Ariest's manga / #rape(20)

Art is pretty, but ngl the story and writing is lacking. The main couple is cute, but I feel like their will-they-won't-they drama was too drawn out, and some of their logic was just... not logical at all lol. The second couple is definitely just a plot device for the author to add smut to the story until the main couple gets together. Their storyline is side-lined A LOT, which results in half-baked drama and rushed plots, making them quite boring to read about tbh. One of them gets raped halfway through the story, and you expect it to become an issue between him and his boyfriend who he keeps it a secret from, but it doesn't. It never gets mentioned and the guy just carries on like it never happened... So that scene was completely pointless and just feels like bad writing.

Disgusting story. Dropped at ch 10. I warn anyone to read the spoilers before going into this, bc this story is NOT yaoi, NOT romance, and not even really smut. It's just sadistic abusers and rape rape rape.

The story is interesting and definitely stands out among the crowd, but the writing is kind of lacking. Certain plot points feel really rushed, e.g. how the whole mystery and revenge plot is solved half-way through the webtoon in only a handful of chapters. And we don't get enough background on the characters to really sympathize with them. An example of this is how we don't really learn about the sister's trauma, her relationship to the MC or even just how her face looks like before the initiation ritual, which makes it harder to sympathize with his decision to go through with it.

Kinda only reading for the uke's cute kid brother. The seme is disgusting, annoying and not even good looking and I can't ship him with the uke. Like I literally don't want to read the author romanticizing the rape relationship they've got going on. I just want the uke and his brother to be ok.

The story is messed up, but at the same time really interesting. The author does a good job writing suspense and political intrigue. It's fairly accurate to the mythology, but with some very unexpected and highly dramatic twists that put the legend into a completely different light. And it's nice to see a story that focuses on plot and character development first, instead of romance. A lot of the characters are super interesting, flawed, but also really likeable. Overall one of the best webtoons I've ever read in terms of character design, world building and plot development. I only have two complaints: 1. there's too much rape and it feels fetichized 2. the story sometimes has a tonal issue, where the characters' reactions and tone of the story goes directly from something traumatic to something cute or funny. This is especially the case after rape scenes. And I don't like it, it feels uncomfortable and almost offensive how light the author and characters take something as traumatic as rape.

*Sigh* where to begin? (Spoilers btw) I picked this up bc I love a good enemies-to-lovers or lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story, but this one is just infuriatingly stupid. It starts out well enough, but the lovers-to-enemies arc is kicked off by the uke's own unnecessary and insecure decisions, and the story is just downhill from there. Not only is the whole reason for them turning into enemies ridiculous af, but them being so emotionally hung up over each other after an unnecessarily long time-skip (almost a decade) is also ridiculous. The final drop for me was the uke apparently getting gang raped out of the blue at work. It's genuinely disgusting to read what the author subjects their own characters to, and for no reason. Completely ruined the story beyond return for me. I'm honestly so appalled by this story that I think someone should check on the mental health of the author, cause it sure af is not normal to go into such graphic details with the many acts of physical abuse and rape in this story, while not even bothering to show our main character's first AND CONSENSUAL time together. Dropped