munching-on-otome-isekais

[munching-on-otome-isekais]

sss-class revival hunter altered my brain chemistry (and why you should read it too)

now that it's the holiday season, may i suggest that you spend your downtime not enjoying festivities, spending time with loved ones, or relaxing your body, but instead choose to treat yourself to a good cathartic mental breakdown via the power of narrative? that's right, today i'm going to tell you why you, yes you, should read sss-class revival hunter.

what is sss-class revival hunter?

sss-class revival hunter (previously translated as sss-class suicide hunter) is a webnovel by shin noah, and is completed at 400 chapters, though translations are in-progress at 238 chapters. there is a manhwa of the same name that is also in-progress, having just completed its second season.

what is sss-class revival hunter about?

kim gongja (name literally translates as confucius) is a young hunter in a world occupied by the 'tower', a large series of dungeons that people can enter if they forsake all earthly connections in order to challenge the monsters within. in this world, he is a failure, a f-class hunter with no special abilities, capable only of bitterly envying the #1 hunter: flame emperor yoo sooha.

one day, his envy manifests into an sss-class skill, the highest possible level skill- unfortunately, there's a catch. the skill stipulates that he can steal a skill from someone, but only if they kill him. despondent, gongja gets drunk and wanders the city, only to accidentally witness a crime perpetuated by yoo sooha, who immediately murders him to ensure his silence. in death, gongja is given a choice to steal sooha's abilities, and accidentally but fortuitously chooses an ability that allows him to wake up 24 hours earlier every time he dies, allowing him to make use of the combination of his abilities. he proceeds to hatch a plan to gain revenge and challenge the tower, discovering the secrets that lie behind its seemingly random challenges along the way.

huh...this sounds pretty grimdark and edgy, i'm not sure i'll enjoy something like that...

LET ME TELL YOU MY SWEET CHILD...i ALSO thought, when first reading, that this would be an incredibly boring revenge power fantasy featuring a grimdark edgelord protagonist. however!! the entire point of sss-class revival hunter is to subvert that character trope, and it does it MASTERFULLY.

let me explain.

while, at first glance, the plot of ssscrh seems to be setting up kim gongja as your typical edgelord protagonist who doesn't need any friends or emotions, the reality is...quite the opposite. in fact, despite his initial motivations, gongja's motivations are to gain recognition through authenticity, and to help people in ways that yoo sooha never did. fundamentally, sss-class revival hunter is a story about human connection and empathy, and more often than not chooses to showcase the best of humanity through having its protagonist giving people a chance to be good.

so it's about the power of friendship?

it's more accurate to say it's about the power of understanding, but yes, friendship factors heavily into it! gongja's skill allows him to steal abilities from those who've killed him, but there's a penalty - he has to witness the 'trauma' of those people, and understand why they've come to be the way they are. as his ability grows stronger, so does his immersion, and his ability to understand his opponents.

as you might expect, this leads to a lot of rumination on the ways that people are hurt by and become twisted from the world around them, and the book goes out of its way to point out societal and structural issues that cause suffering, rather than blaming individual events. the story isn't so sappy as to excuse every person who murders him, or every villain, but does make sure to show us how multifaceted they are.

not only that, but this book also has some of the most refreshingly reasonable character dynamics i've read in a while. everyone…is reasonable? unlike in other dungeoncrawler works, most people is ssscrh actually act in believable, human ways according to their characterization. the guild alliances, in particular, are refreshing in how reasonable and willing to cooperate they are - if you're sick of random people being made into incompetent scapegoats so that the mc can make an obvious point as if it's gospel, then this book will be a breath of fresh air.

how dark does it get?

i'm not gonna lie - very dark! this book touches on not only the titular theme of suicide and death, but also other incredibly heavy themes around oppression and trauma.

in my opinion, the author is never too heavy-handed or overwrought with the heaviness of its subjects, and handles them with an impressive delicacy that shows compassion towards its subjects without making them caricatures of victimization.

above its darkness, though, ssscrh is fundamentally a story about hope in despair, and holding joy in the same hand that you hold sorrow. the dark themes are not here to titillate, but to make readers understand how difficult and profound it is that there are people in this world that have chosen happiness, despite everything. this book truly has every kind of catharsis you can imagine, and will yeet you through the equivalent of years of therapy in every volume.

okay, that sounds painful, but are there any lighter moments in the story?

oh, plenty. ssscrh is not one to wallow, and for every moment it makes you weep with the tragedy and beauty of the world, it will also make you scream with laughter at how ridiculous the characters are. i've made a post with a scene that made me cackle, and the story delights in the absurdity of the world as much as it cares for everything within it.

