Shokei Shoujo no Ikiru Michi - Vol. 2 Ch. 8 - A Resolution
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Thanks for the chapter
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My friends keep telling me this is a good story and that I should give it another chance. But what am I missing? I ask this not rhetorically.
Who are we supposed to be rooting for here?
The protagonist seems to be a violent, deceitful psychopath. Who, in this chapter, added hypocrite to her list of character traits. She's seriously having a big moment of awesome while boasting about her purity? Seriously? Her belief structure proscribes otherworlders so absolutely that the sentence for existing in the world at all is death, no matter what the circumstances or quality of character. And so she's using an otherworlder for her own benefit while claiming purity? Did the author hang the lampshade somewhere and I missed it?
The heroine... she was just held hostage, almost died twice, and is looking at the smoking remains of the engine while the train is in danger of derailing; and her focus is on flirting with the protagonist like they're on a casual outing? Maybe there's a reason for her to be so blithely unaware of her surroundings. Is this going to be a slow burn where we gradually realize that she's not treating this other world like reality, or something?
Honestly, I find myself sympathizing with the hijackers, and feeling sad when their golem died. But I feel like maybe that wasn't the feeling the author was going for. I'm just really confused.
Who are we supposed to be rooting for here?
The protagonist seems to be a violent, deceitful psychopath. Who, in this chapter, added hypocrite to her list of character traits. She's seriously having a big moment of awesome while boasting about her purity? Seriously? Her belief structure proscribes otherworlders so absolutely that the sentence for existing in the world at all is death, no matter what the circumstances or quality of character. And so she's using an otherworlder for her own benefit while claiming purity? Did the author hang the lampshade somewhere and I missed it?
The heroine... she was just held hostage, almost died twice, and is looking at the smoking remains of the engine while the train is in danger of derailing; and her focus is on flirting with the protagonist like they're on a casual outing? Maybe there's a reason for her to be so blithely unaware of her surroundings. Is this going to be a slow burn where we gradually realize that she's not treating this other world like reality, or something?
Honestly, I find myself sympathizing with the hijackers, and feeling sad when their golem died. But I feel like maybe that wasn't the feeling the author was going for. I'm just really confused.
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@icekatze, I don't know what to tell you, please don't force yourself to read something you don't enjoy. The below isn't an argument to keep you reading, it's just the way I see things.
Chapter 2 establishes Menou knows she is the monster here and feels the weight of killing school children in her dreams. It also further establishes she used to be a pleasant person before something happened, if Momo is to be believed.
Chapter 4 heavily implies that the "something happened" was a town being obliterated by an otherworlder. Back to Chapter 2 implies that may not have even been the otherworlder's intent and is just known to be an inevitable fate for all otherworlders. Since there are 4 novels out and we're still in the first, something may not quite be right with that 'knowledge'.
Chapter 8 reminds that saving people is her first priority and the only reason she became an Executioner was to prevent a recurrence of whatever happened "that day". She didn't even kill the terrorists because it seems the only people she's willing to kill are the individuals trying to bring innocent walking nukes into their world. I'm not even sure she was faking it about not wanting to subject Akari to pain; I think to save the passengers she would do most anything, so my bet is on it being calculated, but it could have been sincere.
Akari is clearly an airhead to some degree, but only one guy was shot in the foot and then Menou protected her with ease: What does she have to worry about here? She's going from a world that she says she didn't really want to go back to in Chapter 3, to a world where some pretty girl has come to rescue the princess and has thus far handled every situation for her. If I were on a train and the power source died, my (incorrect) assumption would also be the train would slow to a halt. The situation, to her, has been resolved with the only casualties being the terrorists (of their own volition).
As I see it, you're meant to root for some outcome where Akari isn't walking cheerfully to her death.
Chapter 2 establishes Menou knows she is the monster here and feels the weight of killing school children in her dreams. It also further establishes she used to be a pleasant person before something happened, if Momo is to be believed.
Chapter 4 heavily implies that the "something happened" was a town being obliterated by an otherworlder. Back to Chapter 2 implies that may not have even been the otherworlder's intent and is just known to be an inevitable fate for all otherworlders. Since there are 4 novels out and we're still in the first, something may not quite be right with that 'knowledge'.
Chapter 8 reminds that saving people is her first priority and the only reason she became an Executioner was to prevent a recurrence of whatever happened "that day". She didn't even kill the terrorists because it seems the only people she's willing to kill are the individuals trying to bring innocent walking nukes into their world. I'm not even sure she was faking it about not wanting to subject Akari to pain; I think to save the passengers she would do most anything, so my bet is on it being calculated, but it could have been sincere.
Akari is clearly an airhead to some degree, but only one guy was shot in the foot and then Menou protected her with ease: What does she have to worry about here? She's going from a world that she says she didn't really want to go back to in Chapter 3, to a world where some pretty girl has come to rescue the princess and has thus far handled every situation for her. If I were on a train and the power source died, my (incorrect) assumption would also be the train would slow to a halt. The situation, to her, has been resolved with the only casualties being the terrorists (of their own volition).
As I see it, you're meant to root for some outcome where Akari isn't walking cheerfully to her death.
None of that stuff is nearly enough to make readers sympathize with Menou. The author/artist is doing a terrible job at justifying her monstrous character and actions. In another world, this would be more than enough grounds to justify some kind of revenge porn murderfest isekai series, and we as readers have seen way too many movies and series where governments suppress and victimize superheroes and mutants with powers because they "might" be dangerous. Why did this author think we would sympathize for even a minute with these barely defensible oppressors rather than the innocent victims, who ALSO REPRESENT US since isekai loves to push that whole self-insert thing? The "evil" royals summoning otherworlders even talks about throwing off the oppression of the church in an early chapter, then in a later chapter we get "gentle holy mother" pope calmly talking about a fucking specialized murder ground specifically for killing otherworlders. Like a literal fucking Nazi camp.
