blueberry's manga / #Drama llama(5)

4.5-5

Objectively 3-4* for (sorta) plot, art style, paneling, and good smut but personal dislike so 2* Feel strange disconnect from story; characters are not the most likeable. Story pacing and characters’ actions are strange, and the story runs like a gag manga (cuz of how ridiculous some actions, thoughts, and events are) but it’s drawn in such an aesthetic and serious style that it confuses the fk out of me. Some characters and events (Emoto the rapist & stalker, group orgy) pop outta nowhere and you’re just like “wait wtf” cuz it lowkey interferes with the story’s vibes and flow Uke seems intent on drawing out the angst out of immaturity, tbh. Lots of wallowing in self-hate which leads to treating seme like a total piece of sht. Not even tactful rejection, it’s straight up “you’re just a sex object ok bye get out of my face” while his thoughts are all “waaaah I wanna date him but I’m scared of straight dudes rejecting me waaaaaah” like wtf? I get self-esteem is hard but at least treat others with more respect than that. Seme was a forceful racpist so not a great dude either, his character was weird too Weird puts in story (could be translations’ fault); - uke is so sexually frustrated he fingers himself in the ocean 10m away from the shore. Now, let’s say he was actually quite far out and his deeds were out of sight to bypassers. Was he treading the water while fingering himself? How tf did he stay afloat for a proper masturbation? - seme jumps in and drowns himself trying to save uke from perceived suicide, and after uke saves him they’re both suddenly at an outdoor shower that previous panels didn’t show. That teleportation threw me off...was the shower nearby, or did the uke drag an unconscious dude all the way to the showers? Also...apparently seme needed CPR?? Uke was casually like “ah, gotta find someone to resuscitate him after I take my shower.” Like dude, NO. GO GET SOMEONE NOW, HE’S DYING WTF?

Wonderful story! Strong MC, fleshed out side characters, perfect pacing, super engaging storyline, compelling conflicts, heart-racing moments, NOICE ANGST, etc etc MC’s habit of shutting down emotionally and talking robotically to those she hates strikes a strong chord lol This is an awesome tense read (with some alleviating comfort and fluff, but it’s more angst than fluff)

Ch. 10 - the author introduces too many characters at once and crams too much dialogue. Not only is it hella “busy” to read, a lot of the characters are bubbly, extroverted, unempathetic assholes. Seeing them bulldoze through conversations regardless of the other party’s obvious discomfort and/or refusals pisses me off so fkn much. Why are there so many annoying characters? And the ones that aren’t being actively annoying are passive pussy-ass bystanders that can’t speak up on behalf of their friend. Also, why tf are they making such huge deals out of bumping into each other…it’s obviously accidents, no malice was intended, and it healed fairly quick. Not like the MC or ML lost their limbs, why are they so endlessly guilty about the most trivial things? They worry about social situations like teenagers, like get over yourselves. Jimmy’s friends also gotta rot in hell, fuck those friendships that completely disregard his boundaries (though Jimmy’s also a massive pussy for being a doormat.) I pray the characters become better over time…ugh Ch 23 - MY FKN GOD EVERYONE EXCEPT FOR MAIN LEADS ARE RUDE OR SPINELESS DOORMATS IT PISSES ME OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF the cast of annoying characters is getting so dense I’m starting to wonder if the author is just as annoying IRL…no sane person can come up with this many annoying dialogues. The author condenses so many narration into dialogues that the whole story sounds “noisy”. There can be so many dialogues converted into monologues or thought bubbles, but noooooooo everyone in the room just HAS to hear what everyone’s thinking… Ch 31 - MORE CHARACTERS?????? Does the author not fucking know how to work with the current cast??? Why do they need to add on more and more to keep the plot moving??? It’s such a cheap, amateurish and confusing way of storytelling

The drama did oscillate back and forth a little too much lol but a great read nonetheless. The novel seems like it was written well, too bad it’s not fully translated. The few fan-translated excerpts were really nice. Considering what they did to sabotage each other (mostly uke’s actions) it’s hard to believe a blooming love would arise from that,,,Their “first love” and feelings of lingering crush sure was…strong.