Cinnamon Milk TEA's manga / #Stalker(7)

That was interesting The characters felt irrational and childish, FL and ML are very unlikable for me and only the villains did make some kind of sense since his supposed to have some internal issues and be an obssess psycho pervert It would make a good thriller horror story if it wasn't that the two MCs were dump asf or that this is meant to be a love story

Can't believe I almost pass such a story because I thought of it as a GL! and thankfully it was not Cha Yul the crossdresser obsessive over Eun Sian was just so... unexpectedly thrilling!!! Basic story line, basic characters still it brought a new concept "obsession under a new light" Not a fav, still good. Having things tangled more would have been better

My favorite plot twist have been ruined! And not just because of the atrocious translation. The plot was on the noz

Coming back to Color Recipe nearly a decade later, I found my experience very different from the first time. On my initial read, the story felt overwhelmingly intense—dark, gripping, and almost unbearable at points. On reread, however, I realized I’ve grown somewhat desensitized. The raw shock is gone, but I can still see why this manga had such a strong impact on me the first time. Much of that power lies in Harada’s distinctive art style: her paneling and expressions convey psychological states in a way few mangaka can. The trauma in volume 2, after the kidnapping, is still vividly, almost viscerally rendered. What makes Color Recipe fascinating is how it handles the “stalker romance” trope. Volume 1 builds suspense masterfully: the story teases two possible stalkers—the seme or the uke’s regular male client—keeping the reader uncertain until the end. On my first read, this tension was edge-of-your-seat gripping, and the final revelation—that the seme orchestrated everything while subtly shifting suspicion onto the customer—was explosive. On reread, though, this dynamic feels even more unsettling: knowing that the seme not only framed the client but also used the opportunity to grow closer to the uke and slowly push the boundaries of physical intimacy adds a disturbing layer of calculation to his actions. Volume 2 escalates the conflict but also destabilizes it. The seme reuses his old manipulative tactics to isolate the uke, but this time he is discovered. Cornered, he makes his most desperate move: kidnapping the uke and attempting to force intimacy. Yet Harada subverts the scene—his body refuses to respond to a broken, unresponsive uke, making it clear that what he truly desires is not domination but the uke’s willing choice. His so-called guilt afterwards reads more like performance than remorse, as he continues to center his obsession rather than the uke’s autonomy. Reading now, I notice how my interpretation differs from many others. Most reviewers stress how disturbing, triggering, or unbearable the story is, and they’re not wrong—it deals with stalking, manipulation, abuse, and sexual assault in deeply uncomfortable ways. For me, on reread, the initial shock was gone, replaced by an analytical appreciation of Harada’s craft: how she weaponizes romance tropes and then twists them into something both intimate and terrifying. The open ending remains one of my favorite aspects—ambiguous, unsettling, and quintessentially Harada. Instead of offering closure, it forces readers to sit with contradictions: desire versus control, intimacy versus violence, obsession versus love. Ultimately, Color Recipe is not a romance in the traditional sense. It is a psychological study of possession masquerading as affection, made unforgettable through Harada’s ability to blur boundaries and provoke unease long after the final page.

What the actual hack did I end up reading !?!? I was in for a serious dark stalker story but this was laughable like the Junior accidentally became a stalker. _______ Dude was seriously like "aren't you my stalker why are you leaving me alone?"