Kojinsa Arimasu - Ch. 5 - Menstruation

[stanisrealbad]

@midnightea his name is yukihira, dunno if it’s first or last though

 

[Fnfigi]

This is really really good. I like this approach.

 

[undercurses]

I knew where this is going

 

[reu]

@MidnighTea what you don't realize is how many guys would much rather be with their bros or at their jobs than with their wives.
His overt feelings of companionship, trust and respect naturaly evolve into love when they come from the perspective of the opposite sex.

 

[MidnighTea]

@reu That doesn't really address my point that "Senpai" is little more than a cipher. I'm all for a well-done hetero pairing, I'm less enthused when one of the pairing has about the same amount of depth and personality as a square of drywall.
To use an analogy you might understand, forget about the genders of the participants for a sec and assume it's a guy in an erotic visual novel having to choose between two routes: one is a character with a complex personality, motives, history etc.. The other is just the crusty sock he sometimes makes use of. I don't think you can seriously argue for the "sock route" being the preferable one. Even if the main character waxes poetic about the sock and how it's always been there for him, it doesn't mean the sock is any more likely to stimulate you the player/reader. Same goes for this senpai character -- whatever the main character feels about him, it doesn't transfer to me the reader at all. The writer should ideally be making me feel the same way about this guy. If those feelings are as obvious to experience as you say, that means the writer had even less excuse for dropping the ball on this.

Maybe it'd bother me less if the wife was less nuanced/characterized as well, but that's not the case. For the record, I'd be saying the same thing if the issue were flipped. If the wife was a paper-thin pastiche and the senpai was a developed character I'd be going "drop that battle-axe ASAP this is your fresh start with this awesome guy! it's so frustrating the story keeps going back to her!".

 

[reu]

@MidnighTea just a inb4 the wife and the MC are obviosly the OTP so don't worry you'll get your lesbian lewds.
My retort would be that you're seeing the issue from the perspective of the reader and not from the perspective of the character
The guy is someone who the MC spends more more than half his waking hours with, someone who shares his worries, interests, achivements and someone who he respects and looks up to, both as coworker and as a person
The wife, on the other hand... well just re-read chapter 1
Even if their relationship changed you wouldn't expect his attitude to change overnight

 

[MidnighTea]

@reu

My retort would be that you're seeing the issue from the perspective of the reader and not from the perspective of the character

That's literally the only perspective I need and literally the only perspective that matters when criticizing a work. The writer's responsibility is to get me, the reader, to share the character's perspective. If they cannot manage, they failed. They failed in my case. They didn't fail in yours because you're able to fill in the blanks, but that speaks less to the objective quality of the work and more your own willingness to do legwork that the author did not.

Which, make no mistake -- I'm happy if this work is worth that to you and it made you happy. But you're mentally doing work the author should've from where I'm standing.

EDIT: To put it another way, I really wish I could enjoy the version of the story you're enjoying. And I meant it when I said it makes me happy you are enjoying it.

 

[reu]

delet

 

[reu]

@MidnighTea ? Exactly, I wasn't defending the manga writer(might be different in the novel, dunno), I was explaining the character.
Again, the writer is clearly setting up the wife as the otp, the coworker is just the faceless big dick chad who will be trying to steal the husband

 

[MidnighTea]

@reu I genuinely hope that isn't what's being set up because that angle would be pretty shallow plot development in what is otherwise a surprisingly "real" story like this. But I guess we'll have to see.