buttcruncher want to read (All 1151)
beta
the author understands me. seonwoo is my ideal type of bottom too and i was soo happy for the representation. the story itself however was really upsetting. it might as well be a tragedy bc even tho they're together, seonwoo and yujeong don't make each other better and don't seem to know how to make each other better. they come across pretty miserable to me. i can't even enjoy the sex bc it's not hot or romantic and the fragility of their relationship totally comes thru. it's so depressing to see seonwoo readjust so many parts of himself and his life to accommodate yujeong. there's no compromise at all.
some story beats that made me feel some type of way:
- why did seonwoo abandon med school the first time when he was so close to finishing?? unless he was really going thru something it just seemed like a really short sighted move to make and such a convoluted way for him to reunite with yujeong.
- i get yujeong's feeling of inferiority. i really do. and maybe he can't see it, but i would've thought seonwoo could help him reframe his experiences in a different light. idk how job hunting in korea works but at least with seonwoo's med school mates he didn't have to mention dropping out of hs (not that there's anything wrong with it). like he could just say he's in hospitality?? and if he's really feeling it he can take part time classes to get a ged or something. it seems like he's just always been an angry asshole who never even tried to work on himself.
- tbh yeah yujeong is gorgeous but it's wild that his beauty is the only thing living rent free in seonwoo's head for 10 years...and his beauty is enough to absolve everything...
- the author thinks that seonwoo is perfect but he is so incredibly flawed and has a few screws loose.
- i can't get over how juvenile and sheltered their relationship feels for a couple in their 30s
random vent
waiting for the day when danmei novel and manhua creators create stories (hopefully with some regularity) with non-prescriptive pairing dynamics.
i hear so much about heaven's official blessing but i can't bring myself to read it bc xie lian looks like the shorter pretty delicate bottom twink with a soft personality that you see everywhere. i wouldn't have minded if they subverted expectations and made him a top and hua cheng a bottom but they didn't. no hate to those who love it, btw, i'm just lamenting at the lack of options for me.
adaptation-wise mdzs came the closest to breaking that wall, and i get this was for ~plot purposes~, but wei ying coming back to life in a weaker, more feminine body was disappointing. being mischievous and playful in his original body just gave different vibes than doing the same thing in mo xuanyu's body.
the other closest thing i saw was the guardian series and while i love stories that have an actual plot, i heard the romance is a lot more emotionally-based and any physicality is basically non-existent. i'd like to have some nuclear levels of spice too, however way it manifests with chinese censorship.
anyways if anyone has any recs for my preferences that i'm not aware of pls feel free to share. really looking for a pairing that i can't (or incorrectly) clock as a top or bottom.
This is a crazy thing to say, if Xie Lian wanted to he could kick Hua Cheng's ass. He CHOOSES not to be a violent little shit
Xie lian is stronger than hua cheng thoit’s an amazing love story with some of the most romantic shit I’ve ever seen in fiction. There’s more to a story than top/bottom dynamics :c And tgcf doesn’t even have sex scenes…
You really don’t know Xie lian :/ judging a book by its cover. He ain’t soft and will kill if necessary. Idk what this site has against feminine bottoms but u can try scum villain which is another one of mxtx’s novels or try erha
he might be stronger, but it doesn't negate how his looks and personality accurately peg him to be a bottom, and while we could talk about how top/bottom dynamics ~shouldn't~ matter, at the end of the day it does to a bunch of ppl, which is even why every danmei specifies who's top and bottom even if there's no explicit content. no matter what, ppl will always inadvertently project what they think the character will be like based on those roles. i heard it's a super romantic series, but as with everything else, i want to see that type of romance with a subverted dynamic. it's not that different to wanting to see different ppl being represented in media in general.
rurouni kenshin can kill ppl and he has a soft personality. he also looks like a bottom, so every fanwork of him has him as a bottom. every single one of them.
But it IS subverting expectations, they're right, he does look delicate and soft. But he only LOOKS delicate and soft. I'd understand if the complaint is that he looks delicate and soft and is delicate and soft, but his looks are deceiving which is already a subverted expectation. Even in TGCF there are characters who think he's a weak loser, so OP is just like them by assuming something based on his looks.
it might be an uncommon trope for other ppl, but it's pretty common for me. not danmei, but there's a lot of shonen stories where the mc appears to be some combination of small, weak, soft but can wipe the floor with their opponents. despite that, more times than not, in ppl ascribe the physical stature and personality to sexual preferences. so to flip that, i'd love to see a character like xie lian topping sexually despite looking delicate and soft.
not a coffee drinker, but why is the go-to drink an iced americano in so many manhwas
my guess is that it’s because it’s so easy to draw and it’s a pretty common drink, so maybe that’s why
they’re suuuuuper popular in korea, its almost everyone’s go-to
Tbh Koreans are easily influenced by Americans, their trends and habits. When Americano became a thing it obviously got popular in Korea as a foreign drink. When I first had Americano I was disappointed lol but people drink it to fend of tiredness everywhere. And it does the job so..
I’m a barista and to me an iced americano says “I’m the black coffee type but I like to have fun!”
It’s espresso and water so it’s stronger than an iced coffee and imo tastes better
that was all helpful, thanks y'all!
bc it’s the culture, korean culture
luan grew up to be a pos, he doesn’t deserve forest guy. he had such a fixed image in his mind of what his beau is supposed to look like that he didn’t even try to see him for who he grew up to be, uncalled for violence aside. since luan’s on the cover i’m guessing there’s gonna be some sort of redemption in the side stories but i’d rather forest guy let his affections for him die and genuinely get with some nobody that loves him the way he deserves to be loved. luan can die alone in despair, what an asshole.
I agree that what he did was wrong and totally valid if he isn't forgiven but at the same time, I see why he reacted that way after being constantly lied to and deceived that he ended up releasing his frustration on the wrong guy. At the end of the story you could tell he was just tweaking out lowkey