I'm not into mass slaughter MCs... but when they are murderers like those guys, the MC should have wiped them out. He didn't even use his erosive dragon shot. He's immortal too. There is no reason why he wouldn't win the fight. Letting them go is so retarded.
I can see how he might want to actively spare at least those who've been good to him, and passively spare those who haven't actively behaved badly.
That said, he still has plenty of useful abilities with which to dispatch the worst of the humans, as well as any representatives of the empire.
It could be argued that he wants to integrate his new abilities before going all-out, but this is the first encounter, and he had the initiative, so he could have done more than he did without danger of emptying his mana reserves.
Jesus Christ, all tourists can say is just "EDGE EDGE EDGE EDGE EDGE EDGY EDGY EDGINESS EDGE".
Expand your damn vocabulary lol 99% of the comments on this site are just so useless and don't add to any discussion whatsoever
Exactly. We see this sort of thing fairly often in manga, specifically. Is it something Japanese? Pacifism?
Here, it could also be some remaining feeling of kinship with humans who came from the same place he did.
At the same time, basically everything he remembers shows bullying.
So why would he spare the bullies?
He should at least have killed the actively murderous school mates.
Then he could have tried talking to the rest.
In WWII, Japan's Military did to the Koreans, Chinese, and anybody else "not Japanese" (and therefore not human) similar things to what the Nazis did to Jews, Romani, Homosexuals, political rivals, and anyone unwanted in the Reich... and for much the same reason.
Japan, during the first part of the Showa Era, believed that anyone who was not specifically "Japanese" in their ancestry was not legally a human being; the word for Korean was actually combined with the word for cockroach as the official government name for the people of Korea in the 1800s, which led to some bad things (spoiler below).
The Japanese people still hold this to be true in many ways; European faces are, to this day, banned from some primary schools, as they are considered hideously ugly to the point of terrifying children... and people have experienced this, first-hand; feel free to check.
If you have that kind of face, and with ears and a tail? Maybe add fur to the face? Wings?
Almost no Japanese person raosed like that would consider this being to be a human... and (as in this story) if they are told that they aren't human, and that they are merely violent animals or demons?
No problem; just kill them; they aren't even human.
Right?
Now that may cover the lack of empathy to some degree, but the real kicker was the lived history of Japan in the way that belief and worldview was implemented (and later ignored) in WWII against civilian populations.
In Korea and China for example, it was systematic, but could also be random; maybe you're safe today, maybe you're not.
There are multiple examples
They (Japanese soldiers, politicians, and businessmen) used Korean women from age Seven to Seventy as sex slaves, and then would cut (or have someone cut) the unborn baby from their womb, throw them in the faces of the "mothers," and then they would bayonet them both as "punishment" for being pregnant; they did this in the street, for all to see; they took pictures of it, to brag.
They would also, if they felt like it, break into your house and drag your wife, daughter, and mother into the street and gang rape them... usually forcing you to watch, and then castrate you, shove your severed penis into your mouth, and take turns bayonetting you, making jokes and talking shit while you die.
All while taking pictures to show how superior the Japanese soldier is compared to any other soldier.
And laughing. Of course.
There are literally thousands of accounts of this, accompanied by photographs of them doing it, usually with huge smiles; some were even published in newspapers.
And I am not exaggerating when I say that it was actually worse in China; the "Rape of Nanking" has never been fully investigated by anyone except China and the USA... and the US kinda dropped the ball on post-war education with Japan.
The USA felt that dropping an Atomic bomb on a couple cities got their attention enough for them to stop, and they made it very clear that there were more where that came from if they ever participated in such practices again, and the Japanese, as a people, agreed to change.
And they did.
Every child raised after 1946 was taught that Japan is a peaceful nation of laws, and that they should never go to war...
And that the war kinda never really happened.
It was just a big mistake, really.
And it wasn't their fault, really.
I mean, it wasn't anybody's fault, really.
And Japan would never do those things in the first place, honestly.
And, most importantly, that Grandpa didn't torture people; not really.
...
They completely avoided any form of responsibility; after all, if it isn't the Emperors fault, then it must be some other gods fault! And, if there aren't any gods, then it's probably nobody's fault.
But it's definitely not grandpa's fault the he raped, tortured, and murdered civilians for fun! Grandpa is too nice!
Plus, the US really needed some air bases, what with the USSR being right there, and with China suddenly going Communist, when they thought China was a safe bet for Ally-ship... (largest Ally in WWII, actually; good buddies, lots of love, and then...)
