「トロンベ討伐」 (Toronbe Toubatsu)
“Trombe and Battles”

Honzuki no Gekokujou is probably the show I’m enjoying most this season. No denying that. It tells an excellent story in a fascinating world that puts a twist on your generic isekai elements. Which is almost everything you could ask for. But let’s address the biggest elephant in this episode. Just how comically bad are these villains going to continue to be? Must their only purpose be to elicit outrage and nothing else of substance? First we have a laughably evil and snooty high priest. He was already unbearable enough as it was. And now we have this evil green haired excuse of a person who’d threaten a little girl for fun while physically torturing her. All because he wants to lord out his ‘higher societal status’.

Not to say evil people don’t exist. They definitely do with all the serial killers and pedophiles since the beginning of time. Or that abuse of power and hierarchical feudal systems can’t possibly exist. Every society across the globe had a phase like that in their history. But people need to recognise this is Sword Art Online tier writing. Only for Oberon it was actually understandable he’d stoop to such lows – seeing how he was genuinely attracted to Asuna and despised Kirito for being her loved one. Here, we have a high ranking noble threatening to gouge out a little girl’s eyes because ‘Muh plebian, meesa outrank her.’. Which is not only beyond dumb – because the highest ranking noble literally ordered him to guard said girl. But also because said highest ranking noble clearly showed affection towards said girl and placed unparalleled importance on her safety – letting her ride with him on his magical mount.

Oh I know. That’s like a global diplomat going to a UN conference, being asked to oversee a brown girl with shoddy clothes, seeing Barack Obama pay respect to said brown girl with shoddy clothes, then treat that girl like shit while threatening their life with a machete because they’re a brown girl from a third world country who should know their place. Only to discover that said girl was actually Malala – survivor of a terrorist attack, champion of women’s education across the globe and winner of a Nobel Peace prize. Then realise you just screwed yourself over. Hard. Sure I expect some people to argue that there are different standards across times and societies. But I need to emphasise: literally nobody is that level of stupid. Let me tell you, what the green haired knight did was just so fucking moronic I can’t even.

And while nobody would expect a drop of blood to cause such a scene, Myne pretty much almost died there. Getting constricted by a snake is dangerous enough – let alone a tree with a thicker, rigid and harder body. I can really appreciate how angry Ferdinand became – this shit was absolutely serious. And I’m half hopeful half pessimistic about the punishment that Ehrenfrest’s lord will give out – whether it will be too lenient since nobles are nepotistic or a fitting sentence because nobles are held to a higher standard. But one thing’s for sure – Ferdinand will do everything he can to make sure it swings towards the latter, making a confident claim that he doesn’t pick fights he cannot win.

Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. And let me know your thoughts. Do you disagree with me for being too judgmental and felt the writing was perfectly fine? Do you agree with me that the writing left much to be desired? Or do your feelings fall somewhere in between? I’d be really interested to know – so feel free to contribute in the comment section. As always, thanks for reading this post and see you next week to find out what punishment the Lord will decide on!

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13 Comments

  1. Yeah, that “villain” bothered me too. Dunno if it matched the source material.
    The villain seemed out of place as a character in this series — maybe he’d fit
    in One Piece or some other similar Anime, but was way too forced in this Anime.

    Those guards also got off too easy. They violated their charge and should have
    been executed on the spot by their captain. It reminds me of Smartphone – in the
    LN criminals and their families were beheaded / killed (e.g., the noble who poisoned
    the king), but the adaptation doesn’t mention that at all. Guess they feel the need
    to nice it up a bit for Anime. Shame ’cause it’s the story and changing it like that
    lessens the impact. Just my 2¢.

    I love this series but I kinda feel that in the last few episodes we’re introduced to
    all kinds of things that had (in the Anime at least) no foreshadowing at all! Yeah,
    we knew about magic, but flying creatures and messenger birds suddenly appear —
    feels like a different Anime! Yeah, trombone was known to be dangerous,
    but it was never mentioned by anyone that a bunch of magical flying knights were
    needed to subdue it – that the plant was almost self-aware and not just some
    crazy out-of-control weed.

