We have got a lot to unpack.

 

The core of this story is taking men and women and reversing sexual morality. Not entirely reversing everything, just who is the sexually aggressive member of the species. I came up with a pivotal  moment (sliphium) and then worked out how it changed society from that point on. However, I HATE the infinite multiverse excuse for things. I find it to be lazy writing, so I said NO INFINITIES, and resolved to have a different in character reason for why Reverse world so closely mirrors 'Real' world. The whole Mana thing is part of the whole 'Eldritch-Verse Mythos' and I have the 'magic system' worked out very well. It's fairly broad with many layers and I plan on expanding on it in other stories.

It does exist here, but it doesn't play a big part.

However, Toshi does have one perk. I like doing that with my protagonists. I feel everyone has their 'thing'. Something that they are good at. So I gave Toshi the 'far end of the bell curve soul'. In the setting, it isn't that useful in his current situation, but it exists and is part of the story. I don't want to have a lot of supernatural shit in the story, but there has to be some, or the situation couldn't exist. I hope that I have done a good job creating a setting that gives me the framework I need to tell the story I want without it being too ham fisted.

I'll let you be the judge if I succeeded.

The story is set in Reverse Manga Translated Japan, not Japan. Manga Translated Japan is the Japan that you see in all these translated Manga. Trust me, the image Americans have of Japan through these manga is radically different than reality. I happen to like Manga Translated Japan and I find the setting to be cartoonish, but fun. It has a boatload of 'narrative shortcuts'. It is a simplified world and as such makes it easier to just jump to the story and skip a great deal of the boring humdrum mundane nonsense that should be in this story, if it was actual Japan.

I don't know actual Japan either. If anyone from Japan wants to make suggestions or corrections, I'd love to hear from you.

The serendipity effect is an excuse to have Reverse Manga Translated (RMT) Japan mirror MT Japan. However, I never just like handwaving things, so it is also part of the story. Yes, I actually worked out a great deal about how it works. I'll reveal the rules over time as they come up. There are stakes and ways this can royally fuck Toshi, some of which he mused about in chapter 51. I don't like revealing my hand, but I don't mind hiding a tree in a forest and letting you go on a nature hike. 

 

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Toshi's background is sprawling.

 

Toshi was just supposed to be cartoonish when I started the story as a way to blow off steam while I was working on HKN. You most likely noticed this as the story took Toshi from being sort of blase about everything to having actual PTSD. This isn't just part of the story changing as it went on, but also because he developed as a character.

I wanted to deal with a number of MT Japan concepts. The concept of an older guy Isekai'd into a younger body was always a fascinating concept for me. My only regret is not taking the 'Toshi faking that he remembers things' route. I think it would have been a much more rich and interesting story if Toshi pretended he was Old Toshi, instead of all but stating, 'I'm someone new'. In effect, Toshi basically told everyone he met, "Hi. Amnesia. I'm totally different now."

However, I'm not unhappy with the result. I think the idea of someone in that situation has to deal with a core concept, "Am I going to own this body's previous life?" Toshi got to step into someone else's life which came with a bunch of perks. He got a loving family, good looks, a substantial amount of insurance money, and is in a world where it is ridiculously easy to get laid. By all accounts, Toshi hit the lottery. However, Old Toshi's life came with a metric ton of drama, which I feel is not entirely out of place or shoe horned in. I started with the situation Toshi arrived in, then worked backwards to make the history fit the situation Toshi asked God to put him in.

Old Toshi was good looking by the world's standards. How? Well, dad had to be good looking, right? Why did old Toshi die? (Spoilers) but that answer told me a bunch of other things. It lead me to other answers that seemed to fit best if his family was in law enforcement. But why was Hirofumi married to Asuka? Well, it seemed easiest to just make Hirofumi from a well to do family who were 'the beautiful people'. The Oh family then becomes an excellent foil going forward. Then dad had issues with his family and Asuka was a way 'out'. What are those issues? (spoilers)

New Toshi found old Toshi's vapid and superficial life to be abhorrent. He rejects Honey Whitefox on a personal level. However, if the Oh family were to discover certain aspects of the new Toshi, they might take an interest in him. What they value and how they view family would require them to apply pressure to Toshi in a certain direction. Dad would be wary of his son getting caught up in (spoilers)

