Ressentiment 大 SOS 団 Disscusion Notes
A VR Manga by the guy who drew the cover to Honda Tooru’s Denpa Otoko. Ex-machina done right.
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ルサンチマン (Ressentiment) Overview
Ressentiment is a french term used by Nietzsche, to call out the hatred created by the envy that motivates those who have slave morality against their masters. Do the kimoi ota have slave morality? A symptom Of this Ressentiment is the overwhelming Self-pity the main characters seem to be labouring under. Self-pity which may spur resentment towards their “betters.”
Horror, romance, near future sci-fi comedy, tragedy manga. It uses the contrast between reality and virtual reality to that end.
Ressentiment is a sekai-kei. A bunch of works inspired by Eva, which revolve around about how reality itself hinges on the relationship between the protagonist and the heroine(s) will determine the fate of the world in some way, even if it’s played for laughs here. In a sense, the relationship between the characters is more important than the fate of the world. Saving humanity is at most a secondary issue. In a way, isn’t that closer to how most people think? Isn’t it more “real”?
Virtual Reality is referred to as “The Unreal” or rarely as “Noah’s Arc” in this manga.
How does the VR work in Ressentiment?
Ready Player One VR but played for laughs.
Can use your own picture as an avatar but not celebrities bcz of copyright lol.
One continuous world map is divided in two parts, Fantasia (fantasy), Nostalgia (resembles real Japan), and Sci-Fi somewhere in between the two.
Island offline worlds which take abt 500GB which can be connected to “Noah’s Ark” (overworld)
NPCs can die, their memories cannot be brought back. NPCs can’t hurt humans, nor can they “see” images of the real world nor “hear” any references to the systems themselves.
Oasis was a dating sim where men pretended to be AI-lovers. Then a simplified verion of “moon” replaced those “fake” virtual girls.
PKing is allowed, and presumably players can do it in “safe” areas too if GMs don’t catch them.
There are player clans which can do “war” with each other.
Players are psychotic. Only Gal Game players care about NPCs at all.
Unreal World MapUnreal Locations
Unreal Locations
Shamoji Park, the red light district of nostalgia.
Gunkan Island, location of the dating-sim inspired “school” to heal players “wounds” and make a profit by selling them NPCs.
The Fuhrer’s Tower.
Etc..
Sakamoto Takuro
The Ultimate Anti-Self-Insert Protagonist?
30 Years old at the start of the manga.
Went to trade school but now works at a printer.
Empties his savings account to exp “virtual love.”
Only happiness in his life is going to soap-land.
He’s too late to do the right thing too late to be a hero. A man with bad timing and somewhat questionable intentions. However the reason that he fails as an otaku romance protagonist, is not because of bad timing, but because he doesn’t believe in pure love, and is ealy tempted. For such a character, watch Video Girl Ai. Even in a harem anime, they (otaku) try to excuse it by showing that the protagonist would be willing to die for any of their heroines, thus upholding “pure love.” basically he is ultimately condemned because he betrayed his 2D girlfriend.
Not really an otaku per se, gets dragged into it like Satou from NHK.
His inability to make a clear choice between the real world and the unreal world leads to his downfall. He would have been fine if he had chosen either one or the other.
Not very intelligent. Take Takuro’s double-digit IQ “Akuro” (Aku means evil) vs Takuro plan. It was funny tho.
Lives with his parents. Father is on his death bed. Mother cooks him food. Taku is the only breadwinner of the home.“
Reinhart”/Echigo
Wishes to die in the real world and be re-born in the unreal just like Kanzaki.
Helped Takuro getting into VR, even lending his body suit. Is Echigo a good friend or the worst friend, a corrupting influence, on Takuro?
Sacrifices himself by defeating the American government in order to save the Unreal.
Lends his body suit to Takuro for his special night. Never gets it back.
Tsukiko
Tsukiko means Moon-child.
