Mahou Shoujo × Haiboku Saiban - Ch. 11 - Case 4 Oribe Yahiro Part 4

[rspkers]

The punishment for the girl who only wnated to be a bride is way too harsh and made me sad.

But the spider coochie attack made me laugh, so now I'm back to neutral.

 

[poppadoc]

So a magical girl suffering defeat harms the dignity of all magical girls, but the organization (allegedly) run by magical girls hosting a ppv live stream of a girl being raped to death doesn't? I know I'm overanalyzing an ero manga, but I feel like the plot would make more sense if the trials and punishments were carried out in secret. The punishments are so ludicrously cruel and enough of them are done publicly that average people should know how heartless the organization is.

 

[DLRevan]

So a magical girl suffering defeat harms the dignity of all magical girls, but the organization (allegedly) run by magical girls hosting a ppv live stream of a girl being raped to death doesn't? I know I'm overanalyzing an ero manga, but I feel like the plot would make more sense if the trials and punishments were carried out in secret. The punishments are so ludicrously cruel and enough of them are done publicly that average people should know how heartless the organization is.

If you didn't overanalyse, then the answer is every punishment is a specific hentai bad end trope. As ridiculous as this one sounds this time in comparison to the others, it's a pretty 'normal' bad end for the genre, no?

But if you do want to get into it, then I'd say the difference is the dignity of magical girls versus the dignity of a known failure like this. By specifically doing this to her in this context, they emphasize that she is different from other magical girls, only she is at fault, only her dignity is on the line.

The whole court system is actually set up just for that purpose. Its very public, the transgressions of the individual is emphasized. There is zero ambiguity as to the cause, instead of the murky discussions that can form in public. The system exists to protect the reputation of magical girls on the whole, at the cost of (usually unfairly) sacrificing individual ones.

If they did it in secret, then it becomes ambiguous again. People can claim the magical girls are keeping the sentenced girl quiet and out of the way while pretending to punish her. Magical girls would been seen as having no accountability...even if the public's idea of accountability is unreasonable to begin with. It's ridiculous and unfair in the first place that a group of young girls have to risk their lives and chasity so that millions of other people can just go about their lives with no obligations or price to pay other than maybe a bit of taxes. In a pre-modern society they would literally be the rulers of whole nations in exchange for that.

As Yuuri says, true justice and the law aren't necessarily the same thing. So if not justice, then what's the purpose of the law in this case? It does, in fact, protect magical girls...as an institution that is. This is not the same as real life. Sometimes sentences are handed out in modern courts as deterrence, but for the most part the system is (at least on paper) intended to apply correction to individuals, and protect society at large and not any particular institution. Under those principles, then there is certainly no reason for a punishment displayed publicly.

This of course gives our defense attorney an out for her cases. Ultimately, the trial's format also works in her favor...specifics of the law aside, all she has to do is very publicly prove the magical girl, as an individual, was not at fault, on purely a cause and effect basis. By the way, that's subtly different from having "no choice but to lose". The latter is still her 'fault', even if unfair. Yuuri has to prove not only did the girl have no choice, but that the loss really had nothing to do whatsoever with the individual's choices, decisions, personal circumstances, and even her skill as a magical girl, like when she proved one of the previous magical girls was let down by faulty third party equipment.

Though it looks like this particular case might end up differently. It looks like they're angling towards a one-off where yes, the magical girl did indeed choose to surrender, but the court can't sentence her without admitting that they, the representative body of all magical girls, allowed themselves to be manipulated by an evil organization. Which would defeat the purpose of this system.

TLDR: These aren't punishments. They're excising's of unfitting individuals. Defense isn't proving innocence, they're proving that magical girl reputations aren't affected.

 

[Bireus]

Yeah sure. To "hate".

No I'm with them. This is aggravating as fuck, using magical girls as a means of sex props to determine judgement in a turnabout trial when they "lose" and have to prove their innocence, just to hope they don't lose what's left of it

 

[MidnighTea]

It's possible to think these punishments are completely fucked (no pun intended) while still enjoying the story and setting. I do think that it is completely fucked up is intentional though. Depiction isn't endorsement. And I do think this story is ultimately about one lawyer standing up against a fucked up system, since that's a classic setup.

(and yes I do think it's meant to be hot and lewd and enjoyable to people with certain dark kinks. That's not in contradiction to having a goal for the story. A couple of mine have been hit already so I'm here for everything the author is cooking.)

 

[nisashi13]

i wonder when we will get dark mahou shoujo's arc but this system is asking mahou shoujo to defecting to the bad guy side.

