Aldo no Isekai Tensei - Vol. 2 Ch. 6 - Even so, I still Believe in You

[DaJoey]

for people of the first world, outside of the usa, killing is something traumatic.
for usa soldiers killing is traumatic and ptsd inducing.

You thinking it's not normal to be traumatized is somewhat psychopathic for us.

Killing is traumatic even for people in the USA.

The difference is that in America most people have the option to carry guns for protection and many of us make peace with the fact that we may have to use them to protect ourselves in life or death scenarios. Most Americans who carry firearms for protection have already rationalized and come to terms with it to some degree. It doesn't completely negate the psychological affects, but it allows us better ways to cope compared to a Japanese person who has likely grown up in a non-violent and largely pacifist society. And even then, it kinda varies from person to person because everyone reacts differently to violence. You don't really know until it happens.

America is the melting pot of the world, but that doesn't come for free. Tribalism between ethnic groups are common which causes a lot of conflict that can escalate to violence. Conflict is a significant part of America's history, and the American people tend to be more resilient to it as a result.

 

[jagfanbb]

5 year olds don't talk like this 😂

 

[Carn109]

Such a good bro looking out for his bro

 

[CinnamonCrunch]

The most realistic conversation a 5 year old and 7 year old ever had. (I’m being sarcastic in case you’re slow)

 

[CinnamonCrunch]

5 year olds don't talk like this 😂

I literally thought the exact same thing. Also why is a grown man (the MC) being comforted by a 5 year old?

 

[rabidporcupine]

Man, I sure am glad half the commenters here have already killed a person before, and therefore can tell us with absolute certainty that either a) it’s not traumatising at all and any adult should be able to do it without issue, or b) it might be traumatising, maybe, sure, but this specific reaction of guilt to the trauma is wrong, because clearly everyone would react entirely logically to killing a person.

 

[RMXStudio]

for people of the first world, outside of the usa, killing is something traumatic.
for usa soldiers killing is traumatic and ptsd inducing.

You thinking it's not normal to be traumatized is somewhat psychopathic for us.

I think it's very normal to not feel so terribly guilty over killing a person who was going to JOYOUSLY kill you and who had killed children and pickled their limbs. You don't have to be a person from a "first world" country to feel that, either, as though "developed" countries have more morals (slavery is still legal in many first world countries and many of those first worlders only got there by brutalizing and stealing from third world ones, even to this day, so nip that narrative in the bud right now).

Of course, feeling trauma about it is normal, but to call yourself filthy and undeserving after murdering a rapist child killer who was going to murder you? Like... Think for a minute.

 

[RMXStudio]

Man, I sure am glad half the commenters here have already killed a person before, and therefore can tell us with absolute certainty that either a) it’s not traumatising at all and any adult should be able to do it without issue, or b) it might be traumatising, maybe, sure, but this specific reaction of guilt to the trauma is wrong, because clearly everyone would react entirely logically to killing a person.

I'll admit it's a fair point to say guilt is not always logical. At the same time, it's a very "anime" feeling for the MC to feel that much guilt over killing the enemy. I and others feel it's an easy, somewhat cop-out way to establish that the MC is "a morally good person" because "killing is wrong no matter what", especially when they establish the person he killed as an irredeemably evil person (unnaturally dark sclera, talking about raping a child before killing them, very actively enjoying child murder, etc.). It's easy and utterly unnecessary at this point in the story imo.

Moreover, it's not just that the MC is crying over killing a villainous person. It's that he's crying and weeping over killing Mega-Murder Rapeman Extraordinaire because "he had a future". And that sounds like peak bullshit, especially since the story hasn't established that the MC's emotional maturity has regressed (though, maybe it has and I missed it, in which case, alright, point in story's favor, but still feels bullshit).

Like, traumatizing? Yes. Feeling some guilt? Maybe, sure. But the level of it? Dude...c'mon. He showed you pickled child hands and feet for fucks sake. He was gonna sell you and your friend, if not kill you first. You killed him to save a guy you empathized with. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

And maybe it's because the MC is regressed and five and not processing it all. In which case, I wish the story would focus on emphasizing that point further than showing what a good person he is, because his guilt would be understandable as a former adult who has knowledge but a child's emotional development and hasn't worked it all together. Or have him acknowledge the unrealistic idea of being able to both protect his loved ones and be able to never kill anyone ever in this new world and him come to terms with that. Or something else, seriously.

But the way this is playing out feels very weak. Like, grow some balls, ovaries, keloids. I dunno. Get that PTSD, suffer from it, feel the guilt and cry, but damn, I don't wanna hear some "he had a future" over a fuckin child murderer they went out of their way to make bald and buff and dark-skinned (giving the artist a side-eye) which the narrative made sure to make irredeemably shit. C'mon.

