You have spelled my thoughts out exactly!! You're incredibly eloquent and I agree with what you have stated here. It's murky territory and honestly the story could still be done, yearning and all, without the two characters having known each other while one of them was in their youth.
We can still have the age gap and yearning without it needing to start with one of the characters as a child. It's honestly unnecessary and leads more controversial compared to just getting rid of it.
The story can still add the "history" with their relationship, just when they're older.
Hard agree with everything you’ve written.
As someone who enjoys a good age gap romance every now and then, the minutiae of this story is what’s making me arch an eyebrow.
Art is cute. And I’m glad it’s fictional, but art imitate life. It hurts my heart.
P.s. Give readers on this site grace. Their brains have not congealed yet and they lack critical reading skills. I’ll troll, but I refuse to actually be as vicious as I can be when I engage in contentious topic (pedofphilia); which is, weirdly, a topic that makes people who seem like good people act as if they don’t understand the harm this event causes to the children who experience it. Like, shouldn’t we all be against grooming and pedophilia?
* Pedophilia
I completely agree! And thank you kindly for the compliment :D
I think it’s also important to consider that the cultures these works come from do not often touch on how these situations can be harmful, so while I am not saying we should absolve the author of all wrongdoing, I do believe it is simple ignorance.
I hope someday there can be larger conversations on these things, and not have everything be so stark.
Like such here, where either people are vehemently opposed to the work, calling the readers gross. Or, the ones defending it, making it seem like there is absolutely nothing wrong with the story, and almost insinuating that any opposing views have a lack of “Reading Comprehension”, as often said…
I think it is very simple to tune a few things here to make it better.
Shuraka could be in his early twenties, yet still a very aloof, naive, but highly intelligent young adult man. Tei could be later twenties to early thirties, and in his time waging hunts against beasts, he is more jaded, serious, and grave, yet soft for Shuraka’s bright personality. Yet, he still presents hesitation to the relationship because he can not imagine someone could possibly see him as a “bride”!
Personally, I would very much enjoy that sort of start very very much. There is plenty of other ways to go about it as well, I am sure!
But anyways, enough of my yapping… Thank you again for the reply !!!
I completely get that, oh lord… I really have to remind myself to be civil at times, because similarly, I feel very strongly about the subject of pedophilia, and it’s hard to not immediately condemn anyone defending the topic which essentially normalizes it.
Even for this story, my initial reaction to the first chapters was very strong. I felt a sense of dread, though powered through to see how it was handled.
Overall, it would just be best for stories to avoid balancing on the line which ones like this often do. I hope people can understand why it’s important to point these things out, because even if it’s not the worst case, again, it desensitizes us to the concept of “a youth paired with a mature person”, even if not sexual, it can and will lead to more push on that boundary, like “small acts of affection”, which then TRULY becomes grooming… It’s just not worth it!
Alas, I suppose the biggest problem is being properly informed. When we immediately attack someone and call them a creep for liking something that is more arguably benign like this story, of course they will feel defensive and not hear anything else. That’s at least why I try my best to be cordial with these subjects, because even if some people will still disagree, and pull the “ITS FICTION” card, some may read it and actually begin to contemplate on it. It can be as simple as giving these people the tools to better understand what is and isn’t a wise depiction of a subject.
And then- that’s not even to say no one should write a story where a child is arranged to marry an adult. The thing is- the story needs to tackle the problem itself. Stories that directly address these concepts in a mature fashion and with the intent to express a message- often are some of the most powerful stories. Likely, not fit for a romance story…
But I think people also feel like the opposition to dynamics like this think we wish to censor everything that is flawed. That is not the case at all. What I personally want is just for people to be informed, and for authors to have accountability for what they write. That means the issue is entirely with the execution.
Anyways, that’s just more of my yapping… Thank you for taking the time to read and reply!! :D
Y'all call anything any everything grooming adult and child meeting n the child ended up loving the adult? Grooming. Like bruh. Yall need to chill
WHERE WERE U WHEN I WAS FUMBLING TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO MY FRIENDS
Well said
No you need to wake the fuck up. It’s weird to meet a child and then have a relationship with them as soon as they’re an adult. Like you’re waiting for this children to reach the ‘adult stage’ of their youth just to justify the relationship. Ur weirdddddddd
I read your comment and it really gave me insight on the dynamic between the two. Would you recommend checking it out?? Is it really good, or could I do without reading it?
There's also the loaded question of how much moral responsibility does art hold and the intended demographic of the content.
For example not many people who read/watch hentai expect story and therefore would care less about fictional rape if all they want out of the material is some prettily penciled together images to fap to.
Conversely, if the demographic is young children, you'll have to be a little more careful and intentional of what you do include. Especially if said content is marketed as educational.
