Otsubone Reijou to Shiyuka no Kisetsu - Ch. 5
- Thread starter MangaDex
- Start date
The protagonist is a sensible lady, a rarity for this kind of manga. A pity that she is starred in the story with the "sad background" trope. Would have been nice if that trope got removed instead, since she clearly does not need it to define her.
I feel like her and a lot of other characters in this are sort of stock characters who have been fleshed out to be more interesting and realistic.
Which to me is interesting, it's interesting to see implausible archetypes reworked so they make more sense and maybe relate more to actual people.
Sensible female protagonists are quite rare in shoujo/josei manga, so it's rather disrespectful of you to call characters like her "stock characters". No point in creating relate character if the setting and writing are terrible.
It's true that there aren't a lot of shoujo MCs like Arelira but there are a ton of shoujo MCs who are supposed to be like her.
I've seen a bunch of stories like this:
1. MC is (supposedly) sensible and ridiculously competent but unpopular because she doesn't smile enough or something
2. She has been training since young to compensate for her incompetent fiance (usually the crown prince.)
3. Said fiance breaks off their engagement at a party, announcing that he's going to marry a cutesy commoner/baron's daughter.
3. He accuses her of bullying his new fiancee and banishes her or sends her to a nunnery or something.
4. It turns out MC was secretly singlehandedly running the country/his family's estate/whatever and it all crumbles without her.
5. Also his new fiancee falsely accused MC and maybe her baron dad is evil.
6. At some point old fiancee realizes how ✨perfect✨ MC is and tries to get back with her.
What I'm saying is that the author is took beats from this formula but did a bunch of cool stuff to make the characters novel and fleshed out and interesting.
Arelira actually seems competent and sensible because they cut the parts of the first formula that make other "smart" MCs seem dumb, acknowledge that she isn't actually ✨perfect✨, have her strive to improve herself, etc.
Bomborino and Arha are awesome because they clearly belong to archetypes designed to be one-dimensional jerks. I think it's impressive that the author managed to make them likeable but still recognizable as the dumb ex-fiance and cutesy daughter of an evil (looking) baron.
All that to say I wasn't trying to be insulting when I said stock character. I think taking an archetype most people use as is and fleshing them out so they seem more like a real person (Arelira) or so that they actually make sense or are less predictable (Bomborino and Arha) takes a lot of skill.
It may have started out that way, but as we got introduced to the ex-fiance, it seems most of the sad background was Arelira's own bias.
She has a loving family, a suitable husband, an apologetic ex-fiance who bankrolled her career, and is widely respected for her competence. It was even hinted that her lack of suitors was due to people thinking she's way out of their leagues.
TLDR the trope did get subverted and removed, I'm loving the comfy office romance vibes
Nah. The sad background trope that I am referring to is the "broken engagement" plot that is so common in shoujo manga nowadays. Someone like her should be placed in a proper story without that nonsense.
Please do not confused her with those pathetic mc. You are still insulting her. What, can't a female character be competent and sensible without you putting her down just because you think the author "cut" the parts of the formula that make other smart mc seem dumb so that Arelira would appear competent and sensible? Fleshing characters out is actually a norm for those with good writings. But unfortunately modern shoujo/josei manga aren't (either they are lazy or refuses to improve). It's no wonder why characters like Arelira are more common in Seinen instead.
