Didn’t like what they did with Lija this chapter so far. It was really pointless to give her that sadistic, serious, “you’ve made me very upset. Let me show you what i’m like when I am serious” side, Even if it was for the sake of intimidation if it was going to be thrown out the window in two seconds.
It would have been better if the chapter ended there and left us with a sense of dread and suspense to allow the imagination to run a bit wild after which the next chapter starts with a “gotcha. We had you for a minute there didn’t we ^^”.
Love the bondage art however, the writing for that one part left me a bit miffed personally.
If the chapter is going to dip into a serious tone for a bit to build up some suspense at least run with it for a bit -__-
I am, as always, open to constructive criticism. However, I do not see what exactly you mean about a “serious side” appearing out of nowhere. It was closely set up in previous chapters and comics, only to culminate in this extensive scene. Nor do I see how it was thrown out the window. Just because Lilja changes facial expressions doesn’t mean the mood vanishes.
Maybe it’s because my brain switched off a few chapters ago and I kind of got confused a bit plot wise.
I’m not saying that there have not been subtle signs showing her questionable character. Seeing more of her after her rescue showed that she is not just some rich girl that got kidnapped because she is related to a certain dodgy family.
I just felt that the switch from what I felt was a slightly darker tone back to suddenly everything going back to normal was just too quickly done for me personally. It was kind of like a car going really fast for a moment then suddenly putting on the breaks to get back to normal speed and the sudden jerk giving a not so nice feeling.
It’s more of a personal thing regarding consistent tones in a chapter. As mentioned, I think it would have better for the chapter to end somewhere there or at least gone on for a little bit longer with that to let that moment stew for a rather nice cliff-hanger to build a bit of suspense of what is to come and on whether or not things are shifting to a different mood.
Even how the snake was drawn was different from usual. The more cartoon like design temporarily ditched for a more realistic animal design kind of added to the pages mood as well.
Its not a bad thing. It was just a thing I personally thought was strange.
While you are, as always, entitled to your opinion, I have no idea how five pages could be insufficiently long. Especially after many chapters’ worth of build up. Likewise, I think you are conflating literal darkness (as in, darkly-coloured pages) with tonal darkness. Just because this page is drawn lightly does not mean the tone goes away. Especially not with the words being spoken.
Just what did Lilja do to make a mess? Another point of interest, it seems that the maid has returned from “cleaning”. Side note, how close are lilja and kimidori? It’s seems as through they know each other enough to be frenemies. What will happen next?
Why, oh why do I have the feeling that Nina is referring to Caroline and not to… let’s say Julia’s fellow PUNCs or a similar kind of reinforcements. On the other hand why would she wait so long to report that she caught a snoop? Or maybe I am completely wrong.
Nevertheless, poor poor Julia surely needs a hug now!
I’m with everyone else in saying that was a little weird. Although I did expect that Lilja would go after Julia and try to make her one of her “toys,”I never expected ANYTHING like this. Not only that,we have a possible murder to bring down the mood. I still have the feeling that what was in that needle was truth serum and I think it may have had some unexpected side effects on Julia. Nevertheless,I can see that a lot of people didn’t seem to like a lot about this chapter. It seems to have left a sour taste in just a lot of people’s mouths.
I can tell you this,if she ever gets out of this,Julia’s going to need an AWFUL lot of therapy. I’d also hate to be Nina and clean up after whatever it was that happened in there.
Is Lilja a drug addict that what I want to know. I’m guessing that Lilja and Kimidori know each other since school or family friends who knows maybe we will find out?
I’ll save full thoughts (if necessary) for the last part of this bit of the story, but I have to agree that somehow the past few pages were kind of hard to sit through in a way the story hasn’t been before, at least from what I’ve read. Might be because the whole thing has this vibe about it that’s a bit…rapey. And torture-y. Both of which can be a turn-off for some, especially given the amount of bondage in the story anyway.
I have to wholeheartedly agree on that one. Yeah, she’s evil, but there is a line that some stories don’t cross. I mean, Lilja has been described as a nymphomaniac, but…
As I said in a different comment, that was presented a bit more comedically which sort of softened the reaction and made it easier to stomach. This was played far more seriously which…did not do either of those things.
Also, the reaction by who I presume to be the creative team to the reaction by the readers is kind of interesting in itself.
