Is it really that shocking that a bunch of pervy geeks wouldn't have much business savvy beyond trying to appeal to the broadest market possible? Or that, hampered by that flawed ideology and a severe language barrier, they would immediately cave to the first whiff of any bad PR? It really is a damn shame that if that language barrier wasn't so persistent they could've circumvented this whole issue with better writing, but that's the nature of the gooey beast we're dealing with.
Others have alluded to it here, but there are many story-telling devices that would have helped avoid any outrage over people with very mature, very womanly bodies acting immature, for example:
-- Referenced childhood trauma contextualizing immature behavior
-- A brief, emotional backstory to justify the stuffed bear; possibly even leading to implemented and expanded on in gameplay
-- A timelapse non-sexually showing some characters before they did physically mature, to draw a clearer distinction between that physical maturity and their mental immaturity
The list goes on, but every single thing comes down to one problem: context. You also see girls with bodies like these in porn all the time, acting far younger than they really are, but the context of being able to see a flesh and blood adults makes that fetish okay. Even in regular life, there are women in their 20s built like this, who love stuffed animals and like to act bratty, or 'little'. If only the devs were willing to find someone to narratively contextualize their project for them, no compromises or further development setbacks would have to be made. It's just too bad.
