It's hard to believe its been 18 months since I posted a Yuusha Youjo chapter. As you might imagine, its dead.

So since I recently returned to start a new (much shorter) isekai romance fiction, I figured I should give the followers of this the courtesy of a post-mortem analysis.

If you were reading through it at the time of it coming out, you might have been aware that it originally started on Novelupdates, and was basically something I did to pass the time whilst I sat on Haemodialysis following my Chronic Kidney Disorder, which nearly killed me back in 2016. There is only so much you can do when forced to stay still for 4 hours, 3 times a week watching your blood get sucked from you, spin round a centrifuge, and return. So I wrote on my phone. Initially, just random notes, drafts, nothing conclusive as such.

But then one day, after reading alot of isekais, I thought 'has anyone ever really done an isekai with a complete shameless lolicon main character?', hashed out the characters for the girls, and over the next couple of days, Yuusha Youjo came to be.

I didn't expect anything of it, and honestly expected to be hammered into the ground and be given a ban or something from NU. But that didn't happen, and in fact, it got positive comments. So I carried on writing it, and it just continued to grow in size, and when it reached a certain size, I transplanted it over to Royal Road.

With a fast release due to the transplanting and editing process, it got a way bigger audience than I first thought. And for a while, it went very well. I had plenty of time to write, and plenty of motivation.

Ironically, disaster for the novel started when I finally got the chance to get better. I got a matching transplant kidney via a swap scheme; and when that happens, you don't get much notice, for obvious reasons.

But besides a brief hiatus whilst I was in hospital getting surgery, all mostly proceeded to plan. I got better, I continued to write.

But then, my home was robbed and I lost my phone, kindle, and few other things. Nothing of terrible huge value, because it was an opportunity crime that happened when I was in another room. But it was a massive impact for the novel, because this daft fool didn't have a copy of the overarching plot document copied anywhere else. I remembered some things, but not all.

Then, of course, I also had to do a phased return to work. During Dialysis, I worked 3 days a week and still got paid for 4, due to my very generous boss. Naturally, given that wonderful deal was pretty much all that kept me financially solvent during my sickness, I wanted to go back and work full-time again as thanks. So I did.

But now of course, we have another problem. Gone are the 12 hours I have nothing to do in a week besides write, reduced to my morning bus trips where I normally composed chapters. At the time, I already saw a reduced release schedule of around 3 per week, and lost my bank reserve of chapters, so, quite a few people following the fic left. Less frequent updates than about every other day is practically a death knell for web-fics when people have low attention spans.

So I had no overarching plot, and no time to write. And then, as my comments and followers dropped off a cliff as a result, gone also went my motivation. It was a serious triple-tap. It limped along for a short while, but then it died.

For awhile, I was rather embarassed about it, and stayed away from RR. I suppose I could have done more to try and keep it afloat, but in the end I gave up. It's sad, but in retrospect I do see it as inevitable, and I prefer that it ended rather than have its schedule and quality drop into the bogs.

This year, I've spent a whole different time locked up. Being a transplantee during COVID has been a real chore; where I have to be super careful as I'm immunosuppressed and the virus is extremely likely to kill me if it hits.

I'll just maintain a small hope I can actually have a damn holiday and be less alone this year.

Nevertheless, I hope you have a happy 2021.

----------------------------------------

Thoughts about the characters

>> Aria is based on an Aniventure EX tabletop RPG character I played as in a friend's game, where her initial concept was simply the fact I wanted a Paladin girl with a spear twice her height. Her original concept was an older, petite woman, but then I rolled her to be 12 from a random age modifier and just went full idiotic SUN-BRO loli with it.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Her crowning achievement in the game was doing some proper dark souls shit, throwing a lightning spear from 40 yards straight through the eye of a devil. She ended up with a fan-club entourage of lolicon male paladins who wanted to protect it after an incident where she was having a nap in a church yard with a column of light illuminating her. After her RPG shenanigans, she was an obvious first girl/protagonist.

Considering her awesome origins and many cool scenes, I was always a little sad that she was never very popular in polls.

>> Kiku was built off the blushing maiden, secret badass archetype. Her suddenly switching to 'cussing kiku' mode just randomly happened as I was writing that chapter, and I ran with it. She's probably the obvious hollywood star, being a light on her feet dual-wielder of short swords with the ability to throw them, as well as being an iron chef.

