On June 3, 2026, Taiwan's Yahoo! Kimo reported, under the title "Are short female anime characters a problem?", that an edited video by an overseas netizen had become the target of criticism as "lookism".

The article explained, "The physique of Futaba Igarashi, the heroine of the well-known romantic comedy 'My Senpai Is Annoying', has recently sparked controversy within the international online community. The controversy began with a 'corrected version' video posted by overseas TikTok creator vanfei_obssesion. The creator forcibly increased the height of Futaba, who is set to be 23 years old but has a small build, changed her to a more adult-like appearance, and then claimed that the corrected height and physique were 'what an adult woman should look like'."

It then stated, "This work is a romantic comedy with height difference as one of its themes. However, the act of declaring the original character design 'unnatural' quickly drew backlash from many anime fans and netizens. From fans in Japan and various other countries, voices have risen stating that the height difference between Futaba and her senpai is the central comedic element in 'My Senpai Is Annoying' and is the very charm of the character."

It also reported, "On the internet, there were many opinions that unilaterally modifying other people's creations under the guise of 'realism' or 'rationality' and calling it a 'correction' is itself disrespectful to the original creator. Furthermore, since small adult women inherently exist in the real world, there were also criticisms that the creator's statement 'this is what an adult woman should look like' might be another form of lookism. In fact, small female cosplayers, around 140 centimeters tall, also posted photos and retorted, 'Are you saying I'm not an adult?'"

Furthermore, "In some cases, connecting the setting of 'small women' itself with negative images like Japan's 'lolicon' culture was criticized as a 'malicious interpretation.' Additionally, many netizens emphasized that, compared to Western countries, many East Asian women tend to be smaller on average, and that it is not uncommon for anime works to exaggerate character features to enhance visual and dramatic effects. They stressed that specific Western aesthetic standards should not be forcibly applied to anime works with different cultural backgrounds." (Translation/Editing: Iwata)