Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Ascendance of a Bookworm [2019-10-26]
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2247 |
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Yeah, I wrote that sort of half asleep, but I now that I'm more alert, I'm getting the impression that it's not so much that girls aren't afforded an education, it's that no one really gets an education here. It's just kind of a (probably unintentional) unfortunate implication that not a lot of girls/women in this world move in social circles that would land them a job with some kind of education, since most of the authority figures on the show thus far have been male. Of course, that could totally be subject to change in future episodes/novels, I just remember my barely awake brain thinking it felt weird, especially considering that the Church was founded on more egalitarian deities instead of one patriarchal figure. |
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Yuvelir
 Posts: 1570 |
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On that point I'd like to point something out. My country is (or was) profoundly Christian, but Virgin Mary is worshipped as much or more than God himself. That didn't stop us from being profoundly sexist until the last few decades. Worshipping female deities unfortunately doesn't equal accepting female authority. Or picking a more similar pantheon, ancient Athens proudly worshipped a female god before anything else, yet women had no power compared to men. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18202 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yeah, historically speaking there's never been much correlation between the gender of the deity(ies) that a population worships and the status of women in that population (Jane Auel's fanciful interpretation of prehistoric people notwithstanding), so I don't think you can make any judgments calls here. Female deities do tend to more often have priestesses rather than priests composing the bulk of their religious organizations, but that's about it.
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2247 |
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Hmmm, maybe that’s what threw me off? I can’t recall if we’ve seen any Blue Robe women yet, but it is pretty early days.
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Leviathonlx
Posts: 84 |
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On that point. I'll spoiler it just in case but it's not really anything major. spoiler[2 of the Grey Robed Priestess' that eventually work for Myne once served a Blue Priestess that rejoined noble society.] There's also just large aspects of noble society that the anime hasn't gotten to yet like spoiler[the academy] |
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HannoX
Posts: 194 |
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The state of literacy in this world is that people know just enough for their jobs. Myne's mother and sister are illiterate because they don't need to be able to read (her mother is a seamstress and her sister aims to be one). But her mother does know enough math and the symbols of it needed for shopping. Her father as a soldier manning a gate is just literate enough to be able to read an entry pass and presumably be able to determine most times if it's legitimate or forged. Otto is more literate because he was a former merchant and is married to a woman from a merchant family.
Frieda is literate because she also comes from a wealthy merchant family and aims to have her own shop when she moves to the noble quarter as a mistress. While I don't think the anime has said so one way or another it's safe to assume the adult gray priests and priestesses are literate since they are serving blue robes who come from the nobility and others are trained to be servants to the nobility and leave the church to do so. Literacy would be handy, even sometimes necessary, there. That doesn't mean the poor common people don't want to be literate. They just don't have the opportunity, the money and presumably the time to become so. They need to get a paying job as soon as they can in order to survive and can't waste time and resources on something that is not necessary for survival, as nice as it might be. |
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HannoX
Posts: 194 |
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The high priest has not shrugged off Myne's attack on him as let bygones be bygones. There's a reason he's not moving against her now. spoiler[The archduke, the ruler of their land, granted Myne blue robe status. Moving against her could be considered defying him, not a safe thing, as the end of this season I'm sure will show, although disobeying a strict order also played a part. Moving against her has to be done after careful groundwork and keeping to the background as much as possible.]
