r/TopCharacterTropes • u/KusanagiGundam • 12d ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

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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.

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u/Ombrage101 12d ago

I hate it, cause on one part, the world of shield hero (season 1) is really cool and interesting to explore. I love the political storyline and the rise of said hero. And in context, his buying a slave was an interesting subversion of your typical Isekai hero… BUT WHY KEEP THE “SLAVE CREST” WHY NOT JUST LIBERATE RAPHTALIA AND GRANT HER FREEDOM?? And the whole “this mark proves he trusts me” bs is… YIKES

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u/Sharles_Davis_Kendy 12d ago

It would have been SO easy to be like “He had to resort to some dark shit when he was in the gutter but now he doesn’t need that anymore” but noooooooo… The girls like their slave crest. They fucking love it!

So stupid.

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u/LucarioOfLegends 12d ago

It's so frustrating cause you absolutely understand Naofumi when he first bought Raphtalia. Betrayed and ostracized by people he trusted, and now left with genuinely the worst option since he just can't deal damage and progress without an additional party member. As well as later when telling a hesitating Raphtalia in very blunt terms "I don't want to use this crest, you don't want me to, but I bought you to be my sword and I really need you to be that sword." He has to be a realist because his options are so thin.

First two episodes of Shield Hero are like, genuinely good show. And then everything goes down the shitter because Stockholm Syndrome and pragmatism apparently means capitalism and slavery.

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u/Sharles_Davis_Kendy 12d ago

The fact that he fights for the right to keep his slaves is just batshit crazy.

Him making the “well it’s legal here” while making societal changes in other area is infuriating.

All could be solved by just keeping the girls but removing the crests. They don’t even serve a story purpose.

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 12d ago

Tbf in Season 2 Rapthalia loses the crest permanently when she becomes a hero

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u/Vaivaim8 11d ago

Yeah and he immediately went into panic mode because he thought that freedom meant raphtalia would leave him.

Side note, it was also really weird that they convinced Rishia to become his slave, to the point where she begged him to put a slave crest on her. That whole scene was genuinely messed up but they tried to pass it off as comedy

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 11d ago

The first part is understandable because A he was so traumatized that he physically couldn't trust people and B he was under the effects of the Curse Series which caused that distrust to be amplified even FURTHER.

The anime did a poor job at that. It really did. In the novel it's talked about how Itsuki forced her to level shit she wasn't good at at ALL. Her stats were so completely and utterly fucked that there was no choice but for her to reset to level 1, and since she HAD to do that, the only way she was going to get a significant power boost was by taking advantage of the Slaver Shield giving slaves massive stat boosts when they level up - something ONLY Naofumi has access to, not a single other person could access to the Slaver Shield - and it's pretty much agreed that the moment she hits max level Naofumi himself would remove it, or if she thinks she doesn't need it anymore she can remove it too.

Whereas the anime is just "hey! Wanna be a slave!?" It also completely ignores a VITAL piece of information; Naofumi, upon getting a new slave gets a box of checklists that he can allow the slaves to do. When he gets Risha as a slave he actually tries to unmark all the boxes, but the system forces him to choose one (which at this point any slave he gets he only marks that they can't hurt him iirc) and for Risha he believed her, but his massive amount of trust issues only checked one box, she couldn't lie to him

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/PeterAnthony_Jackson 11d ago

Hey green hair girl, get a slave crest, it has wicket stat boosts.

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u/Vega_Kotes 12d ago

I feel very similar about Re:Monster. Like the first 14 or 15 chapters where he's a goblin and even somewhat Hobgoblin is some actually interesting shit and then as soon as he hits Ogre form it all goes immediately to shit.
And only gets worse from there.

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u/Nazzy480 12d ago edited 12d ago

I think at the very beginning it's a good subversion and can be interpreted as a result of Naomi's suspicion of others and especially the opposite sex.

HOWEVER, it falls apart at the moment when naofumi fights spear hero and Raphtalia is temporarily freed. I can understand why Raphtalia is fine with being a slave since she's devoted to Naofumi and never had any downsides of being a Slave but this should've been the turning point where Naofumi should've broken past some his issues and fully trust raph. Him accepting to re-enslave raph comes off as selfish and this is the point where he should've given her freedom as a sign of trust and care for raph's autonomy.

