Drama Queen - Ch. 21 - That's Messed Up pt. 6

[jojoka]

They aren't even to be any sort of humans. As you said, they are just an absolute Other.
They are to be self-centered invaders trampling (unintentionally or not) on the locals.
The author is Japanese and primarily writing for a Japanese audience, so the behavior of the Other is based on things that the Japanese dislike about the non-Japanese visiting Japan - but not as a stand-in for them.

I mean by the basis of the aliens acting like IRL annoying tourist but the Japanese public still being polite and kind there is clearly commentary there about the Japanese being too soft on troublesome tourists. I wouldn't say the aliens are fully just meant to be foreigners or immigrants but they have those traits as well as other non-foreigner outsider traits like anti-social Japanese communities.
Saying that they don't hint to real life nucances in Japan is wrong just like saying the aliens only represent foreigners they're clearly meant to stand in for all kinds of problem people in Japanese society which includes toxic foreigners.

 

[Khaoticsuccubus]

but the Japanese public still being polite and kind there

But, they aren't. These aliens didn't just move in to Japan. They are all over the planet with the same thing happening to everyone and everyone reacting the same way. It's just hinting towards some kind of conspiracy for the plot. Even then you have bad humans as well.

Our protagonist duo are literally serial killers. Nomamoto doesn't give two shits about who dies humans or aliens and eats aliens whether their dead or alive. Kitami himself said his crusade against the aliens wasn't justice. That he was just hates them and wants them gone.

Backbone and her organization are literally killers for hire. They have no qualms murdering for money. To which they have to have clients for. One of which was just in the same con artist business as the aliens he hired them to kill.

Which if you remember Lily was friends with said gangster con artist. I'm positive Lily was never clean from the start and just saw Kitami as a friend / savior.

It's hard to tell intentions or how genuine the aliens are given their lack of human features. Which plays into Kitami's paranoia since he can't tell if Lily was just a bro helping out or if Lily lied all along and there was never a twin.

 

[dsfargeg]

They aren't even to be any sort of humans. As you said, they are just an absolute Other.
They are to be self-centered invaders trampling (unintentionally or not) on the locals.
The author is Japanese and primarily writing for a Japanese audience, so the behavior of the Other is based on things that the Japanese dislike about the non-Japanese visiting Japan - but not as a stand-in for them.

If I make a fantasy story with Orcs who are mounted marauding nomads, I might heavily use stuff from Ghengis-era mongolian tribes to flesh them out.
My Orcs aren't supposed to be Mongolians, or stand-ins for Mongolians, or to provide commentary on Mongolians, they are to be dangerous nomads and I just borrowed concepts from a previous group of dangerous nomads. I would likely also include aspects of Huns, Germanic/Gaul tribes, and Native American "Horse Tribes". But not as "these Orcs are literally X group" just "Oh this a thing a group did and it would make sense for a nomadic society based around war to also do".

So this isn't about Foreigners in Japan, this is about a guy reacting unhealthily to a changing world, using Aliens as a plot device and those aliens behaviors being what grinds the gears of the author and the people they are close with. And also maybe an Alien conspiracy; I'm pretty sure we're headed that way.

If the aliens aren't meant to be commentary on foreigners and instead an abstract "absolute other," then why are they an amalgam of the negative traits of foreigners with concrete references to specific foreigners?

 

[Jovanism]

The title wasn't lying, for 6 whole chapters it really was messed up.

It's crazy to think about Lily's actions though, so this is all natural to him? These aliens are complete psychopaths.

 

[jojoka]

But, they aren't. These aliens didn't just move in to Japan. They are all over the planet with the same thing happening to everyone and everyone reacting the same way. It's just hinting towards some kind of conspiracy for the plot. Even then you have bad humans as well.

The story is taking place in japan from a japanese perspective we have no idea what and how the other countries feel we have only ever seen japan and japanese people's perspective. They are obviously stand ins for annoying foriegners but they are also stand ins for invaders and seemingly average foriegn people, the only thing the aliens are not representative of is "Native" they're outsiders.
Obviously they aren't just stand ins for annoying foreigners the story would be boring if they were, ever since the beginning of writing fictional stories there have been beings that represent mutiple things but denying that they are representative of annoying foriegners is just blantaly wrong.

 

[Friendly-Sentence710]

If the aliens aren't meant to be commentary on foreigners and instead an abstract "absolute other," then why are they an amalgam of the negative traits of foreigners with concrete references to specific foreigners?

For the same reason the orcs in my example might bear a passing resemblance to the Golden Horde despite not being intended to be mongolians.

In this case the author took the starting premise of Earth being first-contacted by aliens. "What if Aliens saved earth but rather than being absolutely kind altruists intent on bettering humanity, or nefarious invaders intent on enslaving/destorying humans, they were just really, really annoying and obnoxious?"

When creating the annoying "other" The japanese author is using what annoys Japanese about non-Japanese people and using that to build an archetype. But they aren't to be a stand in for the groups whose traits he's borrowing.

As I said before, if he was from colorado they would act like Californians but they aren't supposed to BE Californians.

They also act in ways that are NOT like any foreigner, and some of the behaviour is supposed to be just completely bizarre.

I mean by the basis of the aliens acting like IRL annoying tourist but the Japanese public still being polite and kind there is clearly commentary there about the Japanese being too soft on troublesome tourists. I wouldn't say the aliens are fully just meant to be foreigners or immigrants but they have those traits as well as other non-foreigner outsider traits like anti-social Japanese communities.
Saying that they don't hint to real life nucances in Japan is wrong just like saying the aliens only represent foreigners they're clearly meant to stand in for all kinds of problem people in Japanese society which includes toxic foreigners.

See my Orc example. They have selected traits from some groups because that is what the Author wants to convey, but they are not supposed to be/represent those groups.

If I made a character who was supposed to be "the annoying overly strict teacher" I would draw from from my least favorite educators for inspiration, but that character isn't supposed to be any of those people as I'd toss anyway any positive traits.

Its possible/likely there is some social commentary, but as is the case for a lot of Manga/Anime, Japan isn't Japan - Japan IS a stand in for the entirety of humanity.

 

[DegrassiKnole]

Here's my shot in the dark theory:

Lily actually did have a twin brother who killed Kitami's family. However, he was killed himself by the gangster that the two killed earlier (maybe even caught up in the scam and commit suicide), leading Lily to come to hunt him down. When he realized someone already killed his main target, he decided to manipulate Kitami into killing his next target, the idol group his brother wasted all his money on.

 

[ryuumajin]

slow claps
Congratulations.
Seems you got your revenge, and now you're feeling that aliens are more complex and how he prioritizes... I mean, prioritized you, your dear human friend also opened her eyes that not all aliens are good.

Feel that emotion, boy.
Let it seep, and let it deep.

 

[OmbreVengeresse]

I have no idea where anything is going anymore

When I read the feedback from Japanese readers, you are not the only one.

 

[AcidVlad]

We are reaching levels never known before