Ml has not changed at all. While Yan is mentally regressed with amnesia he basically tried to rewrite history and groom him into a relationship while he’s vulnerable and unaware. He knows that Yan will not want to be with him once he regains his memories so he’s trying to permanently mark him now so he can’t leave later. This is the equivalent of getting a friend/acquaintance to sign marriage papers while they are mentally incapacitated after a serious accident. His top and only priority is still his wants, and he still doesn’t respect Yan.
He learned nothing. Yan rejected their relationship to the point of psychosis and self harm. If his memories come back, he learns that he lost his powers that gave him safety/autonomy are gone, and he is marked so he has no chance of another relationship is he going to settle in and be happy? Probably not. It’s more likely that he will turn to self harm or spiral into depression again.
I love how the constant onslaught of war and weight of protecting an entire nation by herself wasn’t enough to make the saintess give up, but an average life under modern capitalism was
Dropped it because I realized they’re in high school. How fucking hard would it be to set this in college?! I hate authors who do this so much ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ
Reaction to mana deficiency highlights the difference in experiences between new and old hunters.
So mana deficiency is a very severe, established medical condition. The primary symptoms are mental instability, headaches, weakness, self harm, and potentially suicidal tendencies. I think Seo running out of mana and all his teammates thinking it’s so novel and cute at first really speaks to how new hunters truly have no idea what the Revengers and old hunters had to endure and how difficult it was.
The level of shock and horror when they realize he can’t be healed to restore his mana really highlights how different things are. The are in an S class dungeon but they weren’t mentally prepared for the risk of death.
Seo and Dorim exerted themselves to the point of mana deficiency almost constantly for most of the time they were in the great dungeon, and it was likely a common experience for the others, which likely explains a lot of the suicides in the dungeon.
Dealing with mana deficiency on top of trauma must also be incredibly severe. If it’s directly blamed for the deaths of two Revengers, they either must have done it very soon after getting out of the Great dungeon or they must have gone into other dungeons after. We don’t know when mana potions became commonplace.
It also really speaks to Seo’s strength of mind that he was able to endure it for so long, and remain functional afterwards.
I really like how they actually tackle the trauma that hunters inevitably go through. There is also a generational gap. In most cases they just portray them as toughened, but not with particularly human reactions.
Hunters with the new upgraded system, abilities, and strategies can’t comprehend the struggles of the first generation. Out of only 4 survivors of the great dungeon, all of them had suicidal tendencies, two succeeded, one is incapacitated, and the last is just barely holding on. It’s apparently common for current hunters to turn to substances to cope.
I think a big factor is that nobody knows about the time stopping ability. It took them 300 years to clear the dungeon, so you can only imagine the accumulated trauma.
Ah yes the classic battle robot that looks like a prostitute/sex doll. It’s obvious what the author’s priorities were. It’s always so disappointed to enter a rich, unique world and concept, only to realize most of the focus is going to be on fanservice.
I had no idea where that pirate arc was leading, but I ship them so hard now
(๑•ㅂ•)و✧
As far as I’m concerned this drama is all on Chaeheon. He made out with someone who was hammered, so forgetting/not understanding what happened is one of the less poor responses he could’ve gotten. He pounced without confessing or building up a romantic rapport, so there was a lot of room for speculation （￣へ￣）
TW SA.
And another “femdom” that’s essentially just sa at their very first encounter. Fl and ml get into a fight, fl overpowers ml with hypnosis and brings him home. It’s very obvious her hypnosis prevents him from moving and he tells her to stop repeatedly, but she just giggles and goes on anyway. Don’t bother, it’s really gross how the entire situation is trivialized by the fl. There are some people in the comments who seem fine with it, but if the roles were reversed they would be screaming bloody murder.
Femdom is supposed to be about confident and assertive women, not sexual predators. Its disgusting and disappointing how trivialized sa is when it happens to men (even in fiction).
I legitimately despise this ml. I don’t necessarily think the fl is that dense so much as she has a lot of things going on and just doesn’t have the bandwidth to notice other stuff. She trusts him as his friend and she doesn’t have similar relationships to compare it to. This happens to women all the time, they trust a guy friend and don’t recognize the signs until they have to reject their advance, often causing the relationship to fall apart.