more than that, this story also has one of the most hilarious and incredibly strong and stable romantic relationships you will ever read about. i'm not going to spoil things, because i truly believe that this is something to be Experienced, but trust me when i say that gongja and his eventual partner made me scream with laughter and say 'oh my god you guys are INSANE' every time they have dialogue together. if you like malewife/girlboss dynamics, or time travel shenanigans, or overwrought battle couple proclamations of romance, you will ADORE this pairing.

why SHOULDN'T i read this book, then?

good question! as much as i'm obsessed with this book, i can't say that it's going to be everyone's cup of tea. some caveats are about the incredibly heavy themes being touched on, including:

child abuse

bullying

poverty

famine

religious oppression

racial discrimination

cultural genocide

mental illness

slavery

...and more!

also of note that volume 4 of the webnovel centers around the development of an ancient society of various races aided by hunters having the deeply unfortunate name of 'race war'. i will say that it's not as bad as you're imagining, and handled with, if not grace, then clear thought, but yeah. yeah that made me wince too.

is there anything else that makes sss-class revival hunter worth reading?

if you're not convinced yet, here are a few notable quotes from the book that live rent-free in my head (no context or explicit spoilers but skip if don't want anything spoiled!):

People don't just decide who they leave scars on. They also decide whose scars to wear. The common people you are trying to save will never be good. The crowd you have saved will never be honorable. The one you love will never be perfect. Even so, if you want to be hurt by everyone. If you are willing to give them your bare skin- think about how they scratch you with their fingernails, how they will hurt you even if they hug you too tightly. Life is pain, but that is only human suffering.

If you mourn so much over accidental tragedies, you should celebrate accidental blessings just as much. The depth of one's sadness should be equal to the height of one's happiness.

There's a 99% probability that the lover you meet will be a bitch [...] Similarly, you are also highly likely to be a bitch.

Cynicism isn't childish in itself, [but] people who live while being cynical are childish. Fairness is childish, but the people who live fairly are not childish.

Congratulations on becoming Cinderella, bro

anyways, please consider dedicating your holiday season to another stupid long book. you can find translations here and the manhwa here. please let me know if you've read/enjoyed it i'm losing my mind over here.

#thanks for the explanation op ive been hearing abt this series a lot but the title just kind of goes uhhhhhh to me #read later

[munching-on-otome-isekais]

Patrick Ashbatten the boy ever.

#villainess level 99

[munching-on-otome-isekais]

#Villainess Level 99

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sorry, i laughed. the author has never searched up any info on diamonds before.

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otome contract marriage in a setting where contract marriages have gotten so common that this is pretty much the first thing people suspect when anyone gets married, resulting in our contract marriage characters sweating bullets. is this anything.

extra #1: i heard that the duke of the north was born from a dutiful desire to fulfill more... written obligations?

extra #2: oh my, if you're going to say it like that, why not call it a contract marriage?

extra #1: it's only polite to at least attempt talk around these things! it's such a messy affair...

extra #2: you just got married, rosettiatiararinaprotagonistname. what do you think?

extra #1: haha wouldn't it be funny if she also had a contract marriage? didn't your marriage get you out of an uncomfortable relationship with your family? that's a common contract marriage background.

mc: ah. ahaha. of course not?

mc (flings door of her ml's office open): HUSBAND DEAREST WHAT DO WE DO

#YEAH #honestly i think its ridiculous that loveless marriages are talked abt like they arent the default in OIs

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currently reading a fiefdom management isekai and the only thing i can think of is how i'm actually very sympathetic for the MC's servants.

they're written as idiots who are being educated by the MC who is so enlightened on matters like germs and handwashing, bereavement entitlements, freedom from uniforms, the entitlement to literacy, the separation of nobles from commoners etc etc. and like while i agree with MC's positions on all those matters (and wish that they're actually more prevalent irl), it just really irks me how insensitively this specific MC is handling it.

these servants are having their entire worldviews invalidated by this upstart noble. their jobs, which they've spent so long training for, have suddenly been deemed worthless by their employer. oh sure, they'll continue to be employed because the MC is kind and doesn't want people to suddenly go hungry, but what about their self-worth? what about the respect that the people around them once accorded them, now that the top person in the fiefdom has clearly and unmistakably stated that they're better off working in some field they had never planned for?

i think it's a little ridiculous that the MC is facing barely any backlash at all for the thousand and one reforms he's making which invariably invalidate the worldviews of so many people, and above all threaten the legitimacy of in-universe experts. like yeah, sure, some guy from the 21st century can clearly explain germ theory to a bunch of people who have no concept of microorganisms at all. it's definitely something that the people in this universe can conceptualise and understand, it definitely doesn't sound like the ramblings of a madman to them. and the guy who introduced handwashing in hospitals irl definitely succeeded the first time he talked to doctors about it. it definitely took just one sentence from him. and if it didn't, surely the mere title of a noble would have solved all problems. there's no way that people would've publicly agreed with him while internally thinking he was nuts and whispering about him behind his back.

