No Tomo for a week....Damn.
Darn it.
Ressentiment end
A story about escapism fantasy by Kengo Hanazawa.
Our protagonist is a a 30 y.o loser name Takuro. He still live with his parent and he's having a dead end job. He's fat, ugly, no girlfriend (of course). One day, his friend convince him to try the new VR game. So he did. Unlike majority of VR escapism where VR world shown to be beautiful, perfect, or ideal, Kengo Hanazawa avert it right away. Takuro avatar is not handsome at all since he based it on his younger self, and when he meet the girl of his dream in VR world, she's pooping in the sea. Yup. Kengo Hanazawa basically make fun of every escapism story out there.
Funny how his work become more relevant today with the abundant of escapism story become more and more popular. In VR world, Takuro is living his dream, but in a real world, he still a pathetic human being, with his ball sacks hanging out his underwear. He refuse to change or do anything better in real world, continue living his VR world. The author keep showing the dirty side of real world. In VR, the protagonist was shown having sex, while in real life, he's just using some kind of tenga/sex toys that connected with the machine. Then of course he need to clean that shit up.
The story keep escalate, and there's a hope for Takuro to change himself in real world. A chance to become a decent human being. Did he take the chance, or did he still want to indulge himself in VR? Well, by the end of it, he try to kill himself in attempt to live in VR, but even then he failed. His refusal to change was shown in ending. He is still pathetic and still working a dead end job. In a way, it's a fitting ending for him. Takuro might be one pathetic protagonist, but in a way, i can sympathize with him. He's just a man living his live. He's not a hero. He made a mistake along the way, and he must live with the consequences. But he is still a good guy.
On the other hand, Tsukiko, the AI who decide she want to change get another chance to live in a real world (something about bio technology and AI containing human DNA. I have no idea how it work, but it work, i'm not gonna question it).
The journey toward the ending is a bit rushed IMO, but it's still great. When i finish reading it, i feel conflicted toward the whole ending. I don't know if i should be happy or sad. One thing for sure, the last page is one powerful stuff.
