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weeb-polls-with-pip · 5 months

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Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Group 5

Propaganda:

Ame -

"Typical autistic childhood – doesn't want to go to school, doesn't talk a lot, his plans for the future are just to go to live as a wolf in the forest… He's basically a werewolf and I think werewolves are often autistic coded. Actually his whole family is autistic coded."

Floyd -

"Has no emotional regulation skills and will make it everyone's problem. Prone to mood swings and can get angry at the drop of a hat, but can also be so goofy, silly, and lovely. Sways side to side for that good good stim, and loves to squeeze others (with violent intent and affectionate intent). Who doesn't love a good pressure stim? His interest in things can be fleeting, and his motivation to do things can change as quickly as his mood. Spontaneous and feral extraordinaire."

Hibiki -

"he is canonically diagnosed with hyperacusis <3 my fav sensory issues guy (he's so relatable). also canonically pulled a bad bitch (uta) by being autistic."

Akira -

"He has a heartbreaking relationship with road racing and the memory of his dead mother, and while he is a major antagonist, he is given a lot of interesting looks into his internal logics that I personally find relatable as an autistic person. I also like how he expresses himself in unpleasant ways, but isn't always treated with disgust, its kind of refreshing."

Sang Woo -

"literally the first results on google is "sangwoo semantic error autistic." he loves routine + is extremely distressed by change in routine (contrasts w his ADHD-coded bf). very blunt/cannot read social clues which leads to some misunderstandings throughout the manhwa. he's very relatable to me as an autistic person but also as a queer man, and it's refreshing to see autistic characters being open with their sexuality/sexual life bc we're often displayed as asexual robots incapable of love (bad for lots of reasons haha). he's super cute generally and really grew on me throughout the series. definitely the best part of semantic error."

Douglas -

"Many other characters try to read into what he does and says, looking for deeper or different meanings but it's always revealed that he means exactly what he says every single time and the butt of the jokes is always the other characters for being dramatic and presumptuous, not Doug for being autistic. Also he's the mean autistic representation we deserve."

Scott -

"look at him. failboy autism. even more so than any previous version!"

Shinra -

"he's just like me forreal."

Soi -

"I mean come on, it’s Purson. He thinks he’s really good at talking to people but most of his conversations (at least at the start) are completely one sided. He just blurts out whatever he’s thinking and completely dominates the conversation (if you can call it that). I love him so much for it, I have a really hard time figuring out when I should just stop talking and let someone else have a turn and only tend to realize after he fact that I didn’t really let anyone else get a word in and feel really bad. But the way Purson communicates is never shown to be a bad thing it’s a bit awkward at times but that just how he is and the rest of the misfit class live him for it. I think I could go on all day about how wonderfully inclusive Iruma-Kun is it’s such a good series, also in my brain Balam, Kalego, Clara and Opera are on the 4 outer points of an x-y graph that represents the autism spectrum. Everyone else fills the blanks in between. His bloodline magic is ‘detection warding’ and for the first several arcs of the manga the rest of the class didn’t even know he was there."

Makoto -

"In one sentence: Katai considers the titular Komi-san a communication master. Katai looks like a brutal thug, but he's actually extremely shy. Shy enough that after missing a couple weeks of class, it takes him months to build up the confidence to go to school. Katai tries to make friends once he does go to school, but he can't hold a conversation and doesn't realize that his mumbled half-sentences and resting bastard face make it look like he's threatening people. He's also pretty bad at reading the room, which is why he interprets Komi's behavior as a communication master trying to guide him from afar rather than a kindred spirit also struggling to hold a conversation."

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buncoreclown · 3 months

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God, media literacy is dying 💀💀 because why the FUCK does everyone have to spoon-feed others the fact that what they enjoy in fiction is not how they feel irl. Like it's just common fucking sense.

Re-reading Killing Stalking has made me happy but I've also seen these dumb takes over and over again. "You can't ship them. KS isn't a bl the creator said!1? (Even though what Koogi said is that we shouldn't romanticize the abuse. She also said it was about love and that Sangwoo loved Bum so what else do you have to say?) You are romanticizing and fetishizing abuse!1!1" Oh my god I forgot how tiring it was 🙄🙄🙄

Listen... I find it hot okay? There's no doubt about it, it's all deliciously fucked up but at the same time I know what the stories going for. It's terrible what Yoon Bum has to go through and his trauma™ and Sangwoo as well. I didn't know, though, is that I had to blatantly put out there that I support neither of their behaviors cause they're both fucked up. Literally a creepy stalker and a murderer so like, I feel it would be common sense but y'know 💀

God I never knew I'd been in this discourse again but I'm trying to find edits of them only to find people spouting the same thing over and over again like I just want shippy edits (fucked up and not) like c'mon now...

#fandom wank #killing stalking #please i know they're both bad and terrible #nuance isn't a thing anymore #sangbum #proship #profic

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nightshadehoney · 6 months

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I never watched James Somerton's shitty Killing Stalking video because I was trying to be good to myself and avoid something that I knew would make me very angry. In fact, I never watched any of his stuff because the fact that he made a video like that was enough to discount any thing he ever had to say (also I heard about the Celluloid Closet plagiarism).

But man, is the James Somerton discourse bringing a lot of Killing Stalking-related feelings back up for me. Because I'm mad; I'm still so mad. There are a suprising amount of people on social media who are saying they never watched any of his stuff except for the Killing Stalking video. I'm annoyed not just to find out that the vid had that sort of reach and influence, but also because Somerton's unmasking hasn't seemed to make people reasses the validity of the kind of thing he was saying. People are just now being like "hmm I think this guy might have Issues With Women" but that doesn't warrant any reflection on what exactly the motivation is of people who complain about women enjoying a niche webcomic? Because I don't actually believe you're concerned about the influence of some obscure piece of media when you advertise its existence to your large audience many of whom had not heard of it and would never have heard of it but for your transparent outrage porn video. It's rage bait and the target was women that are perceived as straight. A big channel has publicized the fact that they excised a section that endorsed the opinions in this video from their own because they became aware of Somerton's plagiarism and dishonesty (presumably; if it was actually because they recognized his views were coming from a sexist place I would welcome a clarification). And you know, I don't think that's a good look actually. That you needed to be told he was a bad person and couldn't idependently put together that the misogynist man was saying misogynist things.

The comic ended years ago and the fandom has gone mostly quiet, but to this day people are still the peddling the"fujoshi/stupid teenage girls who don't know what's good for them are shipping these characters because they are too braindead to realize it's not a romance; it's a horror, two things I believe are mutually exclusive. I am smarter than all of these cringe degenerates" bullshit. It's in the comments of the hbomberguy video even; one comment was such a gross misrepresentation of the series that my friend needed to talk me down from getting into a pointless youtube comments argument (bless him) because these people are officially making me lose my marbles.