And then it's just starts sliding down the stupid hill when he starts enslaving everyone and yuck

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u/Temeraire64 12d ago

The plot has to twist itself into a pretzel to make the spear hero the bad guy for trying to force Naofumi to free his slave (his underage female slave at that, when as far as the spear hero knows he’s been convicted of rape).

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u/Comprehensive-Star27 12d ago

If I remember right, doesn’t having the slave crest on her grant buffs and benefits to Rapthalia. Naofumi has that secondary shield effect that increases all the stats and exp of his party that have it.

Like he chooses to tell her she doesn’t need it but she wants it on to level up faster.

This is all season 1 anime stuff I remember

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u/Nazzy480 12d ago

Thats the world-building justifying his slavery. The shield hero could've just been given the powers to buff his party's growth normally without slavery. He doesn't treat them as slaves so why bother have it in the first place outside of the potentially fetish/harem stuff.

In the very beginning of the story it had its place with his serious trust issues as a deterrent/insurance for his safety but after the Spear hero fight the justification isn't there outside of arbitrary "buffs" that don't have a real reason to be tied to being a slave

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u/s00pahFr0g 11d ago

There’s the stat buffs but there’s also the issue of the beastmen race being desirable slaves. The slave mark being what it is means that they’re at risk of being forcefully re-enslaved which is the main reason for using it. Raphtalia does end up being rid of it permanently. I still ended up stopping it but wanted to clarify as I haven’t seen that mentioned.

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u/Altruistic-Beach7625 12d ago

I'm pretty sure Raph's internal reasoning, at least in the manga, is that he wouldn't fully trust her if she wasn't a slave, which is just yuck.

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u/Ok_Needleworker_8809 12d ago

If i recall, his justification for using the slave mark is because it stops anyone else from enslaving them. Not sure if there was something about that being necessary to have some demi humans in his party.

Either way it's still fucked.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Balthasar-Hohenheim 11d ago

They would simply be killed.

The situation in the story is a bit more complicated than you think. The world is a composite of four separate worlds that fused with half of those being inhabited by humans and the other half by beastmen or demi-humans (though in-universe noone remembers that). Both sides are hostile to each other, have fought centuries of wars and the major countries that the MC visits are either human supremacist or anti-human. Each original world had its own weapon hero and the human MC is a hero equipped with the original beastman weapon summoned to one of the most human supremacist nations. As a result the MC is seen as an enemy by most nobles, receives next to no support (or is outright framed for crimes) and he cannot leave the nation without risking to be killed.

Before the first chapter the moderate actual ruler has to leave for a international conference and the only other noble in the nation that openly defends demi-humans is killed by the very disaster the heroes are summoned to combat, resulting in the entire demi-human population of his domain being enslaved (or murdered) by the very racist stand-in ruler and the nobles. Most of the slaves the MC owns are survivors from that incident and if he didn't officially "use them to generate funds for himself" (by rebuilding their city and learning trades to be independent) they would simply be re-enslaved or euthanized.

Yes, this is ultimately just how the author decided the world to work but we do have examples of these kind of situations in real live, like with Oskar Schindler.

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u/Ok_Needleworker_8809 11d ago

Mm. I didn't remember the minutiae of the story. I do agree that it's possible to worldbuild in a way that makes slavery better than "the alternative", and that Shield Hero is one such. If anything it's a stain on humans in that world that Naofumi has to even consider the slave mark as a tool of protection for the Demi Humans.

I don't mind it as much in Shield Hero because it's never really seen as positive, and if i recall Naofumi never uses the mark for anything except when he's clearly slipping out of his mind or he can use it as a tool to save someone he's bound from worse.

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u/Stormfly 11d ago

"She breathes through her skin" sort of forced explanation.

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u/Ombrage101 12d ago

Cannot agree more

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u/Lukelandswimmer 12d ago

Yep. This was my experience with that narrative too. Couldn't have said it better.

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u/attikol 7d ago

In the light novel apparently its a lot better justified as to why the keeps it. The exp slavery buff is still there but the primary reason is that Naofumi has a lot more issues in the novel. Despite wanting to believe in raphtalia he is unable to be in a party with her and fully believe she wouldnt betray him without the brand. So paranoia and trauma are a lot better of an excuse than its an exp buff. Still something he probably should have worked past by this point in the story

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u/Comfortable_Tax_5574 12d ago edited 12d ago

IIRC She wanted it back, because of his abandonment and trust issues, Its the entire reason for the first half of season 1.