The creative team? You mean the lead writer responding to people’s criticism and concerns? I thought engaging with your audience was a good thing.
It’s not a case of the creative team versus concerned fans: there are readers (like yours truly) who are wondering why people are surprised that a scene like this happened in this comic, especially given the established setting, tone, themes and subject matter.
Do people not read the strange squiggly runes inside the big magic talk clouds the characters make?
Let me get this straight:
Drowning hazard, physical harassment, constrictors after outright kidnapping is more ok than a needle because it is reprsented in comedic manner?
You have every right to feel uncomfortable ofcourse, but Im very confounded when some readers claim this came out of left field? In describtion of the comic the creative make it pretty clear that while the comic is mainly sfw, there are elements of more adult themes.
I don’t complain is the story that the authors want to write and i don’t feel ant darker don’t hypocrite talking about dark tone when you like girls tied up or bondage, if you know bondage can ve really serious only see hardcore bondage, the only thing i wanna see is Lijla getting her own medicine and revenge for julia
Well,sawxd. A DID story can be like a lot of other stories. The tone can be light and fun or dark and foreboding. It’s all in how it’s done. It’s like what Suicide said. What was in issue three was a little more intense than what we saw in this issue. While I see everyone else’s point,I also see what Suicide is saying as well. You get what I’m saying,sawxd?
There is also something I’m curious about. What history do Kimidori and Lilja share? From what I’ve been hearing,not a very good one.
No i don’t get IT you have the right of give your opinion this is a free world but you can’t complain about a dark tone when we were in a story with bondage and even we don’t know what her do to her and like suicide say there was a issue more intense and nobody complain, you wanna to create a safe space in a story with crime lords, corruption and hitman at this point really see this story can have a dark tone, i see you complain about this story every issuee i consider you little annoying you remind me someone on the forums of western civilitation
While your opinions are just as valid as everyone else’s, I do remind you to keep a civil tone. People are free to speak their mind here, but we at Semla do not want things to get ugly. Aside from that, carry on 🙂
Admittedly no, but having re-read that chapter, I remember it did not have our main heroine be drugged and bound against her will by a sex-addicted crime family member who’s implied to then torture her for information. It may be less intense, but it’s likely somehow more disturbing for some. Not helped by the fact that this page heavily implies that Julia did eventually break this time whereas back then she managed to escape relatively unharmed, mentally if not physically. Of course that’s just my interpretation and the last few pages may yet prove me wrong.
Wait so, someone being held captive and interrogated by a character described as “Notorious for the bloody work she leaves behind and for her cartel’s peculiar obsession with ancient Kampunean religious rites – most notably cannibalism” in a scene where she casually brandishes a machete is fine. But having Lilja, a character well established as being a nympho dominatrix type whose horrifying lewd proclivities are held in check by her family (and whose personality is pretty clearly displayed on the chapter cover) interrogate someone via bondage, a truth serum and some off-screen, implied-but-not-explicitly-stated yuri, is suddenly crossing the line?
Why are people surprised that a series self-described as “Pulp DiD Noire,” openly appealing to the bondage/DiD fetish and featuring dozens of attractive, often scantily clad women who are kidnapped, bound, held against their will, robbed and threatened has a scene where something vaguely sexual is implied to have happened?
Again I’m just speculating, but I think that may have to do with the fact that it’s not just ‘something vaguely sexual’ – with how it was presented it’s quite easy to see it as Lilja preparing to torture and RAPE our main heroine, possibly succeeding as implied by this page. Rape is often one of those things that provoke stronger feelings than normal in many people, even over killing so that may explain the reactions many have had.
More than that, the recent revelations have sort of painted this as a ‘hero vs the World’ scenario with Julia trying to bring justice to this place in the face of two rivaling powerful crime organizations. And the first thing that happens after this is established…is that she gets drugged, bound, tortured and possibly raped. At best it feels like jumping straight to the Darkest Hour part of a conflict that’s just barely gotten going. At worst even with the buildup it feels abrupt and mostly put just to cement how evil Lilja really is.
All this said, I am looking forward to the next part of the story in a sort of perverse way if only to see how Julia’s side of this will be handled, especially if my theory is correct. Because if it is I fear it may become a bit harder to enjoy the bondage parts of this story without trying to ignore the story.
