I love reading webcomics, but the fake/contractual relationship ones are so frustrating some times bc the FL is always oblivious or willfully ignorant to the ML feeling's towards her (and her own feelings toward him). And when she finally realizes/accepts it its played up as a big dramatic shock.
She all like "Wait.... He actually likes me!😱🤯" and I'm over here like *Gasp* Really? What clued you in? That time he took you on a date? All the times he lovingly gazed into your eyes? All the gifts he showered you in? All the times he tried and failed to kiss you? When his subordinates and friends started treating you with more care and respect? Was it when he legit said you where special to him and he hasn't ever felt the way he feels about you toward anyone before?
Like, we been knew sis. Congrats on being the last person to know. Guess what you've already been married for three years.😑
[CW: This rant contains some references to some extremely shitty things said/thought/done by a character that I don't agree with but are nonetheless shitty.]
One of my indulgences is isekai/death-game-world manga and manhwa. I'm not gonna claim they're works of literary high art or anything, but I have a certain fascination with them.
I normally track between 10-20 at a time, cycling in new ones as I drop or complete individual works. I just found myself dropping a newer one out of sheer disgust (which unfortunately isn't uncommon).
Regressor Instruction Manual is a story about a guy who gets dragged into another world as a "player character" along with lots of other people. Not an unusual premise; there are plenty like it, varying widely in quality. But this one always struck me as a little... off? [NOTE: Spoilers ahead.]
The protagonist has this sort of ultra-opportunist mindset and surrounds himself with people he thinks are useful to him, but initially I thought this was the result of a traumatic childhood–there were a few hints dropped here and there that led me to that belief, so I thought it would be one of those stories where he slowly learned to trust and open up to those around him and stop viewing people as mere resources. I'm always open to character development!
Only... those signs got less and less frequent and the protagonist's viewpoints stopped getting countered. He became more and more "obviously correct" through how the story chose to present him and his actions and circumstances. His internal dialogue is consistently uncharitable and often abusive (e.g. he repeatedly refers to his tall, extremely muscular and fit companion as "piggy" and "f*tty"). He swiftly labels people as trash or condemns them to die because they pose even a minor threat to his goals. On the rare occasions that I agree with his mindset it's more due to Broken Clock Syndrome ("right twice a day") than anything else.
The final nail in the coffin for me is the most recent translated arc, where he wishes to recruit a talented priestess but is frustrated by how occupied she is with charity work. She spends nearly all of her time helping homeless folk in a poor district of the city, distributing food and offering healthcare and other aid. Good, right? I thought so too!
The protagonist disagreed, and not just so he could fulfill his own goals. Over the last few chapters that I've been able to stomach, he has set out to systematically "prove" that anyone in the situation of homelessness is simply lazy/abusive/exploitative/etc. and that if they weren't that way, they wouldn't be homeless. And guess what? At every turn the development of the story is supporting him!
On top of all that, the last few pages I read before I dropped it were the protagonist confronting the priestess, forcing her to admit that the only reason she helps people is because she feels guilty about something, that it makes her feel better, because obviously nobody would ever do something like this out of altruism, right?
It's vile.
Look, maybe some day I'll be proven wrong and it'll turn out that the author wanted to simply portray things through the eyes of a cynical misanthrope before flipping the script and dumping on him for his shittiness. I hope that's the case. If you read the web novel and can confirm this, great!
But until then, I won't be touching this shit with a ten-foot pole.
pardon me while I rant about something real quick....
Anyone else just get really fucking annoyed by the way certain tropes and traits are used? Like Leviathan and the whole touch starved thing? Because I've seen it done a few times where immediate and intense sexual acts are almost like some kind of cure-all and he just sort of dives in, but like....no? That’s not....That’s nowhere near how it works.
Being touch starved is.....It’s wanting affection in the form of being held and cuddled, but being mortified at the notion of another persons skin coming into contact with your own. It’s craving the feeling of the warmth of another person, but not knowing how to ask for it or even know how to initiate it. It’s wishing the people in your life would sit closer and getting upset that your personal space is closing in. It’s wanting to reach out and hold someone to comfort them, but not knowing if it’s ok to or if the contact would be welcome.
Like......It’s so much more than “don’t touch me”. And it’s so much more intimate to break that barrier than the sexual twists people put on it. Once we break that, with someone we care for and trust, every touch becomes one we hold onto forever. Any skin on skin contact. Accidental, purposeful, both by us and done do us. If someone held my hand, and ran their thumb across the back of it in that slow, gentle way....or laced our fingers together....i’d probably fucking burst into tears. Over such a normal thing. And such a small thing.