This was after he had just been accused of rape, and literally every single person in the city believed it, without exception.

Forgive him for being well written. And he though Filo was a bird.

EVERY other person he gives the crest, Inclusing all the people in the town, and the two tiger people, are literally just for the stat bonuses he grants, because of his Slave User's Shield... Its LITERALLY the entire reason Filo and Raphtalia are stronger than the heros lmao

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u/Kamikaze_Ninja_ 12d ago

Get what you’re saying but tying it all to slavery is just bad taste. It would’ve been nice if they found a way to alter the slave crest and turn it into a positive symbol and drop off the slave part.

You are saying everyone gets a crest, but it’s a lot different for your slave child that hasn’t known anything else. Who then suddenly grows up and becomes a love interest. It’s straight grooming.

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u/Lukelandswimmer 12d ago

You're using Watsonian reasoning to explain a Doylist problem.

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u/Nazzy480 12d ago edited 12d ago

I understand why Raph wants it back since she doesn't view being a slave to naofumi as bad and wants to comfort him and I understand why Naofumi wanted her to have a slavemark at first and feels more comfortable with her having it for his has deep-seeded insecurities and past.

But, IIRC he was already at the point where he didnt really care about his reputation amongst the nobles/public and in his eyes he would never regain the public's trust. IIRC he was way more distraught with the idea of Raph leaving him than losing more face.

But, that doesn't change that listening to her is selfish to soothe his trauma/insecurities and strips her of autonomy. You can do bad things for not inherently bad reasons. Raphtalia breaking free from her captors and running to Naofumi/agreeing to re-enslave herself was proof enough that he wasn't harming her to the city and that she will never betray/leave him.

The story would still work perfectly fine and this moment could've been a moment of healing where he could give some trust to Raphtalia and it might've been interesting to maybe have some internal conflicts with him maybe feeling vulnerable with raph not having a slave mark. Could also recontextualize the moments when Raphtalia pushes against Naofumi's pessimistic decisions/actions as perhaps only possible due to her freedom/autonomy.

Also the stat buffs is just the world-building trying to justify enslaving the girls. They could've easily just given him a shield that does all those things without enslaving women. He was already supposed to be at the start a more supportive/tank for his party so it couldve easily just been a bonus he could give to his party without the stupid slavery shit

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u/Comfortable_Tax_5574 11d ago

I dont even disagree. Keep in mind, In the anime at least, even Naofumi was even like, "you sure?" Im just telling you the storytelling is all.... not really about to explain why slavery on fictional character written for entertainment purposes is irrelevant.
Slavery is a disgusting practice, that still exists to this day. Doesn't mean it should be taboo to write about.

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u/Mannekin-Skywalker 11d ago

“No, you see, they HAD to be slaves”

Is completely ignoring that this is a fictional story where the author had full control over the rules

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u/undefined-username 12d ago

Because she "wants to be his slave" or some shit. Yeah that show had serious incel power fantasy vibes.

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u/Thepcfd 12d ago

because no slave ever have good owner, righ? right?

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u/MeanLifeguard7576 12d ago

By definition? Yeah?

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u/Thepcfd 12d ago

what definition?

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u/MeanLifeguard7576 12d ago

Having to BE a slave?

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u/KaloloWhip 12d ago

No rape victims ever have good rapist, right? Right?

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u/compromisedwebsite91 12d ago

Could you define what you envision a good slave owner to be? How would they react to being told the slave wanted freedom?

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 12d ago

To play devil's advocate, at a certain point Naofumi starts planning for the future of everyone he makes a slave (like 4 people in total I think?) and wants to make sure they're as strong as possible and can't be hurt or enslaved by anyone ever again once he's gone.

Plus with the Slaver Shield, everytime his slaves level up they get a massive stat boost

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u/compromisedwebsite91 11d ago

But what's the answer to the question of when they want freedom? That's the main thing to me. Plus the slaves getting stronger by being slaves just feels like a cop out to justify saying slavery is good instead of writing characters that feel like people.

