Discussion Why does Japanese stories and games favor slavery so much?

Not really, we don't have slavery today because it is economically and educationally viable to do so,
I'd argue that without slavery, serfdom, or other such things most, if not all, great kingdoms of the past would've imploded economically

 

Manpower and technology related.

They have nowhere near the tech we do, and their magic can't be used on similarly large scales, but they still want to feed themselves.
To them, slaves are cheap, disposable, usable, moldable, usually loyal and plentiful.
That's atleast for the labor slaves, criminal slaves get worse punishments, debt slaves pay off their debts and ... sex slaves allow their owners to ... feel better about themselves.

It's not like their systems, economy and nations wouldn't work without slavery, but they wouldn't work as well without massive changes. Which noone is willing to complete or is allowed to complete if willing or capable of completing if willing.

 

There's slavery in cn fantasy novels too

 

Maybe they just link fantasy to slavery.

 

In the context of the original question, I think chamchaworld has the most accurate reason. Skips the romancing step.
I should also add two other points:
- It's a quick way to get a virgin girl. So no "used" goods, ala prostitutes.
- The MC becomes a "good guy" by preventing a slave from falling into evil hands.

 

I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with how Japan has such a strict society. If you look at even just the surface of their society, you would already be able to see that "fitting in, not standing out, and being demure" is one of their most highly-placed core values. Thus, they aren't very familiar with these other concepts modernly (In WW2, they had slaves all over the place but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as they are ashamed of it and don't want to mention it whatsoever) . And I'm pretty sure that branches out to other things such as anime, manga, phallus festival etc.

But then again, I've not read extensively on Japan and how she works so this might all just be complete BS.

 

Because it makes sense in a fantasy setting.

 

Convenience, like face slapping and robbing a young master. They are bad so acting against them is good, gaining benefits from such an act gets roughly justified so the main character is boosted with gains and reputation. The repeat setting of, oh this a bad country slavery bad, i niponjin with MORALS so i use slave bcuz i need, but treat gud cuz im an upright citizen. neeee ~oh but nono yes loli no touuch. but not myy fault im basically being suffocated to death by flat chests, its this world that's wrong!

Back to the main point, convenience, some don't even justify and downplay it and just say the MC needs or feels like it. Adding new characters(edit: either submissive or supressed) without backstory other than their current circumstance and an eventual side quest, its like taking a loan, or using gods hand(author)

 

If you can like gay incest rape hentai. Then, slavery is practically jesus.

 

So... why is slavery inherently evil? When it comes down to it, it's just forcing someone to work for you for no compensation, in potentially unfavorable conditions (abuse of these people is a different story). It makes sense to me that slaves exist in most of these other worlds. On the flip side, how many big prisons have you seen in these novels? Basically it works to keep the criminals or indentured people working so they don't have to keep them in one place to watch. I've also never seen it portrayed in a positive light when a parent sells their child (probably the worst aspect of slavery I've seen) or when someone is kidnapped into slavery. Both of these are pretty much understood universally as evil, but still happen in modern times.

To sum up my ramblings, because slavery is a system that does have some benefits, but is usually correlated with brutality and such so no one likes it. If I sound insane, let me know where so I can reconsider.

 

They romanticized it and made it into an isekai trope. Tbh, Japan isn't the only one to do this. I know in America, the horrors of slavery have been largely forgotten (at least among whites). Caucasian couples will tour old slave plantations and say, they must have been happy to have beds and meals. Or they'll tour slave accommodations and ask, so they were basically housekeepers? How much were they paid? Or, were these nice owners?

You can see there is little cultural memory of slavery. The holocaust is similar. Few people (less than 30%) still believe in and remember its scale. So at some point, people stop thinking of those things as horrible. They stop believing in it. They start humanizing the perpetrators and taking pride in the past. And then you get twisted, non-satirical fiction that makes light of it. I can't stand WNs that feature slavery. But many such WNs exist, and this is my personal thought on why they might have come about.

 

more like somehow getting a harem while remaining beta. Making MC bank while keeping him a no persona cardboard with titles painted on.

 

Because slavery is a realistic consequence of war and power hierarchies. Shit, there is still slavery going on today...

 

90% of the slaves of note in these novels are cute girls. It shouldn't be hard to figure out that this is all about fetishism.

 

There are slaves in the modern world, but I've never seen a book (not an online novel) with a character who goes around buying women (or men if the MC is female) from human-traffickers and have them happy to have been bought. I recall 1 or 2 depicting them as broken, fearful, and abused. But then you have WNs, where they are depicted as happy-go-lucky slaves fortunate to have been sold and bought, happy with where they are, and often as in some way more elite for having been turned into slaves. And I always found that utterly insane.

 

The fantasy genre introduces the concept of magic; with the advent of magic technology plays a much smaller role i.e. why invent a lightbulb when we can just enchant x with light. Technology is the is driving force of our modern sensibilities in many ways, in one way no matter how strong, tough, fast, clever, or beautiful someone is or how high their social standing is, a little kid with a gun can kill said person, with magic however is might makes right. So with that in mind, slaves in a medieval-esque setting is reasonable and historically accurate. So unless someone can censor mideval slave history or goes back in time to make its so that it doesnt happen, we're stuck with it in certain genres.

 

Arguement from ignorance fallacy, just because you havent seen it doesnt mean it doesnt exist

 

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For people interested in knowing more about the price history of slaves
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I clearly said "I've never seen". I don't need you to repeat what I said. If you know of such a book, you are welcome to name it for me and I will thank you. Please do not tell me such a book might exist, because that is meaningless quibbling. If you think such books are common, find some.

 

Not in first-world countries. Not legally.