disclaimer, I perhaps may be illiterate and forget details, but as I like to say, reading is an experience, if my experience does not correlate to what I believe should be the experience based on what you have provided, that is a failure on behalf of the work itself.
Or I'm dumb.
It's one of the other.
Mmmmhhh is it thought? how do you even know what they are trying to deliver? only the author knows.
If your work is inherently contradictory in messaging and there is nothing in there to suggest that it was intentional, then that's a failure of messaging. This is basic writing. This isn't an argument of whether or not the author had intent, it's that even if that was the intent, it's flawed.
You can do this btw, but as I said, there is nothing here that suggests that at least from what I read.
And that is why I said, "disclaimer, I perhaps may be illiterate and forget details", because there are things I might've not noticed, but from what I've read and what I've seen, the end result is contradictory.
I see, btw just to clarify, I didn't read this story, so I was just talking in general. Guess that's why editor's job is so important in helping the author delivering their intention with clarity. I was just confused about your statement I guess, or just didn't pick it up right, just saying if the characters are contradictory it could be justified as a development of their characters, or them being inherently flawed intentionally, but if the flow of the story doesn't line up, I totally agree with you. Tbh this is the reason I'm always amazed by the people producing amazing works being authors, artists and editors all in one, can't be easy making a compelling story following a proper plot line withouth losing any details, especially for long complex ones
I actually don't think this manhwa is romanticizing any of the aspects in it, especially considering all SA/incest routes ended badly. I don't think that was their purpose and for that reason, I actually don't mind this writer. They had a similar result in another one of their works that I read.
The main issue this manhwa is the fact that the author kind of band-aids MC and his brother's relationship. For someone who SA'd and committed forceful incest with MC, the MC gets along with the brother way too easily. I think what happened was that the writer already planned on them getting over everything, but then they broke up the stories into parts of what people are supposed to represent.
The police officer was the person whom you trust when there is no one else, forgetting that, in the end, they are also people.
The younger brother is the person whom you feel guilty over but their actions are so horrible, you can't reconcile that guilt with action.
So on, so forth.
However, when you put these people together, suddenly it becomes harder to differentiate them. What even is the moral difference between the police officer and the brother? The brother comes from a place of hurt? But isn't it equally human for someone to become jealous and disillusioned with the world? The "hurt" is the world itself, then why is the police officer thrown away, but not the brother?
From the same place of hatred that birthed the monstrosity that was the brother, the police officer came to hate the MC-that is, that life is unfair. Then, when your story mostly shows the MC is a fairly positive light, it feels jarring to me at least. People might say, "oh, well nothing traumatic happened to him, he's just jealous."
What do you think a police officer is? A police officer's job is to handle the world's lowest of the lows. Every single day all they are witnessing the truth that is that humans are trash. And in his specific ig "genre" of duty, his trauma is quite literally his profession.
For that reason, when you very clearly start hinting that the brother is just abused and coming from a place of hurt and that we can all just "grow up!", it feels shallow for a work that has a heavy hand in something as ig dark as this.
That is my issue with this manhwa.
While I agree that the brother being the brother does indeed play a large part, the fact the author doesn't really address this very well and instead goes on a "we need to change together" is alright, but it's a little stark against the other people in this situation. The author fell into the trap of the MC being "nice", when in reality, the MC is also kind of a piece of shit.
You fall in love with a gang leader, draw invisible lines because they suit your preference, and close lines when suddenly it is against your own preference. I would have preferred the MC directly realize and address how how much of a hypocrite he is.
Anyway, no one in this looked like Luocha, which was disappointing, but the artstyle is reminiscent of older yaoi, which is nice.