Overrated manhwa

I genuinely think BL fans overhype certain manhwa way too much.

Before anyone comes for me, I actually like every single manhwa I'm about to mention. I rated most of them pretty highly. My issue isn't that they're bad, it's that people hype them up as if they're flawless masterpieces, and after reading them I was honestly kind of underwhelmed.

Unchanged Man is probably the one I have the least criticism for because I really enjoyed it. However, I don't think it's nearly as unique as people make it out to be. It's a well executed psychological BL, but plot wise it still follows a lot of familiar tropes. The execution is great, but I don't think it's groundbreaking.

Die in My Arms disappointed me the most. I kept hearing people say it was one of the best toxic BLs ever, but the characters just weren't written that well in my opinion. A lot of them felt one dimensional, and the story leaned on cliches instead of developing its cast. It definitely has emotional moments, but emotional doesn't automatically mean well written.

The Boundary of Delusion is another one I don't completely understand the praise for. The amount of dubious consent gets brushed off way too often, and while I know it's a dark story, that doesn't automatically make every aspect of it good writing. Also... was I the only one who thought season one was kind of a mess? It felt like it kept building things up without delivering satisfying payoffs.

Yang Illwoo and I is probably my hottest take. I liked it, I really did. But I genuinely don't understand why people act like it's one of the greatest BLs ever made. I've seen better representations of depression and suicidal thoughts in other manga and manhwa. The story is emotional, but by the time I finished it I was just sitting there thinking, "That's it?" It felt well… underwhelming. Maybe it just didn't resonate with me the way it did with everyone else, but I don't really see what makes it stand out above so many other stories in the genre. Another thing that bothered me was the MC's decisions. I didn't really understand why he kept going along with the antagonist and sleeping with him when he'd been established as a pretty headstrong character. I know trauma can make people act in ways that seem contradictory, but I don't think the story did enough to make his choices feel believable.


Then there's Backlight. This one frustrates me because it had so much potential. The MC is constantly assaulted to the point where it starts feeling repetitive instead of meaningful. The trauma is there, but it isn't explored deeply enough. And the brother's backstory honestly didn't make much sense to me. We're supposed to believe he had this massive psychological impact on the characters, but from what we're actually shown, he barely did anything compared to Taegu. If anything, Taegu felt like the far more impactful antagonist. I wish the story had spent more time fleshing out everyone's motivations instead of expecting readers to fill in the blanks.

I honestly don't know if it's because there are barely any genuinely great BLs coming out these days, so the decent ones get put on a pedestal, or if people are confusing emotional impact with objectively good writing. Sometimes it even feels like people hype a series so much that any criticism gets dismissed immediately.

Again, I like all of these manhwa. I just don't think they're the untouchable masterpieces people make them out to be. You're allowed to enjoy something while still acknowledging its flaws.

What are some BLs that everyone seems to love but left you feeling underwhelmed? I'd love to hear other opinions. (=・ω・=)