 

[rabidporcupine]

I'll admit it's a fair point to say guilt is not always logical. At the same time, it's a very "anime" feeling for the MC to feel that much guilt over killing the enemy. I and others feel it's an easy, somewhat cop-out way to establish that the MC is "a morally good person" because "killing is wrong no matter what", especially when they establish the person he killed as an irredeemably evil person (unnaturally dark sclera, talking about raping a child before killing them, very actively enjoying child murder, etc.). It's easy and utterly unnecessary at this point in the story imo.

Moreover, it's not just that the MC is crying over killing a villainous person. It's that he's crying and weeping over killing Mega-Murder Rapeman Extraordinaire because "he had a future". And that sounds like peak bullshit, especially since the story hasn't established that the MC's emotional maturity has regressed (though, maybe it has and I missed it, in which case, alright, point in story's favor, but still feels bullshit).

Like, traumatizing? Yes. Feeling some guilt? Maybe, sure. But the level of it? Dude...c'mon. He showed you pickled child hands and feet for fucks sake. He was gonna sell you and your friend, if not kill you first. You killed him to save a guy you empathized with. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

And maybe it's because the MC is regressed and five and not processing it all. In which case, I wish the story would focus on emphasizing that point further than showing what a good person he is, because his guilt would be understandable as a former adult who has knowledge but a child's emotional development and hasn't worked it all together. Or have him acknowledge the unrealistic idea of being able to both protect his loved ones and be able to never kill anyone ever in this new world and him come to terms with that. Or something else, seriously.

But the way this is playing out feels very weak. Like, grow some balls, ovaries, keloids. I dunno. Get that PTSD, suffer from it, feel the guilt and cry, but damn, I don't wanna hear some "he had a future" over a fuckin child murderer they went out of their way to make bald and buff and dark-skinned (giving the artist a side-eye) which the narrative made sure to make irredeemably shit. C'mon.

Ok, sure, but again, have you ever killed a person before? Because I feel like that’s the crux of this whole argument here, really. It doesn’t matter what kind of person you killed, because you killed a person. Good or bad, that’s an act that sticks with you, and can tend to really fuck a person up for a solid while.

Like, you even acknowledged that point right at the start of the comment. Logic just doesn’t play into it. Yeah, the guy he killed was a monster, but he still stood there, watching the guy realise “oh, oh shit, oh fuck, this is it, I’m gonna die, I’m dying” as the light faded from his eyes. I guarantee that, assuming they’re capable of empathy, anyone here would be just as affected by it if they were in his shoes, and it’d stick with them for just as long. It’s not something you can just “get over.”

 

[RMXStudio]

Ok, sure, but again, have you ever killed a person before? Because I feel like that’s the crux of this whole argument here, really. It doesn’t matter what kind of person you killed, because you killed a person. Good or bad, that’s an act that sticks with you, and can tend to really fuck a person up for a solid while.

Like, you even acknowledged that point right at the start of the comment. Logic just doesn’t play into it. Yeah, the guy he killed was a monster, but he still stood there, watching the guy realise “oh, oh shit, oh fuck, this is it, I’m gonna die, I’m dying” as the light faded from his eyes. I guarantee that, assuming they’re capable of empathy, anyone here would be just as affected by it if they were in his shoes, and it’d stick with them for just as long. It’s not something you can just “get over.”

And Like I said, as a reader of A Story, Which is Subject To Critique, I don't care to read someone Crying Over A Person the Narrative Went Out Of Their Way to make look Irredeemably, Explicitly Shit.

Because it does matter, actually. That's how emotions and emotional connections work.

Whether or not I have killed people is none of your business or concern, cause the cool thing about fiction is that you don't have to have done things to have opinions about the things other people in the narrative are doing. But what the general person can relate to is how we feel berating or punishing someone who has done something wrong. And the general person feels a whole lot better about berating someone unapologetically shite than someone genuinely working to correct their actions, even if both did the same bad thing. It's why the story even bothered to juxtapose the guy MC killed with the guy MC had mercy on and argued to save.

To not feel so guilty about the death of a person who unapologetically committed evil deeds is normal. In as much as the MC may feel guilty for killing someone, I've seen several other MCs struggle with the same issues of guilt for killing and express at least some reprieve in knowing they didn't kill someone harmless, in knowing that the person they killed had killed others. I've expressed that's a better read for me than this dogged self-flagellation that seems to forget exactly how motivated the MC was to kill the guy just moments before he remembered how "good" he's supposed to be.

This isn't some great mystery of the world. It's not that hard to understand.

This isn't some mystery of empathy and sociopathy, and I'm not sure why you and others are pushing back so hard about it.

If that sort of thing appeals to you, sure. Whatever rocks your boat. But let's not act like me and anyone else who finds his dogmatic weeping over his killing of Megarape Childmurderer rather silly are out of our minds.

 

[AnimuVsMango]

...they're five, right?