just their own private joke. i friggin love how seyoung barely bats an eye to his teasing and it's basically just a term of endearment now i'm willing to bet $$$ heejae would play SHINee's Replay in the car just to mess with him
can't wait for openly devoted husband arc & kids arc. it's also infinitely rewarding re-reading this and seeing the art style blossom and find it's footing
popular guy who is struck down for their wild ass assumptions X unbothered chill guy is such a hilarious dynamic
i hope if there's ever gonna be something between them, chungi falls first and he does the pursuing properly this time instead of being a vindictive jerk
It's always been annoying how authors who don't know how to write women just use them as sex-motivated accessories to the ML's story. When they introduced the ice-user, it was so grating because it's so apparent. Make her suuuuper powerful and gifted but somehow inferior to the MC but give her special screentime treatment! Because how else can we show the MC is so awesumz and desirable if we don't have a girl who has it all paying attention to little ol' him and his super duper secret sleeping dragon power leveling????
I was trying to ignore this aspect of the story, but then chapter fucking 17 came along I actually had hope that she was gonna get the same treatment as the other annoying, holier-than-thou rankers that abuse their power. That is, give her a beatdown in a seemingly impossible fight skewed against the MC where he discovers just the needed skills to cinch a victory at the last minute and leave her absolutely crushed into the asphalt like all the other bullies. It's a tired cliche, but at least it shows you're not letting your dick do the writing for the plot.
But what the actual fuck is this. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS. Because she's a girl, oooohhh sudden kiss scene gasp tHiS iS mY oNlY mEtHoD tO dEfEaT hEr. Jesus h christ, why not throw in a 90s panty shot or an oops my crotch lands in your face but I'll be the one upset about it routine while you're at it??? Why the fuck not, right!? Man, fuck this bullshit webtoon. Dropped. Never darken my notifications ever again.
I think a big reason for this is Korean culture tbh. How in the end, it is a p conservative culture still, and it may not be deemed suitable to show violence from a man towards a woman (even when it also frustrates me that we can't see women be on equal ground with male characters and also getting beat up, I can sort of understand it, especially since sex-based violence is still an issue in different parts of the world). There was quite an interesting discussion about this in the comments of "Return of the Flowery Mountain Sect" in one of the recent chapters, as many of us were glad to see the female character of the group being treated p equally with the boys, with us even getting to see her getting beat up along with them by the MC (even if only in thr background). Apparently it was even better done in the novel. It really sucks that there isn't that much of this kind of equal treatment in manhwa yet :/
Here's a link to the discussion if you'd like:
https://www.mangago.me/home/mangatopic/15973141/
Exactly right in a different contexr, however what cancels out this sentiment for this particular series is the fact that it was substituted with sexual harassment. While DV and other violence against women is criminalized, sexual overtures are always trivialized and treated as a joke. It's what makes this scene far more sinister compared to showing an actual fight.
I agree. I guess I was referring to the overall discussion/point, but yeah sexual harassment is just disgusting. On some degree I think I'm also just used to turning off my brain for some parts just because I'm so used to them after reading so much shounen/action all my life, which isn't great at all ig it depends on the series and my mood at the time of reading tbh.
I do know I have some series on breaks because I'm tired of female characters being sexualised by their outfits alone, even if there isn't any sexual harassment scenes. Ie. All of them are showing boob windows and thighs, barely any of the men are. Or how all the women, and only women, are wearing heels - even the one in actual plate armor. It's absolutely ridiculous.
In general, no matter the genre, sexual harassment getting treated as jokes or something humorous needs to go away.
god, so real on having to learn to turn off your brain while reading certain parts of a story. and sometimes not even noticing you're doing it because you've unconsciously done it for so long! i do this with so many shonen/seinen series with a decent overarching action and power leveling plot but also insists on having gratuitous creepy fanservice.
when reading/watching anime and manga in the late 90s- early 2000s, this was an absolutely necessary skill because back then there were so few in the action fantasy/sports genre that didn't utilize excessive sexualization of women while men get all the relevant character development and plot progression. imo girls had been subconsciously trained for gender blindness from an early age because majority of media are written with a male POV; if you don't learn to identify with the MC regardless of gender, there would literally be no stories you can immerse yourself in beyond the typical flowery mary sue fantasy. it's why BL gained more traction than GL- while not perfect when taken to the extreme, it provided an avenue for women to read about infinitely more complex relationship dynamics that isn't limited by toxic masculinity and heteronormativity. also why some grown ass men online kick up such a fuss when their favorite fictional male power fantasy is suddenly getting a gender bent version. it's a new experience and they aren't used to it, nor do they like having to go through the same mental adjustment to enjoy the story.
This also shows a really interesting divide on comments for female characters. There's critique on the way women are stereotyped, but then there's the half-assed random misogynist typing, "hope there's no romance no annoying bitchess pls!!!" "no harem no women in the story pls" "why did they add annoying (hair color) bitch i already don't like her" as if this is how actual irl women are and not a heavily flawed and sexist POV of the author.
i guess what i'm saying is, looking back on it, i'm glad we have more options nowadays. i'm glad we have shonen/seinen series that we don't have to carefully slice apart or turn a portion of our brain off just to enjoy.
but it's also why i make it a point to comment on stuff that were just recently created but seems to want to regress to those crappier times. it might seem too high of a standard but, in part, i'm also enjoying the fact that hey, we can actually have standards now when reading shonen/seinen! i don't have to keep it to myself when i'm annoyed by unnecessary fanservice and sexual harassment lest i be stoned by incels in the comments! it still feels new and while there's a lot to look forward to in manga/hua/hwas in terms of proper female characterization, there's still a long way to go before majority of shonen/seinen readers stop attributing the lackluster depiction of women on actual women and on the authors instead.
i want a plushie of them. and salescat theo. and kueng. and the bunnies. and.....
i wish i had the willpower to hold off on reading entire arcs until it's concluded so i don't get cliffhanged
so i'm commenting to keep track & when it's concluded so i can binge hehehe
but it's absolutely heartbreaking when you hear someone you spilled your guts to and knows all your vulnerabilities suddenly talk about you behind your back. like... hearing it directly from them would be less painful. once you hear them talk about you like that, every single one of your interactions come into question. and then eventually it's not just them, what if this is what others thought of you the entire time?
it's a never ending spiral. it stops you from trusting anyone else.
i hope that "friend" of his goes bald. boo this man, BOOOOO
YOU'RE THE GOODEST BEAR THE SWEETEST BEST BABY BEAR