Realist Hero season 2 - Perhaps the dumbest anime
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2024
- How an unrealistic hero destroyed the kingdom. Good grief this one's dumb. Literally every decision made in every single episode is the most moronic thing the characters could possibly do. Perhaps because this one believes itself to be so incredibly clever and yet written by buffoons that it becomes one of if not the dumbest anime.
Season 1 realist hero video:
6 minutes
Season 2 realist hero video:
Almost 30 minutes
I guess it get worse
Very much worse.
And it WILL get SO MUCH worse in future!
You missed one important thing too. While Marchiavelli said that it is "better to be feared than loved", he also said that it is only the last resort if the leader cannot be both feared and loved at the same time. he actually prefers leaders to be "feared and loved" at the same time
I did wonder whether I should put that in but I figured it might confuse the point I was trying to make. Rulers should aspire to be feared and loved but if they can't have both choose fear but must avoid being hated.
@@dlfarmer7601 I've always thought that perhaps what Marchiavelli meant by "feared but loved" was Basically like this, there is a ruler who Feared by his enemies because of his authoritarian way of governing and often cruel punishments to his opponents, But also respected and loved by his people for bringing stability and prosperity to his people. One example of this type of ruler is the huey long governor of Louisiana
@@Pancasilaist8752 I think that's close but I don't think it necessarily includes authoritarian. It's to be loved by your citizens but feared by your enemies or potential enemies. I.e. I rule fairly and justly, I will reward those who do right by me and the kingdom I rule, however if you cross me there will be no mercy, there will be nowhere for you to hide, I will find you and deal the worst of punishments.
As for which is better, to rule a prosperous kingdom where the vast majority love the ruler or to rule a kingdom where the vast majority of people wouldn't dare oppose the ruler, marchiavelli focused on the risk of someone overthrowing the ruler. In that sense it is better to be feared than loved. Feared but not hated.
Also, I'm afraid don't know who Huey Long is.
@@dlfarmer7601 huey long was the governor of Louisiana around 20s to early 30s. You should find out more yourself because this person is really interesting.
but basically he ruled Louisiana like a dictator and often used intimidation against his political opponents, basically he was the dictator of Louisiana. but he prospered the people of Louisiana, he advanced education in Louisiana, he stood against the elite and always criticized wall street, he also eradicated poverty in Lousiana.
And he also criticized FDR's new deal, claiming it was not enough to tackle poverty in America. Instead, he proposed "share our wealth", a plan whereby every American could have a universal basic income and guaranteed welfare. Because of this, some began to call him a communist, but Huey later said that this policy was aimed at preventing communism. In addition, he claims that his main inspiration is the bible, not das capital or the communist manifesto.
Until now, he is still a controversial figure, on the one hand, he is considered a fascist demagogue who uses the rhetoric of populism and authoritarianism in governing Louisiana.
But on the one hand, he is considered a hero to the people of Louisiana for fulfilling his promises and bringing prosperity. He also stood against standard oil company involvement in chaco war, because of that, Paraguay named a military base after him.
That was just the basics, actually there are still lots of interesting things in huey long, you should check it out yourself.
@@Pancasilaist8752 Interesting, I'll see if I can find a documentary on him. Thanks.
Unrealist hero 2: electric boogaloo
And soon to come
Unrealist hero 3: Sadistic Buffoonawoo
Not sure if it will get a season 3 but better off reading the light novels as they tell more information about the world and details that isn't shown in the anime.
@@itsblitz4437details like the fact that among the relatives of the traitors Souma executed there were a mother and her 1-month-old child?
You read that right, folks. Our hero's heroics include sparing the life of a literal infant.
if I were to rewrite it to explain why Souma didn't abolish slavery, I will explain how much money is generated from slavery in the kingdom and also explain how much the kingdom needs this money to finance many things. Souma, while he despised slavery, was still pragmatic enough to let slavery run its course in order to fund other policies he wanted to implement. instead, freeing slaves became one part of the penalty where it was in violation of certain laws to free some slaves and the number of slaves freed depended on what violations were committed. Freeing slaves was also encouraged by Souma. With Souma alone freeing dozens of slaves, he was followed by his friends in the hope that people would follow their king's example.
Basically, Souma here sees slavery as a "necessary evil", He loathes slavery but sees slavery still necessary at least until industrialization is successful and hoped that after that, slavery is no longer needed.
In the novels he didn't abolish slavery but he turned into a social care program; he told the noble that the rewards they could receive for military contributions now would also depends on the management of the land they already have, so every person that knows how to read and do math was hired as a bureaucrat, around 20% of the country population, when the country run out of educated people the slave trades start teaching slaves how to do that, so there are some people that pass from a hobo that sell himself as a slave just to have a roof over his head and some food to become an administrator of a small town, also this slaves that was hired as bureaucrats were also freed from slavery, cause their owners need them to get married, and became a constant source of competent people.
The thing about the "Time Travel" is that it's not time travel at all, is just sending memories back in time, that seems like a nit pick but there's a real difference, because while they can send memories back at the end of the day they're still stuck in their own time, sending their memories back just creates a new timeline, so if they screw up they would have to still deal with the consequences of their own with only the knowledge that another timeline knows what's coming as consolation.
There's actually a Bonus story that shows what happened after the Queen sent their memories back, Souma manages to save them (of course) and they are going to the loyalist Dukes to rally the army and fight back, seems like they went for the last option a little too early.
Doesnt it kinda feel like how the prestige works, i.e. creating a perfect copy of yourself where one would die and one would live (assuming the one in the previous timeline doesn't immeidatly die after their memories get sent back). Essentially it's not a 50/50 chance of you going back in time or being stuck in a doomed present it's guaranteed you'll go back along with whomever you want. A perfect copy of the king and queen went back in time and tookover their former selves in a different timeline.
And that bonus story sounds far more interesting than anything in the actual anime as at least there would be a challenge for Souma to overcome. Not sure why he would side with the duchies since they didn't bother helping in the war.
