Pokemon: The Broken Window Effect

“My birthday wish is for my son to find love soon and get married as soon as possible.”

Here we go again. Mom's birthday wish is just another roundabout way of pressuring him to get married.

Ming Zhining, a Pokémon Trainer, is only 23 years old.

But his mom says, “You're 23 already, 25 by Chinese age. Round that up and you're practically 30! Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?”

The person being wished for, however, still wants to enjoy being single.

As the saying goes, if you ask to open a window and get turned down, you can try tearing off the roof. Then people will agree to let you open the window. It's called the broken windows effect.

He decides to first say that his partner is a man, then bring a man home.

Break up!

Then say he likes women, but bring home a woman twenty years older than him.

Break up again!

Finally, say he still prefers being single.

He refuses to believe his mom will keep nagging him to hurry up and find someone.

Zhining rents a boyfriend through a friend. He's a handsome young man with blue-and-silver hair and eyes, an extraordinary catch. And, surprisingly, he even looks a bit like a Champion.

So cool!

They hold hands and snuggle together, pretending to be in love.

Kisses, hugs, hand-holding, sex... Sex?!

No, no, this won't do. They have to break up. No, they're only pretending to be together in the first place. Break up, right now.

Break up... They can't. And... they don't want to.

The broken windows effect failed, because the roof got torn off.

A friend returning from a trip rushes over to Zhining. “I'm sorry! My boyfriend thought you wanted to be with me, so he confessed his feelings early. That's why he didn't show up that day.”

Great, now there's no window left at home either...

Love others as yourself, and love yourself as you love others.

Steven Stone * Ming Zhining

Theme: A cute kid who's clever but doesn't quite get it.