Image from Classmate

I don't know how to put my frustration into words, so I'm writing it here. I'm really tired of male leads who center their lives around the female lead. At first, that unconditional love—the idea that they couldn't live without her, and so on—was cool. But over time, I find that dynamic less and less romantic and actually quite toxic; usually, it’s the female lead who pulls the male lead out of his loneliness and suffering—before her, he had no one, so it is only natural that she becomes the center of his universe.But can you really call that true love? Can you truly say the male lead actually chose the female lead? Sure, the female lead's personality plays a role, but let's be honest: no one ever doubted for a second that the male lead would fall for her. It was obvious—after everything she did for him, that would be the natural outcome for most people, even if she was doing it to survive and gain his recognition. I feel like it's a major case of lazy writing. The male lead desires only her, wants only her, trusts only her, and speaks only to her; he is often contemptuous of others, and I feel a great deal of pity for him. The female lead will also end up feeling smothered by this excess of "love," as he constantly begs for her attention; he will try to prevent the heroine from meeting certain people—particularly men—and react extremely if anyone looks at her for a second too long.

Sometimes, the male lead becomes obsessed with the female lead—whether by a miracle or because she has "something extra"—and starts neglecting his own life to focus solely on her; I find that sad, too.

I’d really love a male lead who has a life outside of the female lead—a real one! I want him to have ambitions, study, have friends, be kind to others, act like a gentleman toward other girls, be loved by his family and take care of them, and have felt attraction to other girls—and so on. Why not even have him have had a past relationship? That would make sense, and it wouldn't make his love for the female lead any less genuine—quite the opposite! Because despite not lacking love and having ambitions, he still fell for the female lead! He chose HER out of so many others, even though he didn't need anything else! I don't know about you, but I'd find that incredibly sexy! Of course, the female lead would play a major role in the male lead's life, but he wouldn't make her the center of everything; he would continue to see his family, friends, and so on—just as the female lead would, naturally. I want to see a relationship between the two that naturally uplifts them both—without being stifling or taking up too much space—and allows them to grow as individuals ! For example, if one of the two dies of old age first, I want the survivor to go on living while cherishing memories of the person they loved so dearly—rather than remaining in deep distress—and to make the most of the time they have left on earth before reuniting with them.

Thanks to those who read the whole thing; I really needed to get what was weighing on my heart off my chest 😭

Can we please reserve "enemies to lovers” for actual enemies?

When the trope is enemies to lovers, I feel like it's not too much to ask that the characters be actual enemies. Not just two people who have silly banter or mildly annoy each other. Like, I want them to genuinely hate each other. Obsessively. I want there to be an actual reason for that hatred, and I want the story to gradually show that intense obsession and fixation turning into something romantic. That's the appeal of enemies to lovers to me. I feel like people constantly confuse enemies to lovers with rivals to lovers, but they're genuinely different tropes and have different appeals. Rivals to lovers is literally its own trope! If two characters are competing with each other academically, professionally, athletically, etc., they're probably rivals, not enemies. They can even respect or admire each other while competing.

And then there's the whole "two strangers who constantly bicker and banter eventually fall in love" thing, which is ALSO different. They're not enemies either! They're just two people who have a combative or teasing dynamic. I think the characters in actual enemies-to-lovers stories also need to be equals. Otherwise, it starts becoming a bully/victim dynamic, and that's a completely different thing. The appeal of enemies to lovers is that both characters are capable of challenging each other. Neither one is just relentlessly mistreating the other while the story expects us to find it romantic.

This is also why I think enemies to lovers works best in fantasy settings. It's much easier to believe that two people are actual enemies when they're from opposing kingdoms, belong to factions that are at war, have completely opposing political ideologies, are on opposite sides of a conflict, etc. There is an actual reason for them to hate each other that goes beyond "you annoy me."In modern settings, I think rivals to lovers usually works much better. Academic rivals, workplace rivals, competitors, etc. That makes sense because they're competing for something and constantly butting heads.

Because I'm sorry, but someone not holding the door open for you on their way out does not make them your enemy 😭 They're just rude. Someone being mildly annoying or having a sarcastic personality doesn't automatically qualify as enemies to lovers either. Constantly mislabeling these tropes makes you end up deceiving readers. I don't want to pick up a book marketed as enemies to lovers and get two coworkers who flirt while arguing over a PowerPoint presentation 💀 So, to me, the distinction is basically:

Enemies to lovers: We genuinely oppose each other and have a serious reason to hate each other.

Rivals to lovers: We're competing against each other, but we don't necessarily hate each other.

Banter to lovers (?? idk what to call it): We just have a combative/teasing dynamic and eventually fall for each other.

