Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki Episode 12 Discussion

The Fairy Queen is fed up and she's gone ahead and put a hefty bounty on Earth.

Emel, the Elder of the Green Dragons, pays a visit to Earth with the intention of having him prepare a meal. Earth, wanting to avoid any involvement with the Dragons, decides to flee. In response, the Fairy Queen issues an arrest warrant for Earth. Displeased with the Queen's tactics and the Dragons' haughty attitude, Earth defiantly breaches the castle walls and confronts Emel, the Green Dragon Elder, in a daring battle.

Wow, talk about an overreaction and being a jerk to the Fairy Queen. Earth, despite being this supposed old man, is acting so damn childish. But hey, those NPCs are getting way too full of themselves. I kinda like that Earth is one of the few who's willing to stand up for themselves. Gotta say, for the standards of this anime, that animation in the dragon vs. Earth fight was surprisingly good. Sure, his reaction and pushing her away sucked, but it sort of makes sense with his whole wanting-to-be-left-alone logic. He's just that type of guy, you know? It might not be likable, but it's part of his character. He's been irritated by the ring and its consequences from the get-go, so why not take the chance to finally distance himself from it?

As for VR/Video Game anime this season, I'd say save yourself the trouble and skip this one. Go watch Shangri-La Frontier or something instead.

earth is a really fuckn boring protagonist. he's a piece of shit

Overall I think this anime was mid. However, the final episode was awesome. The fact it pissed off a bunch of weebs because he was "mean" to their waifu was the icing on the cake.
Earth acted in a perfectly valid manner. He's been polite. He's set boundaries. They've been consistently ignored. This situation is all too familiar for those of us who bend over backwards for people. And just like in real life, the moment you cease being the pushover everyone expects you to be and stand up for youself, you're suddenly the villain or acting unstable. F' That. If you're sitting here thinking "well he didn't have to be rude", chances are you're used to taking advantage of people like Earth.

The fact that, in the end, Queens actions that set him off were "coerced" really doesn't matter. Had they not thrown that last little tidbit in, her actions would have been completely in line with her personality and actions up to that point. When it happened, you thought "of course she did", not "what?!". She's a victim of being the "boy who cried wolf". Had she not been a complete tool up to that point, she'd get the benefit of the doubt. Sucks for her, but it is what it is and Earth isn't some villain because of that.

But these comment sections are obviously full of people who are essentially real life NPCs who likely have never experienced a woman's attention and are incapable (unwilling) to discern between genuine affection and toxicity. Sure Queen is cute, but her entire personality is trash. The "I'm cute so I can do anything I like and people should find it endearing" trope in anime is gross.
Once again, Kudos Earth.

@maraviax You conveniently left out where the antics between the Queen and Earth were obviously played out as a repetitive comedic piece, so him going full autistic rage like that was very jarring, especially when he had no problems accepting a bunch of gifts and new skills from her as well. Anyone would have thought that the final act with the wanted posters would have been executed as a comedic piece as well, but the author is such a hack writer, that we're met with a huge tonally deaf final episode, an authors hilariously sad self insert fantasy where they let it be known to some thot, that they won't take this shit standing.

No near fourty year old is acting like a clown going through puberty with his embarrassing tirades.

@GakutoDeathGlare I didn't conveniently leave out anything. I'm perfectly aware of the implied dynamic of those antics. The played out "its a joke" trope you're referring to falls well within the "I'm cute so its ok" trope I explicitly called out. That's literally the only thing that makes it work. Anime has been ignoring "no means no" for years. Want to know why its so jarring for you? Because you've gotten used to it being played over and over and over and over and over and the schmuck just takes it because she's cute. You say this was bad writing, but its damned near the most realistic expression of how the real world works that I've seen in anime and I liked the change of pace. What exactly was "autistic" about it? I think you're just using that term as a pejorative, so stop. Then turn on the news. There's nearly an endless stream of "near fourty year olds acting like a clown going through puberty with his embarrassing tirades." in the world these days. Though that hardly comes close to describing what Earth did. You brought up his age, but missed the fact a 40 year old is probably much more likely to not put up with nonsense than most of these 12-16 year old guys who are typically the MC. That's not "putting a thot in her place", its being a functional adult.

And whether or not he accepted a bunch of skills and gifts is also irrelevant. News flash, if you give someone gifts or attention, they are not obligated to put up with your BS henceforth forevermore. Heck, people getting stalked often get presents and favors from their stalker that they accept for one reason or another. That doesn't justify the stalking or imply they had it coming one bit. He got linked with her pretty early on. Besides, Queen may be the waifu everyone is simping on in this anime, but she's nothing but an NPC in a video game. Whether or not there's some form of an AI behind it, its still an interactive part of a game. At the end of the day she's not real (nor is there any indication in the show that anyone considers them as such), and he went off on her like he might a receiver in Madden who dropped a wide open pass.

A resounding “meh” series.

Still got some subjective amusement out it.

Overall I think this anime was mid. However, the final episode was awesome. The fact it pissed off a bunch of weebs because he was "mean" to their waifu was the icing on the cake.
Earth acted in a perfectly valid manner. He's been polite. He's set boundaries. They've been consistently ignored. This situation is all too familiar for those of us who bend over backwards for people. And just like in real life, the moment you cease being the pushover everyone expects you to be and stand up for youself, you're suddenly the villain or acting unstable. F' That. If you're sitting here thinking "well he didn't have to be rude", chances are you're used to taking advantage of people like Earth.

The fact that, in the end, Queens actions that set him off were "coerced" really doesn't matter. Had they not thrown that last little tidbit in, her actions would have been completely in line with her personality and actions up to that point. When it happened, you thought "of course she did", not "what?!". She's a victim of being the "boy who cried wolf". Had she not been a complete tool up to that point, she'd get the benefit of the doubt. Sucks for her, but it is what it is and Earth isn't some villain because of that.

But these comment sections are obviously full of people who are essentially real life NPCs who likely have never experienced a woman's attention and are incapable (unwilling) to discern between genuine affection and toxicity. Sure Queen is cute, but her entire personality is trash. The "I'm cute so I can do anything I like and people should find it endearing" trope in anime is gross.
Once again, Kudos Earth.

Pretty bad anime overall imo.
I hate it when we get all the "don't want to stand out" BS without any proper reasoning. Instead this dubious logic was used as excuse for even more stupid decisions, like this ending with the Queen.