start to do so-and never even actually by herself, he always leaves Jaken there to babysit her.

At first she was so emotionally dependent on Sesshomaru that during his absence, she\\\'d do nothing but wait for him curled up in a ball-and she took his instructions so literally it\\\'s ridiculous. Slowly, after social interaction with Sesshomaru and Jaken (who was assigned to the role by Sesshomaru I must add) she starts talking more and more, and reaching out to other people-until the end when she can live away from him without being emotionally crushed.

The ending makes it parent/child specific because that is Rin gaining independance from Sesshomaru and leaving the nest-the reason why parental relationships exist in the first place. To love and care for your child who does not have the skills/state of mind to survive on their own-discipline them, teach them, provide for them-and slowly, as they learn from you, they become more and more independant. As they become more independent, you slowly decrease your providing for them and catering to their whims...until your goal is reached. They are now ready to survive on their own. That doesn\\\'t mean your love disappears-but the child does not need you for constant guidance anymore. They leave the nest now, or start getting ready to.

That is EXACTLY what happened with Sesshomaru and Rin. At first, she was entirely dependent on him-everyone saw what she was like before he stepped in-slowly, she began to do certain things for herself (with Sesshomaru\\\'s help) until the end, where she has left the nest.

Also, why does he appoint her a babysitter? Lovers don\\\'t appoint babysitters for their lovers. That\\\'s something a parent does for a child.

The fact that she roots for him to get together with someone other than herself which means this isn\\\'t romantic, the age difference, the fact that they love each other dearly, the fact that he raises her by providing for her (kimonos) and protects her, the fact that they live together, the fact that he teaches her to be independent and she gains her independence from him, and the fact that she\\\'s obedient to him meaning he\\\'s an authority figure etc. all come together to say that they are father and daughter.

Q: But Sesshomaru\\\'s mother said he was becoming like his father in a strange way! Doesn\\\'t that mean he\\\'s courting her since his father had an affair with a human?

A: Note that Rumiko Takahashi made sure to make her say in a \\\"strange way\\\", meaning NOT exactly the same. Meaning? Yes, he\\\'s becoming like his father in the sense that he is caring for humans-but like his mother said, IN A STRANGE WAY, NOT EXACTLY THE SAME-in that instead of developing a romantic bond with a human, Sesshomaru has developed a PATERNAL bond instead.

Q: Isn\\\'t Sesshomaru keeping in touch with Rin by visiting her and bringing her gifts?

A: Yes, he is. But how in the world does that mean it\\\'s a romantic thing? Rumiko wrote that scene to show that though Rin is living with humans for her safety and is gaining independence from her parent figure (like all children do), they\\\'re still in touch, like children and parents do after the child moves out of the house. Parents visit their grown children after they leave, bringing them gifts. And most children, even after they move out, still do depend on their parent figures from time to time for financial assisstance and need help. Is a father courting his daughter when he picks up a little something for her?

I grew up in foster care in different living arrangements, and depending on the circumstances, kids that are allowed to see and want to see their parents-and of course, the kid has to give their permission too-have visits. The parents come to see the kids, sometimes take them out places, and they usually bring gifts. This is what gives a lot of kids in foster care something to look forward to. When I saw the last chapter, it immediately reminded me of that, so I was shocked when people started using even that as so-called \\\'evidence\\\'.

Q: But he gave her a kimono. Wasn\\\'t that traditionally a courting gift, given by a mother or suitor?

A: Rin\\\'s mother is DEAD. The only clothes that Kaede can provide are miko robes, like the ones she gave Kagome to wear even before she was training as one. Who provided the girl\\\'s kimono if the girl had no mother? The father or father figure. Does that mean he\\\'s courting her? No.

And while it\\\'s true that kimonos can sometimes have romantic connotations, the keyword is sometimes. The same way flowers are traditionally courtship gifts-well everywhere-espcially a bouquet. And yet, Kohaku gave Sango a flower boquet in the anime. Flower bouquets are also usually seen as courting gifts. And yet, does that mean Kohaku and Sango are a couple? Absolutely not. It was just a sign of affection from a brother to his sister, just like the kimono is just a father providing for his daughter/giving her little things during a visit, like family members tend to do when they live away from each other.

Like I said, I grew up in foster care where kids would have visits, and I distinctly remember seeing Japanese girls get kimonos from their blood fathers. Even while the mother was there with him.

Kagura and Kanna received their kimonos from Naraku as well. Does that mean he\\\'s courting them? No, he was just providing for them like he\\\'s supposed to as their creator.