@Cale & Suicide: Well, the difference between this chapter and chapter 3 is that Julia wasn’t a fully established character back then, whereas now we learned more of her. I am actually emotionally way more invested in this story now than I was when I started reading it (which was mainly for the bondage). So I naturally feel mor for Julia now than I did in the earlier chapters. Also it is a difference if she is threatened by a bloodthirsty, cannibalistic brute who was established right at the beginning to be a villainess or cruelly betrayed, drugged, imprisoned (and probably even tortured, which is implied here) by a seemingly harmless young woman who was back then a kidnap victim together with her. Also the scene on the junkyard in chapter 3 had more the purpose to show action and worldbuilding. So yes, it had an intense, but not nearly as unsettling feel as this chapter. And as Covert said rape and torture (even if implied) provoke way stronger feelings in people like action scenes where characters are threatened with mutilation or death, but where you know that none of that will actually happen to them. So it’s totally understandable some readers reacted differently to the last page than to most of the DiD-scenes before this.
That I think is down to how the situations are presented. That previous instance was played largely for comedy and had a relatively minor character as the victim. This one not only features the main heroine as the victim, but is played much more seriously, not helped by the rapey undertones and the implication that Julia just got both drugged and tortured for information – successfully – rather than just being a plaything.
All in all this scene probably had just the right amount of subtle elements to squick people out while the rest of story until now did not. It’s the sort of scene that turns previous scenes like it into Funny Aneurysm Moments, even for bondage fanatics (and I say that as someone who consumes a lot of bondage material myself).
I agree that particular scene was played more for a comedic effect, but it wasn’t presented as being so absurdly comical that you weren’t meant to walk away with the impression that Lilja being a tyrannical sadist was an amusing trait that would only come up in comedic scenes. Lilja (and the rest of her family) have been shown to have serious and villainous ambitions in the story, so to me it would have been strange if Lilja’s sadistic tendencies didn’t manifest when dealing with a serious part of the story.
I disagree with the notion of Julia being the main heroine means bad stuffing happening to her is intrinsically worse than bad stuff happening to minor characters. While an audience will naturally subjectively care more about the main characters since we know them better, one shouldn’t try to read a story from a protagonist centered outlook where anything that happens to a non-protagonist is automatically trivial. You can subjectively care about the main characters more, but you shouldn’t get into the habit of thinking them as being objectively more important than everyone else in the world.
Thanks for referencing this specific page of that chapter. Really refreshed my memory.
After looking at this and other pages like this I can understand your confusion. Her personality on how she interacts with people and her captives in general is obvious in showing what kind of person she is. There are a lot of pages and chapters leading up to this point which shouldn’t be much of a surprise at this point.
I honestly don’t know why that page and those before this page didn’t faze me at all compared to the pages of this chapter. She was casually tormenting that girl while on the phone as if that was just a normal activity for her. The fact that she can do that to a person while having a conversation is pretty shocking. She’s not even hiding the fact that she basically sees that women as her plaything even though that women is basically being tortured and in obvious distress.
Now that I think about it, there are many chapters which included violence, torture and casual displays of intimidation through threats of bodily harm. It is clearly shown what horribly people these are.
Maybe it is how it was presented in this chapter?. Maybe because it is a blunt reminder that she is not a nice person at all. This is the kind of thing she does without hesitation. Maybe it shows how she basically does such things without any second thoughts or remorse.
After reading through previous chapters I don’t know why i’m so surprised. She has a rotten personality, no question about it. She has no problem with how she acts or how people view her. Its not a first.
She just feels more mature on this chapter I guess? Maybe because it has been a while since I was reminded that I shouldn’t forget that she is not some spoiled brat who just ties people up for that heck of it. She knows what she is doing and doesn’t care how people feel about it.
I think that too may have to do with the presentation of it, though I might be wrong. It is kind of interesting how people are starting to react this way now when there wasn’t much reaction before.
I did notice that some people seemed to get more uncomfortable the second Lilja pulled out a syringe. To me this wasn’t too much since generic truth serums being menacingly applied to captives (male or female) is a pretty common convention in pulp stories. Though it’s one that appears less in most pure BDSM type setups, which is maybe where for some people this made it feel different.
