Aisai no Ura Aka

[UdenEmpati]

I think everyone agrees that the series has become outright unbearable in terms of pacing and presentation after the trip arc.

There can be countless reasons for the protagonist's behavior, including realistic ones. However, the more often the author returns to the same pattern - justifying Riki’s actions through his hope of rebuilding his family with the partner who betrayed him - the less readers are able to identify with the main character.

Doesn’t the author realize how unattractive this looks from a storytelling perspective? How can you simply refuse to develop the protagonist’s character arc?

And I would like to ask people who are more well-read and experienced:

Why do this author - and many others - portray the criminal underworld in such a strange way?

I recently read Scandal in Neon Tokyo and compared it to the current manga. There seems to be a recurring logic regarding prostitution and sexual exploitation.

What surprises me is the author’s apparent obsession with a plot device in which sexual exploitation of women must involve either blackmail or outright coercion.

One of the Kings is an exception to this pattern, but even so, Iwabuchi is practically the embodiment of an illogical criminal mindset.

As the “King of the Night City,” there would be no need to blackmail women into becoming “actresses.” The modern world already pushes many women toward this type of work. The internet is full of channels, OnlyFans pages, revealing Instagram accounts functioning as advertisements for escort services, agencies, and independent workers.

Given the generally consumerist and permissive attitudes I see among women in my own environment, I strongly doubt that women in Japan would behave fundamentally differently.

In real life, the King of the Night City would probably have to fend off an endless stream of applicants rather than stalk individual women and devise blackmail schemes against yet another unfortunate victim.

Constantly manipulating people’s emotions in this way would inevitably have serious consequences for Iwabuchi himself. Actions like these would almost certainly provoke “irrational” reactions from his victims.

Even the latest example:

When Iwabuchi arrogantly confronted the protagonist in Riki’s hometown on a deserted road.

How could an “experienced” criminal possibly do that? He met a betrayed husband face-to-face without even knowing who else might be in the car.

Doesn’t the author realize that in situations like this, people- especially men- often act irrationally and may resort to violence or grab a knife?

How is he even still alive?

And I do not even want to discuss the organization of the event itself. It is so poorly written that it is not even funny.

My best attempt at answering your primary question, is that trying to write criminal acts realistically can't work outside of a fully-established setting that contains opposing forces (i.e. law enforcement that can toe-to-toe), and we don't see "random acts of retaliation" because those would make the setting unbelievably violent.

Imagine Iwabuchi was attacked by affected spouses and partners of the women he blackmailed. Or their family members. Suddenly he's either behind bars or dead in the street, and his role is cut short. And if he fights off would-be assailants, then that implies violent ends for those attackers--which creates a very dark series full of death and bloodshed, instead of sexual taboos and melodrama.

It's just like with NTR doujin. The point is forcing the setup of the partner being stolen away and the "victim" MC being emotionally and sexually destroyed. If they're written realistically, the moment the husband found out his wife was banging bis boss or his brother in their marriage bed? He'd either drop her ass and kick her out of the house he pays for, or be in court for double homicide after knifing the cheaters mid-coitus.

That doesn't sell the porn though, and so all characters are written as braindead idiots or comically evil antagonists who are untouchable. It's all just handwaved to sell the central plot, which is the cheating and cucking and corrupting and stealing and heartbreak.

So Iwabuchi acts with impunity because realistically he'd either be long-rotted in a forgotten ditch, or would have dozens of dead bodies on his hands as a means of keeping people in line. And if he relied solely on blackmail even against those associated with the women he traps, it wouldn't be long before he's attracting law enforcement attention on the level of regional if not national governments.
And that's a lot of busywork writing and worldbuilding for the author that doesn't directly contribute to the desired plot of "Rika tortures Sousuke with NTR stuff to break him into being her perfect subservient lover/pet" or wharever.

Basically--realistic settings are hard work and detract from the brainrot gooner plot the author actually wants to write. So it's simply cast aside and the reader is left to manage their own expectations of the quality of story.

And, I mean...we are all still here, so.

 

[UROD-PC]

My best attempt at answering your primary question, is that trying to write criminal acts realistically can't work outside of a fully-established setting that contains opposing forces (i.e. law enforcement that can toe-to-toe), and we don't see "random acts of retaliation" because those would make the setting unbelievably violent.

Imagine Iwabuchi was attacked by affected spouses and partners of the women he blackmailed. Or their family members. Suddenly he's either behind bars or dead in the street, and his role is cut short. And if he fights off would-be assailants, then that implies violent ends for those attackers--which creates a very dark series full of death and bloodshed, instead of sexual taboos and melodrama.

