I Reincarnated as the Villain in an E*oge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target Chapter Lua POVc11 pt2 Discussion

So reading some of these negative reviews I'm starting to wonder if we're even reading the same novel?

Like the review from Monsters said: this story takes place in the world of a het hentai game. I would be shocked if the ML was NOT kinky and obsessed with s*x. Also, due to this setting

Spoiler

the sharing of life essence (which will keep people alive in dire situations) is completed through sex

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Once you get a little further in and realise the above, the actions the ML chooses to take in the prologue (which loops back around after a few chapters) make a lot more sense.

Spoiler

Effectively, Zagan was on death's door and Luca was desperate to keep him alive at that point. He didn't exactly have time to ask first since Zagan wasn't conscious and afterwards Zagan was quite grateful to Luca for saving his life.

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While I'm reading this story, Luca (ML) comes across as being utterly devoted to Zagan to the point of having no interest in what would have been his harem of girls in the original game. Where I'm currently at (around chapter 46) they're constantly flirting with each other and if something bothers one of them they actually talk to the other one about it. It's so nice to see communication happening instead of misunderstandings getting blown out of proportion.

Also, yes the prologue is dub-con, but outside of one other situation so far where

Spoiler

Zagan was again in very real danger of dying

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Luca is very much about consent. The author clearly likes kinky stuff, but the really kinky stuff is generally kept to side stories and can be ignored if you're more after vanilla stuff.

Spoiler

That balloon thing though - let's all pretend that never happened.

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I could see an argument for the r*pe tag from the perspective of the "original game" this story is based on is not a nice one and when Zagan talks about "original events" in the game, there are several mentions of r*pe. Thankfully the Zagan of this story is not interested in taking that path.

Maybe I'm seeing this in a different light because I've re-read it 5 or 6 times now? I don't know if that would change the way one sees this story or not, but I just felt like getting my thoughts on this one documented because I really don't see this story the way most of the negative reviews paint it.

I will certainly circle back if things change, but as it stands this story is a 5 star for me.