Forum - View topicREVIEW: Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs Volume 1
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13242 |
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This is quite intentional. spoiler[Leon literally steals all her character development. Because he handles all the dangerous situations himself Olivia doesn't get the chance to grow from them as she would in the game. It becomes a source of drama later on.] |
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Shiawase_Rina
Posts: 78 |
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I remember feeling rather salty when reading the manga of this for the first time. An otome game setting for a male audience was very interesting to me as someone who loves otome games and otome isekai. (And I already read some really funny "Guy trapped in an otome game as the heroine" kinda manga)
Well, I guess I came in with the wrong expectations as I could barely see any otome or otome isekai elements. It felt to me like the author has never even touched an otome game or read otome isekai. The setting felt very weird and was pretty much made for a male audience, not for an otome audience (like it should be as the setting is an otome game). The oppression of men in the setting felt superficial to me. I don't need a perfect copy of how women are oppressed, but it didn't feel real? It felt just like a smaller obstacle for the protagonist. Just something to frustrate him. (The comparison is probably unfair but I can't help but think of how Lady Ebony/Evony tackled oppression against women) But well these thoughts are of someone that doesn't fit the target audience. If its target audience likes it, then it must be good enough for them. Please, just don't get the wrong idea about otome games/otome isekai from this 
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Seagloom
Posts: 298 |
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I hated this series. Finally gave up on it in volume four when the story switched locations to effectively reset the plot after the third volume's conclusive finale. It is a basic power fantasy harem story masquerading under another premise. Also didn't help that the backdrop was the kind of evil matriarchy one would find in an old sword & sorcery novel. I have nothing against power fantasy harem series. Follow several of them, in fact. This series disappointed me because it squanders its initial premise almost instantly to become more of the same.
The only novel thing it did by the time I dropped it was spoiler[having Olivia and Angelica fall in love with each other in addition to Leon, averting the usual polygyny setup to some extent]. Akuyaku Reijou no Shitsuji-sama and Otome Game no Mob desura naindaga come way closer to hitting the mark than this with the male protag in an otome setting premise. That said, if someone wants another dose of familiar isekai shenigans they will probably love this series. Luxion is also hilariously snarky. Like a sassier version of TenSura's Great Sage. Last edited by Seagloom on Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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harminia
 Posts: 2064 Location: australia |
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Similar feelings to Shiawase_Rina.
I read a little bit of the manga and though the concept was cute, that this super hetero dude had to play through an entire otome game (and I believe clear all routes or at least the hardest route) for his sister, and then gets trapped in the game while knowing everything about it. But then it turned out to be a matriarchal society and men are oppressed and it just felt like some bitter nerd writing a wish fulfillment harem while also getting to comment on how awful women are. It wasn't really otome at all, just a typical isekai harem story. Kinda obnoxious tbh Granted I barely read much of it so maybe it gets better but it was bad enough that I just couldn't read more. A shame because the manga has a bunch of covers with hot bitchy ojousamas on the cover, but while I love a good bitchy ojousama, I don't want to read a series where they're bitchy because something something men are oppressed women suck. Last edited by harminia on Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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BlueAlf
 Posts: 1555 |
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IMO the story in general is good. It just has this unusual tendency to defy reader expectations with story decisions that only make sense much later on. Yeah, I agree it doesn't offer what you expect from otome games. At least, not straight away.
IIRC, even the protagonist mentions this in-universe by saying how the game his sister made him play was horribly shitty and unbalanced (even having out-of-place SRPG elements to boot), and this is the game world he later finds himself trapped in. Last edited by BlueAlf on Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2337 |
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In January 2020, a viral tweet said, "twitter is 90% someone imagining a guy, tricking themselves into believing that guy exists and then getting mad about it". From what I've seen of this story, I feel that this usefully describes its relationship with otome games.
Also, this is not the first light novel I've seen with a male protagonist in a "matriarchy" with a very superficial sense of what that means or how patriarchy works IRL. |
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zztop
Posts: 650 |
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The oppressive matriarchy is spoiler[one of the worldbuilding mysteries that get gradually fleshed out over the course of the story.] spoiler[For example, not only is the matriarchy system unique to Leon's country, the country is openly ruled by a male monarch as well. Which should raise a few questions as to why the power structure seems so weird.] |
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True1AnimeFan
Posts: 15 |
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I completely agree with you. It had one of the best Character Development I've seen in LNs but it all became discarded and thrown away.. spoiler[Leon gets C-word [Can't say bad words here]] I hate this novel now. It only gets worst on the next volumes. Believe me Maybe, I hold strong resentment to this story is because it was one of the most badass shameless MCs we hardly see in Japanese Novels of today.spoiler[ I felt emotionally compelled that despite his power to easily destroy the world, he struggles in his own way and the Characters growth that never showed in the game. When he moves, he does it in Leon's way, which drives everyone nuts and gives a headache.  ] All of that was ruined...
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KarlFranz
Posts: 186 |
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Actually the series do explain why the matriarch system exist in Leon country. spoiler[Basically it is a tool of the ruling class to supress the middle and low nobility class. It only affect the middle class while the upper nobility like Angie's father and the king don't have to deal with it. The idea is to force the middle class youth to focus in marriage instead of trying to amass power for themselves.] |
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Scalfin
Posts: 249 |
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I think it's a mistake to read the work as a social commentary rather than a media one, as the basic premise is reveling on what kind of social and power structures would have be needed to support the unique dynamics within the elite academies seen in average otome games. You can see some parallels to how people are willing to ignore the inherent injustice in some system as long as they only actually see the privileged sections (maybe wearing cheap fashion made as a part of Chinese ethnic cleansing), but, as with the guy putting chests of gold at the bottom of monster nests, it's more about the willingness to completely accept genre conventions despite how obviously odd they are from an outside perspective and imply things contrary to the stated genre appeal.
Those complaining about how it has stuff that isn't literally shown in otome games are also kind of missing the point. Just because we don't see the fields in Gone with the Wind doesn't mean they're not there, and the fields are where this series is focused. |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2337 |
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Such as? |
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