unless the guy saved her also turn out to be evil, i doubt this saintess gonna be a crazy revenge protagonist one.Uh Oh…. This saintess going to be so twisted that she will screw everyone that makes her suffer.
Yeah, that's what I thought would happen too, though that'd essentially just make it a less wholesome version of https://mangadex.org/title/40a2695a...-suterareta-kedo-tabun-watashi-ga-miko-de-aruunless the guy saved her also turn out to be evil, i doubt this saintess gonna be a crazy revenge protagonist one.
if they at least go for a monster actually took her in then that "i don't trust human, they only ever abuse me" may work.
So I just speedread the raw WN this is based on.PLEASE DON'T BE A PUSSY, THE FIRST FEW PAGES WERE NICE, i can see this whole revenge arc series go nicely hopefully
So I just speedread the raw WN this is based on.
Don't get your hopes up. Or emotionally invested.
[TL;DR:] There are zero consequences in this story. It's another JP "shoot the shaggy dog; spit in the face of the gods; poke the bear; but because of how 'kind' JP characters are everything is forgiven". Reads like "Half-Life: Full Life Consequences" that lampshaded amateur attempt at drama.
Manga adaptation editor may force author to fix some of this; but I doubt it given JP audience. Typically major deviations from WN plot aren't done, and contemplated/thoughtful 'revenge' resolution -- such as lasting interracial tensions, cold war, civilization decline -- are off-putting for most JP readers.
[Preface rant:] Japanese have an unhealthy obsession with "kindness". And enjoys stressing how "kind" their MC are. To a disgusting degree. Culturally (just look back at history) they have a nasty habit of completely glossing over or whitewashing things they find uncomfortable. How is this relevant?
[In this fictional universe:] Normally when your race (humans) makes a pact with spirits/gods to save your entire race from genocide... a pact so critical that your entire society is predicate on it... violating said pact should result in your race's genocide. Or close to it, pending mitigation efforts. That's literally the point.
Now imagine your race has betrayed that pact once before. Brutally killed the spirit/god, bathed in their blood, and spat on the pact. Naturally as a result your race nearly dies out, becomes nomads. Due to sheer luck: the mercy of a single "kind" spirit/god let your race survive. Your race swears to never violate the pact again, burning into your racial memory. "It won't happen again; promise."
Fast forward 500 years. Now imagine "a few bad apples" (or the entire bunch: doesn't matter) betray it again. Tortures and imprisons the pact's envoy. Enshrines/worships a fake saint literally bathed in the blood of the real saint from years of torturing her. Breaking the very tenets and rituals your society is based on with the spirits/gods. In this case: the FMC's denied-while-imprisoned, culturally mandatory, 7yo "divine protection ceremony" at church, where all children from orphans to slaves to saint are protected, and then recognized. (Bearing parallels to Japanese Shichi-Go-San, where children are "property of/protected by the gods" until of age.) Why aunt dumped her in forest "as dead", rather than attend.
Spirits are old enough to still be alive/remember all this. And the first betrayal. Including the orphaned spirit/god daughter of the one that was brutally killed. And they don't "forget" like humans. Guess how this author handles that?
....the male (human) love interest one-sidedly tries to wipe FMC saint's memories of her imprisonment and torture with magic. Because of how "kind" he is.... without asking her or getting her consent, or what she wants. (Hint: it traumatizes her, and POV chapter at climax shows she's suffering horrendously inside.) And because of how "kind" he is -- not due to geopolitical or racial concerns to save his race -- MC's "white knight" crew impedes retribution on the rest of the human race when the deception is unveiled at the pact ceremony in the first act climax of the novel. Chapter title is literally "Zamaa" ("comeuppance") -- I'm not making this up.
In the end "love conquers all, everything is forgiven, including the brainwashing of FMC saintess by MC priest". (Tehe~*!) Only repercussion is off-stage imprisonment of now-immortal fake saint (and abusive aunt), behind closed doors as monster-chow. No repercussions for the human race who violated the pact and committed atrocities. Uncle who "stood by and watched" dies offscreen in 1-line summary. Male romantic interest is only traumatic/emotional-dependence relationship, with dubious line that FMC is 'of age of majority now'. Gods/spirits side chapter saying "oh how cute is our miko, punishing humans would makeher sadher romantic interest MC sad". (Despite her literally not caring due to all the abuse; no ethics nor societal bond formed for humanity since she was locked underground and tortured for majority of her life.) Literal whitewash ending.
If you can't tell, I was really frustrated by this.
That's why I cautioned in plaintext "don't emotionally invest".i would feel bad if that's how the manga goes too
Avoiding spoiler-ed citation: I'd settle for actual ramifications. Or at minimum, well-foreshadowed, fleshed-out, in-universe justifications why some get off scot-free. (Heck, done well, it can even be riveting.)make humans pay for their sins
truly a sad case, you'd think with how twisted some of the stuff they see crime wise irl(and honestly it is twisted, like they have very little crime but almost every crime is something big and crazy) they'd be able to make stories with solid cases to actually get rid of humanity or somethingThat's why I cautioned in plaintext "don't emotionally invest".
Knowing (or not knowing) that before emotionally- and time- investing is key. Especially with revenge fiction. Even if the ride is good, if the ending veers off into a ditch and slams into a wall at the last minute, it's extremely frustrating.
Avoiding spoiler-ed citation: I'd settle for actual ramifications. Or at minimum, well-foreshadowed, fleshed-out, in-universe justifications why some get off scot-free. (Heck, done well, it can even be riveting.)
Root cause I think is with "long-form universe-building revenge stories", a Western 3-act structure (or even Eastern 4-act) falls flat. It demands 5-act one to incorporate post-processing and epilogue. Not a simple deus ex machina ("zamaa").
Right now a lot of poor JP WN plots end like Power Rangers: "bad guy explodes. the end."