I'm Not a Villainess!! Just Because I Can Control Darkness, Doesn't Mean I'm a Villain - Vol. 2 Ch. 12.1 - Publisher 2nd Edition

[nikonekonya]

Happy she's back to her original design, she was much cuter and memorable. There's a tonne of different ways to convey people's opinions changing, hell, could keep her that skintone and have it mentioned that it's other people who see her as lighter/brighter. That way it stays close to the original wn, but we can see her as she's always seen herself.

 

[Javra17]

This is just a shit show. Now people are triggered because she's dark skinned again "aNd iT doESN't folLOW tHE NovEL REEEE". And to a degree, I agree.

But this is more complicated than that. Because while yes, this is a Japanese manga and all that, there are real world implications in how people are portrayed in media.
The fact that dark magic is associated with evil and *ejem* dark skin is, well yikes. This is a problem that many fantasy novels suffer. And this is because there is a story of domination and discrimination towards darker skinned individuals literally everywhere, even Asia, so don't try to act as though only white people care about it. There's a whole industry marketed towards skin bleaching that is getting bigger every year in Asia.

But it is also true that her staying dark also harms somewhat the subsequent plotline, which is that everyone's treatment towards her changes because she is no longer dark. So, maybe as a compromise they could have given her blue eyes or blonde hair? That way she stays choco and there's also a in universe explanation as to why everyone's behaviour towards her changes, because she has a noticeable change in a appearance thanks to the light spirits blessing.

 

[stavekoff]

man a ton of y'all are really shitty people huh.

 

[sirflimflam]

You know the sad thing about this chapter is I do feel bad for the parents. Not because I don't think they fucked up or they should be forgiven, but because they had the biases that were bred into them proved wrong by the highest authority and have to live with the knowledge that everything they did was one mistake after another. Given how their culture was so focused on the dark spirit king and its contractors being evil, it's not hard to see how a family might take that sort of thing to heart. In the end, it's still unforgivable, but it's understandable how it happened given the circumstances.

Our girl was totally within her rights to blow up like that though. That's like her entire lifetime of pent up emotions coming forth. I'd like to think they're able to make some sort of peace with what happened though, after the dust covering her heart settles. You can't change the past, but you can change the future.

 

[RaikohZX]

Man, I don't get why people latch onto this being a "person of color representation". The character is a Japanese person reincarnated into a fictional fantasy European girl who became tan and gained black hair from magic that neither the family nor character consented to. They were never a PoC to begin with, and the Light Spirit blessing was returning them to their technically-natural state. In fact this extra chapter and the manga making the plot element nonsensical now only exist because of Japanese fans being mad about losing the tan waifu than anything racial. There's also the fact that it's not just appearance the parents are focusing on - she's got both spirit blessings and saved the country almost entirely through her capability with the army on support duty, gaining the royal court's favor and the trust of the people. They're backtracking to monopolize and take use of Claudia as a whole, not just because of skin color.

You want to make arguments, vibes, whatever the heck, that's your deal, and personal interpretation is always a thing with media and literature, but this was never a racial thing. Just an anime "light is good, dark is bad" shtick. And if you inject politics into that, then there's far, far worse out there to be offended over, but you chose to be offended over an isekai otome story of all things.

 

[Dragou]

I think the different color of her skin was to point out

Spoiler

how with just that people completely change their attitude towards her (as far I heard she isnt even happy with that)

The whole thing with the lesser person would have lashed out, can be really good compared to many comments here.
The ones who would hurt and slaughter people as soon they would have power and so on.
AND the ones who reduce the point of a story to the skin color of the prota are more racist than they accuse the author to be. Does who see, in a message against racism, racism are a problem themselves and of the whole SJW and twitter cancel cult.

@shinsenryuu that would/could have been an option, but the complaints in general are still stupid an unnecessary. Like I mentioned above is that more or less against the intended message (as far I understand it because of evidence and logic) people complained. I am sad and disappointed to see such a thing not just on things like twitter but also here.

@RaikohZX that is the sad thing about modern day ..... everything gets taken political and people are offended about things where is nothing to be offended in the first place.

 

[Marmot]

I like the chocolate skin, she stands out better, and is frankly cuter. Woe unto the mangaka (or whoever) who chose such subtle dark shade for her character design. There's apparently no in-between so that she could have become lighter-skinned when the light spirit king blessed her, but still be the chocolate goddess we love after.

