messenger's Topics (6)

Look, I’m gonna be upfront about it and say that yes I do use this website cause I’m broke and don’t want to pay for reading manhwas or mangas that I just read for funsies and have no real, deep connections to. So does a lot of people. That’s the truth of the matter, there’s no way out of it. I’m not gonna shame others for doing the same thing I do cause that’s just hypocritical of me.

But I will say this: the author has the final say in the distribution of their work. I’m sure that YD is not the only artist/author who is aware that there’s illegal sites that reuploads their work. I’m sure that there are a lot of people out there that are fully aware of that, but 1) have no desire to take certain actions or 2) turn a blind eye or 3) they’re scared to take action due to fear of bullying and harassment of illegal translation supporters (cause we all know this site is illegal lmaoo). Again, for some authors, they’re probably at a certain point in their career in which they have the luxury to turn a blind eye or not care cause they make enough revenue from their work on the sites they post on or through some other method. This, I’m gonna go with the benefit of the doubt and say that YD does not have this luxury. They clearly wanted to make money off this series as a means to support themselves. And illegal translators as well as sites don’t help.

As for the drama concerning the translator: what they did was most definitely harsh and out of bounds, but within the context of SK copyright laws, theyre probably calling for a warrant. Threatening to release personal info is going way too far, yet I can understand the protectiveness of the author’s work. Again, this is their story that they most likely wrote and drew and colored by themselves, and they were planning on it being a main source of income. They barely make enough money already because LEHZIN is trash and takes most of it in the first place, but it’s not as though there’s another alternative that is more popular than them. And knowing that your manhwa is getting thousands of views on an illegal site but your work gets barely any is terrible.

This is a very gray and nuanced area, but I do sympathize with YD’s anger and annoyance about the whole thing AS WELL AS criticize the way they treated this translator.

Also for people saying it’s not hard to draw manhwas and that you can do it as well: lmaooo no the fvck you cannot.

The author of Berserk, Kentaro Miura, passed away on May 6, 2021. His death was just announced today. He was only 54 years old.

Thank you Miura for writing one of the greatest and most profound dark fantasy work ever created. Rest in Peace.

Let me state off the bat that I know that the manga is by no means an accurate portrayal of history regarding the real life Hurrem and her experiences. It's a dramatization in which historical events and occurrences are interpreted in order to be really engaging from an entertainment standpoint. That being said, I'm going to only judge it as it is: a dramatization of history, rather than what actually occurred.

The one thing that I think most people really got hook onto is of course the characters. And in comparison to how they were when we first meet them to how they are now, most of them have gone through a great deal of growth. I think the only character that we see stayed relatively the same is Suileman, at least from my viewpoint. We first see Hurrem who enters the harem as doe eyed, curious, and lovestruck with Ibrahim. But as she continues to live in this environment in which her survival depends on the favor of Suileman, she gets to see just how much she has to fight in order to just live. Because originally, I feel as though she was sort of okay with just existing in the harem, but then her life and the lives of those around her are constantly exposed to danger. So I think that Hurrem realizes that she has to really "toughen up," understand the underlying strategic game of the harem. Has she made mistakes? Yes, but I think that at this point in the story she understands that she'll have to live with her mistakes and make the best of it and her position to gain the power she needs to keep everyone safe without killing people. It's an admirable goal, honestly. Very bold.

I came to really enjoy Gulbahar. At first, we as the reader are made to hate her. Which is understandable considering her actions. But as the story progresses, I came to more or less understand her predicament. After all, she, like many of the other concubines including Hurrem are only trying to survive simply off the favor of the sultan. The only difference is that she took her methodology to the realm of murder and violence. But I don't think she is evil, nor is she cruel. She's been shown moments of semi kindness to her servants, even the other lower tier concubines, acting as a sort of older sister in that one small snippet chapter about a day in her life. She clearly loves her son, and I don't think simply on that he is the reason for her status. I truly do believe that she loves her son and is protective of him because of how easy it would just be to kill a child. Her actions, while cruel and we can hate, are admittedly done out of self preservation, which is something that we can at least understand.

So the thing about Ibrahim and Suileman is that their dynamic is very interesting. Would I say that either character are gay? No. Would I say that they do care for each other, possibly past the point of friendship? Yes. Do they love each other? That's...a hard question to answer. First off, we have to understand that Ibrahim is very, very loyal to the sultan. And I think that loyalty and possibly some twisted form of love possibly trumps his love for Hurrem. It's kind of been building up to this point, if I were to be honest. He clearly cares for her, but I do think there's an extent for it, especially after he witnessed what love did for the princess's lover ( i forgot his name, sorry lol). He might be cautious about it tbh. It's hard to really pinpoint at this time. As for Suileman...he's something lol. No, I find him to be an interesting character. First off, we have to understand that he has other things to worry about than his romantic endeavors. The man's got goals and that trumps whatever romantic aspirations he has with Hurrem, Ibrahim, and any others. I honestly don't know what to make of his relationship with Ibrahim other than that from what I can concur, he treats him as a possession. It's hard to pinpoint as well. As for Hurrem, he does love her, just as much as he was and still is fascinated by her lol.

