Yoshimi Seki Horror Collection - Vol. 2 Ch. 5 - The Prince of Unhappiness
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@Silvermoon424 Exactly! It's not even saying to help yourself before you help others, it's saying don't help others at all. The boy gets a horrific fate for giving to people in need, and it's presented as deserved.
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@Zzzmithy
I think there wasn't a moral. Like even the little sister was like "You knew they would fight over the money, didn't you" and "You're doing this on purpose because you get your rocks off by making other people suffer." It was never about "helping people" for him and at the beginning the little sister was too naive to notice until he hurt her teacher. He was actively trying to manipulate people's greed so that he could get a kick out of peeping on them suffering through his telescope.
At the end of the day, if there was a moral, it would've been "money can't buy happiness" and "don't rely on money too much otherwise it'll corrupt you." Even the teacher was like "you're not gonna be happy if you keep ignoring your own unhappiness (and also crapping on other people)." It was clear the dude was relishing in stoking the flames of other people's greed because he knew that just by throwing money, it wasn't really helping them. Pretty sure if I just threw money at someone who didn't know what to do with it, they wouldn't get better.
Still a screwed up story though lol but that's manga logic for you sometimes
I think there wasn't a moral. Like even the little sister was like "You knew they would fight over the money, didn't you" and "You're doing this on purpose because you get your rocks off by making other people suffer." It was never about "helping people" for him and at the beginning the little sister was too naive to notice until he hurt her teacher. He was actively trying to manipulate people's greed so that he could get a kick out of peeping on them suffering through his telescope.
At the end of the day, if there was a moral, it would've been "money can't buy happiness" and "don't rely on money too much otherwise it'll corrupt you." Even the teacher was like "you're not gonna be happy if you keep ignoring your own unhappiness (and also crapping on other people)." It was clear the dude was relishing in stoking the flames of other people's greed because he knew that just by throwing money, it wasn't really helping them. Pretty sure if I just threw money at someone who didn't know what to do with it, they wouldn't get better.
Still a screwed up story though lol but that's manga logic for you sometimes
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The story has a couple messages I think people are missing out on. Yes, the obvious horror components are there, especially the ending which is borrowed from another story in the same collection (My Funeral). So, first things first: the homeless people are portrayed awfully in this. The story has absolutely zero sympathy for them, and tends to side with the teacher's message of "people should produce their own happiness" (basically "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps", which was a common phrase used to mock this exact philosophy before it got adopted by conservatives who couldn't understand the meaning of the word "irony" if it was shouted at them by Rational Facts And Logic Man). So yeah, in the minute examples, the story has some pretty conservative messages. Trying to get people out of monetary troubles just gives them a heart attack, or leads inadvertently to a stabbing, brings in (oh no!) homeless people to the park, etc.
But!
Look at the wider arguments being made. First, there is the one that permeates the Yoshimi Seki Horror Collection: money bad. It's a point made in several stories that the very existence of money/currency, or the unequal balances of wealth assigned through this system we have of private property, is in fact a detriment to society on both spiritual and material levels. That's a pretty radical statement to make! But simply saying that doesn't mean this story is any less conservative; it could just be the sort of radical primitivism that conservatives sometimes lean into. Rather, consider the second argument: that this single rich man, the LANDLORD of an apartment complex, should not be deciding who does and who does not get money. Seriously! This dude spies on the whole city from the huge building he owns, and those he hand-selects get the money which it is in his power to distribute. Look at how terrified he is when his sister throws the money into the city streets! He isn't concerned with just giving money to people, he wants it given to HIS people. And the criticism of that, then, is an extremely leftist point to make. The power of the wealthy is not simply to crush the poor beneath their heel and worsen their lives, it is to "save" out of "generosity" those whom they hand-select.
But!
Look at the wider arguments being made. First, there is the one that permeates the Yoshimi Seki Horror Collection: money bad. It's a point made in several stories that the very existence of money/currency, or the unequal balances of wealth assigned through this system we have of private property, is in fact a detriment to society on both spiritual and material levels. That's a pretty radical statement to make! But simply saying that doesn't mean this story is any less conservative; it could just be the sort of radical primitivism that conservatives sometimes lean into. Rather, consider the second argument: that this single rich man, the LANDLORD of an apartment complex, should not be deciding who does and who does not get money. Seriously! This dude spies on the whole city from the huge building he owns, and those he hand-selects get the money which it is in his power to distribute. Look at how terrified he is when his sister throws the money into the city streets! He isn't concerned with just giving money to people, he wants it given to HIS people. And the criticism of that, then, is an extremely leftist point to make. The power of the wealthy is not simply to crush the poor beneath their heel and worsen their lives, it is to "save" out of "generosity" those whom they hand-select.
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