This narrative is full of shit, it's demonstrably not fucking true. You can go on the artist's twitter right now and its full of her retweeting shippy fanart of that pairing readers were apparently never intended to ship.

(I don't think Koogi knows or cares about James Somerton; she just reblogs the works of fans who tag her. This made me laugh though).

Now this is all speculation because he died decades before social media existed, but I think if Nabokov was alive today his twitter would not be full of Humbert Humbert x Dolores Haze fanart. And yet, I have unironically seen people compare shipping Sangwoo and Bum in Killing Stalking with the misreading of Lolita as a precocious sexual temptress more than once.

And this isn't me saying that Killing Stalking is the disgusting"pro-sexualized abuse" comic that tumblr purity police used to characterize it as either. One of these days I'm going to go truly bonkers and end up banging pots and pans on the street corner, yelling at random innocent passerbys about how stories about romantic and sexual relationships are not required to be Hallmark movies. You can make art about the negative, dark, and troubling parts of these feelings and relationships without creating a pat morality tale. You don't need to approach media analysis like your 7th grade teacher has assigned you an essay on explaining what a novel's "message" is.

Nobody, not the author and not the fans, genuinely thinks that Sangwoo and Bum have a healthy or aspirational relationship. This hypothetical person that does not understand the relationship is toxic doesn't exist. Because girls and women, even the ones having cringey fandom fun on tiktok or whatever, are not so stupid and naive that they are unware that breaking someone's legs and locking them in a muder basement is bad. The type of concern troll rhetoric Somerton employed in his video is directed near exclusively at women interested in men and there's a reason for this. Women are not responsible for abuse that men do to them; nobody is responsible for their partner abusing them. If I never saw people spit this bullshit again it would be too soon.

#this is not usually the kind of post I make here because I really try to make this tumblr a positive mental space for me but ffs #james somerton #killing stalking

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aliceinborderlandsquidgame · 5 months

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Sangwoo x Wife!Reader In the games HCS

Summary: How would Sangwoo be with his Wife in theg games Warnings: Death - Canon violence - Angst - Mentions of suicide -

At first Sangwoo will try his best to hide the fact that he is in debt. He feels shame over it, how he lost his composture and ended in this type of situation.

Sangwoo its someone who fakes and hides his feelings a lot. He alwyas as felt like he needed to be the best for his mother to get a better life. Later on you came into the picture and the pressure got worse.

However, you are his wife and can tell something is off about him. As soon as he admits what is happening you will be reasuring him that everything will be fine, and that both of you will find a way out.

During games we can see different routes:

He has two things in mind, win and protect you. He tried to stop from coming with him but you insisted.

"Till deat do us apart, remember?"

You are the only one who he truly cares about besides himself. He will tell you to be close to him all the time and to not trust others, not even Gi-hun. He also tells you to follow him in every game, whatever choise he makes you must follow it.

Will talk to you away from the rest and tell you to rely on him. And to not question him.

During the first night when everything went to chaos he has you at his side through all of it.

If you two go with someone else at the marbles game and end winning Sangwoo is keeping himself close to you and thanking heavens he decided not to team up with you, even if you were a bit ofended by it at the start.

It ends with both of you hugging each other after it. Sangwoo does not want to be seen as "soft" or "weak" so he will take you to the bathroom where he will let you cry in his arms and even him will cry a bit, the idea of losing you and the fact that it was a close call was too much.

If you two went together then Sangwoo will insist you are the one who must survive and get out, making you promise him to take care of his mother and telling you to live a better life. He will call you names and say things like he never loved you to make you angry at him so you will decide to let him die in there.

"Cant you see we are here because of you? Because you always wanted things that were out of our reach? I tried my best and look around now. We are surronded by bodies because of you"

"Do you know why i decided to date you? Because Gi-hun dared me and I accepted. You just were so dumb and fell right for it. I never wanted to marry you, but i could not pass the chance to get a better image for my friends and mother"

Bet you wont believe him and will pull him down for a kiss. You would bait him into thinking that he lost but at the end he sees with desesperation how the guard is going to take you instead of him.

"I love you Sangwoo, and i cant imagine a life without you, so please, please win this game and live for the both of us"

He will be heartbroken after it but wont consider suicide since he promised you to live for both and not for himself. He gets more distant and cold toward others for the rest of the games.

With the game of the glass bridge he will try his best to protect you. Does not mind a bit once he pushes down that player to save you. If he needs to calm you down after it he will do it.

"It was our only option, we would have died otherwise"

For the final night pre final game he will still go and kill Sae-byeok only feeling bad about it because she was close to you in the games. If the game master insist other has to die then it will be a fight till death with Gi-hun.

If he wins and both of you have to fight against each other in the last game, Sangwoo will still sacriface himself for you, even if he is the one with better chances of winning.

If it comes down to Gi-hun and you its going to be a serious fight. Gi-hun knows you and likes you but he cant help but see Sangwoo on yourself and how he acted in the games. He also wants to see his daugther again.

#squid game x y/n #squid game imagines #suicide squad imagine #squid game x reader #sangwoo x reader

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chaifootsteps · 6 months

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SpicyDice

Said it on the twits, but wanna mention it here. Viv writes like a fanfiction Fujoshi. She utilizes tropes as her story, not as components of a story. The tropes tell her audience what they are supposed to think and feel about the story. And this really does remind me of the Killing Stalking fandom.

The creator of Killing Stalking never once meant for the story to be a romance. The main bishonen top is actually sexually assaults and abuses the uwu uke bottom, but that actually is how the seme realizes he's gay and/or in love with the uke or vice versa where being SA is how the uke falls in love with and/or realizes they are gay for the seme (trope from NO MONEY, Love Stage, Dakaichi, Junjou Romantica, etc).

Except in Killing Stalking, Sangwoo isn't gay, doesn't have his gay epiphany and is actually a straight male performing SA against another man due to his own psychosexual hangups about his mother. Actually acknowledging the fact that straight men also SA other men, usually homosexual men, as a form of torture.

But it also showed how this primarily female demographic dehumanized gay men, normalizing abuse and sexual assault as a pathway to sexual actualization or relationship building. The fact that the audience didn't authentically engage with the material but heavily relied on the identification of familiar tropes to direct the story for them. That the idea of abuse in these dynamics was romanticized as some kind of tortured love rather than the legitimate danger it was depicted as.

