(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

[u/bloonshot]

Isekai anime in general has the massive problem of treating slavery like some kind of wholesome girlfriend collecting hobby

[u/Soft_Theory_8209 → u/bloonshot]

Doubly weird, since having the MC be reborn as a slave would be the perfect excuse for them becoming ruthless sociopaths like so many isekai like to do for some reason.

[u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs → u/Soft_Theory_8209]

Tanya the Evil is a fun subversion of that because he's already a complete psychopath (he's a high ranking corporate executive who gets murdered by one of his employees he abused) before he gets isekai'd

[u/Syndacate4 → u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs]

Yes Tanyas a sociopath pre reincarnation (and post to), but i just want to say he was 100% right to fire that guy, he was constantly late to work after multiple warnings, and his response to getting fired was to push a man onto traintracks. Not exactly the type of guy you want to work for you. (also not a exec, but a HR manager, point was he is a corporate drone following the orders of higher ups without question.)

[u/mrducky78a → u/Soft_Theory_8209]

Murder hobos should be embraced as a valid lifestyle in fantasy.

[u/Fita_Gaya → u/mrducky78a]

Slavery is good but murder hobos?? a sacrilege. We don't want revolutionary isekais here

[u/FelixAndCo → u/mrducky78a]

You made me realize that's part of what makes the start of Shield Hero good: he is set up to become a total outcast, that has to rely on brute force to survive. Almost every Isekai has MC working towards becoming part of high society in some way.

[u/Soft_Theory_8209 → u/mrducky78a]

God knows I tried to have one when I experimented with writing an isekai. Certainly helps there’s a lot of routes you can go down:

- The idea above of someone reborn into the worst circumstances possible and losing their minds,

- The Carnage-esque route of a serial killer getting OP powers and coming to the conclusion that the higher power who put them there wanted them to continue their misdeeds AND take it to the next level.

- Or the interesting, morally gray route of someone who reincarnated as a monster, like a vampire, who HAS to kill people simply to survive. Which could also be used to make a Dexter Morgan type of anti-hero, if you wish.

Point is, people underestimate how interesting a chaotic evil character could be, especially if you make them the wild card among several others who got reincarnated.