The US totally let Japanese educational reform just kinda... slide.
So, Japan has no curriculum about the holocaust, no teachings about sneak attacking the US, no teaching about sneak attacking the Russian Empire and over-running the Chinese and Korean borders, about taking Koreans as slaves, about... any of it. (Unless that changed in the last 2 years, but... it hasn't)
So, really...
They're writing what they know: if you rape and murder children or adults, it's just "something that happens."
Sho ga nai; it can't be helped.
And they historical evidence to prove it! (Largely supported by the Western racist idea of them being "savages" that can be "taught our ways," and white American guilt over having dropped the literal Sun on a couple hundred thousand people)
Besides, even though Japan used bombing to kill millions of Chinese people, and the firebombing of Tokyo alone killed something like 750,000 more people than Fat Man and Little Boy combined... the word radiation scares people, so that means the US is "bad." (I mean, just say "No" to nukes, kids! I hate nukes, but the ones that hit Japan weren't bad enough to get worked up over; the firebombing was way worse, but... well, you can see fire yanno?
Anyway
Since they can prove that this behavior is internationally recognized as "acceptable enough" to at least not have to even admit they did it, Japanese manga has their MC often just shrug off shit like what we saw in this chapter, even though anyone with an ounce of human compassion would damn near, if not certainly, be broken and screaming to be holding a child, with whom they had just been playing, dead in their arms.
As a final note, the average Japanese person has a basic amount of compassion; I'm talking only about the societal impetus that brought about this specific trope, and I am not Not NOT trying to condemn the current people of Japan for the sins of their forefathers. That would be fucked up.
In summary, there are some deep reasons for this societal disconnect, and they are signs of a potentially serious problem... buy it's a problem that can actually be addressed! And there are people trying to cause Japan to change and address this; they are working hard to this very day. I know German people, from Germany; I have seen how their holocaust education has benefited the German People; they know evil when they see it, and they know themselves to be decent people despite their history, and I would love for Japan to learn that almost as much I would love for my own country learning this same lesson.
(Keywords to Google, if allowed in your country: Rape of Nanking, Comfort Women, Japanese Atrocities WWII; I also tried to make sure to use the right words for a Google search in the body of my response. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.)
Lazy answer?
Since edgelords foolishly mistake compassion for weakness, we end up with this bullshit from (evidently) an edgelord mangaka.
In WWII, Japan's Military did to the Koreans, Chinese, and anybody else "not Japanese" (and therefore not human) similar things to what the Nazis did to Jews, Romani, Homosexuals, political rivals, and anyone unwanted in the Reich... and for much the same reason.
Japan, during the first part of the Showa Era, believed that anyone who was not specifically "Japanese" in their ancestry was not legally a human being; the word for Korean was actually combined with the word for cockroach as the official government name for the people of Korea in the 1800s, which led to some bad things (spoiler below).
The Japanese people still hold this to be true in many ways; European faces are, to this day, banned from some primary schools, as they are considered hideously ugly to the point of terrifying children... and people have experienced this, first-hand; feel free to check.
If you have that kind of face, and with ears and a tail? Maybe add fur to the face? Wings?
Almost no Japanese person raosed like that would consider this being to be a human... and (as in this story) if they are told that they aren't human, and that they are merely violent animals or demons?
No problem; just kill them; they aren't even human.
Right?
Now that may cover the lack of empathy to some degree, but the real kicker was the lived history of Japan in the way that belief and worldview was implemented (and later ignored) in WWII against civilian populations.
In Korea and China for example, it was systematic, but could also be random; maybe you're safe today, maybe you're not.
There are multiple examples
They (Japanese soldiers, politicians, and businessmen) used Korean women from age Seven to Seventy as sex slaves, and then would cut (or have someone cut) the unborn baby from their womb, throw them in the faces of the "mothers," and then they would bayonet them both as "punishment" for being pregnant; they did this in the street, for all to see; they took pictures of it, to brag.
They would also, if they felt like it, break into your house and drag your wife, daughter, and mother into the street and gang rape them... usually forcing you to watch, and then castrate you, shove your severed penis into your mouth, and take turns bayonetting you, making jokes and talking shit while you die.
All while taking pictures to show how superior the Japanese soldier is compared to any other soldier.
And laughing. Of course.
There are literally thousands of accounts of this, accompanied by photographs of them doing it, usually with huge smiles; some were even published in newspapers.