We know Viv is part of this demographic. These sort of tropes are littered all over HB and it's sort of a repeat cycle where the fandom just turns off their brains instead of thinking about the story. But I'll be honest, Killing Stalking wasn't the most refined subversion. The tropes were obvious where they were played and came off more confusing than as a criticism. I remember thinking how the story both depicted this situation as extremely fucked up only for the trope language to seem to try and justify it. Like Bum being assaulted by a family member and so the situation (through trope language) felt like the creator was trying to say that Sangwoo was somehow the better option after giving Bum basic human decencies between the torture.

It isn't what they meant to say, but there needed to be some more narrative clarification for the subversion to be more clear.

And the thing is, I absolutely hate the term fujoshi. Or rather, I hate the way it's so often used to demonize girls, especially younger ones, for being into something guys tend to get a pass on.

The thing is, even at our most cringe, even while gobbling down yaoi bodice rippers left and right, I feel like most of us always had some awareness that it wasn't...good. Like, this was not okay, this wasn't something that should be emulated in real life.

I don't know. I feel like we're losing that.

#Anonymous #Spicydice #vivziepop critical #stolitz critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

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nerdy-talks · 10 months

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Do u read webcomics? If so any recommendations? I need new stuff to read so I’m asking around lol thnx!

I do, lovely anon! ^u^

My top three favorite webcomics/manwha are Killing Stalking, Bloody Sweet, and Dreaming Freedom.

I actually just started reading Dreaming Freedom a few days ago. And I'm hooked! Maybe it's just me ... but every time I look at Siyun's adorable face, I can't stop myself from imagining Yandere!Solomon (from Obey Me! obviously lol)

I am simping HARD for this man! And not just because he's beautiful... I am seriously in love with his entire personality! I tore down the red flags and raced towards Siyun without looking back lol

There's also the fact that Siyun is a lowkey(?) Yandere, which is a major selling point for me. Honestly... He reminds me of an overprotective puppy dog, which is actually a huge compliment even though it may not sound like it

Not to mention the fact that I ALWAYS have a thing for characters with tragic/sad backstories, especially characters that have white hair at one point or another (for some unknown reason... it usually just works out that way xD )

Plus Siyun says things like this :

Oof! My heart!~ 💙

Next : I was extremely happy to find out that Bloody Sweet is getting a physical release. And you can bet I picked up Volume One the first chance I got!

Naerim is super relatable, and Fetechou is beyond adorable. He can have my blood anytime >:3

I've only read Bloody Sweet once before online, and as far as I can recall.... Fetechou also has a very tragic past.

He also says things like this ~ :

Oof!! *clutches my chest* My heart!!! 💙

Fetechou's heterochromatic eyes and lil' fangs are everything. And I ADORE his personality <3

Then there's Killing Stalking. Not exactly a wholesome, heartwarming story by any means. It's actually loaded with plenty of potentially triggering content. But I still love it.

Killing Stalking is another manhwa that I was sooooo surprised to hear was getting a physical release. I'm all caught up (three volumes have been released so far), and I cannot wait to finally own the entire series! ^^

To be fair, I was rooting for YoonBum the entire time. I wanted the absolute best for him. I wanted him to get a happy ending. YoonBum deserved someone who could give him a stable, loving, nurturing home filled with patience, acceptance, and understanding. Someone who could shower him with positive affection, boost his confidence, and give him a sense of self worth in the best ways possible.

Sangwoo, on the other hand... I have mixed feelings about him lol

I really do feel bad for him. But thinking in a realistic sense.... Sangwoo's personality would keep me on eggshells, I don't know how I would be able to comfortably manage a situation like that.

Although, when he comes off with lines like this :

Bad enough you shatter legs, but then you have to go and mess with my heart and mind too?! 💙

Not gonna lie.... I'd rather stay with YoonBum. At least I'd be able to trust him better and rest easier near him haha xD

Anyway! Judging from my picks and these characters, can you see the overwhelming desperation that resides within me to receive any form of genuine intimacy and the crushing desire to feel truly needed due to being deprived of such things for so long? Because it's there! Just look closely and you'll definitely see it! Hahaha! Haha...ha.... T^T

#thank you for the ask anon!#lovely anon <3 #I definitely recommend all three #just read up on each before jumping in #especially Killing Stalking #I don't condone toxic behavior or people irl #but I need to find myself a yandere irl 😭#bloody sweet #killing stalking #dreaming freedom #manhwa #nerdy replies #nerdy responds #nerdy talks #obey me #yandere #male yandere

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fivedollarbankrobbery · 2 years

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Squid Game Headcannons: The players’ love languages

warnings: none other than one swear word lol

gifs are not mine

——

Seong Gi-hun

Gi hun’s top two love languages are physical touch and gift giving.

He doesn’t have much money, but even still he absolutely loves to spoil his significant other any time he gets the chance to. He secretly enjoys receiving gifts as well, but sometimes he feels bad taking from others. Especially if it’s money.

When in a relationship with Gi Hun physical affection is a MUST. This man will always be holding his partner’s hands or wrapping his arm around their waist, anything to feel close. He’s super cuddly, especially if he or his partner has had a bad day.

Cho Sang-Woo

Sangwoo’s biggest love languages are gift giving and acts of service, as well as physical touch in private.

Sangwoo is pretty reserved, which can make it hard for him to be vulnerable with people, which is really what makes physical touch one of his love languages. Cuddling and hand holding with him is essentially a show of trust for him, showing that he feels comfortable enough to show his soft side around his partner.

He’s much less shy about acts of service and gifts, though. His partner can always expect him to open doors, make meals, and do chores for them. As well, it’s a very common occurrence for him to come home with gifts or flowers (probably bought with company money).

Kang Sae-byeok

Sae Byeok definitely likes physical affection in private, but her main love language is quality time.

Like Sangwoo, Sae Byeok is reserved with her emotions, so physical touch is mostly reserved for in private. She adores cuddling, especially if she gets to be the big spoon. She’ll never admit how much she loves it, but it’s clear from how every morning she holds on tighter as her partner tries to get up from bed, mumbling about how she wants ‘five more minutes.’ She’ll hold hands in public if her partner wants to, or if she wants to show that they’re hers.

She absolutely loves spending time with her significant other. Watching TV together, playing videogames, doing activities, anything. As long ad she’s spending time with them, it doesn’t matter.

Ali Abdul

Ali’s main love languages are physical touch and words of affirmation.

Ali is super cuddly. He’s like the overly clingy couples you see in lines for rides at the amusement park, just constantly hugging on his partner or playing with their hands or hair. He knows when to stop though, and if his partner isn’t a fan of PDA, then he’ll respect it. That just means all the more cuddling in private.

