Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2023
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- 2,452
No fan scanlator picked up the series after chapter 20-something. Other aggregator sites that have anything past that, got them from J-Novel Club (those officially holding the license for English translation and distribution). Mangadex doesn't deal in uploading licensed translations unless their licenses expired.
I don't think that's it. Holly-- and perhaps Itou and Saitou-- were also "competitors", but rather than have them be decommissioned by senseless violence or even just killing them, the writer just doesn't engineer any serious romantic intrigue between any of them and Arata, while also making Jibril get active.
Sophie's brutalization also didn't happen in isolation-- Sophie got kidnapped along with Hakim, and Hakim got himself murdered to keep everyone else safe. The reason they got kidnapped in the first place was because the rest of the group let their guard down and didn't consider assigning any security personnel while they went to goof off in one of their matchmaker games.
It's true that she was the strongest "competitor" apart from Jibril, but the fact that there were other ways of taking her out of the "race"-- and the fact that the others just don't get enough or any bones thrown their way instead of getting absolutely brutalized-- suggests to me that the traumatic experience was meant for conventional purposes (demonstrating the moral and mental degeneration of the perpetrator while forcing a conflict onto the protagonist), and the author considered it proper to not have her continue to be a competitor after that.
I don't have intrinsic scruples about age-gap romances in fiction. Actually, they're pretty good when they're done well, and at least this narrative had Arata being told that he needed to at least respect Jibril's feelings instead of hiding behind "what would people think", even if it was in service of preparing Arata to reciprocate Jibril's affection. That said, the way that literally every onlooker to this subplot is completely okay with it is somewhat uncanny. I mean, Jibril's origin culture already deemed her a woman of marriage age, but that's just the culture of her and the other kids. The other kids that are in on it just think it's fun to play matchmaker, and Gini in particular is looking out for her friend.
Why is Omar plainly amused by their shenanigans, as if Jibril was on the same standing as someone like Holly (an adult)? Is he also from that region of Tajikistan? Along with Arata, though, he considers the two of them fathers to these children-- but fine, that declaration obviously has to have a limited sense since Jibril views Arata as a man.
Putting that aside, why is Holly okay with it? Are her origin culture's standards similar in that regard? Doubtful. Does she just think of Jibril (and the other kids, by extension) as though they may as well be adults since they're mercenaries? But they still consider them children and plan for them with that mindset. Is everyone that observes this just okay with it because they know Arata won't mistreat her? Fair enough, they're right. Even at the end, he never goes full throttle-- he's just been worn down enough and barely "conquered" by the indomitable Tajikistani spirit*. Is it because they recognize that Arata's being one-sidedly aggressed on by Jibril, and they think it's funny? 'Cause it is.
*Not only did I not like fixating-- and spending this many words-- on this specific aspect of the narrative instead of general narrative, I think I fixated on it long enough to draw a somewhat convincing parallel to Arata's army ultimately causing the Chinese to be forced into a holding position of weakness... with Jibril's strategic and relentless "assault" on Arata's spirit pulling him into a "holding position" where he's willing to properly reciprocate her feelings once she becomes a proper adult.
Why is Omar plainly amused by their shenanigans, as if Jibril was on the same standing as someone like Holly (an adult)? Is he also from that region of Tajikistan? Along with Arata, though, he considers the two of them fathers to these children-- but fine, that declaration obviously has to have a limited sense since Jibril views Arata as a man.
Putting that aside, why is Holly okay with it? Are her origin culture's standards similar in that regard? Doubtful. Does she just think of Jibril (and the other kids, by extension) as though they may as well be adults since they're mercenaries? But they still consider them children and plan for them with that mindset. Is everyone that observes this just okay with it because they know Arata won't mistreat her? Fair enough, they're right. Even at the end, he never goes full throttle-- he's just been worn down enough and barely "conquered" by the indomitable Tajikistani spirit*. Is it because they recognize that Arata's being one-sidedly aggressed on by Jibril, and they think it's funny? 'Cause it is.
*Not only did I not like fixating-- and spending this many words-- on this specific aspect of the narrative instead of general narrative, I think I fixated on it long enough to draw a somewhat convincing parallel to Arata's army ultimately causing the Chinese to be forced into a holding position of weakness... with Jibril's strategic and relentless "assault" on Arata's spirit pulling him into a "holding position" where he's willing to properly reciprocate her feelings once she becomes a proper adult.
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