The other aspect of this is the Kimoto family. For the sake of brevity, I have been sticking to just Toshi and his immediate family. I feel Book 1 does a great job of establishing the setting, the characters, the relationships and the potential. However, I really want to get into the Kimoto family and their foil, the Terauchi family. The Kimoto's are a family that has been in law enforcement for generations. An entire family of hard boiled detectives, members of the military, beat cops, and government officials. They also have recurring flaws which makes the family basically extremely dysfunctional. The way they conduct themselves and support one another leads to a rather high divorce rate. They also remarry easily, being that in this world, women in uniforms are VERY sexy. They also support one another, at least the female side of the family.

The men in the Kimoto's family are kind of shit on, unless you are some of the few men interested in joining the force, then you will have a great deal more respect. Asuka getting back together with Hirofumi is actually seen in a semi-negative light. She's just postponing the inevitable. Asuka never thought old Toshi would get along with her side of the family... but NEW Toshi... well... that's another story. I'm really looking forward to exploring this dynamic.

The Terauchi family is also something I wish to explore. A gang of criminals who used to be important, but fell on hard times. A family that once conducted itself with pride and honor, but is not being forced to choose between the old ways, and abandoning tradition for 'whatever works'. Naora is the great hope for the traditionalists, where as Gen represents the utter ruthlessness of criminality. This is even compounded by the fact that Naora really wasn't raised in that environment. She lived on the edge of this world until basically the fact that her mom fucked Shizuya's son and got pregnant,  got her caught up in this nonsense. Naora's mom isn't anyone special. This actually is her motivation. Unlike the other three families that have so greatly shaped this story, she had nobody in her corner. She is a self-made woman in a world where women do not get free rides.

Shizuya translates into Quiet Night, BTW.

As Naora said, A woman is a human doing, a man is a human being. A man is worth something just because he IS. If a woman isn't doing something, what good is she? This is the cold truth of RMT Japan. However, for all of her fuck-ups, her failed schemes, and how many times she's falled down, Naora's mom has gotten back up and done her best by her daughter.

The two have radically different morality. Naroa can't help but see where her mother's short sighted lifestyle got her, and so in many ways, Naora is primed to reject everything about being a Terauchi. But she also loved her mother, because in her own flawed way, she always did what she could for Naora.

These are the three families that influence the events that created Toshi and his situation. Just so you know, I love these situations. I love me a murky, messy web of relationships that looks like a mass of tangled up Christmas tree lights covered in cheese whiz and fire ants. Ooo... So much potential!

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Which brings us to New Toshi.

 

New Toshi is a 32 year old salary man from Japan. He is now in a just turned 16 year old body. In any other manga, he'd already be onto his second harem. However, Toshi is 'real'. Or rather, realistic.

He knows god exists, he met him, and as much as he thinks that maybe the whole system might not be what he thinks, he does believe in an afterlife and the existence of karma. In a way, he's become a lot less afraid of death because of this. He also has on some level resolved to be a 'good man', whatever that might be, because he wants to score brownie points when he dies. However, he isn't selfishly being good so he can earn karma for the next life. He always wanted to be a hero, but played it safe his entire life.

This is why his relationships all failed. This is why he wound up in a boring job. This is why he was living alone and just getting by. He was always afraid of the consequences of his actions and never took any chances. Oddly enough, being given Toshi's RMT life, which is arguably far more dangerous than his MT life, has 'freed' Toshi. He believes in reincarnation. He believes in a greater power. This has freed him from the fear of failure.

At worst, he'll only die.

However, that initial belief is fading. He's getting the fear of death put back into him the hard way. Still, he feels that he wants to be hero. He has been told he's special, but that there is no obligation. He can be whatever he wants. DO whatever he wants. Nobody is judging him. God even told him, 'If All Else Fails, you can sleep your way to the top.' If that is not fiat permission to act like a sex crazed lunatic, I don't know what is.

