Preach! 100% Agree. I’m so over Ken. Kirara deserves better. This update was tough..
OMG, just, YES to everything you said here! Amen, you are preaching the words of my heart!
Guys! Listen. Ken is a kid. He's a kid. Literally. He's a douche right now bc he's
an immature brat. A teenage brat - worst of them all lol. So is Kirara. They are both brats. Just keep that in mind and wait for them to grow up ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~ I am 100% sure Ken's going to be a very sweet seme when he grows up a bit.
No that is not an excuse. I’m tired of such a bullshit excuse of hey he’s a kid you doesn’t know right from wrong. While is fictional this is literally the same thing we say to boys as they grow up, “ they’re just being boys”. Being a boy who will become a man who doesn’t know the value of treating people with respect and most especially someone you love is why we continue to have domestic violence, unfaithfulness, and assault be the direct result of young men who are excused for their behavior and the continuous narrative of “love hurts”. I don’t care that this is fictional it’s all romanticized abuse. If Ken doesn’t have his shit sorted he has NO right to inflict his insecurities onto anyone. His choices and his actions has led to the dilemma he finds himself in, the author has chosen this narrative. Even with internalized homophobia it does excuse assualting Kirara and what I’m guessing is screwing over many girls with his wishy washy heteronormative conditioning. You don’t get to later pretend that Ken wasn’t hurtful to Kirara or others just because their love will become mutual, ignoring abuse and trauma for the sake of LOVE is toxic.
I don't know what "kids" pull this kind of shit--have you met any? "Kids" shouldn't be spewing slurs, sleeping around, forcing sexual intimacy on people saying no, and intentionally hurting the people around them with their words and actions--especially people who they're supposed to care about. It's not just being "immature" that causes this kind of behaviour and he needs a serious ass-kicking/attitude adjustment. While part of it may be because he's 16, and I have confidence that the author will work change into his character and he will grow as a person, but that's NOT an excuse and this kind of behaviour should not be treated as "oh, he's just a bratty child, he'll grow out of it, lol ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~". Like, what?! NO. NOT okay.
In short, being young is not a license to be a using asshole--and people don't magically grow out of it. It's a sign of character--BAD character. And it requires intentional change to stop behaving and thinking in such self-absorbed and poisonous ways.
THANK YOU!!! I just gave my own impassioned "um, NO" to that comment. Amen to everything you said there (≧∀≦)
Omg guys xD why are you getting so worked up for, you're totally missing the point here!
Like I said, Ken is an emotionally immature brat and the only thing grown up about him is his body and his sexual drive. But since he's still a brat, he doesn't know what to do about it! Seriously, I don't know what lives you've been living and maybe you're all saints, but I can say for sure that I have done lots of mean things when I was a teenager without even realising! I mean, that is what teenagers are famous for, right??? Let's not forget that Ken's family situation is not setting the best example for him.
Teenage years are when you are most vulnerable and what Ken needs is some guidance and some trigger to finally realise what he's been doing, some encouragement to do the right thing! I am scared just thinking what would happen if you guys met a teenager like Ken, you'd probably spew all kinds of disdainful words at them and break their self esteem and character forever.
I have read all of Yamamoto Kotetsuko's works and I trust the author. Ken will grow out of it, he's gonna feel very guilty about it and I am willing to bet 100€ he'll become the sweetest seme ever.
Haha, we WERE getting pretty worked up--but let's keep in mind that this is fiction. I don't think any of us would say anything like this to the person in question if this were real life (I like to think I'm not a horrible person, thanks. Also, we're not addressing these talks to Ken, so what gave you the impression that we would bad mouth his behaviour to his face in the first place???), and while I certainly was NEVER a saint as a teenager, I certainly never held someone down and kissed/groped/etc. them when they were saying "no".
I'm not saying that Ken is a despicable human being--like you said, he's a teenager, he's confused, he's undoubtedly got internalized homophobia from blaming his Dad's partner for the breakdown of his parents' relationship, etc. He's got A LOT of problems. I think our main concern was people not acknowledging the fact that these ARE problems, not something to laugh at or brush away saying "oh he's just a kid, he'll grow out of it"--because a lot of people don't grow out of it, unfortunately. So, knowing this author, I'm fairly certain he will undergo character growth and become a better person as a whole, as well as a good partner for Kurara. However, I still have this niggling fear that the author won't have Ken give a proper apology or properly acknowledge how shitty his behaviour was--basically, I want there to be proper acknowledgement that what he did was not okay. I genuinely want him to be happy--I'm just not happy with his relationship with Kurara as it stands RIGHT NOW. I have high hopes it will change for the better--I just hope it's in a semi-realistic way that doesn't sweep everything under the rug of "our feelings are mutual now, yay! Let's have sex now and suddenly enter a relationship of pure bliss!" Which is totally something I've seen in Yaoi a lot before -_-. The fear that Yamamoto-sensei will do this is quite small--but it IS there because she has a few semes who I still can't stand to this day (the one from "Fukurou-kun to Kare", for example).
Anyway, sorry for the rant! (￣∇￣")
Honestly Ken is such a fucking douche i'm getting sick of it.His need to constantly take out his frustrations out on Kirara is getting ridiculous when all of the miscommunication is a direct result of him having a reputation of sleeping around and then feminizing Kirara when it's convenient for him. He never acknowledges anything, but the physical intimacy that he routinely forces onto Kirara. Of course Kirara thinks Ken doesn't know Ken likes him,Ken has done nothing to disprove that and his track record shows he'lll go for anyone who at least shows interest in him without complaint. Even with his internalized homophobia I'm continuously losing sympathy for Ken's melodrama because you don't start a physical relationship with someone and then fault them when they don't readily guess your intentions and feelings given how he's rudely treated them for a considerable amount of time. Kirara truthfully deserves better, but given the plot is the childhood friends trope they have to end up together when in reality Ken really needs way more time to grow up and Kirara needs to find a love interest who while battling his insecurities doesn't treat him like crap every other five minutes and makes him their emotional punching bag. God what's worse is in this chapter Ken all but raped Kirara but of course yet again Ken's "confusion" gives him a pass for being the worst.