Words of affirmation is less of him saying it to his partner and more of them saying it to him. Being told how much he means to them or how handsome he is makes his heart absolutely soar. It makes him feel so loved and appreciated.

Ji-yeong

Ji-yeong mainly enjoys quality time and receiving gifts.

She knows how short life can be, so to her it’s extremely important to spend as much time as possible with her significant other. As well, she just likes to hang out with them, feeling most connected when spending time together.

She also enjoys receiving gifts, but it isn’t required for her to be happy in the relationship. Little gifts here and there really show her that she is appreciated. Even if she doesn’t always think she’s that important, the fact that her partner thought about her enough to get her a gift quickly proves her wrong.

Hwang Jun-ho

Jun ho’s top love languages are physical touch and quality time.

As an officer, Jun ho also knows the dangers of the world and how important it is to spend time with those you love, hence the reason why quality time is so important to him. He really likes going on dates, drives, and even shopping trips, but he also appreciates staying in and having a lazy day with his partner.

Jun ho also is pretty touchy. Hand holding, hugging, cuddling, all of it. He really likes his hair being played with during cuddles, the feeling often putting him to sleep within minutes. He enjoys appropriate PDA, which triples when he’s jealous. If someone is hitting on his partner, expect him to swoop in with that PDA to put an end to it.

Jang Deok-su

Deok su is very emotionally closed off, used to any weakness being exploited with the amount of enemies he has. He generally shows love through acts of service, and on occasion gift giving.

He won’t make a big show of it, no. He might not show it, but he listens to his partner very well, remembering what tasks need to be done around the house or what has been stressing them out so he can do it while they’re gone to surprise them. If it’s brought up to him, he simply says he wanted to help out or noticed that his partner was stressed about it so he decided to do it instead.

On occasion he will also come home with gifts. It could be some small trinket that reminded him of his partner, or even something expensive, but he will always act like it isn’t a big deal.

“Here. I saw it at the market and thought you might like it.”

“Deok su, how much did this cost?!”

“It doesn’t matter. Do you like it?”

Han Mi-nyeo

Mi nyeo is definitely a fan of physical touch. She also enjoys receiving gifts and words of affirmation.

She can be pretty touchy, holding her partners arm in public and hugging on them in private. While she can be independent if she wants to be, she tends to be pretty clingy.

Receiving gifts and compliments are the big two ways to make her feel loved. It makes her feel special and reassured her that her partner thinks about her and truly does love her.

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heretherebedork · 2 years

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Which BL characters do you consider to be autistic?

So, there is a giant disclaimer on this post that says: this is my personal opinion and analysis, it is not a fact, it is not meant to be a fact or a strict diagnosis. This is my reading based on experience, people I know, stories I've read and my own interest.

This will also definitely not be complete because we haven't had a lot recently and my brain is fried.

Can from LBC2: I mean, I'm fairly sure this ask was inspired by the question @absolutebl got about LBC so I'm just gonna put him on this list first place. I did, in fact, create an entire powerpoint about how and why I consider him autistic but it really just comes down to how he seems to struggle to relate to most people, doesn't generalize experiences well, constantly asks straightforward and supposedly obvious questions and expects the same kind of answer in return, states his emotions almost more than he shows them... there's a lot there. This does not fully apply to Can in LBC1 who is much more ADHD (mixed subtype) for me.

Sun from Golden Blood: This was always a loose one for me, because a lot of it was also based on how he was raised. But he also had just this very specific way of approaching the world that felt ND to me. Maybe not as specifically autistic as Can but he always felt like he could have been.

Lukchup from La Cuisine: Oh, this boy. He reminds me of so many people... awkward and unsure and so uncomfortable. He's another one, very on the fence for me, but absolutely one I think could be. Especially considering his struggles in childhood.

Pai from MGAYG: Look, I love this boy and he struggled so much to figure out anything and Itt just made him constantly uncomfortable and I just wanted to protect him.

Taekyung from Light on Me: I mean, this boy. I love him so much. Korea might have even been deliberate with him. All his struggles, his willing isolation, the choices he made? Yes. Oh, this boy.

Sangwoo from Semantic Error: Another one from Korea. But he definitely strikes me as neurodivergent. His reliance on routine, his discomfort with change, his struggles when the change changes back... I adore this boy.

Pi from FUTS: Oh, this man. He struggled so much and he deserved so much better than he got. But so many of his struggles just felt so, so familiar to everything else and he had other struggles for sure but I really do see him as autistic as well as struggling with everything else.

Honestly? I know there are more but I am just... I don't remember. Sorry, anon.

But no, seriously, these are only opinions and thoughts and little ways that I try to analyze character. You are free to disagree but I have no urge to actually argue so please have mercy. These are just for me and just one of the ways I view characters and, as I've said, are not meant to be taken as facts.

There are other characters I've taken specifically as ND but that doesn't make them specifically autistic. Rain from LITA is, to me, ADHD (mixed subtype) but not autistic because his issues fall into different categories.

#thai bl #thai bl drama #bl headcanon #autistic headcanon #please don't at me #or argue #i'm okay with being wrong to you #i don't need to hear about it #and anon i hope you asking this with best intentions

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shoceted · 11 months

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Hello, this is like... months late but you were one of the only English KeiwaxAce writers I actually liked and seeing that you've dropped the series is devastating (but understandable, they've been ruining Keiwa since Bullfighting Game and I'm devastated, on the edge of my seat and have a lot words/feelings about it too). Could I ask what was your turning point for the series? Or, I guess, what was the straw that broke your back.

If you don't feel like it, that's fine too. Thank you for sharing your Geats fics at the start of the series.

