"My feelings on" part 9: Resetting lady, how it uses too much edginess and shock value, examples of edginess done well.
I normally can reread a book rather easily even if it was awful but this one took the whole cake, it was painful to go back and fourth to read.
Synopsis: essentially the FL Karen has died and came back over 100 times (the exact number can vary based on translation but it's usually 117) and because of the endless cycle of dying, regressing, trying different tactics only to die again. Karen officially goes off the deep end and becomes a lunatic.
The synopsis sounded like the beginning of a creepy pasta which really intrigued me into reading 20 chapters but after 5 chapters it stopped being interesting and just got confusing. So to keep readers interested, I've noticed that the plot of resetting lady relied on shock value from it's edgy story line. Within the first few chapters Karen already kills someone via strangulation, at first you think it's Isella, a snobby rich girl who got Karen killed a few times before but its revealed it was actually a maid named Nancy (who also killed Karen in one of her past lives) and thats only one of the deaths. Now obviously that doesn't make the story bad on it's own, after all the summary of the book tells you she's going to murder people.
HOWEVER it's how its executed that makes it honestly cringe worthy. The vibes I got from Karen seemed like a mix of Jeff the killer and someone's joker impression. Like a self insert you'd make when you had a bad day and you want something to get that anger out of you. There's also times where there's just little build up and BOOM! someone dies by Karens hands, some of the characters honestly don't even deserve death.
The plot also jumps back and fourth and since the translation isn't that great it became tiring to actually read it. The ortolan chapters for example started out with a good idea of the dishes resembling greed but then it just got dragged out and confusing. I see what its trying to do but ehh.. it feels as if less effort was put into it so all the time could be spent on the blood and violence, most of it is either just political story lines that get dragged on or a true crime plot
Its not like it's impossible to have edgy content either there's 2 ways edginess can work.
1: serious plot with balanced edginess
Sister im the queen in this life is an example of a serious plot with balanced edgy humor, I may not like it too much but it balances the edgy tone with a light hearted moments relating to Arabella and Alfonso along with the blood and violent behavior being kept at a minimum, Ariande may be a little unhinged and is an evil person but she still works for the most part because her character doesn't feel embarrassing to follow all the time. Another example of media with a lot of edgy humor is an anime I'm a big fan of: Devilman Crybaby, a 10 episode anime that starts off with a lot of gore and TONS of sexual humor but evolves into a deep and tragic tale about two friends ever-growing toxic relationship and how it led to the sucker punch of an ending. I would explain further but honestly Devilman Crybaby is an anime you should watch yourself all the way through to get the full feeling.
The second example of how edgy humor can be done correctly is: A goofy storyline with lack of an actual plot full of as much edgy humor as possible. Now this style is less liked seeing as it's not for everyone (for good reason too) but sometimes you will find yourself a funny dark humored show or book that's just shock humor but it's the right setting and tone to have that level of edge lord humor. Robot chicken is an example of this style and yes it has started to devolve in a lot of ways but nevertheless remainds iconic for its style and humor.
What makes Resetting lady worse then these examples? It tries to be a serious plot with complex characters yet it still tries to hamfist in constant blood and death combined with long arcs that keep bouncing back and fourth. It doesn't have the entertaining plot to keep you invested and it's shock value humor gets old quick when you realize it's the same thing your supposed to be rooting for.
But by far the worst thing resetting lady has done was this
Karen SA's her fiancé and continously disrespects him when he tells her no. This was what really ruined Karen's character and honestly the entirety of the comic when you realize they want you to sympathize with a sexual abuser.
Now I'm the queen in this life and robot chicken dont handle SA great either but at the very least when there is SA you aren't expected to sympathize with the perpetrator, Resetting lady however pushes it to the side because she's unhinged and a troubled FL so that means she's immediately justified in the eyes of the narrative.
By now I stopped reading the rest of it because it was becoming a genuine chore.
Conclusion: Edgy humor and shock value have its place and making a story revolving around said humor isn't bad on its own as long as it's executed properly but resetting lady executes it in one of the worst ways possible, the humor is stale, most of the characters are either extremely unlikable yet your supposed to like them or they have little personality, only ones I was more interested in were Isella and Dulan.
