I stopped commenting here for so long that I forgot how messy the comment section was.

I appreciate your perspective. Let’s take a step back and breathe. I believe it’s important to separate fiction from reality, much like how we view horror movies. Jinx is no different in that regard.

From what I gather, you seem to be treating this story as if it were real. While there are moments of violence, there is no murder or torture in Jinx. You might mention the loan sharks beating Dan, but that doesn't equate to the torture being discussed.

I think you’re missing the essence of our point. Horror movies often explore dark fantasies without condoning real-life violence, and similarly, readers can engage with complex narratives in BL without endorsing harmful behavior. While certain tropes can indeed be problematic, analyzing fiction allows us to understand its impact better. Fiction can reflect reality, but it doesn't dictate our views on relationships.

Engaging with these themes critically fosters deeper understanding rather than outright condemnation. It’s vital to have nuanced discussions instead of painting all readers with the same brush.

I really think the owner of the original comment should just delete it, like for real, we are reaching too many replies already, I think it reached 30 >>. Her notifications must be suffering big time

Shhh if I can remember correctly you were the one who mentioned murder and toture so I was following what you said

you aren't ready to have a serious Convo right now nobody is saying jinx isn't fiction it is fiction everybody knows that it's not real, because a book is fiction doesn't give an author right to depict shitty stories and violent themes books can have sa rapes and violence maybe talking from the victims point of view this book clearly doesn't paint the seme as the bad guy much and paints it as something normal or some kind of normal relationship what do you want to understand?? Understanding what kind of themes I can't believe people still support shit like this I've lost hope in humanity

speak for yourself there are plenty of creepy bl stans that have already turned this into a gay fetish because it's fiction doesn't mean it wouldn't have an impact, do some more gathering I'm vexed not because I think it's real but people don't see the problem and just going "meh it's just fiction it's just a little bit dark romance",horror movies are made to scare and they do show in the plot as what the villain is doing is wrong and harmful but a lot of bls don't, they continue the relationship and act like nothing happens the uke probably forgives and goes back to normal instead of characters like jaekhyung going to prison and getting what they deserve, luckily there is a 31 minutes vid on YouTube on why this wrong check it out and if you still see this as "fostering deeper understanding" get helpp
"dark fantasies" that's all you see this as,blatant sa

I would never paint all readers with the same brush because I can clearly see there are still the normal ones left

It seems you believe that the themes portrayed in fiction have real-world consequences, which is a valid concern. We should examine how these stories shape perceptions of relationships, even if they are fictional. Let’s explore your comment further.

"Shhh if I can remember correctly you were the one who mentioned murder and toture so I was following what you said"

--- Is your interpretation of what I said aligned with my intentions or words? No.


"you aren't ready to have a serious Convo right now"

--I’m completely serious, and my comments reflect that. Is that considered projection?


"nobody is saying jinx isn't fiction it is fiction everybody knows that it's not real,"

--While it's clear that Jinx is fiction, that's not what we meant.

"because a book is fiction doesn't give an author right to depict shitty stories and violent themes books"

Look at horror films like "Saw" or "Thanksgiving."


"because a book is fiction doesn't give an author right to depict shitty stories and violent themes books can have sa rapes and violence "

--There are many examples in fiction, including "The Bible," "The Hills Have Eyes," "Evil Dead," "The Crow," "American Horror Story," and more.

Considering Dan’s perspective can paint Jaekyung negatively, as it makes Dan seem like an object, which he isn’t an object to Jaekyung.

" Understanding what kind of themes I can't believe people still support shit like this I've lost hope in humanity"

Themes with SA? That exists in many works, from "Sixteen Candles" to "Animal House," "Back to the Future," "Ghostbusters," and even "Looney Tunes."

"speak for yourself there are plenty of creepy bl stans that have already turned this into a gay fetish"

--Claiming that many fans have fetishized this genre isn’t accurate. That is misrepresenting them with an opinion.

"because it's fiction doesn't mean it wouldn't have an impact,"

-- It's true that fiction can have an impact, but how much does it influence those who attack others while misrepresenting these themes?

" I think it's real but people don't see the problem " People sees Jinx being problemic but do you see the problem with what you and those like you are doing by making up points and conflicting this to reality as it shouldn't."

While people recognize Jinx as problematic, do you see the issue in your approach of conflating fiction with reality? You dismiss the horror movie analogy, which suggests you view the violence and rape in "American Horror Story" as acceptable.

"and just going "meh it's just fiction it's just a little bit dark romance" ,horror movies are made to scare and they do show in the plot as what the villain is doing is wrong and harmful "

Saying horror movies are purely meant to scare is misleading.