I'm really curious to see how the story will progress even more, not only in terms of story and political power struggle but also in characterization.

Okay, so I personally don't understand why some people are bashing the author for including Xiao Yi's speech. I thought it was great, probably one of the few rare instances in which fetishization of LGBT people, particularly gay men, due to the popularization of the BL/yaoi genre gets discussed. And the way it was discussed was pretty good! Because by using Wang Wang as the archetype for what most people would associate as the "fujoshi," I would say that Djun does exaggerate her behavior to really make her feel probably what most gay men feel when confronted with a person that does fetishize them simply for being gay: annoyance. I'm a lesbian, so my views aren't always align with gay men in terms of romantic endeavors, but I can at least have an understanding in the realm of fetishization because in my personal life, I have had men - particularly straight men - who sees me as nothing more than a walking semi-desirable sex fantasy with another woman (to put it in that terminology lol). And Wang Wang is doing that towards Yuyang and Li Huan, seeing them as a real life fantasy explored without taking in considerations of their very personal struggles and viewpoints. We must also understand that while she does mean well, she's doing it from a very selfish standpoint like Xiao Yi said, that it was done out of her own self satisfaction rather than the party involved.

Such a behavior isn't harmful in terms of fictitious enjoyment but once you take it out of the realm of fiction does it gets "icky." Here's a really good excerpt on the issue that I found, and while it doesn't use the terminology yaoi or BL and instead referencing the slash community, the sentiment still stands:

"I’m not speaking from atop a horse. I had breakfast in a hotel a few months ago and saw two college-aged guys at the next table talking, like young people do, loudly enough to grab my attention. They were holding hands and making plans for the day and sharing dumb Internet jokes, and one of the boys had love bites all around his neck. I haven’t considered college boys sexy since junior high, thank you very much, but those hickeys set something off in my brain, and suddenly I was wondering things about these boys’ sex life together. Inside my head, a voice was singing, “They’re so cuuuuuuuuuute!”

I don’t believe that any single fantasy is innately wrong, but my little departure into those boys’ private lives was indicative of a dangerous pattern of thought. To many people, it often seems that women in the slash community have decided that “gay sex” is always sexy, that queer is always cute, and that we can take ownership of the gay male experience by writing about it and reading each other’s writing.

I briefly mentioned this issue in something that got passed around Tumblr a couple times, and I received a number of private and public messages from people claiming (it’s the Internet, so who knows) to be gay men who had wanted to share unpleasant experiences from their participation in the slash community. Some personal friends echoed these complaints. Specifically, these men indicated that straight or bisexual women had repeatedly asked overly personal questions about their sex lives, treated them like adorable puppies instead of humans, and attempted to co-opt the gay male experience or even elevate allies over actual gay men."

So from the small amounts of reviews I read before starting this manga, I expected there to be more gore and more f*ck-ery, but honestly it wasn't that bad. I mean, the sexual intercourse via headless and entrails was not what I was looking for today. But I've read some pretty messed up stuff (I read the works of a doujin manga artist whose work you can read on another site but TRUST ME when I say that their works are absolutely messed up. Like ten times more explicit gore than what you saw in MADK so far and with far less romantic undertones. Honestly, it's...it's bad. Gave me nightmares - metaphorically speaking, lol).

The art is, of course, stunning. I love the fluidity style of drawing, that just makes everything so "flowy." Also, the design of the demons are amazing. Humanoid enough to give make them both ethereal and beautiful, but monster-like enough that you know they're creatures of absolute terror. That, and they're just creative that you can distinct which demon is which so far. I also have to give extra creds to how the artist drew Makoto's expressions - there's just so much! It's great lol.

As of now, we really don't know much about the characters per say, but we do have a gist for what they're like and the societal rules of the demon world. I'm really excited to delve more into that and see how Makoto will play that out. Speaking of Makoto, I oddly love his characterization and interactions with J. In a sense, it's sweet and even romantic at times, but there's also an undertone of power play between the two(not only sexually lol). Makoto is intriguing, in that we first see him more as a little cinnamon roll of sorts given his sweet and large puppy dog designs, but he's shown to be domineering and outright conniving. He's in it to win it, and I applaud him for that. J is very much so a demon - he's playful and has moments of lightheartedness, but he's also devious and cruel.

Truth be told, I'm not a big yaoi fan lol. I do have some issues with the genre, but the cover art for this manga really caught my eye and i decided to give it a read. What I like about MADK more so than some BL /yaoi mangas is that there is a sense of plot that's going on with a twinge of mystery. Can't wait for the next update!