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u/Thin-Nerve6367 11d ago

Tbf the show DOES actively vilifiy slavery. It's only seen as a means to an end early on and right now Naofumi is actually working with the queen to get it abolished

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u/Thepcfd 11d ago

see, point of this is just because you are free doesnt mean your life gona get better. if slaves have good life compared to regular people. as for freeing them some slave get their freedom like, you understand that there was slavery in europe and china and american slavery is not only one. i am talking roman and vikings times.

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u/compromisedwebsite91 11d ago

see, point of this is just because you are free doesnt mean your life gona get better.

Being free is always better than being owned.

if slaves have good life compared to regular people. as for freeing them some slave get their freedom like, you understand that there was slavery in europe and china and american slavery is not only one

I am aware that many nations participated in many forms of slavery. They are all still evil. All still made people property and seen as less human than others.

Could you answer my question about what a "good" slave owner does if his slaves say they want to be granted freedom?

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u/Thepcfd 11d ago

give him some timeline for freedom, like work 10 years, and you are free.

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u/Thepcfd 11d ago

beeing free and starved is not better then being slave and have food, roof over head etc. just think how many womans will gladly accept to be in some king harem never leave designated area etc.

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u/compromisedwebsite91 10d ago

I think slaves that fought and died to be free would disagree with you and I think that a free man has no place to pretend he can say that a slave would be more grateful beneath them rather on the same ground as them

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u/Thepcfd 10d ago

your life can be shit if you are free or not, shit ton of free men die fighting for their survival. and lot of them kill themself from despair every year. your point?

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u/compromisedwebsite91 10d ago

your life can be shit if you are free or not,

Yes. But you are free to try and change it.

shit ton of free men die fighting for their survival.

Sure. So do slaves.

and lot of them kill themself from despair every year. your point?

Point is being a slave is worse than being free always because you do not have choice. You cannot choose to try and better your life by climbing up.

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u/Unikatze 12d ago

Yeah. I was enjoying it at he beginning and then it got very problematic very fast.

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u/Ambitious-Cut772 12d ago

“yeah i enjoyed the false rape allegations and the mc being painted as a rapist but I drew the line at him being a kind and reluctant slave owner. Oh yeah I watched 2 episodes.”

🤡🤡🤡

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u/Prestigious_Seal7139 12d ago

I hate that everyone skips this part. I was so happy to see a matriarchy in anime and was swiftly reminded that most anime hates women. I gave it a shot to see it it somehow redeemed itself and gave up at the pedophilia. It's sad because I actually love the concept of his power

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u/Think-Orange3112 12d ago

I mean the Queen herself is a pretty great leader, her husband and eldest daughter were the ones that summoned all 4 heroes and forced her to spend a bunch of time placating the other kingdoms

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u/compromisedwebsite91 12d ago

Yall are so freaking wierd. Why do you feel compelled to defend slavery? Lemme ask, what does a "good" slave owner do when the slave says they want to be free?

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u/Ambitious-Cut772 12d ago

Hilarious you think that is defending slavery 😂

I am mocking a person who is pretending to have enjoyed watching a show “at the beginning” but then stopped watching at episode 2 when it was already morally complex.

Also… if slavery IS happening it sounds pretty good to be “purchased” as a child and then be clothed, educated, and treated like a child rather than… idk doing things that slaves actually do.

I mean i know you are just strawman arguing and didn’t really watch the show or even read the comment but… in this case it is the equivalent of being bought so that they can be saved from slavery and then immediately becoming part of a family instead of being an orphan.

Like wtf is wrong with you? You like when kids are turned into sex slaves or left to die on the street from illness? Because that is literally what the mc is saving them from…

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u/compromisedwebsite91 11d ago

I am mocking a person who is pretending to have enjoyed watching a show “at the beginning” but then stopped watching at episode 2 when it was already morally complex.

Yes. You are acting as if the politics and complexity of people betraying each other, which is shown as bad by the way, is the same as the main character endorsing slavery and portraying it as good. They are not the same.

Also… if slavery IS happening it sounds pretty good to be “purchased” as a child and then be clothed, educated, and treated like a child rather than… idk doing things that slaves actually do.

No, actually, if slavery is happening it sounds good to just not be a slave or to be granted freedom and still given those other human rights. No slavery needed to be clothed, fed, or educated.

in this case it is the equivalent of being bought so that they can be saved from slavery and then immediately becoming part of a family instead of being an orphan.

