I have enjoyed this work so far, and even enjoy
the take on the isekai genera.
For
those reading, what is isekai? Well in the west we would call this portal
fantasy. Where people from the real world end up in a fantasy world. Think
things like Narnia, and stories like that. Though in Japan, the big trope
difference being that characters are not usually ‘portal’ over. Instead they
are hit by a truck.
Now
that does seem grim, but it does tie off the oblivious point. What about the
characters life in our world? If they had already died then there isn’t any
thing to go back to, so the character is given free reign to focus on the fantasy
world, and the power fantasy that follows.
Next
big difference is that the characters are often given some type of magical
ability that makes them special or powerful. Like how in John Carter of Mars
has super strength. (Which I would argue is another portal fantasy.)
So lets look at the main
character:
This is
the main character and he has a tendency of trying to take his own life.
Now the show is a comedy not a drama so he is nowhere successful, and it is
done to comedic effect.
But
what is interesting is why the character the way he is. He is molded and named
after. Osamu
Dazai
Which
is the pen name of Shūji Tsushima a Japanese’s writer from the 1940s.
Seeing
this picture I really see how much of the characters design is based by the
actually author. Even the title of his more famous books is a referenced in the
title of the manga I believe. As one famous story of his is "No Longer
Human". The manga of course being No Longer Allowed in Another World.
He took
his life along with his lover. This is where we find the character in the manga,
in the act about to end it all. When they are hit by a truck… That is design to
hit sad people and take them to another world. Which the more I think about
this, makes this sound a little morbid. And while these elements themselves can
come together for comedic effect, the pay off happens with the first major
confrontation with other “other worlders”
This
guy life was a sucky and then hit by a truck ends up in a fantasy world, and
given the power to absolute control over animals. The thing is that the bullied just
don’t become saints, they become the bully. Given outrages powers they are
expected to act like heroes, but that isn’t really how people work. So the
higher ups of the fantasy world are trying to figure out how to send them home.
Well spoiler,
the main character has this power, but it comes with a certain activation condition. That being him being interested in the person enough to write about
them and their struggles. Its after this confrontation that we get a scene with
the main character using the title of the manga.
I think
this plays in nicely with something I say on the Wikipedia page of the real
life author: Though Wikipedia states a police officer said: "Dazai was asked to die, and
he simply agreed, but just before his death, he suddenly felt an obsession with
life"
The
scene that follows is the other worlder being sent home, the truck missing him.
A renewed sense of life and strength he didn’t have before. Find a new obsession
with life. This I think will be a major thing of the story as a whole.
(note: I made this post a long time ago, and just now posting it. Some of this is obvious now within the story. But I still wanted to post it.)
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