My biggest problem with this show is that it often feels like real Konoha is huffing her own fart. For instance, she gets to see this sort of cheap, hackneyed nonsense play out in front of her on a daily basis, but does it ever make the adult in the room cringe? Of course not. Real Konoha is proud to have written this slop. Becoming an adult hasn’t changed her tastes whatsoever. It’s the same reason why I come down so hard on romance series involving adults. Everyone is like, “Finally, a story that doesn’t involve high school kids!” But is that true? Is it really? I say no. When I watch shows like My Awkward Senpai or My Tiny Senpai (real creative titles, I know), I don’t feel like I’m watching two adult individuals fall in love. Rather, I feel like I’m watching to two kids fall in love. The only difference is the uniforms they wear. Unfortunately, it’s the same shit here. Real Konoha hasn’t grown up; she’s not a mature adult. So at the end of the day, I’m watching a child drool over a child’s writing. This is still just a wish fulfillment anime. The only difference here is that there are two of her, so real Konoha gets to have both of her cakes and eat them too.
Even when new conflicts are introduced, they can’t help but be corny and cringe. “Only beautiful women have disappeared! So clearly, you’ll be next, dear Konoha!” Again, I wish real Konoha would see this frankly embarrassing writing for what it is, but she honestly likes this shit. She likes to see her own creation — her self-insert character — fawned over by beautiful men in the most cliche story ever. If that’s not pathetic, I don’t know what is. Even when the new guy negs Iana, real Konoha’s reaction is a letdown. Like usual, she is worried about triggering death flags and thus losing her life. So when she hears about all the disappearances, she fears that she’ll become the number one suspect. Seeing the worried look on her face, Cheneau, an investigator, smugly tells Iana that she has nothing to worry about, i.e. Iana isn’t beautiful. There are lots of ways real Konoha could’ve responded. Maybe she’s pale because she’s worried about her sister. Maybe she’s pale because it’s fucking horrific that several girls have gone missing. But no, real Konoha focuses on the insult to her looks instead. It’s so self-centered and vain.
Well, Iana’s past is coming back to roost, because Cheneau suspects her precisely due to her bad behavior pre-incarnation. Not only that, his sister is also one of the missing girls. Basically, this is too close to him, so he shouldn’t be on this case. Case in point, he’s irrationally accusing Iana of the crime without any credible evidence. He’s not going to get any closer to saving his sister, because he’s taking this way too personally. An investigator shouldn’t be this emotional. But this story is written by a child, so we can’t really expect much from it. Again, this show had such a golden opportunity for a writer to confront their bad writing head on. Instead, we get shoujo bubbles even though the investigator’s sister is missing. That’s kinda shameless. I mean, I’m not joking here. I feel like this is in bad taste. Several girls are missing for likely nefarious reasons. Cheneau is cracking under the pressure and threatening to execute Iana right here and now. But we’re still supposed to treat this like a hot and steamy moment? I’m sorry, but what the fuck?
Despite the fact that ideal Konoha’s life is in real danger, she insists on attending a big party thrown by Duchess Amaryllis. Real Konoha may have written a beautiful character beloved by all, but she certainly didn’t write the sharpest character. Anyway, is this the first time we’ve introduced another major female character other than the two sisters? Well, when it rains, it pours, so here’s yet another major female character in the form of Menoa. She’s unique in that she’s not a noble, so she doesn’t have a bad impression of Iana (yet). She might even become Iana’s first female friend. Are we going to find out later that her character is inspired by a bestie that real Konoha has long forgotten? Still, I find it remarkable that we had to wait this long before other female characters would enter the scene. I guess there’s real Konoha’s mother in her memories, but she doesn’t count. She’s not a part of real Konoha’s fiction. You also have to remember that Iana was supposed to be executed early on in the story. It was essentially the Konoha-only show. Again, written by a child, blah blah blah…
Well, real Konoha finally starts reflecting on her writing again. As a kid, she was obsessed with her pretty boy harem to the point where even female roles were turned into guy characters. She admits that any female character that did somehow make her way into the story would only be met with a terrible fate or just general mistreatment. Only later did real Konoha try and add more women to her stories. But even then, newer female characters would often reflect the angst inside her. One character, in particular, seems to be inspired by a lesbian in her neighborhood. As a result, even female characters in her story would pine for ideal Konoha. No one had lives of their own. They all had to love ideal Konoha and ideal Konoha only. For once, real Konoha regrets her bad writing. Judging by Duchess Amaryllis’s reaction to ideal Konoha, I have to assume she’s the lesbian. Boy, I hope it doesn’t turn out she’s the reason behind all the beautiful girls disappearing. I’m just saying, it would be tragic if you finally get some female representation — some LGBT representation — and it ends up being toxic yuri. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see what real Konoha’s brilliant writing has in store for us.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Real Konoha always has ideal Konoha wearing the flashiest outfits. Later on, we meet Amaryllis, and she also wears a revealing dress. I wonder why Iana is so modest by comparison. Well, real Konoha is probably insecure about her looks.
- This festival looks kinda lousy.
- Unfortunately, the painfully annoying bastard is still here.
- One thing does stick out like a sore thumb, though. Remember how Ginoford now thinks Iana was “behaving badly” in order to warn him and her sister about the evil, rapey uncle? Did they forget that old Iana also used to bully these unrelated girls for no reason whatsoever? How do you absolve that?
- Sigh, even more pretty boys and shoujo bubbles even though a horrific crime is taking place.