It's just like with NTR doujin. The point is forcing the setup of the partner being stolen away and the "victim" MC being emotionally and sexually destroyed. If they're written realistically, the moment the husband found out his wife was banging bis boss or his brother in their marriage bed? He'd either drop her ass and kick her out of the house he pays for, or be in court for double homicide after knifing the cheaters mid-coitus.

That doesn't sell the porn though, and so all characters are written as braindead idiots or comically evil antagonists who are untouchable. It's all just handwaved to sell the central plot, which is the cheating and cucking and corrupting and stealing and heartbreak.

So Iwabuchi acts with impunity because realistically he'd either be long-rotted in a forgotten ditch, or would have dozens of dead bodies on his hands as a means of keeping people in line. And if he relied solely on blackmail even against those associated with the women he traps, it wouldn't be long before he's attracting law enforcement attention on the level of regional if not national governments.
And that's a lot of busywork writing and worldbuilding for the author that doesn't directly contribute to the desired plot of "Rika tortures Sousuke with NTR stuff to break him into being her perfect subservient lover/pet" or wharever.

Basically--realistic settings are hard work and detract from the brainrot gooner plot the author actually wants to write. So it's simply cast aside and the reader is left to manage their own expectations of the quality of story.

And, I mean...we are all still here, so.

I understand what you're getting at, and you're absolutely right.

However, what puts me off the most is the protagonist himself.

If we're being honest with ourselves, most readers of this manga would probably be thrilled to read the first chapter and then jump straight to the final one. At its core, the story offers little beyond the intrigue itself. It's almost a form of doomscrolling. The author could have made the protagonist a much more "alive" and engaging character. Even if the only thing the author really wanted to convey was the mystery, couldn't Sousuke have become a far more interesting person through character growth?

The author had about 5–6 volumes to entertain us, to experiment with dark humor, or with a role reversal where the hunter becomes the prey.

But no - the author chose to cater to the rather peculiar fetishes of a portion of the readership instead.

At this point, I'm only still here because of my own strange fate and fixation on the NTR mystery. In terms of actual enjoyment, I haven't gotten anything out of it...

In a way, maybe I'm sick too.

 

[Kalimaman]

I understand what you're getting at, and you're absolutely right.

However, what puts me off the most is the protagonist himself.

If we're being honest with ourselves, most readers of this manga would probably be thrilled to read the first chapter and then jump straight to the final one. At its core, the story offers little beyond the intrigue itself. It's almost a form of doomscrolling. The author could have made the protagonist a much more "alive" and engaging character. Even if the only thing the author really wanted to convey was the mystery, couldn't Sousuke have become a far more interesting person through character growth?

The author had about 5–6 volumes to entertain us, to experiment with dark humor, or with a role reversal where the hunter becomes the prey.

But no - the author chose to cater to the rather peculiar fetishes of a portion of the readership instead.

At this point, I'm only still here because of my own strange fate and fixation on the NTR mystery. In terms of actual enjoyment, I haven't gotten anything out of it...

In a way, maybe I'm sick too.

 

[Wyrm666]

My best attempt at answering your primary question, is that trying to write criminal acts realistically can't work outside of a fully-established setting that contains opposing forces (i.e. law enforcement that can toe-to-toe), and we don't see "random acts of retaliation" because those would make the setting unbelievably violent.

Imagine Iwabuchi was attacked by affected spouses and partners of the women he blackmailed. Or their family members. Suddenly he's either behind bars or dead in the street, and his role is cut short. And if he fights off would-be assailants, then that implies violent ends for those attackers--which creates a very dark series full of death and bloodshed, instead of sexual taboos and melodrama.

It's just like with NTR doujin. The point is forcing the setup of the partner being stolen away and the "victim" MC being emotionally and sexually destroyed. If they're written realistically, the moment the husband found out his wife was banging bis boss or his brother in their marriage bed? He'd either drop her ass and kick her out of the house he pays for, or be in court for double homicide after knifing the cheaters mid-coitus.

That doesn't sell the porn though, and so all characters are written as braindead idiots or comically evil antagonists who are untouchable. It's all just handwaved to sell the central plot, which is the cheating and cucking and corrupting and stealing and heartbreak.

