If you wanna see a web comic that actively calls out this kinda shit, I can’t recommend ‘This Isekai Maid is Starting a Union’ enough.
And if you wanna see the complete opposite, try subjecting yourself to Kuma Kuma Bear, the whole thing is just the author’s neoliberal power trip. It hasn’t gotten to the point of slavery (yet) but apparently child labor is fair game and God really loves you only if you accumulate wealth.
apparently child labor is fair game and God really loves you only if you accumulate wealth.
tbf it seems the character is introducing (an idealistic sanitized version of) early stage capitalism within a fantasy feudal society so it can be a progressive force by comparison but yeah, I get what you mean.
I don’t find the slave dynamic in on itself a problem. When looking at cheap romances, it is filled with dangerous power dynamic even when aimed at women. Example, the infamous 50ShadesOfGray.
I take more of an issue with how the slaves fall in love with the bare minimum of effort and how despite otherwise portraying a monogamous culture the slave is fine with being one out of a dozen in the owners harem.
I don’t find the slave dynamic in on itself a problem
Well, I do, and so does any reasonable person. Why are you such a freak?
They probably think BDSM is actually how people would like to live IRL and not just a sexual kink. You’ll find a lot of this in hentai/doujin and can’t distinguish between a fetish/fantasy and how things actually work IRL.
Basicaly their rationale is “I’ve seen rape slave porn before, therefore slavery is fine right guys? Surely if they’re enjoying it this much…”
Is this actually that common of a thing? I try to stay away from the trash side of anime, which is to say a solid majority of it nowadays and especially anything that could be described with the word harem, but I struggle to accept the apparent reality that slave romances are a common trope in the genre. Like that’s straight against the wall, do not pass go, do not collect $200 kind of behavior and to think that that has such an audience that it’s become a staple of the genre is maddening. In the lovecraftian sense
The Rising of the Shield Hero was the very popular show that had this trope, but there are some others.
Eeeeeeh Ancient Magus Bride is playing with slightly problematic tropes but it’s a show about found family and overcoming trauma, it’s more in the ball park of Beauty and the Beast than cryptofash wish fulfillment bull like shield hero
