Talk:Nutcracker/@comment-24231905-20150922074546/@comment-10733658-20150923054146

Elaborating further on the whole "Compensated Dating" thing:

As I understand, it's an issue in Japanese society related to expectations for young women as well as the recession. Young women want/need to have trendy things and plenty of disposable income. But they are also expected to not have part-time jobs, and instead focus on school. With the recession, parents weren't able to provide as much in terms of disposable income for their kids.

There's been issues of school girls (mostly high school) being offered money by older men for their time. A lot of this is primarily things like going to karaoke or otherwise socializing with them, but also can be sexual favors.

Nutcracker speaks to those social issues of materialism in young women, who tie their happiness into things and their appearance. It also hints at the darker ways in which young women get roped into using themselves to gain money, and how it can end up dangerous and damaging for these girls.

She's hypersexual, but a ball of violence and painful, unhealthy attitudes. It contrasts heavily with the very purposeful sensuality of intelligent, confident women like Rize and Itori, or the non-sexual nudity of Eto. It also compliments Ishida portraying issues of harassment in Japanese society, typically with the pervert getting his punishment at the hands of his supposed victim. (Touka, the Skull Mask Leader)