i think it's interesting how fans of the series view keyaru

psyche-K said:
one thing i've noticed while going through these threads (and in the most popular review) is how many people believe ol key-ster behaves how a "normal" person would. not "personally relatable" or "justifiable", but normal. from what i've seen in the 2 episodes i watched, "normal" is a difficult word for me to use in describing his behavior. i'd like to know: am i in the minority in thinking that this particular view of the MC is somewhat unusual?

psyche-K said:
one thing i've noticed while going through these threads (and in the most popular review) is how many people believe ol key-ster behaves how a "normal" person would. not "personally relatable" or "justifiable", but normal. from what i've seen in the 2 episodes i watched, "normal" is a difficult word for me to use in describing his behavior. i'd like to know: am i in the minority in thinking that this particular view of the MC is somewhat unusual?

Saimatsu_Fan said:
I think it's interesting how everyone was calling this anime sexist because of the amount of rapes that the MC does to the girls, but completely ignore that the MC was raped and tortured for MANY years before

Obviously, that DOESN'T justify what he does/did and there's NO justification for rape, but it's " funny " how some people in the anime community literally only cared about the female Victims of rape

A reflection of our society

SawsyMikey said:

no no its justified what he did

Piromysl said:
It's pretty cringe yo think that people consider this as somehow deep and convoluted story, mot just cheap and edgy attempt at shock factor.

Keyaru is just a psychopath who enjoys exacting revenge. There is even a moment where he contemplates settling down and just keeping a low profile, but nah. Gotta be edgy.
Seriously, people who think he "just acts normal" should be put on FBI watchlist.

Piromysl said:
It's pretty cringe yo think that people consider this as somehow deep and convoluted story, mot just cheap and edgy attempt at shock factor.

Keyaru is just a psychopath who enjoys exacting revenge. There is even a moment where he contemplates settling down and just keeping a low profile, but nah. Gotta be edgy.
Seriously, people who think he "just acts normal" should be put on FBI watchlist.

psyche-K said:
one thing i've noticed while going through these threads (and in the most popular review) is how many people believe ol key-ster behaves how a "normal" person would. not "personally relatable" or "justifiable", but normal. from what i've seen in the 2 episodes i watched, "normal" is a difficult word for me to use in describing his behavior. i'd like to know: am i in the minority in thinking that this particular view of the MC is somewhat unusual?

ScionOfCyan said:


Most people would take an eye for an eye if they could get away with it. It's the people capable of rising above who are the abnormal ones.

I think you're wrong, but also in the majority, because people don't like to consider awful facts about the world, especially if it means considering the evil within them. It's much more pleasant to confuse weakness for virtue: the most important reason the average person stays 'moral' is that they aren't powerful enough to avoid punishment.

ScionOfCyan said:


Notice that you didn't tell me I'm wrong.

Notice also you didn't say "I think this is true instead of what you said."

Non-responsive dismissive comments are common when people see truths they don't want to confront.

I might be wrong. But all you've done here is provide supporting evidence for my statement.

ScionOfCyan said:


Your response is pretty interesting. You've read a few things into what I said that don't match what I believe.

(1) I said people who can rise above the revenge instinct are abnormal, but I never said I don't admire them. In fact I consider such people to be highly admirable and I think everyone should aspire to improve and become more like them.
(2) I said that people forgo the revenge instinct because their lack of power makes them fear repercussion. This is not the same as saying that forgiveness is weakness. You can only truly forgive somebody if you have the power to deny them that forgiveness. The act of forgiveness comes from a place of strength, and I believe it is a beautiful act.

Keyaru interests me because he's a good filter for whether people are being honest about their own instincts and thoughts. I have a lot of respect for people who know that they have occasional desires to do something evil and are honest about it with themselves and strive to overcome them.

People who see evil in others and categorize it as being an intrinsic quality of the other person ("abnormal", "evil") without making an effort to empathize with his position and then consciously choose to do better in a similar situation are ironically the ones more likely to commit atrocities when they achieve power.

Anyways, I appreciate you for giving a longer answer and I got some interesting ideas from this conversation, so thank you.

Leodensian said:
In my opinion it is difficult to judge whether what he did is "normal" or not because it's so clearly an insane situation that could never happen in real life.

On the face of it, it is pretty stupid because with his foreknowledge of events he should be able to avoid the degradation and abuse he experienced the first time around. This would seem like the rational thing to do, but instead he chooses to follow the same course of action solely in order to get himself in a better position to deliver his revenge (and it's sometimes revenge for things that the targets haven't actually done, given that he's the only one who remembers the first time around).

However, as Confucius said, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves". So it's pretty clear that the human impulse to seek revenge even at the cost of the destruction of one's own self has been around for a long, long time. With that in mind, his behaviour could be considered "normal". It's still evil though.

Personally I think most people would make better use of a second chance at life. If you were to do a survey asking a representative sample of the population whether you are entitled to rape and enslave people because they wronged you, I think they would disagree.