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@db0ssman said in What are your thoughts on protagonists buying/owning slaves?:
I think I mostly fall into the camp of slavery in LN just feels like (potentially) pretty lazy trope like harems, OP protagonists, rape, or isekai. It's not to say those topics can't be tackled in meaningful ways that enhance the story, but usually, they are just an excuse to ignore having to set up something more intricate.
In that sense, I usually don't think much about it when it comes up instead of having any kind of visceral reaction to it.
Though if people are interested in this topic and why the Japanese seem to minimize slavery's effect a lot compared to other places I suggest you look up comfort women and Japan's activities in continental Asia in the first half of the 20th century. The TL;DR is that Japan invaded the continent and enslaved people by forcing them to work for a pittance or by calling them political prisoners/POWs and forced women into sexual slavery. Historically when confronted with this the official Japanese stance is that they were volunteers or prostitutes whose lives were bettered by what happened. When I was stationed in Korea (about 10 years ago), the Japanese government still never really accepted that any of this happened/took responsibility.
Lazy maybe... but in the case of some of the NEETS or socially awkward characters, you can almost expect it... its hard to change, and it would make it more understandable why you would need a blank slate as a rule in a re-incarnation system. Damage to the brain and the spirit is something that can be really hard to break out of... (Doesn't explain the 'well adjusted' characters that seem to end up with 'slaves'.)
