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I hate how the only way a woman can be portrayed as strong or determined is if she is or has the soul of a man. It’s such a sexist trope that’s a last ditch effort to excuse bad story-writing.
Oh this has nothing to do with the story I just wanted to point that out
I was about to ran away from this story, but thankfully I see your next reply
So when I read their story on tapas, the official website, I finally reached the part of the story where they take away the man’s melanin. When I commented “Ain’t this racist?? Like the sheer contrast of skin color makes me so uncomfortable. It’s like he’s posing as a different race entirely in his disguise.” And the author then replied with some bs that was basically saying it was intentional and that no, it’s not racist, it’s for the plot
Which isn’t a valid excuse, so I responded “It doesn't really matter the intention when the difference in skin color is so drastic. Plus, the factor of features doesn't really take into account in racial differences here, when many people of color also have straight black hair and similar features as well, especially in this racially ambiguous artstyle. And this applies to people in the real world as well, where many people who over-tan also receive criticism.
On top of that, the depiction of his darker skinned version being in charge of doing more potentially shady businesses, while his lighter skinned version portrays his perfect image, feels racially charged.
People of dark skin tones have always had stigma and stereotypes placed upon them in this similar fashion. It inadvertently sends the idea that darker skin must be hidden, while lighter skin doesn't. Although your intentions may not have been malicious, the impact is still inherently negative.”
In conclusion: the story sucks, the author is a dumbass, and the artstyle is ass. Happy reading!
Lol I had some words to say and ig it didn't want me to say it so why it's deleted, it was kinda long so I ain't wasting your time, you could have just dropped it without saying a word, cuz the plot still won't change, （￣へ￣）I'm just saying. And I'm not saying this to be racist or protecting the author on it's choice of plot, you could have just rated it like a 1 star or something.(￣∇￣")
Is there a reason you don’t want me to criticize the author’s poor and racist plot choice? Please use critical thinking before you want to say something (^_−)−☆
As I said if you didn't like it you could have just dropped it, since we've both read this it should also be clear that, the darker skin of the Ml was his real skin color and that since the lighter skin one is the duke something and he needed to be that duke to maintain the balance or something, again for the plot, of course there will be a difference (and in the other characters perspective the duke is either doing something shady too) it's the plot, that all I'm saying, I get what you are trying to point out but chill out no one is picking on you though? （￣へ￣）the author didn't mention or did anything racist, if it was in your perspective, it wasn't the intention of the author (〜￣△￣)〜
And if you read my comment fully, everything that you’ve just said I’ve already answered. It doesn’t matter the intention, the authors plot choice is and was inherently racist. Argue with a brick wall and keep crying about people showing criticism for racist plot devices. Ciao! ٩(^‿^)۶
Dunno but either way apparently brown skin is his actual/original form, dunno if that helps or not. I also noticed a lot that in some manhwas the skin color difference isn't coming solely from racism, but also other cultural concepts; yin and yang for example, where yang is bright and gives and represents the sun while yin is the dark passive moon that intakes, but also people tend to shy away from it. dark and light, shadow and sun, demon and angel, etc. are all other concepts following similar philosophy.
Obviously that doesn't mean racism doesn't play any part or even that it becomes worse because of these concepts, but how much I think is hard to say solely from just the art style. He's completely white, like albino white, an incredibly striking appearance you normally don't see. It makes sense that is the duke version of him, both because they're playing into the whole "grand duke of the north" snow demon trope, but also because as a guild master you literally live in the shadows and need to be secretive so being striking is a huge detriment to your trade. It's like a chameleon, where you need to blend in to your environment, and I mean that literally here. The north is covered in snow, so being fully the color white (not just white skinned) is an advantage to hiding. The south and back-alleys are dark, and the buildings are also brown and terracota in color, so being darker (both in skin and hair) is necessary to hide. Is it racist? I dunno, I don't think so, but that's how I see it personally.
if you're saying the author couldn't give a concrete answer as to why they chose that, then the only thing we can really do is assume. The change was jarring, but I'd prefer that over some of the half-assed transformations in other manhwas where the palette change is barely a disguise. I literally cannot see them as the same person, to the point the discrepancy is discomforting, but that makes the disguise more believable since if even I as a reader can't really associate them as the same person solely on their design, then I can understand how other's in-story couldn't either (like Navi).
Gurl even after explaining that I'm very sure that person still won't get it, it's better to argue to a brick wall, than argue to a brick. (づ￣ ³￣)づ (it's good for smashing heads tho.(｡•ᴗ-)✧
You've got so much patience responding to them. Srsly they pmo so much. How could they come with conclusion that it was racist? Did they read this story while high or what. As a PoC who has faced many racism in my life, I don't even find a shred of racism in this BL. If the author were to do it, then they might associate Vael's original form with bad things, while it's the other way round. The original Duke Karass was rather a bad person and Vael took his form in disguise to do politic things with human assigned by the system window to achieve balance in their region.
The drastic change is the perfect disguise, he looks like a totally different person, from the Vael to the Duke. Tbh I wouldn’t exactly compare or relate them to rl situations and this is an original work, the author could do whatever with it. In this work did you even see any slight of racism behavior towards Vael character? No right?
If you don’t like how it implied racism in your perspective, you could just drop them. Or do you prefer if the author choose other color palette like purple or green as the Duke skin color? It wouldn’t make sense at all to his character. Changing color skin for the plot and character is a valid reason
That's what I said （￣へ￣）I was told to argue to a wall lolll