#rant #sigh its not that this story is poorly written #its clearly wish fulfilment and not running into probs is part of that #but its so... dismissive of every char that arent the pov chars #esp their employment issues like bro.... #if a new boss came in and rapidly changed the culture and restructured the place #i would prob only love them if they solved probs i alr identified #but u come and tell me that aliens exist on every surface... even if youre the boss youll get laughed out the room #esp among the high ranking staff members whom youre threatening to fire #tbh theyll prob do worse than just laugh at you

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i think one of the reasons why i love otome isekais is because lots of times the two leads are childhood friends, and their lives and identities are simply so intertwined that you cannot imagine them existing without the other. they simply would not be the same person.

like obviously there are plenty of OIs who do not fall into this trope, and i love that flavour and the diversity, but i also just really really love a good codependent relationship in fiction

#stories that make me want to throw up #because theyre so cute but also theyre setting off my avoidant tendencies so bad #ailette and tesilid from s class heroine #sirius and elana from stuck to the protag #when one chap after the next they acknowledge to themselves that the other has been the most important person in the world to them #since childhood #im going to throwww uppp i want you two to be happy

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stuck with the protagonist is unbearably cute

#the art is sooo cute... #two little kiddos #playing little kid games #ignore the homicidal family #theyre just there for additional flavour

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he really said 😐

#saving my sweetheart #i mean this gently and nicely #its clear that he cares a lot and just doesnt express himself as naturally as most ppl #the juxtaposition just makes for some hilarious framing #and also i appreciate the artist's dedication to consistent characterisation #my post #from main

[munching-on-otome-isekais]

discovered He Awakened When I Died last night, and had so much fun reading it!

The pacing is excellent and it's really funny. I was frankly really shocked when within 25 chaps the childhood arc ended and we found ourselves back at the opening chapter; like it's such a low bar but soo many manhwas just completely forget their original premise and hook.

And! I'm such a big fan of characters who start out aloof but sensitive/kind, but then just snap and go "you know what, actually i'll just go ahead and commit several atrocities". I have a type <3

#he awakened when i died

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no ok but i love how He Awakened When I Died handles all the annoying tropes in OIs with this plot development where the isekai'd FL tries to run from the childhood friend ML who is clearly already in love with her.

isekai'd FL does a lot of things that makes the young ML fall in love w her from childhood:

she literally has a semi-god egging her on and wingmanning (said semi-god is not aware that she's that much older)

she was told "he will die if you don't do this", and because she Has A Conscious, she can't exactly leave or not do a thing, or she'll feel probably guilty for the rest of her life

FL picks the really extreme option of abruptly cutting ties even though it's clear to everyone else that the ML treasures her:

the incident where Bliss gets a fatal injury instead of a wound on the arm like in the novel scared her shitless. It seems like the deviations from the novel have serious consequences, and she's scared out her mind. It's not just her that's in danger, but Bliss as well. And it's clear she cares about Bliss a lot.

Even before that, we already get told that she's convinced she will die because she can't even come face-to-face with the monsters without fainting. OG!Shana died even though she would've also been in the rearlines, so Shana isn't safe even if everyone in-universe thinks she is.

Bliss has zero social and political power. He can't magically solve all her problems if only she would voice them. In fact, he shows in the arrow incident that despite knowing who would be targetting them, the only thing he could do to protect her was to offer up his life in return. Shana does not want this, she cares about Bliss. And anyway the main point is that even though Bliss clearly treasures her, it doesn't really mean shit when it comes to their long-term survival. He was lucky to survive this time, but with how little allies they had, they would run out of luck sooner rather than later. ((This point in particular is in opposition to stories like the Archvillain's Daughter-in-Law, where clearly some very powerful people already love the FL but.. for some reason she thinks she's still in danger. Here, the only people who love Shana are currently powerless themselves))

#he awakened when i died

[munching-on-otome-isekais]

character designs that drive me nuts: guy whose primary colour is white/silver colour to symbolise purity, righteousness and justice, but they're just doing that to be polite actually and they're kind of okay with some slaughter

#cassis pedelian #roxana