Comment by komaiwa232 on Her

@Her Okay, I gotta say I was NOT expecting a whole thesis but I'm actually here for it You really came with receipts.

A few things that stuck with me:

1. The 'happy ending doesn't erase the trauma' point YES. That's exactly what bothers me about some of these stories. You spend 100+ chapters watching characters go through h*l, and then the last 3 panels are them holding hands in a flower field like nothing happened? It feels like the author got tired and just wrapped it up. Either commit to the darkness or earn the healing.

2. I respect that you brought up the q*er perspective too. I never really thought about it that way like, why would you want to see your own identity filtered through someone else's lens when there are creators who actually live it? That makes total sense.

3. Also, the fact that you actually linked resources and have a whole list ready? You're not playing about this LMAOO. I'm saving this for when I actually want to read something that won't piss me off.

I haven't read half of these but I've seen Killing Stalking discussed to death I respect that you put it in 'well-written' not 'romanticize.' That distinction matters.

Question though out of ALL these, if you had to pick ONE that you think handled everything perfectly (or as close as possible), which one would it be? I'm curious."

2 Replies

Her·2 months ago(edited)

@komaiwa232

If you would have the patience to read all of them, I would applaud you. Lmaooo
If you don't want to read some comments,
I can delete it :d

I agree with your first comment.I'm sick of this disgusting mindset in general. That's why I prefer talking to critical readers.

*If we're talking about fiction that portrays relationships and sexuality between two men, genres such as bara (ML) and gei komi, for example, tend to be more realistic because they are often created by gay men.However, they can still contain instances of abuse, r*pe, and the idealization of certain aspects of unhealthy relationships.
*Even if some people engage in these things in real life, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, preferences, or roles, people can still take things way too far when it comes to fiction.*
Speaking for myself, sometimes I have a hard time taking comics as an art form seriously. Even though film and comics are two different art forms, I usually look for realism.I can't help it, but sometimes I find comics a bit childish, aside from certain exceptional works, such as Monster and Psycho-Pass. I'm a film person anyway.

As for the second point, yes, I prefer fiction written by queer adult women. It’s also easier to find that kind of representation in lesbian films. As a recommendation, Queerr Comics Database seems more reliable to me. I found and saved the other links while browsing Reddit. To be honest, I’m not a yaoi addict. If I were, I’d probably be able to give you a much more detailed explanation. I just told you what I personally pay attention to when I read. So don’t expect too much from me—I forgot to mention that lol. You can swear at me now.

Her·2 months ago(edited)

@komaiwa232

I didn’t read the entire Killing Stalking analysis because I was a teenager with a short attention span and got bored easily.I had already read the highlighted/important parts before, and even now I still haven’t finished the whole thing. *Yep, not romanticization.

As I mentioned before,I find it difficult to find a work that meets all of the criteria I mentioned.There’s always something missing.So I’m going to recommend three works.

Psychological thriller + more realistic queerr characters/crime: Saezuru Tori wa Habatakenai

*I don’t remember ever finding healthy, realistic queerr representation in stories with dark themes.
After all, even these kinds of stories can have healthy characters too.I’m definitely not the most knowledgeable person on this topic,though.I’m sure there are readers who know much more about it.

Healthy + realistic queerr characters:

Until I Meet My Husband — The author is a gay activist.
The work was originally published in Japan as Nanasaki’s memoir/essays.The author also has an autobiographical book.The manga is essentially a real queerr life story adapted into manga form, with some romanticization added to it.

2.The Most Ordinary Relationship

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