Alright, April 1st is over now I'm back to work. Anyways, it's time for me to do a serious proposal from a manga that I followed. While yes, I'm aware that she was approved in TV Tropes, I kind of had several things to say about this character, being my favorite character in the manga so far. Anyways, who is this character in question? Well let's find out shall we!
What's The Work[]
So, the manga is actually called Parallel Paradise, an ecchi "Fantasy" manga (I use fantasy in a loose term because a rather interesting twist that will happen in later arcs) created by the same guy who create Elfen Lied, Lynn Okamoto. The story tells us about a guy named Youta Tada who was forced into traveling to the other world filled with beautiful girls. However, here's the real kicker of these girls: They will die until they reach 20 years old...
That and if they discover a male on the distance, they will get aroused and masturbate themselves and the only thing that could stop it is to do mating with the male that they encountered otherwise they would die at the end of the day. This is because of the fact that all of the inhabitants in the world were cursed by an evil God who was sealed called "God of Deep Jealousy" after said god eradicate the male population from the existence 3000 years ago. It is up to Youta to save all of the girls that were cursed by the God of Deep Jealousy by defeating said god once and for all.
Now, with that said, the story takes a rather interesting turn after we reach Sendorio arc. You see, it was soon revealed that the fantasy world Youta traveled to? Is actually revealed to be Youta's own world albeit in a post apocalyptic state given 3.000 years had passed. (Yeah, the story suddenly becomes sci-fi because why not?) and Sendorio itself is the remains of a huge city from Youta's old world and some of the technology in there are still functioning pretty well and this is the same city where the God of the Deep Jealousy were sealed after all.
Anyways, during Sendorio Arc, there are two factions divided together. One is the people who guarded the God of Deep Jealousy on her own slumber and another one is the Resistance member who tried to kill the God of Deep Jealousy once and for all because a witch tries to resurrect the God of Deep Jealousy which would mean the end of the world as we know it. Anyways, said witch is the person that I will propose today and is my personal favorite character of the manga. Who is she? Let's find out.
Who is She/What Has She Done[]
Alright, so the witch's name is called Galia, she is one of the members of the organization known as The Black Dawn. Now, I need to do a crash course to tell you what is this organization supposed to be: The Black Dawn is a cult of witches who worships the God of Deep Jealousy after the god bestows them a power and according to what rumor said? Galia is the worst member of the Black Dawn and said organization attempts to locate Galia in order to revive God of Deep Jealousy.
Anyways, before I tell you who the real identity of Galia is. I need to tell you the story of Sendorio arc first. So Youta and his companions tried to go to Sendorio to defeat the sealed god once and for all. However, both Youta and his companions were separated together due to the storm that struck the ship that will brought them to Sendorio. Youta himself was captured in Sendorio while his girl companions...Were brought by the resistance members of Sendorio who were led by a woman named Maya. Now, the resistance had a member named Arara who is basically a clumsy yet goofy clown girl who tried to make everyone happy but oh boy turns out it wasn't the case...
Arara herself? Is actually revealed to be Galia all along. Anyways, before revealing her identity, Arara used Maya as a distraction by making her confess that she was actually the real Galia and was murdered after they went into Sendorio as a result. However, both Youta and her companion members know the loophole that Arara made given that one of Youta's female companions, Lumi, met a god who was bound into the city that was destroyed alongside Maya as they chat about the dangers of Galia. Youta attempts to attack Arara but to no avail due to her barrier powers.
And yes, after revealing herself towards Youta, his companions and the people of Sendorio, Arara/Galia gloated that she had deceiving the girls for 10 years after emerging from the castle by making some fake stories about herself that made her into a myth and then she kicks Maya's head because she was no further use of her. After this, she got elated that she will eat several people in Sendorio due to her hunger because of her shedding her good girl facade after 10 years. As the people of Sendorio attempts to attack her, Galia accidentally decapitates their head and she seems distraught about it...
Except she move on past that and making the incident as an example on why you should not oppose Galia in shape of form. After the incident, it was soon revealed that Galia has no interest on killing as for now, but what interested her is the self-esteem that people had and Galia wanted to steal it from them. To that end, Galia then orders one of the guardians of Sendorio, Katsuchi, to strip and forces her to mate with Youta otherwise all of the people in Sendorio will die by Galia's hands.
Here's the utter reason why she picks Katsuchi in the first place just for her self-esteem: It was soon revealed that Katsuchi herself? Is able to decipher the ancient spell that could awaken the God of the Deep Jealousy (In other words the password that could awaken the God's slumber because the God was sealed in some kind of machine). As Youta tried to mate with Katsuchi while she was tied thanks to Galia's spell, she threatened Katsuchi to tell the password that could awaken the God otherwise she will destroy Katsuchi's stomach contents with her own magic while everyone will watch into horror.