What originally drew me in to Kuroshitsuji was its premise: a young boy made a contract with a demon to enact his revenge on the people who killed his family and wronged him.

I watched the anime years ago, around the time when the second season just finished airing. I went into it with the intention of thinking that this was a horror anime or an anime with a darker religious theme. So I was surprised by how lighthearted it was at the beginning. And don't get me wrong, I loved it even when it wasn't what I expected. And I jumped onto the manga when I found out that the anime stopped following the original. I loved the manga even more than anime (both season 1 and 2, plus book of circus, murder, and atlantic), because of how the theme is more nuanced and darker. Granted, it's not like it all the time, but I loved it when it does get like that.

Because Kuroshitsuji, despite it's comical and lighthearted moments, is a very, very dark manga. I mean, our main protagonist had his family and house burned down, saw the corpses of his parents in a pool of blood, went through a traumatic experience at the hands of a cult, and (((SPOILER))) witnessed the brutal murder of his twin brother (((SPOILER))). And then he makes a contract with a demon, with a disclosure that said demon will one day consume his soul. Like damn, O!Ciel's life ain't pretty. So I always knew that whatever happy moment that occurs won't last forever (learned the hard way with the circus arc).

What I didn't expect was the "surprise," because I thought Yana was gonna lead us around some more, but she went in for the kill. And in a way, I'm glad that she did. Because the the previous arcs (school, green witch, and musical hall), while interesting, felt more like important fillers - almost like a cushion - that was kinda dragging on with no real direction. Until now. It all accumulated into this: the death of Agni, the reveal of the real Ciel with the aid of the Undertaker, Lizzie's "betrayal," O!Ciel's + company going into hiding, and Soma's lost of innocence and naivety. It's like three different stories and they're all coming to collide with each other now. The way the manga is right now is full of tension and suspense - we don't know for sure what's going to happen. It keeps people engaged.

And also, I love the development of some of the characters? Especially Lizzie and Soma.

To be honest, I never really cared much for Lizzie in the beginning. I never really liked her nor did I dislike her, but it was just more of a "meh" feeling whenever she shows up. And the reason for that was that Yana never really put much character into her, so we as the reader only saw her as either a stock character or the cute Victorian fiance for Ciel. It wasn't until the Campania arc, I really have a lot of respect for her. And not only in terms of "now that she can fight, she's so badass!" kind of way, but more along the lines of we really get to witness what kind of "burden" that she had to underwent to become the "idealized" wife for "Ciel," but also for society. Growing up as a woman in Victorian era, especially in the upper class, it was expected for young women to fit the ideals of what a typical Victorian lady is like: feminine, delicate, "the household general," etc. She felt like she had to fit a mold of that perfect Victorian girl, but she was much more than that. In our time period, Lizzie's fencing abilities would be applauded and highly respected by almost everyone, but in this time period such skills would likely be shunned by the upper class. In my opinion, other than the amazing fencing skills, Lizzie represents the much more humanitarian sides of Black Butler. She is a genuinely good person - or at least she tries to be. Sebastian is a literal demon and Ciel, though he does have his kinder moments, is usually very conniving, cold, and distant. But Lizzie isn't; she's very warm and inviting, optimistic, and seems to enjoy things to the fullest. And it's sad to see most of the fandom condemn her for being a happy person when surrounded by all the darkness in her life.

The same could be applied to Soma and Agni. While spoiled and selfish, Soma tries his best to be a good person, often with the help of Agni. He genuinely wants to be Ciel's friend, cares for Ciel and his wellbeing, and was willing to help him on his plans as the Queen's watchdog (mostly without knowing the real intentions). He even distributes curry buns to orphans. And like Elizabeth, but for different circumstances, he is a happy person. If his heart's in it, Soma commits 100% to whatever he's doing.

Keep in mind both characters aren't perfect: Lizzie had an idealization of Ciel and her love for him that made her ignore the truly ugly aspects. Despite his good deeds, Soma is still childish and selfish in his own ways, with most of his actions done out of self satisfaction.

However, the true "good person" in this manga is arguably Agni. He is a Righteous Man. A literal good person. In the beginning of his life? No. But after meeting Soma? Rose from the ashes like a phoenix. Perfect? No. But he is a good man - and he died for it. Which is important. Because Agni's death helped trigger these tragic events in the story to now and symbolizes a theme of the manga so far: happiness and goodness can't survive in this world.

Look at Lizzie and Soma: Lizzie is wrecked by confusion and guilt, and Soma is full of anger and revenge. Their joy and hope in this world is destroyed. And it probably won't ever return to the way it was. This is actually good growth for them - they are facing the horrible reality of their lives at this moment. And what will they do with the truth of it? But I guess that's the true Kuroshitsuji fashion lol.