So Iwabuchi acts with impunity because realistically he'd either be long-rotted in a forgotten ditch, or would have dozens of dead bodies on his hands as a means of keeping people in line. And if he relied solely on blackmail even against those associated with the women he traps, it wouldn't be long before he's attracting law enforcement attention on the level of regional if not national governments.
And that's a lot of busywork writing and worldbuilding for the author that doesn't directly contribute to the desired plot of "Rika tortures Sousuke with NTR stuff to break him into being her perfect subservient lover/pet" or wharever.

Basically--realistic settings are hard work and detract from the brainrot gooner plot the author actually wants to write. So it's simply cast aside and the reader is left to manage their own expectations of the quality of story.

And, I mean...we are all still here, so.

This. Exactly this.

i will add that most are still following this story probably because there is hope that Rika gets her comeuppance and that Sousuke will act with strength and dignity. But at this point, it doesn't look good boys...

 

[UdenEmpati]

I understand what you're getting at, and you're absolutely right.

However, what puts me off the most is the protagonist himself.

If we're being honest with ourselves, most readers of this manga would probably be thrilled to read the first chapter and then jump straight to the final one. At its core, the story offers little beyond the intrigue itself. It's almost a form of doomscrolling. The author could have made the protagonist a much more "alive" and engaging character. Even if the only thing the author really wanted to convey was the mystery, couldn't Sousuke have become a far more interesting person through character growth?

The author had about 5–6 volumes to entertain us, to experiment with dark humor, or with a role reversal where the hunter becomes the prey.

But no - the author chose to cater to the rather peculiar fetishes of a portion of the readership instead.

At this point, I'm only still here because of my own strange fate and fixation on the NTR mystery. In terms of actual enjoyment, I haven't gotten anything out of it...

In a way, maybe I'm sick too.

No, you're absolutely right. I had started a comment about that then deleted it because it was simply regurgitating what others already said, but Sousuke's lack of growth and continued naiveté in believing in his wife has been incredibly frustrating.

Maybe the author is setting up some giant reveal that will make it irrefutable for Sousuke that Rika isn't a victim or some manipulated & coerced actor in a of this, and all of this is just build-up to that point. But I think they might have burned any goodwill they started with, in how Sousuke has been written over nearly 90 chapters.

Because I am just here to see if Rika gets comeuppance, now, and do not actually care about what happens to Sousuke or anyone else. I'm not sure I even believe any longer that Sousuke deserves a satisfactory conclusion to his story, simply because he's written like an imbecile who continuously moves backward and stubbornly holds fast to the picture of Rika in his head, in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

He is just as nonsensical as the characters of NTR doujin: written on rigid rails to force a specific outcome where the NTR villain wins, and the entire setting forgets key parts of reality in order to cater to that result. And Sousuke is every NTR victim MC who somehow never picks up on the fact that his wife is fucking another man in the adjacent room, despite all the noise and smells and her changed behavior.

At a certain point, I can't help but think he deserves a bad ending, simply because he does nothing to avoid it, and even actively courts it.

 

[Wyrm666]

At a certain point, I can't help but think he deserves a bad ending, simply because he does nothing to avoid it, and even actively courts it.

I don't know... I will admit that I haven't read this with full attention and maybe I'm forgetting past reactions, but it came as a surprise Sousuke thinking that Rika might be a victim at this point.

Even if she was, all her reactions, running away from him and the way she's been acting tells that she is not a victim. And even If she was being blackmailed into making videos under threat of them being showed to her family, why couldn't she tell Sousuke and fight together?

Nah, I may be wrong, but Sousuke thinking she is a victim at this point is him being handed the Idiot ball by the mangaka and not something that would naturally be reached by plot and character development.

 

[Kalimaman]

I don't know... I will admit that I haven't read this with full attention and maybe I'm forgetting past reactions, but it came as a surprise Sousuke thinking that Rika might be a victim at this point.

Even if she was, all her reactions, running away from him and the way she's been acting tells that she is not a victim. And even If she was being blackmailed into making videos under threat of them being showed to her family, why couldn't she tell Sousuke and fight together?

Nah, I may be wrong, but Sousuke thinking she is a victim at this point is him being handed the Idiot ball by the mangaka and not something that would naturally be reached by plot and character development.

I said earlier, but it's mainly dramatic irony + Sousuke's characterization. As he receives testimony against her, he starts building an image X of her. We, as readers, have an Y image of her. Simply because we get more exposure and visual aid.

The way she nonchalantly lended money to Matsuo Jin, calmness in helping Shiratori, pursuing and engaging in Sex with Shingo only as business, helping and backstabbing Misato and comfort when dealing with Iwabuchi. A large portion of this was shown more explicitly to us. To Sousuke it's just his imagination and beliefs based on the trust he has on people.

