finished the entire main story. it is fucked up and i am so fucking annoyed. Its romanticizing abuse and not being subversive. Its not trying to be trashy porn either. Its just taking itself seriously and thinking these moments between the two are emotionally beautiful. It pretends the decisions that the main character Rael makes are so equally valid- now as he is someone being abused it makes sense that those decisions might come off that way. However, it just is justifying the abused and I hate it so much. This sucks. I could pick apart each character and how it is written. Its okay to make trashy shit but it feels like its trying to be profound. I don't like that. Its a creepy rape and abuse story that validates coercion and gaslighting. It validates stockholm syndrome as a valid thing and abusive power dynamics are not handled well. I don't think its bad to make bad media but it wants to be taken seriously and for us to like the relationship without really questioning it.
Shadow crown