And yet, even if there are no consequences to his actions, Toshi keeps himself in check. He does what he feels is 'the right thing', even if his morality is on a sliding scale. He'd save Naora's life, even if everyone in the school hated him for it. As scared as he was when it all caught up, deep down inside, he thinks what he did was awesome and he wants to BE awesome. This isn't entirely on Toshi, however.

New Toshi is in old Toshi's mind. The soul is gone, but there is still some residual data left in the wetware. Toshi's personality is subtly influenced by Old Toshi. The three key parts that I feel are 'nudging' new toshi are as follows:

Old Toshi's regret over his lost love. This leads to New Toshi having a 'push' towards romance as he feels a bit empty inside.

Old Toshi's need for attention. This was something old Toshi developed because of his father and the bad habits that his dad learned from being raised by the 'Oh Family'. This leads to new toshi acting in a fashion to draw attention to himself, even when he should keep his head down.

Old Toshi's desire to be righteous. This old Toshi got from his mother and Kimi. They both pushed the whole 'Kimoto's Honor' and what an honorable person does. This amplifies New Toshi's already existing desire to be 'heroic' and pushes him towards a heightened intolerance of injustice.

I'm just pointing this out because some of you might find Toshi's actions to be a bit schizophrenic. He seems to have sudden shifts in how he thinks and what his values are. He's brave until something snaps and he recoils in terror at loud noises. It doesn't help that Toshi is inside a brain that is still 'cooking'. I just want to point all this out so you know I'm not just being random. I have all these competing forces that are pushing Toshi and at certain points in the story, certain elements gain more strength than others and suddenly Toshi's priorities change.

Trust me, it's confusing for Toshi as well.

This is also why he makes bad choices, sometimes is completely clueless as to what is going on, and has the values he does. He's not just a generic Good Guy who does the right thing. If he was, he wouldn't have anything to do with Naora. But lets face facts, She's hot and has exactly the right kink that's Toshi's fetish. She'd have to murder someone for him to turn his back on her. As much as he wants to be 'the good guy', he'll let a lot slide for that sweet sweet Naora ass.

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Which brings us to Naora.

 

Originally I had planned her to be generic villainess Template #3.  I needed a BBE. She was going to be my unapologetic BBE. She was evil because she was evil and I needed a generic bully who was female. Naora.

Then you bastards actually started liking this schlock.

So I had to actually put forth some effort to figure out what was happening in this story and, as I said elsewhere, I believe in the conservation of plot. I needed a certain character to tie a bunch of elements together and it involved making a brand new character that... was basically Naora.

Well fuck me.

This is sort of why Naora disappeared for most of the story. If I had planned it better and was writing the story correctly, you'd have seen far more Naora. Alas, about the time I figured out how all the pieces fit, we were already half way through book one. So, some quick slight of hand and a little retcon ravioli and Boom, Instant flawed antagonist.

And as I developed the character that would fit what I already had established, it seemed obvious that she'd have a common flaw among type A personalities, specifically an inability to have fun. Her secret submissive side is just an outgrowth of what had to happen to get to where Naora was and have her fit into the overarching plot. However, I do NOT do the cartoonishly, HILARIOUSLY BAD type of Dom/Sub relationships like one would find in 50 shades of gray.

Oh dear god, that nonsense is weapons grade Bullshit. 

No no no. This is will be a PROPER and realistic sub/dom relationship with all the flaws and quirks that come with such a relationship. Each have their own motivations for why they want the relationship as it stands and those motivations will be followed. None of this 'I'm an emotional cripple and only your sex organ can save me' bullshit. Sorry, if you are looking for that crap, move along.

Toshi's relationship with Naora isn't just based on sex, but also on his hero complex. I don't know if they will actually fall in love, or if it will eventually fall apart, however, it isn't exactly in the most stable of situations.

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Originally Ruri was supposed to be the main love interest.

 

Yeah, when the story was cartoonish and about as shallow as a puddle, Ruri was going to be the female version of 'Please don't bully me, Nagatoro'. However, after the refocus, I decided to do something that you don't see often. I gave Ruri a spine. As soon as Ruri gained the slightest amount of self-respect, I realized that she would dump Toshi's ass in a heart beat. Not that they were dating, but she realized that he was thinking that way and needed to put a stop to it.

