I totally understand where all these comments are coming from but as someone who really loves angst this was a really refreshing read. In most BL manhwas and mangas the rapist is the love interest and the victim either develops some sort of fked up attachment or Stockholm syndrome relationship with him. And in other stories the “savior” seme ends up being just as toxic.
In Pearl Boy, Jooha is traumatized but he isn’t totally helpless, he learned to fight back and he makes selfless decisions when his loved ones are threatened. There was no romanticizing his suffering, sure it was very explicit and brutal. Definitely disturbing and a hard read at times but that’s personally something I look for when reading BL. His trauma wasn’t brushed over, he was explicitly stated to have PTSD, took meds, hallucinated, had nightmares, and struggled to feel safe even when there was no immediate danger.
Dooshik on the other hand was clearly a lover boy from the start. He played savior without it being overbearing. Sure he had his yandere moments, and I did feel the author was pushing it in some scenes with what I was comfortable with but in the end, unlike the majority of BL’s Dooshik was genuinely a good person to Jooha and he was soft with him when Jooha needed that. He wasn’t perfect either, he had his own struggles and the author did a great job at creating turbulence in their relationship without it being rape/assult/blackmail or anything of the sort.
The memory loss thing at the end worried me a bit… I’m glad we got the side story and Jooha’s memories returned. Honestly that could’ve been (should’ve imo) part of the main story because Jooha losing his memories makes the rest of the story pretty meaningless and it would’ve been a good way to end things on a softer note.
As someone who loves angst, trauma coded characters, and hurt/comfort Pearl Boy was exactly what I was looking for. I did wish that at times the sxx scenes were a bit softer, slower paced, because their relationship totally could have fueled that sort of dynamic but at the end of the day the author still has to appeal to the mainstream yaoi readers, and let’s be honest most of them read for the hardcore smut… so I’ll take what I can get honestly.
A really good read, would read again… probable the most I’ve ever enjoyed a manhwa.
I totally understand where all these comments are coming from but as someone who really loves angst this was a really refreshing read. In most BL manhwas and mangas the rapist is the love interest and the victim either develops some sort of fked up attachment or Stockholm syndrome relationship with him. And in other stories the “savior” seme ends up being just as toxic.
In Pearl Boy, Jooha is traumatized but he isn’t totally helpless, he learned to fight back and he makes selfless decisions when his loved ones are threatened. There was no romanticizing his suffering, sure it was very explicit and brutal. Definitely disturbing and a hard read at times but that’s personally something I look for when reading BL. His trauma wasn’t brushed over, he was explicitly stated to have PTSD, took meds, hallucinated, had nightmares, and struggled to feel safe even when there was no immediate danger.
Dooshik on the other hand was clearly a lover boy from the start. He played savior without it being overbearing. Sure he had his yandere moments, and I did feel the author was pushing it in some scenes with what I was comfortable with but in the end, unlike the majority of BL’s Dooshik was genuinely a good person to Jooha and he was soft with him when Jooha needed that. He wasn’t perfect either, he had his own struggles and the author did a great job at creating turbulence in their relationship without it being rape/assult/blackmail or anything of the sort.
The memory loss thing at the end worried me a bit… I’m glad we got the side story and Jooha’s memories returned. Honestly that could’ve been (should’ve imo) part of the main story because Jooha losing his memories makes the rest of the story pretty meaningless and it would’ve been a good way to end things on a softer note.
As someone who loves angst, trauma coded characters, and hurt/comfort Pearl Boy was exactly what I was looking for. I did wish that at times the sxx scenes were a bit softer, slower paced, because their relationship totally could have fueled that sort of dynamic but at the end of the day the author still has to appeal to the mainstream yaoi readers, and let’s be honest most of them read for the hardcore smut… so I’ll take what I can get honestly.
A really good read, would read again… probable the most I’ve ever enjoyed a manhwa.