Pushover Extra Trains the Villainesses Chapter 6 Discussion

Here is an informed review after having read up till chapter 6. I will try to keep it brief (no promises)

Spoiler

The good parts-

• • It seems the characters (3 heroines) are decently written. Its not one dimensional at least. The MC is cunning if morally bankrupt, this is explained away by saying that even in the modern world, the MC faced terrible injustice for which he never saw retribution happen to the perpetrators. But... we'll get to it again later.

• • The world is thought out. There seems to be a proper overarching plot and storyline and the MC has plans.

• • The writing is descriptive* with some attempts to start the chapter with weirdly philosophical takes by the author as if its a self reflection by the MC. This would make more sense if the novel was written in first person but its not. its written in third person.

Now let's get to the criticisms.

• • The characters aren't one dimensional yes, but their emotions, motives, aspirations, experiences, none of these are properly written. I mentioned the MC has a tragic backstory, but i've basically described it all. The author never even attempts to go in-depth about this backstory and why this left the MC disillusioned. Its just stated in 2 or 3 lines and done. Marked as 'completed' in the checklist and move on. The emotional weight behind any of it is scarcely lacking, since the author doesn't even try to dwell on it.

• • Did I mention the MC's backstory isn't well written? Prepare yourself because its much, much worse for the heroines (villainesses). The author keeps repeating this magical word 'villainess' as if it'll give us all the context behind why it is justified to lock her up in the basement and torture and assault her. The author gives us one single line that in the future (?) she would directly result in the deaths of multiple people, but for now it just seems like she's a scammer / gold digger. She wanted to take the MC's properties but we are never even explained how she scammed the rest of the populace which includes 'the hero' (the original protagonist), which is supposed to be some great detail because this whole series of events leads to the hero becoming like a renegade hero/ anti-hero in this dark fantasy world. But nope, you get absolutely jack all as description about the court case that the novel literally starts with.

• • The second heroine is a prostitute and I'm sure there was a lot of mental anguish and misery that led to her deciding to do that but none of it is ever expanded upon but just meant to be done and dusted with a single line.

• • The third heroine Spoiler

    is a widow and I haven't reached that far but I can already picture how it would be depicted.

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• • The weirdly philosophical takes are well-thought out only on the surface, equating 'investment' to 'gambling' in a pseudo-intellectual way and saying that its a zero sum game where if someone gains then the other loses, misunderstanding what makes 'investment' different.

• • The MC literally goes "I'm just an extra so I probably wont have any skills thus there's absolutely zero reason for me to even try and exercise" as an excuse for exercising even the basic bit of fitness. I would not have mentioned this point if the author didn't bring this up again later on, saying that he joined the gym once and then quit cause of laziness.

TLDR: Anyways that's it. The second heroine being a prostitute is uncomfortable yes, but what bothers me even more is this tell-dont-show approach and severely lacking any sort of buildup or justification or backstory.

I'd rate it a 5 out of 10. Readable but quite frustrating. If you don't believe me then feel free to read the first chapter and just observe if at any time its explained what this 'villainess' even did (in the present, not in the future) because I feel half of it is just me piecing together random information and tropes to make sense that she's a scammer (the word 'scammer' is never mentioned in the novel itself).

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