I am not stretching, and I do think any manga that portrays the stuff deserves it to be pointed out. I know of people that agree with me, but alas I shouldn’t have expected anything from a bl community. A lot of people here come from mangas that romanticize couples that start with literal rape and disgusting abuse, so they are willing to overlook something packaged so nicely. Because a lot of the times, the bar is so low (for a lot of Asian BL) they jump and rejoice at the mere sign of a good plot and automatically start to excuse the bad things. Yes you are free to interpret this as healthy, and you are clearly in the majority here as well.
Yess this bothers me in every chapter, but I keep reading because it's just barely made bearable (like waiting until Alto's 18 and letting Elva grow a tiny bit). But the author is too comfortable having weird age gaps and young bodies.
Like the new guy with long hair that started liking Alto's cousin and that really wants to have sex, just how old is his body? And of course there are the tavern people being creeps with Elva in a few scenes. Plus the backstory of him being attacked in the shed when he was a kid kid.
It's everywhere, but it's like the author is aware of the implications and side steps juuuust enough to make it readable, while still wanting it to be a main element.
I won't use the word grooming since Elva didn't really shape Alto into being with him that way, plus his own body looks similar in age because of the curse, but it's definitely uncomfortable.
So yeah in conclusion the themes are bordering on problematic but the author just barely pulls it back in time to make it alright to read through, in my view.
um so the story is great and all but… Elva literally groomed Alto why is no one talking about that he was 10 years old… “stop growing up so fast Alto, stay my little puppy forever” bruh
the way we are constantly reminded of it and it is gloryfied too wth