Maybe the hand holding thing is just stuck to me right now because of a post I read. It made me realize that the last time anyone did hold my hand properly was when I was a small child. And that shit hurts. It twists in my gut and only makes my cravings for the physical feeling of another person worse.
Idk. It hurts. It’s not fun.You can’t fix it with sex. Don’t write it that way. Be kinder to your touch starved friends and the characters you favour.
You know the moment right? When the person goes to a psychic or has their best friend do a reading for them and they’re just flippin cards to reveal information about the headless ghost of a widow’s aborted devil spawn. And the music gets really creepy and intense as they flip to reveal the last card, you know exactly which one they’re gonna show you before they even start.
OH NO IT’S THE DEATH CARD
Both parties get this look of absolute terror and they use it as this ‘you’re gonna fucking die or someone you know is going to fuckind die in a horrible ass way’ type of foreshadowing. Like getting the DEATH card is the worst card you can ever recieve and it means bad things are coming.
EXCEPT I don’t think the death card is that scary, like at all. It actually makes me roll my eyes and sigh with disappointment each time a movie does this. And no psychic worth their god damn salt will tell you it always means PHYSICAL DEATH OH NO SCARY. In fact, most of them interpret it as an end, possibly of a relationship or interest, and therefore implies an increased sense of self-awareness—not to be confused with self-consciousness or any kind of self-diminishment. In fact, Eden Gray interprets this card as a change of thinking from an old way into a new way. The horse Death is riding is stepping over a prone king, which symbolizes how not even royalty can stop change. I mean, that’s the fucking Wikipedia article (which I wouldn’t use as a term paper source but it’s reliable enough for this) And this change isn’t even promised to be sudden. It could be YEARS from the tarot reading in the making.
You know what card would actually scare me in a ghost/monster/serial killer related context for tarot readings?
The TOWER (upright not reversed)
Now that would fucking scare me if I thought something evil as fuck was coming after me and my family of adopted orphan children living in an old sanitarium.
The Tower represents sudden, disruptive, revelation, and potentially destructive change. That’s fucking terrifying. No time to plan or get your family out. It’s gonna happen, it’s gonna be destructive, and its gonna happen FUCKING SOON.
The Death card’s not gonna even give me a shiver but the Tower is gonna leave me curled up in the corner awaiting my horrible fate because trying to get out isn’t gonna save me, my pets, or my sweet neighbors. We’re fucked.
Tropes I’m tired of: woman waits and waits and waits for guy to propose, assumes that everything different he does is going to be a proposal and then gets mad when he doesn’t, optionally also freaks out when someone else gets proposed to and she doesn’t, but never ever says anything about wanting to get married and just expects him to pick up the hints of her displeasure.
There are certain things that are a big enough deal you should state your desires clearly, and not really on hints. Marriage is one of them.
One of the tropes that I hate the most is that one where it's a boy and girl and, maybe one of them likes the other, maybe not, regardless, whenever they're out and about, people are always like, "Oh my god, you guys are such a cute couple" and then they're both like, "oh, we're just friends" AND THEN THEY END UP GETTING TOGETHER ANYWAYS??? Like, dawg, why do they end up getting together EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME??? They dont need to like each other! They can JUST be friends! Or maybe one of them likes the other, that's okay! Nothing needs to come of it! The one can just keep liking the other and they just still stay friends! (am I coping with my current reality? ....maybe. BUT ALSO! That trope is so fucking annoying!)
There's a trope I don't like, even if it doesn't make a bad media. It's the character keeping no trace of their injuries.
Like in Promare, I liked that Lio lost an arm when he was injured, but I found it strangely disheartening that he got it back once reignited. I know the story tells you that Burnishes can regenerate with fire, there is no problem with diegetic continuity.
But, when you're someone with visible scar, it's a bit harsh to see a character become like you and then get back. Feels like queer baiting for scarred people.
I know people like to see cute characters stay cute, even after going through hell, but it kinda feels like the storyteller is telling me "But all is well because they don't stay like you."
I hate the trope in popular media where a woman explicitly states that she doesn't want to have kids, but then accidentally gets pregnant and suddenly becomes happy with the idea of settling down and having a family. Not only is it an abrupt change in the character's beliefs/motivations but there is never an explanation provided as to why this change occurs other than the pregnancy itself (which can be fine if that idea is explored more by showing some interpersonal conflict ect. But that almost never happens.)
Honestly I can find more complex narratives on unwanted pregnancy in M-preg fics on AO3.