Also, the worst part of it hits waaaay later. I know, this info comes from light novel and we don't know when anime will catch up to that point or will it catch up at all, but still... here be the spoilers!
In enourmous "powermove" of worldbuilding author tells us - and the main cast - that their "magic" is not, in fact, magic, but NANOMACHINES SON. Really, all magical phenomena, all races of humanity apart of pureblooded humans - dragonewts, beastman, elves, even dragons - are capable of existing because of nanomachines that were created by humanity in distant past. Nanomachines that start to malfucntioning in presence of seawater and, when broken, turn into energy-hoarding exposives (so-called "cursed ore").
And he - author - really hopes that we swallow the fact that such unreliable technology not only were responsible for all this fantasy in this world, but also capable of sending person's memories to their counterpartn IN ANOTHER TIMELINE! HOW DA HECK THIS FLUSTERCLUCK EVEN WORKS?!
Machiavelli said be wary of sycophants and enemy agents. Not pull off another Sinigallia with them. The context for that mass execution was different: that was killing 3 treacherous mercenary-captains, not 12 heads of noble houses. Killing your enemies is an option, yes, but it's always seen as a last option, used sparingly and reserved for gravest matters.
One look at that scene and you know it's a bad idea.
Depends, Machiavelli point is one way of looking at it from Western Realist view. Eastern Realist would look at the Grand Historian Sima Qian, who look at the use of mass murder with more practical and precision aspect to eliminate political rivals and ensure the states survival, such as the massacre of the Lu clan in order to safegaurd the Han Royal family of Liu.
A more accurate title for this anime would probably be "How an Armchairs Economist became an Incompetent Tyrant".
One interesting little factoid. Having Slavery as a form of repaying debts by the poor is called Indentured Servitude. And its still legal in some countries, even serving as the basis for the USA's prison system's forced labor programs, which are a thing, and horrifying.
Historically, Spain's early attempts at banning Slavery through the middle ages resulted in this, they banned enslaving, but not buying slaves, nor indentured servitude, and even bought slaves had to be freed after their contract was up, so it was more like rent. They also did ban mistreating the Encomendados, giving them full rights as citizens, except for the right to abandon their new master for the duration of the contract. Which for the time was honestly quite progressive... And the reason for many, many, MANY attempts at revolt by plantation owners. Especially in Cuba which due to massive military support from USA in the end wound up managing to force Spain to just let them have slaves even after they were banned everywhere else in Spain, resulting in the slave revolts that led to the spanish american war... you know, because USA wanted to free the slaves it had fought to ensure would be slaves to begin with. Clearly the act of honest freedom loving democrats and not at all blatant poorly disguised colonialism.
Anyway USA rants aside my point is just that, surprisingly, the system of slavery or pseudo-slavery they depict not only is realistic but was for years the most common form of slavery, due to it being the only legal form of it within what at the time was the largest empire by both size and population. So I guess props to the anime. Somehow.
Further note about physical abuse: The Encomienda System's views on corporal punishment varied considerably through the decades. The reason why is that physical abuse was banned but... well the definition of ABUSE is what changed. At the start as this was the middle ages corporal punishment was indeed legal. And much like in the anime, the limit was CAUSING PERMANENT DAMAGE. No magic whips tho, they simply used specific whips, namely the flagelos, invented by the penitents for use on themselves, which indeed cause no permanent injury due to the materials they are made of, their length, and their weight. Later all corporal punishment was banned. This simply followed the laws for regular citizens. Oh and just to add the USA insult. Yeah, USA hasn't bannred corporal punishment yet. Hell it hasn't even been banned in schools. Wtf america. Again, funny parallel to real life by the anime. Tho I have no idea why the anime's flagellum equivalent is literally magic. You don't need magic to avoid permanent injury the penitents can tell you ALL about how to torture yourself without leaving scars. They can also tell you all about how to do it while leaving scars. Different branches have different interpretations of penance.
Ok another small addendum because the anime lost me rven harder: Back in the day construction workers had much higher standards than nowadays. The way they show slaves carrying rocks like egyptian stereotypes is nonesense. And even depicting most slaves as performing harsh manual labor is nonesense. That was firmly a result of the plantation model, and even in USA slaves outside of plantations were for the most part servants. Through the middle ages in europe, and especially in Spain with the encomienda system, most slaves would actually work as servants, they cleaned homes, carried noblemen's stuff, generally followed them around for help with a lot of things. Yknow, the usual. Unelss we're talking about criminals which were punished by working for the army, and especially navy. But even then on non-combat roles like rowers before the galleon made rowers outdated or most of them "mozos", logistics personnel.
Encomendados wouldn't be used as construction workers because this was seen as hard work they could not be trusted with. And even farming they'd do only within plantations.
I couldn't finish the first season so I respect a lot what you endured to get this video out.
It was a fantastic roast and made me appreciate a lot more the stories, animes and books that have real stories, characters and world building.
I have so little faith in the author of this story that I honestly believe he forgot that slavery is a prevalent trope in isekai stories and included it out of nowhere when someone reminded him.
To be honest abusive sistems where workers are abused to the point of where they aren't paid for their work or even die while working on... sorry it has nothing to do with anything.
Even good stories like Mushoku Tensei have slavery but in the novels it is properly explained and the MC doesn't just wave a magic wand and fixes it.
He recognized that to try to fight slavery is an endeavour he is not up to.
Slaves are integral for the economy of the mist powerful nations and even the biggest religion on the world tacitly approves of it by preaching humans are superior to other races.
Also it is not a fight you can quit midway. You cannot create a nation without slaves and let others keep as they were.
But I am fixing too much on this one thing but I really thingnthe author forgot to include slavery from the beginning.
I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a powerful new religion out of nowhere for the next season only to have his MC become the pope or something.
same man.
