TL;DR at the bottom
“The strongest” is a trope I feel has been gaining popularity in anime and manga as of recently and it’s really interesting to see. “The Strongest” usually refers to a character, usually a good guy, who is portrayed as the unmatched pinnacle of that show’s power system. Writing around this character is tricky because it can very easily remove stakes from any tense scene, as there’s a character that could easily resolve the conflict without much issue, so I’m always interested to see how the writer approaches them. Examples of this trope are Satoru Gojo, Saitama, Kishou Arima, or All Might. They might not always be the strongest character, but it’s more about their portrayal in the series.
Now you could NOT tell me I’d find one of my favourite examples of this trope in a manga like Mato Seihei no Slave.
A quick summary of the plot: Mato Seihei no Slave depicts a world where humanity eats otherworldly peaches to gain otherworldly powers to defend themselves against otherworldly demons that come through portals that lead to… well another world. Pretty standard stuff. The catch is, only women are able to gain powers by eating these peaches, leading to a very matriarchal society. One day, our main character, a boy named Yuuki Wakura, accidentally wanders into one of these portals and is saved by a captain of the Anti-Demon Corp, the name’s self explanatory. Her ability allows her to control and strengthen anyone she contracts with, essentially becoming her “slave” (hence the title). When they get attacked by monsters Yuuki makes a contract with her and they successfully defeat them. However, in exchange for using his body, she must give him an appropriate reward, these are often extremely sexual in nature.
If you haven’t realised it yet, this is an ecchi manga. One of those “how is this not porn” ecchi manga. But that’s hardly the point of this rant. Point is, you don’t go into these types of mangas expecting a great story or deep and multifaceted characters. And for the most part, that’s exactly the case. The story is very generic, and the characters, save for a few, are very one dimensional. The art and the action are really good and easy to follow, and the fights with different abilities are really fun, but that’s about the most positive things I can say about it.
Enter Ren Yamashiro, the leader of the Anti-Demon Corps, and the topic of this rant.
Prior to her introduction, there hadn’t been a lot of hype made for her but the little there was already already made her a pretty big deal. She has a very imposing and almost scary presence in any scene she’s in and that’s very apparent from the get-go. For a top dog character, they surprisingly give her a lot of moments and small fights even early on to show her strength. So far in the manga, there has been no character, friend or foe, that has come close to posing a challenge for her. Not even the top dogs of the main villain group. This puts her in a very interesting position because the writers have to be very careful on how they use her or she can potentially end the series early.
What really strikes me about her, though, is her personality. Not sure if anyone else who’s read would agree but she seems very inspired by Homelander. She’s selfish and possessive and treats others like playthings. She loves public attention and very clearly gets off on the power difference between herself and others. She will often physically punish people she has taken an interest in if they fail to meet her expectations. She’s quick to get violent and she gets easily and visibly frustrated when things don’t go her way. I realise I’m basically describing a bully, though it’s not that apparent when reading. She’s not painted in a particularly bad light either.
It’s just a very interesting to have her be this way while maintaining her position in the story. She’s fundamentally a “good guy” and she often appears to save the day, but to equally have her be such an egotistical and detached person creates a really interesting dichotomy for her character and her appearances. Makes me wish she was in a better manga with more emphasis on character writing.
TL;DR I didn’t expect to find the concept of a female “good guy” Homelander to be so interesting but here we are