Nope. Not at all actually. Because they are still slaves. Not family. Not friends. Not people. They are property, they are slaves. Again, keeping them slaves isnt necessary.

Like wtf is wrong with you? You like when kids are turned into sex slaves or left to die on the street from illness?

Considering you wanted to try and use big boy words and say I was using strawman, could you explain why you think this? Where i said anytbing resembling this? Because you are doing the definition of building a strawman lol.

Because that is literally what the mc is saving them from…

Doesnt have to keep them as slaves tho does he? Doesnt have to own them like property and affect their free will, does he? But he does, doesn't he?

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u/Ambitious-Cut772 11d ago edited 11d ago

Hilarious you typed all of that… you could have just said you don’t read or watch the series 😂

In a hostile kingdom where demi-humans face extreme prejudice and danger, keeping companions under a legal ownership framework paradoxically shields them from external threats and local authorities.

Characters like Raphtalia actively choose to keep or re-accept the slave crest as a symbol of deep trust and devotion to Naofumi, which reinforces his perspective that the system is benign as long as the master is kind.

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u/compromisedwebsite91 10d ago

Characters like Raphtalia actively choose to keep or re-accept the slave crest as a symbol of deep trust and devotion to Naofumi, which reinforces his perspective that the system is benign as long as the master is kind.

Slavery isn't benign. She is written like that because a author has a fetish and wants all women to be owned by the man. There is no kind slavery. The idea there is is insulting and horrible writing.

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u/Ambitious-Cut772 10d ago

Are you aware that you sound like a crazy person when you project your beliefs onto other people?

Is it the first time someone has told you that? Are you aware that this is a story? That authors don’t just write their own fantasies into a story?

Have you heard of Steven King? Cormac McCarthy? Vladimir Nabokov?

Maybe next you can go to the Middle East and remove all of the womens’ hijabs and niqabs because whatever you believe to be wrong is wrong and whoever disagrees with you is a pedo or whatever other insult you feel like spewing! 🤡

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u/compromisedwebsite91 9d ago

Are you aware that you sound like a crazy person when you project your beliefs onto other people?

Truthfully I don't really care if someone thinks that I'm projecting by saying slavery is always immoral. It is evil, and all know it. It is why your ideas will stay confined to the internet and not be discussed in person ever.

That authors don’t just write their own fantasies into a story?

You should Google what writing fiction is my guy, it is literally writing their fantasy. Writing what they want to write.

Maybe next you can go to the Middle East and remove all of the womens’ hijabs and niqabs because whatever you believe to be wrong is wrong and whoever disagrees with you is a pedo or whatever other insult you feel like spewing! 🤡

To be clear here, are you saying it is moral for the state to make women hide their bodies under threat of harm? You think beating women for not wearing jijab is ok? Or are you being a pedantic little shit pretending that some cultural acts aren't pure evil and degeneracy? I'd love yo hear why you think making women hide or hurting them is moral, please explain wise one.

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u/OK_Stop_Already 12d ago

No see its ok when he does it cause "that's how the world is" and people who free slaves are stupid and wrong, actually.

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u/McNally86 12d ago

Yea, they do a lot of setup that he is the prophesied emancipator and lol nope, turns out he has slave-master based superpowers.

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u/Gangbang8008 12d ago

Just remove that last part and he would be fine, since the plot is he buys a cheap meek slave he can use as a somewhat reliable meat shield after getting thoroughly railed by everyone else.

Plot happens, he learns to trust again and see Raphtalia as a daughter, blah blah blah, he gains status and RISES, and can now remove the crest since he has both the resources and the trust that Raphtalia wouldn't absolutely fuck him over.

These "I will keep the slave marker because of stupid bullshit" are always stupid and I hate them.

I have no idea wtf happened and how he got more underage girl slaves, including a whole fuckin village, so I can't say much about that other than what in the fuck is wrong with the author.

