Futoccho Kizoku wa Meikyuu de Waltz wo Odoru - Ch. 3 - The Chubby Noble Challenges a Monster

[MangaDex]

 

[ScryedParadox]

Spoiler: Retroactively putting my wall of text into a box as a courtesy

Eh... I get the idea of what they're aiming for. But this is pretty much feeling kinda forced?
I'm also counting the coins. Six coins total, for a creature that caused other adventurers to flee and someone who is more experienced than him to struggle in a single combat fashion.

Also I understand that despite him using a rapier, the author makes him use slashing attacks moreso then stabbing attacks and that's just how things are. But even then, there isn't anything particularly special between him slashing the Kobold and causing minor injuries and him slashing the Kobold and causing major injuries outside of just being nicked by an arrow. If anything, this suggests the elf should have and could have just done a shot in the eye, or the heart, or the torso, or anything else.

It actually brings to question how she hadn't caused more damage to the kobold until then, after all we haven't established that the MC is somehow miraculously faster than anticipated. At most he's a regular old bloke level 1 warrior with nothing particularly special. Though he does appear to have gotten a very selective training with a skilled teacher, of which again he was provided because he had expectations set upon him to which he complains that nobody had expectations for him, to then proclaim that he finally did hard work which clearly he was previously rewarded for when you can see him reminiscing about his father praising him with a smile and headpat, but now he's just victimizing himself so that he can enjoy a meal with his newfound elf waifu.

Seriously, the whole distraction gambit seems useless. Coordinated attacks would have naturally taken down the Kobold with ease based on what we've seen as evidence from the resulting final blow which was just a normal ass slas attack on an overwhelmed opponent. Again, coordinated strikes or even just random strikes from two different sources would do the equivalent effect, even with minimal coordination.

I'm still questioning how his financial situation is as well. The Kobold was clearly a more threatening enemy, and the goblin should have been much less of a reward in the end. Either the split is 4 coins for the Kobold and 2 coins for the goblin, or 1 coin for the goblin and 5 coins for the Kobold. Of which I'm going to assume the latter because of the depiction of how much danger and panic was created by the Kobold and how much a regular adventurer should be able to farm Goblins in combat, especially when they explore in groups.

So a singular coin would have lasted him the whole day, meal acceptable by his standard and a room at the inn. So going back to his pouch filled with coins we saw last chapter. He's not nearly running out of money, he has money that can last him for at least a month or two. Imagine how much money you need to have on hand to last a month paying for an AirBnB and three meals a day eating out and not buying groceries to save on money.

I know that the story is intended to make me sentimental, feel bad and sympathetic for the MC, root for him and etc. But I'm still getting the vibe that he is an actually useless and clueless person and he's just getting lucky now despite ruining his own life and being blind to it. Again at least he is courageous enough to face danger to help others. But I question if he even fully understands the noble duty he has to go into the labyrinth to begin with, considering how little he knew about it, which again makes me question if he even gave any effort in his studies and was actually just mostly a meathead back when he was slim. Hell, we know little about it ourselves so I think we are pretty much stuck with the same limited knowledge that the MC has.

Mind you, this could be changed depending on what other details are elaborated upon pertaining to his upbringing, his family members, if any of them were actually abusive or simply strict due to the Expectations that he had upon himself (despite again contradicting himself by stating nobody had expectations for him). It's all very middling trash.

At the very least though... It's not an isekai. This could have easily been an isekai. Actually if it was an isekai, at the very least we would have an MC who acknowledges that he's taken over the body of a useless fat noble and understands he needs to turn his life around. This is one weird circumstance where I think it being an isekai and having at least someone be aware of the self-defeating path of the MC would actually be of benefit... Eh, we'll see what happens.

I have also admittedly made one error pointed out in a reply. But all the rest I believe are still very much valid criticism and observations of the situation. And even that error I can still argue does not really alter much of the general impression and evaluation of the story I hold so far. If anything, I now have some additional criticism about the delivery of the story as well, though I do not know if the author is to blame or the artist.

 

[Flyingpantsu]

I know talking is a free action and it's hardly the worst offender (far from it) but boy, those enemies sure are chivalrous to let them talk for a few pages without interrupting.

