Wet Sand (the manhwa) Rants
okay so i just finished binge reading S1+S2 of the BL manhwa Wet Sand and i have soooo many thoughts (angry ones) that i literally came out of hiding to talk about it.
first off i enjoy reading mafia stories. my top 5 BLs do include 'shutline' and 'under the greenlight' after all, and i was told that 'wet sand' had a similar vibe, so ofc i jumped on it when i had the chance.
i did not however expect 'wet sand' to be a love triangle (which i abhor) so needless to say i was half disappointed and half intrigued.
second off, kudos to the talented DOYAK for being so good at writing emotionally complex and gray characters that make you both hate and love them, and ESPECIALLY IAN omg i really wanted to punch that dude in the face many times lmfao. but unfortunately he is our MC and the star of this shitshow so i have no choice but to suffer with him.
now my main rant - i can't for the life of me understand why so many people want ian and TJ to be endgame, especially since ian's ENTIRE ARC AS A CHARACTER is about him trying to move on from his past and overcome his trauma.
don't get me wrong - i like TJ a lot. he's what i would describe as a perfectly flawed character, and a great BL lead. he is compelling, consistent with his motives, and a character with agency. he is also just as traumatized as ian. but while ian chose to escape, TJ chose to stay and deal with it. and in doing so, the choices he’s made has gotten him to drift further and further away from ian. it is precisely because of that that's why i don't think they should be endgame. ian and TJ have a lot of sexual chemistry, yes, and i understand that a lot of people want to see them change for each other because they're clearly in love, but after learning about their shared past in S2, all the more i don't want them to be together. they are too tied to their past traumas. their relationship itself happened because of trauma. just like ian, who wants to start a new life, TJ should also learn to move on from his toxic codependency with ian. these characters should grow and evolve from the narrative, not go backwards and fall back into the vacuum.
as for jo, it was pretty obvious to me that he is meant to be ian's endgame since the beginning. jo being ian's final choice should conclude ian's arc. a lot of people find jo as a less interesting character than TJ (myself included) but logically speaking he is the right choice. i do see jo having potential to be more interesting in S3. i think moving forward he’s going to start to make more active choices for ian, just as how at the end of S2 we’re seeing ian changing for jo
what's interesting to me is that DOYAK and the company had been promoting TJ/Ian as the main couple, so in a way i was hoping that in S2 we'd be able see more justification of them, but the more the story progressed, the more i see ian and TJ drifting apart, in the sense that they no longer share the same values. the yearning is still there, but both of them want different things. i just hope TJ would be able to find someone (or someTHING) to fulfill him like how ian was able to find jo, but i have a feeling that TJ's story would end more tragically.
i'll be honest i'd be pretty disappointed if DOYAK caves into pressure (like MANY FANDOMS //eye roll//) and make TJ/Ian endgame... i much prefer a Jo/Ian ending, or better yet, a JoTae ending lmfao (the tops really should fuck it out)
but if the apollo/artemis/orion story in the beginning is any indication of foreshadowing, then perhaps in the end all three would go their separate ways, which is also a satisfying ending to me.
thank you for reading my dissertation
also..... her art is AMAZING I WANT TO CRY LOOK AT THEM
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annaxmalina
pixelskylines
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kianamaiart
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