61: Leibling Conclusion

The hosts of Yaoi conclude their discussion of Leibling by wrestling with a story that is simultaneously a sweet romance and an unhinged fantasy epic where sexual assault is a recurring plot device. The back half of the series, chapters 61 through 138 plus the epilogue, transforms from a time-travel rescue story into a sprawling magical battle involving demon possessions, demigods, and a direct argument with God. The central tension is whether the story’s repetitive violence undermines its genuine strengths—namely, a fully realized couple who actually grow and communicate.

The God Problem: Power, Pregnancy, and a Nightmare System

The most controversial element of the back half is the revelation of how the world’s magic system works. God created two demigods: Hildegard, who gives people powers, and Leopold’s past self, who was supposed to take powers away when they were abused. Leopold rejected this role, killed himself as a demigod, and reincarnated as a human, leaving no one to remove powers. God’s “solution” was to transfer powers from a mother to her child during pregnancy, killing the mother in childbirth. This creates a nightmare where spirits of dead parents haunt their children. The hosts find this plot point deeply uncomfortable, with one admitting to skipping through it entirely. However, they appreciate how the resolution works: the blind priestess Charlotte