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[Oceanographer's Choice plays]

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"Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the
Dungeon" is a webtoon.

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Or, basically, a Korean webcomic drawn
chapter by chapter in one long strip,

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designed for vertical scrolling.

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"Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the
Dungeon's" story follows a skeleton who

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happily served a succubus until she was
killed in front of him.

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The skeleton soldier was also then killed
but, for some reason, he wakes up alive,

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20 years before he was killed!

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Distraught at the loss of his beloved
uh... mistress, the nameless skeleton

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soldier resolves to save her in the
future.

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This resolve becomes more plausible when
the skeleton soldier realizes that every

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time he dies, he gets a do-over.

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And he's able to get stronger, and obtain
more abilities than he ever would have as

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a standard skeleton soldier guarding a
dungeon.

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As a reader, you slowly realize that the
skeleton soldier seems to be an NPC in

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some kind of fantasy game. Not just a
skeleton in a standard fantasy universe,

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but specifically an enemy NPC in a JRPG
style fantasy.

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And for some reason he's been gifted the
ability to respawn, to level up, to pursue

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quests, and to see the statuses of other
characters.

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He uses these abilities pragmatically, 
but is completely baffled by them.

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The skeleton soldier has no idea where
these abilities come from.

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I mean, he presumably has no idea what a
video game even is.

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And step by step, he learns how to use
his new abilities to his advantage.

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There's a genre of manga and anime called
"isekai" revolving around a normal person

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being transported to, or trapped in, a
parallel universe.

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"The subgenre can be characterized as wish
fulfillment, with the person being

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transported often being a NEET, shut-in, 
or gamer. In the new fantasy world, they

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are able to succeed through the use of
their comparatively

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unimportant-in-real-life genre knowledge, 
or gaming skills through the use of a game

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interface only they can access."

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I'm far from an isekai expert. I'm sure
there are works in this genre that are

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great, and some that are fun and 
subversive.

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I have friends whose opinions I respect 
who really enjoy some of them, so I'm not

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saying the genre is trash or insulting
people who enjoy it.

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But, even as a teenager, I really didn't 
have any interest in wish fulfillment

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fiction.

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Especially fiction very deliberately 
catering to a certain kind of male nerd.

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"Sweet Home," my favorite webtoon which 
I also reviewed, centers around a suicidal

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Korean equivalent of a 4chan NEET, but 
it's a dark comedy horror series where he

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is slowly learning bravery, and empathy, 
and how to be a good person.

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And while he's terrified and fighting for 
his life, his change is genuinely moving.

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And it's the opposite of a wish 
fulfillment fantasy series about how

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special and unique a nerd secretly was
all along because he was a gamer.

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"Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the 
Dungeon" has all the fun

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meta-elements of isekai material without
the, to me, cringey pandering.

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Skeleton soldier is not a human nerd 
whose gaming abilities suddenly made him

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a capable hero in fantasy world. 
He is literally

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a skeleton.

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Many of the times I laughed at the comic 
involved the fact that his character

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design is realistically rendered skeleton 
that is navigating a fantasy world of

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stylized, expressive humans and monsters,
and the, I think, intentional absurdity

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of his realistic skeleton appearance in 
juxtaposition with those humans.

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And he loved his succubus boss and was 
happy to serve her, and that's it!

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He has no desire to change the world or 
be a hero.

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And, apart from him slowly growing 
stronger and being recognized for his

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strength, he is not a hero or a 
Chosen One.

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He wears armor to disguise himself because
he wants to stay under the radar and

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one day save someone he cares about.

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He actually has information on the 
political landscape of the future that

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could change the course of history, but he
doesn't seem to care about that outside of

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his one goal.

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Additionally because he is a skeleton, he
seems to have no sexual or romantic

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interest in anyone.

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His relationship to the succubus seems
platonic, so the story isn't inundated

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with the "horny teenaged boy surrounded by
big boob fantasy women" trope.

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The only trope that I hate in this comic, 
and it's my big hesitation when

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recommending it to pretty much anyone, is
that it's extremely rape-y.

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And uses violence towards women as a plot
device way too often, especially in the

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first several chapters.

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The clichéd, fantasy, "look at how dark 
and evil this world is."

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You can tell that the world is dark and
scary and evil because there's

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a l- there's so there's so much rape.

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Skeleton soldier himself seems
essentially asexual.

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And he isn't misogynistic or sadistic or
anything like that.

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But there are a lot of women he meets who 
get raped, or murdered, or raped and

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murdered to the extent that I stopped 
wanting to get attached to any of the

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female characters that he runs into.

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I'm not opposed to sexual violence in 
fiction, but it's a serious and heavy

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topic that deserves respect and time 
devoted to fully explore its

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ramifications.

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In my "Hannibal" video I quoted a great
Bryan Fuller interview on the subject

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that I'll link in the description here, 
and it feels completely inappropriate as

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a repeated plot device in a fantasy RPG
skeleton comic.

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And I mean so repeated, yet so out of
place to the point that it felt absurd!

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It's extremely off-putting.

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And it isn't a comic that otherwise 
objectifies women or

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poorly represents them.

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I particularly like skeleton soldier's 
female thief companion, who is a fun,

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fleshed out character comparable to Nami 
in One Piece.

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She's underhanded and ruthless in a way 
that is realistic and intriguing,

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rather than a femme fatale stock character
or some kind of weird, gross

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implication that women are untrustworthy.

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And most female characters are interesting
and treated by the narrative as people and

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there aren't over-long cringey fanservice
scenes, or rape scenes meant to

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excited readers.

