I'm Not a Villainess!! Just Because I Can Control Darkness, Doesn't Mean I'm a Villain

[olstar18]

@michael_chandra Subtext. A word used by people to dismiss arguments that don't allow them to claim moral superiority by accusing them of being various evil things ending in 'ist.'

 

[miguelcoolboy]

wtf just happened this chapter 13? it's like they grabbed every single cliché + highschool trash romcom and then crammed 4 chapters worth of content into a single one. She went to war and fought entire armies yet she can't keep 1 teenage dude away from her? - all so that the knight in shining armor can save her

 

[Tragic]

Am I the only one that's a little bit suspicious of how well things went. Obviously there was the obvious man in the shadows foreshadowing but I worried that the prince may not be what he seems.

 

[Lemongrassv]

Even with the (much better) change from the original story, this is like...astounding in how mediocre it is. It's kind of hard to go back to cutesy high school romance cliches one chapter after you've singlehandedly stopped a war, y'know?

 

[Michael_Chandra]

@olstar Nah, I'd never dismiss your argument. That pull of yours proves you're racist, why would I ignore it?

 

[lettd]

@Michael_Chandra im not in denial

 

[Michael_Chandra]

Anyway: The pressure on people to whiten their skins is toxic, and I am glad Alphapolis decided, albeit late, to not participate in that. It's sad how many people are getting mad about them doing the right thing, but so be it.

 

[LordTartaros]

Just looking at this makes meyawn.

 

[mammaria]

maybe it's not racism (since they're all the same race) but it sure is colorism lmfao. like no matter how you try to spin it the story tried selling "dark skin is a sign of evil & if you have light skin your life will automatically get better!" liiiike?? and if they try to spin it as if they were actually saying her skin tone didn't matter all along, which i thought was the point/moral, why end up changing her skin tone then? idk it's gross. glad they took that part out even if i question whether the story will make sense now (bc weren't they following a novel?)

anyway dropped bc it's kind of all over the place, it's stressing me out and yet somehow boring me?? i have no idea how they accomplished that. it's too bad bc i like mc and i thought this had potential. thanks to the translators for all the hard work!! i agree with them, they could have just ended it on chapter 13 lol (leaving out that last page ofc)

 

[Nei]

"You are no longer a negro"
*backlash*
"OK, you may be allowed to remain negro"

The author most likely lmao

 

[zurohki]

I'd be fairly confused if I just read the updated version without reading about the change in the chapter notes.

The scenes with people reacting to her don't make sense now. They needed to be rewritten, not just hit with Photoshop.

 

[pyrolynx71]

Okay so in Japan, most people are light-skinned, right? But some people have darker skin. And a lot of light-skin people tell those darker-skinned people they’re dirty, ugly, animalistic or prone to criminal behaviour, just because their natural skin colour is darker than average.
Even in places like India or the Philippines where the majority has dark skin, people with light skin are treated as superior and prettier and better, just because they have light skin (mainly because of colonialism but that’s a whole ‘nother essay or twelve right there). Even though they are from the same race, there is discrimination based on the colour of their skin. As a Filipino, I grew up in this sort of toxic environment. I have spoken to people from India, who say they’ve been through similar things, which is why I used those examples. I’m glad that there were enough people in Japan who were compassionate enough to care about this issue and make their voices heard.

Do you see the problem with presenting dark skin as bad/a sign of evil and light skin as good/an improvement now?

 

[Heiseneko]

not every area is so hateful towards darker skins, there are areas where being white gets you treated like trash.

an example of a real event in my state:
a white guy had to ride on a public bus due to having his right leg in a full immobilizer due to surgery. that bus route tended to have mostly black people riding it and the bus route was a very busy one at all hours of the day. every day when the bus got too packed, the black people would demand that the white man give up his seat to the elderly and black disabled persons. even when there were plenty of black people who has 2 good legs and could give up their seats instead. and even when, on rare times, when the bus was mostly empty the black people would still demand that he give up his seat for other people.

in other words, don't say it is racism on darker skins all the time, it is just a bunch of idiots with inferiority complexes spreading hate towards anyone who is different from them.
you are actually more likely to find hate towards the disabled than towards people of different skin tones.