The legendary software “Moon”
Created from Kanzaki’s DNA.
Noah 2.0. raised by Kanzaki rather than trained by the net.
Hair turns black After Kanzaki’s death.
Takuro gets her to fall in love with him by kidnapping her, as his real self, and then pretending to beat up his real self.
Her hair turns white again when she Takuro cheating on her with a Real Girl.
“If he doesn’t come back soon, I’m going to destroy the world.” - Innocent but selfish. Decides to clone a virtual Takuro, and kill the real Takuro when she finds out that she can’t be his.
Creates a clone of Takuro, which I am not sure what happens to him.
Kanzaki/Yoh/Yoichiro
Creator of Noah’s Arc
Lives as guard NPC to a Virtual Brothel
“Virtual Clone” of the real creator of Noah/Moon.
Moon’s father.
Dropped out from school in fifth grade after being called a Christmas Tree bcz of his dandruff.
Wants to return to the real world as a real person.
Headhunted in a “war” by the “fuhrer” of the ninth clan.
The mangaka created him to critique those who are in the same position as him but act as if they are better than him?
Erased his own memories to enter the unreal, and is therefore called a self-denying loser.
Tries to have sex with Tsukiiko and returns to his old self while taunted by Noah.
Can erased and give back memories to NPCs.
Entrusted Moon to to Tak during Kanzaki-hunting event.
Tsukiko liked him more when he was in his “true form” than his unreal disguise.
“Fuhrer” Ehara and the “Ninth Empire”
The “villains” of this story is a six year old?
Face first shown as “Student”/Player at the “School” which Tsukiko and Takeru attend?
Leader of the Ninth Empire.
Defeated the US Military in their military simulations.
A bunch of losers who want to use the unreal to rule and get back at the real world by taking control of the world’s computers and nukes.
Ehara’s plan: 1. Capture Tsukiko/Moon. 2. Convince her to clone Takuro, to turn into his perfect BF. 3. Kill Takuro and humanity with Nukes (the Unreal would probably die w/ humanity tho). 4. ????. 5. Return to Monke.
Most of the people behind his cause of starting a revolution through the unreal to end US Imperialism are just idiotic kids who want to get some action, in both senses of that term.
Doesn’t have a mother or parents, and was brought up in “this cage”? Dies by being poisoned with food IRL? Ehara was an intelligent monkey trying to destroy humanity taking the face of a zookeeper? Lolwut?
Physiologically Impossible
Nagao
Childhood friend never wins. Not that anybody “won” anything.
Went to school with Takuro but now works in the Sales department for the printing company Takuro works for.
Falls in love with Takuro after Tsukiko says she hates Takeru for failing to save Kanzaki.
Did she only fall in love with Takuro out of jealousy to Tsukiko? To be the one stealing a man this time?
Has a complex abt not being charming to men, and therefore constantly losing men to other women. I wonder if she went for Takuro partly because surely no other woman would want him.
From Aomori (countryside). Used to have an accent which she had a complex about.
Asks Takuro, if he’s going to keep playing that “game” for the next ten, twenty years to get him to snap out of his dating game addiction. Well, actually does a bit more than that.
Kindest way to describe her would be Feisty.
Decides to become Tsukiko’s surrogate mother in exchange so that she will be brought up in a way that she never falls in love with someone like Takuro. Does Nagao agree with giving birth Tsukiko, in order to win one over Tsukiko who claims she’d win over Takuro easily irl or did Nagao agree to give birth to her out of hatred for Takuro (for choosing a program over herself)?
About the author - Kengo Hanazawa
Did the cover to Honda Tohru’s Denpa Otoko.
Birthday: Jan 5, 1974. He’s from Aomori, like Nagao.
Ressentiment released in 2003 was his first work.
Takeo Is based on himself. He used to cry alone on Valentine’s day while he worked at a printer.
Ressentiment was his first serialised manga released in 2003. I think this makes it more raw of an experience than his more polished later works.