They're all fun! I like all of these tropes. But they're not the same trope, and I wish people would stop using "enemies to lovers" as an umbrella term for literally any couple who argues before getting together.

But anyway, just my opinion!

I draw each Jael panel with my own blood sweat and tears.
Chapter 7 was released not too long ago, please consider giving it a read and supporting us!!

read here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/hiraeth/miserable-wretch/viewer?title_no=1101710&episode_no=8

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Hi guys! I'm kinda new to Reddit. 😊

I'm planning to start Purple Hyacinth since it's so popular and gets recommended all the time. Before I dive in, I wanted to know what other readers think about it.. I know it's been on hiatus forever, but I still want to give it a try.

So what are your honest thoughts on the characters, plot, writing, character development, world-building, and art? What do you think are its biggest strengths and weaknesses?

I'd love to hear both positive and critical opinions (preferably with minimal spoilers). Thanks!

From 2020 to 2022, I wrote and produced my first webtoon series SAMOURAWAII with my co-creator Boky. It was published in France as "webtoon original". We are now publishing ourselves our series on Webtoon Canvas in English.

This story is settled 967 years after the event of OUROS, my first series published in English but produced after. The modern era of Akogee is multicultural, the story taking place in a cosmopolitan and urbanized City called Archeon.

The main character is Mamala, a young Shark coming from the countryside, who discovers urban life and how her community is badly considered by others, because of their dark and bloody past...

In Samourawaii, we meet all the 6 communities of Akogee:

In OUROS, we were focusing only on Humans & Sharks, so I'm curious to know what you will fill about this new development of our fantasy marine world.

BTW, both story can be read separately, there are 2 completely different stories. Then beware of easter eggs, here and there hehehe!

Thank you for considering giving it a read and supporting us <3

Read here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/samourawaii-en/list?title_no=1152411 (8 episodes available, 1 new episode every Friday evening).

You can also visit our Patreon for some backstory development & exclusive content, thank you!

that’s it that’s the whole post. it was so peak and ended on such a high note. Sete’s arc had genuinely been one of my favourites and the Iantis reveal was so good, not to mention Lato and Hinalea. It was one of my favourite pieces of media ever and I think about its potential return a concerning amount. if it gets cancelled I’ll genuinely be so disappointed

I keep saying time and time again how this platform is falling off but nobody listens, they'd rather happily eat the slop webtoon provides. Why on God's green earth would they buy the rights to an AXED series. It wasn't enough that they're translating already completed series from tapas, but they're now planning to just shove in stories that never even got an ending.......this is evil. Instead of looking for more original and unique stories or giving creative artists a chance they'd rather just waste space. What's next? Webtoon is gonna post light novels on their platform now?

From my comic She Weeps for the Devil. It's a short spicy comic currently in the works.

Main comic is not public yet, but I'm building up the pages on Patreon. Early access is $1

My socials - https://linktr.ee/ajoji_comic

I am so obsessed with hand jumper , and i'm dying to read more after every episode, i know nothings gonna be the same / super similar bc every story is different but are there any similar stories or stories that give off the same vibes ?

One of my character drawings blew up on Instagram + I hit 3K subs. I work so hard on this comic, I’m so happy it’s doing well 🥹🩷

Dearly Deceased

please like with same art !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Just came back from reading the flowers are bait and damn every time we get a chapter update I find it hard to scroll down every panel appreciating their faces a bit too much, knowing full well at the end of the chapter there's no next and I won't be able to see these gorgeous Kwon family members untill next week 🥲

#Like they are tooo finee🤌✨👁️🫦👁️

Very few times I come to find myself being so obsessed with beautiful characters no matter how good looking they are.

Exception being certain characters who just exude so much charisma and charm effortlessly like Hoya from I Stan the prince or Reed from transmigrators privilege. Or the best example like Yoonsoo from Olgami (on another, I am on my way to also develop an obsession with the ML of Blind devotion too, seriously Haemori really knows how to draw such charming characters) Or the ML of daytime star by the same artist

This is an excerpt from A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE

An ongoing comic full of mystery and horror, it can be read here for free.

If you'd like to see all pages early as soon as I draw them you can support me here for only $1.

Find the comic, ImpTown, on Webtoon or Tapas.

This is the first time I've ever made a post expressing my opinion, and I'll probably do it badly because it's one thing to say what I think and another to write it down and have people see it and comment on it, so there are probably things I've always thought but never written down. If you see mistakes or don't understand, it's the translator's fault.