It more a adaptation probleme that a autor probleme the ln is good not great but good like a 12/20 or somethink like that
it just that the serie is a sumary that skip important think and make it hard to find the logical of it
it like if you do the full season of game of throne in 9 episode and each episode is a season that it
@@azopeopaz3059 it would not be the first time an adaptation butchers the source material but still, the general strategy to deal with the problems of the nation like slavery, Peter Pan's level of racist depictions of those refugees and the nobles with ties to foreign nations are the same in the novels right?
Plus the point of what do adventurers do if monsters are mostly up north.
If they only delve in dungeons then they should have cleared most of them by now.
Overlord and Mushoku Tensei have really good settings for their adventurers guilds. The first formed by the Theocracy to help protect humanity without having to deal with the political issues of armed forces across countries and in MT the fact that they use Dragon Race tech for the cards and stuff strongly indicate it was made by a past Dragon God/King back when... sorry me rambling.
I would likely never read these novels because me and my friends have a system.
We poop our pitiful money and buy the books we all like (Dresden Files, Poor Man's Fight, Brandon Sanderson's books and light novels) then we just circle them around.
I could put on an eyepatch and sail the internet looking for places to get those books free (they're easy to find) but I feel bad about that.
@@martinratagris You know a lot of japan novel have a web novel version that are free ? ( two exemple would be re zero and mushoku ) and by free i mean legaly free? of coursse that mean no proffesional eddited it bust some are good and have english translation some corea too are good one i would particualy advice if you like hight strategy is Napoleon in 1812
synospis basicaly napoleaon from anothe world where he choice democratie wake up in ours napoleon it intersting to read it if you like
Absolutely agree. The fact the author of realist hero just threw in slavery out’ve nowhere only to get rid of it immediately was so shockingly stupid I was genuinely left gobsmacked.
The first season was just typical goofy isekai nonsense, but this just sounds uncomfortable. Like holy shit what do you mean government-funded slavery? The longer the video went on, the more punchable Souma's face got... 😂
At least in Overlord, the main characters are unironically supposed to be the villains...
It seems that the anti-slavery sentiment in Japan is not as strong as in America.
@@Pancasilaist8752 I think it's more the anime industry constantly copying what other anime have done without thinking why or how best to incorperate it into their shows.
Absolutely agree. Man I wanted to smack some sense into souma all the way through.
@@dlfarmer7601 but seriously, someone born and raised in modern times who doesn't despise slavery is weird and a little creepy. if she grew up in a fantasy world, it makes sense why she would tolerate slavery. but since Souma was born and raised in modern times, it's really weird and it's almost as Souma is a neo-confederate Who believe in the "good slave master" myth.
The fact that Souma turned down the offer to marry the empress was perhaps the stupidest decision ever made by a fictional nation's leader.
I mean, if souma was replaced by a real life politician or noble,Whether it's origin, culture, or background, they wouldn't be able to refuse such a big offer. Not only were they able to rule the empire without much bloodshed, they were also able to secure vast Territory,natural resources and human resources which can be use to fight their future enemies.
the only reason Souma turned down the offer was because the author was madly in love with the status quo.
Like almost all the bizarrely stupid things in the show I have no clue why the writer included it. They brought up this massive solution to all their problems and they had their protagonist bat it away without any clue.
The status quo? didn't the author had Souma marry the girls anyway at least in the light novels?
@@itsblitz4437 I mean the status quo for the country and politics.
@@dlfarmer7601 For western viewers not used to Asian storylines, humility is something we champion in our ancient sovereigns. Liu Bei spent a few chapters in Romance of the Three Kingdoms rejecting the idea of marrying Sun Quan's sister, in order to create a political marriage for power. In the eyes of Chinese and Japanese authors that follow the tradition, it is far more noble to reject offers for power to show that you deserve that power and position in the first place. An ideal ruler as understood by some schools of thought for example should be both humble and forceful, Taoist political theory based on "Mo Wei"/empty concept would ask that leaders wait with humility for the right timing and parameters before accepting power.
It is still an incredibly stupid thing to do in universe.
Seems like the anime left out a lot of content to Soma thinking and how the world works. It's still dumb but they tried to explain it away by parallel our history. It happened on earth so I am going to do it here. So basically Soma is definitely dumb.
Applying historical lessons to statecraft is by definition one of the aspects of realist philosophy. A lot of people are allergic to the ideas, because it takes away all the core tenets in modern liberalism, focusing more on pragmaticism.
@time391 the logic of Soma is weird in the light novel, and I don't remember anime explanations. The another world rules should contrast but exist separately. Soma is doing a 1:1 copy and that should not work. At least we need to see more of a trial and error process making that contrast between their world and ours. E.I Coal in Demon Lord ReTry. Mining Coal is impossible because it's all gone so introduction it will be a game changer for good and bad.
@@Acid8UCloud There's a lot of historical lessons that get applied. One of the core principles behind Confucian philosophy and the realist school that is based off it, is the application of past lessons into precedent. It's like applying legal precedents, while I know modern political spectrum of liberal and conservatives usurp such ideas as precedents when applying their core concepts, it is what creates stability under realist school of thought.
It's a matter of perspective too. Realist school of thought is not something a lot of people favor, because it requires a certain pragmatic type of worldview. So for instance, let's say you ran a business and found out your employees have been stealing from you. It is not merely one of them either, but a group. You could fire them individually, but it would only remove some people, not the issue. If you keep them and try to work around their theft, then you are just running an inefficient business. Thus, you need to do something flashy and scare the rest of your employees from doing the same. Gathering all of them in public with both employees and clients, then firing them all at once, while showing what they've done will do several things: 1. Remove the theft, 2. Punish the offenders with extreme visibility preventing them from ever being employed with public awareness of their actions, 3. Scare any current employee from ever attempting the same thing.
That is how realist practice applies in modern life, you need to make it a spectacle for both fear and awe.
Oh you beautiful bastard! A sequel to my favorite vid of yours! I'm going to enjoy this show being ripped a new one!
Honestly with how stupid every action this main character does makes me think this is supposed to be a parody or if someone from our world that was a major isekai fanboy got isekaied and tried to follow what the books and manga did without understanding how the world really works. But I suppose he would have been killed all the way back in season one if that was the case.
