There's mystery, romance, sexual tension, decently developed characters. The uke is refreshing. I always look forward to ukes that don't present as an extension to the seme, have a will of their own, a belief system they adhere to, not dying under the weight of their own (mostly) imagined misery and insecurities, who have agency and intelligence to act on it, who aren't misogynistic projection pieces of the authors who cater to audiences equally misogynistic no matter how they act otherwise.
Yes, I said it and I stand by it, a big chunk of BL readers are misogynistic as they enjoy projecting on ukes written in the image of submissive, agencyless women written in misogynistic f/m. Any uke with a backbone, agency, strong boundaries and a will of their own/a personality of their own really triggers these users' prejudices as they are unable to project on them, finding them unrelatable. Since they cannot read BLs without projecting on the ukes if their lives depended on it, truly strong ukes (not to be confused with the ones that operate on false bravado, reactiveness, immaturity, pettiness, vengefulness and unnecessary loudness) mirror everything these users find lacking in themselves, and so it triggers them into resentment and unjustified criticism. Knowing this, the authors also capitalise on the trope, it's really rampant in this genre, also rampantly consumed by these said users, logic or credibility be damned.
Which is why, I am enjoying reading this uke. For once, it's not the seme 'saving' or 'rescuing' the uke, the power balance not entirely favoring the seme. The story reads interesting and seems to stand on its own without resorting behind weakly written smokescreen for gratuitous smut, the character traits read convincing as per the backgrounds given to them, the worldbuilding reads more or less okay, some gaps aside, but i will wait for the story to unfold before giving a full judgment as a lot of crucial information is withheld by the author at this point in the story. I am down 17 chapters, so let's see how it goes. Hope it goes well and the author doesn't disappoint me, fingers crossed.
The art is nice too, the paneling, the composition of frames, editing, the colour pallete matches the eerie vibes of the themes, the character design is not very conventionally attractive but that's fine, the expressions are nuanced, well drawn and body proportions are convincing and not over the top fan servicey slop. Like the dialogues as well, the contrast between the uke's casual/modern speech rich with pop cultural references as opposed to the shamanic clan's old world lingo. The seme seems to be an in between, stuck between two eras, two belief systems, two ways of living, the way he likes uke and is impressed by him while still trying to protect the perception of his family from uke's critical lenses. He is miserable, not knowing where to go, who to trust, how to resolve his suffering. On the other hand, the uke reads confident in his skin, his misfortunes only make him stronger because his identity comes from how he thinks of himself and whom he prioritises in his life rather what people think of him. That's the kind of strength I am talking about, not dependent on some external validation or criticism. Their dynamic seems believable, natural without being overly sexual, overly emotionally affected, it's developing slowly and steadily without relying on the dated (and often misused and narratively unjustified) tropes of fate and love at first sight. It doesn't read superficial, the uke means what he says and says what he means.
There's mystery, romance, sexual tension, decently developed characters. The uke is refreshing. I always look forward to ukes that don't present as an extension to the seme, have a will of their own, a belief system they adhere to, not dying under the weight of their own (mostly) imagined misery and insecurities, who have agency and intelligence to act on it, who aren't misogynistic projection pieces of the authors who cater to audiences equally misogynistic no matter how they act otherwise.
Yes, I said it and I stand by it, a big chunk of BL readers are misogynistic as they enjoy projecting on ukes written in the image of submissive, agencyless women written in misogynistic f/m. Any uke with a backbone, agency, strong boundaries and a will of their own/a personality of their own really triggers these users' prejudices as they are unable to project on them, finding them unrelatable. Since they cannot read BLs without projecting on the ukes if their lives depended on it, truly strong ukes (not to be confused with the ones that operate on false bravado, reactiveness, immaturity, pettiness, vengefulness and unnecessary loudness) mirror everything these users find lacking in themselves, and so it triggers them into resentment and unjustified criticism. Knowing this, the authors also capitalise on the trope, it's really rampant in this genre, also rampantly consumed by these said users, logic or credibility be damned.
Which is why, I am enjoying reading this uke. For once, it's not the seme 'saving' or 'rescuing' the uke, the power balance not entirely favoring the seme. The story reads interesting and seems to stand on its own without resorting behind weakly written smokescreen for gratuitous smut, the character traits read convincing as per the backgrounds given to them, the worldbuilding reads more or less okay, some gaps aside, but i will wait for the story to unfold before giving a full judgment as a lot of crucial information is withheld by the author at this point in the story. I am down 17 chapters, so let's see how it goes. Hope it goes well and the author doesn't disappoint me, fingers crossed.
The art is nice too, the paneling, the composition of frames, editing, the colour pallete matches the eerie vibes of the themes, the character design is not very conventionally attractive but that's fine, the expressions are nuanced, well drawn and body proportions are convincing and not over the top fan servicey slop. Like the dialogues as well, the contrast between the uke's casual/modern speech rich with pop cultural references as opposed to the shamanic clan's old world lingo. The seme seems to be an in between, stuck between two eras, two belief systems, two ways of living, the way he likes uke and is impressed by him while still trying to protect the perception of his family from uke's critical lenses. He is miserable, not knowing where to go, who to trust, how to resolve his suffering. On the other hand, the uke reads confident in his skin, his misfortunes only make him stronger because his identity comes from how he thinks of himself and whom he prioritises in his life rather what people think of him. That's the kind of strength I am talking about, not dependent on some external validation or criticism. Their dynamic seems believable, natural without being overly sexual, overly emotionally affected, it's developing slowly and steadily without relying on the dated (and often misused and narratively unjustified) tropes of fate and love at first sight. It doesn't read superficial, the uke means what he says and says what he means.
Yes author, give me more. Thank you.