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

[kat_tea]

If I had started reading the manga first I think her staying tan would’ve been good and I probably wouldn’t have noticed a difference plot wise. Unfortunately I read the novel first and I know that her changing to white was major in plot/character development so I’m a bit biased to the novel version. Hopefully the plot line will stay the same. I’ll be sad if they end up having to change major plot lines because of this!!

 

[GuruMeditation]

This whole cancel outrage culture -- needs to be cancelled. People need to grow up.

 

[TheDollCollector]

THANK GOODNESS!
HORAY FOR MELANIN!

 

[dancur]

@CardiBSlays both attributes are counted as blessings from gods, the dark spirit king is not seen as evil because he is black it is because the one hero he blessed went and massacred a whole kingdom's worth of people and possibly more, it is not the skin color that they are afraid of it is the power of the dark spirit lord they fear, the skin color and hair color are just identifying traits of one blessed by the dark spirit lord. The fact that you think she's hated because of her skin color is pretty racist since you think the only thing that would affect someone's view of another person is their skin color, and yes you can still be racist no matter the color.

 

[Ultrabenosaurus]

Hello yes I'd like to report this chapter for racism. Cowardly racism.

Her turning white due to the light spirit's blessing might be a dumb setting, yes, but it is plausible and in the novel it becomes an important factor in her character development, as she perceives the change in how everyone else treats her. Her having dark skin is the main indicator of the dark spirit king's blessing which everyone can see at all times, so it just doesn't make much sense for literally everyone to completely flip their behaviour to treating her nicely all the time - very few people were present at that party, and most people wouldn't fully trust the rumours in reality. Her turning white, however, is a very clear indicator to everyone who sees her that she is now blessed by the light spirit king, thus removing most fear people would have as there is no constant reminder of the dark spirit king in her appearance. By preventing her from turning white, everything from this point in the story needs to be rewritten or it's going to seem really superficial and offloading all of her insecurity onto just having light magic now will feel really forced and exaggerated.

But that's not really my main issue with the change. The whole story is written to include a commentary on racism around her, they already published the novel and manga with her turning white as part of the climax of this commentary, and now months later they try to rewrite history by editing already-released chapters to neuter the climax of this racial commentary, totally downplaying how much of an impact the racist behaviour of others will have on the MC. There is no justification for this, except trying to deny that racism is bad. This chapter is pro-racism.

 

[ultraleaf]

Mmmmmm salt I was running out thanks comments lmao

 

[Willie29]

Why did they listen to the people who didn't read the story because they liked it but because the MC had a dark skin tone?
I mean the chapter was fine as it was but because these idiots didn't understand why her skin was dark in the first place they people working on this were forced to keep her skin dark despite it going against how the magic works in the story and these people never read chapter 1 of this manga!!!

 

[alidan]

While I like the chocolate version more, the story post blessing makes more sense with her white.

@Ultrabenosaurus I cant say this was about 'racism' more just about prejudice in general. I honestly don't think asia, at least the weeb hubs of asia give a solitary fuck about 'racism' in general, what with china and their laundry commercial, korea and the people fleeing the store at the sight of black people, or how japan in general treats other races that they bring in because they need them.

However, looking at someone and thinking they are shit because of something they cant help, this case a blessing from a dark spirit who has some historical 'I fucked your shit up once before' and then them being ok with her after the light blessing, the immediate change in disposition works with or without the skin color change, though it may be less obvious to an outsider who wasn't there that a change happened.

If I remember right, the first what, 1/3 or 2/3 of naruto had this as a background theme, the theme of pre judging people is strong in weebness, not really 'dont be racist', I think that's more of a west projection onto this than actually part of the story.

 

[TrapCard113]

@Fushiginiku I know, I've read spoilers in previous chapters. What I'm talking about is that in the manga, after she gets her skin colour changed, there's absolutely zero mentions of it happening even by the MC, even though it would have been a pretty big deal.

So when comparing the two versions of the chapter, this one with the edited colours kinda sorta fits the dialogue better, down to the parents still fearing her.

 

[Ultrabenosaurus]

@alidan the start of chapter 12 part 2 as linked on Novel Updates begins like this:

After a long vacation, I returned to school full of anxiety. Attending the academy for the first time after my skin color changed was both embarrassing and scary, since I didn’t know what kind of reaction I would get from others.
Contrary to my expectations, my classmates reacted quite tamely.

“I’d heard about it, but…”
“Seeing it so up close…”
“It feels really out of place.”

Emily, Lily and His Highness Edgar looked at my white skin and expressed their impressions.