And I am not exaggerating when I say that it was actually worse in China; the "Rape of Nanking" has never been fully investigated by anyone except China and the USA... and the US kinda dropped the ball on post-war education with Japan.
The USA felt that dropping an Atomic bomb on a couple cities got their attention enough for them to stop, and they made it very clear that there were more where that came from if they ever participated in such practices again, and the Japanese, as a people, agreed to change.
And they did.
Every child raised after 1946 was taught that Japan is a peaceful nation of laws, and that they should never go to war...
And that the war kinda never really happened.
It was just a big mistake, really.
And it wasn't their fault, really.
I mean, it wasn't anybody's fault, really.
And Japan would never do those things in the first place, honestly.
And, most importantly, that Grandpa didn't torture people; not really.
...
They completely avoided any form of responsibility; after all, if it isn't the Emperors fault, then it must be some other gods fault! And, if there aren't any gods, then it's probably nobody's fault.
But it's definitely not grandpa's fault the he raped, tortured, and murdered civilians for fun! Grandpa is too nice!
Plus, the US really needed some air bases, what with the USSR being right there, and with China suddenly going Communist, when they thought China was a safe bet for Ally-ship... (largest Ally in WWII, actually; good buddies, lots of love, and then...)
The US totally let Japanese educational reform just kinda... slide.
So, Japan has no curriculum about the holocaust, no teachings about sneak attacking the US, no teaching about sneak attacking the Russian Empire and over-running the Chinese and Korean borders, about taking Koreans as slaves, about... any of it. (Unless that changed in the last 2 years, but... it hasn't)
So, really...
They're writing what they know: if you rape and murder children or adults, it's just "something that happens."
Sho ga nai; it can't be helped.
And they historical evidence to prove it! (Largely supported by the Western racist idea of them being "savages" that can be "taught our ways," and white American guilt over having dropped the literal Sun on a couple hundred thousand people)
Besides, even though Japan used bombing to kill millions of Chinese people, and the firebombing of Tokyo alone killed something like 750,000 more people than Fat Man and Little Boy combined... the word radiation scares people, so that means the US is "bad." (I mean, just say "No" to nukes, kids! I hate nukes, but the ones that hit Japan weren't bad enough to get worked up over; the firebombing was way worse, but... well, you can see fire yanno?
Anyway
Since they can prove that this behavior is internationally recognized as "acceptable enough" to at least not have to even admit they did it, Japanese manga has their MC often just shrug off shit like what we saw in this chapter, even though anyone with an ounce of human compassion would damn near, if not certainly, be broken and screaming to be holding a child, with whom they had just been playing, dead in their arms.
As a final note, the average Japanese person has a basic amount of compassion; I'm talking only about the societal impetus that brought about this specific trope, and I am not Not NOT trying to condemn the current people of Japan for the sins of their forefathers. That would be fucked up.
In summary, there are some deep reasons for this societal disconnect, and they are signs of a potentially serious problem... buy it's a problem that can actually be addressed! And there are people trying to cause Japan to change and address this; they are working hard to this very day. I know German people, from Germany; I have seen how their holocaust education has benefited the German People; they know evil when they see it, and they know themselves to be decent people despite their history, and I would love for Japan to learn that almost as much I would love for my own country learning this same lesson.
(Keywords to Google, if allowed in your country: Rape of Nanking, Comfort Women, Japanese Atrocities WWII; I also tried to make sure to use the right words for a Google search in the body of my response. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.)
Lazy answer?
Since edgelords foolishly mistake compassion for weakness, we end up with this bullshit from (evidently) an edgelord mangaka.
Good answer. Walls of text are justice, as some might say?
It's actually interesting to see such effects of recent German politics/history, as that they've turned out to be more resistant to European neo-nazi resurgence waves, than basically any other country.
So yes, information helps - sometimes.
Good answer. Walls of text are justice, as some might say?
It's actually interesting to see such effects of recent German politics/history, as that they've turned out to be more resistant to European neo-nazi resurgence waves, than basically any other country.
So yes, information helps - sometimes.
Oh, I do what I can; Japan is an interesting place, but like anywhere it has its own issues... which are sometimes surprising, like with this matter here.
I find it concerning that a sparse 10 years after America deleted holocaust education and basic equality from their school systems, they immediately elected an unrepentant child-raping Nazi to the highest office, but hopefully he has a stroke soon.
Germany seems to have really gotten it right; it is my sincerest hope that... other places can do so in the future, as well.
Providing those places have a future... 🙄