Theory: Elfrieden is France, Amidonia is burgundy, The gran chaos empire is some sort of eastern rome and the demon lord realm is analogous to the northern pagan tribes. that northern island nation I dont remember is meant to be wales, and that tiger empire (WTF IS THAT NAME) is meant to be analogous to the alans/magyars.
@@neroatlas9121 um..what dose this have to do with with OPs comment?
@@raymondweis90 he asked if its a parody of our world, and to me thats the bootleg nation equivalent.
It's taking several things: Three Kingdoms period issues, Italian Renaissance era fighting (Julius maybe named after Pope Julius aka Borgia Pope, so if there's a 3rd season, he could claw back for power), and there's of course the historical struggles of various warring states in Sengoku Jidai (the hundred year long Japanese Civil War).
@@time391 fair but I hope we can all agree this is a mishmash of historical events that makes no sense.
Ah, finally a realist hero video season 2. I've subscribed back in a day just to see this and I wasn't disappointed.
In regard to the whole “Souma in charge of Van” segment. I was under the impression that it was months. Mainly because it would take quite a while for the troops from the empire to get there. The more troops the longer the time. And they apparently brought enough to be able to subdue both the Kingdoms and the Principalities armies.
Honestly there is no clue as to how long they were there for, literally could've been the next day or years later as the anime is so bad at storytelling it can't set anything up. You're absolutely right that it should be months later but they never explain it at all, one simple line could've sufficed
Also I was curious about this so I googled what the timeline was supposed to be from a fandom site (why anyone would create a fandom site for this is beyond me) and turns out it was only sixteen days. It probably wasn't official but still made me laugh
The main character literally reenacts the Stockholm bloodbath and the writers still expect the audience to believe that his nation would not revolt. For a quick history lesson almost this exact scenario was how Sweden became an independant nation.
In Japanese and Chinese history though, we didn't revolt :P What happened during a meeting or dinner party held by the Emperor was the massacre of the said nobles and seizure all their lans. Imperial authority in the Far East was usually ushered in, when Emperors can accumulate enough force to eliminate the elites and aristocrats, in order for them to consolidate power. In Europe, the famous stories of Italian Warring states had similar feats done by rival dukes against one another. Even more infamous was Medici family's massacres of rivals in retaking Florence.
Its disappointing that we thought the hero was supposed to conform around the world, not the other way around
It actually went neither way. Souma could have just accepted that slavery and mass executions of entire families (including children) is just normal in this world (like it was normal in pre-Enlightenment real world).
Instead he tried to "reform" these practices, showing that he had the power, but not the balls, to *abolish* them completely
You forgot the part when he was getting into a fight, recalls his training, held up his sword as if he was going to block it, and the bandit hits the sword. As in there is more than enough time to adjust how he swings his sword, and goes for the mcs swords.
They wrote a elementary level logic as genius, so now everyone is dummer than a preschooler
Look at it from an Eastern angle, instead of merely western side of realism.
@time391 what are you implying? Western people are stupid?
@@time391 as much i would agree on this but most of the cultures of these nations are based on the west. Which is like applying oil on water and saying ay yes that is totally compatible to mix.
@frenchspy9271 in the Manga, they quote sengoku jidai nipponese lords and classical Chinese realisi concepts, it might be better if they kept Asian realist discussions alongside machiavelli.
Robert Greene made a name for himself doing that in 48 laws
@@time391 they can quote shrek for all I care. It's like saying a movie was actually good because it showed a bible quote at the begining. They can quote entire encyclopedia and it doesn't change fact characters in this show act like idiots.
Nah, its brilliant, you just dont get it.
Just look at Souma as the villain with delusions of grandeur, or a straight up agent of chaos.
His actions allready needlessly killed thousands. Its beautiful.
You had me on the first half ngl.
Yeah but honestly banana crème pie might be worth losing a few fingers in a bear trap for
I was looking forward to this one! Your first video on this anime is what got me into your channel and it's been great ever since, keep up the awesome work!
Thanks.
I recently got some videos with scenes from this anime recommended by TH-cam and I thought it looked decent enough to have a look at the full thing. While searching, I then got your video here recommended and you sure saved me from wasting my time and from getting a headache from the stupidity of the story.
I get the feeling like this is one of the cases where an author got a great idea for a story but they know absolutely nothing about the central theme of theiŕ story's premise. In this case the guy had the really intriguing plot idea of how a modern administrator might run an isekai fantasy kingdom without the usual totally overpowered isekai main character trope. But unfortunately the author has not the slightest clue of how to write such a character or a story like that. Pretty much like how a lot of the worldbuilding and mechanics in many Isekai or "trapped in a videogame" stories are really really crap because the authors don't know anything about videogames so their videogame worlds don't make sense.
The equivalent would be if Andy Weir, when he had the idea for the story of "The Martian," would have just went ahead writing the story without knowing anything about science, physics, astronomy, orbital mechanics or human spaceflight in general and he would have just made it up as he went along instead.
So absolutely agree. The potential for this story was incredible but the writers had all the knowledge and insight as a toddler with crayons up their nose.
Clearly there was not a shred of research done into societies / economics / politics / characters / stories or indeed anything whatsoever when they made this.
I can really picture if these writers made the Martian they would've had Matt Damon take off his helmet and hold his breath when stepping outside.
If you're looking for a show with a similar premise but actually good, I'd suggest Genius Prince. Alderamin on the sky is also a good shout.
"Modern countries are supposed to accept all asylum seekers" Why?
Kinda funny when japan discourages immigrants and Europe is crumbling down due to uncontrolled immigration
Genuine*
19:27 uhoh... where did the criminals go souma.
*Souma slowly turns in his chair, looks across his shadowy desk and slowly puts his hands together. "they were...dealt with."
when the whole worldbuilding and narrative is aimed at showing how great the protagonist is, basically the protagonist is mary sue or in this case, gary stu because souma is a male.
