Quote:
Originally Posted by BWTraveller
And I'm sorry RF, I don't mean to be argumentative toward an admin, but seriously? Interpret "a character flaw that needs correcting" as "oh she should get shocked for being that way"? We both know that that NEVER happened.
|
Of course, and I never say it did happen. But again, this is what it is to "flirt" with a fetish like this. Every time they bring it up, there is always some sort of "plausible explanation" as to why it's not bad/evil in that moment -- it was necessary, it's to save her life, it's a sign of her trust, she was being controlled, it's to allow them to share the hero's power, it helps him level up, etc. And, to your earlier point, they never show that Naofumi derives any pleasure in using the slave crest. In every situation, there is always some degree of plausible deniability -- a perfectly "reasonable" explanation that isn't "evil."
But the point is that they could also just, you know,
not.
The author specifically wrote this slavery motif in the story, and then has to write all sorts of reasons why it's "not actually bad in this case" every time they keep bringing it up, while simultaneously calling out the "evil" slavers to contrast between Naofumi who "owns slaves, yes, but he's actually a good guy!" As Frontier said, they tied it to the powerup conceit and made a running gag of the slave owner's "family." And again, none of that really had to be in there at all. You can definitely make the argument in the opening act that there was a purpose to it -- dancing with the devil was the only way to do good. I still say that could have been a reasonable way to show Naofumi's character development. But after that, honestly, it is a bit gratuitous, leading to these accusations of "lightly" pandering to a fetish. But, again, I'm not saying it's like totally killing the story or anything. I can also understand, though, why some people feel the story would be better off without it. At the very least, like I said before, I feel like there was potential to actually do something more profound with this theme and it was sort of a missed opportunity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BWTraveller
And the inability to trust was largely indifferent to gender and more importantly presented as something that needed to be grown out of.
|
Well... getting his revenge by renaming Malty to Bitch is not
exactly growing out of it, and "Bitch" also has a very specific derogatory gendered meaning. Yes, they also involved the father, but "Trash" isn't really the same (although it still isn't in any way mature). The story again rationalizes this as a sort of clever way around the situation... but the whole thing was contrived by the author in that way to begin with. (The author literally created Malty as a character to be a "bitch" that betrays Naofumi and was so on the nose to create a scene to literally name her that in case you missed it.
)
All in all, I think I'd be a bit more suspicious of the subtext in the work, not only the literal text. Within the text there's always a justification, but you always have to consider why the author even chose to write things this way in the first place when there were plenty of other ways they could have gone with the same core plot and themes. And I think that kind of criticism is fair.
By the way, feel free to be argumentative with me as much as you like, so long as it doesn't devolve into personal attacks or anything -- I'm not here to lord my opinions over people, just to discuss.