Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?

Also worth noting that incest is historically a lot more common at least in the 19/20th centuries than it is now in Japan. Honor with families and all that. Not that it was a norm by any means.

So I've added a couple of entries to the characters page (specifically, Wise's profile) and...might as well ask if these entries are OK:

• Tsundere: Played with. While she has the short temper, A-Cup Angst and fashion sense usually associated with the archetype, the more negative aspects tend to be defused by the mere presence of Mamako, Masato's Genre Savvy tendencies and Wise's own arrogance often backfiring on her.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Grade A. Having a Tsundere attitude and Girlish Pigtails automatically bump her to Grade S.

Well, here's the thing. The emphasis on filial piety in Asia is primarily coded through Confucianism. Yes, it is true that philosophy does strongly compel people to be faithful to their parents. However, it also emphasizes that parents should fulfill their duty as parents, including but not limited to love, discipline, and education.

Children are expected to be dutiful children, but also dutiful parents as well in the future, and parents should raise their children with this in mind, so to strengthen both their family and the larger community, village, prefecture, country, and so on. Also, when parents grow old, their children are expected to support them. Achieving this goal ultimately requires children to be at least somewhat independent, both psychologically and financially.

As such, Mamako's behavior is very unhealthy and frowned upon, even in Asian values that is based on Confucianism. Of course, the way various Asian countries adopt the ideals are different (China, Korea, Japan all have different interpretations, after all), but the core value of what is expected to both parents and children has fair bits of similarity.

There was a debate not long ago about whether Zettai Ryouiki should be considered a trope (though no action has been taken yet it seems)… The other entry seems fine though.

It's an anime meme-turned-trope in the modern era, lol, with historical evidence going back to the 90s.

Episode 3:

Love the montage when Mamako trying several new armors. Also, seems that Wise mother is actually a demonic Empress and had a strain relationship due to the divorxe... Okay

MILF: Mom I'd Like in Figurine.

Yeah, they wasted no time.

I'm rather mixed on this show.

I like the core theme. I like Mamako as a character, and how the obligatory tsundere is given depth. I like the more Genre Savvy jokes. Just that scene of Mamako emoting in the dark cavern is quite inspired.

What I don't like is the fanservice, incestuous or otherwise. It just looks ugly to me, and those beams of light ruin any cohesion to the scene. There are shows where I would expect this stuff, panty fighters and the like, but this is a story about family reconciliation, and crude sexualisation just breaks its tone. Haiyore Nyarko San managed to have more than a little incest subtext without detracting from the more endearing side. Even Nisemonogatari handled it better, by being interesting to watch.

The hot springs section showcased all this: character moments, subverting the usual clichés, everyone bonding together - but Mamako holding her son against her bosom badly tinged the whole scene.

Otherwise, I'm not fond of the character designs or their animations. The faces seem too lifeless, while their movements and expressions are too stiff. Makes me appreciate KonoSuba's liveliness all the more. And I wish everyone's age was not an informed attribute.

It does seem to give a bad message on the importance of family bonds, though I will have to watch episode 4 to judge. I think it comes not directly from filial piety and more from how otaku often feel at once alienated and dependent upon their families. Notably, Mamako is willing to embrace those she loves, going against the cultural stigma against physical contact.

Episode 4! Bit of a mixed bag… On one hand, Mamako has some cool scenes, Masato finally gets something to do in a fight (more or less) and Porta is still adorably funny. On the other, I'm not too fond of how they handled the whole Gen'ya/Mizuno situation. Mostly because Mizuno's "arguments" are silly (why do parents like her always forget that they used to be kids themselves?) and Mamako's response a little sappy, and also because I don't quite know what message we're supposed to get from this. Always try to reconcile with your family, even if you can't stand the sight of each other and one party has done some pretty shitty things? I feel like Wise has nothing to apologize for here…

On the positive side, the episode is completely devoid of gratuitous fanservice, which is surprising considering what kind of enemy they were fighting.

Wow, after the 4th episode, I'm convinced. This is Toxic Mothers: the anime.

