Ura Dungeon Okusan - Vol. 1 Ch. 2 - There Are No Stairs!!

[GranEschaton]

Damn... I got blindsided.

I was accustomed to the stories being made of the male MC getting NTR'd, especially after Isekai Furin 1 and 2.

But I failed to realize, the MC here is the wife. And while she was too loyal and too powerful to be stolen away. Her hubby though... This could still become an NTR manga.

I'll add pg 3 and 5 also had minor NTR vibes, but like you said the real threat will be keeping the other muscle mommies away from his SSS Housework, SSS carpentry, and SSS night skills

 

[starfish]

oh man I liked the first chapter but if it's gonna be dungeon shit I'd rather drop now. she's got no real reason to hide her level either, it's just forced

 

[Kanelel]

So she's already discovered that her Husband is totally cool with strong women, he might even find it hot, so why not just reveal it to him now? Or does she like being protected and fawned over that much?

I love how dumb she is lol. She just loves roleplaying as the damsel in dustress too much. If she revealed herself, her husband would go "Wow! My wife is so cool! I love her! ❤️❤️❤️" and that would be it.

 

[phil777]

Is that Etrian Odyssey ?

Pugilist would not solo a Cerberus at lvl 99. X) You'd have to retire him.

 

[Qwormuli]

I get the characterization(she's really enjoying being protected and worried about, she wants the fluffy and simple love story), and the setup makes for a fun ride, but I wonder how far they can push it without the audience turning on her. Cause, like... the reason her husbando is doing the things he's doing is because of his actual, real-ass emotions and feelings of responsibility, wanting to protect and provide for his wife. That she doesn't need any of this and is just enjoying the performance IS dishonest, but also kind of feels exploitative, manipulative, and condescending.

For her, he's providing something she's never gotten so she doesn't want to let it go. But he's not, like... actually doing that, he's not actually protecting her. Just trying, and she finds it intoxicating that he does, but she doesn't need him to do this. She's trying to wrap all this up so she can continue her life where she doesn't fully show herself to her husband. There's a critique there of how women are supposed to perform, except its undermined by the fact that not only is SHE the greatest hero, there's also examples of people just like her.

Great art, fun idea, good execution... but I don't know if it can stand up to a long format. The longer this goes the more the unsavory ideas lodged within surface.

I agree with that mostly, but the two sticking points I have there is that:

There's a critique there of how women are supposed to perform

Is not really there in any shape, except maybe as an inherited theme from every other work that has it as a theme, because... Reasons? She was respected as the resident ass kicking artillery before her makeover(?) and even here the stripper/royal guard is in what's probably a highly regarded position. Or the merchant baroness. Her housewife act is literally the outlier seen so far. Back to the kitchen, - 4 STR -memery or societal critique is just straight up missing in the setting so far, rather than anything getting undermined. All of the motivation is wholly personal wants.

The other being that this isn't just some busywork she's making him do for kicks. He literally got shafted from his profession and is desperately throwing his body at dangers he's wholly unprepared to handle for his home and family. This is pretty much throwing a poor bastard into a war in some Truman show-esque ass setting, where the danger on his life and limb is secretly (somewhat, as she's not perfect) protected. The "Just trying" you mentioned is the undersell of the week. That's not just some "teehee" tier stuff, but actual nightmare world level mindfucking, if the setting was just a tad more grounded. If it was played for consequences and not laughs, I'm not thinking only of divorce or law-suits(?), but him growing to despise her for life. All for wanting some pampering.

Yeah, this is thinking it a tad too deep and you are on point, but I felt compelled to nitpick on these two points.

 

[Weoooo]

I agree with that mostly, but the two sticking points I have there is that:

Is not really there in any shape, except maybe as an inherited theme from every other work that has it as a theme, because... Reasons? She was respected as the resident ass kicking artillery before her makeover(?) and even here the stripper/royal guard is in what's probably a highly regarded position. Or the merchant baroness. Her housewife act is literally the outlier seen so far. Back to the kitchen, - 4 STR -memery or societal critique is just straight up missing in the setting so far, rather than anything getting undermined. All of the motivation is wholly personal wants.

The other being that this isn't just some busywork she's making him do for kicks. He literally got shafted from his profession and is desperately throwing his body at dangers he's wholly unprepared to handle for his home and family. This is pretty much throwing a poor bastard into a war in some Truman show-esque ass setting, where the danger on his life and limb is secretly (somewhat, as she's not perfect) protected. The "Just trying" you mentioned is the undersell of the week. That's not just some "teehee" tier stuff, but actual nightmare world level mindfucking, if the setting was just a tad more grounded. If it was played for consequences and not laughs, I'm not thinking only of divorce or law-suits(?), but him growing to despise her for life. All for wanting some pampering.

Yeah, this is thinking it a tad too deep and you are on point, but I felt compelled to nitpick on these two points.

Yeah that's why I said it was undermined. At the time, the royal guard could've been an outlier that was dealing with her own issues because of her status, but it's continued to be nothing BUT undermined as the series has gone on. Nobody expects women to be meek and protected at all, they're powerful and respected as combatants. There's the IDEA that a wife should be submissive, meek, and protected by her husband that a reader brings to the story that allows us to understand her actions, but as we've seen... literally nobody else seems to have that idea. In-world it doesn't even feel like a justified social pressure. The idea that its a critique no longer holds up at all.
I'm not surprised that the series has largely moved away from the "her husband is literally risking his life for no reason" on the center stage, it's a really uncomfortable part of the story. When I said "just trying," that's the worst part of it: he's not actually protecting his wife. He's in real-ass danger and is motivated by real-ass concerns for her safety and a belief in his responsibility, but she doesn't need him to do anything.
I think there's been a quiet pivot to her motivation being specifically about not wanting to DO THIS SHIT anymore. She's tired of punching, man, she just wants to bake pies and get pied; she doesn't want to get dragged into all this again. She doesn't want to be known as the level 99 martial artist because she'll get dragged into doing more punching, and the responsibility concern is lessened because there's other people like her out there. Which is kind of the only way it could go if they wanted to maintain the tone.