And yes, it was soon revealed that she loves to play people like this for her own amusement and what she had done to Katsuchi was not the first time she did this, there are a lot of people Galia toyed and most of them didn't last even for 3 minutes. After Youta and Katsuchi had done mating which resulted on Katsuchi's mind almost go beyond repair, Galia then promises Youta to leave Sendorio and will come again for 1 month. However, she refuses to untie the ropes that tied Katsuchi because she already stole Katsuchi's self-esteem. Yes, Katsuchi self-esteem was damaged so badly, the girl contemplated to commit suicide as a result. Fortunately, Youta manages to comfort her a little bit.
After Galia retreats from Sendorio, it was soon revealed that she ate her own companions, even eating one of them in callousness, saying that they taste good. After eating her own companions and because of her promise made by Youta that bite her in the back? Galia attempts to go to another town by meeting a god in a ruined city so that she could use a door that transport her to another city.
After fixing the door, Galia then suddenly found herself in the city of Mies while seeing a lot of people that could be her potential prey. As a result, Galia tripped herself in order to attract attention and it worked as it attracted one of the guardians of the City of Mies, Misaki, as she attempted to treat her wounds. However, her cover is soon blown by Misaki due to her penchant calling Misaki "Big Sister" instead of her name considered all of the citizens of Mies knew Misaki's name. That and how creepy Galia had become after Misaki tries to treat her.
As a result, Galia then attempts to kill Misaki in a flashy way in order to cause a huge commotion as Galia would easily eat several people that will go to see what happened with Misaki. However, Misaki survived Galia's attack and runs away to warn the intruder that has entered the city which made the people running away in panic. Displeased by this, Arara then attempt to destroy everyone in Mies unless the people in there had to give her some meal to consume for one day. Fortunately, Galia was seemingly defeated after one of the guardians stabbed her in the back with her own spear...Seems like a happy ending amirite!?
Except no...Galia turned herself into a sandworm like creature after being defeated, eating said guardian that seemingly defeat her and then retreated to underground. Feared that Galia would destroy the city, the Guardians of Mies had no choice but to comply to Galia's wishes as she seemingly kept her word that she won't destroy the city because they gave her a meal each day.
After hearing what happened in Mies via an envoy that was sent to Sendorio, Youta then goes to the city of Mies to save the people in there once and for all. It was also revealed that Youta's agenda on defeating Galia also correlated on saving Mies that was terrorized by Galia because Galia possesses a talisman a.k.a. a keycard that could revive the God of Deep Jealousy.
Encountering Youta again, Galia then orders to mate with another apprentice guardian, Kia, who seemingly gave up her life to Galia and refused to mate with other people because of her...Squicky past needless to say because on how she saw the animals copulate with each other. Again, Youta had no choice but to mate with Kia by touching her. However, as soon as Kia began to masturbate and losing her self-esteem, Galia then prohibits Youta to mate with her otherwise she will kill Kia in a gruesome manner as she retreats in defeat. Fortunately, Youta ignored Galia's warnings and mate with Kia to save her life.
Meeting with Youta again in the final battle, she then attempts to kill the guardian that she likes before Youta slices her arm to stop her. As a result, Galia then turns herself into a dragon and tries to flatten the City of Mies to the ground and kills everyone in it. After the grueling battle, Youta manages to find Galia's weakness as she is revealed to be a dragon. As Galia is defeated, she melts and gave Youta the keycard that could defeat the God of the Deep Jealousy. However, at the same time, she taunt Youta that the God of Deep Jealousy will kill him at the end of the day. Her only sole regret is that she wasn't able to mate with anyone.
Heinous Standard[]
Alright, the world of Parallel Paradise is not a such happy place. Rape is not rare yes because there is a monster who also killed their victims by raping them. And then you also have other members of Black Dawn named Kai who is responsible for giving one of the guardians of the city of Lille, Pinako's, sister a curse that made her unable to walk which resulted on her having no choice but to become Kai's sex toy, using the city of Lille as a fodder for her to eating people for 1.000 years, imprisoning the local goddess of Lille into the ocean while stealing the crystal fragment that would release her and attempting to kill everyone in Lille to eliminate the witness.
Oh! And if I didn't forgot, the God of Deep Jealousy is also responsible for the current state of the world as she gave the female people the nasty curse and obliterate all of the males in the planet. In addition, she is also responsible of giving the likes of Galia and Kai a lot of power which is a bad news for the beginning. However, the twist is that the God of Deep Jealousy is revealed to be Youta's childhood friend, Nishina, who was sealed by a machine and she is possibly created by someone else so I don't think she counts at all...
But Galia? I'd say even if the manga is still ongoing, she still pass the baseline standard with flying colors even if the God of Deep Jealousy had a lot of resources compared to her. Sure, you could argue that her attempt to awaken the God of Jealousy is a bluff given her penchant on toying with her victims. But...It's still there, as she possessed the keycard that would awaken the God of Deep Jealousy and how she threatens Katsuchi because she was the one who deciphered the password. Yeah...