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u/MusicMan412 12d ago

meanwhile Reincarnated as a Sword can't stop winning

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u/Sternfritters 12d ago

I wish they just made Naofumi an actual degenerate. Have him buy slaves and not spin it as some kind or misunderstood gesture; have him being an unapologetic asshole

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u/Ombrage101 12d ago

He kinda of is very early on, but quickly (and thankfully) realizes Raphtalia is a living being

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u/Sternfritters 12d ago

Yeah… a living being that he still maintains as a slave for ~convenient plot purposes~ and also is his daughter-love interest that competes with his other slave-daughter-love-interest

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u/Lukelandswimmer 12d ago

The funny thing is that he was at the start. Then he went through some character development (despite the whole underage slave girl thing) and in season 2, he had to face off against another hero who was also an incel. He was supposed to represent wjo Naofumi would have become if he didn't change.

The funny part is that even by that point in the story, Naofumi and the villain weren't that much different. The villain was your typical anime degen and Naofumi was realistically like a step or two above that.

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u/Lumi_Rockets 12d ago

Was that an option?? I just thought she was stuck with it.

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u/Anybro 12d ago

Yes. She had it removed in early in season 1 after Naofumi lost a duel for her freedom. The spear hero(I forgot his name) was tricked into believing Naofumi was abusing Raphtalia and wanted her to be free.

Naofumi was winning the duel rather handedly, then Malty cheated, and no one was willing to vouch for Naofumi on this. So Raphtalia had the slave crest removed by the kingdom and then not even two minutes of Naofumi having a mental breakdown. He's comforted by Raphtalia, as she willingly goes back to him in a way to show that she's not being forced to the kingdom.

Also, just to make him feel better, she gets the crest reapplied. Yes, the logic in that line of thought is just as fucking dumb as it sounds. Oh, it actually gets even worse cos, later on in a different season, she encourages other people to get slave crest

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u/Temeraire64 12d ago

 The spear hero(I forgot his name) was tricked into believing Naofumi was abusing Raphtalia and wanted her to be free.

I mean even without the being tricked part, wanting a slave to be free isn’t exactly unreasonable. Slavery is inherently abusive.

 Naofumi was winning the duel rather handedly, then Malty cheated, and no one was willing to vouch for Naofumi on this.

Malty intervening to try and help free a slave is probably like her one good deed of the entire series.

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u/Vermilion_Laufer 10d ago

None of Malty actions are good, even at that point she was planing to secretely reenslave her herself later and sell her iirc

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u/Temeraire64 10d ago

Well yeah, she’s written to be absurdly stupid evil to the point where she’s a very boring character. 

I was more just observing that people act like her cheating to help someone win a duel, to force their opponent to free a slave, is somehow inherently evil.

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u/Vermilion_Laufer 10d ago

Well I think in the web novel she is literaly an avatar of evil goddess, unfortunelly with that removed we get someone that is simply of stupid evil aligement, but I guess such people also sometimes crop up.

And like I said I don't think her actions can be counted as good, when she does them only with her evil shemes in mind. Even if they have some positive effects like showing everyone that Raphtalia is not brainwashed.

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u/Anybro 10d ago

There's a difference between doing something for the sake of good and doing something with ulterior motives, even if it is a good thing.

Malty was purely doing that with ulterior motives. Especially in a kingdom where slavery is legal. Why would she care if people have slaves? She was only doing it to make Naofumi's life more difficult than she has already. The only three who actually care are the three stooges, and they got used left, right and center by Malty.

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u/ronin_ddd 12d ago

I didnt see past season two. But on the light novel. They figured out the slave crest (due to him being a hero) gives them perks like more experience leveling up and extra boost to stats at level up and so on. Once they figure out the threat they're facing was worse than what they thought, which means it requieres them to become overpowered, very fast! He offers the village the possibility of becoming his slave. He doesn't force them. But yes raphtalia still encourages them.

I want to be very clear. I'm not defending the anime or the series. I'm just putting fact that show up later towards the context of this.

Do with this info what you will.

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u/bluehulk900 11d ago

Shield hero fell off when they stopped making an interesting plot that was believable and instead started making the weird literal human baby animal hybrid creature constantly try to have graphic horny sex with the adult MC. I'm so sick of anime pedophile slop.

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u/StarSword-C 12d ago

She gets freed permanently next season due to becoming a Hero in her own right.

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u/Ombrage101 12d ago

And yet becomes a child again (has the body of) and I noped right outta there

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u/StarSword-C 11d ago

That also goes away when she becomes the Katana Hero: when she reunites with Naofumi, she is both free and back as an adult, and Naofumi explicitly doesn't care, he's just happy to see her again.