He manipulates, lies to, and gaslights her whenever she tries to probe about anything. He’s had plenty of chances to confess, but he seems to prefer to puppeteer her into a position where she can’t refuse rather than risk rejection, because he knows she wants to be free.
He knows exactly what the rumors and him gifting the necklace have done, and will continue to do, making it harder for her to avoid being connected to him. He knows why she’s angry but chooses to trivialize and ignore her response. He skillfully redirects to avoid dealing with the conflict. He is honestly just as insidious as Yuri once you really dig into his behavior, just in more outwardly subtle ways.
It’s just becoming increasingly obvious that all the support he gave her was just lip service, and that he was always less concerned about taking off her leash than being the one who is holding it. It’s clear that he views her more like a cherished pet than a partner. Sure, he wants her to happy and safe, but he doesn’t tolerate it when she wants to behave in any way he doesn’t like. When she does that he doesn’t respect her autonomy, but trivializes her and obfuscates until he no longer has to deal with it.
It’s extremely common for FLs, no matter how old, experienced, or worldly to be infantilized by the author, but even if she’s too dense to notice his feelings, that doesn’t mean she deserves to be manipulated, gaslit, and trapped into a one sided marriage again. It’s not like the ML is violent or abusive, but he’s such a horrible, disrespectful, selfish partner that it’s ruined the story for me. I think it just really hits home because you see this type of personality in real life, and actual relationships that involve a person like him almost always implode.
Chinese manga will literally do anything to avoid having the abuser take genuine accountability for their actions. This bs amnesia arc just gives him a do over. He gets a chance to not be horrible to Yan, so his character development is acting like a decent partner. The bar is in hell. Because of his abuse and negligence, Yan almost died, which is ironically what gave him this opportunity to try rewrite their history. And now even if he did wake up and want to leave, he lost all of his powers, so he is completely vulnerable.
If you look really close, no matter what abuse occurred, the end result will always go with what the “reformed” abuser wants, usually because the victim caught random feelings, is dependent/can’t leave, or arbitrary plot forcing. Even if the abuser recognizes their wrongs and feels guiltY, it’s extremely rare that they actually apologize, or respect the wishes of the victim. They usually just give them some slave while they skulk around still trying to get the ending they want.
I’m sobbing this was so tragic, beautiful, and hopeful
╥﹏╥
So I get that people are pissed off at the mom for having a psychotic episode and stabbing Yunhwi, which is totally valid, but that’s not even the worst thing about her. So her family has had a sentient (non malicious) spirit chained up in their basement for hundreds of years to force it to give them good luck… and it never occurred to her to set him free? It seems like he was basically chained up in the dark for most of that time, so basically solitary confinement and restraint. Her stabbing him was a the result of a sudden mental breakdown (not to say she doesn’t have to take blame and responsibility for it), but she got up every day since she was a kid knowing he was imprisoned for her family’s convenience… and never thought about how horrible that was. To me, that’s way worse than her attacking him.
Imagine all the chaos, drama, and suffering that could have been avoided if they had just let Wooyeon process his trauma naturally instead of suppressing it with magic memory loss （/TДT)/
It’s like continuously suspending the sword over someone’s head to hide it from view while just really hoping it never falls on the person. If you leave the sword out in the open that person can observe, analyze and get used to it to minimize the risk of being hurt
I don’t know if this is a hot take, but I really don’t think Sejin is in the wrong here (I’m on chapter 14). His sexual tastes run a bit rougher, but with his first boyfriend it sounds like he communicated what he wanted to do, got consent in advance, and set up a safe word in advance in case he wanted to stop, which was never used.
With Jiwoo he has made some over the top requests, but he asked plainly and Jiwoo always agreed. He’s also made efforts to avoid pushing him too far before he was ready in some cases. He made it known that he had unusual tastes before agreeing to date Jiwoo, who was fine with it.
