Another banger chapter--this time with a lot of great lore. Also looks like Naori will make some big decisions soon.

Urgh, the part about the old geezeers treating Urabe as nothing more that a baby-making machine was retch-inducing.

But it was all washed away by Hinata being super-duper in love. And we're getting a hot springs chapter soon™!

Naori needs to make the first move, because Hinata's convinced herself that she has to be human to have a chance with her.

She literally spent that chapter fretting about finding a drink that will turn you human, and Naori just made a drink that made someone human, shouldn't that warrant at least exploring this a little? :P

last edited at May 18, 2025 7:33AM

Okay, just binged through this one after starting it a few years ago. This one is great, but I'm not sure how i feel about this new storyline of the Watanabe family. Like, Tsukasa is cool (maybe) and I like his relationship with Aju, but the series moral compass feels completely boned now. I tend to not like it when fully romance stories like this introduce this kind of "moral complexity" because they almost never do it right. I thought we were treating monsters as "dangerous, but semi-resonable" people, but now we have an alleged good-guy just slaughtering them by the dozens and we're supposed to just be cool with that? Sorry, but I have no patience for these "uwu, sowwy I have to kill you now. STAB STAB STAB STAB I'm gonna feel bad about this now" character archtypes. For a plan that I don't even fully follow. Why is this needed? And it's even weirder this time since no one else seems to be bothered by it. Why is Aju okay with so many monsters being murdered by her boyfriend? I'm confused on how I'm supposed to be feeling right now, but I don't think I like what the answer may be.

Love everything else so far in this story. Seriously, this is one of those masterpiece type books. Just...maybe except for this Tsukasa part. Which sucks, I like him.

(I am a little drunk at time of posting, so sorry if this is a little incoherent. Just had to get it out.)

The story is sort of exploring the theme of how hierarchies reproduce themselves through abuse, coercion, and violence. Tsukasa isn't out killing monsters as part of some master plan—he's doing it in spite of one, because his grandfather threatened to kill Aju if he didn't. She's likely aware of that, and I don't think she's so altruistic as to submit to a death that is almost certainly guaranteed to traumatize Tsukasa into compliance. They accept this is how things just are, and hope to change it in the future.

However, Tsukasa being the designated monster slayer is essentially a hazing ritual to make him complicit in upholding the existing power structure. A person who commits atrocities will almost certainly never be able to regain the trust needed to negotiate a lasting peace, and so the family's position at the top of the hierarchy, not to mention their extremist position towards monsters, will be maintained for another generation.

You also catch bits and pieces of how those dynamics perpetuate the power structure, whether it's Urabe losing a loved one to violence (presumably by an ogre's hands) and the Watanabe group playing on her insecurities as a woman in a leadership position, to Hinata being coerced into her role as the next Shuten-doji despite her desire to escape that role.

That's what Naori and Hinata have to wrestle with if they want to be together. They are a same-sex, interracial couple in a violently conservative society, and their relationship carries a freightload of historical baggage that they have to deal with in some way or another. They can either confront the system or run away from it, but either choice carries its own set of problems.

Ah, Naori's gay panic from seeing Hinata naked! Cute! It's ok, you will get used to it, just give it some more time. (also lol at Aju thinking these two would be seeing each other naked on the regular)

Now, while it's frustrating that they aren't communicating properly, Naori does need to figure out her stance on things, and breaking the system that oppresses non-humans does seem better than saving just the one girl by turning her into an oppressor... But we don't know how much has Hinata thought about the situation in those terms, maybe she has experienced stuff that make her think it's not worth trying.

holy macaroni Hinata is so damn pretty.

Not to get too unappreciative of the work the translators are doing here but yes I did get distracted and went to go looking for this

The story is sort of exploring the theme of how hierarchies reproduce themselves through abuse, coercion, and violence. Tsukasa isn't out killing monsters as part of some master plan—he's doing it in spite of one, because his grandfather threatened to kill Aju if he didn't. She's likely aware of that, and I don't think she's so altruistic as to submit to a death that is almost certainly guaranteed to traumatize Tsukasa into compliance. They accept this is how things just are, and hope to change it in the future.

However, Tsukasa being the designated monster slayer is essentially a hazing ritual to make him complicit in upholding the existing power structure. A person who commits atrocities will almost certainly never be able to regain the trust needed to negotiate a lasting peace, and so the family's position at the top of the hierarchy, not to mention their extremist position towards monsters, will be maintained for another generation.

You also catch bits and pieces of how those dynamics perpetuate the power structure, whether it's Urabe losing a loved one to violence (presumably by an ogre's hands) and the Watanabe group playing on her insecurities as a woman in a leadership position, to Hinata being coerced into her role as the next Shuten-doji despite her desire to escape that role.

That's what Naori and Hinata have to wrestle with if they want to be together. They are a same-sex, interracial couple in a violently conservative society, and their relationship carries a freightload of historical baggage that they have to deal with in some way or another. They can either confront the system or run away from it, but either choice carries its own set of problems.

That a good point. I guess my problem is the severity of the situation. I appreciate a character so grits their teeth and suffers through the bad times when it's their own mistreatment, but when you move up to murder I think it just goes that step to far to still make me empathize with them. Especially since Tsukasa is staring to look a little to far gone, hunting down the fox that was already beaten and ran away (though that could be my personal bias against tragedy to that level).

The part that especially bugs me is Naori's reaction. Sure Aju may not be that altruistic, she Naori is. So to have her hear that Tsukasa is a monster slayer and have response be, essentially, nothing honestly feels like the wrong response. For someone who has, on multiple occasions, defended monster who have tried to hurt or kill her, I would expect something stronger in opposition to innocents being killed. Like a "I don't think I can trust you anymore" or something.

I just fear that this is going to end very anti-climatically and just sweep the mass-murdering thing under the rug. I'm afraid these atrocities are just gonna be blamed on the older generation and our "tragic heroes" are just gonna get to wash there hands of the whole affair. Sincerely hope I'm wrong though.