(Anonymous cuz i'm shy af but mostly because haven't used tumblr in years how does this website even work anymore help-)

firstly, this is an incredibly kind thing to say about my writing, and i appreciate it a lot! i kind of miss being that inspired — like including the ex-aid crossover i wrote, seven things??? that's impressive, actually, go me. the first 16 episodes of geats provided a lot for me to be inspired by, i guess. (i think my heart's always going to do something when i think about the phrase "the tycoon i know", tbh.)

the last straw... well, for one thing, the lack of keiwa focus after episode 19 did bug me, because he was my favorite character and i liked seeing him. people say "oh he got focus during the first dgp" but i don't think that's really the case; i went more into this on my personal twitter account, but him being the audience surrogate for the first arc doesn't mean he's the focus of those episodes. like 1-2 are establishing ace, 3-4 are establishing neon, 5-6 are establishing buffa, and then it's only 7-8 that keiwa gets focus... and he's eliminated. at the beginning of the next dgp, he's not even a contestant, he's just a device used to show the fact that being eliminated without dying gets rid of why you wished for what you wished for. it's not until episode 12 that he's even back.

now, i thought the direction they were going with him — he still wants world peace, but in a more realistic way, wanting to bring all the dead contestants back — was really good, too. and i liked him and neon both developing into characters who could trick ace by the time episode 16 comes around! (i actually still have a kace wip that i might finish someday for the sake of finishing it that takes place between episodes 16 and 17, sorta; like, i have 5k of it written and all it needs is the smut that sure is a part of it, so i might go back to it eventually? who knows.)

and thennnnn the dezastar arc starts, as does the decline in keiwa's writing.

i don't mind characters being comic relief now and then, but having a previously-serious character relegated to just comic relief doesn't sit well with me. 19 was a great episode for keiwa, and that conversation with ace he had over dinner made me lose my shit, and i foolishly thought that maybe they'd take him seriously from there on out.

but, no, they sidelined him. for 12 weeks. waiting for my favorite character to have proper focus episode for 3 straight months really bugged me, tbh, though i didn't say anything for fear of stirring the pot. and we finally get to episode 31 and he gets kicked into a pit. this made me really upset.

the fan reaction to this also didn't do me any favors; i was pissed at buffa (the character, not the actor — i do not care about mokudai kazuto in any direction, though i was accused of hating on him, which was fun) for the whole pit-kicking thing and made this clear, which i realize in retrospect was a mistake, because all of a sudden being a fan of keiwa was not the move. (and fwiw, i don't want to hate buffa; i just get a way with characters who hurt characters i love. i'm the same way about him that i am about kylo ren and sangwoo from squid game, and i do not like this trait about myself.) it reminded me of a bunch of shitty experiences i had in a toxic fandom in 2020 and 2021 that sunk me into a deep depression that it took a long time (and the existence of kamen rider revice, which a lot of geats fans abhor and make clear that they abhor, which also didn't help) for me to get out of. that's when i stopped watching geats live, at least. (i also want to state that this had nothing to do with any ship i like, not even kace. apparently people have this idea that kace enjoyers are really angry folks and it's just like... no? this isn't a popular pairing. nobody is going to get mad at you if you don't like it.)

neon's writing during this time also made me angry; i do not like any of the sponsors at all, and neon's character development coming from a man — and a man who is a toxic fan of hers, at that — didn't sit well with me. on the topic of sponsors, jean felt like forced ace shipping bait, and i didn't like his character much, either. (which also makes me feel bad, since i know the actor's such a huge fan.) it was actually him coming back, as well as punkjack's return (by all means i should adore punkjack, because am i ever a sucker for a flop musician, but nothing about his character has ever worked for me — especially since he unnecessarily flirts with tsumuri and clearly makes her uncomfortable in a setting where she can't complain about this, which, ew), that made me drop geats entirely.

the direction the writing is going right now is also not good. the misogyny of fridging sara and damsel-ing tsumuri, the way they've completely fucked up keiwa's character, it's so frustrating — i honestly want to move zero one up on my toku list for this year so that i can see if ex-aid, which famously gave me a disease, was some kind of fluke. hell, in ex-aid, we have a character who acts illogically because of his grief, and those episodes are perfect to me. doing this with keiwa 40something episodes in doesn't hit the same.

buffa's storyline was supposed to be something similar, i know, but that never worked for me either. much like punkjack, it should have. but his non-reaction to the toru jamato's death when toru's death and his anger over it is supposed to be his entire character motivation... didn't make me feel like hiiro did. his rivalry with ace is also no kaito/kouta. it feels like geats is trying to do a lot of things that worked in gaim without understanding why those things worked in gaim. (and i do hate to be an annoying gaim stan, but... come on, geats.)

maybe i'm missing something because i'm not watching every week, or maybe i just have bad taste, but all of these things piling up makes me want to have nothing to do with geats at all anymore. i've actually considered orphaning all my geats fic in frustration, but i've decided against it because that would mean interacting with my geats fics again. it wouldn't provide catharsis. i'm just done.

so tl;dr: around the dezastar arc i became frustrated with keiwa getting sidelined, the fan reaction to episode 31 as well as its contents brought up bad memories and made me stop watching live, and the return of two characters i just don't see the appeal of made me drop the series entirely.

#asks #this ended up really long so i put it under a read more lol #writers gonna write?#anyway thank you again for complimenting my writing :') i hope i can write something you enjoy in the future!#and i'm sorry if i said anything negative about a character you like in this big ramble #i know what it's like to have unpopular favorites (kaito hiiro people don't like ikki. i love ikki.)#and reading negativity makes me upset even if it's valid criticism yknow?#but yeah tl;dr at the end bc this got long

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redxblueihateloveyou · 2 years

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I'm so very happy w/fs2, but a small part of me is tinitiny (very tiny) bit salty about the reconciliation going your way (that's not a beef, I love you tremendously!). you were so sure that rin should be the one to step up, even though majority seemed to disagree (on my dash), but they still went your way. it makes all the sense now to me that it happened and I'm just wondering if that's my bias-ness for rin that blinded me, since I was one of the idiots politely arguing with you after the fs1

LOL I think it's perfectly fine that you feel that way, bc it's kinda a forever debate between to say tsunderes/antisocial ppl/silent types who watch such couples and the social ones. I'm just saying it bc I myself when watching such ships with my hommies, it's literally EVERY TIME one part of the couch goes (aka my mom) "but he (Haru or Lan Zhan or Qiling or Sangwoo or etc) doesn't talk, how's he supposed to know" or "that doesn't count unless u say" or "he should've…lalala" and the other part of the couch (aka me and my sister who don't talk but show things other way) start to agressively disagree and it literally always ends like this:

And I mean, ofc depending on your personality you would watch things differently and feel things differently bc we express our feelings differently. Like I've only recently watched this korean gay dating show where there was a guy who also didn't talk but I from other things from the start guessed who he liked and then at the end turned out that none of the participants there "saw it coming" which to me was pretty wild lmao. So my point is, I got it a long time ago from real life harshly and in many comments under different shows that most people find it hard to understand these signs or even see it. On behalf of "my species" I apologize, but sometimes thats the best we can do really.

I always due to this try to look at these (my favorite) types of pairings from both sides, even tho I know I'm clearly biased too. And my main argument in this cases (as in who must "step up" as you say) is that if one despite of who he is tried as hard as he could to deliver his feelings even painfully so surpassing his comfort zone and the other didn't, then the one who should be stepping up is the one who didn't. I think thats how it usually works at the end. I just know from my own feelings that for them it was very hard to step out of their comfort zone and thats why in such stories writers always reward them at the end for that I think.