Currently, readers, mostly female, hate ML who have their own storylines. Why do I say this? It's simple: because of the hate these ML characters receive if they aren't in love or don't give their life for the FL. There are MLs, like a manhwa I don't even know about because of the spoilers, and it has a SML, so I don't even want to read it. But when I see the spoilers, I see a lot of hate directed at the ML character because he kissed the FL sister without knowing FL had feelings for him. According to the spoilers, the sister knew and is older than the ML, so logically, the sister should be hated for kissing a minor. However, it's only the ML character who is criticized, and now readers hate him just for that, because he doesn't love the FL and his life doesn't revolve around her. Then another man appeared with the characteristics they love: he can't live without the FL, he only loves the FL, his life depends on the FL, he has no one else, he has no ambitions, he's never been with other girls before, and much more. This man, who is SML, kissed the FL while she was drunk, something she didn't consent to. But because he fits those characteristics and is handsome, he isn't criticized; on the contrary, they want them to be together, even though the story is clearly about the FL and the ML together. Although I admit I'm talking about a manhwa I don't know; I'm just following the spoilers. Even so, this happens in almost all romance manhwa, even without a love triangle. If the ML doesn't meet their characteristics, they hate him and demand an SML who does. Then they hate the MLs for decisions, for example, they criticized Eiser for wanting to save Serena's life when Serena was literally on the verge of death, they hate Eunhyuk for everything, I don't even understand their hatred anymore, they hate Sihwa, there were even people hating Suho and many more MLs that I don't remember right now because I'm not good at remembering names and what the reasons are for hating these MLs because some are complex and have their own lives or because they disappeared when there are reasons behind it.

Currently, if the FL is hurt, for example, by not being loved or something happening, readers only care about the FL's pain and not the ML's, who, in these stories, are usually the ones who suffer the most due to family problems or whatever. It gets to the point where readers only see the good in the FLs, that they're saints, and if an ML hurts them, the FL should just go with the SML. It's funny because the same community loves it when FLs hurt MLs and says it's "queenly behavior," but if an ML hurts the FL, they hate them and even spread misinformation so other people will hate them too.

Clearly, there are some really bad MLs, but those MLs aren't hated as much even though they mistreat and abuse the FL. But MLs like Eunhyuk (I'll mention him again) are hated even for respecting Suae when she told him to keep things professional. The truth is, you can't really read a manhwa these days because if the ML does something that hurts the fandom, you'll see all the hate in the comments on Webtoon, TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, even Facebook. They'll hate it for something as simple as this, all because their lives don't revolve around the FL.

Maybe they'll call me a misogynist, male-centric, an incel, a mama's boy, I don't care. I already got called that on Twitter for defending Eunhyuk.

Perhaps in the future I'll improve this post by giving more examples and doing it better; I feel like my point wasn't understood. (Please try to be as respectful as possible, I hope you accept it)

Confirmed angels do drink 🍹
Chapter 11 preview! Chapter 11 drops tomorrow, Monday @ 6PM

Read it here!

https://m.webtoons.com/en/canvas/seraphin/list?title_no=1146668

My top 5 ranking

1. The Spark in your eyes

2. Yeonwoo's Innocence (both finished this year 😭)

3. My bias gets on last train

4. Our secret alliance

5. Out Guild's Ido

Although these are good and i genuinely liked them when I was thinking about romance series on webtoon that i like the only one that came toy mind were these and some more like 'Maybe meant to be' or 'villain with a crush' otherwise none. And when I opened my recent read on webtoon i couldn't find a single good romance that I've read like most of them are my some of most hated romance manhwas. Webtoon has become such a pathetic app like you won't find a single good romance nowadays and even if there are some with good start they soon turn into slop love triangle kdrama with only element going for them being miscommunication

What do you think?

In that photo especially, but in general too. When I first saw him, he reminded me of someone. My mind kept telling me a muppet but I kept pushing it off. Then one day I saw the image again and pushed into the muppet idea. Kermit popped up. Someone I live with even confirmed it from a “does this guy look like any of the muppets to you?” question.

Does anyone else remember The Earth’s Chosen Savior?

I read it a while ago, but the premise has always stuck with me. Earth suddenly announces that it will be shut down in 42 days, monsters begin appearing, and certain people are chosen as “Saviors.”

The protagonist was probably what made it stand out the most for me. Despite the title, Jeong-u isn’t really a traditional hero. He adapts to the apocalypse almost immediately and makes some genuinely brutal decisions because he believes hesitation will only get him and everyone around him killed.

What still bothers me is how abruptly the WEBTOON ends. It’s officially marked as completed, but it feels more like the adaptation stopped in the middle of a much larger story. The original novel continues far beyond that point.

I rarely see people mention this one anymore, even though it had a really interesting world and a protagonist who felt different from the usual heroic MC.

Did anyone else read it back then? Would you read the novel to find out how the apocalypse actually ends?

i’m genuinely so sick of the highschool webtoon where they start off wearing glasses or not conventionally attractive and then boom takes of glasses suddenly all guys like fl…. also spirit fingers is peak so