Screenshot via Weibo

Translation: Back when I was still in junior high and looking at the situation from Miki's perspective, accepting a guy who's more than a decade older than myself was easy to do. But now that I'm Muyi's age, I've finally realised the immense social pressure that one must face in order to woo a 12-year-old girl. How nice, you guys have made it through it all.

Some naysayers

However, not everyone views their relationship as positively.

Weibo account @LoveMatters writes (translation via What's on Weibo):

“In most parts of the world, it is hard to give blessing to a relationship between a teacher and their student. The fundamental reason for this is that there is an unequal power relation between teachers and students, which makes it difficult to speak of an equal and truly harmonious connection between two people. Let alone if one of the two persons is underage; this further intensifies the unequal relationship in terms of knowledge and experience. Let’s not even focus on whether or not this is pedophilia.”

Several netizens weighed in on the post as well.

Translation: We should discuss this from the angle of pedophilia. Even though it's disguised as 'romantic love', its base is still essentially the relationship between an adult and an 8-year-old girl. Even Lolita was 13-years-old at that time!

Screenshot via Weibo

Translation: When Xu Haojie (China's "Startup God") secretly liked little boys, the Internet came down hard on him. This is on an even higher level -- openly declaring their love. With the Internet being so widespread now, I wonder how many kids will imitate them. An adult with ulterior motives can simply say 'I'll marry him/her'. And if even adults can't think rationally, can children do so?

But perhaps this is the question which everyone truly wanted to ask since 6 years ago.

Translation: I really want to ask, why? Where on earth are Miki's parents?

[related_story]

Akama's response

In response to the controversy, Akama has released a statement on Weibo refuting the claims that she is just a "brainless girl" who has been "living in the dark" all her life.

She says that people are "turning this into something they want it to be".

Experts weigh in

While an influential police officer Wang Haiding condemns the relationship, famous Chinese sexologist Li Yinhe says it does not meet the criteria of pedophilia.

His argument is that if they wait till they are both adults before having sex, the law cannot control them.

You can watch their cover of M2M's Pretty Boy here, and their interview here in 2012 when Akama was 12 years old.

Top image via Weibo