It's been a long run the a comicalization; who knows what the future holds?

 

[Kapow]

Considering the complete lack of reaction to her skin changing in the original raws, I'm almost certain they intended to make this change from the beginning.

To everyone saying nothing makes sense now, do you think everyone in the manga is just racist and hates dark skin? They're terrified of the dark power she wields, her skin color is just a reminder of that fact. They're only treating her differently now because the Light Spirit Queen's approval of her makes them all look like assholes.

I do agree they should've come up with a more subtle visual change (not blonde hair) to make it clear that everyone knows what happened.

 

[Anoon2323]

Why not both?
[Claudia gains vitiligo]

 

[Shivlue]

They could have just said that her skin would be lighter until her body adjusts to the new light magic inside her

 

[Metazoxan]

I wish the author had changed it to her hair changing color instead of removing the physical change entirely.

I mean I get why the author did it and why fans were upset. Her tan skin was what made her stand out from other Isekai heroine protagonists. It definitely felt weird without it.

But at the same time the physical change was important to the plot and removing it entirely creates a rather significant plothole.

So they should have given her blond, ash, or white hair at least.

Or stuck with white skin and have her reject it and go back after some point.

 

[LordOmnit]

If they had made it pretty clear that basically everyone was treating Claudia differently all of a sudden because they found her lighter skin more palatable by having her call out her parents' BS with that then the skin tone change would have been fine (although only if she changed back at some point and they had to accept her as she was). But they got to basically justify their discrimination by going, "Oh, you have the light spirit's blessing now, everything is fine!" without her mentioning her own change even though it was pretty obvious that her dark skin was one of the biggest factors in people's discrimination of her. More importantly (although I wouldn't expect anyone to get this right when they want any character to be likeable and have made the big whoopsie of (basically) racism) that's not how any kind of discrimination works.

 

[Nk9bjP4A]

They should have made her left ear white, her right ear brown, her nose green, and her nipples purple.

 

[fuyuhakai]

Everyone going to war in the comments and here I am. Just trying to find the difference between the 2 editions.

Edit: Dude, I'm stupid. Ignore this comment

 

[TyUni]

I know the original work is Japanese, so there was no intended real-world connotations, and yadda yadda yadda, but...the original skin tone change made sense even within that context. Like, I vastly prefer the darker shade for the character, and as a POC, I had a visceral reaction to her becoming white like the rest of her family. But considering where the story goes for the remainder of the story, it really does make more sense for her skin colour to change, as it serves to better highlight the new treatment she's receiving from others. It makes it so everyone is treating her as a person not just because she's now blessed by the Light Spirit, but because she actually looks like a "normal" person now too. Which just brings more credence to her repressed anger now reaching boiling point.

So even from a Western "whitewashing" perspective, her becoming white coinciding with her actually gaining the respect of the general public and her family, and the character's own anger at all these people only now viewing her as having human worth, is actually kind of a genius narrative turn that loses a bit of its energy if she's kept as our lovely chocolate princess. I'm fine either way with them cowing to fan demand and changing her back in the comicalization, but it really did work as a narrative device once you get past the knee-jerk angry response and I might honestly miss it.

Edit: (As for the chapter itself, her parents can go screw off. Bunch of pricks.)

 

[meong]

Yup. That's not the way to do it. I mean the parents didn't even try to m(__)m all of those years of pain she got.
They just wants to pack it up and toss it to the bottom of sea. All is good now lalala.
(Meanwhile the scanlator group turned into REEEEEEEE party this chapter)

Now my brain.exe stopped working for the cover (not choco) & content (choco)

 

[Sweet_Seats]

@Javra17
Complicated my ass,
Seriously? Discrimination against black everywhere? Duhh its not about the skin color but the fact that they are unique and different than the norm..
Being black in a white community /being white in a black community, same shit would happen if your sticking out like a sore thumb.

In an iseka where there's no such as thing as "african race" being black would be treated as an abomination likewise people who suffer from albinism would be seen as such too.

Stop pulling your politics here or earth probLem because this is "ISEKAI" ...

 

[Faryshta]

@Sweet_Seats the author made it political from chapter 1. The villainess was vilified by everyone who saw her for the color of her skin. Simple as that.

 

[Vannie]

Sooo.... I find if more fun reading the comments than actually trying to figure out the differece between 2 editions.

 

[BrambleBee]

Thank you!😁