What Happens In The Ending Of Trapped In A Dating Sim: The World Of Otome Games Is Tough For Mobs Vol. 6?

This thread is like watching an entire fandom unfold before our very eyes. People are sharing practical solutions, feeling our pain, warning us of potential dangers, and just discussing the story in all its glory. Watching this play out is proof that community forums can offer up a multitude of solutions to one simple question: where.

The normalization of violence to the point where it is just background is very striking in Vol. 6. While in previous volumes a violent event was shocking in and of itself, here it is all covered in administration and logistics. That an injured person elicits one thought from Yoshino – the political implications – and that thought is shown in her workings in the ending, automatically, is the climax of her transformation into a full yakuza gangster. And the tragedy of it all is not the violence itself, but the cold and accurate way her yakuza calculus determines her actions.

Vol. 9 of ‘My Senpai is Annoying’ finally ends the long wait for a slow-burning relationship between Sakurai and her senpai Kazama. The buildup of tons of teasing and almost but not quite moments is all finally put to rest in this lovely volume, where Kazama confesses his love in his typical ‘him’ fashion, of course. And of course Sakurai blushes and gets flustered in front of half the office, but it’s also adorable to see her try and play it cool while at the same time getting embarrassed and delighted at the same time. A lot of emotion can be packed into a light story, and Kumorin does a great job of keeping things where they are while still packing in some serious feelings. My favorite panel is Sakurai’s small smile of happiness for herself in the midst of chaos. This is the heart of Senpai, and it’s wonderful to read.

My interpretation is different from the rest of the comicsphere. While everyone is fixated on the blood and the shock of the scenes, Vol. 1 ends on a very important thematic note. This is an unintended consequence scenario on the grandest scale. A long time ago, humans sent moss and cockroaches to the red planet to start to terraform it for future human habitation. Now those same organisms have returned as a apex predator in this new scenario, and it is humanity’s own worst nightmare come true in the form of a landing party. Their technology and plans for colonization are rendered useless in the face of a force of evolved nature, and what follows is a very long and very brutal lesson on the unintended consequences of playing god in an ecosystem. Yes, it is a horror comic book, but it is also very much a sci-fi comic book.

In the final act of the story, it is revealed that Mei is a Hearth-Witch, a previously unknown class of magic user. As a dormant Hearth-Witch, her power expresses itself as control of the space of domesticity when she feels extreme loneliness. Her home became a pocket dimension into which individuals of great life energy would travel because their life needs resonated with her own unmet needs. Mei comes to terms with her newfound status as a full Hearth-Witch and, after a quickening ceremony (which is conducted by a surprise visit from a long-lost aunt and explained to her in great detail), she is able to relinquish control of the space she has created and watch as it dissolves. Now that Mei can do what she likes with her space, she starts to break down the pocket dimension she created, starting with the goodbyes. These are long and intensely emotional and every man is said goodbye to in detail. The CEO leaves with a business card and an offer to be her mentor. The knight gives her a small protective amulet. The artist just leaves a sketch of her smiling on her fridge and she orders takeout for one. The final scene shows her looking at the sketch on her fridge and being content. The door to her real apartment is, as usual, firmly shut.

I have already recommended this series to friends under the heading of “wait for the payoff.” The ending is the payoff for all of the moments of shyness, for all of the missed opportunities, for all of the tender service that constitutes so much of the lives of the characters. You grow patiently with them and then harvest the fruit of their labors.

I was also rather affected by the scenes after the final battle. After saving his town from destruction, parts of it were left in ruins, and though Hyou had saved many lives, the remaining civilians would stare at him in horror, as if he had become a monster just like the one he had fought. It seemed that saving his little sister with his strange power had cost him his place in the community, and in the final pages we see Hyou looking at his hands in shock and dismay. It was an ending that was far more introspective than I had expected, and shows that Hyou is an interesting hero.

I disagree with this, as any ending to this book would have been controversial. A completely happy ending to FLyAgent and Jean would have been moraly repugnant and a terrible read. On the other hand, a completely destructive ending to both would have felt somewhat punitive. What we got is a very messy, very uncomfortable, very morally ambiguous ending. The time jump shows them to be functioning individuals, but clearly still affected by their past. They do not get to start over, they have to carry the weight of what they've done. The final panel is actually a very powerful piece of visual storytelling as it focuses on a very mundane item that brings back memories of the past. It is not a traditionally satisfying ending, but it is thematically consistent with the rest of the book.

This ending was also interpreted through an ecological perspective by the DVD commenters. Brando is a representation of a controlling and failed ecological mindset in trying to dominate nature after the collapse. His base is a sterile, out-of-context and unnatural space. Griz and Jip are components of the wild and dysfunctional nature. Their bond is natural and is developed within the context of their shared struggle to survive. By leaving Brando’s base, they are returning to nature even in its worst state of collapse. The continued journey of the boy and the dog is that of rewilding. The movie is expressing the hope that there will be life after the collapse, and it will not be a return to old ways of ecological domination and control but rather an adaptation to the new and an embracing of the natural, symbiotic and adaptive relationships that will emerge from the collapse.

I have almost no recollection of the end of this book. It’s been ages since I read it (during a long late-night reading binge), and I vaguely recall feeling somewhat fulfilled but somewhat empty afterwards, like I had just finished a huge project. Perhaps the main character stayed behind to run things or something. I should re-read this. Does anyone have a link to a good summary of this book? The discussions on this have made me consider returning to this.