while flawed in a few aspects, i do think camellia deserves some amount of recognition, so here’s my brief analysis of it. there’s a lot i’ve omitted because i don’t want to get TOO wordy here.
pretty straightforwardly, it’s about the cycle of abuse that pervades even those who try to break free from it. hyou (older) represents the abusive father, and setsu (younger) represents the abused mother, right down to their appearances. the father tells hyou about “loving [mother] so much i wanted to kill her”, and the mother warns setsu about loving someone so much that it destroys you—both of these things ended up being passed on to the respective brother, not through blood like hyou believes, but through the different but equally inherent type of reflection that children will be of their parents.
something that’s important to consider is hyou’s choice of directly representing the father he hates. if we weren’t given several peeks into his mind, we would only see the same person as his father—who, to hyou and to us, is also an unjustifiably evil person. we’ll never know if the father’s motivation is different or the same as his son’s. likewise, we find it difficult to fathom how the mother loves a man as evil as the father. the only thing that separates hyou/setsu with their parents is that we see the perspective of one and not the other. a relationship that’s incomprehensible (the parents) becomes translated for us through the lens of its direct successor (the children). everything i’ve mentioned so far is the reason why this story could not have been represented with anything but incest.
is hyou an evil person? in my opinion, yes. but it’s important to remember that he’s also the product of evil, and was unlikely to end up differently because of how severely his childhood is limited to abuse, poverty, and work. the only form of power he’s ever seen in his life is his father, so it’s also the form of power he incorporates when clinging to the only thing he still wants to hold onto—setsu.
did setsu consent to his abuse? yes. but he has never actually known power enough to be able to pursue it, as his vision has always been blocked by hyou’s protective back—and this is the vision he continues to chase. this is his form of power and survival: the constant search for proof that he’s needed, and thus the reason why he lives in service to his brother.
their versions of expressing love are, very unfortunately, sincere. in this story, there’s no such thing as the “perfect abuser” and the “perfect victim”; there’s no “perfect savior” either, as you see the cousin and uncle taking nonpartisan stances despite their desire to protect. all of them are natural products of who they were pushed to be. because the final chapters haven’t been uploaded, i don’t yet know what the author has to say about how to break this cycle, only what perpetuates it.
i already stay away from ongoing works but i couldn’t resist this time. why did i have to binge this when it’s on the ONLY ‘cliffhanger’ of the whole fucking series what the HELL
i know it’s not *really* a cliffhanger because i know this manhwa’s a wholesome one haha, nothing seriously bad to anticipate. but i want to see dad’s reaction so badly!
i’m honestly shocked with myself that i didn’t see the ‘ultimate revenge’ coming!!! in hindsight it was so obvious.
i can’t be annoyed with the uke for running, it’s a little too real. to bind someone to you because you’re pitiful to them, it’s frightening. i have been, and someways still am, on both ends of the stick.
but in the end, it was also selfish. that’s often the truth with selfless decisions
i feel like i aged 50 years waiting for this one moment. it was executed masterfully, thank you sleepyC
can someone point me to a chapter/page containing the ugly baby, i need to mentally prepare
Not sure if you've read that far yet but it's at ch43
this story ended way too sincerely, to its detriment. incest manga like “camellia” or “how to kill a heart” are some of my favorites because of the horribly bitter aftertaste they leave you with. this one had the potential to be just as nauseatingly good, but it ended up being a genuine romance instead. disappointing
interesting how moral standards for bl have changed over time. this is…quite bad, but i can see it being beloved in the past. i don’t think people tended to voice their criticisms nearly as often before.