To give a fresh prospective on bro, I think if you reread the whole story again, you will see that he wasn't actually romantically in love with Taehyuk.
The one thing we truly know about him (sorry forgot his name ㅠ) was that he was obsessed with Taehyuk and longed for his companionship. But I think he really did just see him as like a little brother. Bro grew up in a messed up family environment (heir to a corrupt nation/family) so he definitely did not grow up in a healthy emotional space. He didn't get to be a kid and had to mature very quickly. His only healthy relationship was with Taehyuk so he hung on to that and in his own way, he wanted to protect Taehyuk from the messy royal politics and keep his only "love" by his side.
People who grew up like that end up as an adult who doesn't know how (or even want) to build relationships with others. He got married but never did anything with his wife. He also never really tried anything with Taehyuk. A healthy-bodied grown man yet nothing..? He probably doesn't have the capacity to feel anything sexual cause his mind is too busy longing for emotional fulfillment. He sincerely loved Taehyuk but it was a fked up kind of love where he seeked the love he should have gotten from family, friends, etc.
That's why he was able to realise his wrongs and break down. Then he took his own life when he realised he killed the only person who ever showed him joy and kindess, the only person who ever mattered to him.
That's why in his next lifetimes where he grew up in better environments, he was able to repent properly. And when given the chance to be in a healthy relationship as a real family, he did it and was able to fully let go of his obsession and let Taehyuk be his own person. And then he got his closure.
I don't think he's such the bad guy everyone paints him to be. He's still an anatagonist who did Taehyuk wrong, but I think people are looking in too much at him cause not once did he try to bed Taehyuk. He's not a fked up rapey 2nd ML, he was a kid that never got loved and became a fked up guy.
yall never learn from hating (esp towards female characters). yall always say the most hateful vile things at the jump just like when yall hated on the girl who accidentally bumped into sungho.
look at the setting ffs... did you really think someone raised in a countryside village in skorea is going to be openminded and progressive?? and miok most likely has her own story where she had to learn the hard way that being "unordinary" is bad. and she's just a kid, she's going to university so she's probably around 18/19?
did yall forget our sunny days has this pattern of introducing a character with an unresolved sad backstory that sungho and haebeom help to resolve? very family drama coded, but yall dw to let the author cook and only complain when they just barely added the ingredients into the pot.
calm your tiddies down gosh that was lengthy
not this whole ass essay.
no, you calm down stupid bitch
Girl idc if she's a woman I would say the same shit if she was a man. I understand your point bc a lot of the times too many people hate on female characters in bl, but she's literally butting into his love life for no reason. yeah sure with good intentions but I'm still gonna criticize that, I don't hate her but I also don't exactly like her rn
I just hate giving ignorant people benefit of a doubt, like for fucking sure we should but it gets tiring having to feel like you have to spell every little word out all the time when most of the time they just won't listen. That was a bit of a rant that has nearly nothing to do with this but I'm still gonna leave that in
mangago cut my comment that i said i agree with you but damn bitch calm the fuck down LOL i am with you here bicch dont fight me
then you don't understand my point lol. some people are purposely ignorant but again, this is a countryside in skorea (yknow the country that's still largely closeminded and traditional?) and she's a kid who was raised with those values??? criticise her all you want lol we've all been clueless and ignorant at some point in our lives especially when we were young and we all had things we had to unlearn.
but some of yall's criticisms are just plain hateful vitriol. you didn't hate on her? good for you, then don't get heated at my comment, it wasn't for you. but hey unless the shoe fits right, and you felt the need to get all defensive.
i've seen the comments hating on the girl who accidentally bumped into sungho chapters ago. in fact, hate is not a strong enough word to describe the absolute cesspool the comment section had become that chapter. i'm tired. i'm not gonna be calm knowing this is that same comment section and we're faced with another female character that is somehow "in the wrong".
the internet has made ppl too comfortable with using swearwords and slurs thinking it makes them cool. but yall are just hateful and it's not the cute kind.
Girl I don't give a shit if they were taught that way, I grew up in a family who are also from a country that isnt super accepting, but I taught my own way of thinking and didn't end up ignorant. I don't have to give anyone a benefit of a doubt just because they weren't educated as a child, once you're a grown adult that's your own problem. Not mine or anyone else's.