@Eio Semla: as Covert wrote, in Chapter 2.06 the bondage and abuse of the character was mainly shown for comedic effect, so the scene had a different feel. And of course one gets emotionally more invested when something like this happens to a fully fleshed out main character instead to cameo who appears only occasionally in the main storyline. Which doesn’t mean that Coral’s fate is unimportant to me. Obviously I also care of her and don’t think the main characters are objectively more important than the cameos, like Rackreb mentioned.
Also I have to point out that this particular scene from Chapter 2.06 actually did elicit concerns by some readers. Of course they weren’t as strong as here, but some definitely felt bad for Coralin and were not ok with the way her imprisonment was depicted (and I’m not counting myself here). So even this earlier and tamer scene wasn’t that unproblematic.
I’m amazed some people are taken surprise by this. This has always been Lilja’s style and I’m pretty sure that was some form of truth serum, not like heavy drugs.
Again I have conflicted feelings about this page. I must admit that Lilja’s and Erin’s expressions in the second panel are hilarious. It may be wrong to laugh at this, because it happens right after the controversial scene, but I can’t resist it! xD
But still it feels wrong that Julia’s “horrid set of hours” (which could mean everything!) that she spent in Lilja’s company are so casually waved off here. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but it’s implied here that Lilja not only interrogated Julia with truth serum, but tortured and probably even raped her. And that makes this dialogue feel a bit disturbing. Again, nothing here crosses a line for me, but it still feels uncomfortable. I think here’s the point were this series falls victim to Cerebus syndrome. I don’t mean that’s bad, but I miss the times were the damsel scenes were funny instead of dark.
…well…that happened.
I don’t want to be that guy but…
Didn’t like what they did with Lija this chapter so far. It was really pointless to give her that sadistic, serious, “you’ve made me very upset. Let me show you what i’m like when I am serious” side, Even if it was for the sake of intimidation if it was going to be thrown out the window in two seconds.
It would have been better if the chapter ended there and left us with a sense of dread and suspense to allow the imagination to run a bit wild after which the next chapter starts with a “gotcha. We had you for a minute there didn’t we ^^”.
Love the bondage art however, the writing for that one part left me a bit miffed personally.
If the chapter is going to dip into a serious tone for a bit to build up some suspense at least run with it for a bit -__-
I am, as always, open to constructive criticism. However, I do not see what exactly you mean about a “serious side” appearing out of nowhere. It was closely set up in previous chapters and comics, only to culminate in this extensive scene. Nor do I see how it was thrown out the window. Just because Lilja changes facial expressions doesn’t mean the mood vanishes.
Maybe it’s because my brain switched off a few chapters ago and I kind of got confused a bit plot wise.
I’m not saying that there have not been subtle signs showing her questionable character. Seeing more of her after her rescue showed that she is not just some rich girl that got kidnapped because she is related to a certain dodgy family.
I just felt that the switch from what I felt was a slightly darker tone back to suddenly everything going back to normal was just too quickly done for me personally. It was kind of like a car going really fast for a moment then suddenly putting on the breaks to get back to normal speed and the sudden jerk giving a not so nice feeling.
It’s more of a personal thing regarding consistent tones in a chapter. As mentioned, I think it would have better for the chapter to end somewhere there or at least gone on for a little bit longer with that to let that moment stew for a rather nice cliff-hanger to build a bit of suspense of what is to come and on whether or not things are shifting to a different mood.
Even how the snake was drawn was different from usual. The more cartoon like design temporarily ditched for a more realistic animal design kind of added to the pages mood as well.
Its not a bad thing. It was just a thing I personally thought was strange.
While you are, as always, entitled to your opinion, I have no idea how five pages could be insufficiently long. Especially after many chapters’ worth of build up. Likewise, I think you are conflating literal darkness (as in, darkly-coloured pages) with tonal darkness. Just because this page is drawn lightly does not mean the tone goes away. Especially not with the words being spoken.
Just what did Lilja do to make a mess? Another point of interest, it seems that the maid has returned from “cleaning”. Side note, how close are lilja and kimidori? It’s seems as through they know each other enough to be frenemies. What will happen next?
Dang I was kind of hoping Julia would be able to escape that situation on her own, or maybe her cop pals would show up to save her.
I’m assuming the horrid set of hours is never to be shown to the public?