What was this even? Wise's mother is an selfish deadbeat who tells Wise that she regrets having a daughter because she was in the way of her being a selfish deadbeat, and in the end it Wise who apologizes?! While we see no remorse from her mother, who in the very next scene starts complaining how Wise ruined her fun, and again about finding her annoying since she was born?! But apparently all is okay now since "if they fight they must actually get along." The fuck?

And Masato talks about how 'selfish" he is, by which I guess they mean he wants to become independent and doesn't always agree with his mother. Meanwhile Mamako always pushes to get her way and bursts out into tears if she doesn't get it.

Seriously, even at the end of the episode, when Masato said he wanted to lead the group Mamako completely ignored him and made everyone follow her anyway.

This series has some low key unhealthy mindset behind it.

Welcome to the team Shlugo. We have cookies!^note Cookies are certified 100% free of motherly love

It's why I've only read the first volume, have no intention of reading past that, am not watching the anime and only following this thread out of a vicarious form of Bile Fascination. It's even more blatantly obvious in text where the series goes out of its way to dump of Masato's very valid issues.

I just wrote a comment on Reddit regarding the game this show takes place in.

Thanks it's good to be here.

I've read one or two chapters of the series when it first came out and wasn't impressed by them.

Probably wouldn't picked the anime, if not for people making a fuss about it online.

This series wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for its twisted and biased views on family relations.

Oh yeah,nothing makes teenagers more likely to improve their relations with their mothers than being made feel like they useless and upstaged on every turn.

Isn't that true of most RPG-style isekai? At least this one makes a joke of how the whole premise is nonsense. I mean I wouldn't mind if the world was a little more thought out, like how KonoSuba manages to be absurd and surprisingly coherent at once, but this seems like the weakest point to aim criticism at.

Edited by Reymma on Aug 3rd 2019 at 1:24:41 PM

I wouldn't know. My knowledge of Isekai is mostly limited to things like Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth.

Those arnt quite Isakai.

But yes Konosuba really does right in its absurdity mixed in with a world that makes a degree of sense, especially with its game mechanics and with gods finding gullible idiots to send to fix a problem of their own making and how that basically made the present day.

The isekai I'm more familiar with is the classic Magic Knights Rayearth.

It only means that the author is aware of the problems and yet still deciding to do it anyway, which makes things even worse.

Okay, so I don't usually say this often. But this series has become one of the few light novel series that make me think the author has some mental issues.

Not really. It might work better if the joke was "the designers screwed up and the main character and his mother learn valuable lessons in spite of the flaws, not because of them" but the subtext of the joke just boils down to "right idea, poor implementation, protagonist deserves what he gets for trying to fight against it lol"

There's a reason I compared the author to Abraham Simpson up thread, particularly in his classic "Old Man Yells at Cloud" moment.

One of the things I've been criticizing RPG-verse isekai series for is that the authors have either never actually played games all that much or their gaming experience is stuck in 90s or early 2000s.

This series is particularly guilty of that regards.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks there’s something wrong with this series. This feels like the opposite of a Coming of Age story, not to mention that the three mothers of the cast come off as toxic in their own way.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Masato has some severe self-steem issues due to Mamako’s overprotection, if not, then this game’s enforcement of the idea that he should always rely on his mother will only make him feel like a useless waste of space. It doesn’t help that the niche he’s supposed to be filling (fighter or rpg savvy guy) is made redundant by the presence of his mother.

I can even think of a chapter where he cuts off from the group and goes to a dungeon alone simply to not feel like the deadweight of the group.

That's the point though, this game is supposed be terrible with people who made it (in universe) having no idea how games work.

Episode 5:

Before I get into recap, just wanna ask, did Yōko Hikasa got involved in this project? As the Night Empress sounds pretty similar. Anyways...

Wow, that was a rather fast resolution with Wise and her mother thanks to Mamako. And yeah, there's a lot of conflicting ideals left and right, one is annoyed to have a child (Wise mom) and one is truly overprotective and caring (Mamako) so yea...Also, Shiraaaase as a undead nun is funny af.

According to a fellow commenter on Random Curiosity, the Night Empress a.k.a.: Wise's mom is actually voiced by Ryōka Yuzuki. (Trying to confirm it on ANN, though.)

I know reverence of your parents is a big thing in Japan, but Jesus Christ...