But what breaks me is that he WAS growing up into believing Rika was not who he thought she was. But ever since he met Iwabuchi, it seems he "switched" into believing EVERY PROBLEM with Rika is due to him, shifted the blame into the guy, and is now reverting to believe Rika was a victim. It's now his last attempt, as a charater, to try and makes us enjoy him. Because i know he'll do it in the next arc, but i hope it's not as too "fallback" as now.

 

[UdenEmpati]

I said earlier, but it's mainly dramatic irony + Sousuke's characterization. As he receives testimony against her, he starts building an image X of her. We, as readers, have an Y image of her. Simply because we get more exposure and visual aid.

The way she nonchalantly lended money to Matsuo Jin, calmness in helping Shiratori, pursuing and engaging in Sex with Shingo only as business, helping and backstabbing Misato and comfort when dealing with Iwabuchi. A large portion of this was shown more explicitly to us. To Sousuke it's just his imagination and beliefs based on the trust he has on people.

But what breaks me is that he WAS growing up into believing Rika was not who he thought she was. But ever since he met Iwabuchi, it seems he "switched" into believing EVERY PROBLEM with Rika is due to him, shifted the blame into the guy, and is now reverting to believe Rika was a victim. It's now his last attempt, as a charater, to try and makes us enjoy him. Because i know he'll do it in the next arc, but i hope it's not as too "fallback" as now.

I actually hope Iwabuchi is the "last arc" before the finale with Rika, because any attempt to introduce a new surprise Lieutenant for Rika that Souske & Co. need to fight through?

That's fully the author milking it, and I'd drop the series at that point. There's no reason for another person who's somehow worse than Iwabuchi and still under Rika's thumb to show up, so once he's dealt with this guy it needs to be the final confrontation.

But Kalimaman said what I was getting at, @Wyrm666 . Sousuke was trending toward figuring out what we the readers have been shown about Rika, but the moment a man came along being antagonistic, Sousuke immediately decided he must be the actual bad guy and Rika's the poor woman who totally wasn't doing all the things she's been doing this whole time.

Which, you're right--it's kinda like the author's just suddenly forcing him stupid again. But if that's how it is, then if he maintains that belief in the face of all evidence, then independent of him being a written character--someone actually being that willfully naïve kinda deserves what happens to them.

 

[Kalimaman]

I actually hope Iwabuchi is the "last arc" before the finale with Rika, because any attempt to introduce a new surprise Lieutenant for Rika that Souske & Co. need to fight through?

That's fully the author milking it, and I'd drop the series at that point. There's no reason for another person who's somehow worse than Iwabuchi and still under Rika's thumb to show up, so once he's dealt with this guy it needs to be the final confrontation.

But Kalimaman said what I was getting at, @Wyrm666 . Sousuke was trending toward figuring out what we the readers have been shown about Rika, but the moment a man came along being antagonistic, Sousuke immediately decided he must be the actual bad guy and Rika's the poor woman who totally wasn't doing all the things she's been doing this whole time.

Which, you're right--it's kinda like the author's just suddenly forcing him stupid again. But if that's how it is, then if he maintains that belief in the face of all evidence, then independent of him being a written character--someone actually being that willfully naïve kinda deserves what happens to them.

Oh, i wasn't really thinking about a "new Lieutenant" type of character. Rather, after Iwabuchi, i'm convinced that the best approach is actually reintroducing minor characters. For instance, Sousuke finding out person X knows where Rika is, and after pursuing them, he finds out it's Isobe. And then learns of how much the world around him, or even the world around Rika, is manipulated by her.

I believe the third part will be way shorter, just to tie some loose ends from parts 1 and 2, and then proceed to the finale, a showdown between Sousuke and Rika.

 

[Mukola9191]

Hello everyone. I read the latest comments and ask myself the question "what does the reader know more than Soske?". On which I found only a few points. We know a little more than Soska, but it doesn't give us anything. Because this knowledge only misleads us. Here are the points:





1. Rika's bank account. Although the author showed it to the readers, Soske already guesses about it after talking to Matsuo.





2. Memories of Singo. Readers saw it, but based on the fact that Singo was interrogated, Soska should also know about it.





3. Rika’s and Iwabuchi's dialogue in the car. We learned from him that Iwabuchi wants to break Soska's heart. The fact that Rika is in love with Soska. And the main nuance is that Rika is the "main breadwinner", but even here we will not find out what exactly she does.





