not a hater at all! i love that you're looking at this more critically. imo this is one of the more "progressive" historical romance stories in that it challenges gender & its stereotypes, but because it falls under shoujo, i think this is all we're gonna get. any more expounding would bring the story to josei, with a different appeal and audience (i.e. for a shoujo this is good, but if placed beside josei as is, this would be mid af LOL)
that said, i do agree and wish there would have been more depth on their own reflections & experiences! navigating one's gender at an era where being cisgender in a patriarchal society IS the norm, and choosing to live as opposite of your own, would be really difficult and pose a lottt of internal-external conflicts—that i wish were explained! i agree it would have been really more compelling to read all the unspoken details. their happy ending—while a good thing—feels kinda superficial, like a "here u go" ending than one that felt more ... deserved & satisfactory (after having overcome challenges etc.) since they glossed over the more serious parts of gender identity & expression.
overall i liked the story also, and didn't think much of it until i saw your comment! it fr got me thinking. like you, i should engage with the media i consume more
yes ur right i definitely didnt think about the target audience when overall analyzing the story and thats very true and now im
ike okay duh haha makes sense to get not as deep into those heavy topics but the ending was definitely rushed and so so boring i do absolutely love the not common characters being the leads as it’s a great way to positively spread almost like awareness to this genre audience also thank you, i just had such excitement to read this story because it wasn’t cisgendered and i tend to over analysis and love really dark angst but happy ending and those are always the best reads to me i like be submerged into the story and feel the emotions of the characters
i finished reading it.
And 100% completly agree with you, I know they tried to make it light hearted and fluffy. But I want more in-depth. More emotions. More angst.
I did like the fact that even after knowing each other gender they did not suddenly started wearing clothes which are usually associated with there gender.
So I feel like both character have some sort of association as LGBTQ+ community.
And as a asexual that makes me happy.
I also feel like that both character have some sort of Androgyny in them as well.
Once again I loved the manhwa the only thing which they could have done to make it better was add more 20-30 chapter and show us what they really feel inside on more deeper level
i think i jsut crave more mature reads now and thats okay it’s just my preference i wish there was more great quality josei historical manhwas and this is not that and it’s okay it’s a good read and very unique
I feel you! There is a story that tackles the angst of being forced into a different role. It‘s called Osora on webtoon :) You might like it!
this was a cute story and i loved the twist on the typical stereotypes for this genre BUT gosh i wish it was such a light read i craved more into the depth of the emotional turbulence of being forced to be a gender you weren’t born as but not your choice but a parents i wanted to see both leads show emotions and their thoughts on how they feel inside and how they would choose to identify or to simply not label themselves but show the raw emotions of what it feels like being in their positions especially crystal we got that very very brief i wanted to be called crystal and to me i wasn’t sure if that meant she’s liked to be address as she/her or is that’s just the name she was given so it feels right to her i wish it went into details on how they felt inside to get to that point of being what they are comfortable with themselves. same with illian they had a lot of resentment for their father making them swap genders and be put through so much. we got moments of where illian only addressed themselves as a woman in certain moment to their benefit but being address in he/him pronouns plus them having to his their identities to outside world had they keep up appearances anyways maybe im just reading to in depth and not just taking the subtle ways it was put in but i feel like it need more clarification personally bc it’s all sunshine and rainbows and we didn’t get to see a lot of the emotional side of their gender identification my interpretation is that they are both gender neutral