Jul 03, 2022
Okay, I had a lot of remarks on the way here, but was too occupied finding out what on earth caused things to escalate so quickly 😂 BTW a pretty good sign that your story is able to capture your readers for several chapters straight. You just seem to have a bit misantropy in your genes to prolong the final explanation for 4/5 chapters 😜 But a writer must sometimes do what a writer must do.
And please take a seat for the rest of my thoughts so far - yeah I am serious. This is going to be a long one even for my terms (sorry not sorry) 😅😂
I already kind of considered the option that you would do this full turn with the Trusted Union. You made their obvious premise look so absurd, to trick the reader into thinking, that Va and the WTP club just interpreted things into their real activities. It was definitely the likliest option I considered, but I had it on the radar - with no clue whatsoever of how you would explain that.
That they would resort to such means like sedative darts ... well it surprised me to say the least. Also interesting is that Va seemingly changed sides. But I think that she did so without changing her current goal: Stop the replacement of all women on earth with anime girls. Through going back to him, she rubs Keiichi off the reason for this whole thing in the first place. She seems to be uncomfortable with him touching her, but she sacrifices herself to prevent the greater harm. At least that is what I guess all this aims for.
Their goal to create - essentially - walking and talking Waifus is already deemed to fail anyways. I absolutely loved the talk between Wark and Beat (both of whom I somehow mixed up (maybe I am just bad with names 😅). It sometimes is a bit in your face, but I don't really care because the arguments especially from Wark are just on point! 😍 I think it has to do with realizing one's self-worth (not self-love!). This guys have to realize that they don't define themselves through someone else or just have to adapt and twist to appeal to a girl. They have to realize they are worthy of becoming a better person than they were yesterday; worthy of living their own lives with own interests, hobbys and friends and worthy of something better than a doll that is created just to serve as a tool to make them forget about the harsh truths of reality; worthy of a real girlfriend with real feelings and a real personality herself. Only then the right ones can find their way to them.
But facing reality: recognizing this self-worth does not guarantee success. Afterall attraction is complex and simply is there or is not. But once they find out who they themselves really are and accept and embrace that way of being, they will stop to twist artificially into something they are not. And they will surely learn how to tell if someone can accept this strangeness or is not worthy of their time because they would never understand them anyways.
But even if they succeded to create such dolls: Would they not "feel" strange about being locked into cells? And would the boys even be satisfied with them as "girlfriends" in the long run? It is a whole different thing waking up next to a robot than to a breathing and living human being that chose out of free will to be with you. What about marrying or founding a family (okay, maybe I take this exaggerated premise too serious 😂)? These dolls would be nothing but a hack to trick their minds into thinking they are not alone anymore. But afterall it is a soulless doll that was created to just serve the purpose of making a boy feel less alone. If they would really treat them with the respect they claim to treat their "girlfriends" with, than they would not create them in the first place.
But as far as I read your foreshadowing, you are going a different route then the "incomplete robots", but rather portray them developing the emotions of real girls once put to life. If they even get to creating the dolls at all - if PlatinumOne starts running to them now, then he would probably be there before they can start anything.
And there we are at the next (and last - promise 😅 - topic): I abolutely did not expect that you would incorporate PlatinumOne into the story in person. I really had to laugh when he called the situation "tragic" and that the guys had lost their way and so on. It somehow reminded of my comment a while ago. I guess in that regard our opinions somehow match 😅
I just found it a bit strange that he and Emily are just casually chilling out in the forest, even though time should be critical with the current events. But I guess that you are just stalling for time a bit to make them not crash the party too early.
All in all you can see that I am engrossed deeply in the story and the way it pans out. It is funny, absurd, but also sometimes serious and I just love the topic and the way you incorporate everything together. In my opinion there are also a lot of writers that rather write stories which try to flee into a fantasy. I did as well, a while ago. Maybe that is why I like this story so much. Because it portrays this clash of the longing for a fantasy while living in reality. But you won't escape reality so easily, so it is better to find a way of arranging with it and not sell people the picture of a wrong world. Otherwise they get unhappy with in their real life.
I am very grateful that you actually face realtiy with all its ugly but also very beautiful shades! It really is a breeze among a lot of stories that just leave an empty feeling afterwards - when returning back to normal life.
Keep on your awesome work and I'll gladly participate whenever the next chapters drop! 😊
And don't feel obligated to answer (instantly). The length of this somehow knocked the ball out of the park even for my means 😂
