I’m sorry but I think you got swept away by the titillation and the impact of the ex’s exciting but toxic yaoi manga setting. When it comes to the ex’s appearance, he’s actually only appeared in half of chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, a short farewell in ch 9, and finally the extra. That’s not encompassing the entire series at all. And the bonus chapter wasn’t even about how happy Mah is with Tatsumi, but rather shows how he got fed up with their lifestyle and left him behind, so I’m not sure why you’re reading the author as wanting Mah and Tatsumi to be endgame lol
I suggest you try reading this author’s other works because a lot of the relationships she writes are unconventional, sometimes more interested in separating physical and romantic attraction, sometimes more focused on platonic bonds than romance, and she even writes oneshots where she notes in the end that the couple will break up in the future. And then come back to this with an open mind about how BL is written.
Oh wow. I guess I should have expected a condescending response. Yeah, I did read the mangaka’s other works, and their notes at the end of their works when available. My comment encompasses my view of their unconventional portrayals of relationships overall as well. As you said yourself, they don’t necessarily depict relationships that they imagine would last, so then you could recall that it extends to relationships that they depict as healthy (or semi-healthy?) as well. And so the fact that the seme felt a certain way and left a toxic relationship for a healthier/ more fulfilling one doesn’t tell me much whenever the narrative routinely circles back to his old lifestyle and or relationship, even as he seeks comfort in the present from the MC. People go back to toxic relationships all the time for varying reasons, as I’m sure you know. The specific number of times the ex appears is irrelevant to my impression, not sure why you think that matters either. You may be correct about how much more impactful it feels, but that only makes me question the mangaka’s intention even more. It’s fun to overanalyze. I don’t that’s a sin. Story-wise it continually emphasizes an attachment to the past, ever so subtly, that I interpreted as something more. I don’t think it’s invalid. And despite how my original melodramatic comment comes off the lack of sexual intimacy between the present couple didn’t bother me at all. It made sense given MC’s trauma. I didn’t expect a smutty extra between the present couple. It’s not about the sex.
We can agree to disagree, you know. No need to talk down to me about how BL ought to be written and interpreted, and how open-minded I must be.
I didn’t think I was condescending, sorry if you felt that way. Just thought that your comment focused a long on the past relationship and the physicality of it when in my reading it was a pivotal central element of the story but it wasn’t the full scope, and I only pointed it out and how even the extra wasn’t a positive moment but a break up.
Nothing about that comment was condescending though?
The entire story seems more like an homage to the seme’s relationship with his ex. As though the entire manga is actually a long epilogue to events after their break up rather than a story about the new relationship. Like even the fucking bonus was focused on the exes WTF WHY. We can’t even have a bonus with the new couple?? I don’t give a shit how the seme left. It was pretty unsettling to finish the story and boom back to square one with the seme planting his face in his ex’s junk. For fuck’s sake. I feel so bad for the uke, and yeah call 911 because this seme is a scum. Call scumbag central immediately. I really disliked him and tbh even though I usually like ambitious characters like the ex he started pissing me off too. Honestly, since there is so much worship and focus on the past relationship it makes the uke seem like he’s a filter character rather than the MC. Like he’s a temporary lover that the seme is with while on a break from the ex and their chaotic life together or something. It’s pretty sad. Why didn’t the mangaka just make the ex and the seme endgame I wouldn’t know. I mean clearly they want it more than anyone, judging by that extra. I seriously doubt the seme will quit dark web bullshit entirely and their personalities were twisted. They both deserve each other. Comments talking about how the seme fell out of love because he needed someone who ‘understands’ him and his longing for a peaceful life, uh-huh and this scumbag right here was super understanding with the uke and brought peace into his life too yes? Pls. I felt genuinely bad for the uke. I felt like he was disrespected by the mangaka the most lmao.