Oh I wholly agree. This whole aristocratic outlook leans towards more European standards of royalty, imperialism, power, beauty etc. And you know how they gained such power - through colonialism and oppression - their own people are illiterate (since it's common place to be a peasant and so difficult to climb up to higher society without being some sort of "genius") let alone what they have done to other countries... it's all rooted in this wildly european ethnocentric take. We could also mention how in Asia (Asian media SPECIFICALLY such as manga and mahwas), the idea of being (white) foreign in a homogenous society (such as South Korea) is an interesting, more refreshing take, and far easier to illustrate than y'know, make live action movies where the neon wigs are painfully obvious. Taking into account all that + the complexities of the normalisation of "white saviours" (which are so innocently illustrated it's actually painful - they GENUINELY have no idea what they're doing) - everything just feels so anti-POC. But what's new.
Which reminds me. I read Ouran High School Host Club as a kid (well, I'm pretty sure that was the manga) and the mangaka mentioned how difficult/tedious it was to shade the one black character's face in. There was nothing specifically anti-black per se, but I remember re-reading that a few times and not feeling good - wasn't able to name the feeling but now I know it was - isolation? Feeling excluded from media I loved? This just reminded me of that lmao.
Either way, stuff like this have a long way to go. Ignorance is hardly rare.
There's a chance I've said something that could be taken wrongly & I apologise in advance as I'm exhausted and unwilling to edit
Thank you for agreeing with me and confirming my point.
Is it confirmed, though, that he is white? Every asian person in mangas looks white, even those who reincarnate with their original bodies, so you can't tell. Not to mention, that mc lived his whole life as an asian man, a couple months as a white person means nothing.
I strongly doubt that this manga has anything to do with current events.
Besides, this "save a slave and gain a loyal servant/friend"-trope is popular. The only difference is wether the slave is a beastgirl, an elf or something else. This time it happened to be a race with darker skin, and I don't think that the mangaka put too much thougth into this. They don't care about such stuff over there.
Not to mention, that this is hardly a white saviour trope. All mc did, was give an opportunity, and Marca proved that he is capable with his own effort. Someone with such talent would have found his place in soceity anyway, and mc was just the first option that he found. You are placing too much credit on mc, and not giving enough to Marca.
My point is, that I don't think that this manga tries to portray any kind of significant political message, be it a racial or some other one. I'm fully aware of the atrocities in rl, but I just don't think that the author wrote this story with that in mind.
Btw, I find it funny, how every time a person with dark skin appears, there are always discussion about race in the comments. Yet there are no mentions of that if the person has supernatural features(like cat or elf ears), even if the situation is excactly the same.
The trope saving the slave regardless of its race that either becomes your devoted ally or lover is quite problematic and needs to be pointed out.
Everything has become globalized and certain cultural values/mentalities will be confronted/under scrutiny.
I am aware that racism in Asia is different than in America or other colonized countries. The Asian authors are currently just ignorant about the history of slavery.
Unfortunately, yes, they aren't really aware about the history of slavery. (Or even WW2 and they often are fascinated with german military fashion from that time, they think it looks cool, and don't understand how problematic it is) As far as I know, they are also quite racist towards anyone who doesn't belong to their group (even other asian nations), so to them to say something racists is like commenting on the weather. Racism in their work could be subconcious and they don't even notice.
"Asian", do you mean Japanese? Other Asian countries colonized and brutalized by Axis powers on the Eastern Front certainly know their history of colonization and racism quite well.
It certainly has parallels; since the fantasy world in this manga appears to be modeled after Western fantasy tropes, it's safe to assume that the Summerforth continent is populated by white people.
The White Savior trope appears to be evident in the story, but personally Ars seems to be more motivated by finding a high-stat person in Ritsu rather than trying to "save" him. Ars also still thinks of himself as a middle-aged Japanese man than a 3-year old white boy though I know that doesn't really absolve him of having white privilege.
I do hope that eventually Ritsu becomes more independent and also advocate ending slavery and racism in the continent, with Ars' help (seeing as Ars is the one with political and institutional power at this point). It would also help if there were more diverse characters in the main cast so Ritsu won't appear as a token character.
I have to mention this:
There is a very memorable former slave indigenous character called Issac in Castlevania Netflix season 2-3 :)
Even though he looks like the typical loyal devoted dark skinned servant/General who was saved by Dracula once in the past, he has so much depth and agency.
We see in a flashback that he killed his former Christian slave master with his own hands and that he joined Dracula to wipe out the human population because they share the same contempt for humanity.
Dracula really sees him as his one and only friend.
Then after Draculas death we follow Issacs journey to create an army of nightcreatures to get revenge on those who are responsible for Draculas demise. But during his long journey he meets three people who showed him real kindness for the first time. They talked philosophically with real honesty. This leads of him thinking to become a ruler instead of just the genocide of all mankind. He got new persepectives. Watch in YouTube his scenes or kisscartoon full episodes.
You ll See how relatable and badass he is ;)
(๑•ㅂ•)و✧ Thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely check this out :)
There is also Sypha the first close combat element magician I ve ever seen. She is comparable to Aang the Last Airbender but much more badass.
The whole medieval era setting and gothic backdrop of fantasy with the religious connotations. It's all so good! I really liked Isaac, though I'm only mid-s3.
Glad that you like it too.
Not sure who will win in the end: Camilla and her three vampire sisters or Issac....
I find the story interesting but the idea of being reborn in an Aristocratic family and the ability of apprasial is already overused.
And do I see the white saviour trope?
A non white race being enslaved and looked upon.
And there is the priveledged MC (I know that he died as a overworked salaryman) who discovers and saves that Marca boy who in turn becomes a loyal devoted servant to him and his cause...
Now considering the current political movement triggered by the death of George Flyod, Brionna Taylor and countless descendants of black slaves through colonialzation, the police and the current system, it is not a great message! Even it is fantasy.
By the way, why does any Asian Protagonist gets reborn as a high class Caucasian?
And it has become known historically that black slaves and any minorities had to fight and risk their lives for their freedom or any progress.
There were no white saviours.
Watch "Seth Meyers The White Saviour Trailer" or
"The Take - The White Saviour Trope Explained".