Yeah I think this BL leans more on the interpretation of plot = smut. I def also paused at the way slavery and the use of the term despite what u said is still used, but am also not sure whether this is an official translation? Either way, this is all very much a no brain cells needed or wanted kind of story. As for the use of dark skin in manga as a sort of "allure" I think some people have written papers about it. It's very intriguing trying to understand how race is percieved in east asia, specifically Japan with its own colonial history. Definitely could be an analysis written on this manga, but ngl I don't think the author put much brain work into it, so don't hold ur breath on worldbuilding
You may not realize you're doing it, but you are insulting the writer(and their intelligence) when you say they didn't put much brain work into. Also I'm guessing it wasn't your intention but I don't think you should tell someone how to feel just because it's not something that affects you. Whether or not it was their intention to be offensive, it was. Even if someone slapped you and said it was out of love, you were still slapped. Only the writer knows their true intentions, so I formed my opinion from what they did in the comic. Translation as excuse can only go so far when the person who has less power in the situation is made out to be in love with their country's invader. Why is it okay for someone to write about such a serious topic(a topic that has brought about wars and rebellions) so flagrantly? Hentai is not an excuse to be offensive and it can still be called out for it's oddities. I will not give it's weirdness a pass, because that in my eyes would be normalizing it.
Ok but if you really wanna fight against colonialism, I think there are better ways to do it than posting a comment on an illegal manga reading site for a work that has a (relatively) small audience. I was just replying to your comment that I don't think this was made maliciously, maybe more from a place of ignorance that privilege often grants. No need to come at me. I agree that smut is no excuse and yeah stuff like that should be called out, but it's probably more effective when the audience reading the piece is actually buying into it (like with popular books like ACOTAR etc). Of course, you're still totally entitled to have and post your opinion, but please don't come at me when I make a non-hostile response. I swear I'm not coming at you from a hostile place, so I'd appreciate the same grace.
My darling the intention of my reply wasn't to "come at you". But that is your opinion so I won't tell you how to feel. You commented under a post that said I don't care about your opinion and even in your second reply you're trying to point out the writer may not have come from a place of malice. I pointed out how I, a person who didn't ask to be placated, received your comment and used a metaphor. It doesn't matter to me how big or small the audience is, because apparently someone read it. Chill I just like talking about books, and I put I don't care about your opinion in the title of this comment for this exact reason. I don't plan to argue.
I was initially trying to just agree with you and mention that there are articles about fetishizing darker skin in manga that I thought might tickle your fancy, but I guess I didn't do a good job at conveying that. Not trying to change any opinions, just thought I was fostering a conversation. Oh well
Even if you don't want to see the oddities in having a dark skinned main character (wether it be a reference to colonized Africans or Indians etc) be called a slave and whipped by a light skinned person within the first few pages of a hentai, it is strange to not acknowledge the writer either has a master/slave kink, is trying to bait people so they can get more ppl to read their stuff, or both. This could be something lost in translation but why after the abolishment of hard labor are captives of war still being called slaves? Wouldn't it make more sense for the king and his council that supposedly eradicated hard labor to start calling them refugees, or something that's not slaves?
Ok, the skin color doesn't bother you, the fact that people are being called slaves when they're not slaves doesn't bother you, what about the fact that the main character immediately forgets about the little kid or the many other people- his people- that are still being antagonized and treated like less than bc they were originally enslaved. His whit- ice "savior's" kingdom has slaves and he's chillin bc of a hug? At the very least the writer is guilty of not paying attention to the nuance of what they wrote. Also in the 3rd chapter the writer just outright outs themselves by having the king character say that's a command/order while having sex. If it wasn't about a dark skinned character getting whipped by a whit- light skinned character why did they add it? Almost immediately the story changes into something else and that's just poor writing. Hmmm maybe they'll go more into depth about the politics but from what I've seen it looks like a writer who has a slave master fetish for specifically dark skinned and whit- light skinned characters....If you don't think so or see it my way that's your opinion. ╮(￣▽￣)╭ Just a fellow reader's opinion