Also oh my god, the title! "Raising Beta" because the ML is literally raising a beta (the MC). Damn, this author should just really abandon BL and go for mystery/horror they're so witty and great in writing plots! (Though not romance).
You’re obviously a writer! This was a really well thought out assessment and observation of the intertwining play of symbolism juxtaposed in two alternate realities/backdrops. The undertones of the story are far more darker and overt than the obvious displayed and given situation surface wise.
I'm not a writer I just like to overthink a lot about stories but thank you lol ⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄
I would like to add: the background is immaculate, too. the artist designs the ML's home to look like a fish tank or aquarium. Lots and lots of glass, huge glass windows everywhere. It makes a dreamy and dim background, as if the characters are under water
Oh yes that's true!! Very good observation!!
I'm not gonna talk about how much of a red flag ML is because it's obvious and apparent but I want to nerd about the imagery the author did in this manwha.
This author is the same author of Sura's Lover (WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT'S SHIT) and what I loved about the author is their skill in creating these beautiful and wonderful imagery, even amidst the shitty story of Sura's Lover.
First, the most apparent symbolism we have is the fish. The fish that we keep seeing is a betta fish, a fish known for their fighting tendencies. Another thing about these fishes are they're extremely territorial, which is why they need large spaces for themselves and why if you put two betta fishes together, they will fight.
What's interesting is that we can see how this fish represents the ML and the MC in different ways.
The ML is extremely territorial; he has cameras in his homes to watch our MC, he isolated (in a very extreme way) the MC so the MC will become dependent on him (which I will get to later) and he is, in a way only to himself, competitive in getting MC. We can see this throughout the manwha, how he binds the MC to him and especially in the backstory chapter. Honestly, this is the only aspect I can think of that relates the ML to the betta fish.
The interesting ones are all to the MC.
Like the fish, our MC is a beta. In the first chapter, we see the ML grasp the MC in his hands and crush it within his hands. You can interpret this how you want; either it means our ML broke our MC and in my way, how it means ML finally got MC in his hands by turning him into an omega by essentially trapping him in his hands. The interesting thing is, betta fishes in the right conditions CAN change genders. Just like how the ML conditions the MC's body with the pills he made the MC take for nine years (which I'm pretty sure was made possible because his family owns a pharmaceutical company).
Another is the 'territory' the ML made for the MC. Like I said, the ML continuously monitors the MC. In fact, almost everything is transparent to the ML just like how the betta fish is clearly displayed in the living room. No matter what the MC does, the ML knows and is always within his expectations (in the betta fish's case, in the confines of the large aquarium).
Second, the fish is in blue water. You might think "Well duh, that's like the usual color of water what's your point?" Think about it, what other thing is blue and has been a reoccuring imagery throughout the manwha? The ML's pheromones. Like he said, he surrounded the MC for years in his pheromones just like how the fish is surrounded (and dependent which the MC will undoubtedly be to the ML's pheromones) by the blue waters in its large, confining aquarium. Basically like the fish which can't live without water, MC will be unable to live without the ML's pheromones and the ML himself.
And lastly, the MC's imagery of being underwater. The clever thing the author did is making the color of the pheromones so like water. So in that panel where the MC is overwhelmed and seemed to be drowning in his guilt and confusion, it was a double imagery of him also being surrounded by the ML's pheomones. Like the betta fish, he's dependent on the water that is ML's pheromones. What's very cool about it is that if he does save himself from this drowning by leaving the ML and finding the truth, he won't be able to live anymore because he's already dependent on the ML. He either breaks himself to madness when he leaves and questions things (which the ML conditioned him to never do) or he just stays in the ML's territory made for him, happy and oblivious but still confined.
That's it. Just a lil' ramble lol.