#that's my main issue with the vast majority of isekai

[bidokja]

this isekai could've been an entirely independent fantasy setting

[ming-sik]

Could you tell us more about your thoughts on the orphanage and what you hate about Rozemyne doing to it and if you were writing an au or something, how would you gix it?

my problem with the orphanage is basically what i said-- it's a company town. the orphans all have to work and they are unable to leave, plus the fact that they can be bought and sold as property; myne's "those who don't work don't eat" slogan being the first thing she says to them is pretty notable. at multiple points in the story, rozemyne hears someone saying that the grey priests are being treated too well, and her first response is to correctly point out that being an orphan means being a slave, which always ends up getting treated like an epic burn and is never followed up with "you're the high bishop, why are orphans treated that way?"

the story excuses this in a few ways. way one is that rozemyne is a nice master who pays for their living expenses/stops individual instances of violence or sexual assault/lets one of them one time decide if they want to be sold because she's worried about him being pressured into a marriage, way two is that the orphans are so grateful for this that none of them disobey her or demand better conditions, and way three is that ferdinand convinces her that this is just how things work and there's no point trying to change it which she accepts. also it's i think established that after hasse comes under her control the orphans there are allowed to become citizens after coming of age, but like the orphans who live in the temple are still slaves.

my main problem is that the idea of the nice slave master is an excuse that was used in real life to excuse actual slavery and the fact that it's so common in isekai including aob sucks, especially when the story explicitly endorses and argues for this being the best possible option, including saying that it's reasonable that citizens are upset that orphans are being treated better than them when they don't pay taxes which is the thing that convinces our protagonist. now the vast majority of the actual pro-slavery rhetoric comes from everybody's favorite character ferdinand, and the fact that it's in-story characters saying it could've been used as a way to establish that this is yet another horrifying aspect of life under feudalism, but instead it's treated as actually a very good argument that wins over rozemyne with its logic and then the story just runs with it and never touches on whether or not the orphans might be better off being made into citizens even when the improvement of the temple's image is a huge plot point and idk i think someone "going to the temple" not meaning they were becoming a slave might help that possibly, and if she really wants nobles to stop mistreating grey priests it could possibly help for them to be normal attendants that are being hired instead of bought and are citizens who it's illegal to assault might be more effective than very sternly telling them to be nicer.

also it's part of the thing aob does in general where it touches on an incredibly serious issue with systemic causes that is exacerbated by YS's society with characters being rightfully horrified by it.... before getting really scared of portraying the consequences of that in a way that might paint the good noble characters in a bad light, so an explanation is quickly invented for why the thing itself is actually super ethical because of another thing we just made up that means that it's different when they do it. many such cases. very weird to make a series set in a world that's repeatedly established to be this dark fantasy where the irl reasons that feudalism was a brutal, abusive system are outlined in detail that dares to focus on the commoners who are almost always ignored in favor of the glittery nobles, only to decide halfway through that glittery nobles are way easier to write about so you just have the protagonist join the nobility and retcon a bunch of reasons the world is fine actually.

as for how i would rewrite it, the most obvious fix is to have her free them. maybe ferdinand initially strongarms her into accepting it, but despite the other nobles telling her that she's a saintlike figure, the actual orphans, after learning that in hasse they become citizens after coming of age or just when they're more regularly exposed to the outside world, start to agitate for better treatment, no longer satisfied with being treated well by their master for now. if she doesn't, eventually some of them start to turn against her. she has to choose-- will she try to force them back into line, or will she put her money where her mouth is and actually fight for the commoners? and if she does try to make them citizens at their baptism or give them the right to leave the temple whenever they want or remove the barrier between the temple and the common people entirely(maybe allowing other people with the devouring to help the temple without having to leave their families), she should meet resistance! her trying to keep the commoners from being uprooted by the entwickeln would be an appetizer for this main dish, a situation where rozemyne is completely, totally unable to frame this as a weird pet project and instead has to try and convince a sympathetic noble character that a fundamental thing they've accepted is incorrect. i would have this be her and ferdinand's first real conflict, and an extremely difficult fight for her. she's right, but she has to overcome the fact that ferdinand is more confident, more connected, more mature, supported by the rest of the nobility, and just generally stronger than she is to convince him to help her, and in the process she has to convince the archducal family, all of whom are also against her. maybe she wavers at multiple points over whether or not this is even worth it and feels the desire to accept ferdinand's suggestions that she just crush the orphans who are rebelling, only stopped by the orphans themselves. probably have a named character be part of the rebels, i would go for gil and have him believe that myne's a good enough person to do the right thing, forcing her to deal with the weight of betraying one of her first genuine allies in the temple and someone she explicitly promised she would treat well. likely this would need a volume or two of rozemyne agonizing and things getting worse until a breakthrough where she convinces a powerful ally, idk she convinces giebe illgner who tries making the orphans citizens in his own province and it turns out well enough that it proves that both nobles and commoners can eventually accept the arrangement, and after getting the other paper-making giebes on their side, she has enough leverage to bargain with evidence. you could either have her successfully convince ferdinand or not. she does need to convince sylvester for logistical reasons, and generally this would be a moment in his arc of widening the divide between him and the abuse feudalism necessitates, but whether or not she convinces ferdinand would probably decide if he's getting a redemption arc or becoming an eventual antagonist, both of which could be neat if handled right. regardless it's important that the orphans aren't just a mostly faceless crowd of worshippers and are instead a group of people with their own needs and interests.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I think some chapters are better liked than others because Yuu (the player) is more involved instead of standing around doing nothing? So 3, 4, and 6 are popular but the standing around doing nothing chapters 1, 2, and 5 aren’t.