“I can’t get used to it either. I keep thinking ‘who’s this?’ every time I look in mirror.”

Hearing my words, Lily took a long hard look at me.

“Well, I guess anybody would be like that if the skin color they saw in mirror for 14 years suddenly changed…Somehow, you’ve become 20% more beautiful so some bad folks might start to flock you.”

‘You were already a beauty to start with though…’ – she added.

From one of her friends:

Somehow, you’ve become 20% more beautiful

Until that point, it is implied and assumed that her change of skin colour is a big factor, but this scene makes it fact.

The first thing people see about her is her skin colour, because it was an obvious and immediate indication of her connection to the dark spirit king. There were so few people at the party where she got the light spirit king's blessing, compared to the other students at school or commoners in town. Without the change in skin colour, most people would still have an immediate negative reaction due to the obvious connection to the dark spirit king, even if they are actively trying to move past that. Most would still flinch or hesitate around her.

And that's ignoring how easy it would be for people to assume or intentionally spread that the light spirit king's blessing was fake news, either spread by her to help the evil dark spirit king infiltrate the kingdom or by the king who is already being influenced by the evil dark spirit king, or... etc. Without her skin colour turning white, the way the story goes in the novel just doesn't make any sense, and any commentary on racism or even prejudice in general won't really work.

I see it as kind of similar to how someone accused of a disgusting crime and later acquitted still has rumours and stigma around them.

I mean, if changing her skin colour really isn't necessary and the "immediate change in disposition works with or without the skin color change", then why the light spirit king's blessing at all? As they explained while arguing with the bitch heroine, just Claudia's actions during the war should be enough to change people's perceptions of her, no? Getting a blessing that has no impact on her appearance or behaviour during a private party where barely anyone witnesses it is meaningless, in my opinion. Either they should have made the blessing at a very public event, or just kept the white skin that they had already published.

Purposefully undoing the change of skin colour like this has no justification and objectively damages the story.

 

[art17]

So, the unniggerizing ray failed in this edition, huh? I prefer her unniggerized, though

Let's stop racism, racism is a crime, and crime is for negros.

 

[IrregularPerson]

to be honest, the white washing could've been better executed. two events happened in this chapter- one which is the final "judgement" between her and the "heroine" and the fact of her parents inconsiderately trying to remedy with her. I could've better understand with the "whitewashing" even with my distaste for cosmetic changes in general, IF they actually discussed her cosmetic change and transitioned, instead taking it as a given and making it seem like that the only underlying thing that changed for Claudia was her efffing skin tone. like they're approaching her because of the change in skintone- it's a pit regardless but lemme nitpick the terrible execution
this chapter is like a giant fffffing bandaid-
chocolatemilk4ever

 

[Kenkon75]

Well that sucks, she 100% looks cuter with her dark skin, but now the storys gonna be all weird. I'd rather she go white skin then something happens and the light spirit figures out some way to make her dark skinned again rather then just make it never happen while they act like it did.

 

[Himecchi]

Here's a thing. Claudia has the protection of Dark Spirit King (it's one rank higher than a blessing) and that made her be born with dark skin (because she's probably considered the kin of dark spirit king and thus got traits that are characteristic of him and his kin [this wasn't explained in the novel, it's just my speculation]), there are 0 reasons why light spirit king's blessing should interfere with her skin color when the only thing it does is kinda enable her to use healing magic. So, imo, not changing her skin color does make more sense. It'll most likely also get rid of colorist scenes where people are talking about how exotic and pretty she looks with white skin and black hair.

 

[YuuyaYTB]

@Solistia duplicate

 

[Elhao]

Dark skin + blond hair = Gyaru MC, no thank you.

 

[The_H_Guy]

@Elhao
There is many dark skinned with blonde/silver hair characters that are very nice and were used even before the gyaru fashion (example Urd from ah my goddess).
But probably not making her looking like a gyaru is one of the reasons this option was discarded.

 

[Yatsuki]

Oh gosh thank goodness for the change, I have been warned and was fully prepared to drop this series when she changes to light skin. Let's face it, her being light skin and everyone suddenly treating her nice make for a superficial and shallow story. So yeah I'm glad they now keep her being dark skin instead.

 

[Bloddrake]

I really don't give a shit about her skin colour....I always saw her as a white girl with the blessing of the spirit of darkness, but hey only a racist would care about the colour of some ones skin anyway.

 

[CronosusCZ]

well.. skin color change wouldnt be that bad because she still has black hair, but whatewer
thanks for correcting it