Board Thread:Off Topic / Fun and Games/@comment-29602226-20181021164859

It is something that has been bugging me for some time...

We all here have taken part in discussions about how the mental manipulation/warping inflicted by DE and/or mamono is intolerable and makes the MGE univese sort of grimdark... Most western fans, in order to be able to enjoy the setting, try to prove that such mental warping doesn't in fact happen or isn't as extreme as we think, while KC himself seems surprised by it even being a a contentious point...

While thinking about it, I have realized that maybe japanese culture just doesn't regard personal freedom as highly as westerners...

There are plenty manga and anime in which the main character or main characters are basically kidnapped, blackmailed or just forced to leave their homes and families, to go through hellish training and to accept suicidal missions... In other cases, they are manipulated and/or blackmailed into entering a relationship...

If the ones forcing the MC to go through it have wicked intentions, they are perceived as negatively as you would expect...

But if the kidnappers/blackmailers have a noble goal, or does it out of "love", then everything is forgiven and the MC doesn't resent them, even if their methods are oppresive and traumatic.

For example, the main character in The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic [Spoiler]is basically kidnapped, beaten and tortured in order to turn him into a key weapon to win a war against "demons" (who are, in fact, just normal people save for their horns), but the one doing it is portrayed in a very positive light... because hey, she was doing it to make him stronger in order to fight for her country... even if he isn't even from that country![/Spoiler]

There are many, many examples like that. In some cases, the MC is kidnapped by some figure of authority; in others, their own parent(s) secretly manipulate them and trains them in order to turn them into a hero/weapon/whatever...

In another example, Tsuujou kougeki ga zentai kougeki de nikai kougeki no okaasan wa suki desu ka, the character is enrolled without his consent by his mother in a governmental program that traps parent and child in a VR world they are told they won't escape until they learn to get along... but, [Spoiler]that's a lie, the parent has absolute control and can log both themselves and their child at any time; the game is rigged so the parent is awesome while the child is lame, in order to force the child to admire and depend on their parent... By the way, the mother, who treats her teenager, almost adult son as if he were a little boy, uses emotional manipulation to dodge questions; the son is forced to pretend to be happy and to keep his mother happy in order to "win" the game, not knowing his mother has the exit button... [/Spoiler]

In many other mangas characters indulge in what amounts to emotional manipulation, stalking, blackmail and lies in order to get close to their loved one, and it is portrayed favourably because they are doing it out of "love".

I could give hundred of examples, but what I am going for is, if the authority figure/parent/suitor manipulates/lies/blackmails/kidnaps the MC either for "the greater good" or "for their own good", they are looked upon favourably and there are no consequences or hard feelings...

Your thoughts? 