Nov 14, 2019
WARNING: In the text below I reveal an event in the plot, which some may consider to be a spoiler.
I was initially quite pleased to discover this comic. In a moment when Japanese publishers have decided to flood the market with miserable adaptations of dire webnovels which are essentially blighted Dragon Quest fanfiction, in the worst sense of fanfiction, here was a traditional time travel story! Moreover it was one in which our modern farmgirl heroine had to survive the fickle whims of Oda Nobunaga armed with only her wits and education in agricultural science. Here were actual dramatic stakes, a likeable and relatable protagonist,
...
and an interesting set of challenges to overcome. What more could one ask for?
Over the course of a few chapters I was genuinely eager to see what happened next. Would she be able to build a rapport with the village she'd been assigned to, when even her existence challenged the norms and traditions that they relied upon? How would her personal relationship with the fickle and volatile Oda Nobunaga going to develop as she cleared the expectations set on her by leaps and bounds? The art was not stretching its legs but did yeoman's work in giving weight to the drama, whether it was in our heroine's range of expression or Oda Nobunaga's convincingly intimidating mien. The real research the author had done manifested in minor moments, such as the difference in value and cultivation of shiitake mushrooms from the past or matters of etiquette in addressing Oda Nobunaga by name, that lent a sense of authenticity to the setting. Red flags had popped up in here and there, but I had subconsciously chosen to ignore them.
Up until the enchantment vanished, as if I'd been splashed with a bucket of ice water.
My suspension of disbelief shattered into a thousand pieces, as Oda Nobunaga received the heroine's hunting crossbow from his spy as if here were being handed Excalibur or Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Wondering if I'd accidentally picked up the wrong book I turned a few pages to make sure of what I was seeing. Sure enough in the next chapter he invites our heroine over to a banquet with all his important retainers, as an excuse to show off a crossbow.
HE ALREADY HAS GUNS.
NOTHING ABOUT CROSSBOWS ARE NEWS TO THE JAPANESE. JAPANESE PIRATES HAVE BEEN ENCOUNTERING POWERFUL KOREAN AND CHINESE CROSSBOWS (arguably demonstrably superior to the western style of crossbow our heroine uses) FOR CENTURIES. AND THERE IS NOTHING ANY OF THOSE CROSSBOWS CAN DO THAT ODA NOBUNAGA'S GUNS CAN'T DO BETTER. HE WOULD NOT BE IMPRESSED.
I couldn't really go on. Oda Nobunaga is well known as the man who mastered the use of firearms in his time, and infamously broke the back of the Takeda clan's horsemen with volleys of musketry. How did one survive Japanese public education - which covers Oda Nobunaga in excessive detail - and write this with a straight face? I was utterly baffled.
In a certain sense this is compliment. The comic had to be doing quite well for me to be so disappointed. For some this may seem a rather petty issue. I can hear someone ask: So what if Oda Nobunaga would have no interest in crossbows? It's not as if this affects the virtues I attributed to this comic earlier.
However my problem with this moment and what it says about the rest of the narrative goes deeper than that of mere didactic historical authenticity. When I spoke of red flags earlier, it's worth mentioning that our Heroine fell back in time with a catalogue of modern weapons systems her sister had asked her to buy. In later chapters she advises Oda Nobunaga's son by quoting Sun Tzu's Bingfa at him. In other words, this moment with the crossbow represented a clear shift in the narrative from tackling the questions of land development and agriculture to questions of warfare in which the author was clearly clueless.
If you are intrigued enough by the character drama itself, then that may be enough reason to continue. I simply could not.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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