You know, one of the things that always bugs me about these things is that people really don't re-examine gender roles when they create settings where gender isn't just a birth lottery. Like in Simoun, the warriors are all women, and men are made up of people who washed out or wanted to become a househusband. Especially when gender is an overt choice, then it makes a Hell of a lot more sense for there to be more binding gender roles.
What we have here is a world where women exist explicitly because they are inferior warriors. Men who have children are functionally always going to be warriors, and for as much as martial prowess is highly prized in our own culture, it would be orders of magnitude more important, here. Women, inversely, are almost literally prizes to be won, and violence against them is implicitly validated, because, hey, that's how you won them in the first place. (EDIT: Plus, in a few pages, it explicitly says that the woman has to become the wife of whoever beats "her", and obey whatever they say, which isn't AT ALL a setup for a ton of domestic abuse...)
So, then, if Adeline, here (who, unless that's a self-chosen nickname, was apparently set up for this from birth), is a strong fighter and proud of such who wants to stay a man... why dress up as a girl in the first place? Yeah, there's some reason put forward in a little bit, but that's still just blithely failing to think through the consequences of worldbuilding like this. There would be a TON of social stigma associated with what Adeline is doing, here, that never materializes.
I think these are really interesting questions, and there's no doubt that the general system is pretty sexist in itself in that most losers end up as women and winners keep their "egg". Winners can spread their genes more easily since they can have multiple losers as wives.
I do like how the author of this series does experiment with this and the influence on society of such a system in later chapters (For example, Tucker and Charlie's story). There's also subtle things going against the grain like how the race of Elves in this setting are so magically powerful that they can create this system from scratch, yet the few of them we do see are all women. And there's powerful women in society like the General who willingly gave up her egg to her King as proof of loyalty.
Adeline's backstory will also be explored much later, but we already know he's a dirty fighter who pretends to be weak as one of his tricks. Being an anomaly is his thing.
I think these are really interesting questions, and there's no doubt that the general system is pretty sexist in itself in that most losers end up as women and winners keep their "egg". Winners can spread their genes more easily since they can have multiple losers as wives.
I do like how the author of this series does experiment with this and the influence on society of such a system in later chapters (For example, Tucker and Charlie's story). There's also subtle things going against the grain like how the race of Elves in this setting are so magically powerful that they can create this system from scratch, yet the few of them we do see are all women. And there's powerful women in society like the General who willingly gave up her egg to her King as proof of loyalty.
Adeline's backstory will also be explored much later, but we already know he's a dirty fighter who pretends to be weak as one of his tricks. Being an anomaly is his thing.
I talk about stuff in later chapters, so spoiler-y
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Yeah, some of the obvious things are done by named characters like it's a surprise (which is sort of the Girls und Panzer problem of things that things so obvious any idiot would come up with them in five minutes are treated as shocking surprise strategies), but the thing is, when you get a few more chapters in, the additional rules pretty much explicitly encourage every male to be a Conan the Barbarian wannabe trying to best every opponent they find (and also then subsequently besting all their devotees) so as to build the biggest harem ever.
I also have to wonder if that's "proof of loyalty" or enforced 'loyalty' since a devotee is also magically compelled to follow orders... (And hey, while you're at it, ensure the bodyguard's loyalty, too, plus anyone who serves you food - can't be too careful about poison - and really, why have any men running around in your harem, potentially doing all your mistresses?...)
Adeline's story should probably also come up a little earlier, at that, because Adeline has no stated goals or motivations past wanting to troll and fuck Mickey, which he then proceeds to completely forget about while going on random accidental-harem-building adventures for no reason other than "fuck it, we need to advance the plot". Past the first chapter, Adeline isn't doing anything but accidentally happening to get caught up in other people's machinations and simply reacting to direct threats against himself or the people he assumed responsibility for in spite of having little reason to do so.
There's also the question of why Adeline even bothered with Mickey. I mean, Adeline apparently chose to live half his life entirely around JUST trying to get back at this one guy for saying something tsundere once when he was 7 years old. Obsessive much? Yet as soon as this chapter is over, Mickey's just a snarky comedic sidekick that Adeline largely ignores. Trying to trick Mickey is the only stated reason to dress and act like a girl, but Adeline keeps doing it after firmly and decisively achieving that objective... which again just begs for Adeline to explain what his goals and motivations actually are, since clearly, the only stated reasons why Adeline does anything are false, and that leaves us as an audience with no real capacity to understand or judge the actions of the main character.
Elves screwing around with human society, what a setup.
It's strongly hinted later that the Elves are not totally ignorant of the implications of the system they create. They might even intend for it to turn out this way.
Human society right now is almost worshipful of the Elves, who controls religion and reproductive rights.
NWSiaCB said:
Devotees are compelled to follow orders up to a point. This will be explored. Also, there's a risk that any servants you duel could try to turn the table on you if they are stronger. Dueling constantly might mean turning into a woman and losing your harem once you meet someone stronger, as Tagarou showed.
Atlanta likes teasing Mickey and dislikes Roland. He's dishonest, scheming and plays dirty. That's all we know at this point.
You might not be able to interfere with duels, but as seen, you could have a helper shoot someone in the back with a crossbow just before actually starting the duel (or poisoning them etc etc) and then they're screwed.