Q: What about the Tale Of Genji and other works where things like this happened?

A: What about it? So just because it happened in one book that has nothing to do with Inuyasha or Rumiko Takahashi, that means that\\\'s what\\\'s happening here? Nope.

Murasaki and Genji have nothing in common with Sesshomaru and Rin. I mean, he kidnaps her and takes her because she reminded him of Fujitsubo. He does send her to train and marries her, but she was not his main wife. Never was. He continues to have tons of other wives and the book ends when their relationship is so damaged, Murasaki leaves him to become a nun. Then she dies, and then Genji dies. Hell, the Inu-Kik-Kag triangle has more in common with that with the whole \\\"Initially-liking-someone-because-they-look-like-someone-else\\\" thing. And there was controversy over Memoirs of a Geisha and its portrayal of Japan, and if you look it up, you can see it was actually written by a white man.

Q: But didn\\\'t that kind of thing happen all the time historically, with young girls being trained by women to marry Lords? What about Inuyasha saying \\\"so she can choose when the time comes\\\".

A: So that makes it okay? Historically, black people were kept as slaves and people thought the Earth was flat. Does that mean it\\\'s okay to keep black people as slaves? That means the Earth is flat?

Plus, Inuyasha isn\\\'t even a historically accurate series. Sesshomaru wears furisode (women\\\'s kimono), monks get married, have kids and so do miko-plenty of things have happened that would have been impossible culturally and historically. Rumiko was never trying to be historically/culturally accurate.

Also, even if Inuyasha WAS a historically accurate series, it wouldn\\\'t have happened like that. When girls went to train, they didn\\\'t go to live with miko (miko are religious women, virgins) in peasant villages, acting like midwives. They went to live with nobility to learn about noble life, etiquette, art/calligraphy etc. That is not what Rin is doing at the end. Sesshomaru couldn\\\'t easily sent her to live with his mom, but he didn\\\'t. And then they specifically said that he wanted her to learn to LIVE WITH HUMANS.

If she was being trained as his wife, why would she ever need to learn to live with humans? Sesshomaru doesn\\\'t live with humans. If she was gonna be his wife, she would never need that. Most likely, this is for her safety, mental/physical health and well being and things won\\\'t change. After she died in the Hell Arc, he immediately thought \\\"I should\\\'ve left her in a human village for her safety\\\", and at the end...she is in a human village. So yeah, this is likely for her safety and well being and things won\\\'t change.

It was not possible to send a girl to \\\"train\\\" at a poor peasant village-under a miko that was a sworn virgin for life. If it was safety he was worried about, Sesshomaru could\\\'ve easily sent Rin to human aristocrats who were legally allowed to and were able to train her-after all, Kaede was a total stranger to him for the whole series as well, so another stranger should not have been a big deal. And yet he sent her to Kaede...a miko...in a run-down, broke village with no knowledge of nobility whatsoever...she\\\'s helping her with Kaede\\\'s miko duties and doing midwife things...and Inuyasha\\\'s own words were that she was there because she needed to learn how to live with other humans.

Why in the world would she need to learn how to live with other humans if she was ever meant to return to Sesshomaru\\\'s side? It\\\'s more likely he\\\'s planning on keeping her there for good, because like he said so himself in the Hell Arc, staying with him is too dangerous for Rin.

So it\\\'s very obvious that Rin is not being \\\"trained as a wife\\\" for Sesshomaru in any way-nothing close to it.

Oh, and in the manga, Inuyasha did not say \\\"so she can choose when the time comes\\\", that\\\'s not a canon phrase, the actual phrase is \\\"...or whatever she chooses\\\". There was no mention of \\\"when the time comes\\\". Meaning she was given a choice in the matter and she is not being forced against her will to stay in the human village.

Q: But isn\\\'t growing up to marry someone you knew since childhood more acceptable in Japan?

A: While Japan does have a more relaxed attitude towards it (provided the girl is of age, which Rin isn\\\'t, 8 is too young even by Japanese standards), it\\\'s a controversial thing there as well with plenty of Japanese people disliking it, and that doesn\\\'t mean Rumiko Takahashi is IMMEDIATELY gonna have no problem with it just because she\\\'s Japanese. That\\\'s like saying someone MUST eat cats and dogs because they\\\'re Korean.

It happened in the past. There\\\'s lolicon manga that\\\'s popular. That does not mean it\\\'s universally accepted in modern Japan.