 

[runedKnight]

The case may be resolved in Yahiro's favor now. The gun exists to kill magical girls. Why didn't it work?
Because Yahiro wasn't transformed into a magical girl at that time, therefore it's a mistrial since it doesn't count. Much like Aoi taking the punch to the face a few chapter earlier.

 

[KuroZer0]

Kyuubei: …. Wtf.

 

[WTFits]

My guess is that Yahiro was still wearing her magical girl outfit underneath the Masked Braver costume, and that the gun dispelled her transformation.

On a different note, don't forget that this is all based on the Japanese legal system, where the goal isn't to determine innocence or guilt, it's to ensure that someone is held accountable and punished. At which point the people in charge can say, "See? We're getting results, so the system works," and smugly pat themselves on the back, regardless of what the actual truth is.

 

[DeadToReal]

The case may be resolved in Yahiro's favor now. The gun exists to kill magical girls. Why didn't it work?
Because Yahiro wasn't transformed into a magical girl at that time, therefore it's a mistrial since it doesn't count. Much like Aoi taking the punch to the face a few chapter earlier.

I thought DLRevan had a good theory about invalidating/blackmailing the court about relying on a villain's testimony, but yours makes sense, too.

PS, are you translating any other manga? I can't check since you're not in a group.

 

[Tchako]

If they did it in secret, then it becomes ambiguous again. People can claim the magical girls are keeping the sentenced girl quiet and out of the way while pretending to punish her. Magical girls would been seen as having no accountability...

Surely there must be a middle-ground between "pretending to sentence someone while sending them in a deluxe jail cell/ on witness protection" and "getting fucked to death by a horsebug with a man's face 24/7 while being streamed".
Something milder, like, I don't know, crucifixion or the gallows.

 

[DeadToReal]

Surely there must be a middle-ground between "pretending to sentence someone while sending them in a deluxe jail cell/ on witness protection" and "getting fucked to death by a horsebug with a man's face 24/7 while being streamed".
Something milder, like, I don't know, crucifixion or the gallows.

Would being raped and giving birth to tentacle monsters count as middle ground?

 

[Monstrengo]

Aoi and Yahiro both suffer from transformations that are especially shameful.
I hope after the trial the two can bond and become close friends.

At the very least, Shou-chan is very likely going to fall in love with Aoi-kun. He got a good view of her in action. Twice.

I do wonder if the artist is going to run out of any ideas for punishments? Will the next sentences get lamer and lamer?

 

[runedKnight]

I thought DLRevan had a good theory about invalidating/blackmailing the court about relying on a villain's testimony, but yours makes sense, too.

PS, are you translating any other manga? I can't check since you're not in a group.

Nothing expect this at the moment.
I really liked the setting since there isn't anything like it at the moment, after the previous group dropped it I just slipped in. This is the first manga I'm translating actually.

Honestly, this author creates a more dread filled atmosphere than some horror stories do which is why I thought It would be nice to continue a translation.

 

[runedKnight]

At the very least, Shou-chan is very likely going to fall in love with Aoi-kun. He got a good view of her in action. Twice.

I do wonder if the artist is going to run out of any ideas for punishments? Will the next sentences get lamer and lamer?

I somehow doubt it. If anything I'm mostly expecting things to get more unhinged as the series progresses knowing the author's background.

 

[Phaaze]

Aoi and Yahiro both suffer from transformations that are especially shameful.

If you dig a little deeper, it's only the combat-oriented girls with these quirks...

 

[MidnighTea]

On a different note, don't forget that this is all based on the Japanese legal system, where the goal isn't to determine innocence or guilt, it's to ensure that someone is held accountable and punished. At which point the people in charge can say, "See? We're getting results, so the system works," and smugly pat themselves on the back, regardless of what the actual truth is.

I can't speak for other nations or even most other states in the nation I'm in (the USA) but I can 100% say with secondhand personal experience with family working in the criminal the legal system... honestly, just as bad here if not worse in some ways. Though it's more like the USA's court system is designed to mass produce plea bargains without regards to innocence or guilt. With severe punishment ultimately handed down to even innocent people for making the state process it through a courtroom at all. The only people actually winding up engaging in a formal criminal trial are those almost certain they can shoot for a mistrial or have nothing to lose and have a defense lawyer with balls of steel. Or just want a better plea deal than the initial one. (which again, innocent people are usually pushed into taking regardless of their actual innocence or whether justice has been done)

tl;dr -- criminal justice usually ain't

If the USA's approach to criminal trials were enacted in this setting, it'd be somehow even bleaker because no chapter would ever have a happy ending. Our lawyer protagonist would be basically haggling with the prosecution to only subject their client to a fraction of truly Hellish punishments each time, even if she otherwise proved the possibility of their innocence. On the flip side there'd be a jury full of fellow magical girls more likely to give a just verdict, but the system would do its utmost to prevent them from being the ones determining the trial's outcome.