Why are people here surprised? Lilja was always a deviant with only her family there keeping her fully in check.
What this one said ^
Why, oh why do I have the feeling that Nina is referring to Caroline and not to… let’s say Julia’s fellow PUNCs or a similar kind of reinforcements. On the other hand why would she wait so long to report that she caught a snoop? Or maybe I am completely wrong.
Nevertheless, poor poor Julia surely needs a hug now!
I volunteer to help clean up!
I’m with everyone else in saying that was a little weird. Although I did expect that Lilja would go after Julia and try to make her one of her “toys,”I never expected ANYTHING like this. Not only that,we have a possible murder to bring down the mood. I still have the feeling that what was in that needle was truth serum and I think it may have had some unexpected side effects on Julia. Nevertheless,I can see that a lot of people didn’t seem to like a lot about this chapter. It seems to have left a sour taste in just a lot of people’s mouths.
I can tell you this,if she ever gets out of this,Julia’s going to need an AWFUL lot of therapy. I’d also hate to be Nina and clean up after whatever it was that happened in there.
Is Lilja a drug addict that what I want to know. I’m guessing that Lilja and Kimidori know each other since school or family friends who knows maybe we will find out?
I’ll save full thoughts (if necessary) for the last part of this bit of the story, but I have to agree that somehow the past few pages were kind of hard to sit through in a way the story hasn’t been before, at least from what I’ve read. Might be because the whole thing has this vibe about it that’s a bit…rapey. And torture-y. Both of which can be a turn-off for some, especially given the amount of bondage in the story anyway.
I have to wholeheartedly agree on that one. Yeah, she’s evil, but there is a line that some stories don’t cross. I mean, Lilja has been described as a nymphomaniac, but…
A little reminder ..
https://www.trifecta3.net/semla/blog/comic/chapter-2-06-page-11/
As I said in a different comment, that was presented a bit more comedically which sort of softened the reaction and made it easier to stomach. This was played far more seriously which…did not do either of those things.
Also, the reaction by who I presume to be the creative team to the reaction by the readers is kind of interesting in itself.
The creative team? You mean the lead writer responding to people’s criticism and concerns? I thought engaging with your audience was a good thing.
It’s not a case of the creative team versus concerned fans: there are readers (like yours truly) who are wondering why people are surprised that a scene like this happened in this comic, especially given the established setting, tone, themes and subject matter.
Do people not read the strange squiggly runes inside the big magic talk clouds the characters make?
Let me get this straight:
Drowning hazard, physical harassment, constrictors after outright kidnapping is more ok than a needle because it is reprsented in comedic manner?
You have every right to feel uncomfortable ofcourse, but Im very confounded when some readers claim this came out of left field? In describtion of the comic the creative make it pretty clear that while the comic is mainly sfw, there are elements of more adult themes.
Yeah gotta say this chapter has left me feeling pretty uncomfortable (Really big tonal shift from previous chapters IMO)
I don’t complain is the story that the authors want to write and i don’t feel ant darker don’t hypocrite talking about dark tone when you like girls tied up or bondage, if you know bondage can ve really serious only see hardcore bondage, the only thing i wanna see is Lijla getting her own medicine and revenge for julia
Well,sawxd. A DID story can be like a lot of other stories. The tone can be light and fun or dark and foreboding. It’s all in how it’s done. It’s like what Suicide said. What was in issue three was a little more intense than what we saw in this issue. While I see everyone else’s point,I also see what Suicide is saying as well. You get what I’m saying,sawxd?
There is also something I’m curious about. What history do Kimidori and Lilja share? From what I’ve been hearing,not a very good one.
No i don’t get IT you have the right of give your opinion this is a free world but you can’t complain about a dark tone when we were in a story with bondage and even we don’t know what her do to her and like suicide say there was a issue more intense and nobody complain, you wanna to create a safe space in a story with crime lords, corruption and hitman at this point really see this story can have a dark tone, i see you complain about this story every issuee i consider you little annoying you remind me someone on the forums of western civilitation
While your opinions are just as valid as everyone else’s, I do remind you to keep a civil tone. People are free to speak their mind here, but we at Semla do not want things to get ugly. Aside from that, carry on 🙂
For people talking about tonal shifts…
Do NONE of you remember the literal THIRD ISSUE of the series?
https://www.trifecta3.net/semla/blog/comic/chapter-3-page-2/
This scene is far more intense than anything we saw in this latest chapter. Just sayin’
Admittedly no, but having re-read that chapter, I remember it did not have our main heroine be drugged and bound against her will by a sex-addicted crime family member who’s implied to then torture her for information. It may be less intense, but it’s likely somehow more disturbing for some. Not helped by the fact that this page heavily implies that Julia did eventually break this time whereas back then she managed to escape relatively unharmed, mentally if not physically. Of course that’s just my interpretation and the last few pages may yet prove me wrong.
