This is only the start and so anything I write will only be my first impression so far.
First and foremost, I didn't really feel the chemistry between the two. That is kind of important in yaoi.
Second, you'd think that when the MC was told he was needed as a Kasaragi he'd ask why as the first reaction, especially given his background. I would also have thought it would be natural for him to say that he wasn't one, since he was thrown out.
Third, the various social aspects. The MC being abandoned as a child (just how exactly?), the whole kidnapping ring and auction which both seem to be done with a certain level knowledge among the rich. That was one full room.
But it has made me wonder about another thing in omegaverse. We are told that omegas are the socially the lowest because they can't work. Yet they are fairly rare and should be desirable for alphas. Besides once an omega does form a pair of some sort, they shouldn't have any problems with working. So given these different aspects I would actually expect such a society to place a higher social premium on omegas than generally portrayed.
That was really the seme's idea of being thoughtful??! Where to begin....
Now Imagine if he wanted to me rude. LOL
This was surprisingly good. So often when a story is in this type of setting it ends up being "cheap" rather than sexy, and having little to no story to it. This is only the first chapter, but so far it was very promising.
And I hope the last bit will mean that the boss is now gone and Kaede won't have to go so far in his acts. Besides it can usually be a lot sexier to leave something to the imagination.
Not your usual shoujo, to say the least. But when all is said and done I'm not sure I really like any of the characters. Certainly not the older sister, who is spoiled, childish and carrying on with a boy she shouldn't. She clearly is allowed to get away with things because of her looks. The MC is suffering from a severe inferiority complex and chip on her shoulder. She is seriously judgmental of other people. That I could possibly forgive, but not the hypocrisy that she resents everyone for their adoration and giving her sister a pass on the things she does while doing the very same thing herself. By the time I got to the last chapter available I was getting kind of tired of her constantly condemning others for admiring her sister but doing it herself. Nor could I understand why the guy (Takeshi?) would be interested in her romantically. Just because?
The mangaka is obviously taking serious issue about the whole "fated pairs" in omegaverse, and about time. Yuka and Kaoru are obviously representing the case for love. But what is more interesting is what Rin and Taiga represent.
Rin represents the instinctive side of things. He feels like he must have Kaoru because of all his physical needs. It's easy to sympathasize with him, but at the same time he is also selfishly disregarding both the actual feelings of Karoru and Yuka in this. He considers that because they are a fated pair nothing else matters. A view that is too often generally accepted in omegaverse, and stories are written to accommodate it so it ends happily.
Taiga on the other hand, started out believing in fated pairs, but has slowly, it seems, started to question it. He is the opposite of Rin. He wanted a fated pair for the relationship they would have, the bond, because he knew he could trust it, as it would be unbreakable. Now it would seem he realizes that it is meaningless if it just ties two people together against their will. Moreover he is the one who tries to tell Rin it would hurt people if he was to get his "fated pair".
So is Rin really not capable of understanding that people would be hurt, that what he feels is not love, or of letting go? How much of this is because he wants a "fated pair" for himself and the security of it, and could if he wanted to resist his instincts? To find real happiness with someone who wants him and cares for him rather than the easy illusion of it that is a "fated pair".
this needs way more upvotes lolol this is such a good explanation~ (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
this freaking fated pair is something like a "mate" in werewolves stories on wattpad. As much as i read there i came to conclusion that one can't always end up with their mate and can mate with others but not with someone that already has a mate. The only loophole is that there is a rejection in those stories. It's true that having a fated pair is for a reason so we can't deny that and this story is bound to end tragically ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Not sure it is quite the same. I haven't seen anything in werewolf lore that would equate to the "bite" function in omegaverse. With werewolves that only happens between mates, and then both parties are usually mated or both not. In omegaverse I don't quite understand how someone who was bitten by someone who wasn't their "fated partner" would react if they later met their "fated pair". In many stories it is more than hinted that biting omegas that alphas are less than serious about is not uncommon. It seems like there are two contradicting ways to form pairs, and the more common one undermines the chances of the rarer one of being formed.
Well actually, i have read stories where the bite has the same function as in omegaverse. (In heat you need the partner, you can't be with someone else because od the bite which causes pain or even death of the partner or the person themselves) It honestly depens on the author (manga or wattpad) just now i am reading a story where fated pairs are very rare (they always are) so people mate or mark someone that isn't their true mate, so yes you can mate with someone other than your true mate.
