#arifureta

"Who is Hotter?" Eyepatches of Awesome

Once again thinking about how the plot and thematic narrative of arifureta could've been a legitimate masterpiece in the hands of like. Someone who isn't a naroukei light novel author. Like, I've talked before about how it's a direct rebuttal to the idea of the Hero's Journey (i.e., the hero's whole goal is to avert the hero's destiny to be so changed by his journey that he can't return home), but like . A story about someone who almost completely loses faith in the world until they meet one other person in the same situation, so they maintain an unhealthy codependent relationship so they can just barely hold on to the last shreds of their humanity, and they say 'fuck this world' and go on a quest to get back home, fully intending to leave everybody else behind, but they keep meeting others in similar situations and finding other things precious to them (and in a better story start a properly explicit polycule instead of just a vaguely implied one) and it's by slowly regaining their humanity and learning to love the people around them that they can return home without being so changed by it that it's no longer home. Genuinely infinite potential in there for a better author to the point that i don't think i could do it justice at ALL, and yet. Yaknow.