Toshi is fucked up by this world's standards and anyone who dated him would have to deal with quite a bit of bullshit. Even if he confessed his full situation and the other person bought it, having a relationship with Toshi is going to be work. Ruri was smart to get out when she did. Also, I really felt like Toshi needed a female friend for the perspective. If the story is about the environment, then Toshi will, from time to time, need an honest female perspective, and not from someone trying to get in his pants.

This of course, brings up the future.

 

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The next book will be a deconstruction of otome games.

 

If the first book was an introduction/deconstruction of Isekai stories, then book two will be following the tropes of an otome game. I'm sure you guys noticed that Hinako was pushing her three friends to date Toshi. That's right, we have the FOUR DATABLES! Naora, staring as the bad girl, Abi as the Tsundere,  Madoka as the obvious choice, and Meiko as the brooding loner! Since Toshi can't let anyone know he's banging Naora, he's gonna have to go on dates with the other three!

Will Naora and Toshi remain fuck buddies? Will Naora fall for Toshi and feel the need to murder the crap out of the competition? What happens if Toshi finds himself liking one of the other three and wants to actually date them?

And of course we have to have the secret, yet to be unlocked, lost childhood friend dateable!

And Hilarity Ensues!

And for those assuming it HAS to be Naora, well... I promise I will not tear her down, but I will work on making the other choices good enough that you might have doubts about what ship will sail. If the choice is obvious, I'm doing a bad job. I'm a big fan of letting the characters go their own way. I think Naora has the inside track, but let's see how this turns out. Should be fun.

We'll also continue Naora's arc with having to deal with her family legacy, as well as explore the Oh-Kimoto family dynamic. Finally, I wanted to have an arc about eSports in there somewhere, as well as a continued cavalcade of 'Hey what would X be like in Reverse World?

At some point Toshi needs to go back to his old school. That's gonna be some drama.

And, of course, as was hinted at with the last line, I hope to have Toshi finally get around to meeting the main cast of the original series. I'm not sure how to handle that. I always have a problem with writing for other people's characters, but I have a feeling I know enough about them to give it a shot. It's hard treading that fine line of original content, and respect for the source material, but I aim to give it a try.

 

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That brings us to me.

 

Currently my free time to write has gone south. I do wish to continue this story, but my free time has become a trickle. I also think I handled this wrong. If I had been smart, I would have posted every other day. That would have allowed me to stretch this out another month or two, giving me time to write ahead.

I think it might be best to take a short break before continuing. A week or two, then get back into writing. I have so much I want to write about, but I think I need to let my brain relax for a bit. The goal is to pick this back up in a month with a substantial back log of chapters so I can properly pace this going forward. I have some other stories that are related to the Eldritch-Verse. I think I may clean them up and put them up as filler content.

Personally I find Tales From The Trenches to be hysterical.

Although I think The Origin of the Quonset Manager would be more... eh... relevant. 

I doubt you would have read them. I posted them in some obscure places. And hey, if you are bored, I still got like, 60 chapters to go with HKN. However, I have sort of lost my love for the story. I suspect I will shelve that project after it reaches the end of book one. If there is a huge outcry for more Ryan, sure, we can revisit it then. Otherwise, I'll be taking a short break, then slam out a few dozen chapters, and in a month or so, we can come back with book 2.

And yes, Book one is clocked in at about Eighty Thousand words. It is on the small size of a 'book', but it's still a book by any conventional definition of the word.

If someone out there with editing skills feels so inclined to actually work on fixing it up, let me know. I want to, but I really don't have time to 'remaster' book 1. So, for now, it's just Flip the Script.

Next up is Flip the Script 2: Electric Boogaloo. Then Flip The Script 3: Flip Harder. Then Return of the Flipped script. Flip The Script of Fatal Death. Flipping In Your Grave: Script Reborn. Then DIE, SCRIPT! DIE!, Son of the Flipped Script, The Script Awakens, The Last Flip, and of course, finally...

Rise of the flipped script.

After that, we'll do some prequels. 

At least that's the plan.

See you in about a month.

 

Chow, Baby!

 

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PS, If Old Toshi arrived here via transmigration, what happened to the RMT version of Old Toshi?