"Somehow"? So you're saying you don't even see what's wrong with what's she's doing?? maybe you're actually the ignorant one wow
Actually I misread your comment so disregard this comment, wish you could delete comments on here
im replying to satogami, not you, da heck? why are you replying to me for? besides they are the ones who called me slurs first coz mangago created a misunderstanding by cuttinggy comment short.. learn to reply on the comments that are meant for you and leave the comments that aren't yours to answer
pretty sure uriel drowned derek bc mermaids/sirens drowning the man they like to be together with them only to find out they killed the man cause they can't breathe underwater is a common trope in mer-folklore. that could be what he meant by derek's death being his fault. could be wrong tho
sunbae is pretty and hot. this artist always hits it out of the park with her side characters like the ex and the cafe shop owner in woof wolf. but they're just side characters at the end of the day TT justice for them pls
"i can no longer kill myself, a man who loves you." fuckkkkkkkk, for a suicidal person to say that?? ma gahdddddd
hits as hard as "i would die if i could, but for you, i would live"
when bro said hangyeol only has him, he really meant he only has hangyeol. which is understandable tbf, it's really an extreme case of oldest sibling syndrome. he faced the brunt of his parent's neglect and had to emotionally raise a child on his own, dude's lonely af.
i feel like he would have benefitted more from staying over at dojun's house to see what a warm family really is like. maybe then he'd heal and build a healthier rs with hangyeol.
controversial themes aside, i've not been a fan of scarberi's recent works and webtoon formats i think are not her strong point x_x but i at least like that she's going back to the pretty boy seme x handsome rough uke dynamic with her character pairing. in fact rather than hangyeol x taehyuk, that scene of older bro x taehyuk in the washroom was (ФωФ)
Imma ignore all that and process it later when S2 comes out. But wow Hayden looked so good in that panel when he smiled at Brett ´◡` I don't think Brett likes Hayden the same way yet, but that face he made looked he would have been open to explore it at least
This new situation complicates it though, I feel like Brett either opens up moved by Hayden's sincerity or closes up cautious of Hayden's deep intense feelings. Either way, I love Brett and I want more of that sexy masculine whore.
NOOOOOOOOO I DIDN'T THINK IT'D BE THE LAST CHAPTER SO QUICKLY TT MY DUMB COMFORT COUPLE YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!!!!!
wow was that scene well done. it's refreshing(?) in a way to see rape scenes being portrayed so emotionally desperate like this. it's usually all those stupid possessive rape bs that's distasteful even for someone like me who tolerates/likes non-con.
like rape/SA is not being used for some cheap plot. in fact, it's the result of fked up lil bro's character development.
now that is how you write characters. i already can't wait for this author's next work, hope they have a MC like lil bro here, or maybe even give us a sequel on his story and redemption.
I am here from this author previous work, and the writing and character development is just amazing altogether, like I could identify all the fases a sexualy assaulted person goes through (like the character was just inexperienced but it fits so much how it was healing from child abuse that it actually helped me a lot to process and reflect on myself) trauma and character development is obviously a thing this author pulls up really well, like I was worried that she couldn't "break the cicle" as her previous work didn't detail the growth of mc after his decision to break it was made but I see this work on the other hand is totally centered around it
Same! I like this author's approach in ouroboros and here. I'm so tired of the flippant and rather cheap way rape/SA gets deployed in so many "mature" BL. It's not like everything needs to be super deep and weighty, but it's more interesting to me to see consequential emotional drama that doesn't feel melodramatic or stereotypical.
Yeah, I feel that in most cases the authors of these mangas are people who don't do a lot of reflexion on what they went trough or what they are trying to depict,
They put it in their work cuz it's a part of themselves they can't ignore or even something they find "normal" (like some people think your boyfriend beating you is normal....a argument gone wrong, or even cheating "every man is like that" and so on)
On the end of the day if you are not conscious of your feeling and don't understand what you are going trough you can't never make a realistic character (like if you can't understand yourself how can you invent a entire person who is not yourself) the same with world building, like if you can't understand your words, species and so on you won't be very good at inventing new ones
That's why I always learn a lot and love to exercise my knowledge at analyzing fiction (let's just pretend it is helpful for my major so I feel less guilty ok?)
It's good to always analyse the media we consume, that's critical media literacy and it goes beyond fiction. I study Language & Linguistics and analysing media in all its forms is a crucial part of what I learn. So please take this openly when I say that your thinking of attributing every author's work as an "extension" of themselves is dangerous thinking. Also realistic ≠ good. There have been many great works from past poets and writers that wrote based on their internal conflict (opinions, beliefs, emotions, etc.).
The fact is, most manga/webtoons aren't created for deep thought. A big lesson in critical media literacy is figuring out who/what the intended audience is (context & intent) and genres also play a huge part in that.
