[ SECRET POST #5965 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5965 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #853.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

02. https://i.imgur.com/ArOLvoI.png

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, just because their hatred is "justified" doesn't make it not suck to experience.

Also - knowing nothing about this story - if their hatred and refusal to forgive takes a form closer to "you are a Bad Person and nothing you do can change that" than "I cannot tolerate you in my life and nothing you do will change that", that would be a little more knife-twisty I think.

[(Anonymous)]

Good point!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for making my secret, Secret Maker!

[(Anonymous)]

Nana's classmates were bugs to her, that's probably the worst part about what she did and why she did it. They literally weren't people to her and she murdered them without mercy. Even seeing things from Nana's perspective didn't immediately make me sympathize with her, so I have little issue with her classmates being reluctant to let her off the hook. Nana did kill one of the truly decent people in her class and also created a monster out of another.

It took finding out Nana was brainwashed and lied to for years before I could understand her choices and feel sorry for her. But I'm still a long way from trusting her heel-turn because I don't think it's that easy to turn off whatever it was that allowed her to unperson her classmates in the first place. I think that bigotry is still part of her, but guilt and fighting for her life is masking it right now.

[(Anonymous)]

OP

I think you’re completely right about all of this, and I understand where you’re coming from. Whenever a villain or anti-hero willfully dehumanizes people, that’s usually a quality that makes it hard to sympathize with them, or even like them if they’re supposed to be a fun bad guy. Some are so over the top that I can still enjoy them despite the fact that dehumanization makes me uncomfortable. Gilgamesh and Kirei Kotomine from Fate/Stay Night are examples of villains I kinda like who have these qualities I usually hate. Light Yagami from Death Note is an example of villains I don’t feel any sympathy or affection for because of those qualities. I don’t even understand my brain’s standards!

But if the character who does evil acts while dehumanizing is meant to be sympathized with, I usually can’t. That’s one of the reasons I find it so frustrating that Nana is an exception. Something about being in her head from almost the start, and seeing the signs of her brainwashing and the lies from her superiors from early on got me to feel for her. Even though logically I know she’s still doing reprehensible things even past the point where it would be no return for other characters. And it’s always hard to reread/rewatch what she did to Nanao, because I like him too, and it’s tragic that she created a monster out of this good person who already had a hard life. And you’re probably right about her not being completely rid of her bigotry towards Talented. People like Michiru(who’s fate also makes me cry still) helped her overcome it in a good way, and finding out her superiors were lying and using her pushed her even further away from that mindset. And I believe she really does want to atone and protect her innocent classmates. But it’s not so easy to let go of prejudice or brainwashing, so who knows if she’ll ever completely break free of it even though she knows that way of thinking was wrong all along.

And I would hate and distrust Nana just as much as her classmates if I was there, an apology and declaration of protection would only go so far. And yet I feel for Nana still, and it’s hard for me to watch them after she tells the truth. And when they beat her up under suggestion.

It’s all so complicated and contradictory! Like I said, my brain’s standards and double standards towards fictional people who commit evil actions are a mystery even to me.

Sorry for this long and nonsensical ramble! This manga gives me the feels, but in weird ways that are hard for me to properly articulate.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure it's mid tbh, there's something incredibly compelling about the core characters. The scenario is very ordinary but the writing is really solid for dialogue and motivation.

I don't really know what to add to the secret for proper discussion but I think it's incredibly satisfying to see Nana be hated, but Kyouya not get his victory over her in seeing that - all he wanted was an ally, it turns out, and he's earned her. It's the pieces falling into place and it's not pretty, but it's so satisfying to see her total heel turn coming through.

[(Anonymous)]

OP

You’re right, I just have a bad habit I can’t seem to unlearn where I put down things I like. Only when I have deep or complicated feelings about them though. Like whenever a show made me cry, and someone asks me why I’d always say something like “I know it’s stupid, it’s just a silly show!” when I explained. I don’t remember when I started doing that. And I hate that I feel the need to insult things I enjoy and things that I think are good just because I’m nervous that someone is going to judge me for getting emotional over fiction, or is going to say that the work is bad and I’m dumb for liking it enough to end up feeling emotional over it. So I do it to myself first? It’s not logical at all. And I should know by now that this community isn’t one where I’d be judged for getting emotional over fiction.

Even though it hurts me to see her being (justifiably) hated, I actually get what you mean. And I love Kyouya as a character too, so I really like how his arc has developed!

[(Anonymous)]

SA

I don't think it's selling itself as high literature, but for me it's up there with Psycho Pass in terms of being a flawed wonderful thing that I'm fascinated by, whether or not it plays itself out as genre crap.

I didn't spend days of my life working out how to split dye a wig pink on a heat induction stove for nothing. ;)

[feotakahari]

I always confuse this show with The Executioner and Her Way of Life.

[(Anonymous)]

OP

I somehow wasn’t aware of The Executioner and Her Way of Life. So I looked it up, and I’m going to check it out because it sounds interesting, so thanks for the unintended recc!

And I can see from the outside why you might mix them up, the premises have a lot of similarities. The only thing that separates them is that Talentless Nana isn’t isekai.

[(Anonymous)]

Same anon defending the narrative as "not mid":

I watched both shows in airing order. I ended up hating The Executioner And Her Way Of Life because it wasn't as good as Talentless Nana and had the temerity to have come second. I also felt it started well but immediately became aimless, and thought "lesbians" was enough of a plot to keep my interest. Whereas Nana got me despite the best ongoing ship being hetero.