I think it's pretty interesting how it contrasts.
In Japan, the tendency is to have teenager protagonists even in works aimed at adults (such as Akira, or for a more recent example, Gareki). The themes become more mature, but the characters are still young. You'll be hard pressed to find a full cast of adults in anything that is aimed at kids, and it's pretty difficult to find even in works made for adults. A notable exception I can think of is Rurouni Kenshin, which was shounen (and thus aimed at teenage boys), but had an older protagonist. Granted, Kenshin is only in his late 20s - and he still feels hella old for an audience of teens. Like, grandpa status, almost.
In the US at least, the tendency used to be to have adult protagonists even in works aimed at children (most superheroes are adults, Barbie is an adult woman, etc). Recently, perhaps influenced by the popularity of anime, there's been a new trend of teenager or kid protagonists in superhero type works aimed at kids/teens (e.g. Ben 10, Winx). Not very long ago, you'd have kids as protagonists of cartoons aimed at very young children (e.g. Care Bears) and grown people as protagonists of cartoons aimed at older kids (e.g. He-Man).
So those things tend to bleed into videogames. Since this game was made in Japan, we'll be seeing the Japanese trends - young-looking characters, young-looking key NPCs, and so forth.
Still, it feels to me like on a personal level, most people tend to RP characters who are close to themselves in age. Someone in this topic said you know you're getting older when you start RPing characters younger than yourself, and it's pretty true. Personally, I'm glad I didn't RP older characters when I was a teen - I would have done a terrible job of it, and people actually past their 30s would probably have cringed.
In Japan, the tendency is to have teenager protagonists even in works aimed at adults (such as Akira, or for a more recent example, Gareki). The themes become more mature, but the characters are still young. You'll be hard pressed to find a full cast of adults in anything that is aimed at kids, and it's pretty difficult to find even in works made for adults. A notable exception I can think of is Rurouni Kenshin, which was shounen (and thus aimed at teenage boys), but had an older protagonist. Granted, Kenshin is only in his late 20s - and he still feels hella old for an audience of teens. Like, grandpa status, almost.
In the US at least, the tendency used to be to have adult protagonists even in works aimed at children (most superheroes are adults, Barbie is an adult woman, etc). Recently, perhaps influenced by the popularity of anime, there's been a new trend of teenager or kid protagonists in superhero type works aimed at kids/teens (e.g. Ben 10, Winx). Not very long ago, you'd have kids as protagonists of cartoons aimed at very young children (e.g. Care Bears) and grown people as protagonists of cartoons aimed at older kids (e.g. He-Man).
So those things tend to bleed into videogames. Since this game was made in Japan, we'll be seeing the Japanese trends - young-looking characters, young-looking key NPCs, and so forth.
Still, it feels to me like on a personal level, most people tend to RP characters who are close to themselves in age. Someone in this topic said you know you're getting older when you start RPing characters younger than yourself, and it's pretty true. Personally, I'm glad I didn't RP older characters when I was a teen - I would have done a terrible job of it, and people actually past their 30s would probably have cringed.