 

[Chaos47]

Eh... I get the idea of what they're aiming for. But this is pretty much feeling kinda forced?
I'm also counting the coins. Six coins total, for a creature that caused other adventurers to flee and someone who is more experienced than him to struggle in a single combat fashion.

Also I understand that despite him using a rapier, the author makes him use slashing attacks moreso then stabbing attacks and that's just how things are. But even then, there isn't anything particularly special between him slashing the Kobold and causing minor injuries and him slashing the Kobold and causing major injuries outside of just being nicked by an arrow. If anything, this suggests the elf should have and could have just done a shot in the eye, or the heart, or the torso, or anything else.

It actually brings to question how she hadn't caused more damage to the kobold until then, after all we haven't established that the MC is somehow miraculously faster than anticipated. At most he's a regular old bloke level 1 warrior with nothing particularly special. Though he does appear to have gotten a very selective training with a skilled teacher, of which again he was provided because he had expectations set upon him to which he complains that nobody had expectations for him, to then proclaim that he finally did hard work which clearly he was previously rewarded for when you can see him reminiscing about his father praising him with a smile and headpat, but now he's just victimizing himself so that he can enjoy a meal with his newfound elf waifu.

Seriously, the whole distraction gambit seems useless. Coordinated attacks would have naturally taken down the Kobold with ease based on what we've seen as evidence from the resulting final blow which was just a normal ass slas attack on an overwhelmed opponent. Again, coordinated strikes or even just random strikes from two different sources would do the equivalent effect, even with minimal coordination.

I'm still questioning how his financial situation is as well. The Kobold was clearly a more threatening enemy, and the goblin should have been much less of a reward in the end. Either the split is 4 coins for the Kobold and 2 coins for the goblin, or 1 coin for the goblin and 5 coins for the Kobold. Of which I'm going to assume the latter because of the depiction of how much danger and panic was created by the Kobold and how much a regular adventurer should be able to farm Goblins in combat, especially when they explore in groups.

So a singular coin would have lasted him the whole day, meal acceptable by his standard and a room at the inn. So going back to his pouch filled with coins we saw last chapter. He's not nearly running out of money, he has money that can last him for at least a month or two. Imagine how much money you need to have on hand to last a month paying for an AirBnB and three meals a day eating out and not buying groceries to save on money.

I know that the story is intended to make me sentimental, feel bad and sympathetic for the MC, root for him and etc. But I'm still getting the vibe that he is an actually useless and clueless person and he's just getting lucky now despite ruining his own life and being blind to it. Again at least he is courageous enough to face danger to help others. But I question if he even fully understands the noble duty he has to go into the labyrinth to begin with, considering how little he knew about it, which again makes me question if he even gave any effort in his studies and was actually just mostly a meathead back when he was slim. Hell, we know little about it ourselves so I think we are pretty much stuck with the same limited knowledge that the MC has.

Mind you, this could be changed depending on what other details are elaborated upon pertaining to his upbringing, his family members, if any of them were actually abusive or simply strict due to the Expectations that he had upon himself (despite again contradicting himself by stating nobody had expectations for him). It's all very middling trash.

At the very least though... It's not an isekai. This could have easily been an isekai. Actually if it was an isekai, at the very least we would have an MC who acknowledges that he's taken over the body of a useless fat noble and understands he needs to turn his life around. This is one weird circumstance where I think it being an isekai and having at least someone be aware of the self-defeating path of the MC would actually be of benefit... Eh, we'll see what happens.

In the wise words of Homer Simpson "What the hell are you talking about?"
The Kobold is not a super powerful monster that automatically gives you that big of a reward compared to a goblin. Kobolds are usually in the same rank, maybe one rank higher (depends on the story) than a goblin, but they are never that high up in the food chain of a dungeon. We don't know how much of a reward he got from the goblin and kobold. We see six coins, but we don't know if they are all the same type of coin. Also, we don't know if he got the same amount of reward from defeating the Kobold as the elf girl. They didn't explain anything. Was it a 50/50 divide? Was it 40/60? Like I said, we have no idea. Also, what dark crevice from your ass are you pulling those prices for food and board? The story never gave us any kind of number values for what he was paying for his room, his meal, or if there are different types of coins.

