thought i'd find more people talking about how good it was but okay looks like that's an unpopular opinion.
seunghee finding solace in an older gay man (who ended up being a predator) was so heartbreaking but also so relatable for me: a big part of his character development is how he manages his loneliness and isolation from the world for being gay. at the beginning, bc of his bad coming out experience, he shuts out the possibility of connecting with people irl, bc they're not queer and they're not going to understand him. so he instead turns to chat rooms - he knows all sorts of creeps hang out there, but he doesn't care bc at least they're gay, and the one thing they have in common is being called freaks. that's why he connects so much with the older man (jini?? his username i think). he doesn't genuinely LIKE him; he's just lonely. he's only with him because he's lonely and that's so heartbreaking bc that's how most queer people who have been shut out by real life acquaintances end up: lonely and vulnerable.
as for jini, i thought he was a well written character. through seunghee's unreliable narration, we get this sense of "ok maybe he's not THAT bad..." bc he treats seunghee so well. at the beginning, it genuinely seems like he doesn't even like seunghee in that way, he ends up projecting onto him (talking so much about his youth, about how he just wants seung hee to be happy: he doesn't even proposition seunghee for sex) and convincing him to be with people his own age. but the truth is that he's not a reliable adult at all!!! he's a fucking freak but while he's a creep, the writer shows us that he's a parallel to seunghee -- they're both lonely, queer people but while jini ends up fucked up and projects his inability to love onto literal 18 year olds, seunghee has the capacity to be good and grow as a person because he's such a strong character. he stood his ground against lee kyubin, he didn't forgive the people who wronged him, and he sobered up and cut off contact with jini in the very end because he chose to do the right thing over the easy one (the easy decision being staying with jini just because they're both gay and lonely).
so yeah idk i felt like this subplot was necessary bc so many young queer people face such bone deep loneliness since being queer is dangerous for them in real life, so instead they turn to online chat rooms, etc. which puts them at risk of being groomed, exploited and preyed on. seunghee and jini's story show us that you r not alone!! do not shut out people from your life!! there will be people who will understand you and love you, and they will not be creeps twice your age.
I just finished reading this for the first time and that part did leave a bad taste in my mouth, but you have a point. I just can’t get over the fact that he was sending dick pics to actual children, and it was never brought up again. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
yea i always feel weird when people get mad at authors for including a pretty well-handled predator subplot bc ?? it’s pretty parallel to a lot of queer experiences. it wasn’t done with the intention of fetishizing it. it was pretty monumental for his development and how he grew as a person. i don’t think this manga is to be read as a lot of mangas on here are. (it might just be me but) i found this to be more in the same ballpark with shimanami tasogare/our dreams at dusk or ao no flag since i didn’t feel like this was a “BL” but more like a story depicting queer loneliness. glad to see someone agree cuz i really love this manga and so many people had the same thought process as me.
thought i'd find more people talking about how good it was but okay looks like that's an unpopular opinion.
seunghee finding solace in an older gay man (who ended up being a predator) was so heartbreaking but also so relatable for me: a big part of his character development is how he manages his loneliness and isolation from the world for being gay. at the beginning, bc of his bad coming out experience, he shuts out the possibility of connecting with people irl, bc they're not queer and they're not going to understand him. so he instead turns to chat rooms - he knows all sorts of creeps hang out there, but he doesn't care bc at least they're gay, and the one thing they have in common is being called freaks. that's why he connects so much with the older man (jini?? his username i think). he doesn't genuinely LIKE him; he's just lonely. he's only with him because he's lonely and that's so heartbreaking bc that's how most queer people who have been shut out by real life acquaintances end up: lonely and vulnerable.
as for jini, i thought he was a well written character. through seunghee's unreliable narration, we get this sense of "ok maybe he's not THAT bad..." bc he treats seunghee so well. at the beginning, it genuinely seems like he doesn't even like seunghee in that way, he ends up projecting onto him (talking so much about his youth, about how he just wants seung hee to be happy: he doesn't even proposition seunghee for sex) and convincing him to be with people his own age. but the truth is that he's not a reliable adult at all!!! he's a fucking freak but while he's a creep, the writer shows us that he's a parallel to seunghee -- they're both lonely, queer people but while jini ends up fucked up and projects his inability to love onto literal 18 year olds, seunghee has the capacity to be good and grow as a person because he's such a strong character. he stood his ground against lee kyubin, he didn't forgive the people who wronged him, and he sobered up and cut off contact with jini in the very end because he chose to do the right thing over the easy one (the easy decision being staying with jini just because they're both gay and lonely).
so yeah idk i felt like this subplot was necessary bc so many young queer people face such bone deep loneliness since being queer is dangerous for them in real life, so instead they turn to online chat rooms, etc. which puts them at risk of being groomed, exploited and preyed on. seunghee and jini's story show us that you r not alone!! do not shut out people from your life!! there will be people who will understand you and love you, and they will not be creeps twice your age.
I just finished reading this for the first time and that part did leave a bad taste in my mouth, but you have a point. I just can’t get over the fact that he was sending dick pics to actual children, and it was never brought up again. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
yea i always feel weird when people get mad at authors for including a pretty well-handled predator subplot bc ?? it’s pretty parallel to a lot of queer experiences. it wasn’t done with the intention of fetishizing it. it was pretty monumental for his development and how he grew as a person. i don’t think this manga is to be read as a lot of mangas on here are. (it might just be me but) i found this to be more in the same ballpark with shimanami tasogare/our dreams at dusk or ao no flag since i didn’t feel like this was a “BL” but more like a story depicting queer loneliness. glad to see someone agree cuz i really love this manga and so many people had the same thought process as me.