I'm reading the LNs on J-Novel Club and after reading the two latest installments all I can say is WOW! We really need a Season Three. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Ok so...spoiler[this raise more question than it answer. So first there's a character we've never heard of, the archduke, involved. Doing things that aren't even allude to in the story and nobody question any of this. Next he has to elevate Myne status within the church. So is Myne a noble now? In which case, why can't she just get the mana draining stuff outside the church? If she's not, why would the archduke need to be involved in a strictly church hierarchy matter? And even then, can't the high priest just ask the archduke to rescind Myne elevation? The archduke only did it because the church asked him to in the first place, why would he refuse to undo that? Especially if the high priest just explain that the only reason they agree to it in the first place was because she was literally in the process of murdering him. And how long was the high priest unconscious? I imagine getting an appointment with the archduke takes more than a few hours, why wouldn't the high priest move against Myne during that time. He just patiently waited for Myne to be elevated before going "drat, now I can't do anything!"? This really just feel like the writer wrote themselves in a corner and have to make more and more convoluted reason to keep the story moving in the direction they want. That's fine for a serialized LN, but it would be nice if the anime would at least try to fix those holes. ] |
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Kami-koto
Posts: 66 |
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I think you're overestimating the temple's authority. They're neither as powerful nor as independent as the church in real life used to be. Not to mention that the temple staff is made up of people who were dumped there by their families because they didn't want them. spoiler[The archduke is the lord of that territory and has the highest authority. His approval is necessary for a lot of stuff. And as far as he's concerned, Myne is a godsend. The lack of mana has been mentioned a few times before and it will come up a lot in the future as well. It's a huge problem, especially for the archduke, so getting a new xxl battery is a dream come true. So while the high priest was unconscious, Ferdinand took care of the contract and informed the archduke, at which point the high priest can't make a move anymore, at least openly. I'd have to reread the novel to find out the details. But I agree that this is a question that should have been answered immediately in the story.] |
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Gray Lensman
Posts: 143 |
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I bet they might still be rare if real world history can be any guide. Additional male children are competition to inherit (likely more so in a society where death is not as big a risk in the nobility as it was in medieval Europe) while female children are likely seen as valuable bargaining chips to cement alliances - especially if they are unable to inherit like they were in the real world. However, that is all speculation based on history added with the presumption that magic makes dying of disease much less likely for nobility. I certainly haven't read ahead, or at all into the series other than having watch the anime. |
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HannoX
Posts: 194 |
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[quote="meiam"]
I really can't answer most of this without getting into major spoilers. I'll partially answer with more minor spoilers. spoiler[ Normally only people from noble families enter the temple as blue robes. For Myne to be awarded blue robes and attendants, which occurred before the meeting with the High Priest where it all went south, the archduke would have already given his approval. Agreed, this should have been mentioned in the anime. Maybe it was in passing; I can't remember. And we will see that their realm really needs the mana Myne brings. And I mean they really, really need it! And due to circumstances it can't always just be ripped from her. We should see that in the last one or two episodes this season. More on why Myne has tacit protection (to become open protection) from the archduke won't come out until a third season, if there's one. ] And I don't think the writer of the LNs really wrote himself/herself into a corner and waved a wand to fix it and move the story in the desired direction. The anime slipped up a bit, although the mention of spoiler[ the archduke granting Myne blue robes before she entered the temple ] might have occurred a bit later in the LNs and the anime will then get to it in its proper place.[/i] |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Alright between this and what Kami-goto mention I can sorta see how things are supposed to be drawn, although there's still plenty of problems here and there. spoiler[If Myne was granted special status before meeting the high priest then that would mean the church already knew about her being a commoner, so why would the high priest get insulted and have them executed? And wouldn't that defy the archduke anyway? Plus if the archduke need mana so much, why not actively recruit within commoner? Like the guildmaster granddaughter, couldn't she just get in touch with archduke and trade mana for the item to not die from mana, that seems like a win win. Also the first time Myne is tested for mana, she doesn't actively try to pass the mana to the object and yet it still happens, so I hope the explanation fro why they can't just take it without her consent or under coercion (ie "Give us your mana or we kill your family") take that into account.] |
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HannoX
Posts: 194 |
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Meiam, I really don't want to get into this any further, even behind a spoiler marker. You just have to trust the original author and the anime makers, although some of this won't be answered before a third season, if there is one. I don't see any way all the answers to the questions you raised can be answered before a third season without cutting out a massive amount of material and so far the anime has shown no propensity to do so.
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5836 Location: Virginia, United States |
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As mentioned earlier, most commoners with mana don't last very long as Myne has. Her friend the Guild Master's daughter is an exception. Also a lucky one, as her father was able to pay to keep her alive.
If you lasted long enough to be noticed by a Noble, you'd probably be kidnapped by outsiders or just plain taken by a Noble. Just like how the High Priest was going to take Myne by executing her parents. Hardly good options for any commoner. |
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1570 |
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Honestly, this episode felt stilted.
The ease and lack of interest about how it rushes through the orphanage's reform and how it bounces among the half-explained details and places of the festivals... there's a lack of rhythm among all that, like they were covering a long list of bullet points half heartedly. Like for instance the tiles. What was the deal with them? Fran hurriedly fixes one, but how did that one get lifted? What about the other ones the Head Priest mentioned? Was it because of the trombe that was cut short quite a few meters away? Or was it because the kids were so rowdy that they destroyed the floor? In the end it's just an excuse for the Head Priest to punish Myne, and the direction just didn't care if it made any sense. |
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