"they continue the relationship and act like nothing happens the uke probably forgives and goes back to normal instead of characters like jaekhyung going to prison and getting what they deserve"

Not all narratives follow the same pattern; many yaoi stories offer different perspectives. In real life, Jaekyung wouldn’t face prison.

If that video is from Laby, I won’t watch it due to its misinformation.


" that's all you see this as,blatant sa"

While I acknowledge that Jinx involves sexual assault multiple times, it seems you’re equating that to reality while ignoring my points. Dismissing the presence of rape doesn’t eliminate the sexual assault or coercion depicted—rape is a form of sexual assault, SA can be many things not just rape. It’s crucial to use these terms accurately and avoid hasty labeling. Why focus on dark romance while overlooking the murder and rape in shows like "American Horror Story," where characters often undergo transformation after horrific actions? This transformation is unlikely in real life, similar to many other horror movies. They exist for adult entertainment and shouldn’t be conflated with reality, which you seem to misunderstand.

"I would never paint all readers with the same brush because I can clearly see there are still the normal ones left"

--I won’t generalize all readers, but your biases and beliefs may influence your perspective.

Example of "I won’t generalize all readers, but your biases and beliefs may influence your perspective."
You generalized my friend in your initial comment, making it easier to attack from your viewpoint rather than their own. You seem to assume they don’t recognize the problematic themes, while I feel you’re conflating fiction with reality. BTW, they have comments saying Jinx is non-con, SA, and Sexual coercion but it is not rape. We are fully aware of how problematic Jinx but it is for entertainment for those who understand.

The real issue lies in people not taking the time to understand before shaming others for their preferences, while similar themes in works like "Saw" or "AHS" go unchallenged. Those who enjoy Jinx have every right to do so, and attacking them for it is unjust.

Long response incoming!

1-) For the people who are disgusted by the ML behavior, is Jinx your very first Yaoi?

Nope! This isn’t my first yaoi. But to counter this question—am I not supposed to feel disgusted by Jaekyung’s behavior towards Dan? Am I not supposed to feel anger, horror, disgust, etc about another character hurting the main character who I’m rooting for? Aren’t you, a lot of the time, meant to sympathize with the protagonist and the things they’re experiencing? Or is that different here for some reason? Why?

2-) Are you used to read only Shounen Ai?

Nope! Again, this isn’t my first yaoi, and I’ve read a variety of different things. Or, well, used to read. I’ve stopped reading yaoi/BL webtoons, or at least, ones where romance (or “romance”) is the main plot and there’s nothing else going on (I like fantasy settings, adventures, and also character explorations/psychological stories so my interests have somewhat changed over time).

3-) How many Yaoi have you read?

I don’t know, it never occurred to me to keep track. I’ll say probably at least 20, just based off my page here (which I don’t use very much at all LOL).

4-) If Jinx isn’t your first Yaoi, which one was it?

I don’t remember. The first one I have here is Ten Count—something I actually kind of want to revisit, because I was quite young at the time of reading, and now that I’m older and have more perspective, I’m interested to see how it holds up. From what little I can recall I feel as if it handles some of it’s own themes/topics somewhat well but likely with some inaccuracies and sexual fantasy aspects as well (Ten Count features a protagonist with OCD and I believe the whole premise is he ends up having to do exposure therapy to cure it with the guy who is treating him, who he falls in love with).

5-) Did you read or are reading the most popular Yaois?

I don’t know what’s popular nowadays aside from this. I know Killing Stalking was popular and I’ve read that one. I started reading Painter of The Night and don’t recall really caring much for it? Ten Count was itself popular for a time…

6-) Do you know that no one is holding you captive to read this, that you have the choice to ignore this manhwa and pretend that it doesn’t exist?

Yes I do :) I’m not going to though because I’m interested in seeing how it ends and how the author will handle it. In the first place I read it to see if I could understand where people were coming from in how they were discussing it. But besides that, I engage with it willingly, even if I don’t like it, because I think there can be value in engaging with the things we don’t like just as much as there is in engaging with the things we do like. Knowing what we don’t like and being able to articulate why is useful, as it teaches us more about ourselves and the way we think about things/how we feel about things. It may help instruct us in how we choose to move through the world. As someone who is myself a writer, engaging with Jinx is a useful exercise because I can think through how craft is working (or isn’t working) in the story, and how I can apply it in my writing.

7-) How old are you?

22 :)

8-) Are you dealing with any kind of trauma right now?