That being said in that particular case also I think you have to watch it from the point of who in his way did everything he could when it comes to their relationships and was fully invested without lying to himself and who wasn't. And it was Rin who constantly backtracked due to being scared (for respectable reasons, but still), Haru was fully in for a long time. I just think bc of all the metaphors about swimming and water and the fact that they also want to be together everywhere for life including their profession, some mixed up a bit here the professional and personal aspects.

Like when it comes to their way in professional life goals it was Rin who had no fear and Haru did (also for his own respectable reasons). But when it comes to their feelings it was Haru who had no fear, since the very beginning, but Rin did.

Also personally for me actions always speak louder than words, but at the same time I do understand that hearing some things are also very much needed. So I think its fine to feel both ways, I personally don't really get mad when ppl don't get it.

The only thing that gets me going into a heavy debate sometimes is the fact that some throw around stuff like "well he must express himself more normally" or smth in the orbit, indicating that if you don't express yourself with words specifically, you're an asshole/insensitive or smth like that, nevermind the fact that someone there cut their leg to save his future husband's life you know haha. Which to me is hilarious since its these types of characters that in my opinion are more sensitive and deeper head over heels than others. Bc at the end they due to the fact that for them its ususally the only exception thing, if they enter this territory, they usually drown very deeply and unrecoverably. Meaning once they're in they're all in, there's not gonna be any denial/stepping back an etc.

And I just also don't see the point (when it comes to love) of forcing people to express themselves in a way they don't want to. For example, I'll never serenade to someone who I'm in love with, bc I'm just not that kind of person. I wouldn't want to be someone who expects this from me or will get upset that I don't do such stuff. I myself think random little things like that time Rin was talking about Haru's birthday plans and Haru going "I'm not gonna listen untill you'll change your wet clothes, I'm scared you'll get sick" is much sweeter and to me personally enough. I'm not trying to demean here any huge romantic gestures, I just personally do not care for those. But I know all people are different and that's okay.

So I'm just saying that these kind of characters express the feelings in other ways (which to me for some reason are the most touching). So expecting Haru to do stuff from some of the people's wish list that were voiced after fs1 would be just not Haru. Also the problem there was that Rin was scared to dive into love. And what else in your opinion Haru should've done to show him that he's his safe haven I do not get no matter how much I thought about it. Bias or not but after all that patience and understanding, you gotta admit that the only option here already was a shock therapy of maybe taking it all away haha.

So when it comes to love you gotta judge everyone depending on their own scale. Like you certainly can expect us once in love turn from a cocoa bean into hot chocolate just for you, but we won't magically turn into a sugar syrup, if you know what I mean here lmao. And Rin also doesn't want that, bc he loves Haru. If he wanted to pick someone else, he would've LOL

Also I think being biased is also fine (we all are when it comes to our faves) as long as you admit to it and don't start this thing some people start where they seem to only care about one person in a ship. That's already not a shipping in my opinion haha. Like idk why but I seriously hate it the most. Bc even in times when you're certain you're right, you gotta try to see things from both points of views. In all of your own relationships too.

P.S. also forgot to say" haha I win". I'm kidding lmao. Love you too.

#answered #anonymous #rinharu #harurin #free! the final stroke #free!#rin matsuoka #nanase haruka #in this particular case I really don't think there was other option #thats why I was surprised so many started the whole haru should fix this #really not in this case lol #and as much as some yell how some must talk I can yell how some should pay attention to obvious things xD #but thaats fine we're all biased #just be fair

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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Turtles Catches Up With the Essential BLs: Semantic Error Edition

Woop woop, adding another BL to the library of Things I Am Watching Because Tumblr Is Catching Me Up -- Semantic Error review, here we go!

(Here’s the tag of what oldies-and-goodies I’ve watched and reviewed so far. As always, thanks for your patience as I review shows that y’all have likely already watched and reviewed. And, I think I should probably put a little explainer here as to why I’m doing so much catching up -- I only joined Tumblr about six months ago, and before then, I was busy literally having babies and feeding them for like five years, lol. So this is the HUGE drama/dorama catch-up moment of my life!)

I mean, Semantic Error was ::index fingers in the air, slightly curling them back, moving them in one half-circle:: PERFECT.

Or, almost perfect. I am so frustrated because I want to link to some great posts by @absolutebl on their analyses of the average show lengths of Korean BLs, and how many fans out there want the full-court, hourlong drama treatment for BLs out of Korea, but I can’t find them. If I can, I’ll link them here.

I think Semantic Error actually benefitted from having 30-minute episodes (although I would NOT have complained seeing Park Seo Ham on my screen for an hour a week) -- simply because I don’t think the plotline of Sangwoo’s hesitation to date Jaeyoung would have held up for that much extra drama time.

(However, I would have LOVED TO SEE A YUNA SIDE STORY, HOLY CRAP -- now THAT would have earned Semantic Error the full-court treatment, if there were some really juicy side love stories with that incredible character. She was SO GOOD.)

Anyway, my only tiny, tiny slight criticism of Semantic Error was that Sangwoo’s swings back and forth, from hesitation and turning away, to coming back to Jaeyoung, to turning away again -- by the penultimate episode, it seemed to me the tiniest bit contrived. But really, not by much. And I kind of wonder if what was happening was an echoing of a kind of storyline trope that I’ve seen time and time again in cishet K-dramas, especially the crappy KBS daytime soap dramas -- the tendency of writers to pull out a back-and-forth love story just to make it work with the length of the series.

But this is NOT a huge complaint. As ABL likes to say -- the Parks hit it out of the park, and this was a FABULOUS drama, done in the complete K-drama style, with the repeating/echoing kiss scenes (AAAAHHH GAAAHH I LOVE THIS TROPE, I LOVE IT!), the GREAT OST, the wonderful homies by their sides, the rejected lover supporting her bias. All of it. Give me all the K-drama tropes!

I am definitely not as read into KBL as I should be, especially the Strongberry portfolio, as my watching time is just glommed into Japan at the moment, along with catching up with the essential Thai BLs. The one KBL that I’m the most familiar with, Where Your Eyes Linger, didn’t dive into the usual K-drama tropes -- it was complicated, a little heavy, VERY sensual. When I was watching Semantic Error, I realized that I was feeling like I wanted, I NEEDED, the wonderful K-drama tropes that keep bringing me back to cishet Korea -- why are shows like Crash Landing On Me and Extraordinary Attorney Woo so great? I can have them on in the background and know exactly what’s happening whenever I look up.