OMFG 100% AGREED. i love it when ppl can genuinely critically think and assess from a nuanced perspective <3. these days especially on the internet, many are conditioned to see everything as strictly black or white, anyone in between is taken as performative or labeled as apologists. ofc, that is to say that, there are folks out there who exploit the “grey area” to justify their own agendas or fetishes, which has unfortunately led others to treat any rational, nuanced position as endorsement
also regarding the story, i feel like BWAT took too fast to get them together, their chemistry as adults feels extremely forced and clearly rushed out. this is why many ppl have a problem w the story. tei and shuraka should've taken at least 10-15 more chps working on their relationship dynamics to create the shift where tei sees shuraka as an actual adult for who he is and not a young prince he once protected, before being intimate w e/o. the art is immaculate but the writing is lazy imo
This. As soon as we got the seen with him basically seducing shuraka into drinking fluids I was like oh my god come on, again? It's such a stupid trope next to the 'adult-child first encounter' type of shit that, well, ofc I was not surprised at all about the sick > smex trope that came as soon as they showed the panel of him having a fever in the carriage. Sure this story has a lot less concerning details as other works doing these tropes, but the whoke tropes and concepts are fully there and basically showing up one after the other by the book . It's rare for art + written personalities (even side characters) + expected future dynamic to be this good altogether tho, so in the end it's actually enough of a win to call it a gem. Sure the landmark tropes are not ideal, but A. way more messed up royal marriages have occurred irl in history and B. Again, I definitely got the vibe of it being a victorian style story if you will. It takes inspiration from both those overdone tropes and actual irl history like how very young women were married off to way older men for benefits in irl history. I liked that in this case it was done for the prince's protection moreso than just bc it benefits the kingdom. That was fresh. On that note, I'm having less a hard time with the story up till now, except YES, it was necessary to have that extra like 20 episodes imo of them actually discussing everything in the open and tei shifting his outlook about how the kid he once knrw is no more and seeing him as an adult. Even if shuraka had to work and wait longer, it would've made the whole story that much more appropriate. It's still an important thing to write in when writing more taboo stuff, even if it seems like now Shuraka's body is suffering from basically keeping his virginity for so long (I assume that's the cause of his weird nose bleed but we'll find out exactly what it is later Ig).
Nga, my guy don't even want a relationship with the kid. Seems like you read the manhwa with your eyes closed and your legs spread. Pls acquire some braincells, thanks!
THANK YOU. Finally someone with functional brain cells. You wrote it out perfectly
I just woke up… Dang!!! Thank you everyone for the kind words!!! T T I wasn’t expecting such a big response! Unfortunately can’t respond to everyone, but I truly appreciate your guy’s replies, and insight!
I would also say don’t try to engage too much with the actually weird ones- Unfortunately some people are just blindly defensive of this stuff and will not hear reason. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink…
I personally think the art itself is worth reading for. It’s not the WORST! But it isn’t the best either. If you haven’t read King’s Maker yet, I would say that one is of the same genre, but an absolute MASTERPIECE of a work. I love that one’s story to death… But yeah, I would say you could do without it, it’s really up to you!
That topic is a veryyy touchy one I would say, given the line is blurry in much cases, where content can be more crude and careless, or responsible and poised.
This is all based on my own experience- So I will not claim any of this is factually backed! But purely from what I have seen, the porn industry, for example, has lead to a number of men seeing women a “specific” way, and expectations to be very unrealistic. Then this forces women to either push back or do their best to meet those expectations. It’s very toxic.
Obviously stuff like Hentai is a bit different since, as said, it is art, and art can be astronomically more fantastical, and yet there are still cases where- like incels- there is a very real consequence for works which depict these themes.
Perhaps these people were already this way, but now these works become unifying communities for them, and that’s where it goes downhill more and more…
Personally, I used to be very against rape in fiction, but now I have become more tolerant of it, as long as the author is not trying to justify it. Maybe I became desensitized to non-con and dub-con… But generally I don’t get too upset by it now since there is a very real kink for certain people who enjoy consensual non-consent and such. There exists a form of healthy consumption.
But for me, anything related to the sexualization of children will be something I am adamantly opposed to. I don’t think there is ANY level of “healthy” consumption of child sexualization, and I don’t think it should be explored. That’s at least why in this case, I personally feel a bit off since, while this is not a huge offender, it certainly is pushing the boundary.
I don’t think I know enough to say anything too definitive on it though. I would need to properly educate myself some more on the actually reported outcomes, such as studies on demographics and how certain media may affect one’s own mortality and perception of the subject… But a very worth while topic indeed!!!
Long ass comment ahead. You have been warned
Definitely a hard one to pin for me. If people do not understand why the whole “meeting when one is younger than the other” thing is an issue, it is exactly how it is being depicted here, which is almost textbook “grooming”. Of course, it’s a lot more nuanced, but generally speaking:
An adult who interacts with a child in the context of romance, acted upon or not, will become an idol of admiration for that child up to adulthood. Commonly used in cases where predators groom a victim to make them dependent on them.
Obviously Tei is not a predator. He nor Shuraka are bad. Tei in his position never attempted to act upon any sexual activity with Shuraka as a child. Though one could argue he could have refused the entire affair as soon as he discovered the age of Shuraka, I think it’s safe to say he never imagined Shuraka and him would ever be in an actual romantix relationship at the time, as he felt more like a protector of him, and often thought about how Shuraka will likely take a female concubine when he becomes a man.
Shuraka though, is following the admiration he holds of Tei, since he was young, now into adulthood.
I think the biggest problem is what it represents, not this particular situation itself, but the normalization of a relationship built upon the naivety and impressionable stages of a youth paired with someone who is an adult- It never works this way in the real world. We can also claim that readers should be smart enough to understand the differences, but to be honest? With all the recent content I have seen that really pushes into dangerous territory, I think it’s still worth while to critique what this work is at fault of.
I don’t think the author is a creep, I don’t think Tei is a predator. I just think that this could have been done differently, and attacking eachother is NOT the answer. Like I mentioned, this case is very nuanced, and it requires an equally nuanced interpretation.
I will continue to read this one, because I do really appreciate the story so far. Beautiful art with very intriguing developments, and lore that is not completely unique, but very interesting to learn more of. The dynamic of Shuraka and Tei, at the point of them both being adults, is also promising and I do wish to see how that will turn out.
As they say, you should always know how to critique that which you love. It is never good to be blindly supportive of anything.
Thanks for reading my shitty essay or whatever the hell this is.