Like I said, it\\\'s a CONTROVERSIAL thing, and even in Japan there are plenty of people who oppose it. The famous director, Hayao Miyazaki (a JAPANESE man) said in a 1988 interview with \\\"Animage\\\" that while he prefers to have female protagonists, \\\"It\\\'s difficult. They immediately become the subjects of lolicon. In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict (such heroines) as if they just want (such girls) as pets, and things are escalating more and more.\\\" Miyazaki even expressed concern as to what this might mean for human rights for women.

I myself have come across PLENTY of Japanese people who have expressed outright disdain and hatred for such things. Just because Rumiko is Japanese, where lolicon is more common than the USA, does not automatically mean that she sees it the same way. In fact, though it is a popular thing, there\\\'s just as many people who oppose it as well-kind of like how gay couples, same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, divorce, and interracial marriage (which are all more common in the US) are seen over here. It is definitely not a normal thing that is accepted by everyone, there is much controversy over it.

Q: Okay, so Rumiko\\\'s not automatically gonna be okay with it just because she\\\'s Japanese. How DOES she feel?

A: That\\\'s been made very clear in the way she portrayed Miroku and Koharu. When everyone found out he had proposed to an eleven year old girl to bear his child when she got older, they were shocked, disgusted and revolted. The situation was used to solidify his character as a pervert and a lecher. They didn\\\'t care if she was now fourteen and he was seventeen-they were still disgusted and thought I was taking advantage of her naivete.

Even before then, there was Akane, who was relentlessly mocked for her crush on Dr. Tofu and later lost him to her sister Kasumi, who is around his age. In Maison Ikkoku, there\\\'s a plot about Kyoko marrying her high school teacher (and her parent\\\'s are very unhappy about it)but him dying not long after marriage and her being paired with a character closer to her age. When Yusaku Godai becomes the target of a Precocious Crush by his own student, Ibuki Yagami, he is disgusted by and quite disapproving of the idea

Now does that sound like something that would\\\'ve been written by someone who has no problem with this kind of thing? Nope. She\\\'s made it pretty clear that she finds it ridiculous.

Q: Why does it matter? It\\\'s love, not sex, so why does it matter if it\\\'s romantic love and not platonic?

A: The only difference between a romantic relationship and a platonic relationship is the physical attraction involved. While there\\\'s nothing wrong with love alone, in order for it to qualify as romantic, there has to be SOME sort of physical/sexual wanting on top of it, which can very well be harmful-and between adult and child, IS.

Note that I did NOT say that romantic love was ONLY about sex-just that sex does play a part. If you\\\'re not sexually attracted to the person at all that is not romantic love, that is friendship/platonic love.

Q: But isn\\\'t Rin independent of him, like when she gets her own food?

A: The fact he makes her get her own food is MORE evidence that he\\\'s being paternal. He\\\'s preparing her to leave the nest. Parents are SUPPOSED TO DO THAT. Your kids are gonna grow up and leave you, and that\\\'s why parenting exists in the first place-FOR THE ADULTS TO PREPARE THEM FOR ADULTHOOD AND LATER LIFE. And obviously that includes getting your food. Sessh doesn\\\'t want her fully grown and not able to fend for herself or even get her own food. And slowly, he\\\'s gonna stop doing other certain things for her and he\\\'s gonna teach them to do it on her own like a father should.

Who has to remind their spouse to feed themselves, unless the person has some sort of special condition? That\\\'s not something a boyfriend normally does. That\\\'s something a parent trying to teach their kid to do certain things does. Does that, or does that not, remind you of when you become old enough to know how to use the microwave or whatnot and your mom/dad tells you to do it by yourself from now on, but still looks after you while you do it?

She isn\\\'t independent of him. Everyone saw how Rin was BEFORE Sesshomaru stepped in. She was dirty, raggedy, had forgotten how to speak, had no social skills, and was barely just surviving. The way she was, no wonder she ended up getting killed. The girl had to be REMINDED to feed herself. The girl had RECENTLY been orphaned, so you know she actually hadn\\\'t even been alone for long- and she was STILL doing that terribly. She couldn\\\'t even survive for a little while on her own.

Even if that wasn\\\'t the case, feeding someone is considered to be a woman\\\'s duty in most of East Asia, and this is something Takahashi has been shown to believe in. Kagome\\\'s grandfather doesn\\\'t feed himself, does he? No, Kagome and her mother cook for him.

Q: But he isn\\\'t very nurturing of her, doesn\\\'t that mean he isn\\\'t a father figure?

A: Eastern cultures don\\\'t see family units the same way. We\\\'re still very traditional, and that\\\'s not something that\\\'s controversial. Active nurturing is the role of the woman, who stays at home while the father works late. The father provides the bread (which Sesshomaru does by rpoviding rin with kimonos) and protects (which Sesshomaru definitely does), but is expected to be distant.