It’s because so very often, the music tells me what’s happening, the tone of the voices speaking tell me what’s happening. Semantic Error allowed those tropes to enter and to play with the storyline. Absolutely nothing about the way the show was filmed or written seemed to me to be contrived for the sake of the storyline being a queer one. There was no condescension or heavy-handedness about the fact that our main couple was queer. There was no heavy-handed pointing to the revelations that Yuna shared with Sangwoo about Jaeyoung’s past relationships, and even that Yuna was also queer -- all of these were just slipped in as fact, because these late-series revelations are, yes, another K-drama trope that almost always work so well.

I loved it all. Considering that I think Korea had another smashing year of dramas all around, especially with Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Cafe Minamdang, Why Her?, and Little Women being so huge, the fact that Semantic Error held its own and was so freaking popular was heartwarming to see. I hope we have another one like this this year. (Park Seo Ham, ILYYYYY, tee-hee.)

Next up in my Catching Up series: Bad Buddy. After that, I’ll hit @absolutebl’s lists to see where I should go. I might take up Dark Blue Kiss to get to know TayNew before the GMMTV Cherry Magic adaptation airs.

#turtles catches up with the essential BLs #semantic error #semantic error the movie #jaeyoung x sangwoo #sangwoo x jaeyoung #semantic error the series

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elias-rights · 2 years

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Honestly, a lot of reactions to Elias from TMA remind me of reactions to Sangwoo from Squid Game. They honestly think it's more likely that someone is "inherently evil" than yet another victim of a harmful system who decided that the only way to survive was to make sure other people were hurt in their place. For all that people like to applaud these series as "revolutionary anti-capitalist media" (lol), they sure don't have a strong understanding of systemic issues. Or even what 'systemic issues' actually means. The crabs are smothering the other goddamn crabs because they want to get out of the goddamn bucket as much as the next crab, not because god likes to make evil crabs every now and then.

-Ace J*nelias Anon (sorry I've been realizing that keeps showing up in the ship tag lol)

I haven't watched Squid Game, but that makes sense. Although pretending TMA can only work as an allegory of capitalism is not only patently untrue as of the first four seasons (as per the Q+As, and, though the final season leans very hard into the parallelism, it doesn't work with the finale[1]) but also incredibly reductive, if we analyse the podcast through that lens Jonah Magnus cannot be a billionaire but rather a white-collar class traitor. After all, one of the core characteristics of the 1% in the real world is that they couple meritocratic rhetoric with a complete refusal to acknowledge that people are subject to external circumstances thrust upon them by the system (whether that is generational wealth or systemic poverty). In sharp contrast to these expectations, however, Jonah isn't entitled.

Not once does he imply he has earned his position; he simply seized it. Nor does he appear blind to others' circumstances ("your own rotten luck", etc.). He is the polar opposite of the self-congratulatory meritocratic hypocrisy we hear from the wealthy in real life.

But let's put aside his words for a moment and examine his role within the system. We know he didn't have any unique advantages when it came to being claimed by the Fears (as opposed to perhaps the Lukases); in fact, the whole point of his turning to the Eye was that he was just as vulnerable as anybody else. He is not the vieux riche. If we insist on an allegory, we might say he betrayed the interests of his social class to achieve upward mobility. This is a far cry from the "capitalism personified" narrative his detractors insist on reading.

[1] Of course, going back to this point, the metaphor falls apart the moment his death fixes the world. And here I thought "Like Ants" had been clever foreshadowing that no individual murder can hope to dismantle an impersonal system. Furthermore, the idea of presenting the passing on of the Fears as something other than unforgivably selfish and vile becomes even more distasteful under the premise that it symbolises systemic oppression. Others have already drawn a parallel to colonialism here.

#answered ask #anonymous #ace je anon #<- you get a tag #him #tma #the magnus archives

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carmenlire · 2 years

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I love jaeyoung so fucking much shut the fuck up whenever sangwoo makes that comparison between computers and people and he accuses jaeyoung of making fun of him but!!! jaeyoung is not making fun AND INSTEAD SAYS THAT HE IS FINALLY STARTING TO UNDERSTAND SANGWOO

And then!! we have the scene where they're practicing their French script and jaeyoung starts asking all these questions like if sangwoo has dated and what he considers love and his definition of dating (!!!) and you see him tilt his head and he's really studying sangwoo before laughing softly and shaking his head but it's already so fond and the clincher is that he leaves the topic and hands sangwoo a blackholic and when sangwoo again accuses him of changing up his strategy, jaeyoung acts innocent and says "strategies aren't my thing."

and I take him switching topics and giving the blackholic to sangwoo as jaeyoung already starting to date him-- already showing what dating is and what a relationship can include, even if they are barely friendly at this point (in sangwoo's eyes at least).

and I love it so much because we clearly see jaeyoung realize and revel in the fact that he's crushing on sangwoo (my boy has it so bad he's so fucking cute) and now he's trying to WOO him aka DATE HIM and by asking these very blunt questions, he's gaining insight into sangwoo and he really listens and uses that information going forward (I'm realizing with their relationship in general but also how he reacts to sangwoo when he gets defensive and tries to run away in future episodes)

#the first time i watched this i was simply dazzled #but with my second run through now im trying to be a bit more analytical and try to find deeper hints and shit #and this scene is so cool because its still so cute and fun #and we know jaeyoung is being so obvious about how into sangwoo is #but now im also able to really see that this is a moment and opportunity for jaeyoung to use that #exceptional brain of his and hes already turning things over and strategizing his approach to woo sangwoo #and make him fall just as much as he already has #and he isnt being devious or whatever #he's just generally meeting sangwoo where he js #as we see ABUNDANTLY CLEARLY in future episodes with those free trials etc lol #god i love them #semantic error #me

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fu-hime-joshi · 4 months

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Killing Stalking

Yes. I finally picked this series up. Well, I say that but I think I read this years ago and just blocked it out of my memory because I was absolutely not in the right place to have read it.

But.

Hear me out. This was such a good series.

The emotional rollercoaster it puts you on is insane. Koogi is such an excellent author, I cannot believe I was able to grow to sympathize with Sangwoo's character.

We meet an older man named Yoon Bum, who's awkward, gloomy, and strangely obsessed with our male lead, Sangwoo. We see Bum has managed to sneak his way into Sangwoo's home but discovers a really fucked up secret.

Spoilers below, but honestly like. I can't imagine any of you reading this review either a) don't know the gist of the story or b) haven't read it.