4. Rika’s and Iwabuchi's dialogue in the hotel room. This scene only misleads us, we seem to see how Iwabuchi voiced Rika's "desire", but Rika does not confirm it. At the end of the whole scene, we read the phrase about the result that will be the same. But again, it's not clear to whom these words were addressed.





5. Iwabuchi's thoughts. Here they just confirmed that it's Rika's initiative to invite Soska to the party. The second part of the thoughts only misleads us, because it is not clear what Rika promised to do Iwabuchi.





Based on the above, all that the reader knows is either insignificant things or things that are even more misleading. I would even say more that Soske knows much more, since readers were not shown an important detail and this is Singo's interrogation.

Let's get to the last chapter and we learned something important there. First, we are confirmed that the Miyabi channel was created about six months ago, when she ran away from her brother. This also coincided with the time when the Mamong channel was created (we calculated this earlier). Here I will put forward the theory that all the channels of the "Heavenly Kings" were created at that time. The next important part is that Iwabuchi shows favouritism towards Momonga, and that it is likely that he is screwed up with views (popularity). Also quite an interesting point is that Iwabuchi entrusted the compromise to Miyabi, and not Momonga, Paopao or Marupi. As Miyabi said, she's not like everyone else who is blackmailed, which also makes you think...

 

[Wyrm666]

But if that's how it is, then if he maintains that belief in the face of all evidence, then independent of him being a written character--someone actually being that willfully naïve kinda deserves what happens to them.

That is a general principle, but a character is never independent of its writing.

Sousuke was never shown to be that much of a gullible fool, but now, after all he's been through he "oh, she must be a victim?" Even from his point of view he has more than enough information that Rika isn't an unwilling participant of all that debauchery.
So the author decided to dumb him down so we could squeeze a few more chapters out of this.

Probably someone asked the author what were Sousuke's motivations to keep chasing Rika and the author went "erm..."

 

[Kalimaman]

Cover o volume 8 is on the air. It's Rika on a dress. This time, however, the cover is black, instead of the usual white with petals, or simply white.

 

[CallMeMForr]

I reread the special chapter, and you guys are giving this story way too much credit. The MC literally ejaculates to the NTR video. This is just immortal fetish garbage. Why are you pretending this story has any value? Dokuzakura was 10000x better than this.

 

[Kalimaman]

I reread the special chapter, and you guys are giving this story way too much credit. The MC literally ejaculates to the NTR video. This is just immortal fetish garbage. Why are you pretending this story has any value? Dokuzakura was 10000x better than this.

He gets ED and is now on his path to find love in another woman. The story gets a little more deeper in the happening bar and onwards. But the pacing and writing are becoming problematic as of late...

 

[XiaoNate]

I reread the special chapter, and you guys are giving this story way too much credit. The MC literally ejaculates to the NTR video. This is just immortal fetish garbage. Why are you pretending this story has any value? Dokuzakura was 10000x better than this.

Dokuzakura was also hot garbage apart from that ending

 

[XiaoNate]

Is there a chapter this week ?

 

[Mukola9191]

He gets ED and is now on his path to find love in another woman. The story gets a little more deeper in the happening bar and onwards. But the pacing and writing are becoming problematic as of late...

I want to start with the fact that Soske doesn't have erectile disfunction, but he has demisexuality. These are completely different things. Most likely, Rika guessed that Sosuke was demisexual, and she decided to prove it. The problem of demosexuality is that a man can't have sex with anyone else except the one he loves, and there's no way to fix it. If you force a demosexual to have sex with someone else with the help of drugs or by deception, he will only get psychological trauma. Cuckold fetish is a common phenomenon for a demosexual. You can say that Soska had an erection on Akiba, but it happened only because Akiba started talking about NTR, and Soska projected Rika’s image on her. You can not harbour false hopes that Soska and Akiba will be together, they won't succeed... Soske will either stay with Rika or be alone. If a demisexualʼs woman dies or goes to another man, the demisexual will remain alone for the rest of his life.

 

[XiaoNate]

I mean, rika's chances of ending up with sousuke in the end is as high as boznia winning the world cup this year, that aint happening buddy, sorry.

 

[Mukola9191]

I mean, rika's chances of ending up with sousuke in the end is as high as boznia winning the world cup this year, that aint happening buddy, sorry.

What do you think Miyabi meant by the words "I'm not like everyone else, I did it of my own free will". Does Iwabuchi blackmail other "heavenly kings" or do they also do it at will? And why did Iwabuchi give access to the server to Miyabi and not Rika?

 

[Kalimaman]

Is there a chapter this week ?

Yes!