Clash of cultures, again – Chap. 6, Act 4, Strip 77

This could have all been so quick and easy, with a ruthless and determined villain like Admiral Watanabe.

But, unfortunately, his determination also covered being determined not to come over as boorish or ignorant, so he did his homework and read up on what kind of behavior his American guests would be expecting from him as their villainous host.

According to his research, one thing he was supposed to do was treating his captives with ironic politeness. That one he didn’t mind, since he would have been doing that in any case. He’s been doing that to practically everybody for as long as he can remember. >_>

The next thing appeared a bit more mysterious to him – explaining his whole plan and his motivations to people he’s about to get rid off. Seems so senseless. But there could be no doubt that it was standard operating procedure for Western villains, and that his captive audience would very likely be diappointed if he skipped that part. He even checked the earlier BMC chapters, and saw that all of his predecessors as villains had gone through the process.

So, naturally, he ultimately felt obliged. I’m sorry.

Which is not to say, of course, that the good Admiral didn’t find a thing or two in those standard operating procedures for Western villains that seemed so illogical and arbitrary that he determined that he would modify them to be more to his liking. That’ll only be obvious a bit later, though.

More on Thursday.







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