nope's Topics (2)

a mess... normally I wouldnt be this harsh b/c this genre is just generally full of slop. But i had expectations thru the roof since this is THE author that wrote hate mate that I just cant help but use hate mate as a point of comparison. A series that explores a dynamic beyond rose-tinted first love; whose shining qualities are that of speaking on and building complex REAL relationships -- both platonic and romantic, humor and even queer themes to essentially what was an ill-believed melodrama focused ON said rose-tinted first love. 2 stars for the art... which again just wasn't as good as hate mate. I am so sorry.

In honor of the previous topic, im feeling a bit inspired to share my own thoughts.

This is my first topic ever! I usually only lurk but this manhwa is SO serious to me.

I remember my mind being blown when I first read season 1 ages ago, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I don't think its ever really left my mind since.

I didn't realize there was a 2nd season. I read the second season somewhat recently and I've own grown to love it more. Initially I was VERY worried Subin would end up with Hyeonwoo. It wasn't anything I expected. Not him going back to his first love. Not just a weird "feel-good" revenge second season where Hyeonwoo is the one yearning after. Or even just Hyeonwoo finding his own happiness, which I would've been perfectly content with. It was a perfectly good bittersweet ending closing out questions in Subin and Juns relationship. Cleanings out the leftovers of Hyeonwoos feelings and ambiguity toward Subin. I left feeling satisfied and sad and so happy and so empty.


I could talk for ages about my love for this. Mainly is that its so fucking REFRESHING. Ive read hundreds of (drawn) romance stories and all their subcategories. I don't even know if its fair to call this a typical romance, but thats a whole other can of worms.

I come back to this one every month or so or even just think about it all the tine reading other romances/dramas. I get tired of it all sometimes: the same artstyles, tropes not used well, sex as THE plot, and ESPECIALLY the lack of real-feeling characters, whatever else have you. But gosh this has none of it. The art is so beautiful and unique. There's a comedic and shounen-ai? like charm to the first seasons artstyle but the second season blew me away. The COLORING!!! It elevated in a way that fit the 2nd seasons tone exactly. It replaced the slightly shounen-ai feel with a fully adult and melodramatic (now, to me melodrama has only meant good things ever since Lorde) style. The coloring is beautiful throughout but really peaks during the best scenes and so effectively shows warmth, nostalgia, and DRAMA in a way I've never seen before and yet to see again.

I used to be of the mindset of "I hate each and every single trope". Like, the first love trope. Or the in love with a straight person trope. The two male leads. The love triangle. How does the first love ALWAYS work out? Wdym it works out between the straight and gay, on top of that theyre straight and "only have eyes" for their lover? Or some other bullshit from any other trope.

This defied all my preconceived hatred of tropes. Not in the way of simply flipping these tropes on their head, it DOES IT WELL. No, the first love doesn't work out because Hyeonwoo played with and trampled on his feelings! And Subin doesn't run back anyway!

Reflecting back, I was more hit by the realization that most of these tropes aren't inherently horrible. They just... just exist in a vacuum without plot and need to be grown alongside the story.

And the plot serves double duty to exactly what I appreciated most by far: the characters themselves. More so than anything is I feel most of these romance/dramas do not give their characters the water and space to grow as they need to, in a way that is not contrived or again, not fucking real. As the manhwa itself put it, "running off to a foreign country and getting married is too much like the ending of a BL comic". That is, the characters are just exactly that. empty boxes for the plot to unfold through that writers think they can stuff without cheapening them.

Here though, the plot exists, much like real life does, for the characters. If I had to summarize the entirety of the plot it goes like: Subin grows to move on from his first love that had him captive for so many years. Nothing really much "happens" but through the story tumultuous, young, love-driven Subin turns into I guess a full fledged adult with adult characteristics. The scene where Subin exclaims hes not mad and he won't curse at Hyunwoo was so good. I just... the fact he didn't hold it over him like some cheap revenge-porn plot point was SO good. Because that was your best friend in high school and your first love for so many years. Yes, he mightve treated you like trash before and the positions are reversed but its been oh so many years since then and you have a boyfriend and a cat now. The plot is honestly not memorable but the characters and spectrum of colors I feel while reading is.

And god the dialogue and thoughts? Just so fkin good so real and honestly cinematic. This entire manhwa reads akin to a really good movie actually.

Now, earlier I kinda shat on Hyeonwoo. But hes written so well I can't even bring myself to hate him even after he put Subin through the wringer. He just cant bring himself to become attached to someone else again and thats human idk. Honestly, in a fairytale ending Subin and Hyeonwoo would've ended together. Their personalities mesh so well and they wouldve been really sweet and fun together. But I appreciate they didn't because the cards simply didnt fall that way. I still wish the best for Hyeonwoo.

Random off-comment but I ADORE the cover (at least the one for MangaGo). Theres no one else but a beautifully marker colored shot of Subin smiling. I love that with the focus on Subins growth and not even necessarily romance.

Rereading my own post, I guess I'm just reeeaaaally jaded with how samesy a lot of these shounen ais/yaois/bls have become.

But still this is one of very few that give me hope for the genre. I think what romances and dramas can do best is exactly as whats on the tin: make us reflect on our relationships. How do they grow? How do we as individuals grow alongside them? But whens the last time you were actually confronted with that through these dire droughts of fuckass plots, contrived love, yaoislop and blslop??

thank u for reading my thoughts

"A long time ago I would fantasize about you being in love with me...

...And being as heartbroken as I was...

...Back when I was madly in love with you.

I'd imagine you regretting the way you treated me and begging me to forgive you in anguish.

But now...

...It doesn't feel as amazing as I thought it would."