Won the Topic Award of the 2005 Sense of Gender Awards for Ressentiment and was nominated for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manga Taisho for I Am a Hero.
The Sense of Gender Awards are annual awards given by the Japanese Association for Gender, Fantasy & Science Fiction since 2001. It is awarded for the science fiction or fantasy fiction work published in the Japanese language in the prior year, which best "explore and deepen the concept of Gender." The organization that gives the award is known as the Japanese Association for Feminist Fantasy and Science Fiction. The award and organization were founded by science fiction critic Mari Kotani (best known as the author of Evangelion as the Immaculate Virgin), professional SF reviewer Reona Kashiwazaki, and Noriko Maki, the chair of the Japanese science fiction fandom confederation.
Other works:
I am Hero - His most popular work. About a zombie apocalypse. Beautiful artwork, released one volume at a time, an underwhelming ending which I didn’t read because the story got so convoluted I could barely say what the point of it all was anymore. Featured the city of Lucca (Italy) as a setting so it gets extra points for that. Less Otaku-ish than R, the protagonist is a manga creator but not an otaku (enthusiast/consumer), rather jaded if anything.
Denpa Otoko Book Cover
An anti-romantic Manifesto By Tohru Honda
It’s about “Love Capitalism.”
The idea behind the book is essentially that everything necessary to be successful in love, as a man, costs and is gate-kept behind money. Good clothes, good cars, a good house, a good job, that even a good personality can be obtained by paying for etiquette training/counselling..
And so that men should just abandon the race to the bottom to just lie down and rot, laying next to the opened galge boxes containing their virtual girl friends.
Is that grim or funny or would you fancy that? You decide..
Honda Tohru Quote - Why might the characters in Ressentiment so Young?
If you read his interview in The Moe Manifesto, here’s what [Honda Tohru] says
when asked why moe characters tend to be young:
“Because that makes them vulnerable, which inspires us to protect and nurture them. The character needs support, love, or care, even if she is strong and independent. If she is not at all vulnerable, then she can live on her own. It would be hard to approach such a perfect being. Being vulnerable means that you need others, and these characters can’t survive without support.”
As much as he criticises modern capitalism for enforcing the expectation for men to “provide” for women with money and capital, he also clearly believes that women ought to be protected by men, and that women who defy this convention have been “tainted” by reality. Even Galbraith, the biggest moe apologist in academia, admits that Honda’s position is sexist. - Frogkun
This is why when Noah was trained with all the net’s data, it became a “God”-like monstrosity. But when brought up by Kanzaki, it became a cute girl.
Final thoughts
The ending was obviously rushed.
I mean it’s a time skip. Which is always a bad idea.
The final battle was also rushed.
Despite this it’s at least an 8/10.
Why? I like it because it is ambitious. Having all these things going on at the same time. I think a manga, novel or anime ought to be epic. That’s my taste at least. The unreal world where multiple genres could exist at the same time, caught my imagination, but it wasn’t explored that deeply. Four vols was not enough.
Final question - would you wish the Unreal to be real?
Future’s Made of Virtual Insanity
Other - The Future is Now Young Man or is VR the Wii 2.0?
My Robot project by the Project Viva guy https://youtube.com/@shinobudev?si=dxaMvuVxmcdccu_9
Project Aincrad by ARGUS VRC Team: https://youtube.com/@argusvrc?si=zvnUaGxa23J9Qd8Q
Subspace Hunter by XuKing Games: https://youtube.com/@xukinggames?si=kg6ks0pZ7VsHQQmW
Most headsets are glorified Android Devices. Google is working on an official Android VR port called Android XR. Might not go ahead is Google is forced to break up by the DOJ.
Valve is working on the Deckhert Vr headset to run on Linux based Steam OS probably.
Meta has sunk billions into VR and failed. However this was before the AI hype. Will the AI hype help VR?