What the rules really feel like is an excuse for whatever plot occurred in the chapter they sit at the end of.
It's strongly hinted later that the Elves are not totally ignorant of the implications of the system they create. They might even intend for it to turn out this way.
Human society right now is almost worshipful of the Elves, who controls religion and reproductive rights.
I'm not saying it's ignorant. In fact, I'm saying there's no way they COULD be ignorant of what they set up. (And I mean that in both the Doylsian and Watsonian sense.) This was deliberately written to be a harem plot and deliberately written to force humans into specific loops. The fact that the author goes straight into the most obvious setups is kind of proof that he did give it some thought, the problem I have is that, again, it's the Girls und Panzer problem of people treating the most obvious responses to the rules as something rare that only geniuses like the named characters could have come up with, and nobody else does it.
Rice_22 said:
Devotees are compelled to follow orders up to a point. This will be explored. Also, there's a risk that any servants you duel could try to turn the table on you if they are stronger. Dueling constantly might mean turning into a woman and losing your harem once you meet someone stronger, as Tagarou showed.
As Alavaria just said, there's tons of ways to cheat in this system. In fact, every single time the duels are actually shown, someone is using some unfair advantage to win an easy victory, or the egg is being handed over freely. A king would have no reason to fight fair, he could just bring someone in front of his soldiers, put them on their knees, and say that they should off him their egg or die. Even if not wanting to be so overtly tyrannical was an issue, a king could just say, "I will only accept you for this important position if you are willing to hand me your egg."
Rice_22 said:
Atlanta likes teasing Mickey and dislikes Roland. He's dishonest, scheming and plays dirty. That's all we know at this point.
Yes, but my point is, that's not enough. (I'm not even sure he dislikes Roland so much as thinks Roland is annoying... and DOES he like teasing Mickey? He seems to forget all about Mickey after this chapter.)
Adalantine being a black box is detrimental to the plot because it means that he has to be completely reactionary to outside forces dragging him completely by the nose until he is forced to act in self-defense. There's only so far you can take that before it starts pushing suspension of disbelief that this kid is constantly just happening to be in the middle of all the most important events going on and being some sort of Forrest Gump-style unwitting bystander to the machinations of all the great powers whose motivations move the world. (I mean, he basically played a magic battery in the Roland chapters, and did nothing else. The "spy in the paladins' midst" plot thread is completely forgotten the instant it achieves its goal of making an excuse why none of the other, unnamed paladins are around to hand Roland's egg to. Shouldn't the whole "some of your supposed holy warriors specifically meant to be the greatest line of defense against demons actively working with demons to destroy your whole species" thing be kind of a big deal? Not if that plot thread existed SOLELY to force Atlanta to take the egg and have a bigger harem against his will!)
The main character is not just the focal point of the story, it's the touchstone whereby the empathy we have for that character gives us the ability to contextualize and understand all this worldbuilding this series is really focusing upon. If Star Wars didn't have Luke (at least in the original trilogy) around which to frame the story, you just have a bunch of people shooting lasers at each other while shouting their own preferred slogans of "tyranny" or "traitorous rebel scum". The audience immediately recognizes the Empire as the evil side of the fight by empathizing with Luke and his friends and recognizing that the Empire is a direct threat to them. (Although Darth Vader having a classic orchestral number making him sound ominous every time he appears on screen helps, too.) But if the main character is just some random guy whose every stated motivation is a lie, and who can pull Deus Ex Machina powers out of his ass at any moment, how are we supposed to relate?
Haha, firstly thanks for your efforts thinking about the setting so thoroughly, they're a pleasure to read. I'm not quite sure if you guys read ahead, but I meant it when I say that some of the things you wrote about will be explored. We are still only on Chapter 8 as of this moment, and there's 36 Chapters out right now. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won't go into detail about them yet.
As @Alavaria noticed, the general plot is linked with the new set of rules shown in the end of each set of chapters. It's more of a slow-drip build-up instead of explaining it all at once, which I think is one of the happy restrictions of the medium. Compared to movies, which can more easily follow the rule of "show don't tell" with leitmotif and movie magic (as well as supplementary material for those who want it), a comic is limited by how much it can "show" without too much "tell" while retaining the reader's interest.
I do think you're being a little unfair about Atlanta at the moment. His motivations aren't exactly a "lie", it's just that he resolved his short-term goal already by the end of Chapter 1, and he's slowly getting dragged into an overarching plot that's beyond his head at the moment. If you think the same after we've caught up more, then at least your argument would be stronger with more material as evidence.
Of course, this doesn't mean you shouldn't offer your thoughts at all until then, lol.
KNEEL!At the training school, didn't you always come in last place!?Better my ass! Didn't we agree you would let me win!?Sheesh......I was wrong......but we can still change it...That's not possible.Everyone knows that in order to wager your egg in a duel, there must be mutual consent.I'm not confident I could have you wagering your egg a second time after this......What are you talking about, who said anything about letting you win?Don't joke around, Mickey.You lost because you underestimated your opponent. Don't blame others for your own faults, Mickey.And when did you suddenly get so strong, Atlanta?Please, in your infinite compassion, please give me back my egg, okay?You're right, you're right, you're right. It's entirely my fault, master Atlanta.