[Referencing this post!]

That’s perfectly valid! I totally get why people would like a chapter more if they feel like they play more of an active role in the story, especially since TWST’s main story presents itself as an “isekai”. (Yuu’s lack of involvement is actually a common complaint I see of chapter 5.) It’s just fun to learn about a new world and the people inhabiting it when you feel like you’re intimately engaging with them.

Personally, I feel little to no attachment to Yuu/the player character 💦 so how involved they are in the story doesn’t affect my enjoyment of it. I always feel detached from Yuu because I know I wouldn’t do or say a vast majority of the things that Yuu does to move the plot along. It’s hard for me to really see myself in their shoes without drastically veering from the plot the main story intends to follow. For example, I wouldn’t befriend Malleus (or most of the characters, really; it takes me years to develop proper friendships with guys on account of personal trust issues); I’d call up Crowley and tell him a suspicious person is on my front lawn and I want them removed ASAP... but since so much of the main story relies on Yuu and Malleus building a friendship, me not befriending Malleus would greatly derail that subplot.

I get a lot of enjoyment just watching the NRC cast being chaotic, so whether I’m actively involved in it or just watching, well... I don’t mind either way. Most of the time, I feel Yuu’s presence fades away into the background anyway and I end up seeing Grim as the protagonist instead (unless Yuu is specifically referenced in the story). I don’t mind that my Yuu isn’t there or isn’t actively involved in the story because I don’t treat Yuu as “myself”, but as a completely separate entity, an “other”, or even a mob student 😂 but hey, those are just my thoughts on the matter and it’s fine if you look at it differently.

[antagonistchan]

so, some basics on my Magical Girl story

in addition to being a Magical Girl story, it’s also. kinda an Isekai. but a kinda weird Isekai (i mean, Isekais aren’t usually also Magical Girl stories).

basically: one day, the entire population of Earth is transported into another reality. this reality’s kinda a sci-fi/fantasy deal. and when i say “sci-fi/fantasy”, i don’t just mean “really soft sci-fi with a spiritual edge” like Star Wars, i mean straight up “there are Elves and Dwarves and Orks and magic but also it’s in space and there’s hyper-advanced technology”.

anyways, there are also dragons. or at least, there were dragons. the dragons went extinct a long time ago. but also, they were really weird dragons. as in, the dragons in this setting were basically elder gods, just in dragon form. yeah, they were giant winged reptiles... but they were also a much higher form of existence that could comprehend so many more dimensions of reality than we can and warped reality just by their mere presence. and see, while the dragons are extinct.... death doesn’t really mean much to something on that level of existence. they’re all still aware, and all still have some level of ability to affect their surroundings. but the vast majority are content to just lie in their graves and not bother with the rest of the world.

but some aren’t.

one of the really notable ones is known as Skull. Skull might be dead, but he wants to continue living his life. and even in life, Skull was one of the more noble dragons, one of the dragons most willing to defend the “lesser” races like humans and elves and orks.