I'd argue her attempt to awaken the God of Deep Jealousy really puts her above the baseline compared to the other villains in the manga considered if the God of Deep Jealousy is revived means the End of the World as We Know It. Disregarding that, I'd argue she still passes the baseline due to her penchant on psychologically breaking her victims by stealing their self-esteem and the thing that she had done towards Katsuchi was not the first time but it literally establish the pattern about her victims. That and how she attempt to flatten Mies to the ground in her dragon form which I'd argue has a lot more people compared to ones in Lille really helped her case here.
So to whit? Omnicidal Maniac witch who loves psychologically torments her victims while also attempting to use Mies as a fodder for her own food? Yeah...Seems like an easy keeper right. Unfortunately, there is the part where I hesitated a bit...
Freudian Excuse/Mitigating Factors[]
So, let's talk about Galia's mitigating factors. Buckle up as there's a lot to dissect here.
Anyways, let's talk about her Freudian Excuse alright. Galia is one of the members of the Black Dawn who mated with the man that appeared 3.000 years ago and like the Black Dawn members, her powers were bestowed by the God of Deep Jealousy. However, in turn, they can't handle their ravenous appetite so they had no choice to eat the humans as a last resort. But Galia herself...Chooses to be a sadistic person and knows what's good and evil here so she still passes the moral agency test especially because of the fact that Galia loves to psychologically break her victims by stealing their self-esteem and view it as a hobby so yeah...
The second mitigating factor that I want to address is on how she's played for laughs. Yes, Galia herself is laughably evil person. And the first time we knew her, she is a rather klutzy person who accidentally tripped herself which is played for laughs. And yes, when she reveals herself, there's this scene where she accidentally tripped herself due to her rather klutzy personality and orders the people who saw her tripped not to laugh. However, after this scene, she is played 100% straight.
I am hesitated whether to call this a mitigating factor because I don't want to be hypocritical here as I downvoted the version of Joker from Harley Quinn Animation series who is also played for laughs. However, upon realization, I decided to give Galia a bit of a leeway because well, while only one scene had her played for laughs, all of her scenes were played straight and not as a complete joke at the end of the day and if there's anyone that I can compare Galia to...That would be the likes of Baal from Iruma-kun and Konrad de Marbourg from Radiant who is seemingly played as a joke first but become dead serious as the time goes on. I think the Joker from Harley Quinn is kind of different because how inconsistent he can be when it comes to be played for laughs unlike Galia who become a serious threat as the story goes on. But uhhhh...I'm not sure on this one considering I downvoted Joker at the end of the day so yeah...
Third mitigating factor is that she does form a cordial relationship with the God that was bound in the ruined city and even Galia said she couldn't kill the god and prefer to get carry on without getting in each other's way. I think this was actually more of the fact that Galia lacks an interest on killing the god and just using him as an advantage to transport herself to other city so yeah...
Another mitigating factor that I need to address is that she developed an interest towards Misaki as she was the one who treat her wound and plans to spare her for last. However, this mitigating factor is subverted at the end of the day because she will eat Misaki for supper anyway and has no hesitation to murder Misaki when she goes against her wishes.
However, I need to address the real elephant in the room on Galia's real mitigating factors and it's on her trait when it comes to keep her promises/vows. Yes, she is bound by her word and the promises that she makes and yes, there's a sense of distraught when Galia was defeated and retreated at the end of the day but still happy that she still saw people's suffering. Yes, when I was a TV Tropes user, I messaged Scraggle a.k.a. User:LucidPigeons about this type of mitigating factors and I recalled that he said it is a bit of mitigating trait and it would hamper Galia's qualifications a little bit.
However, after reading the scenes of the manga a little bit, I concur that her mitigating factors is almost like Mok Swagger from Rock and Rule where she does promises Youta to left Sendorio and not terrorize it for one month despite being distraught about it but left her victim traumatized and taunting her she already got what she wants by destroying her self-respect. It also happens again when she destroyed the self-esteem of Kia and made a rule to Youta that she should not be mating with Kia otherwise she would brutally murdered Kia in a gruesome manner....
I think this wouldn't be so problematic if it isn't for the fact that due to her really bound to her word, it really bites her in the back around Chapter 79 where she basically becomes hungry and couldn't bring herself to terrorize people in Sendorio for 1 month due to the pact that she made with Youta. That and how she uses the town of Mies as a fodder for her food and still keep her promise not to destroy the city made me hesitate even more so yeah...With that said...I am not sure to call this even a mitigating factor or not. Maybe yes maybe no. But this give me a lot of headache.
Final Verdict[]
Arara/Galia is my personal favorite character of this manga alone. Mainly because of her design and possibly her fun personality and I would use her as an inspiration for one of the characters that I made for my own story. I would love her to go up as a PE not because PE is a badge of honor but because how she is heinous on her own. But the mitigating factors really gives me pause when it comes to get her up as a PE villain. Regardless, I think this girl deserve a discussion and I don't know what to say about this one... Until then, thoughts?