 

[Lucky5hot7]

Don't care one way or another about the reprint

Spoiler

concerning r skin color change

as I don't really care about things like that, instead love the story as a whole and looking forward to the next chapter

 

[BonFkingBon]

Ya know there's plenty of people explaining their frustration with chapter 12. Reasonably so. But I kinda also want to add in something a little different. Spoilers, by the way.

Spoiler

What kind of irks me is that, the author chose to portray MC's struggle from society's judgement because of something she couldn't have possibly controlled. It's mentioned multiple times in the manga- how she gets bashed by people by the way she looks. But as the manga furthers in with her character arc, she starts becoming more confident, hence slowly not caring about her appearance. The way she looks is slowly becoming her own uniqueness instead of a flaw.

So why the fuck did the author change something so major? I'm not even arguing for the sake of questioning the morality of the author. It seems like the author used such a touchy and difficult topic into this story to evoke emotions from the reader, but once everything is 'solved', she just throws the topic away.

Let's not argue about the character's skin color being the pinpoint then. What if MC was extremely ugly by society's standards, gets mocked by everyone, but right after going through a whole journey of bettering herself, she gets turned pretty by a goddess? Not by her own choice, or even a form of "losing weight, taking care of her skin= glow up".

Even if there weren't any racist implications, I can't help but roll my eye on this change the author made. What was even the point?

I'm aware now the author chose to change MC back after backlash from Japanese fans. Lmao, if the Japanese fans were aware of how racist the implications were, the author most definitely was also aware of the possibility of backlash. What was even the point of the change then? Smh.

 

[SomeoneConcerned]

@BonFkingBon

Spoiler

I think the point was she was shown getting over it, then, as soon as her appearance turned into something common, her parents (and other unmentioned people) started apologising. When they start doing this and she has a breakdown, it's supposed to show that it still affects her, and it will still be a problem for volume Two. I know this doesn't cover for the racism, nor does it feel right to make her efforts useless, but I understand it.

 

[BonFkingBon]

@SomeoneConcerned

Spoiler

A grand achievement of some sort, whether it be a medal, a title 'upgrade', or some form of big acknowledgement from the King could've suffice and fit the narrative you provided.

The issue I had, when it comes to a writing standpoint, was that it was her appearance that was changed. Something that you have absolutely no control of whatsoever. Isn't the entire trope of this reincarnation/isekai genre is to show the loser turned God through their hard work? That theme is integral to stories like these, and what the author chose to do just works against it. Readers are supposed to cheer for their MC through the struggle and change.

Borrowing from what you've just said, here's what I think would've happened had the author actually had that reasoning in mind. After the Light Goddess changes MC's appearance, MC feels unsure immediately. She then debates on why she wasn't feeling exactly happy about the gift she received. Right before that realization could hit, her mother invited her to talk and apologize for her poor decision. That's when it hits MC- that the Light Goddess had the galls to change MC's appearance without putting consideration in what it truly means to her.

But we all know this isn't the truth. The author decided to bring back MC's appearance, as in act like it had never happened in the first place, because of the backlash from her Japanese fans.

Now, onto the moral standpoint. I highly doubt the author wasn't aware of the implication of their choice. The discrimination against POC is literally in news media every other week, popular enough to reach all the way to Japan. And for those that are like "#AllLivesMatter, white people also get hurt!!!" It doesn't matter where you stand on that, what matters was that there's practically no benefits for either the publisher or author in her appearance change, and the fact that she was changed back later on meant they most likely regretted their decision.

I can't think of a single valid reason as to why the author chose to make this change.

It's mind boggling, and this will be my last comment in regards to this topic.

 

[KajurN]

To those who came here wondering if this is worth reading. No it's not, terrible art, bland story. One of the worst villainess manga i've read.