Skull is... also one of the more macabre parts of this story. he’s not particularly dark, just macabre, but come on, he’s basically a zombie elder god. he’s macabre by default.

anyways, his body, even as just a skeleton, still has lots of power. so he used that power to construct a starship around it. this starship is still vaguely dragon-shaped, and he has full control over it, so it’s kinda like just being a robot dragon. except now he’s kinda frozen solid and people can go inside him (and he’s really big, it’s practically like a city in there). but that’s just most of his body. he did set aside a few of his bones for another purpose.

the Magical Girls. we’re finally getting to that part.

he split up those bones into a bunch of small (like, about the size of a marble) pieces, and then built devices around and powered by them called Magites.

the normal inhabitants of this reality couldn’t really use them, so initially, he made a group of six genetically engineered people specifically designed to use the Magites. and they were.... kinda a success. but not quite. but he was also aware of the existence of other realities, and realized that our reality was A: perfect for his plans, as most of us were compatible with the Magites, and B: on the brink of collapse anyways. so he rescued the entire population of Earth.

and then, whenever an Earthling proved worthy, they’d receive a Magite.

and Magites are just Magical Girl transformation devices. like Intelligent Devices from Nanoha, or Relics from Symphogear, or the Moon Pen or whatever it’s called from Sailor Moon. their purpose is to transform the user into a state where they can draw from Skull’s power. and this state happens to wear frilly dresses.

our main cast is a group of five girls (initially just three) who are particularly close to Skull. like, Skull kinda considers them his personal strike force. the initial three are:

Stella Greenfield, who came to Skull’s attention before even becoming a Magical Girl for her keen analytical mind and the rapid pace at which she learned about this reality’s robotics tech (like, she’d only been here for a month before she was able to program a fully conscious and emotional AI, Eve, who she considers her assistant and daughter). she’s actually the last of the five (not even of the three, of all five) to become a Magical Girl, supporting the team from the sidelines at first with her robots and tactical advice. when she does become a Magical Girl, she uses strong gauntlets to punch good and special gear that lets her deploy robots more easily.

Madison (no last name), who was actually one of those initial six lab-grown Magite users, also making her one of the few non-human Magical Girls (she’s an Elf instead). she was just kinda pushed onto the group, and was initially the only actual Magical Girl of them, so the group was initially just kinda “Madison and her handlers”. she’s timid and skittish, but in a pinch she’s fiercely protective of anyone she considers family or anyone she sees as weaker than her. in Magical Girl form, she uses guns (particularly a sniper rifle) and stealth (particularly the ability to turn straight-up invisible).

Kyouko Tenjou, who initially just kinda tagged along with Stella out of coincidence but then was the second one to become a Magical Girl. she’s harsh and abrasive, and ultimately has serious self-confidence issues stemming from her internalized transphobia (because she’s trans), but she has a heart of gold deep down and she generally tries to be a good role model for Madison in particular. she’s also Stella’s love interest. as a Magical Girl, she uses swords and psychic powers. stuff like telepathy, limited precognition, pyrokinesis...

and then after a few adventures of Stella supporting Madison and later Kyouko from the sidelines, she actually gets separated from them for a period of time, during which she meets the remaining two, who aren’t initially Magical Girls but do become them soon enough, and the three agree to stick together for the time while they try to get back to society. these two are:

Venus Bhatia, a violent and boisterous delinquent who’s ultimately actually second only to Madison in terms of friendliness. sure she’s violent, but if you haven’t offended her, she’ll be friendly (though her brand of friendliness is a bit intense to some people). she’s also a bit theatrical. when she transform, her whole vibe changes. her personality stays exactly the same, sure, but it fits both vibes, and her appearance changing is what brings about the change in vibes. in Magical Girl form, she comes off as more of a Female Prince-type like Kaoru Seta. also, she uses explosives. it’s very weird and specific compared to fists, swords, and guns, but it’s still got a practical offensive use. which is why it’s good that she was the first of the two to become a Magical Girl, because the second is...

Luna Flowers, a smug memelord and actual trained doctor who’s also got a slightly-hidden bitter and misanthropic side. and by slightly-hidden, i mean she tries to keep it under wraps and is generally just the smug memelord, but it really doesn’t take much poking to break down those walls and get her to express her true feelings. she’s also an amputee; as a kid, she got into a horrible car accident and her right arm had to be amputated at the shoulder. so, she has a robotic right arm. and as a trained doctor? it’s fitting that in Magical Girl form, she’s the team healer. in her Magical Girl form, the main event is her robot arm, which suddenly has a bunch of support tech built into it. healing rays, buffing rays, diagnostic equipment, and even a forcefield generator.

anyways, after palling around with Venus and Luna for a bit and the two of them become Magical Girls, Stella is reunited with Kyouko and Madison, and Venus and Luna decide to stick around. and after that, Stella finally becomes a Magical Girl herself.