side note; I had nightmares about this manhwa even after two years of reading it, where I’m in the body of Geom. that’s how raw and, I guess, emotionally consuming and powerful this whole experience was for me. I couldn’t even read past chapter 45. I’ve never immersed myself into a character as much I have for Geom, and that just really shows you how fucking insane(good) In Herin is with her characterization. Especially the mental parts, Geom‘s mental processes and thoughts broke my heart. I struggled through many chapters while covering the images and only reading the text bubbles.
Like, holy Christ, In Herin, WHO DID YOU INTERVIEW TO WRITE GEOM SO WELL??! ARE YOU OKAY???
I need to say this since I’ve been waiting for this beautiful masterpiece to blow up for two years now … the author depicts the characters, especially geom’s psychological struggles so realistically and relatably that I’m actually concerned for the author. Like, who the HELL did she interview?? How much research did she do?? Is SHE okay??? It’s shocking to me how amazingly Geom’s hyper sexuality, trauma bond, avoidance, hyper vigilance and fawning is depicted. I don’t know how the author knew so much about coping mechanisms in exploitation and rape, but my god it was awfully real imo.
I mentioned this before but I’ll say it again, a lot of the rape scenes are draw so graphically for a reason; it puts US in the eyes of his rapists, which makes everything a million times more awful to read. At no point did I feel like the author INTENDED for the rape scenes to turn you on, it was sexualized at parts but only because we are in the perspectives of the rapists (zoom-ins, disembodied parts, etc.)
Some scenes where Geom just visualizes himself after the rape just in complete darkness strikes me as really disturbing because we’re seeing a reflection of his inner mind. In the chapter when he was raped at Rieder’s party, where it depicted him lying lifelessly and covered in semen, was actually gut wrenching to me. It felt disgusting and repulsive and sexual in a very, very intentional way, and I found myself relating a lot to that image.
Geom’s early years was also fucking insanely realistic, how he coped by “flirting” with older men, how it got him “gifts” and how he then learned that flirting and seducing people was the best way to defuse a situation (we can see that during university, when he said “I’m a virgin” whenever he was attacked/insulted.)
The author really, really needs a wellness check.