Yes, I love how bov handles Takas character, this manga just requires ppl to be patient since things are developped slowly and carefully and everything isn't explained in one go but bit by bit with tiny hints. I've seen so many impatient people who have read few too many of those mangas that do just brush off the SA and r*pe that assume that Taka will be the same as those(not trying to excuse the SA/r'pe Taka did). But here the SA isn't just some plot shortcut to get them together but actually it's in the heart of the story and it's never really just brushed away. Is it handled perfectly? no, I don't think there even is a perfect way to handle such a sensitive subject. Is it handled badly? Hell nah. The fact how Yu is uncomfortable around Taka is well portrayed and everyone is emphatetic toward Yu, like even far into the story where Yu is lowkey toxic we are on his side as we should be. Taka is also portrayed as vile and gross in the beginning so that no one would feel sorry for him at all, he is the villain there that everyone hates. Only after Yu is starting to forgive, us viewers start to forgive as well.
I cannot really blame some readers for skipping this manga since for so long, the classic rapey love interest who totally gets away with it has been a prevalent trope in so many bl stories. Also, the SA scenes in the manga might be triggers for some readers who experienced SA. So, I understand why they don't want or don't have the patience to stick with this story.
But I do agree with what you've said that the author did not handle this manga poorly. They are probably one of the few who are trying to explore SA tropes in bl in a more serious kind of way (and also have the love interest acknowledge his crimes and ask for penance, the bar is low but at least we got an important crumb of character dev).
And it's so true that handling fictional stories with sensitive topics such as rape is such a slippery slope. In this mangas case, the mcs quick acceptance the love interest's apology made me raise a brow. It's good though that the author plagued the love interest with his own self-reflection of his crimes and disturbing sexual inclinations so we know he isn't simply getting away with what he's done and it has a big negative effect on his relationships.
Yea, I understand too that ppl might find SA and r*pe triggering or aren't in a place where they feel comfortable reading such stuff and that wasn't what I was talking about there. Like it's 100% valid to drop manga with subjects that you find triggering or damaging to you, I think it's the healthy thing to do.
I was talking more about those people who automatically assume that this manga is like all the others with similar subjects and don't give it a chanse. Or get uncomfortable of how vile Taka is in the beginning and/or how Yu doesn't react in a way they'd like him to. hmm.. Now that I think about it more it's not that people aren't allowed to drop it, it's more like the moral highground they think they're taking by dropping this and loudly denouncing people who actually have read this.
I think Yu being able to be close to Taka regardless of the horrible crap Taka did fits Yus character. Yu is quite naive, kind and very simpleminded. If Yu doesn't like something he doesn't think about it and I think that allowed him to brush aside all the bad things Taka did so fast.
Honestly tho ppl complain about this manga but it’s not even close to the doujinshis they made. They used to make shotacon doujinshi which isn’t new but like…they heavily detailed the grooming part chapter by chapter and it was so fucked up I literally cannot erase it from my mind. I was physically ill reading it. All the doujins make me so sad when they’re written as just porn like I feel sad for all the ukes and what they have to endure I can’t even read it normally. I was actually surprised that this manga is so….normal? I thought it would be more of the same. So I’m not complaining.
yea sounds gross (shota tag is instant nope for me) D: I'm happy this was 1st Bovs manga I came across and read (I have later on read the avant garde as well, but HOBAKG is definitely much better made story).
Out in a crazy rapey way, I'm glad the author is exploring the psyche of the characters, esp. the love interest. They're not just placing those SA scenes as a 'quirky' trait of their main lead and then just brush it off.
This is probably the first webtoon format manga that really got me binge reading it. Cause most of the time, formats like this are just filled with pwp.