    Oh well…

    Wonder if the next episode is the last and will it be full-circle. I’d love to see
    a second season, too!

    mac65
    1. This villain is exactly in the LN. He is disgusted that a commoner is wearing a blue robe that is reserved for nobles. Basically elitism. Don;t worry. He will get his just deserts after a few days (story wise). Same that happened in the novels.

      Theoria
      1. We rather prefer the heart-warming arc between the Head Priest, Maine, and her family.

        Less contrivance.

        More development of the characters with traditional and family-oriented motifs.

        Jerry
  2. I would love to tell you what i think.. but as a Novel-Reader i just know to much and obviously iam also to stupid to use spoilertags correctly.

    So the question is.. are you talking about the writing of the story in general.. or the writing of the anime-adaption?

    and while i do agree that he is very stupid, in the novel there are implications and reasons why he is this way and it and makes kind of sense in the confined of the worldbuilding.

    i think most ppl still underestimate how severe the class-divide is in this world.. even Ferdinand achknowledges that damual could not go against the green haired one ( in the novel there is actually a short story from Damuels viewpoint going deeper into this situation ). in fact, in the novel, before myne speaks up she makes ferdinand and Karstedt promise her that she will not be punished and no harm will befall her for speaking about what has happened.

    Jancen
  3. I groaned when it turned out that we had to deal with another stock villain. Hope that they spare us the typical villain tries to take revenge on the main character after being punished/humiliated by his superior for his misbehavior.

    boingman
  4. If they do not have Bread, they should eat Cake!

    Also look at the Nobles around WW1 Time, how their Status influence them. But History is full of this. Alone Europe middle Age time, or the Pre-era of Shoguns and so on..

    Also, this is the same where Males tortures females in the same what, to show them their “place behind the stove”

    Same thing just other faces

    worldwidedepp
    1. My wife’s place is in the kitchen, and I assure you that I don’t “torture” her to help feed our family. My daughter is also learning the culinary arts, hopefully, as we both want some grandchildren.

      I shudder to think what you would teach kids, given the filth on display in those “Autonomous Zones”.

      Jerry
      1. It is your Wife. But what would you say, if she wish to learn more, to study, to do work? Will you allow it, or would you “chain” her into the Kitchen?

        In short: Do you respect her free will?

        worldwidedepp
  5. I know how people are saying this is a boring caricature and then I see in RL police shooting people for no real good reason outside of their class (aka skin color). Maybe it’s not so farfetch when villains are that 1D when you see just a snippet of their actions.

    KoroshiyaKi
    1. Well, if you’re going to bring it up…

      You know, you’re right.

      I hope Derek Chauvin rides this out, despite him being run-roughshod because he’s White. He did his duty, but he’s being given the Zimmerman treatment (except this time, Chauvin actually IS White). It’s not surprising that the Leftist Prosecutor and Mayor are soiling their panties wondering how they’re going to play this in front of a Grand Jury, let alone a Petit Jury. He knows when the actual evidence gets presented, the cheap “villain” narrative collapses, no matter whether you can indict a ham-sandwich.

      The writer for Honzuki no Gekokujou who wrote the recent, cheap cardboard villains, must also be writing for the media covering “Police Brutality” today.

      Too bad cheap media narratives fall apart on closer inspection, which is the reason the cases against Wilson, Pantaleo, and the others fell apart, even in Grand Jury proceedings with no cross-examination.

      Regardless, our family is praying for Chauvin and his family; they’d be welcome in our House. They’re part of the deterrent against people like George Floyd who break into our houses, robbing, pointing guns at us and selling drugs to our kids.

      As for the Twin city residents who abandoned their protectors and sided with the Communists and Racist agitators, they’ve long been reaping the whirlwind. From Seattle to New York to Atlanta, etc. These Commies are almost clockwork in their predictability and mayhem – murder, rape, robbery, destruction….no surprise that kind of Culture creates poverty.

      And while our community is taking relatively well-to-do “refugees” from these Communist hellholes, me and my colleagues don’t mince words when conveying to them the same thing we tell our kids;

      Don’t bring that filth here; you’ve been warned.

      Jerry

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