It would be fine if we were clearly meant to unabashedly hate Menou, but we're obviously not. Author is clearly trying to push them to be a likable character, but they're simply not.
It would be fine if we were clearly meant to unabashedly hate Menou, but we're obviously not. Author is clearly trying to push them to be a likable character, but they're simply not.
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@Kyhkaen
Thanks for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it!
I think I missed the implications about the "something happened." When I read through chapter 2 and 4, I got the impression that her killer persona was something she actively cultivated and worked to avoid falling back into her older kinder self, possibly as part of her training. I'd be happy to be wrong about that though, and hopefully the story will go into it in more detail.
This might require waiting for a few chapters to build up and go through all at once to avoid missing something important. And hopefully the other shoe will drop by then.
Thanks for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it!
I think I missed the implications about the "something happened." When I read through chapter 2 and 4, I got the impression that her killer persona was something she actively cultivated and worked to avoid falling back into her older kinder self, possibly as part of her training. I'd be happy to be wrong about that though, and hopefully the story will go into it in more detail.
This might require waiting for a few chapters to build up and go through all at once to avoid missing something important. And hopefully the other shoe will drop by then.
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@icekatze I do get you that it's a weird plot setup that turns typical character investment on its head, but some cult classics have pulled off similar arcs well (Equilibrium comes to mind, wonderfully campy movie). I could definitely see your friends not getting how it's hard to sympathize from the manga because it's laid out more clearly in the novels, if that's where they're giving their recommendation from.
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@eA-Zaku
They have referenced disastrous events caused by otherworlders.
The first otherworlder we meet flips a switch when he finds his special power and instantly wants to erase the King.
Maybe otherworlders are destined to be megalomaniacs, we don't know yet.
How do you know the mentioned King is the good guy?
I for one am enjoying this adventure-themed story and I'd rather have this approach than reading tons of exposition.
They have referenced disastrous events caused by otherworlders.
The first otherworlder we meet flips a switch when he finds his special power and instantly wants to erase the King.
Maybe otherworlders are destined to be megalomaniacs, we don't know yet.
How do you know the mentioned King is the good guy?
I for one am enjoying this adventure-themed story and I'd rather have this approach than reading tons of exposition.
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hmmm..i dont find this boring as like other people from the comments said.. I find the main character's justifiable.. you dont need to like the MC coz it was designed of your own taste..you gotta like them because of their story and backgrounds though.. i dont hate the Menou-chan from the very beginning coz I dont know her story yet but i love her characteristics,in fact she piqued my interest.. Its kinda weird to have a badass and twisted MC but so far,imo,Menou is doing great..
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I think one failing of this manga is that the disasters resulting from the Strays' activities were mostly told, not shown. Disasters have already happened, and not just one time. Strays are not lawful good superheroes by default, but immature teenagers suddenly wielding absurd power as demonstrated by the decoy protagonist. There is a saying: "absolute power corrupts, absolutely." Not all of them will turn bad, but it's also likely a good number of them will.
Negotiation with Strays who don't turn out to be good are going to fail given the absurd power they have from cheat skills combined with immature mentalities ("Why should I listen to you? I can reshape the world as I see fit and you can't stop me!"), so I understand (but not condone) why killing is the Church's preferred option to deal with them (the best meta solution is to either return the Strays to Japan or disable the cheat skills, but if that was possible at all they'd have done it already).
Isekai authors love to make their self-insert protagonists be mostly good characters, but in real life, I don't trust the average Joe with sudden cheat skills to be a saintly superhero fighting for the good of humanity.
Not all stories have to be generic self-insert fantasies or simple-minded black & white good vs evil stories. I like that Menou isn't a clear-cut blatant "heroic" character whose purpose is to be an obvious lawful good hero to root for or someone to use as a self-insert, but a more complex character with nuance.
Menou right now is a neutral antihero with a mandate from the Church to keep their world safe, even if she has to get her hands bloody with underhanded, ruthless methods. She does feel guilt from all the killing, but also has to outweigh it with responsibility for the lives and safety of even more innocent people in their world. Time will tell if the guilt will one day outweigh the sense of duty the Church has instilled in her. She is an interesting character, and not at all unlikable to me.
Negotiation with Strays who don't turn out to be good are going to fail given the absurd power they have from cheat skills combined with immature mentalities ("Why should I listen to you? I can reshape the world as I see fit and you can't stop me!"), so I understand (but not condone) why killing is the Church's preferred option to deal with them (the best meta solution is to either return the Strays to Japan or disable the cheat skills, but if that was possible at all they'd have done it already).
Isekai authors love to make their self-insert protagonists be mostly good characters, but in real life, I don't trust the average Joe with sudden cheat skills to be a saintly superhero fighting for the good of humanity.
Not all stories have to be generic self-insert fantasies or simple-minded black & white good vs evil stories. I like that Menou isn't a clear-cut blatant "heroic" character whose purpose is to be an obvious lawful good hero to root for or someone to use as a self-insert, but a more complex character with nuance.
Menou right now is a neutral antihero with a mandate from the Church to keep their world safe, even if she has to get her hands bloody with underhanded, ruthless methods. She does feel guilt from all the killing, but also has to outweigh it with responsibility for the lives and safety of even more innocent people in their world. Time will tell if the guilt will one day outweigh the sense of duty the Church has instilled in her. She is an interesting character, and not at all unlikable to me.
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