Most manga/webtoon creators don't go beyond the purpose of creating an entertaining work that will sell nor do they think much of the underlying politics their work might send. Of course we will find rare works like this that shows that the author put great care and thought into writing a profound story. But that doesn't mean we can generalise "bad" authors, nor can we say they are what they write.
If you don't understand/agree with a story, it's best to just leave and forget it. I get what you're trying to say, and I partly agree. But really, you can reflect on "bad" stories but don't try to psychoanalyse its author, you're just digging a hole for yourself.
My major is for now medicine and after I will do psychiatry and then neurology, so for me everything human created has humanity and their creator in it, even math, everything is related to one another, nothing exists in the vacuum, as a linguistics you study how certain pattern in language change and follow generations, places, cukture and events in humanity history per example, the same way a person way of speaking tells a lot about her (tho obviously nothing is black and white, this or that)
but you are right realistic isn't equal good, and good authors study what they are trying to pass on and don't rely on personal experience, BUT I stand with the fact that if you are emotional immature you can't depict a good character, even if it is a light story, one way or another your immaturity will show as inconsistency in your work,
And of course I don't think just because a author is good at representing something they are emotionally mature or that they went though it, it's more the whole picture
This author per example, it's not bc he is good at it that I think he has real life experience with it but because it's a recurring theme, and not only that but the pattern of thinking of his characters do resemble each other, and they resemble the thinking and pace of a person who grew up with a specific type of trauma what is common since most authors tend to not go far from their own pattern but in his case they kinda complement each other, even tho I can see he did study other patterns
I always try to think of a story as a word apart first (since I want to enjoy the story as it was intended too) but specifically for stories of authors who didn't study nor put a lot of effort into building their creations they always end up using their imagination, experiences and so on as base what TO ME it can be distracting if is not consistent (obviously a good author or even a more experienced one will not self insert themselves their morals and so on but create a word based on their personal experiences)
In the end it's like I said, if you don't understand yourself and the things that revolve you, you won't be good at writing it nor new stuff
(like world building, if you didn't do your research on acting and rely in your vision as a outsider or in your breef acting as a child, or worse in stereotypes it will show, and even if you are trying to do a light romance where the acting world is not the focus, your intended sweet hardworking character will seem like a condescending bitch or a diva by things like being a newcomer and only greating people she personally knows and people above her, being late, and so on, of course a lot of readers will not care and just let it pass but others will feel before rationalizing the inconsistency and this ends up taking away from the story and instead of thinking your character is sweet she will be seen as annoying, like there is whole genres of "villainess on top" where this kind of specific inconsistency is being questioned, or even being mocked of, a lot of genres who become popular end up dying cuz of this too)
Additionally I have to say that most things I read are light Comercial things, made as simply distractions, rarely I am in the mood for something heavier or more complex, and I am passionate about over analyzing things, but most of the time I don't want to over analyze my fluffy romance or slice-of-life, in any story a author should be able to submerge us in their world, one thing is me or other people relating to the character, learning from them, reflecting and so on, other very different is a plot hole/inconsistency that makes me stop and think if it makes sense or not, or if I can make it make sense, like a caracter acting in a certain way that made me stop and think "why" when it was not intended to, in some cases it can give me a new perspective of the character or where the story is going to and so on, but other times it is just annoying and it can get too inconsistent for me to enjoy the story if I take that plot hole in consideration (like a grape/side character suddenly crush in mc/ beach episode/bad fanservice out of nowhere who doesn't lead to nowhere, that is never going to be mentioned again.....it immediately makes the author seem cheap, and leave the readers thinking if they should just ignore it)
Yes but my point is, we don't know the author. You can analyse a story and all its elements, but psychoanalysing someone you don't know is pointless. What you are trying to critic is writing style, but then you use that to assume an author's personal character. Is that fair? To use someone's emotional maturity to judge their technical writing abilities?
I never disagreed with your points about creative writing and literary analysis, again I am just kindly telling you to not go down the rabbithole of psychoanalysing people you've never met. Since you plan to study psychiatry, you should know there's rules to psychoanalysing no? There's ethical guidelines and standards to be followed. It's not a hobby you can do to random people, especially if you're going to share it on the internet where your audience could be uninformed people, or worse young uninformed kids. You might not think that far yet, but because this is literally my area of study, I am telling you that rabbithole ultimately leads to censorship and fascism.
the friend is the mvp here. what would we all do without him XD