While so far, it’s only happened twice, so yes, an exaggeration, this is wild as fuck. The plot itself bangs so hard, but then you got the fact that, first, these two are adopted brothers, so it’s pretty fucking sus already, and then secondly, one rapes the other, then the other way around when they meet again.
It seems Korean and Japanese BL is as every plagued by rape themes, and it really fucking ruins so many amazing stories I have seen. ESPECIALLY when its the “first time” after hundreds of chapters of slow burn, only for one of the guys to rape the other. So much time wasted.
Luckily this isn’t the case here. Still, I can’t help but wish to continue reading it because the story itself is genuinely great so far, but the rape kills all the enjoyment of such instantly, and typically I avoid works without sex because I’m sex addicted, and easily get bored without it. This isn’t sex though, and the story actually has me interested. It’s unnecessary rape which I know will be romanticised to hell and back.
Overall, things just don’t seem to work out for me constantly in BL I actually take interest in. I wonder why all of the few with stories that I actually enjoy must always have stupid fucking rape. I’m so tired of it. What must a man do to have good action based story, good art, and healthy fucking relationships in his webcomics? For fuck’s sake.
This is basically a vent at this point, but can you blame me when this happens over and over? Such a joke.
This one is definitely weird.
If you're confused by the art, the best I can explain, as someone who uses clip studio paint, is that there is a ton of 3d models and premade brushes being used that I recognize.
There also seems to be quite poor "photobashing" for certain parts of the art, AKA using images, usually found on google and such, cutting them out, warping them / adjusting them, and using them in the art piece. Typically this is done by professional artists in character concepting, environments, etc. (You see this a lot in video game concept art) Not webcomics like this, so it is very out of place.
Certain "materials" are reused a lot, such as the peach boys eyes, which do not fit with the rest of the style, rendered with soft brushes while the surrounding art is cel-shaded and bold at times. Some of the lineart is inconsistent in weird places, noticeably on peach boy's body in some sexual scenes vs his face. This being pressure sensitive pen strokes on the hair and face, and a round, zero pressure pen used on the body, that also seems a bit jittery. Not sure why this is. Other images being used in certain parts of the art which do not match the style at all. I would not be surprised if some aspects are traced as well despite looking to fully hand-drawn.
The translation is bad, intensely so, but the story itself seems to be just as chaotic. Overall, the whole work is batshit crazy to say the least.
No, it does not look to be AI art, at least not upfront. That's not to say the artist didn't used AI to "assist" and traced over it, but I can not see any AI artifacts or traits in the art.
Overall a very poor mix of different medias. A insane storyline, and mix of styles. If anything feels "AI" it is the overall concept of the story entirely, not the visuals itself. Very very odd.
At the very least, it's entertaining.
What are other peoples opinions on how this story depicts problematic themes?
Personally, I think they are far too romanticised, and despite my love for the story itself, art, way of how the characters are articulated, much of the time I am made hella fucking uncomfortable with how certain scenes are done.
For context, I do read grimdark and psychological works / novels, and those have plenty of r*pe scenes, which are done to express a traumatic and horrifying act a character is / has experienced, but this work seems to depict those acts like they are sex. As I hope we can all agree, r*pe is NOT sex.
The way it is drawn is like how every sex scene in these types of works are done, like its some sexy hot porn. Personally, it makes me a bit sick and questioning if I should drop the work because of my own personal morals and such. I also have reason to believe fiction does affect reality from personal experience, which I would not like to recall, but if it is needed, I may.
Alas, it has me extremely conflicted, and I have been reading this since this beginning. Now there is the themes of father and son fetishization, and that just adds on to the discomfort. It is okay to depict bad things in stories, but this author seems to do so like they enjoy it. Not to mention how much Seth has become the typical "Damsel in Distress" a male hetero writer would depict the female interest in a shitty male gaze power complex novel / movie / whatever the fuck.
So yeah, I am just interested in what others think about this. Is it worth sticking through and bearing the very uncomfortable themes which are not handled as they should, for the sake of a well made story with great art? Or do you think with more of these themes continuing, or escalated, its just not worth the headache?
What are other peoples opinions on how this story depicts problematic themes?
Personally, I think they are far too romanticised, and despite my love for the story itself, art, way of how the characters are articulated, much of the time I am made hella fucking uncomfortable with how certain scenes are done.
For context, I do read grimdark and psychological works / novels, and those have plenty of r*pe scenes, which are done to express a traumatic and horrifying act a character is / has experienced, but this work seems to depict those acts like they are sex. As I hope we can all agree, r*pe is NOT sex.
The way it is drawn is like how every sex scene in these types of works are done, like its some sexy hot porn. Personally, it makes me a bit sick and questioning if I should drop the work because of my own personal morals and such. I also have reason to believe fiction does affect reality from personal experience, which I would not like to recall, but if it is needed, I may.
Alas, it has me extremely conflicted, and I have been reading this since this beginning. Now there is the themes of father and son fetishization, and that just adds on to the discomfort. It is okay to depict bad things in stories, but this author seems to do so like they enjoy it. Not to mention how much Seth has become the typical "Damsel in Distress" a male hetero writer would depict the female interest in a shitty male gaze power complex novel / movie / whatever the fuck.
So yeah, I am just interested in what others think about this. Is it worth sticking through and bearing the very uncomfortable themes which are not handled as they should, for the sake of a well made story with great art? Or do you think with more of these themes continuing, or escalated, its just not worth the headache?