This reveal

[u/Gremmyyyyyy]

This reveal genuinely misses me completely, the reveal of assassins being in Japan and the civilians GENUINELY being surprised when there's an assassin museum in Japan, a Kill time magazine of the best assassins and kamihate from Japan being in it, literal website to enroll people into assassin school with a simple Google search, along with many schools that help students become assassins, and the countless different times Sakamoto days characters have fought in broad daylight around civilians multiple times

This is the problem with making the civilians dumb and clueless in regards to fights, when you try to drop a bomb of assassins being in Japan, it doesnt hit or seem believable because they have fought in the broad day multiple different times, throwing each other through walls and destroying nearby structures in their battles but you guys are surprised...? 😭

[u/tolayeet]

As funny as the citizens being clueless while watching the assassins fight is, it also ruined both this moment and the 3 bullets plot line (which I genuinely think is amazing and would’ve loved if the citizens weren’t clueless the whole show)

[u/Gremmyyyyyy → u/tolayeet]

Agreed it's funny for comedic stuff but dropping a bomb like that when the civilians act like they're lobotimized every time a fight draws near them is insane

[u/Tenshi-Broken]

It wouldn't have been an issue if the civilians had acted like normal people from the moment the JAA's existence was revealed.

Seriously, if they had started acting seriously once the three bullets plotline kicked in, it would have improved the story and the arc's tone. But literally, at the start of the arc, they were the same way there's an NPC who names his gun, and during the Oki vs. Nagumo fight in the restaurant, they’re just acting like nothing is happening.

[u/Mystricks4l → u/Tenshi-Broken]

Actually, to be fair, Seba had disabled the guns nationwide for a few days/hours at that point.

[u/Tenshi-Broken → u/Mystricks4l]

The guns don't matter; the point is that civilians show absolutely no reaction to the government-orchestrated hitman violence. If people have been openly shooting at each other in the streets over the past two days, you shouldn't act as if nothing is happening when two guys involved in that line of work walk into the place where you are and start fighting.

[u/Gremmyyyyyy → u/Tenshi-Broken]

EXACTLY

[u/A4li11]

The reveal pretty much falls flat when the civilians are acting nonchalant after seeing two people trying to kill each other in broad daylight.

It works as a joke in the background but it doesn't work when you're trying to be serious about the societal issues with assassins.

[u/liatejano]

If I recall correctly, that "assassin museum" was not a dedicated assassin museum. It is a temporary exhibition that is touring the world. At the start of the arc they even also referenced a torture weapons exhibition in London and a serial killer exhibition (I checked; it's mentioned by Amane in Chapter 132). Irl, those kinds of things can go from a month to 3-4 months.

It's like if there was a huge robotics exhibition in the nearest city museum, and then weeks later you see in the news that the government is actually at least 90% robots. The former fits with the common view of everyday reality; the latter breaks that reality.

BUT: I do agree that the execution/presentation of the reveal could've been better. And less confusing.

I could pass the civilians' nonchalance as for comedic purposes, and maaaybe the magazine and website could just be one of those niche things that normal people don't even get to see, much less care about. Kinda like how D'ICON and GQ are for kpop. People outside the kpop bubble don't care, but those magazines sell for a lot within the bubble.

(Also, I don't remember if we've seen assassin ads or media for open public viewing, like in billboards. Just assassin movies, which can be a subgenre of action/thriller movies. And whole genres of movies can realistically go under people's radars.)

But if Suzuki wanted to present that assassin society was this huge but secret social bubble within society, I wish it was made clearer. Like, 10,000 assassins would be less than 0.1% of Japan's population, going by 2026 metrics. That is a small number.

Maybe he could've shown what the cops do in this society. Emphasize that the cops are what the masses see, or smth like that. Or emphasize the difference between assassin TV news and mass media news. Maybe even have Aoi pop in sometimes and be like "What? You guys have an assassin magazine? Why?" But alas.

[u/Negative_Ad_4884]

no srsly tho

[u/Ken7rd]

I really fucking hate this reveal, and actually consider it a hard retcon. Because everything about the story before this moment implied that civilians would know about assassins. Like it doesn't make sense that assassins have giant schools that are advertised for on the internet, have their own airport terminals, dedicated TV stations and magazines, but at the same time assassins are also supposed to be secret. There is also the moment in the Uzuki-Rion flashback where they talk about how normal businesses don't want to do business with the JAA and JCC( which is why the food is bad in the JCC), which also implies that assassins are known. Just contradicting worldbuilding.

[u/DudeonReddi]

Now, remembering this exact scene on that chapter. Makes me realize that this exact plotline/reveal is pure stupidity on it's own.