 

[Trippersigs22]

That's the point though, and it happens in many stories with superpowers. When you have a bunch of superpowered beings in charge, the opinion of normals or those less powerful means nothing. It's not like you can do anything about it, just accept your lot or be annihilated, possibly beyond death, by those better than you.

Wtf are you even talking about lol?

 

[DLRevan]

Surely there must be a middle-ground between "pretending to sentence someone while sending them in a deluxe jail cell/ on witness protection" and "getting fucked to death by a horsebug with a man's face 24/7 while being streamed".
Something milder, like, I don't know, crucifixion or the gallows.

Well it's still a gag manga about magical girls.

Within that realm I personally consider it well within allowance that the 'punishment' is a very targeted humiliation catered to both the girl's profile and her offence to extract maximum satisfaction from even the most extreme commentators. While also making clear she's a singular bad exception among magical girls.

 

[DLRevan]

My guess is that Yahiro was still wearing her magical girl outfit underneath the Masked Braver costume, and that the gun dispelled her transformation.

On a different note, don't forget that this is all based on the Japanese legal system, where the goal isn't to determine innocence or guilt, it's to ensure that someone is held accountable and punished. At which point the people in charge can say, "See? We're getting results, so the system works," and smugly pat themselves on the back, regardless of what the actual truth is.

This is both sort of true, and also not.

When a case goes to trial in Japan, the judge/state will often impose sentences than lean more towards deterrence than just purely correction. In this way, the offender can serve as an example towards society, and this isn't surprising in Japan's cultural context (or that of many other Asian countries, which also do the same). So 'results' do have some importance in the legal system.

However, thanks to a lot of bored western 'investigative journalists' and even legal institutions who just feel they HAVE to have an opinion about another country's system, it has been very easy over the years to skew perceptions as if Japan's legal system is specifically designed to 'create results'. This is not true. What a lot of these reports fail to mention about prosecutions is how many prosecutions actually happen and how many criminal cases actually get prosecuted.

I'm sure many people have heard about the infamous 99.9% conviction rate. In reality, it is not a particularly special statistic. In the USA for example, the rate is something like 95% for cases that go to trial, and less than 1% are actually full acquittals. And in Japan, very few cases get prosecuted in the first place, fewer than a third. Cases only go to trial if prosecutors are absolutely certain they can win. You can argue that's to 'save face' rather than to save the state's resources (prosecutors can and will be punished by the judge if they bring superfluous or ill-prepared cases for the latter reason), but it's also not like the criminals go scot-free. Mediation and police orders serve the rest. Given Japan's low crime rate, these are reasonable and proven measures.

If you want to finger cultural difference as a factor for why things work this way, another thing that people often leave out is that Japanese don't believe in a black and white guilty/not-guilty world like western societies. In almost every case, it's believed that everyone shares some fault. Someone shoplifts is not just a clear cut case of thievery. The shop was not vigilant enough. The parenting and schooling of the culprit was inadequate. Police didn't deter such activities enough. Even the government is at fault, for not creating an environment where one doesn't feel they have to steal.

To specifically prosecute only the actual culprit is to absolve all others of blame. To Japanese, that is an unfair result. You will never see a case go to trial where the culprit can claim they were pressured by living circumstances or the influence of others or something similar. It has to be extremely clean and especially heinously-minded and inexcusable on the part of the individual.

If you understand that, you realize why this manga is even funnier as a parody to Japanese readers. One of the gags behind this manga is basically about how everyone else is trying to wash themselves of each defendant...the magical girls, bystanders, society at large.

If you want to bring up police and how they tackle cases, I do allow that they can be particularly harsh and aren't obligated to recognize what may be considered individual rights in particularly western countries. But I've never been to a western country that didn't have at least some of the the same issues, like quietly (or loudly) pressuring people to give testimony without legal representation, or holding people extensively for minor infractions. So go figure. Police getting involved in Japan is also considered a somewhat bigger deal anyway, by rights people should tolerate each other, and everyone has a responsibility to uphold society. Japanese self-police far better than most, so conversely police action when it happens is expected to be harsh. There is also yakuza influence which bleeds into the police's culture. But this has not much to do with how the overall legal system is setup and run, except to ensure that gang members don't end up on trial.