Here is something I’ve seen a million times before in anime and manga: the conscientious ruler buried in the paperwork they have to finish off personally:
This is taken from *deep breath* Gyakkou Shita Akuyaku Reijou wa, Naze ka Maryoku wo Ushinattanode Shinsou no Reijou ni Narimasu, one of those series where the title gives you the story synopsis: “The Villainess Who Traveled Back in Time Inexplicably Lost Her Magic, so She Went Into Seclusion” and was drawn by Sakamoto Bin. It triggered me, because why is the ruler at their desk diligently doing paperwork such a well used image in the first place? Because it makes little sense for a king or emperor to do the work that could’ve been also done by some middle ranking bureaucrat. Yet here we are again, the “good prince” being kept by his duty from visiting the heroine by never ending bureaucracy. Why is this such an enduring image?
It may just be that Japanese business and government alike is incredibly bureaucratic in structure, terribly fond of paperwork for the sake of paperwork. Even though this wouldn’t make sense in a medieval kingdom to have this bureaucracy in the first place, ti may just be a question of the writer (subconsciously) projecting their own society’s peculiarities onto their creation. Or, like so much else in anime & manga, the writer imitating other writers, just like every city in isekai forms a perfectly round circle. Just one more cliche that everybody understands even if its wrong.
(Hi yes, it has been a month and a half since the last post. That’s what you get when you have a new, huge house to explore and decorate. Hopefully somewhat more regular posting will resume from now on.)
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