It was super weird, I actually didn't feel bad for Bum at all when he got caught in Sangwoo's basement. Tbh, the fact he even went down there is beyond me LMAO. I never once thought, Well, that's what you get for snooping, though. It just seemed... frankly? unlucky ¯＼_( ´ ▽ ` ) _/¯ I mean, really. what are the chances the guy you've been whacking it to is a serial killer?

Bum openly admits that he stopped loving Sangwoo after finding out abt how fucked up he is. And girl, same. But he ends up with severe Stockholm Syndrome by the end of the series. I feel like, as a reader, I also did??? I know how fucked their relationship was but I desperately wanted it to work out somehow in the end (╥ ▽ ╥)

It could be knowing that both of them had horrible childhoods, which gave me a soft spot for their mutual suffering. Which is one thing I want to note, that Sangwoo was clearly being tortured by Bum's presence. (Even if Bum was tortured infinitely more)

The one thing that is sticking with me the most, was Koogi's choice to have them die separately, and alone. Absolutely cruel!! Sangwoo being murdered by an old granny really serves him right tho. That was cathartic. And she did so in a way that wasn't even outright malicious... very interesting.

Bum's death was the thing that made me ill, though. It was quiet. Not that his actual death was quiet, but metaphorically speaking? compared to the rest of the series? Quiet. Like it happened in passing. As if that's all his life would amount to - was dying alone. We don't even get to actually see him die, which... just... you realize the world declared he had no value at all.

But, honestly? Despite Sangwoo's poor upbringing like. Ok, it's 100% believable a male would grow up to be as violent as he was lol. I understand why a gl version of K/S wouldn't work - it's bc girls and women are abused in horrible ways aaaall the time and rarely turn out to be mass murderers.

Anyways, enough of that rant. This is fiction, after all and that's why it was enjoyable!

I absolutely do not recommend reading this if you're in the process of recovering from parental or relationship abuse. This series is goddamn heavy. I was crying on and off about it for 4hrs after finishing.

No, I even lost sleep because I didn't finish it before bed, and kept dreaming and waking up over how they die. It was because I knew from the beginning they would die. There was no happy ending for them, I just knew. Which is so fucking bitter. There's no sweetness to this story at all.

This review is already long, but the author's notes at the end of the series is really what did me in. She says that Sangwoo is heterosexual but... can a straight man really have sex with another man? And her answer to, "Does Sangwoo love Bum?": Read the last chapter.

Like. Fuck!!

My belief, as well as the general consensus, is that Sangwoo absolutely loved Bum. Which is why it fucking hurts so much. Because the dude is goddamn crazy.

Ok I'm gonna stop here, I have so much more to say but I've already been rambling.

Hoping to purchase this series at some point though, it was that impactful.

#killing stalking #manhwa #bl review #complete

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lcvepcem · 4 years

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‘ ♡ ‘ « @dctdae »

❝ it’s exhausting watching those two .. do you think he even realizes ? ❞

#‘ ♡ ‘ « sangwoo : interactions. »#‘ ♡ ‘ « sangwoo : with leo. »#dctdae #i just wanted some Cute u know parent gossip OSDGUSHDFI #probs getting a drink after practice or smth talking about their shared Son LMAO #ALSO THE FACT THAT SANGWOO IS EVEN SAYING THIS #DESPITE BEING HOPELESSLY IN LVOE WTIH LEO ? IT'S RICH #rich i say !!!

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cemeterything · 3 years

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something i absolutely love about squid game that i haven't really seen being talked about is how effectively it portrays the use of dehumanization tactics and how those tactics are used to convince people in disadvantaged positions that other people in the same or similar positions to them are the opposition that they must overcome in order to succeed, while their true obstacles, those in positions of power, remain untouched and unnoticed.

this is most obvious in how the contestants interact with one another. they are stripped of all their personal items and clothing when they arrive on the island the games are held on, and given identical numbered tracksuits, allowing them to easily forget that the people they're competing against are just that. people. and people in just as unfortunate circumstances as they are, playing for the same reason they are - a chance to be lifted out of the terrible poverty destroying their lives.

this is why contestants sharing their names with each other is such a meaningful, significant act. it's more than just an expression of trust, it's also an expression of solidarity, and of recognizing the other person as human, and possessing just as much value as a person and worthwhile goals as you. (which is part of why sangwoo's betrayals of his fellow contestants to win feel so harsh, because he recognized this but still made the decision to exploit them to get ahead. he understood the rules of the game and knew they were unfair, and decided that the best chance he had of surviving was to use the edge this gave him over the other contestants. and he was right, but this only demonstrates the cruelty and unfairness of the situation. sangwoo is not rewarded for his actions, and in the end they bring him no joy and no success.)

this dehumanizing power dynamic is also apparent through the interactions between the masked staff and the contestants. while the staff are undoubtedly in a better position than the people they watch over, execute and dispose of as carelessly as taking out the trash, we are shown that there's a hierarchy among their ranks, and that none of them are safe from being disposed of themselves if they defy their own authority figures. and although some of them are undeniably awful people who take pleasure in abusing and killing those they have a position of power over, there are probably also those who find their jobs distasteful and those who are simply in it for employment.

this is not to say that any of them aren't complicit in the suffering of the contestants, but the fact that one of them is executed for showing his face to a contestant holding him at gunpoint (who immediately commits suicide when he realizes that he would have to destroy the lives of other human beings to have any chance of escaping with his own life) begs the question whether they even could meaningfully help them without both they and the contestants being punished by those in positions of greater authority. when one of them says "i just work here", he betrays both the fact that they don't see the contestant they're talking to as a person - the atrocities they commit and the corpses of the people who failed to make it through each stage of the games that they dispose of are 'just part of the job' - but also that they have no real, meaningful authority. and we aren't shown how they're recruited. for all we know some of them may come from just as desperate and hopeless backgrounds as those they gun down.

the point is, it doesn't matter, because the masked staff are not meant to recognize the contestants (or each other) as human, and the contestants are not meant to recognize each other or the masked staff as more than obstacles and oppressors. they are numbers and shapes to each other, nothing more, and so when they suffer they do not look to those who are truly to blame for the positions they are all in - the rich elite who throw away their money on the game for their entertainment like gi-hun betting on horses at the beginning of the series - but each other. which makes gi-hun's decision at the end of the series to use his new financial means and the social status and power it gives him try to expose and prevent those who are in actual positions of power and who manipulated him and his fellow contestants into competing against one another from doing any further harm through the games all the more significant. by doing so, he breaks this cycle of the rich and powerful using the poor and disadvantaged against each other to shield themselves from accountability.

#long post #squid game #suicide mention

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