You clearly did not understand the story, read it again. HE NEVER GOT HIS HEAD PATTED BY HIS FATHER. The one time he showed his skills in a mock battle, he got reprimanded because apparently, he brought shame upon the family by defeating the child of a higher noble...such BS, but it's believable. It was as he said, a no win situation. He lost motivation after that, even though he has actual talent, but since he was never recognized by his dad, he kind of let depression turn him into a pig that is constantly eating. So NO, HE IS NOT JUST GETTING LUCKY. It's stablished early that he received proper martial education from an expert swordsman.

The girl is slightly more experienced, but she is also a rookie just like him. The diversion strategy actually makes sense, since she claimed she could not get a clear shot at the monster on her own since the kobold was faster. Once MC showed up and distracted the monster (by being bait), it gave the girl the chance she needed for a critical hit. And about the rapier being used as a slicing weapon...yeah, that's just anime logic, it's stupid, but it's also not the first time I've seen rapiers in anime being used strictly for cutting rather than stabbing. Also, the moment the monster got shot, it lost its ability to fend off attacks correctly, thus allowing the MC's strikes to deal full damage. Think of the arrow dealing a critical hit and lowering the enemy's defenses.

 

[MisterMango]

Wow, you can "reas" till chapter 6 on their site... if you pay.

 

[ScryedParadox]

In the wise words of Homer Simpson "What the hell are you talking about?"
The Kobold is not a super powerful monster that automatically gives you that big of a reward compared to a goblin. Kobolds are usually in the same rank, maybe one rank higher (depends on the story) than a goblin, but they are never that high up in the food chain of a dungeon. We don't know how much of a reward he got from the goblin and kobold. We see six coins, but we don't know if they are all the same type of coin. Also, we don't know if he got the same amount of reward from defeating the Kobold as the elf girl. They didn't explain anything. Was it a 50/50 divide? Was it 40/60? Like I said, we have no idea. Also, what dark crevice from your ass are you pulling those prices for food and board? The story never gave us any kind of number values for what he was paying for his room, his meal, or if there are different types of coins.

You clearly did not understand the story, read it again. HE NEVER GOT HIS HEAD PATTED BY HIS FATHER. The one time he showed his skills in a mock battle, he got reprimanded because apparently, he brought shame upon the family by defeating the child of a higher noble...such BS, but it's believable. It was as he said, a no win situation. He lost motivation after that, even though he has actual talent, but since he was never recognized by his dad, he kind of let depression turn him into a pig that is constantly eating. So NO, HE IS NOT JUST GETTING LUCKY. It's stablished early that he received proper martial education from an expert swordsman.

The girl is slightly more experienced, but she is also a rookie just like him. The diversion strategy actually makes sense, since she claimed she could not get a clear shot at the monster on her own since the kobold was faster. Once MC showed up and distracted the monster (by being bait), it gave the girl the chance she needed for a critical hit. And about the rapier being used as a slicing weapon...yeah, that's just anime logic, it's stupid, but it's also not the first time I've seen rapiers in anime being used strictly for cutting rather than stabbing. Also, the moment the monster got shot, it lost its ability to fend off attacks correctly, thus allowing the MC's strikes to deal full damage. Think of the arrow dealing a critical hit and lowering the enemy's defenses.

Spoiler: Same deal, retroactively placing this into a box so to not cramp up with giant walls of text

I double checked Chapter 1 page 35 shows him getting his head patted, but admittedly this does follow him stating he has yet to receive what he perceives as the approval of his father. Though it does not fully eliminate him having received the encouragement of his father. So while far more probable that he never received a head pat and far more likely that the author intends it to be what he wishfully imagines rather than being a flashback to back when he did not yet receive the approval of his father but did have the encouragement of his father because of the High Expectations that he had, I can concede that I am more likely to have misread this, but I will argue that the possibility is still there, as approval is not the same thing as care or attention.

In either cases though, that doesn't eliminate the large bulk of my criticism of the character, his behavior and whatnot. Additionally, while we do not know the actual measure of the Kobold, we do know that it was enough of an issue that two other adventurers fled while the elf archer stood the ground to help prevent it from pursuing and endangering more adventurers. As such it is clearly ranks above the Goblin, if even just one rank we do not have a clear measure of how much more meaningful that power increase is.