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A lot of it is offscreen and heavily
implied and that kind of thing,

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but there's so much rape!

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I would absolutely prefer light-hearted
fanservice to so much rape!

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That feels less exploitative to me than
weird, heavily censored rape scenes that

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are still there.

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Skeleton soldier's story has elements of
political subterfuge and explorations of

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monster-human relations, but this isn't a
serious, adult web-comic that makes room

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for content really exploring the 
ramifications of sexual violence

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in its universe.

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"Man Bites Dog," for example, is one of
my favorite movies and it has repeated

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instances of brutal sexual violence, but 
it's a subversive and confrontational film

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about consumption of media violence.

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Not a goofy, fantasy-action series about 
a walking skeleton.

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When I was re-reading parts of the story
for this video, I did catch an at times

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explicit thematic undercurrent where
skeleton soldier relates to women, or

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women to him: being seen as just a body, 
being seen as incapable, being seen as

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an other. That is worth mentioning.

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And most of the rape happens towards the 
beginning of the comic, and the comic does

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seem to get a little better about it as it
progresses, but it remains off-putting and

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baffling to me.

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Especially because "Sweet Home" is 
forefront in my mind while reading other

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webtoons, and sexual violence, if explored
there, would be handled with more nuance

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and gravity, rather than a sledgehammer
reminder that people in this world

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are bad. They're really mean... You know
that they're mean 'cause they rape women.

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"Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the
Dungeon" reminds me a little bit of

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"Mogworld," Yahtzee's novel about a
character in an MMO which I enjoyed a lot

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when I read it almost a decade ago.

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But "Skeleton Soldier" is less satirical 
and less meta, and at times seems

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self-aware and plays with clichés, and 
other times is kinda dumb and banks too

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hard on them.

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Like when you see another soldier who
refuses to take his helmet off...

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The- the mysterious knight who refu- like 
I wonder could it be a woman in disguise?!

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I've never ever seen that- I've never
heard of that before!

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G-genius... Genius plot twist.

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Other times the way the narrative works
is neat.

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Since skeleton soldier is an enemy NPC 
and not some kind of hero, he has what's

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called an "assimilation rate," and he has
to be careful with how much time he spends

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in dungeons and completing quests and
clearing out monsters.

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As a JRPG fan generally, it's fun to try
to figure out what tropes he'll run into,

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what abilities and what quests he'll 
get, and what monsters he'll either

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befriend or fight.

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Along with skeleton soldier's human thief
companion, I also really like a character

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who is a shape-shifting slime.

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The art shines particularly during fight
scenes, which are rendered fluidly and

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gorgeously, and when skeleton soldier is
expressing a certain emotion

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which the artist manages to pull off while
usually keeping his rendering realistic,

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aided by great, often subtle, use of body 
language.

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This comic also has one of my favorite 
titles out of anything that I've

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ever read.

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It's kinda silly and weird, but it's also 
a reminder to the reader of the main

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character's regret, and of the failure 
he's always trying to make up for.

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He really loved the succubus who took care
of him and her death was genuinely

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traumatic for him.

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There's no official English translation of
this comic, and I think the app that you

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would use to read the Korean version isn't
even available in the U.S.

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But I'm sure viewers could easily find 
fan-translations if they looked for them,

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though watch out for weird, shady, 
scanlation sites.

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I would like for more people to read this,
and would readily give money to support

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the author or support an English 
translation, though the series is, like I

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said, a somewhat hesitant recommendation
from me.

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Because the weird, absurd, and darkly
funny skeleton action is, especially in

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the first chapters, overshadowed by 
pervasive sexual violence.

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Still, I enjoy it a lot. And it's one of
only three comics that I keep up with.

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And it's un-pretentious, un-pandering 
approach to a meta-video game story

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is always engaging to me, and I'm excited
to see where it goes!

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Especially what will happen with certain
recurring characters, whether or not

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we'll get a full explanation for skeleton
soldier's powers I'd be satisfied

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either way.

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And if, and how, skeleton soldier will 
one day protect the dungeon!

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Thank you for watching.

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If I missed anything about JRPG lore or
the way the story works, feel free to

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point that out in the comments.

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I've played a lot of JRPGs, but not always
a lot of the mainstream series and

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they're- and I don't know anything about 
current isekai shows or comics so maybe

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there are more references to that that I- 
that totally went over my head.

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'Cause they would go over my head 'cause 
I've never enjoyed the genre when I've

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tried it or it doesn't seem like something
I would really like.

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I prefer a One Piece-style thing where
it's just a really fun adventure with a

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fun cast of characters rather than, 
"here's a specific character that

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you would be if you went to this
universe!"

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'Cause, like, why would I wanna be a
nerd guy transported into a universe

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when I could just be a part of the 
universe?

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If you would like to support me, I have a
Patreon and a ko-fi, and along with other

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video essays and reviews I'm also on a 
podcast called "Critical Bits."

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It's an actual play podcast, a teen 
superhero podcast, not a fantasy podcast

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and we just put out the sixth episode.

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As it's kind of long, um, it's gone from 
just sort of a... a dumb, fun, slapstick

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comedy su- teen superhero podcast, to more
of like a dark comedy, body horror podcast

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that still has slapstick elements.

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I'm really proud of how it's going, and
if- if that's something that you would

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enjoy, as with a- a bunch of things in 
this video, uh, link in the description...

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And, thanks!
[Oceanographer's Choice plays]

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"Well, guy in a skeleton costume
Comes up to the guy

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In a Superman suit
RUNS THROUGH HIM WITH A BROADSWORD!"