You can see that reflected in Takahashi\\\'s works as well- the father is usually more distant. Unlike lolicon pairings, which she has written in a very negative manner, this traditional view of family units is something she has constantly been shown to support. Ranma\\\'s mother is the one who cooks and crap, Genma is the one who trains his son. Soun Tendo, father of three girls, does not actively nurture his girls-he doesn\\\'t even protect them actually, he just scares Ranma into doing it.

Soun is single since his wife (who he is very devoted to) is dead. Guess who feeds the rest of the family? His oldest daughter, Kasumi. This isn\\\'t even controversial or anything like lolicon and age differences are. In my stepmom\\\'s absence, I was expected to do all the cooking/cleaning around the house for my dad as soon as I hit twelve. And we were Americanized. Personally, I hate it, but unlike lolicon, it\\\'s really not a questionable thing in any part of Asia.

Of course, the children should be obedient to a fault. And they love each other. Sesshomaru\\\'s relationship with Rin is the Eastern image of an ideal relationship between father and daughter.

Q: But what about Inuyasha/Kagome and Inuyasha\\\'s parents?

A: You forget that demon aging is different from human aging, which is weird since that\\\'s something brought often when discussing Sess/Rin (that he\\\'d still be 19 by the time she\\\'s grown). Like a seven year old dog is ancient and very old while a 7 year old human is still a child, Inuyasha is still a teenager, and so is Kagome. Inuyasha\\\'s parents were both adults.

Also, did Inuyasha RAISE Kagome? Did his father meet his mother as a child and form a paternal relationship (like the one Sesshomaru has with Rin) first, and then take advantage of it? No.

Q: Isn\\\'t it all okay as long as I make it \\\"Older\\\" Rin?

A: If you put him with \\\"older\\\" Rin, that is child grooming-the practice of an adult befriending/approaching a child to lower their inhibitions and prepare them for LATER sexual contact, which is also a criminal offence and is seen as the same as/no better than pedophilia in the eyes of the law. While every place has a different legal definition of what counts as a \\\"child\\\", most places-yes, including Japan-condemn child grooming on the same level of statutory rape. It\\\'s like drugging a person to get their \\\"consent\\\".

And if he raises her with the intent of making her his wife/mate, whether paternal or not, he is brainwashing her. Let\\\'s forget the fact that she basically just married her adoptive father-even if that wasn\\\'t the case, she does not get a choice to think otherwise when someone with that much influence and authority in her life makes her decision for her before she even understood what it really was. So no, even if she is \\\"older\\\", it still isn\\\'t healthy-there\\\'s still a whole bunch of problems.

It is disturbing to me because it is actually very possible to brainwash a girl Rin\\\'s age to grow up to be whatever you think they should be and to serve your own selfish desires (that is actually the reason why children are used as soldiers/servants in some countries-they are much easier to brainwash than adults who already have set ideals). Particularly bad, since in Rin\\\'s case, she canonically serves no other purpose than to humanize Sesshomaru by giving him the responsibility and life changing experience of being a parent. Now how fucked up is it when you warp that, and take it even further to the point where even from the time she was seven, she has absolutely no meaning in her life than to cater to Sesshomaru\\\'s every whims-even SEXUAL?

Brainwashing. Child grooming. Manipulating a child and grooming them to have sexual contact with you as soon as it\\\'s socially acceptable by befriending them and forming a paternal relationship first and proceeding to take advantage of said relationship, and the power you hold over them. Rin does not get a choice. That is why making her \\\"older\\\" makes no difference.

Not to mention the psuedo-incest overtones, since she basically married her adoptive father (see above).

Q: But he left her at the village! Doesn\\\'t that mean he\\\'s not a father figure now, and he didn\\\'t raise her and isn\\\'t brainwashing her?

A: He\\\'s already raised her for THREE years, and he\\\'s STILL in contact with her and is bringing her gifts like a good father should do after his daughter moves out. So yes, he\\\'s still a father figure. If you and your father lost contact now, would that suddenly mean he\\\'s no longer your father? Nope.

Q: What if I change it in fanfic so all ties are severed and they lose touch somehow for a long time, or they don\\\'t meet until she\\\'s grown?

A: There\\\'s nothing wrong with doing that in fanfic, power to you. But if you change it that much, keep in mind it\\\'s no longer Rin from Inuyasha. You\\\'ve gotten rid of the very aspect that made her the character that she is. It\\\'s not the same Rin. It\\\'s just an OC, a fan-made character that happens to share the same name.

