Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita. Episode 11 Discussion

I still feel weird about this storyline... Are we really dealing with selling people off to slavery? It didn't really fit with the fluffy children's fantasy atmosphere, and now it's been resolved in such a simple, childish manner; traps were sprung, fingers were pointed, bad guys were beat up, everything went perfectly according to plan. One nice girl apologized and helped this time, and was thanked for it. And now it's the bad guys' turn to be slaves! Hooray!

I was really into this anime back when Ivy was trapping mice and meeting nice people as she found her way across the world. But this latest "Organization" arc made things dry and awkward. Hopefully the last episode can restore the charm, and maybe even set up another season.

Everything that's happened since then has been pretty kid-friendly and wholesome, no?

Ivy met a cute slime, caught some mice, sold them for money to buy bread, healed and befriended a big cat, opened her first bank account, received help from kindly guard captains and adventurers, etc.

Sure, Ivy's origin story was surprisingly messed up, but it works because it was incorporated into the story way better. Her treatment taught us how strongly the world is dictated by the star system and how cruel that makes people. Also, we learn that Ivy was forced to become resourceful, and that she has difficulty trusting people. Her entire journey is discovering that she deserves to be appreciated, and that there are people out there acting out of the kindness of their hearts.

This slavery thing, on the other hand...


Yeah, their crimes could have been replaced with any other "bad thing," like embezzling or highway robbery, and it would not have changed anything at all.

If you want to tackle a difficult subject in a "wholesome" show, then actually do so. We don't get to see the effects of these abductions and enslavement on the town. We don't meet anyone directly affected by this. We don't see what Ivy is thinking and how this concerns her, other than "oh no, that's bad." Ivy and others don't even have many issues finding and arresting the entire criminal network.

As you say, this arc didn't do anything, except having Ivy work in a team and do a "big thing."

Maybe I'm overthinking all this, but I was actually really enjoying the first half of this show, and I'm just really disappointed with the last few episodes.

I still feel weird about this storyline... Are we really dealing with selling people off to slavery? It didn't really fit with the fluffy children's fantasy atmosphere, and now it's been resolved in such a simple, childish manner; traps were sprung, fingers were pointed, bad guys were beat up, everything went perfectly according to plan. One nice girl apologized and helped this time, and was thanked for it. And now it's the bad guys' turn to be slaves! Hooray!

I was really into this anime back when Ivy was trapping mice and meeting nice people as she found her way across the world. But this latest "Organization" arc made things dry and awkward. Hopefully the last episode can restore the charm, and maybe even set up another season.

@perseii They did show how much regret each of the Flaming Sword members had for not being able to protect their various family members. Rattlua lost his younger brothers to the organization a few years back. Thunder Kings and the guard captain mention they've lost a lot of people over the past 7 years and have become dulled and numb by the never-ending setbacks. To say they haven't shown any fallout from what the organization has done is not quite true if one pays attention to the details in each episode.

Ivy is their current target. It very much concerns her. If she gets taken then it is literally game over for her. That is why it concerns her.

I gotta say though. I still don't get a sense of direction in the series. That's a tihng with isekai. Most series don't seem to have a point, to be going towards a specific story or mission. Like, let's the traditional shounen series. We usually know upront what the characters want and them we have obstacle in their way. With isekai series the story doesn't seem to go anywhere. Like, originally we would have the defeat the maou thing, but now is just "let's explore this idea until we don't know what else to do". And this series seems to be going in that direction. Like, is there a reason this person was isekai-ed? Is this going anywhere? Cause we receive this small hints to things, but I don't really see a build up. Like, is Ivy( which by the way sucha feminine name for someone trying to pass as a boy) going discover something else about the zero stars thing? Is she going to disrupt the event that got pretty much banished from her town? I that slow burn is a thing and it can be well done, but this season in particular seems very lost. Cause like Ivy is not even giving like a destination for her journey. It's just "let me go somewhere somewhat face and build a life from that", but at the same time we have the town event thing, so I just stay full of questions and no indication of an answer. You know?

When she changed her name from her birth name of Femicia (talking about her birth name in this world - we obviously don't know what her former life's name was back on Earth right now and may not ever, in the style of a lot of isekai stories), I think the idea was that Ivy, just like the names she bestowed upon the monster creatures she named, Sora and Ciel, is a name which derives not from this world, but from her former life's world (our Earth). After the group of evergreen plants associated with that name. In our world in real life I've only ever heard that name used for females, whether real people or fictional characters. But in their world since it's a foreign import, I don't think it matters, as they wouldn't recognize it in the first place and therefore wouldn't associate it with either sex. It's entirely removed from the baggage of its cultural context on Earth. Just like Sora and Ciel - The people of this world wouldn't know the respective Japanese language and French language meanings behind those names.

Well, it may not be said explicitly, but Femicia/Ivy herself didn't know the meaning of the names and had to be told the meaning by her former life (the split consciousness speaking to her in her head). Someone can say that "Oh, she just didn't know as an individual, or because she is still a child", but I think that it's a pretty logical inference from the context of those scenes.

Yeah, I'm not buying this stupid Heel–Face Turn. She spends years doing this, no problem, and even goes out of her way to lure them both there. All we got were a couple of words of faint protest, and suddenly she turns on them? Face it: She's being "redeemed" because she's an attractive woman. None of the men get this privilege.



Maybe I skipped around too much this episode, but I don't remember that being a thing. I just saw her suddenly expressing guilt in the last episodes despite her being 100% committed to the role up until that point, then suddenly cracking the moment they caught her. If anything, it looks more like she jumped from a sinking ship.

EDIT: Apparently this change of heart is anime only. No wonder it felt so out of left field.

@HyperlinkBlocked Yes, anime only. They cut out a few extra characters that only appeared for 3-4 scenes that would have shown up in the cafe "fight". Makes the timing of things go a bit faster as we don't have an extra 2-3 people to introduce and give quick backstories for.

For the hints Meela was more sympathetic, there were quite a few moments where Meela showed hesitation and there was also that incident where her brothers got a little too hot-headed and basically called her worthless because she only tamed some slimes in the sweet shop. Ivy basically gave her the "you are important" speech as slimes are fundamental to society and keeping garbage, especially magic-infused garbage, in check is super important.

Not enough for, in my opinion, a complete turncoat but enough to cause hesitation.

But I also think Rattlua gave up a bit too easily after having his fire doused once. Go wild with the fire, like he did against the ogres. Should have more than enough strength to beat down a few mid-tier adventurers. He is supposed to be a high tier adventurer after all. One of my minor complaints for this episode. Made up for by that hilarious knuckle cracking, arm wind up Boluda did only to just headbutt a guy.

@Callidin They wasted time trying to sprinkle in faint hints of redemption when they could have just used an episode or two to actually adapt the original. Most of this episode was boring speeches anyway, and I doubt the next episode is going to feature anything so unbelievably important the show wouldn't be complete without it. I can't imagine why they couldn't use this one to resolve the brothers in the cave, and the next to resolve slime bitch.

Yeah, I'm not buying this stupid Heel–Face Turn. She spends years doing this, no problem, and even goes out of her way to lure them both there. All we got were a couple of words of faint protest, and suddenly she turns on them? Face it: She's being "redeemed" because she's an attractive woman. None of the men get this privilege.



Maybe I skipped around too much this episode, but I don't remember that being a thing. I just saw her suddenly expressing guilt in the last episodes despite her being 100% committed to the role up until that point, then suddenly cracking the moment they caught her. If anything, it looks more like she jumped from a sinking ship.

EDIT: Apparently this change of heart is anime only. No wonder it felt so out of left field.