Her sister, Kako, is actually a very old character of mine, who showed up in an RPG Maker XP game I made. I always liked green-haired anime girls, who I feel are under-represented, so she ended up as 2nd girl, as the baka melee duo made sense.

I'd say her best scene is her seeking cooking tuition at the Inn. I loved that whole section, to be honest.

>> Kaede was pretty much a blank slate initially, and as a result, probably ended up with the most in-novel character development, which is probably why she, along with Seria, ended up so popular.

Well, that and her lack of hesitation in being a brutal sneak assassin I guess. Her ending up being the 3rd girl actually happened spur of the moment when Elijah is outside the tower and gets saved by her, but again, it worked as a entry point for her, and I ran with it.

I'd say her highlight is her creepy scene with getting revenge on Barbatos for maiming Elijah.

>> Seria was obviously the goal of the first arc, badass lightning mage and all. Everyone loves lightning mages, and she was meant from the start to be the loli-baba archetype. I was actually really happy how she turned out; I think her calling Elijah 'boy' all the time really sealed the deal. XD

She's was also a convienient world-lore mouthpiece in terms of narrative devices, of course, given that she was meant to be 202 years old and wise (if not sensible, given she still falls for Elijah). She and Kaede were typically the most popular girls for most of the novels run.

I don't think I'll ever forget writing "Well!? Kinah's fucking mercy boy! Don't just stand there! Am I truly resisting?! Get between my damn legs already!". I actually get a bit hot hearing her saying it in my head even today (lol).

>> Rishya was initially meant to be introduced into the party at the same time as Kiku; but somehow I could never get that to work at the time, and it made sense for Aria to be a dingus and not want to collect her at the start, so she came in after the return from the tower instead.

Party tsundere, ojou-sama, and oppai-loli all in one package, as well as badass prodigy healer, I actually really liked writing Rish. Her interaction with Seria when they both decide they like Elijah and Rishya masters mind reading Seria was comedy gold to write. Not to mention her staff Michael in general.

I'd say her best scene is her going into berserk healer mode, re-attaching Elijah's lost arm and then getting drunk on mana potions.

>> Kali went through the most tulmultous creation process. She was originally a travelling monk in my first draft, but eventually transformed in the desert nomad punchy girl worshipping the power of sausage that we all come to love. Her speaking (and thinking in) really broken english infuriated alot of readers, but it certainly gave her an impact, which she really needed, coming in as final, 6th girl.

She did rather suffer in the end from being the comedy relief character in terms of me being able to develop her seriously. I could only think of foolish tortoises. But I'd say she still turned out okay, if perhaps a little unremarkable.

She steals the stage in the 'Power of Sausage' chapter, for obvious reasons.

>> Elijah was written as a flawed, yet practical man with a very obvious and dodgy obsession with lolis, starting out weak, but driven by a determination and his system to become stronger. Originally working class who made his way through chores to become a white collar guy of moderate power and repute.

Part of him resembles myself, as most protagonists are want to be in many novels. The stubborn-ness and the fact he's a Civil Servant being the key similarities.

Don't worry, though, I'm not a raging lolicon in real life. I honestly find the idea of pedophilia repulsive. But I always found it funny when he laid his psyche bare straight away in Chapter II and immediately people recoiled in terror. My thoughts were always 'its just fiction, guys'.

There is a very clear distinction between finding young anime girls attractive, and the alternative in real life, but its so strangely black and white to some people. And yet, those same people seemingly have no problem with extreme violence in video games, when the same in real life is equally abhorrent.

It reeks of hypocrisy, if you ask me. Understanding the grey areas is something I learned from a young age; as I was allowed to play violent video-games when I was six and seven, as a teaching lesson from my parents being very implicit that this was not real.

I will honestly admit I find girls saying 'onii-chan' and 'sempai' to be strangely adorable though. Not sexy, but certainly it does something to me. Haha.

>> Yuuzu and Melody both deserve a quick mention for being interesting side perspectives. In many ways, Yuuzu was way more naive than the younger girls and is actually a more standard isekai girl, besides the fact she is bamboozled into being a lesbian by the old man in a woman's body Kurono (haha). Melody didn't have much of a character besides being a lazy smart girl who develops into a woman who embraces her noblesse oblige. It would have been interesting to flesh both of them out more if I had more time.

>> And finally, if you never got it; the title would be vaguely translated from Japanese Romaji as "Otherworldly Hero! Young Girls Love!"