Q: But isn\\\'t their relationship too deep/unique to be \\\"simply\\\" labeled father/daughter?

A: There\\\'s nothing \\\"simple\\\" about the relationship between father and daughter. A parent\\\'s love for their child-biological or adoptive-is one of the strongest, deepest, most complex forms of love you can find. Any parent of any sort will definitely tell you that NOTHING is the same after you become a parent. It\\\'s an expierience that changes you and your entire being, makes you grow up and become much less selfish-like what the experience of taking care of Rin did to Sesshomaru.

Also, you make the mistake of thinking that romantic love is the strongest form of love. It isn\\\'t. It\\\'s the weakest, due to the physical aspects attached to it. The strongest form of love usually occurs between families. You are SUPPOSED to love your child more than your boyfriend/girlfriend. Any parent of any sort will definitely tell you that NOTHING is the same after you become a parent. It\\\'s an experience that changes you and your entire being, makes you grow up and become much less selfish-like what the experience of taking care of Rin did to Sesshomaru.

Actually, that is one of the reasons some people dislike this pairing-the inability to leave the relationship as it is shows a certain belief that there\\\'s no way love could possibly be valid unless it\\\'s a romantic thing. It seems like they believe that romantic love is the strongest of them all, when that\\\'s not the case.

Q: How could Rin see Sesshomaru as a father figure? He\\\'s too hot!

A: Plenty of men that are found attractive by most women are seen as fathers by their daughters. Brad Pitt has children-he has adoptive daughters. Plenty of media sex symbols have daughters that see them as fathers, whether biological or adopted.

Also, you forget that Rin is a character in the series, not a fangirl. While females in the fandom do tend to find him attractive, that\\\'s not the case with the female characters in Inuyasha. Inuyasha has two girls fighting over him (and Jakotsu), Miroku has Koharu, Shima and Sango, not to mention hoardes of village girls...the only person who seems like find Sesshomaru attractive is Kagura (not counting fillers). In fact, the women in the series tend to be intimidated by him and he\\\'s portrayed as being somewhat celibate, and \\\"chick magnet\\\" is NOT a part of his characterization. There are plenty of real women that don\\\'t find him attractive as well.

Q: But isn\\\'t Sesshomaru \\\"not mature enough\\\" to be a father figure?

A: You don\\\'t have to be \\\"mature\\\" to be a parent figure. Plenty of teenagers have children and become parents, some as young as 12. Plenty of immature people become foster parents for the money. Does that make them any less of the parents that they are, or relieve them of their parental duties? No. If you\\\'re the central adult figure in a child\\\'s life, you are the parent figure WHETHER YOU WANT TO BE OR NOT. You have duties and responsibilities to the child in question.

Q: But she doesn\\\'t bow to him or call him father!

A: So? Rumiko Takahashi\\\'s characters don\\\'t always follow cultural expectations, especially when it comes to parents. Mushin is verbally recognized as Miroku\\\'s foster father, but do you see him bowing to him? Nope. He even kicks him upside the head. Shippo\\\'s openly disrespectful of all the adults around him. Does Kagome ever bow to her mother or grandfather? Not even Sesshomaru does everything his father wants him to do. Why should Rin be any different?

Also, just because you haven\\\'t verbally called someone \\\"father\\\" out loud doesn\\\'t mean you don\\\'t see them as a father figure. I\\\'m Asian, went through a lot of foster homes, and not once did I call any of my foster parents \\\"father\\\" or \\\"mother\\\". Even if I did see them as parent figures, I wasn\\\'t emotionally ready for that and it hadn\\\'t been long enough.

Q: So then, who IS Sesshomaru\\\'s canon love interest?

A: Kagura. See here: http://soojinyeh.deviantart.com/art/Sesshomaru-and-Kagura-FAQs-155557817

Q: Are you saying that there\\\'s something wrong with me for shipping/writing them, or that I shouldn\\\'t?

A: NO. Go and write/ship whatever you want. As long as you don\\\'t deny that they\\\'re not canon, and you don\\\'t deny the implications, you\\\'re fine.

Q: Didn\\\'t Rumiko Takahashi rally against a ban on lolicon, which means she supports it?

A: Not really. That could just mean she opposes censorship and believes in free speech. I hate lolicon, but if someone tried to ban it I would\\\'ve gone against that too cause I believe in free expression. Plenty of people went against banning the Rapelay game but that doesn\\\'t mean they support rape, it means they don\\\'t support banning games.