And despite that, it doesn't eliminate my criticism of the combat strategy either.

And I never pulled numbers outside of what we can measure here with the reward. While yes I understand that likely they are going by the party system of splitting the profit 50/50. The reality also remains that back when he defeated the singular goblin he proclaimed that this would suffice for one day of sustenance. Which by default would insinuate room and board by what I can solely establish as his standards as he chose a run down room and enough meals to keep him alive. This is based on when he did just that and roomed a run down cobweb filled room and whined about how he wouldn't last long with a picture of his seemingly large pouch filled with coin. This I stated before might be an issue of the manga not properly converting the novel story, which can and does happen. Perhaps the intent was to show that he actually had very little money left and the bag should've looked empty rather than full. And I complained before that we have no real measure of the monetary system of this world.

And you agree with me on the combat. Hell, even I stated that I understand that anime and manga doesn't focus on the rapier being used as a stabbing weapon, they use it the same way you use a claymore or a longsword or any other double bladed weapon or single bladed weapon, therefore that criticism isn't the focus but rather on the failing strategy and the supposed hail mary strategy that was so brilliant that we couldn't win it without proper planning and discussing makes no sense if the Kobold was so weak as to get sliced in half by a less than experienced adventurer whose body is hampering his fighting capabilities yet somehow allows him to cleave a Kobold in half cleanly. Again possibly another issue of the manga does not properly convey the original novel's story properly.

I stated it before and I'll state it again. For all I know, all of my complaints are actually properly addressed and explained in the novel. Everything is made far more clearer there and the MC is actually made to be far more easily empathized with. But as it stands, I still see him as a potentially single minded narrow visioned spoiled brat that was too hyper fixated on a singular goal to never realize the expectation that he had, despite being overwhelmed by those expectations that he gave up, while simultaneously complaining that nobody expected anything out of him because he had too much expectations out of him and he is now getting rewarded for failing so hard that he finally has to give some effort to survive on his own and do his duty as a noble, which he still is as he is not yet disowned but solely exiled based on what we know from Chapter 1, as he is not venturing into the Labyrinth of his own free will as an adventurer, but as part of his Noble Duty.

So outside of the one criticism which I will concede to being the headpat. What the hell are You going on about?

And to add. If you're enjoying this trash, go ahead. I enjoy trash all the time. I'm here primarily engaging in thought exercises, writing criticism, poking fun at holes, perpetuating general memes and the usual you would find in a geek focused hobby forum. I get that this is someone's very specific fantasy most likely. But I am still going to very aggressively poke the glaring holes that comes up in my eyes. Because while a story may be trash, it can at least be well written, tight, coherent, cohesive, well built and entertaining trash. Otherwise do not be surprised when some people have their fun lighting the trash on fire.

 

[Yuyu_yusha]

Okay, i thought rapier is used mainly for stabby stabby. And if the MC is so concerned with his weight, then why not change weapon to mace, morning star, or any blunt weapon? Those weapon can deliver better damage with his heavy weight.


And his fat is extra armor lol.

 

[ScryedParadox]

Okay, i thought rapier is used mainly for stabby stabby. And if the MC is so concerned with his weight, then why not change weapon to mace, morning star, or any blunt weapon? Those weapon can deliver better damage with his heavy weight.


And his fat is extra armor lol.

Realistically, he should be switching to a spear, or a crossbow. But he was apparently solely trained in swordplay.

And we just established leveling up, so his body weight probably does not truly matter in regards to his attack parameters. Well, depending on the kind of system that this semi-game like world wants to go with.

 

[Yuyu_yusha]

Realistically, he should be switching to a spear, or a crossbow. But he was apparently solely trained in swordplay.

And we just established leveling up, so his body weight probably does not truly matter in regards to his attack parameters. Well, depending on the kind of system that this semi-game like world wants to go with.

Spear would just hindering his movement in dungeon tight space tho so far we've shown the dungeon corridor is wide enough for free maneuvering. Crossbow i think is a no go, he already has archer teammate.

As far as this genre going, he would probably just get thin by himself along with the level up.

 

[ScryedParadox]

Spear would just hindering his movement in dungeon tight space tho so far we've shown the dungeon corridor is wide enough for free maneuvering. Crossbow i think is a no go, he already has archer teammate.