Wait so, someone being held captive and interrogated by a character described as “Notorious for the bloody work she leaves behind and for her cartel’s peculiar obsession with ancient Kampunean religious rites – most notably cannibalism” in a scene where she casually brandishes a machete is fine. But having Lilja, a character well established as being a nympho dominatrix type whose horrifying lewd proclivities are held in check by her family (and whose personality is pretty clearly displayed on the chapter cover) interrogate someone via bondage, a truth serum and some off-screen, implied-but-not-explicitly-stated yuri, is suddenly crossing the line?
Why are people surprised that a series self-described as “Pulp DiD Noire,” openly appealing to the bondage/DiD fetish and featuring dozens of attractive, often scantily clad women who are kidnapped, bound, held against their will, robbed and threatened has a scene where something vaguely sexual is implied to have happened?
Again I’m just speculating, but I think that may have to do with the fact that it’s not just ‘something vaguely sexual’ – with how it was presented it’s quite easy to see it as Lilja preparing to torture and RAPE our main heroine, possibly succeeding as implied by this page. Rape is often one of those things that provoke stronger feelings than normal in many people, even over killing so that may explain the reactions many have had.
More than that, the recent revelations have sort of painted this as a ‘hero vs the World’ scenario with Julia trying to bring justice to this place in the face of two rivaling powerful crime organizations. And the first thing that happens after this is established…is that she gets drugged, bound, tortured and possibly raped. At best it feels like jumping straight to the Darkest Hour part of a conflict that’s just barely gotten going. At worst even with the buildup it feels abrupt and mostly put just to cement how evil Lilja really is.
All this said, I am looking forward to the next part of the story in a sort of perverse way if only to see how Julia’s side of this will be handled, especially if my theory is correct. Because if it is I fear it may become a bit harder to enjoy the bondage parts of this story without trying to ignore the story.
@Cale & Suicide: Well, the difference between this chapter and chapter 3 is that Julia wasn’t a fully established character back then, whereas now we learned more of her. I am actually emotionally way more invested in this story now than I was when I started reading it (which was mainly for the bondage). So I naturally feel mor for Julia now than I did in the earlier chapters. Also it is a difference if she is threatened by a bloodthirsty, cannibalistic brute who was established right at the beginning to be a villainess or cruelly betrayed, drugged, imprisoned (and probably even tortured, which is implied here) by a seemingly harmless young woman who was back then a kidnap victim together with her. Also the scene on the junkyard in chapter 3 had more the purpose to show action and worldbuilding. So yes, it had an intense, but not nearly as unsettling feel as this chapter. And as Covert said rape and torture (even if implied) provoke way stronger feelings in people like action scenes where characters are threatened with mutilation or death, but where you know that none of that will actually happen to them. So it’s totally understandable some readers reacted differently to the last page than to most of the DiD-scenes before this.
While everyone are, of course, entitled to their opinions, I must express some confusion at this chapter eliciting such a response when a previous one did not: https://www.trifecta3.net/semla/blog/comic/chapter-2-06-page-10/
That I think is down to how the situations are presented. That previous instance was played largely for comedy and had a relatively minor character as the victim. This one not only features the main heroine as the victim, but is played much more seriously, not helped by the rapey undertones and the implication that Julia just got both drugged and tortured for information – successfully – rather than just being a plaything.
All in all this scene probably had just the right amount of subtle elements to squick people out while the rest of story until now did not. It’s the sort of scene that turns previous scenes like it into Funny Aneurysm Moments, even for bondage fanatics (and I say that as someone who consumes a lot of bondage material myself).