I watched the first season of this with my brain off and was at least somewhat entertained, but the kill all nobles scene was so bad that I couldn't suspend my disbelief or watch any more of this anime.
Fun to hear that it gets worse though!
Red Wedding might be too much for you too :P Game of Thrones did the same thing and was heralded as the greatest moment in TV history in 2010s
@@time391 If you can't tell the difference between Red Wedding's context and this show than I don't know what else to tell you.
@@felyndiira You do know Game of Thrones applies the same principle of Machiavelli's use of violence to end opposition.
To be fair, I will grant in Game of Thrones the reference this is closer to the Cersei destruction of the Sept of Baylor, which was to murder every noble and religious leader who may stand against her path to hegemony. After all her rivals and foes were dead, she took full power unopposed and all the civilians had no choice but to accede to her rule by fear. She took away the peasants faith in higher being (If you can kill a religious leader and destroy the holiest temple, what exist is utter reality that "Power is Power" as Cersei claims), no noble plot could be sown, and no rival army was left in the capital.
What I am pointing out here is that the principle behind Souma's actions is realism taken to the same levels as Game of Thrones.
While in the Far East, we apply the concept of realism with Confucian doctrines of maintenance and humility, things that Machiavelli did not include in his Prince, but Confucius did include in his dialectic and his future disciples of the Realist Confucian school applied to practical affairs of the statecraft. If you think about it, past modern leaders like Deng Xiaoping of China could be considered a practitioner of the modern offshoot of Realism, populist reforms, and subjugation by fear as needed, especially after internal Chinese Communist in-fighting of the 1970's after Mao's death.
@@time391 Not at all, this is similar to none of them. Not even Cercei's actions.
There's nothing wrong with portraying the idea of using violence to end the opposition. It's used to great effect in many sources. BUT - the actually good portrayals like in Game of Thrones actually shows a logical progression leading up to the event, and does a very good job of portraying the aftermath in an actually realistic way. Taking the Red Wedding as an example, the assassination was the cumulation of a violent power struggle, and Walter Frey suffered from massive reputational damage afterwords and the event literally reshaped the entire perception of hospitality in the entire world. Since you keep on bringing Three Kingdoms in other posts, let's look at the Ganlu Incident as another example. Sima Zhao was able to get away with public regicide because he was the power behind the throne (thus being able to escape direct blame) and because he had the entire royal family of Wei under his thumb. Even despite that and Cao Mao being an extremely unnoticeable emperor, the event still caused enough of a backlash that Sima Zhao had to scapegoat it to one of his subordinates and basically posthumously give the dead emperor a grandiose title and a public state ceremony. And there, he only did the assassination when Cao Mao forced his hand.
THAT is how you show using violence to end the opposition. What about Souma's case?
Firstly, let's actually take a look at the situation surrounding that little farce. Duke Carmine just executed a VERY PUBLIC rat smoking play and crushed five giant noble families that opposed the king. The ones that were assassinated in this scene were supposed to be the ones that were too smart to be smoked out by this ploy. They should be on very high alert after the crap Carmine pulled. So, what do you think a smart, corrupt noble family on high alert does? If your answer is creating contingency plans and spreading out their power to counter the king, maybe worming your way into neighboring powers and expanding your influence discreetly to make opposing you difficult, then you have officially thought about this much more than the anime ever did. Souma's plan would require every one of the noble families to not only be caught completely off-guard but also to concentrate all of their power around their immediate estates like a complete dumbass. Even noble families that haven't just witnessed five of their peers get executed has contingencies to make it costly for the king to just kill them and take their land, let alone ones that KNOW that the King plans to come for them.
Second, the plan was not necessary. Souma, according to his own admissions, had his men ready to forcefully break into the nobles' estates to gather evidence that he knows is there. As a result, detaining the nobles and executing them via a public trial is actually a superior approach. Not only does it preserve a veneer of validity around rule of law, but would actually appear fair and at least appease the citizens. Since you reference "The Far East" so much, you must at least know that in Chinese historical dramas, officials very often would find or plant evidence in order to implicate their subjects rather than just executing jungle rule. Even famously tyrannical Emperors (like the second emperor of Qing, Chinese tv dramas love him for some reason) are often portrayed as needing an excuse or pretext to execute their subjects.
Third, the anime does not even make an attempt to address the aftermath of such a kingdom-shaking assassination plan. Did his subjects actually view him with more fear? Of course not - that would ruin his image of a nice Japanese boy with an adoring harem, so we can't have that. Did the other nobles start approaching him with caution? Nope, they just casually let themselves get inconvenienced by his erratic rulings (like having to buy educated slaves now, lol) and go about their merry noble days trusting him completely. They don't even bother sucking up to him like Stalin's underlings did. Did he actually consolidate power? No, the noble houses are allowed to keep their lands and stuff. He doesn't even keep them under lock and surveillence. What actually happened to the noble houses whose heads he assassinated? Well, clearly everything just worked peachy and the kingdom went back to its old days. No remnants stirring up a rebellion, or a silent resistance against his tyranny. Almost like the anime doesn't have the cajones to actually stick with the tyrant idea.
This is all not even mentioning that several of Souma's actions, like keeping the dragon girl around as a maid (lol) supposedly to kill him if he goes too far down that ol'tyranny hole, runs completely contrary to any attempted comparisons to Cao Cao or Sima Yi or the First Empror of Qin that you might want to make.
Also, you keep on referencing the Far East and Three Kingdoms, but even Cao Cao - who absolutely was viewed as a tyrant even in China (there's a reason most prefer Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang is the face of Chinese strategists rather than Sima Yi) - was honorable and fair to his men. Do you remember the battle of Red Cliffs where Cao Cao was running for his life after defeat, and his men came up one-after-one to defend him? His men certainly weren't ruled with fear. Even Chinese history tends to view tyrants harshly and favor emperors that enact good reforms. And honestly, I have no issues if they actually portray Souma as a tyrant king that brings reforms under an iron fist. But that is not what the anime does at all - rather, the anime waffles between that and trying to portray him as a modern Western liberal ruler, which is what leads to this kind of half-assed, barely thought-out idiocy that defines the anime.