As far as this genre going, he would probably just get thin by himself along with the level up.

Spears are thrust focused, you can swipe and swing of course since it is still a cutting blade. So it really wouldn't have much issues, it would actually have a lot of advantages.

Spoiler: Just gonna geek/nerd out about weapons here

If it's a tight corridor, you maintain reach advantage and deadliness, a combination that cannot be underestimated. Just like how it is difficult to parry the rapier coming at you full frontal, it is also difficult to deal with a good spear jab.

So the corridors would actually play in your favor. Maneuverability is an issue only if you are unable to swing the spear overhead or spin it to then go behind you. In which case we would be dealing with an extremely low ceiling. In that case, a short spear would work just fine. It would still have equivalent range to a long sword if not more still, have the advantage of being far more lightweight while still being equally deadly comparatively to a sword.

And if an area is wide enough, then it means you have full maneuverability options for a spear and therefore gain the full advantage that it provides. In fact if you wanted to go full maximum fighting potential, you could go with something nastier like a Bec de Corbin. Which is a warhammer pike/polearm that has not just the capabilities of a spear, but the piercing power of a war hammer and a lot of versatility in combat.

Yeah, crossbows are redundant. But if he hadn't partnered up with the elf, it would've been a possible initial start. It would not be advisable of course as your sole weapon if you were solo. But it would still be generally useful as a means of dwindling down your opponents from afar if it was long corridors or wide open fields, then move to your side arm or main arm.

Of course though we're dealing with fantasy manga. The typical setup is mostly just swords with the fighting style always being very wide open swings and finisher moves.

 

[Yuyu_yusha]

Spears are thrust focused, you can swipe and swing of course since it is still a cutting blade. So it really wouldn't have much issues, it would actually have a lot of advantages.

Spoiler: Just gonna geek/nerd out about weapons here

If it's a tight corridor, you maintain reach advantage and deadliness, a combination that cannot be underestimated. Just like how it is difficult to parry the rapier coming at you full frontal, it is also difficult to deal with a good spear jab.

So the corridors would actually play in your favor. Maneuverability is an issue only if you are unable to swing the spear overhead or spin it to then go behind you. In which case we would be dealing with an extremely low ceiling. In that case, a short spear would work just fine. It would still have equivalent range to a long sword if not more still, have the advantage of being far more lightweight while still being equally deadly comparatively to a sword.

And if an area is wide enough, then it means you have full maneuverability options for a spear and therefore gain the full advantage that it provides. In fact if you wanted to go full maximum fighting potential, you could go with something nastier like a Bec de Corbin. Which is a warhammer pike/polearm that has not just the capabilities of a spear, but the piercing power of a war hammer and a lot of versatility in combat.

Yeah, crossbows are redundant. But if he hadn't partnered up with the elf, it would've been a possible initial start. It would not be advisable of course as your sole weapon if you were solo. But it would still be generally useful as a means of dwindling down your opponents from afar if it was long corridors or wide open fields, then move to your side arm or main arm.

Of course though we're dealing with fantasy manga. The typical setup is mostly just swords with the fighting style always being very wide open swings and finisher moves.

Nice insight, but why put it as spoiler lol.

I know right. It's always sword this and that, 90% always uses Japs katana. The unique one i met so far is using sickles and bludgeon. The edgy one uses firearms, but that's total turn off for me.

 

[ScryedParadox]

Nice insight, but why put it as spoiler lol.

I know right. It's always sword this and that, 90% always uses Japs katana. The unique one i met so far is using sickles and bludgeon. The edgy one uses firearms, but that's total turn off for me.

I'm just shoving it into a spoiler because it's not that necessary for the general discussion. Also just thought at the moment to limit the size of a wall of text I'd be posting.

And hey. Firearms are the most iconic of medieval fantasy isekai magical weapons of them all. Truly the most magical weapon of them all. Katana too. Sure it doesn't have a pommel, it doesn't have a crossguard, it doesn't have the ability to reverse cut, it's reach can be beaten by a ton of other weapons, but it is the ultimate fantasy isekai medieval european weapon, just like guns, automatic guns even.

But yeah, I understand how you would feel.