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Originally Posted by Marly
Yeah, actual characterizations are put aside for stock characterizations like the one you've mentioned, which is, as I said, just lazy. If the author can't think of anything, they'll just use whatever was popular in the other series, recycle it, and hope it gets fans. I still do feel that a character becoming part of a harem is the worst fate a character can suffer- Not only do they usually lose most of their significance in the story, but they also lose all their dignity as a character by being reduced to a nobody that will not even get back the supposed love since the main character will doubtlessly choose the female lead. It robs the character of a dignified ending, and death of that character would've been much preferable.
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It doesn't just rob them of a dignified ending; haremized characters are also robbed of any potential for growth/development. Once they enter a harem, whatever characterization they have left is usually stripped away and replaced with an unnatural need to pander to the harem lead (and by extension to the audience) by over-exaggerating the asset/s of whatever archetype said character happens to represent. They are either reduced to comic relief, or forced "dramatic tension" stories which are just ingratiating. It's especially galling when characters end up haremized after they get their character development, because it feels more like a step backwards; suddenly, all development is lost and whatever characterization they had or could have had from this point on ends up flanderized badly as just another harem character trying to win the lead's affection, as if lobotomized.
Part of the problem, or so I'd like to infer, is due to the heroines being portrayed with such brimming insecurity that they just have to appeal to the lead/audience whenever possible so as not to be forgotten from the limelight. I'm not really too fond of the whole jealousy/insecurity act that inevitably comes around whenever someone joins a harem mostly because its played for, again, cheap laughs without resolving anything, or presenting anything substantial for the character/s in question.
If I may make an analogy, I like to think of a series' plot as a track race. I like it when the heroines and other characters are able to run alongside the male lead all the way to the end goal, because that means their characterizations are strong enough that they can stand on their own and be genuinely interesting in their own cases. Conversely, harem stories have the heroines running after the male lead; all this does is show that they are heavily dependent on the male lead, and will end up falling flat when left on their own.
The seireis are promising enough, but so far I found that they had more character on their own before they ended up getting captured, which I would really like for this to not be the case with the future volumes. I like to think of their diminished characterization and over-reliance on Shidou for the moment as them trying to fit in human society with the training wheels on, and then coming into their own later on with their own motivations and decisions spurring them on. It might be presumptuous of me to say this, but judging from your previous post on Kurumi, I think that you are also wishing for something similar with her character. And I suppose this is why I love Kuro no Hiera Glaphicos to death as the heroines there are characters in their own right and not harem-crutched pandering fanservice, but that is a different topic altogether.
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Originally Posted by Marly
And yes, self-insert is the only possible reason I see people wanting Shidou to get all the harem captures. I really would not be surprised if this series was nowhere as popular as it is if it wasn't for the art, actually. Most people probably ended up here through the artist's works, since she was involved in yet another pandering-heavy series that is Neptunia.
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I wouldn't dispute the point about the art; that one is especially valid. A glance at this discussion thread's previous pages would reveal several pages worth of posts talking about the character's visual aesthetics for the most part.
Personally speaking, however, DAL struck me as Kaminomi meets Evangelion meets Strike Witches, so I thought of giving it a shot. Entertaining, as I've mentioned, and well-suited for light reading as the author doesn't use heavy Japanese kanji, but...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marly
I initially took interest because the premise was interesting. I liked The World Only God Knows, and since this series had a similar premise (but this had the potential to be possibly more fun) I really wanted this series to be good. Though until the author does something drastic, I suppose it will stay a wishful thinking.
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The premise was clearly inspired by TWGOK/Kaminomi (to be a parody of several galgame tropes), and the similarities are very much present (between the main characters' circumstances, who forced them into their job, kissing as a means of solving their problems) but unlike Kaminomi, DAL seemed more imaginative in its scope - at first. I liked the way Keima solved the heroines' problems in Kaminomi with a mix of subterfuge and direct approach while using his repertoire of galgame knowledge (which is where the galgame parodies usually come in), but unlike in Kaminomi, DAL is rather brute-forced and straight to the point in its approach. Shidou meets seirei, Shidou gets forced to date seirei, cue Ratatoskr
making the entire encounter as hellish as possible for cheap laughs assisting Shidou, seirei goes out of control, Shidou gives an impassioned speech, kiss, problem solved, new harem member obtained.
I am not too fond of this progression. I am less thrilled about the fact that in every volume, Reine (and Kotori)'s roles are hell-bent on enforcing this formula for every volume, at least up to the volumes that I have read. I like the author's imaginative ingenuity, if you could call it that, with the seireis and the DEMs and the world setting, but the conflict and denouement is where this series gets highly formulaic and, bizarrely enough despite the above, absolutely unimaginative.
Most readers have cited Volumes 3 and 4 as the high point of DAL, and I would agree for several reasons: one, it shook things up with Kurumi's character as she was the only one who came close to being a villain at that point; and two, Volume 4 had Shidou actually taking matters into his own (for the brief stint that he did) during the date with Efreet instead of just being pushed around by Reine or Ratatoskr.
I, for one, am hoping that the author throws away this formulaic approach with the seirei problem solving, by either giving Shidou more initiative or more choices with which to approach the seires with rather than just "YOU HAVE TO DATE THEM IT IS A MUST!". It just comes off as increasingly bizarre when seireis, who are reputed as such harbingers of calamity and a grave threat to the world and all, just bend over backwards to accommodate the formulaic love comedy solution, like with the Yamai twins. It would definitely be interesting if Shidou's approach to dealing with the seirei were anything as imaginative as Keima's, for one.