So about the "pull" you feel, that only happens with true mates or in omegaverse when an omega is in heat and attracts alphas, otherwise the omega and the alpha can feel it even if they aren't in heat. That's one difference between those "parallel worlds".
Also in omegaverse the omega goes into heat when they mature but in werewolf stories they only(?) go into heat after they mate or have the mark. That also depends on the author.
That wasn't quite what I meant by "bite function". I meant that while in werewolf lore the bite seems to form a bond both ways (or not both ways) whether or not the mating is true mating or not, while in omegaverse it seems to function somewhat differently. There it can be used to form a pair if that is what the alpha wants, but it can also be used and abused by alphas in a very casual way, with the same drastic results for the omega and no consequence to the alpha. If an omega once bitten is unable to have a relationship with anyone other than the alpha who bit him, this would seem somewhat problematic in the long run and unsustainable if it really is culturally acceptable for alphas to run around and bite omegas they aren't in a committed relationship with. Yet that is exactly what so many stories would seem to indicate. It would make it far less likely that those omegas (and alphas) would ever have a chance of finding a "fated pair".
When you consider that an omega goes into puberty at a young age, and at that point becomes a walking target that somehow has to survive without being bitten or forming a pair with someone (and being bitten) before some day possibly meeting his or her fated pair that lives who knows where compared to them, it just seems that the odds are not only against it, but the whole "bite" thing makes it all the more unlikely to happen.
Humm you're right, it is unfair that alphas are free to form a harem of omegas but omegas are bound to one alpha, there is a manga like that. I haven't really focused so much on it but i definitely read about it.
But i sure did read that when in pair the alpha wouldn't react to the smell of another omega the way they did or the need to make them theirs is reduced to a point. So when you think about it, it does effect them in a way. That's way forming a pair can be in favor of both people that want to avoid a situation where they are more instinct than reason.
Aside from the fact that I haven't seen anything about alphas in pairs not reacting (other than by shear will, it generally is an ignored problem) to other omegas, that wasn't really the point. Since in omegaverse a bite doesn't automatically form a pair for both (or not for both) the way it does in werewolf lore it is not the same. Alphas can bite omegas who then are tied to that alpha without the reverse being the case. For life it seems. And the alpha can do this multiple times before pairing up with someone, whether or not that someone is a "fated pair". Meanwhile the omegas can't move on to other partners. Not sure what happens if the alpha dies.
There is absolutely nothing like this werewolf lore. So a "bite" functions in a different way in omegaverse than it does in werewolf lore. With werewolves to be bitten is basically the same as mating for both. The same can't be said in omegaverse. There you'd need the details and context before you could say whether a bitten omega was actually in a pair or not.
So i get what you mean and i understand it. It surely isn't the same but it has similarities not the including the bite. So you're saying that even if the omega is bitten you can't tell if they have a pair? And they can be easily left alone and not be able to function well BUT the alpha can bite another omega and they live happily ever after.
Essentially. That in omegaverse the bite is binding only on the omega and not the alpha who is still free to bite another. This story has already twice indicated the various problems with that. First when Taiga in the beginning says something jokingly about biting omegas and tossing them aside, even if he's not serious it hints that it does happen and is to a certain extent socially acceptable. (Compare it to f.ex. if it had been our world and he had joked about raping a girl, that would probably have made the other guys react, but finding a girl for just for sex wouldn't.) Later when Taiga is trying to explain to Rin the consequences of what will happen to Yuka should he get his pair. In both cases it shows different ways omegas can be bitten and left by alphas.
The funny thing is last night I did seem to recall that I had come across a story or two that had an alternative version of how the "bite" functioned in omegaverse. Now I think recall this correctly, but I can't be certain how much of this was the actual story or my own further idea of how it should work. It was less permanent. That the bite mark was effective for a period of time, something like a year or two, but as it healed it slowly wore off. If the alpha was around the healing would be slower, and he would normally "refresh" it. And with each refreshing it got stronger and longer lasting. If it wore off it was almost as if the omega was never bitten, except he would always be slightly more sensitive to that alpha, and his heats would be slightly lighter than before. Until he was bitten by another alpha. I admit I find this idea more sensible, as it solves a lot of practical biological problems.
Idk- There's a lot one could say about this chapter, but what struck me was the difference in the kind of family each character came from. Though Kawase isn't actually getting support as such, he does have an emotionally warm and loving family which motivates him and generally just support him by loving him. Kurihara on the other hand has family that just piles on the crushing expectations and offers no support, not noticing, or worse caring, that their son is becoming seriously ill from over-studying. While both do well, one is definitely doing better, both as far as results are concerned but also when it comes to mental stability and health.
