Infantalized, huh. I can't think of it as anything but feminized, unfortunately. The weepy histrionics can only make me think of heroines from bad melodramas...Just thinking of all those bad amnesia and death fics where the forgotten/left behind one just falls apart into torrents of tears and drowns in a sea of angst makes me shudder...

Heh, your furuhonya would be pretty awesome if it had a manga that came out about a month ago already. ^_^

I think a lot of people in English fandom just don't like Ryoma's character, which seems to me a big part of why we just don't see him as a major player. I suppose the age thing might play a part, but to me a lesser part.