Sure, Sejin isn’t necessarily boyfriend of the year, but it’s not like he lied to, manipulated, or pressured either one of them into anything. It sounds like both of them were in the relationship for primarily superficial/shallow reasons (Sejin being hot/kind on the surface), which doesn’t mean they deserve to be mistreated, but seems like they never really clicked or understood each other on a deeper level.
The first boyfriend didn’t communicate their limits properly and ended up agreeing to something they either really didn’t want to do or weren’t prepared for, but it sounds like Sejin made efforts to explain, get consent, and make sure it was safe as possible, it’s just that he couldn’t handle it, which is not his fault, but there should have been more communication between them.
Sejin is being more cautious with Jiwoo now because he learned that even with prior discussions, verbal consent, and a safe word, things can still end poorly.
And I don’t agree that he should necessarily just know to go slower. How is he supposed to know Jiwon’s pace if he doesn’t tell him? If Jiwoo has reservations he needs to speak up and set boundaries. Sure, some people may take advantage of a partner like that, but it’s just as likely that Jiwoo is excited because he’s found someone with very compatible preferences.
I might get proved wrong soon, but these observations are based off of what I’ve seen so far
I’m really upset about how everyone trivializes Soorim’s actions and emotional responses. He was isolated and held against his will since he was a child by violent abusive men, finally managed to escape, only to end up imprisoned by stranger again. Sure, the cage is prettier, but that’s still what it is. Nobody has really explained anything and even if they tried he has absolutely no reason to trust them. But he’s the silly/childish/naive one for acting desperate, trying to appeal to his second captors through every means available to him, and trying to escape without a concrete plan?
He’s clearly psychologically and emotionally stunted by trauma, and lacks any real world knowledge or education, but it’s insane that they are supposedly protecting him altruistically… without explaining anything, yet expect him to trust them and be obedient. They have already mentioned that they have connections to the group that was holding him captive. I just hate the way they talk about him like he’s a mischievous little troublemaker that just doesn’t know any better when he’s just responding rationally to a very threatening series of events.
The artifact idea is so brilliant because he can make up whatever rules he wants and explain away any of her abilities
Damn, that was an elegant and beautiful ending ┗( T﹏T )┛
I did notice that even though the chapter is titled “finale”, there was still the usual “to be continued” message at the end so finger crossed. I’m hoping for at least 100 chapters of side stories. (づ￣ ³￣)づ
I’m still bitter that there were no Randolph x Ulysses scenes when there was so much psychological and plot buildup for their relationship. I actually think Ulysses is a very interesting character and it would be cool to explore his past and future in more detail as well. Enoch and Sihav have a checkered past and an interesting dynamic with both each other and Ulysses. They’ve also been around for and integral to the entire rebellion and most conflicts that occurred afterwards, so it could be cool to see things from their perspective. I would also love some happy retirement vibes from Shin and Wolfgang, god knows they deserve some peace and quiet. ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
I also found it hilarious that the rebellion was made possible almost entirely by the political maneuvering of Shin (while he was still a literal child), a semi feral but extremely athletic princeling, and Ulysses’ army/harem of buff killer masochists, so without two children and an older teen the entire coup would not have been possible. (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
It’s even more impressive when you consider that Shin did everything while being constantly watched and under lock and key, Wolfgang managed to hone his skills enough to take on most elite knights and his family within only a few years of being in the palace, and Ulysses’ managed to disguise an entire army as a harem by publicizing his unorthodox sexual preferences… and also using it as a legitimate harem. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Ok but the April Fools pairing/dynamic is actually way better than the main story one
(づ￣ ³￣)づ
I’m actually really pissed about the prince killing her family (no matter how abusive and horrible they were) behind her back. She thinks they are exiled, but now they will never have a chance to recognize their wrongs. And Reiju may want to discuss and unpack her childhood trauma at one point to get closure. It might happen, it might not, but now she won’t even have the option, or worse, she’ll go looking for them only to find out the truth. I don’t agree with the “it’s for his/her/their own good” justification crap. He told her they were being exiled and she was satisfied with that, but he lied and went further. He didn’t really do it for her, he did it for himself