I'm sure that the mangaka was making a point about this deliberately.
This is different and interesting, and it will be nice if it leads somewhere at some point. Though at the moment I simply couldn't understand why the MC couldn't just tell "Fella" that the reason he needed his help was to help another guy out of his room. It's a good reason to be asking for his help, and would be more likely to get it than just begging. Sure the MC might have gotten caught up in it, but when he asked himself why he was doing it to begin with it ought to have been the obvious thing to say.
The story was cute but somehow at the same time it lacked that chemistry and drama to really make it riveting. Nor did it really need to have the extra bit of Touma loving her as well, which seemed to lead nowhere. I mean does it have to be that a guy and a girl in manga can't just be good friends or as close as siblings, without it having become love just to show how darn irresistible the MC is? To me it seemed as if Touma was worth more to the story as a friend, and there was no need to make him in love with her at all. All it did was complicate things unnecessarily.
So plot-wise ok- since one certainly wanted to know how it all worked out. But the whole issue of being the male heir- that was just sort of dropped. Is she still the heir? Or not as far as the rest of the world is concerned?
Lots of comments here about the heroine being weak. Given the rules of ancient Chinese society and how limited she was in options, not to mention conduct, not really. What the story lacked was not only flow, but a slightly more realistic cast of characters to make things interesting. They all feel like cardboard cutouts with no depth. There's the smart angelic goodie twoshoes, the good faithful lover, the powerful jealous lover, all with no personal quirks or faults. They don't seem real, so the romance doesn't seem real and lacks the power to engage.
This may end all cute and happy because it's romantic fiction and all. But, idk, while I understand Ikuto's issues, to leave like that, to not apply to the same college after they'd been planning on going together for so long without a word of some sort of explanation is cruel to the other person. And then when the guy does show up in his new life, he is being rather a jerk to him. If we had no idea of how he felt and we weren't looking at this through a yaoi lens but at them as 2 best friends, though we might suspect, we'd still think that Ikuto wasn't being the nicest friend. Well guess who doesn't know.
That wasn't cute at all. That was rather mean and selfish. We sympathize with Ikuto not only because it is a story and we are shown his feelings clearly, but because we are reading this for the love. But if a BF suddenly did this to any of us, we 'd be like WTF???
I feel you
Well , my take is Taizou repeatedly said he didn't get in contact with Ikuto.. If you think about it , it was a whole school year he barely came home. He's busy with his life. But I think Ikuto knew he was in love with a straight man and that path was leading to continual heartbreak, so he chose a path where he didn't have to see Taizou dating women at school. I may assume that my friend had left me behind and didn't care enough to know about my life if I was treated that way.
First, it isn't like I don't understand Ikuto's issues, I do. Second, I have tried to remember (confess to being too lazy to actually look) if Taizou says something. I think he does say something halfassed at one point about not bothering Ikuto, besides the drunken scene. But not something Ikuto would be likely to understand. Moreover it isn't made clear that they don't see each other at all, but it seemed more like Taizou just generally kept away and would be there on those occasions when Ikuto would be taking time off from studying like holidays.
If Taizou did say something even halfassed, he did try to communicate what he was doing to Ikuto, he just did a really bad job of it. Moreover you can't fault him for going out with women. He's not doing it to hurt Ikuto. I have to admit I wasn't clear on whether Taizou had actually moved away from home to live at college or not. If he had it would make it even more natural for him to be more away than he used to. Even if the college is close by.
But in the end, it still isn't the same thing as choosing to move away and ditching plans you made with your best friend without a word to them. Ikuto is only thinking of his own feelings in this matter without considering how Taizou will feel. If he cared so much about Taizou, even if he wants to get away, he'd want to do it in a way that Taizou could understand. How hard would it have been to say something- like sorry he'd really like to go to this college in Tokyo because of this department and would Taizou support him? In fact the story could have been much the same, with him going and Taizou missing him and chasing after him at the first chance.
Such a sensitive person. I worry for you when one day you have to deal with RL
"One day"?? I'm not alive? And perhaps you better not make any assumptions about me. From the sound of it you clearly assume I've had little experience of life. Tsk tsk. It is exactly because I have had experience with life that I understand the importance of being considerate of others. You, however, sound rather insensitive to others. What goes around comes around.