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u/Stacey-k93 11d ago

Doesn't he mostly use the slave Crest because it boost the stats they gain by level up

He didn't even make Raphtalia get it again after it was removed she put it back on herself to prove she won't betray him since she knows it still something he worries about at the time

And for the others he trys to act like a typical scary slave owner to scare them but they all know he's all talk and only did it to make them stronger and they push him around a lot doing what they want

I know it's still bad that they are slaves but he's basically abusing the slave Crest as a way to farm levels and stat boost so they can become stronger and live on their own when he goes home eventually (maybe)

1

u/Ombrage101 11d ago

It’s still justifying slavery. There are no “good” slave owners, full stop

2

u/pfysicyst 11d ago

as someone who's read a lot of both good and bad isekai, a surface level understanding of why the MC engages in slavery won't help for Shield Hero. the story contains it but doesn't endorse it. all spoilers below.

the game's working off a JRPG system where people in your party share some stats and experience points. Naofumi is treated like dogshit, has his name dragged through the mud, will be magically forced to attend upcoming battles, is expected to die on his own so someone else can take his place, and is incapable of dealing damage to even the weakest monsters because he's the *shield* hero. he's introduced to the concept of slave party members like some adventurers choose to do, is disgusted by the idea, but recognizes it's the only way he can level up to prepare for the forced boss battles without also being betrayed again because they're magically incapable of harming him.

he picks the weakest sickest cheapest kid in the place (Raphtalia), spends all his time studying medicine to rescue her from death's door, and power-levels her by pinning down monsters with his defense and letting her finish them off until she's bigger and stronger than him. she initially doesn't trust him, he doesn't trust anyone and is mad at the world, but eventually learns they're all each other has. Raphtalia romanticizes the idea of the slave crest as a way to keep them tethered, since he's likely to set her free and go it alone the moment he's able to since he's still disgusted with himself for the whole arrangement. they're around the same age in years, but since in this setting beastmen like Raphtalia physically mature through levelling up, he's known her "since she was little" and completely refuses to reciprocate any romantic feelings from her. he remains outwardly cold to her, short of the point of cruelty, because he doesn't want to let this shitty society take ALL his morals from him by indulging in a power imbalance relationship. she understands where he's coming from and what he's been through, remains stubbornly loyal to him, and keeps subtly trying to change his mind about her feelings. they're family, they just disagree on what kind of family.

some time later, Naofumi and Raphtalia slaughter the noblemen and beat/sell the mercenaries who were responsible for pillaging Raphtalia's old village. they end up basically adopting all the surviving kids who were enslaved from Raphtalia's villag and begrudgingly use the slave crest again so no one else can take them, since they were famously sought after as valuable goods by other scumbag nobles and slave traders. due to his guilt and complicated feelings about his situation, he keeps up a strict facade towards the kids so they don't get attached, but they recognize all the effort and care he puts in to protecting and raising them. all they're expected to do is grow up healthy, support each other as a community, and learn to protect themselves so they don't have to live through what happened to their village a second time.

so yeah, slave shit happens and keeps happening, but the MC has a modern real-world point of view about the situation and is morally opposed to it. the story treats it as a despicable and truly desperate situation. Raphtalia accepting the slave crest is meant to be bittersweet because it communicates her deep level of trust and understanding in a world where Naofumi's been constantly betrayed, but Naofumi can't completely accept it since he believes he's ended up grooming her and stealing her future. his trauma and indignant pride won't let him accept that carefully bending his morals out of desperation is allowed to turn out okay.

2

u/ActualPerformance154 8d ago

I also enjoyed season 1, and justified the idea of her being a slave with the hopes they would end that whole thing. Kinda like an arc? Anyway, they didnt do that and i just felt dirty watching the show😂

1

u/Ombrage101 7d ago

Same feeling here. It didn’t help that the pacing came to a screeching stop beginning of season 2…

1

u/No-Somewhere8144 12d ago

she gets more XP being a slave, that's why he enslaves the entire village later

5

u/Ombrage101 12d ago

That’s just the writer finding excuses to make slavery not such a big issue

1

u/Kenron93 11d ago

Yeah and these clowns don't realize that he uses the mark to boosts the stats and exp of his party. Not to control them.

3

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Kenron93 11d ago

Because fans can actually tell the difference between just using the mark for more power sharing and actual slavery.