Trying to compare Souma's actions to Cao Cao is a massive disgrace to Cao Cao. The issue here is that the anime doesn't actually think through the consequences of anything it tries to portray, not just that it doesn't fit Western Liberal Democratic way of thinking.
fr the anime is lack of reason-execution-aftermath and maybe add some "how we will do it" and "why" for it but maybe because it will be too long idk
2:13 - I assume it's because the conquered people expected the invaders to put them under even harder rule, instead MC gave em a lot of freedoms. I do agree that this kind of tactic only works if you doing in the long run, state propaganda is hard thing to get rid of in a few days.
However, Souma did have his own unique propaganda program too with the gem shows. He used mass media to affect change and generate cultural assimilation to his kingdom and ideals. Word of mouth and royal proclamations aside were nothing compared the power of televised broadcasts with regular shows with songs, food, and other acts.
@@time391 Good point.
"Sorry, I'm getting distracted by something idiotic when there's something mind numbingly moronic here"
This goes into my top 10 favourite quotes of all time.
what i learned from anime like this is that Japanese are really bad at writing geopolitics
Umm no. It's just the moronic writers behind Realist hero. Good geopolitical anime would include Genius Prince and Alderamin on the Sky
Kinda like gate especially in the manga
I assume this author is 16
This popped in my recomendations this morning, and when I logged in to suscribe you had 100 extra views. I hope this is the start of a boom in your channel, you deserve it.
26:31
I will never understand why in everysingle anime the guy has to tell the girl to be careful to not eat too much otherwise she'll get fat.
It's so damn rude and weird, I get that Japan has a fat tax (I am not joking, they legitimately do), but it's just so... Pointless.
This anime is dumb Af it portrays him as a humanity student trying to be moral and get rid of the slavery but then never actually gets rid of it, makes the slaves more educated so more useful (and this is apparently meant to get rid of slavery) he also ahs multiple wives so that another issues of unfairness, he also owns a slave so the anime secretly loves slavery
Well I don't agree with a bunch of stuff, like you tried to make some problems sound very easy to deal with, but I also can't deny that you bring up some very good points that actually end up driving me away from the story.
I read some of the novels, and after a while, I dropped it.
What kind of complicated problem do you mean here?
I think it's best if you read this in context to other stories, maybe think about reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms first, then you can see how societal norms might actually work in this kind of setting . One major issue I think a lot of people don't get is that Realist Hero in this scenario isn't a Western Machiavellian, he's a hybrid of Eastern and Western Realists. For a guy to quote Cao Cao, he must have studied the ultimate Chinese realist warlord, who eschew power and statecraft.
This is some Ivan the Terrible shit.
Oh no, Ivan the terrible was at least somewhat competant
It’s not supposed to be a perfect anime though. He is doing what the title said, not what the perfect person would do. I think he’s done good, especially as an ordinary human, in a medieval world. Yeah mistakes that in the real world would cause problems happened, but in the end they didn’t. It’s obvious the people in that world are a little slow, so perhaps that’s why. Overall I think we should appreciate the anime for what it is, not the anime to real life comparison. It’s entertainment
Quite the blunderbuss of different arguments there. Let me just tackle each one in succession.
"...not supposed to be a perfect anime..." While yes, the writers didn't exactly put in the effort for this one, all anime (and other media) should strive to be as good as they can be.
"...not what the perfect person would do..." Except he's treated like this massively intelligent ruler by everyone in this world and not the dumbass he is. I honestly don’t think any action throughout the two seasons is seen as remotely incorrect let alone wrong. He’s shown as flawless ruler despite the unrealistic idiotic decisions.
The fact anything he did was good for the medieval fantasy world shows how poorly the writers understand the realistic scenario they created.
"It’s obvious the people in that world are a little slow, so perhaps that’s why." You know that's not a defence for the show. Everyone other than the protagonist is a moron (in a show based on intelligent economic decisions). Incidentally people from the medieval era and before weren't stupid, they’re human beings just like people in the modern day. The only differences are technology, population size and culture.
Judging this anime without any comparison to real life is almost impossible when there are countless references to the real world. Quick example, in the first season they repeatedly say the population are starving (not even on the brink of starvation); this causes the viewer to think of what that means hence sudden imagery of starvation from our world. So then when the solution is a cooking broadcast showing the leaders scoffing down food the starving peasants haven’t thought of eating yet it comes across as woefully baffling.
Lastly, if you enjoyed it, that's perfectly fine. This video was judging the quality of the anime and not to critic people for enjoying it or not. Realist Hero is a poorly made show but there's nothing wrong with enjoying it. I enjoy High school prodigies despite that show being terrible on every level.
@@dlfarmer7601 ok like your reply and I agree a slice of life anime(kinda sorta) is supposed to reference real life. See I commented because the anime I feel you did an injustice to the anime. Now though I see you’re much more levelheaded with this topic(it’s your job after all). I wanted to see both sides of the coin from your perspective. Your reply was great thanks for the input. I didn’t want someone to no longer like the anime because of a video like this. Because stuff like that happens(review bombing in games).
It’s a good day when DLFarmer uploads a video. And Realist S2 was really Cooking with the wrong ingredients.
I just have to say that I realise some of the words have been replaced between the sub and dub which can make the translation of text short and sometimes key points get missed also it makes sense that even when there is some one considered evil there is always something to learn.
Ngl, I had some enjoyment with Realist Hero, but dear god it was terrible. Great video.
I agree with most, but i def felt that a lot longer periods of time happens between scenes, like they invaded van, so the prince escaped to the empire. Trough another country, and the captial is on the other side of the wolrd that trip properly took at least a month, and probably several months to get a whole army back with him after convincing the empire. I tought it was obvious a lot of time passes troughout the episodes.