Yes, and I’m not going to disclose what it is, because I nor anyone else should have to prove that I’m NOT suffering from some type of trauma that would prevent me from having some kind of knee-jerk reaction to this webtoon and what it’s depicting. The implication that the only reason why someone might have any type of adverse reaction to this webtoon is because of some type of mental illness or trauma is fucking stunning. I don’t know if this was your intention or not, OP, but this question frames things as if anyone who has any disagreement with the webtoon just has something wrong with them, and thus they and their perspective can and should be completely discredited. You’re also positing that people with trauma and/or mental illness are incapable of engaging with any type of taboo media without that trauma/mental illness getting in their way of them critically analyzing things or separating fiction from reality, which is…infantilizing, to say the least, and perpetuates horrible stereotypes against those with trauma/mental illness. Again, I’m not saying that was your intent. But I wanted to point it out. Especially if you are actually concerned about people who suffer from these things.

9-) How long have you been a active member of the Yaoi community?

I don’t consider myself as part of a “yaoi community,” I’m someone who enjoys stories. Yeah, I might have a preference for BL, but the sexuality doesn’t necessarily matter to me as much as whether or not the story is well-written and/or entertaining/engaging in some way. My account says my first bookmark or whatever was 2018 so at least 6 years.

10-) Have you read Jinx?

Sure have! Read it once and then read the first four chapters again and took notes on it specifically so that I could disprove claims that Jaekyung did not rape Dan (spoiler alert: he did, by all definitions, rape him, and if you don’t understand that—we can discuss why).

11-) How worse is Jinx compared to other popular Yaoi out there?

No clue. I don’t really read this shit anymore unless my friends recommend me something. Again, my general interests have changed and shifted. I’m sure there are manhwa out there that depict similar or even more harrowing topics than rape and abuse, amongst other things, and I’m sure that there are some that handle these topics better and/or worse than Jinx does. That said, it doesn’t really matter if there are worse things out there. We’re talking about this specific manhwa. That’s like if I was talking about some guy that robbed a bank and hurt people and how it’s wrong that they did that, and you turned to me and said “well there are worse criminals out there!” Does that now mean that what the criminal I was talking about wasn’t wrong for what he did? And that we can’t/shouldn’t address it? That we should excuse it, even?

Addressing your final points and conclusions

There are absolutely some people who are here critiquing the manga for what I believe are the wrong reasons, or without taking a nuanced approach to it. There are some who I’ve talked with here who seem to be against the portrayal of rape/abuse in media period, for example, or the idea that people might get off to those types of dynamics in a fictionalized context—I think that that’s wrong. Indeed, people should be able to write what they want to. And I think telling stories about rape and abuse can be good, actually—it can help people better understand abusive relationships and how they work, it can help people work through their own traumas, all that fun stuff. But I believe that when we’re handling issues like rape and abuse, we have a certain responsibility to depict those things with care, especially with something these topics which are so…fraught in real life. It doesn’t mean don’t show it, or dumb it down—it means portraying those things with truth and with nuance. It means actually, fully exploring the implications of the things your characters say and do, and what effect it will have on the other characters and the story overall. The only exception I personally take with this is if you’re writing a complete and total sexual fantasy, wherein you’re free to play around with those types of story elements because it’s porn and you and everyone else understand it to be that. Jinx, to me, does not feel like total fantasy. Especially since the non-porn aspects of this story actually have bearing on the characters, and we know for a fact that Jaekyung is going to have an arc in which he learns and grows. Porn without plot just...wouldn't care to do those things. So I don't think it's unfair to want more out of the story and the things its portraying, especially things as serious as rape and abuse. And ESPECIALLY when we already have so much media that portrays abuse and nonconsent in ways that are often harmful to people.

You talk about how there are other manhwa out there that are more explicit or more brutal, I guess, with their depictions of rape and sexual assault. I’m sure there are. But see, some of them are indeed meant to just be sexual fantasy. There’s little to no rhyme or reason for what’s going on, only enough so that the two characters can get together and start fucking. And other manhwas, they do depict more brutal abuse—but they haven’t just thrown the abuse in there for funsies, they actually intend to and do explore the impacts rape and abuse can have on people, to explore how people come to become abusers or fall into and stay trapped in abusive relationships. It’s not just there to be there. I don’t know how Jinx will end so I can’t say what the author’s intentions are for sure and whether or not she’ll actually address all of this stuff properly, we’ll have to see. But I honestly am not holding out hope for it, based off the writing of this so far.

My friend is addressing morbid themes like rape, sexual assault, murder, torture, and more. While these themes can and has appear in horror movies, they’re also present in dark romance. The focus seems to be on dark romance, even though similar themes are explored in other genres. If we try to eliminate dark romance, which is a sought-after genre, we risk losing other valuable narratives as well. Many horror films delve into dark themes without needing to conform to strict moral standards. Policing fiction threatens the existence of genres like horror, thrillers, fantasy and more.

It seems that some are conflating reality with dark romances while doing the opposite with horror. Exploring difficult themes could help understand why something exists.

My friend was encouraging you to reflect on this, but that point has been dismissed. My friend’s intention to promote reflection is also a constructive approach.