Mairimashita! Iruma-kun - Vol. 17 Ch. 149 - Pixie's Melody

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@Chrona I agree with you that there should've been some mention of a performance from him prior to this, yeah. Especially since the author did a good job higing Purson in plain sight until now. And the One Piece comparison is definitely fair.

But, to be honest, I think you're being a little too harsh. Yes, this is a shonen, so the target demographic are young boys. But people of all ages read shonen manga, and companies are more than aware of that. Maybe kids won't get the reference, but what you're saying implies that most kids would even really care about that. It's only when they grow up and perhaps give the series a reread that they'll wonder why Soi suddenly has a trumpet. Then they'll come across the Ars Goetia. Just cause it's a shonen manga doesn't mean that it can't have bonus references for adults.
 
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why does everything need to be foreshadowed for you? Having foreshadowing is cool but not having it isn't a vice. At the very least, there's no contradictions with the added information.

First, not everything needs to be foreshadowed. Foreshadowing shows a great deal of planning that is satisfying for most readers who actively engage in the logic of the world, but it's one tool among many. As with all things in art there's grey area. Here foreshadowing is the difference between a pleasant surprise and an asspull. This feels like an asspull, because of the following. We are introduced to a problem 3 chapters back (the musical performance and the students ranks), this introduces the main problem of the last two chapters, Purson. Purson's problem is that his ability excels at not being noticed. The solution to the problem is given this chapter, Purson happens to be the source of the most famous music on campus(the mystical Pixie)!

This is were the "contradiction" you mentioned occurs. If the Pixie's music is so famous and loud that 1. everyone knows about it and 2. everyone knows the time it occurs (to the point that clubs can tell when they're supposed to stop for the day.) then why hasn't this been mentioned at all up to this point? Iruma has been at the school as late as 5 for his club activities and reading to president. Why have we not heard about this until now? It's loud enough that anybody can hear it no matter where they are at in the school right? Why didn't Iruma hear it at any point up to this time?
 
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@Koni
But, to be honest, I think you're being a little too harsh. Yes, this is a shonen, so the target demographic are young boys. But people of all ages read shonen manga, and companies are more than aware of that. Maybe kids won't get the reference, but what you're saying implies that most kids would even really care about that.
Kids will care, they won't be able to explain why they don't like it, and it doesn't outright ruin the story like a certain other Shounen I can think of, but they will care. Kids are unknowledgeable not stupid. In the words of Mr. Plinkett "you may not have noticed it, but your brain did." If kids had no standards and only liked things randomly, there's no reason any particular story would be more popular than another. One Piece is very obviously better written than this, and it gets better praise for it.

It's only when they grow up and perhaps give the series a reread that they'll wonder why Soi suddenly has a trumpet. Then they'll come across the Ars Goetia.
They'll be able to verbalize to themselves as adults their feeling of confusion overwhy Soi suddenly has a trumpet, but they noticed as children. And there's no guarantee that a Japanese adult will ever read Ars Goetia in their life.

Just cause it's a shonen manga doesn't mean that it can't have bonus references for adults.
At no point did I imply otherwise. References are cool, I like them a lot. It makes world building easier and makes it more rewarding for those who read other works. References should not nor can they replace foreshadowing or proper storytelling. You should be able to have both good foreshadowing and good references. There's no reason they should be mutually exclusive. Again, while cool, and a nice reference to know, that doesn't excuse the lack of foreshadowing.
 
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@Chrona Purson's music hasn't been even remotely relevant to the plot of the story until now. Sure, we may have been at the school past 5 PM a few times, but at those times, we've always been in some other plot-relevant event. Do you really think the author would pull away from reading with Amelie to point out something right out of left field? Additionally, the way the characters act when Purson plays means that this is a common occurrence, almost like a bell ringing on the hour to tell us the time. Why would the author pull us away from whatever's happening to make a point of this common occurrence unless it was directly related to the plot? Pointing it out would break the immersion of whatever we were doing at the time, and would interrupt the plot in a pretty ham-fisted way.

In conclusion, stop bitching and enjoy the story. Not everything needs to be hidden in plain sight (as Purson himself was), and not everything **can** be foreshadowed either.
 
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It's just amazing how the first page is basically ALL of Kuroko's lines ever.
 
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@ Fischboy
Purson himself wasn't relevant to the plot until now. Why was he foreshadowed? Maybe because it would be an asspull to add a new character out of the blue? It's almost as if the author understands these things need set up.
Sure, we may have been at the school past 5 PM a few times, but at those times, we've always been in some other plot-relevant event. Do you really think the author would pull away from reading with Amelie to point out something right out of left field?
dditionally, the way the characters act when Purson plays means that this is a common occurrence, almost like a bell ringing on the hour to tell us the time. Why would the author pull us away from whatever's happening to make a point of this common occurrence unless it was directly related to the plot
There's a simple resolution to this, he stops reading when he hears the trumpet. "Oh Amelie, do you hear that? That's the pixie, I guess story time is over for the day." Did you see what I did there? I integrated foreshadowing without taking away from the subject of the scene. He only had to do this once.
dditionally, the way the characters act when Purson plays means that this is a common occurrence, almost like a bell ringing on the hour to tell us the time. Why would the author pull us away from whatever's happening to make a point of this common occurrence unless it was directly related to the plot
You have it fundamentally backwards. It's because it was directly related to the plot now that it should have been mentioned earlier. If Iruma showed up next chapter with Hell's Tuba, the most powerful and beautiful music instrument in the underworld that will guarantee make their musical performance a success, would you find that an asspull? Why? Is it because there was no mention of it previous?

In conclusion, stop bitching and enjoy the story. Not everything needs to be hidden in plain sight (as Purson himself was), and not everything **can** be foreshadowed either.
You're arguing it was impossible for the author to foreshadow the pixie but not for him to foreshadow Purson himself? That's pretty self-contradictory.
 
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*flashbacks to la corda d'oro

i hope he's playing gavotte.
 
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His older brother must be a bad guy right, because I have read so much cliche shonen stuff that their is no way that they can't just leave off the sibling rivalry/faceoff.
 
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@tyson288
Of course he's a bad guy. His family said specifically them being criminals would break the underworlds equilibrium. That means he is most definitely a criminal and most definitely going to break the equilibrium. Only instance this wouldn't be the case is if he's secretly a spy working for the government pretending to be a criminal.
 
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tenor.gif
 
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it... it's so ridiculous, but it's also so heavy. why is his family situation such a meme filled with sadness??????
also... props to his brother
 
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older bro prolly just ran away from the responsibility and being a neet somehwere xD
 

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