Well it wasn't that obvious honestly. There wasn't any time lapse or any date mentioned. A simple montage similar to jobless reincarnation intros would've done wonders. The point was there is no indication of how long that passed. The characters talk and act like the invasion was only a few days ago but any thought of how anything works would assume it was months.
Funnily enough, the wiki page for the showed a timeline that had the invasion end at the 5th day and the return of Van on the 21st day. Almost certainly not real but it's funny to think about.
"slavery is cringe" -John Brown
Turning slavery into a social assistance program is god.
DLFarmer would have a field day with realist hero if it ever got to Fuuga Haan and the bullshit he got up to.
I never watched the second season but I'm glad to see I'm not missing out
You definitely dodged a bullet there.
I think we should pinpoint one other hugely moronic thing Souma did. He reassigned the GENERAL OF THE KINGDOM'S ARMY to the position of essentially SPYMASTER. Spymaster cum intellegence devision/assasination team leader, but still. Which should be two positions with insanely different requirements.
Yeah you're absolutely right, yet another insanely stupid thing in the show. Can't believe I didn't notice it. Although now I'm picturing the huge, unstealthy lion guy struggling to even comprehend complex assassinations and dastardly schemes while the former spymaster is just off to the side sighing with disbelief.
Wow there is a lot of idealistic ignorance on the coment section
It's pretty obvious that the author was just making this up as he went along. Using lyrical from great political figures like Sun Tzu and Machiavelli to make it seem smart than it actually was.
Yeah pretty much. No doubt the Author heard about the problem with the previous king giving away his entire kingdom to Souma for no reason so threw in time travel to solve it. One problem solved, a thousand created.
At this point I just want to continue watch to unpcoming cours to confirm/unconfirm my hypothesis of "Souma wasn't transported not only in space but also in time and this world is some regressed human colony in the far future" I had based on some scenes tbh
This anime needs John Brown
Bookworm is how you do this kind of story right.
It cannot have been just a few days between the days and probably weeks Julius needed to run the empire the months for the empire to decide muster the army and march the army out to Amidonia.
The bridge thing was believable considering how dumb Julius is. Given the fact he gave away all the books in the castle I doubt he can even read so the possibility that he should have just renamed the bridges didnt occur to him is believable
Next anime of this type ( like genius prince and this one ) is Reincarnated as an Aristocrat with an Appraisal Skill hopefully they will do better for the adaptation because the genre need a anime that will bring new fan in for be both genius prince and reaslist hero are good it just that realistic hero was unlucly with his anime transformation
The realy great serie of this gendere is less popular because geopolitical is heavy subject and most people avoid
synopsis of the next anime of this type
An ordinary salaryman dies one day and is reborn as Ars Louvent, the son of a noble. Although he isn't talented in magic or swordplay, he does have one skill that no one else possesses: "Appraisal." Using this ability, Ars can determine a person's current strength, how much potential they hold, and where their talents rest.
This skill is especially useful in the present situation of the country. The government is corrupt, revolts occur more often than not, and nobles far and wide are strengthening their fortifications in preparation for an all-out war. With this in mind, Ars realizes he too must prepare by gathering talented people.
From a persecuted foreigner unparalleled with the sword, a slave with an unknown talent for magic, to a timid boy with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge-Ars begins to surround himself with people to support him, aiming to create the most powerful territory.
Mate. I would love if u would break down the entire monogatari series..or atleast the first couple of seasons. Its an excellent show that someone can be digging on about for days and days and would still have bundles of themes left to unpack
You know I haven't actually watched it. Heard quite a few people recommending it so I might check it out.
@DLFarmer lemme tell u its the definition of a show that people give a 9 on 10 to or a 10 on 10 to without batting an eye(could get a bit too eechi at times but trust me its a show to stick to. Its like the tarentino films of anime..just a warning tho. Don't get into it if u dont like reading and love that dopamine hits, the anime is about a story[monogatari literally translates to story in japanese] and it tells one about multiple people living in the same world. Its really fkin good but like..attention is required)
@@dlfarmer7601 start with bakemonogatari.
I remember your words from the last video, "I hope some competent writers do this justice."
They won't, I can tell you as a web novel and light novel reader, the enitre Japanese Kingdom building genera is is trash. All copy one another and in turn do nothing intersting. And yes, all of them star the generic good guy self insert who can do no wrong.
Also this is not the dumbest version of this series, if you want that, read the novel, you want to know why? Because in the novel the author tries to actully write reasons and explanations as to why the Self-Inser-Main character does what he does. It does not go well.
Are you okay, there? Reading this light novel has lower my brain cell count by 20% and the anime appears to be much worse. Do you still have a brain left?
this is how you play paradox game with cheat
thanks for opening my eyes lmao
For god's sake ... trying to analyse the abvious (anime) is the dumbest thing to do , the writer skipped those minor details on purpose so he can only focus on the story ... many kids won't bother looking for these kind of stupid minor details that the animators didn't bother to add from the light novel , but the overhall baseline story is amazing ...with this you're trying so hard to underrate the anime who has great potential ... , I still love this anime no matter how many critics it gets ... you should read the lightnovel , so you can get a clearer undrestanding before criticizing the anime , since it's skipping so much details you're desperately trying to decipher ... 🙄 it's anime in the end no need to analyse it that thoroughly ... you're preventing many kids who may find it enjoyable to watch ...
Let me just err...*cracks fingers*...reply to your comment step by step.
"Analysing anime is dumb"
Either you believe breaking down any piece of media, films, books, anime, films, etc is dumb or you believe specifically anime is the exception for some reason. From a writer's/creator's perspective, seeing various story analysis is not only useful, it is vital. One cannot create a good story if they don't know what a good story is after all. From a viewer's perspective, story analysis lets people appreciate good media better and incentivises people to search out better forms of media. Not to mention it is both fun to watch and write analysis of good/bad anime.
"...the writer skipped those minor details on purpose..."