1

u/Douchevick 12d ago

Calling it subversive feels weird, since it feels like every shitty Isekai protagonist is pro slavery these days...

1

u/Ombrage101 11d ago

He was the first I think

1

u/xxTPMBTI 11d ago

Disgusting

1

u/Plus-Emphasis-2605 11d ago

That’s so bad. Sigh I want to watch it but I will use that as example what not to write

Then again I never was gonna make a “slave crest”

1

u/GremlinTiger 8d ago

I lowkey considered getting the slave crest on my chest as a tattoo

1

u/Vargock 11d ago

Isn’t that deliberately explained in the show itself? Raphtalia choosing to keep the mark is essentially her version of knight’s pledge of allegiance.

As in “You were betrayed before, so I’m choosing to keep the mark as to show you that I’ll never do the same”

Like, you can absolutely argue that using a literal "slave crest" as the symbol for that is still rather yikes, but the story isn’t presenting it as Naofumi refusing to free her. She is freed first, and then voluntarily asks to have the crest put back on, as a sign of trust.

1

u/Ombrage101 11d ago

Yeah, still effed up

0

u/Scattershot98 12d ago

Because if he does so that, they can legally be enslaved by someone else. Especially if they get kidnapped, and there wouldn't be much he could do about it

4

u/TheREALProfPyro 12d ago

There's also the matter of growth buffs with the slave crests. They get higher stat growth and XP if they have a slave crest

18

u/ealysillyforestthing 12d ago

Sounds like the writer came up with that to make slavery ok

11

u/spaceandthewoods_ 12d ago

No no, you don't get it, the author made up this totally cool, in world powerlevelling reason for slavery, so it's completely fine that the text just goes with it and the whole concept of slavery remains unchallenged!

It's actually good for the characters that they remain slaves!

😒

1

u/SergeantRayslay 12d ago

The term “Thermian Argument” has been going around to explain this

1

u/compromisedwebsite91 12d ago

It just seems like super loser stuff to try and say slavery is good and justify it by contrived video game logic. Really feels like self insert cringe

1

u/Ombrage101 12d ago

That’s kind of a redundant statement as we literally see Raphtalia’s crest get erased forcefully.

0

u/Scattershot98 12d ago

That was to prove a point and try to mentally break Naofumi.

0

u/CoherentRose7 12d ago

You didn't watch the show then did you? Cause if you had you'd know that this exact thing came up, and the crest was removed and she still chose to be with Nafumi, all of the others willingly took the mark and they all benefit from it due to the pseudo video game mechanics of the world

1

u/Ombrage101 11d ago

My brother in Christ I watched the show, I loved the show, I read the light novels. That’s literally just the author making SLAVERY of all things a “good thing” in this universe. It’s pretty gross and not something you should defend.

0

u/Cocotte123321 11d ago

Slaves of the heroes gain more perks and xp. Although it's questionable what the reason for this is other than the hero's property is an extension of them

0

u/MixedBagHalfie 10d ago

Naofumis slaves literally get bonus growth because they’re his slaves. It’s also used to be able to sense their direction/whether they’re alive. He also has never used the crest on her aside from when he ordered her to drink medicine and fight Tod ave her own life. So she’s free, she has free will. The crest is quite literally just decorative between them.

-1

u/GoliathBoneSnake 12d ago

It's bdsm. That's all.

7

u/Ombrage101 12d ago

No. Hell no. BDSM is a kink, a fantasy. It is a consensual exploration of an idea. Calling slavery “BDSM” hurts the community and is extremely reductive and problematic

-2

u/Isburough 12d ago

the crest makes her share xp with him, that's why she gets it back after it was removed. did anybody actually watch this show?

5

u/Ombrage101 12d ago

That’s not a fair argument when the writer put that restriction in the first place. Also, he can share XP with ANY party member, slaves or not, as noted when he states that Myne must’ve turned the XP sharing off. The difference is that slaves don’t have the choice to share XP. “Anybody actually watch the show?” Yes I did bucko, still a shit fucking excuse to keep SLAVES

-2

u/FarmerTwink 12d ago

Because the Slave Crest gives her stat buffs

3

u/Ombrage101 12d ago

Not exactly and also it’s literally just the writer trying to justify SLAVERY