OK, not exactly first thing in the morning, but, meh, close enough.
So wait...you're unhappy that they're showing something in order to critique it? Also part of the world building is critiquing that it has become normalized and that the MC thinks nothing of the armor, instead she simply thinks "it's female armor", without knowing and realizing things could be better. The narrative should make you happy if you dislike fanservice, and I fail to understand how they could critique this type of female armor and the extreme normalization of it in this world without showing it.
IF it's done right I don't personally I don't have a problem with fanservice in certain media, some people enjoy wearing clothing and gear that shows off more skin, both men and women. The classic male barbarian loincloth that shows off his muscles and chest, muscular legs and so fourth. I think the armor is often not practical, but if a person wants to wear an outfit that shows off their body it should be their choice.
I absolutely loathe the idea that everything to do with sexuality is some kind of evil thing, and that people who choose to wear more exposing outfits are being sexist against themselves. So my problem with this series is that it so far lacks any kind of nuance. It should be a normalized thing for both men and women to wear whatever the hell they want and whatever works for them. A man wants to run around in a rainbow banana hammock? More power to him. A woman wants to run around in full plate armor? More power to her.
Edit: Also I'm very aware that cartoonish sexism exists in real life, but the extreme and radical sexism that this entire world is built on feels beyond cartoonish. I would absolutely love more series that critique sexism, but I want them to have some kind of nuance as well.
Edit: If you still respond I hope you read this before doing so, maybe with this response I can help clear up some of my intent and thoughts before you formulate a response.
Misunderstandings happen, it's no big deal. A lot of what I was saying were just some additional thoughts about the manga and subjects in it, and not directly pointed at you notably. Also some thoughts on views I hear mostly on social media like Twitter. The first paraph was referring to what you were saying, and the rest from "IF" onwards were additional thoughts, sorry if I came off the wrong way myself.
Ultimately my views boil down to, men and women should be able to choose whatever armor/gear/clothing they want. Regardless of if it's a lot of skin showing, no skin showing, anything in between and so fourth. As long they're comfortable in their body and with what they're wearing. I think this manga so far lacks some nuance there is all, nothing super serious.
So, when I last night said "from what little I read from the first paragraph" I really meant "just the first and maybe part of the second sentence" (in my defense, it was well past midnight, and I had woken up early in the morning that day for uni), and as a result, I kinda expected to find myself in a position to defend myself of possibly my wording making me look kinda unsavory in a way that might lump me in the same or at least similar category as the likes the "gamers tm" as I like to refer to them.
Luckily I was wrong, but I still gotta apologize for such assumptions.
So, in essence, my position of fanservice in general is like mixed at best, as it kinda makes me feel like a perv when I don't wanna feel like one. Even though I recognize that, just like you said the fanservice in this chapter does have a purpose here - to be subject to or even a vehicle of critique - it still kinda carries that previously mentioned bit.
As for people being able to wear whatever they want... I honestly feel the same in general - people can and should wear whatever they feel comfortable wearing in their everyday lives (home, work, outside, etc.). But when it comes to like armour and other combat-situation-stuff, it'd probably be more expected that soldiers and/or adventurers of the same "class" would generally have similar-ish armour with each-other. What I imagine to be a sabre (which I don't know much about fantasy world classes, so I'm kinda going off my own assumptions themselves based on some very limited knowledge gained from hanging out on Discord and watching a single r/DnDMemes video on YouTube) would probably be similar to like heavy or medium infantry, so you'd ideally have some kind of armour covering most of your body (largely metal armour, with some so-called soft armour for other areas for heavy, and a more balanced mix of chainmail and soft armour for medium), while light infantry can be more loose with how they'd dress themselves for combat.
As for the nuance thing, I don't really think I have anything to add.
Honestly, my concern with the armour and gear may be less about the looks of the person wearing those and more about the protection of that person.
In conlusion, I think the real misunderstanding on my part at least was that I expected an argument and instead it seems like we're saying similar-ish stuff.
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