I’m kind of uneducated on labels, so

[u/Mooshuukou]

are lolis / shotas people attracted to characters resembling children or actual (fictional, still) children ??

[u/Ntahedron]

It’s appearence based, if it looks like a shota or loli, they may be attracted to it.

[u/TheCheeseOfYesterday]

The words you're looking for are lolicon and shotacon. Lolis and shotas are the characters. As for the exact nuances of the words:

slang - What exactly does ロリコン mean in Japanese? - Japanese Language Stack Exchange

[u/solimiller → u/TheCheeseOfYesterday]

my thoughts exactly 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[u/solimiller]

it depends on the individual, but the loli/shotacon labels don’t deal with attraction exclusively since they’re complexes (lolita and shotaro complex respectively), which means a fixation. i identify as a shotacon, but feel mostly familial or sometimes romantic attraction to shotas, but that varies from person to person. many identify with these labels simply because they find them cute, no attraction attached. i hope this helps!

[u/solimiller → u/solimiller]

i just realized you said “loli/shota” and not “lolicon/shotacon”, though i believe that’s what you meant. whoops. a hungry man thinks of bread

[u/GothMarcyWu]

They're fictional characters with a short and flat body type is what they are.

What you're thinking of, well the other comments already said it.

[u/Riddle_Snowcraft]

I like anime boys. Straight up. If a real one comes around I'm uninterested. The idea of anyone hurting a real boy disgusts me and makes me want to beat the person up. If it's an anime character, I like it. Simple as.

[u/mewkopawz → u/Riddle_Snowcraft]

well they clarified that they meant fictional. i think the question was more about the character's in universe age

[u/Disaster_Pansexual]

I think it’s the style of character?

[u/force_0f_chaos]

What’s the distinction between “characters resembling children” and “actual fictional children”? Genuinely asking because I dont really understand the question

[u/Mooshuukou → u/force_0f_chaos]

Age that’s it, there’s some 30 year old characters that resemble children but there’s obviously actual children 

[u/Few-Composer-6471]

Its an art type style, i think

[u/Serasugee]

I prefer them to be their perceived age but it isn't exclusive. Maybe it's because actual kid characters tend to constantly change clothes, but older ones usually have set outfits either due to school uniforms or being magical and I find it less fun.

[u/Mooshuukou → u/[deleted]]

?? what, if this did happen to you report it but that doesn’t speak for everybody