I think in a very conservative country like Korea it probably isn’t uncommon to just kinda go with the motions of society’s expectations and assume you’re straight? And like, even if you’re straight, you’re not gonna have sex with/be sexually attracted to someone just cuz they’re the opposite sex, so like, if you’re gay or bi it’s not like you’re immediately attracted to all people of the same sex? Plus this one specifically shows he was bi in school with the rival dude/not opposed to trying. People also just have varying sex drives / libido / physical compatibility with different people. And there is absolutely no shred of a plot point about being against anything because they’re both men, or him pushing that he’s straight. I have a friend who hadn’t really questioned his sexuality enough and dated girls in high school but is fully gay now like, it’s not that deep. if you tried something with someone of the same sex and didn’t like it, would you forever be gay? You throw out a lot of sexualities without seeming to understand what they mean?
I think you might have misunderstood me, I'm not saying any of this relating to the characters, it's about authors. Characters are not real people, they don't make choices. If someone out there decides to view themselves as straight after a period of experimenting that's fine, it's their identify, I don't care and it's not my business. However, in this case, these characters, they're made up. The author is the one deciding, and it's a pattern I've seen many a time all across media from different countries. What bothers me is these authors not being able to conceptualize characters who aren't straight but gay for someone specific. I wrote the comment after reading the author commentary, since as you pointed out, none of the characters have ever mentioned their sexuality nor is it relevant to the story as it currently is playing out. But the author mentioned it. And they could have expressed that the character is questioning, doesn't care for labels or his sexuality is currently undefined. But they didn't, they said, however that tbe character who is currently having a homosexual situationship with other man is straight. I don't know anything about the author or their intent, but to me, this pattern of denying any gayness seems kind of telling, to be honest. And look, I don't even believe it's out of malice either! It's probably a byproduct of the conservativism of their country of origin as you pointed out. I, however, am allowed to be put off by it. And this is just me expressing my feelings about it.
I hope this clarified my previous comment better.
I see what you’re saying, and I think I interpreted their comment more as, “to clarify, he’s always identified as straight” but more in season 2 and Specifically because he did experiment/their previous work. I don’t really know what kind of questions prompted their comment, and I don’t know if Demisexual has really made it to the general vernacular in other places. I suspect Demi since his ex seemed to think he didn’t care for her. Unintentional love story by the same author has previously het-relationships-only guy fall in love with guy who has always been gay, so I might at least give this author the benefit of the doubt. I feel like she explores a lot of what I might describe as Demisexual protagonists? Idk, I can picture the types of stories you’re thinking of and see why it would rub you the wrong way based on your additional comment
Kind of unrelated to the manga (but not really) but man, why do some authors insist on making the characters 'hetero' and are so adamant about it too. Like, excuse me but I don't think that if you participate in sexual intercourse of any kind or get emotionally/romantically involved with someone of the same sex you are straight. It's tired, it's old. Let them be undefined if you want, but the insistance on characters only being gay for each other leaves a bad taste in my mouth. People (men in this case) can be queer, bisexual, pansexual, demisexual, and a myriad of other identities but they somehow always land on the 'hetero but gay for the significant other'. C'mon