A Splendid Revenge Story of a Super-Dreadnought Cheat Villainess - Vol. 1 Ch. 3

Dex-chan lover
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
96
Because Japan is a culture that is heavy on paperwork. Everything that is to be legal has to be written down and because Europe was and is still like that. There is a proper procedure for everything and only legal paperwork is accepted. Of course back in the day paperwork could be falsified but everything had an official seal on it so such a thing as seal experts existed to prevent that. Still it wasn't full proof.
That's why it's weird, why mention or keep them in the first place if it will only ruin you. The previous 2 shoujo villainess manga I read have "I have all records of all your illegal transaction", like exactly what I said. It just make the story seems too convenient and lazy/generic, at least for me.
 
Dex-chan lover
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
2,123
That's why it's weird, why mention or keep them in the first place if it will only ruin you. The previous 2 shoujo villainess manga I read have "I have all records of all your illegal transaction", like exactly what I said. It just make the story seems too convenient and lazy/generic, at least for me.
It's not just Japanese culture. Legal lawyering, land rights, the One True King stories are part of Europe as well.
 
Dex-chan lover
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
697
It's not just Japanese culture. Legal lawyering, land rights, the One True King stories are part of Europe as well.
And China has a belief in a "celestial bureaucracy". Death doesn't even free you from paperwork there. :D
 
Double-page supporter
Joined
Oct 1, 2019
Messages
63
That's why it's weird, why mention or keep them in the first place if it will only ruin you. The previous 2 shoujo villainess manga I read have "I have all records of all your illegal transaction", like exactly what I said. It just make the story seems too convenient and lazy/generic, at least for me.
Because that's the only way to prove anything. How do you prove anyone's misdeeds in a world with no audio or video recording and you don't even have a witness? Written proof that's all you have. That's what we use to do to prove that someone is guilty before the ability to record them became possible. Written proof,witness and tangible evidence is all that we had. Japan and Europe being a legal heavy culture, everything is agreed upon by signing on it because verbal agreement can be taken back but with written agreement people committing bad deeds can have insurance against eachother. Also there is no other way in the story to prove a crime unless it has been witnessed or written down. Objects related to the crime are also valid, although those can be planted which happens in villainess stories. People plant things on the vilainess to make her appear guilty. Paperwork is the only trope you have in a pre-modern era setting.
 
Dex-chan lover
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Messages
543
Is just me? Why is every shoujo villainess manga always have "paperwork" in them?
I think it's cuz they're meant to be a fantasy for the target demographic. Basically, "what if you transmigrated into a fantasy world and had magical powers AND this thing you already know how to do (paperwork) was super useful."

Same deal with "I got fired from the guild/party" shoujo stories. A lot of them have protags with OP magic powers AND what are essentially office skills.
 
Dex-chan lover
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Messages
543
So, her mother was the actual noble.
The husband was an incompetent who married into the dukedom and he left his daughter fill out the paperwork.
And original Lunaria was smart enough to make her father an "acting duke" instead of the actual owner of the title.
She then built a strong magic power and finally, at the peak of all her political and magical power, she... committed suicide?

(Edit: an easy fix to the story would have been that the butler did the paperwork instead. Still leaves the butler as a cold individual who basically watched all this bullying unfold until his legitimate mistress decided to take action, but still a better flow than having her show cunning and willpower... then ignoring it for a weak-willed character that takes on torture for long enough to push her to suicide.)

There was also a mismatch in the flow of actions earlier, as the bell started to ring before the new Lunaria actually selected the option.

Overall, the story starts ok, but there are a few inconsistencies. I'll see how it develops, but I have mixed feelings here.
It's more satisfying if you think of OG protags like Lunaria as basically stunt doubles. Like their job is to set the stage for badass revenge and then peace out so MC can "live well in their place."
 
Dex-chan lover
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
697
It's more satisfying if you think of OG protags like Lunaria as basically stunt doubles. Like their job is to set the stage for badass revenge and then peace out so MC can "live well in their place."
I don't find this satisfying because it's totally undeserved.
Like paying a gold farmer to build a MMO character, up to the most endgame gear, instead of actually playing the game.
Isekai Lunaria just has to click "happy ending" buttons and use the power (political and physical) that was already setup by OG Lunaria.
I would have found this much more satisfying if that was the story of OG Lunaria herself collecting the result of her years of effort.

That one worked much better because the isekai'ed MC actually makes plans and setups herself.
She has resources to help (plus some additional help), but she displays her own agency and ingenuity.
It would have been a horrible story had OG Alexandra set things up beforehand and Isekai Alexandra just walked through the day watching things unfold.

A story needs the MC to actually do something, make difficult or smart choices, for a story to have meaning.
This story doesn't work well for me because the only "choice" that new Lunaria makes is clicking the "happy ending" button once in a while. The choice is always "confront" or "run away" (figuratively), and it's always clear which one is the "bad ending". New Lunaria doesn't even have the emotional baggage that makes the choice difficult. It's shallow.

It's still decent, barely, but mostly as a filler between updates of other series.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top