I agree that particular scene was played more for a comedic effect, but it wasn’t presented as being so absurdly comical that you weren’t meant to walk away with the impression that Lilja being a tyrannical sadist was an amusing trait that would only come up in comedic scenes. Lilja (and the rest of her family) have been shown to have serious and villainous ambitions in the story, so to me it would have been strange if Lilja’s sadistic tendencies didn’t manifest when dealing with a serious part of the story.
I disagree with the notion of Julia being the main heroine means bad stuffing happening to her is intrinsically worse than bad stuff happening to minor characters. While an audience will naturally subjectively care more about the main characters since we know them better, one shouldn’t try to read a story from a protagonist centered outlook where anything that happens to a non-protagonist is automatically trivial. You can subjectively care about the main characters more, but you shouldn’t get into the habit of thinking them as being objectively more important than everyone else in the world.
Thanks for referencing this specific page of that chapter. Really refreshed my memory.
After looking at this and other pages like this I can understand your confusion. Her personality on how she interacts with people and her captives in general is obvious in showing what kind of person she is. There are a lot of pages and chapters leading up to this point which shouldn’t be much of a surprise at this point.
I honestly don’t know why that page and those before this page didn’t faze me at all compared to the pages of this chapter. She was casually tormenting that girl while on the phone as if that was just a normal activity for her. The fact that she can do that to a person while having a conversation is pretty shocking. She’s not even hiding the fact that she basically sees that women as her plaything even though that women is basically being tortured and in obvious distress.
Now that I think about it, there are many chapters which included violence, torture and casual displays of intimidation through threats of bodily harm. It is clearly shown what horribly people these are.
Maybe it is how it was presented in this chapter?. Maybe because it is a blunt reminder that she is not a nice person at all. This is the kind of thing she does without hesitation. Maybe it shows how she basically does such things without any second thoughts or remorse.
After reading through previous chapters I don’t know why i’m so surprised. She has a rotten personality, no question about it. She has no problem with how she acts or how people view her. Its not a first.
She just feels more mature on this chapter I guess? Maybe because it has been a while since I was reminded that I shouldn’t forget that she is not some spoiled brat who just ties people up for that heck of it. She knows what she is doing and doesn’t care how people feel about it.
Hmmm. 🤔
I think that too may have to do with the presentation of it, though I might be wrong. It is kind of interesting how people are starting to react this way now when there wasn’t much reaction before.
I did notice that some people seemed to get more uncomfortable the second Lilja pulled out a syringe. To me this wasn’t too much since generic truth serums being menacingly applied to captives (male or female) is a pretty common convention in pulp stories. Though it’s one that appears less in most pure BDSM type setups, which is maybe where for some people this made it feel different.
@Eio Semla: as Covert wrote, in Chapter 2.06 the bondage and abuse of the character was mainly shown for comedic effect, so the scene had a different feel. And of course one gets emotionally more invested when something like this happens to a fully fleshed out main character instead to cameo who appears only occasionally in the main storyline. Which doesn’t mean that Coral’s fate is unimportant to me. Obviously I also care of her and don’t think the main characters are objectively more important than the cameos, like Rackreb mentioned.
Also I have to point out that this particular scene from Chapter 2.06 actually did elicit concerns by some readers. Of course they weren’t as strong as here, but some definitely felt bad for Coralin and were not ok with the way her imprisonment was depicted (and I’m not counting myself here). So even this earlier and tamer scene wasn’t that unproblematic.
I’m amazed some people are taken surprise by this. This has always been Lilja’s style and I’m pretty sure that was some form of truth serum, not like heavy drugs.
I thought this was great. Keep it up!
Again I have conflicted feelings about this page. I must admit that Lilja’s and Erin’s expressions in the second panel are hilarious. It may be wrong to laugh at this, because it happens right after the controversial scene, but I can’t resist it! xD
But still it feels wrong that Julia’s “horrid set of hours” (which could mean everything!) that she spent in Lilja’s company are so casually waved off here. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but it’s implied here that Lilja not only interrogated Julia with truth serum, but tortured and probably even raped her. And that makes this dialogue feel a bit disturbing. Again, nothing here crosses a line for me, but it still feels uncomfortable. I think here’s the point were this series falls victim to Cerebus syndrome. I don’t mean that’s bad, but I miss the times were the damsel scenes were funny instead of dark.