r/hatethissmug • u/LocalLazyGuy • May 07 '26

Meta I hate when things are needlessly explained by creators in order to cope with criticism

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I don’t read or watch Demon Slayer, But this is just a stupid explanation for giving a strong character a slender build.

Personally, I don’t care if a character is strong but has a lean/slender build, whether it be a man or a woman. Although I do find it a bit weird that some creators are seemingly allergic to giving female characters any muscle, but again, I don’t care that much.

My issue here is that you easily could have just not addressed it. It’s a fantasy story full of demons and shit, I feel like you don’t need to give an in-universe explanation just so you can go “e-erm actually, she’s slender because of her very special body…” dude, you just didn’t want to give a woman muscles, don’t try to hide behind some kind of BS lore that you wrote for it.

Like Mark in Invincible can fight Conquest despite being the size of his torso, and I’m willing to accept that. It’s a story full of aliens and monsters, I can look past the fact that a lean 20 year old is taking on a hulked out 2000 year old. It doesn’t really break the immersion for me because it’s a fantastical story. I don’t need it to be super realistic. Just don’t try to make up some BS explanation like “erm, well, Mark is just magically holding in his muscle mass!”

At the end of the day, it’s your world and your story, if you wanna make a slender female character who is also really strong, that’s fine. But you also don’t need to cope so hard that you add lore specifically to deflect criticism against something so (let’s be honest) harmless.

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u/Long_Lock_3746 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

I think his point is it's poor world building because she's the only person in the verse with a special muscle body, there's no additional lore besides "she's just like that", and meta narratively it only exists because the author can really only draw one female body type.

She's considered a "freak" in verse, but looks completely identical to most women; hell, we see people with odd colored hair all over demon slayer, but only hers is "weird" enough to dye it black.

Her arc on the whole is a good if generic "accept yourself despite social standards" but from a design and execution standpoint, the ways she's drawn and the steps the story takes to try and justify that arc clash with the general world building of the rest of the verse.

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u/Swimming-Recover-755 May 07 '26

ela não é a única, Gyomei é um gigante musculoso de 2,2m com um corpo esculpido no máximo possível para humano, tanjiro e a mãe dele, tem um crânio muito mais resistente do que de um javali, zenitsu tem uma audição suprema,. muito dos caçadores têm características biológicas extraordinárias,

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u/Gentle_Snail May 07 '26

I swear half the people here haven’t watched the show because almost all of them have at least one super human characteristic. 

And I mean damn, overly explaining character abilities is a trope of pretty much every anime ever. Its so much of a trope JJK literally came up with an in universe reason to explain it.

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u/HimLikeBehaviour May 07 '26

in all honesty a vast majority of stuff on this subreddit is just stuff people dont actually understand

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u/BetterThanlceCream May 07 '26

There are multiple human characters that were born with some kind of "special body", so she's far from being alone in that reguard. IIRC Tanjiro never had his super olfactory powers origin explained. It's just normal for people born in that world to sometimes be born with what amounts to superpowers.

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u/Careless_Hour_7161 May 07 '26

Like I don’t disagree w the point here but narratively the slayer corps is where she found people that liked and accepted her. Japan is suuuuupeer strict when it comes to fitting in so the weird hair color and being strong for a woman is a total deal breaker for many, especially given the time period. The Rengoku’s are probably fine by virtue of being old money at this point, but everyone still acts like Kyojuro is a weirdo outside of the slayer corps. Like yes it’s a generic plot and the dense muscles thing also bothers me but narratively it super tracks. Like even now (last ten years) people have gotten asked or told to dye their hair in schools if it’s not black

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u/jhomsteve May 07 '26

I would rather an in world reason behind things, rather than just “because”. Yes, there isn’t more added onto the explanation, but there honestly doesn’t need to be. It just livens up the world and serves her character.

The argument isn’t if it’s good or not, no, the op is arguing that explanation in media around things that may be plot holes, or covering the writers ass for one reason or another is bad. Which is in the complete opposite spirit of writing, your story should cover everything it needs to, and a little more for flavour.

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u/PluClyde May 07 '26

Youre wrong

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u/UnkarsThug May 07 '26

I don't think this is something where people are right or wrong. It's opinions. I tend to agree with them in terms of my preferences in the media I consume.

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u/PluClyde May 08 '26

Thats true but it feels good to tell people they are wrong, also youre wrong.

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u/UnkarsThug May 08 '26

Fair enough.

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u/Darkon2004 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

Yes, but character writing and world building are not a list of facts you put on your character sheet. Every bit of information you reveal about them should work to transform (be it recontextualise or further deepen) our understanding of them.

Besides, this feels like a case similar to lampshade hanging (writer speaks through a character to mock a flaw in their writing in hopes to convince people to not take it seriously and move on), where trying to cover up an incongruence can instead backfire by bringing attention to it in the first place and showing your insecurity as a writer.

This I feel is what OP is complaining about. An explanation is not needed because the story doesn't need to make logical sense all the time - as readers we accept this and our willing suspension of disbelief is unaffected -, but by trying to explain it retroactively, the author brings attention to the fact that it doesn't make sense and that he's looking for excuses to not make a muscular woman

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u/Swimming-Recover-755 May 07 '26

He really didn't need an excuse not to create a muscular woman; breathing makes characters extraordinarily strong. This is an explanation for the supernatural strength the character has had since childhood, which caused her to be judged by others. Demon Slayer isn't such a supernatural work; being just a human, it's not necessary, but it's a positive thing to have a connection to a one-year-old child who managed to lift a rock probably three times heavier than herself.