Jun 20, 2022
I like this chapter. The previous chapter's build up paid off in this one, and definitely, as your comment below suggests, Sei and Kuroiwa will meet again. I like their character dynamic, and I could even feel the "S" tension in the previous chapter when she was leaning her "assets" hahah. Enjoyed that part too. One thing I just thought of, with these characters being introduced like Sei, Chigusa, Shinada, and then Yui, I take they have some sort of narrative significance to the themes you're trying to portray? I would like to imagine that each of these characters represent a certain archetype or a certain what do you call it, like symbolism or representation to something larger that relates to your core theme? I'd love to see how these characters weave together in the final act or in the middle chapters, how they interact with each other vis-a-vis the themes they're trying to convey. I think they have some sort of symbolic significance or narrative significance, but as of now, I'm not yet sure how they weave in to the larger story of Kuroiwa. At this point, it feels like they're random encounters, but of course, I'm thinking you have plans for them in the later chapters. I'd definitely want to answer to the question for Kuroiwa's character: Is getting a job all there is to living or making a living? This question resonates with a majority of people who just work and work. For the baby boomers, it may seem that hard work was their answer to getting a good life, but with our modern life, hard work isn't enough. How does Kuroiwa grapple with this? I had a talk with a friend before that he seems to think now that he's nearing his 60s, he seems to think luck plays a more significant factor than hard work, but of course, that presents problems when you view success. It's as if resigning yourself to fate and not doing anything much, but then if you think about it, there are people born to such fate others don't have access to. In Animal Farm by George Orwell, he says all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. There is inequality really in the world. Even in Code Geass, the anime I'm rewatching again from my teenage year, the Emperor of Britannia believes that inequality breeds progress as it incites competition. Is equality really the answer or inequality an alternative? What's better than those two? Equality assumes that there is a universal standard which follows the absolutist way of thinking of morality. How can we reconcile a moral absolutist and moral relativist ways of thinking? Yeah, sorry these are just some thoughts that pop up since I can see some undertones that you're using about job-hunting, inequality, etc. Some subthemes that are very interesting in your work to tackle. Anyways, hope to read more KomakiP! Good job for these two chapters!
