Yotsuyu, the irredeemable monster

[Bright-Flower]

Yotsuyu was frustrating for me because with a few tweaks she could have been a very compelling villain. But when you introduce a character as comically evil as her, practically getting off to making civilians kill eachother, I don't care what her sad backstory is. And then the whole sickeningly sweet Tsuyu via contrived amnesia just made me roll my eyes rather than want to see her redeemed.

She could have been a villain with a point, could have been used to really show that pre imperial Doma wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, have her earnestly believe imperial rule was better, and have an actually morally gray villain in this war story. Instead she just wants to make domans suffer. And goes to comically evil lengths to do it. So when the idea of a possible redemption came around, I was rolling my eyes instead of really being invested in how it turned out. I wasn't happy or sad when she and her brother killed eachother. I was relieved they were finally gone from the story.

Pull back on her wanton cruelty, make her older so that the worst parts of her childhood were BEFORE the fall of Doma, make her a believer in the empire and their idea of civilizing the 'savages' etc, who remembers the flaws of old Doma and you have an actual antagonist who opposes Hien's ideals and goals rather than just being a crazy sadist with a sad back story.

[Shuuchi]

Pull back on her wanton cruelty, make her older so that the worst parts of her childhood were BEFORE the fall of Doma, make her a believer in the empire and their idea of civilizing the 'savages' etc, who remembers the flaws of old Doma and you have an actual antagonist who opposes Hien's ideals and goals rather than just being a crazy sadist with a sad back story.

While I think your idea is FAR more interesting than what SE came up with, SB was focused around a cardboard box called Zenos.
He wanted someone as cruel and destructive as possible, not someone who actually cares and want to reform Doma.

[Bright-Flower]

While I think your idea is FAR more interesting than what SE came up with, SB was focused around a cardboard box called Zenos.
He wanted someone as cruel and destructive as possible, not someone who actually cares and want to reform Doma.

I get why someone like Zenos would put someone like her in charge. I get they were also going for some sort of 'monsters are made not born' thing by delving into Yotsuyu's backstory and showing her innocent amnesia version of her. But it just wasn't executed well IMO. This is just a personal thing but when you go full ham comically evil with a character's introduction it's then difficult to make me care when you peel back the curtain to show why they became comically evil.

Really though, if Yotsuyu had just died in 4.0 I wouldn't have much complaint about her, it was really the 4.2/4.3 arc that made me loathe her presence in the story.

[Shuuchi]

I get why someone like Zenos would put someone like her in charge. I get they were also going for some sort of 'monsters are made not born' thing by delving into Yotsuyu's backstory and showing her innocent amnesia version of her. But it just wasn't executed well IMO. This is just a personal thing but when you go full ham comically evil with a character's introduction it's then difficult to make me care when you peel back the curtain to show why they became comically evil.

Really though, if Yotsuyu had just died in 4.0 I wouldn't have much complaint about her, it was really the 4.2/4.3 arc that made me loathe her presence in the story.

Absolutely.
Hien’s “I will remember your words” (sounds familiar, eh?) should have ended everything right then and there.

[Tensaihime]

Absolutely.
Hien’s “I will remember your words” (sounds familiar, eh?) should have ended everything right then and there.

That almost sounds familiar... but I can’t quite place it. Help please?