I totally understand. I realized all of this while reading too. Still I don't have the energy to get bothered by it since it's known most yaoi is made by women for... Women. By starting there I think it's clear that they just portray a fiction world bases on a unknwon "reality". People who don't give it deep thought can empathize with this but understanding this details make it difficult to fully enjoy the story. I hope you could understand what I tried to say with my shitty english hahhaha.
PS: I'm still a sucker for lovely things. I try hard not to notice the background so I can enjoy it fully and feel the fluff so after this I'm going to forget this matter. (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
Don’t get me wrong, i enjoyed the story & i wouldnt say i was bothered by it either. The story itself gave me no reason to write my post, it was the high total rating that did.
After reading this cute manga I looked at the rating & thought: “huh, it was good, but i didnt think it was near that good. I wonder why it has such a high rating?”
Ive seen it too often, with too many manga - people rating things based on the genres & topics covered, not on the quality of the work. I don’t think its fair & its annoying that i chose this 1 cos it was rated higher. Its also terribly disappointing when a Manga doesn't meet expectations.
As i wrote my educational background means that I'm able to analyse, what i didn't write is that I’m autistic. Always being autistic mean you sometimes forget others brains don't work the same way as others. Autistic people have monotropic minds, which means we have difficulty dividing up our attention like in social situations (body language [eyes, mouth, hands, etc], tone of voice, volume, language usage, direction their looking, pauses, etc), which are filled with vast and varied cues (not to mention you have to try to control all these factors within yourself at the same time), all of which small amounts of attention are automatically allotted. However, while we have difficulty dividing our attention, we can easily enter what is called a flow state (a state many scholars have to study & practice at for years before they can do it properly), which allows us to focus all of our attention on one task. So, while i often analyse the “background” stuff, i cam also fully enjoy the foreground, while also processing a huge amount of other things about it. For myself, instead of taking away from the manga, i think it adds to the experience as you are reading the full manga at every level. Besides i’ll always be autistic & its the only way i can do things, so I'm content with it.
By what you wrote: i still don't understand why the fact that Yaoi is written by women automatically means we all should just shrug our shoulders & say anything’s fine? (if thats what you meant by that)
PS: During this reply, if anything seems angered, sad, confrontational, or narcissistic- i apologise, as I'm writing this with fairly neutral emotion, i just like covering everything & have trouble knowing what info to leave out, because to me all info is important to better understanding.
Thank you for replying. I'd love to explain my thoughts but english is not my first language so I probably won't make much sense :(
First of all, I'm glad you explained. Now I understand what made you feel that way. I can also understand it.
Secondly, I'm not a fan of thinking everything passes just because it's written by women. It's just that I've read so much yaoi that at this point I find it pointless myself to analyze each detail which points out everything that's off of each manga. Clearly, this is just me being lazy(￣∇￣"). But I still appreciate when people do it, somehow it's like someone else is doing my job for me (￣∇￣").
You also took in consideration the ratings which is something I never would have taken into account.
That said I'm glad you explained your opinion with detail.
Oh! My little brother is autistic too. He's currently 13 years old. I'm happy I read your comment. It doesn't look angered or anything like that :D/
It was cute & fluffy, but i feel like people are building it up more just because it is one of the rare ones that represent the overweight. It’s a shame we live in a world where extra accolades must be given to those willing to represent the less attractive realities of society. But then again it’s also sad we live in a world where Mangakas feel a need to represent them. Whoever the manga represents, in a perfect world it should be enjoyed for its quality of art and story, not for what group (minority or not) it represents, and i feel like if this one was not about someone overweight, it wouldn’t have got such a high rating. Also, i noticed how the Yaoi content wasn’t included until after he lost the weight & became cute & i feel the subtext of this choice should undo any good will earned by the fact that the story’s about the overweight. It just felt to me, with how it was added, like the mangaka may have only represented the overweight because the were seeking the accolades & not because they genuinely wanted to (sorry my background in humanities makes it hard for me not to ponder writer motives) & either by the drive of themselves or their editor it was decided that a fat person having sex would be too unattractive for readers. i think, if your going to, go 100% or not at all.
I also don’t like the way arai treats him - in regards to the confession, but i’ve gone on long enough.
BTW if u wondering i’m fat. i was obese but recently managed to get down to just overweight.