Why does it bother you that I enjoy something you don't enjoy?
What's your problem? Oo
Most BL covers (including Finder) look like the cheesy teen pulp paperbacks you see in the romance section of bookstores... which is to say, awful. This is not a comment on the artwork, just the composition. I guess that's par for the course.
(Anoni, dismiss that idiot from your thread. They're purposely being a distraction)
Thanks, I forgot for a moment to do that. Now, Lady L and I look silly. Sorry Lady L!
And you are right-but usually you can tell a fluffy yaoi cover from a psychological thriller yaoi cover. I think Finder falls just a tad higher on the fluffy scale(*) than something like Moritat or Caste Heaven, but not full on fluffy. The other Finder covers can be a bit grittier.
* My version of the fluffy scale would have something like Stalking Killing at 0 fluffy and Joou to Shitateya as the fluffiest I read, which would probably make it a 9 on a scale of 10, with 10 being too saccharine for my personal taste.
You know what, I actually dismiss quite a few manga based solely on their cover art - I have probably missed out on some pretty good reads just because a certain composition isn't to my liking (￣∇￣") I am really into art, so I can be pretty dang snobby about this stuff….
For some reason though I grow less and less motivated to try new manga…because sometimes I happen to come across things (- http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/host_in_down/ -) that look interesting - but end up burned onto my retinas and nightmares for a week!
But by the by, those two romance novels you posted have beautiful artwork….although one of the ladies legs appear to be one large fleshy blob ^^'
change of topic been reading abt. the history of some of the real fairy tales( Little Red Riding hood). The real story of Red makes VF look like the fairy tale. A true blood fest.
Thanks Bites. I like comparing stories too. I've always likes Bruno Bettleheim's idea that Little Red Riding Hood was a tale of sexual awakening (poor Red). Do you see Asami as the big bad wolf?
Asami as the wolf! Takaba as Red, leaving bread crumbs on the forest floor to make sure he finds him . hahahaha.
I love the covers. I guess I take them as being both cheeky winks to the bodice ripper covers, as Anoni Grrl says, but at the same time, they are undeniably sexy. Aki is downright glamorously beautiful on the covers, and I love the challenging way they glare out at the viewer, which gives you a bit of a voyeur vibe. "What are you looking at? Yes, I'm about to fuck his brains out. Want to watch?" (Why yes, I do over-analyze everything, before someone comes at me for it.)
I've also been swayed by cover art. I also got sucked into Host is Down, to my regret. But I almost skipped Yondaime Ooyamato Tatsuyuki because I thought the cover was extremely goofy, and now it's one of my favorite things in the world. So now I'm terrified of missing something good because the cover art puts me off.
Don't worry! ^-^
The ones with no covers, make me wonder if they have an illness.^^you know with that kid on the front. Is the story so bad they did not draw a cover for it? just kidding.
Very reasonable--and you are right, going by the cover alone might make me miss something. I love everything by Scarliet Beirko so far, but somewhat like like you I would have skipped Amefurashi - Shunu Ni Shippori To Nureru, Ooedo Renaitan based on the cover alone. I did click on Yondaime Ooyamato Tatsuyuki right away because it hints at gun play and I recognized the uke from Doctor Minori.
One of my favorite Manhwas right now is Royal Servant, but the cover art is just a bunch of guys looking moody. I mean, it's nice art, but I wouldn't know it was going to feed my bondage kink by the cover alone (though the title is a hint).
I have the hardest time with Harada, because I don't happen to like shota though I like her other work, and you can't always tell ages by the cover. I actually have to read the comments and take a plunge.
Heehee. If there is no cover and no blurb, I have to be in the right mood to click on it and see if i will like it.
Senya Ichiya - Shitone no Himegoto was another one I nearly passed by because the cover is very bland and the art borders on bara. Glowing reviews made me give it a chance and now it's in my top five.
But by the same token, there are some mangakas whose art is exquisite and covers beautiful but the stories just aren't my thing. But the beautiful covers draw me every time to at least give it a try, like maybe THIS time I'll get it. I will give a manga with a good cover at least a couple of pages (unless the blurb is a total turn off.)
Thanks--I haven't read that one yet. It never caught my eye. Now I will. I guess covers can give you hint, but not always a complete picture.
I think it's an overlooked masterpiece, the way it threads a reimagined Scheherazade tale through the modern story. And the last two chapters send it through the stratosphere, emotionally. Completely and utterly satisfying.
Just for the information, at the beginning Viewfinder was publish in an other magazine it's wildly know that chapters in this magazine was not valided by the publisher if a sexual scene was not present in it. So because sensei had a contract to fill she has to place sex in every fucking chapters, that's very difficult to devellop a plot with this kind of restriction, especially when you want to create a relationship between two characters. That's why Akihito get rape by Yuri, Feilong, every chapter Asami was not here she still have to draw sex scenes. The publisher close at the end-middle of volume 4 (naked truth) and after that you can clearly see the change. I'm not saying that viewfinder is perfect, but we have to understand that the serie had circonstance and the news issues are still much better
You are right eworth, it is a brilliant bit of writing. Esp. liked how the writer ties together one part of the story(don't want to give the plot away). using art and words.
Finder developed from a BDSM short. It was not originally planned to run as long as it did, so everything may not fit together as if the story were mapped out first and then executed. But I like the BDSM part, and I like how it developed. And while I like the characters and the plot, it is yoai and part of being yoai is being erotica--so there is going to be fan service. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Don't misunderstand. That isn't criticism on my part. I really like this story and I really like the erotica with Asami and even Fei. Personally, I don't care for the others as much because I like my erotica flavored with passion and emotional baggage. But still, along with noticing the tone conveyed by the cover and the art, I think a few genre expectations are allowed.
He wasn't raped by Yuri : /
Though you can't judge a book by it's cover, I think it's fair to say much of the tone and context of a manga (or manhwa) is conveyed by it's art. The Finder cover at the top of the page reflects elements of the classic "bodice ripper" cover in an homage that could almost be seen as tongue-in-cheek (depending on how the reader interprets the story). Asami in his dark suit bends over Aki, whose white shirt is ripped open and their eyes suggest this is a story of passion and desire. Compare it to a typical bodice ripper cover like this one for Pirate in my Arms:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c6/dc/3f/c6dc3f24342d1c3e5dc11ab58c334450.jpg
The dark haired pirate bends over the woman in the white dress whose neckline is open to show skin. The woman exposes her neck in a gesture of surrender.The pirate grabs her in his strong, manly man arms. See where I am going with this?
But modern romance has changed. Now, the man on the cover would probably be shirtless (see e.g. https://hotandbotheredbooks.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/captive-bride-johanna-lindsey-1987.jpg?w=714).
Compare this to the cover of Killing Stalking:
http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/killing_stalking/
On one level, both Finder and Killing Stalking have story elements that involve the main character "stalking" and pursuing the seme for his own reasons until the seme captures, imprisons, and rapes him. But look at the difference in the art. These stories use the same elements in very different ways. Sure, the KS MC has on open shirt just like Aki, but he is looking down and is unaware that the seme is about to wack him from behind. The seme doesn't look passionate in that picture. He looks menacing--and not in a sexy way. And the MC looks sad and lonely. The background is dark and blood red. Without even reading the stories, we can see that the tone and intent seem to be very different.
Of course, Finder isn't for everyone, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. But it is worth noting that the context varies depending on the story, and how story elements are used matters. It just seem to me that even if people don't read the tags, if they see a cover of a manga that looks like a bodice ripper, they should consider that the story may be like a bodice ripper.