Just glancing at the abstract and not having read the paper- looks interesting. Author is trying to do a Marxist analysis of the texts vis-a-vis settler colonialism, with Goblin Slayer as a reactionary re-framing of standard isekai power fantasies (for example, in something like SAO the labour of the protagonist is always rewarded and he is thus non-alienated). What I’m curious is 1) how the author will reckon with other isekai that had their narratives centered on colonialism like Gate or Shield Hero and 2) the relative utility of such criticism of culture/entertainment/soft-power, because as much as they might flatter themselves terminally online weebs aren’t the drivers of fascism, it’s the politicians who get got by :the-doohickey: (after all, superstructure follows base).

I’ll come back and comment more later when I have some time to read thru.

Edit: Ok, having skimmed thru it: 1) he doesn’t, rather he just wanted to point out that in general isekai power fantasies are the fantasies of the oppressed proletariat yearning for the end of alienation from their labour with Goblin Slayer as the reaction to the emptiness of that fantasy and 2) his scope was much smaller than I anticipated, my man just wanted any excuse to quote J. Sakai’s Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat.

But most importantly, as the crisis of the system awakens the global proletariat, the ideological justification for keeping it down becomes more and more genocidal. Goblin Slayer emphatically reminds its fans of this fact with vigor.

I like the cut of his jib, author go on Chapo.