So those minor details are the story. It's called how a realist hero rebuilt the kingdom so when I break down how terrible the steps the 'hero' took to rebuild the kingdom, that cannot be considered minor. Its emphasis is on economics and politics after all so there is no alternative timeline where these can be considered minor. But even if my video was on every minor detail in the show, there's nothing wrong with that either. What is a story if not a plethora of minor details coming together to make major details. Also if the writer did skip these details then he/she is a bad writer.
"many kids won't bother looking for these kind of stupid minor details"
Anime is not just for kids (and this anime specifically talks about polygamy, slavery and deep economics as well as geopolitics) and almost all "minor details" come together to make a show. I’m currently making a video on Legend of the Galactic Heroes and that is filled with a plethora of background details to fit with the empire's and Alliance’s aesthetic. If the animators/ directors/ producers didn't bother (your words) to include such details or include similar stuff then they are bad at their jobs. You can't adapt everything but it’s vital to get across the purpose of world, plot and characters.
"but the overhall baseline story is amazing"
If the light novel follows all major events in the anime then it would also be terrible.
"with this you're trying so hard to underrate the anime who has great potential"
I'd agree it certainly had great potential, there are very few anime about kingdom management after all and I was very eager to watch it. So when it horribly failed in every regard in its kingdom management that potential went sailing merrily away.
"I still love this anime no matter how many critics it gets"
Fair enough, I can't change how you or anyone else feels about any piece of media. This video was to objectively break down this anime. You can like bad things and can hate good things. I don't like Princess Mononoke despite acknowledging it is a very well made film while I really enjoy high school prodigies despite it being terrible on just about every level.
"you should read the lightnovel , so you can get a clearer understanding before criticizing the anime"
Anime should always stand alone from its source material. You wouldn't tell someone not to review the hobbit trilogy until they have read the book.
"it's anime in the end no need to analyse it that thoroughly"
Why? Are you suggesting anime is a lesser form of art to live action.
"you're preventing many kids who may find it enjoyable to watch ..."
If that's the case, excellent. If I can reduce the audience for crap like this and steer them toward decent anime like Genius Prince, all the better.
It's a power fantasy for Incels and unsocial weeb gamers... as are most isekai.
They like it because it validates them...
Profoundly disagree. An anime all about kingdom management/politics/geopolitics isn't aimed at incels and "unsociable weeb gamers", it's aimed at a particular undeserved niche. Realist hero was just made by incredibly moronic writers. As for the growing harem in the show, that was merely there because thats been done in many other anime. If it was aimed at incels then surely there'd be more fanservicey stuff. So far we only had two of the girls sleeping in his bed with him.
Isekai is primarily done as a form of escapism. It doesn't matter how sociable or insociable someone is, there are many people who enjoy the genre. Most Isekai are simple light hearted entertainment (quality very much questionable) but I strongly argue it still has enormous potential for incredibly great and unique stories.
This is why I would let my children watch anime
Not agree on your statement
Whats the key to a lot of trash anime, manga or light novel? Self insertion form either the writer or the potential fans. Is this a stupid series built around game of throne tropes and harem anime, yes. But is it entertaining trash yes, while the series is dumb as hell I can't help but like it for the few moments of heart it does have in some parts.
no perhaps, IS the dumbest anime
new videooooo
Watch Genius Prince instead or Saint's Power is Omnipotent. Much more charismatic MC's and smarter
Call it tyranical but it is honestly how every government holds itself above the common citizens.
On a smaller scale your boss at work can fire you so most people have a slight trepedation to talk back to your boss and certainly wouldnt assult him if you care about your job.
All authority works on this same premise fundamentally and anyone educated would understand it.
In order to lead you need to be feared. Somone who wont fear your position wont follow your orders or respect your decisions.
Tyrany is when you stop holding youself back from exercising that power.
Apologies for the late reply. Anyway, are you suggesting Soama was justified to kill all the heads of the noble families because he needs to be feared. I mean the other noble families would certainly fear being killed themselves but that fear would spark hatred and resentment especially since their murder was unjustified (evidence not given and could have been tried, to say nothing of all their families and servants slaughtered to find said evidence).
Also a boss who threatens to fire his staff if they speak back to him/her is a poor boss. A boss who listens to problems and promotes proper discourse is far better than one who is hated by the staff. They still have the power to sack anyone who isn't doing their job properly but to threaten everyone with it makes for a poor boss.
That's why we have moved away from absolute monarchies in the last ~200 years (in the West, at least).
Bro getting roasted by the comments
This is a show for folks into Political theory and history, if you understand Far Eastern concepts as well as European History, you might understand the concept of Political realism the author is trying to portray. It's not perfect, maybe a little bit more on the Authoritarian side of the divide between power than most people are willing to accept in the Libertarian/Authoritarian axis, but it is a good thought experiment.
I find it refreshing to see a show focused on power and pursuit of ends to justify the means rather than moral nature of hero. Pragmatic and cold, but humanistic and benign for the ultimate ends, it's a good concept.
Respectfully, I find 'How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom' to fall short of its intellectual aspirations. The show's treatment of political theory feels shallow, and the swift bureaucratic reforms the protagonist implements seem to borrow more from a fantastical interpretation of Weber's ideal bureaucracy rather than any grounded historical precedent. The rapid changes in governance also ignore the nuanced evolution described by political theorists from Machiavelli to Thucydides, offering a narrative that simplifies complex concepts for the sake of storytelling. While the series may aim to be a cerebral experience, it misses the mark and becomes, at its core, another harem anime with a superficial sheen of political savvy. Even Max Weber might be left wanting by the show's cursory exploration of bureaucracy, let alone its treatment of societal reforms. In the end, regardless of it's just another harem anime that ranges from bad to mediocre at best.
L Take
I liked season 2 for what it was, was it realistic? No. But in fantasy magic medieval world anything can be possible if given your situation.
But the same could be said for any fictional world
I find it amusing..sorry..haha..just enjoy and not take it too seriously 😂😂
If you enjoy it fine (I actually enjoy High school prodgies despite it being dumb and horribly written). However, you got to admit Realist hero is terribly written which is worse as it's trying to be this smart show about economics and politics.