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The scene with Alex eating the cake alone in the dining room is the stand out atmospheric scene for me, really well done. And I agree, i wanted a more cohesive tie-in between the two storylines. Like Addie being the descendent of the woman in the cottage? How does that pertain to the main three today??

As a Korean/Canadian, I find that quite amusing because it is quite opposite here. Gay relationship is just absolute taboo and "danger material", almost a level of "stuff to never see a light of the world" in male dominated communities, but lesbian relationship is liked in both men or women centric communties. Hell, there is even genre term for that similar to "Yuri", which name of the genre is literally... "PuXXy rubbing"..... I was literally novelwriter in male centric webnovel platform. Literally their guide suggests "If you can't decide your character's gender+sex, go women. It never goes wrong."

Офигенное ревью. Спасибо. Насмеялся вдоволь.))

Great Covers, but your right all had to have a tragic ending. I love the cover art.

i disagree and people probably think oh well? nobody asked for your opinion on this video. but honestly all the fandom is on tt and kingdom of ash is still a thriller with tones of plot twists. you really can’t find that much to hate on it and the pros overtake the cons massively

Even though this video was made a few years ago, all the points it raises remain relevant today. When recent statistics on the most popular ships on Archive of Our Own were released, only 5 out of the top 100 were f/f pairings, with the rest being m/m or m/f (predominantly m/m). What’s even more concerning is that of those 5 f/f ships, only 1 or 2 are prominently featured in fanfictions, while the others are often relegated to the background in fics centered around m/m pairings. When users on Twitter raised concerns about this issue, fujoshis frequently responded with comments like 'if you're so mad about it, then start writing your own fics,' completely ignoring the underlying problems of blatant misogyny and the fetishization of mlm relationships in fandom spaces. Instead of engaging in a meaningful discussion, they dismissed the critique and perpetuated the harmful dynamics that were being called out. Thank you for making this video, it really helped me understand the reasons why so many prefer mlm over wlw.

I think you’re reading too much into this lol .. gay male relationships get more attention because females are the main consumers of media of any type and most females have an attraction to men whether exclusive or partial so of course they’re gonna be more interested in a relationship they can identify with because they’re somewhat attracted to the characters. Maybe some of that is misogyny but like 3% of the reason?

As a certified homosexual, I have found the reaction of women to be more.... Uncomfortable than that of men. As in, the reaction of that *certain group* of women who want you to be their "Gay Bestie" and want to set me up with utter randos I neither care for nor really care for me. It's weird.

ultimately i think this has more to do with the fact that most fandom is generally comprised of straight women. at least the creative side that writes fanfics or makes art is. these straight women are attracted to gay ships because they are, at their core, attracted to one or both of the characters because they are straight women. its not that different to how straight men watching lesbian porn. their interest lies solely in what they are attracted to. why observe straight romance as a straight person and only be romantically and sexually interested in one of them when you can observe a queer romance where your romantically and sexually interested in both? its not actually its queerness that attracts these people, and that's what leads to the problem. their interest lies in straight people experimenting in same sex attraction as taboo. i would know, i was involved in the heartstopper fandom both before and after the show came out, and i can tell you this seems to be the case.

There’s a pair of characters that I really love that are canonically very autism-coded, which is universally accepted in fanon, whom I personally headcanon as being ace, possibly aro. A decent number of the fandom does as well, though these characters also have a number of popular ships (including, upsettingly, with each other - they’re identical twins 😖). But they are also canonically very sociable people. They work customer service, for crying out loud! So it was very interesting to me that most of those ace/autistic headcanon characters were written as being very coldly intellectual, because that’s not these two characters at all.

why did you leave?

I think for most people who are frequent readers/watchers of Yuri manga/anime, you get a bit desensitized to the weird dynamics they show with these relationships. Specifically, the predatory aspects of them. Because the bar is so exceedingly low with how they display Yuri relationships (or relationships in general) in Japanese manga, and you are constantly scrounging for crumbs for ones that have decent characters and writing, you ignore these problematic behaviors they showcase between the characters. I was surprised that the thing you found weird was the “not relationship” as opposed to Touko taking advantage of Yuu at certain points. While the “not relationship” was a consensual thing, Touko often put Yuu in uncomfortable situations, sometimes ignoring Yuu’s feelings. Showing a consensual “friends with benefits” type thing was pretty refreshing to see in a manga. But they just had to have some weird scenes where Touko tries to convince Yuu to do things she’s uncomfortable with. But then again, these aren’t perfect characters. And the story is very interesting, and talks about a lot of things that most manga/anime don’t talk about in regards to sexuality, relationships, and love.

I wanted to like it so bad but Nanami was so predatory and manipulative to Yuu just to earn her affections. She kept pushing Yuu into a corner, pressuring her, engaging in social tactics so that Yuu's guards will drop. Needless to say I didn't lasted until episode 4. It was mega weird. I had to watch Portrait of a Lady on Fire again just to wash this predatory image of lesbian romance out of my mind 😭

I personally think it’s way overrated. Not bad just not amazing like people seem to think it is. “How do we relationship” despite the awful name is a much better lesbian romance manga imo. It has its flaws but the characters feel way more grounded and complicated in a way that feels closer to real. Also written by a lesbian from what I’ve heard so that probably helps.

One of the two most famous BL novels (The Untamed and Husky And His White Cat) in the world was written by women and was loved by people all over the world. But somehow when it comes to writing two gay men have sex with each other, they suck at it. It clearly shows that they don't know what is sex like between two men (I read some of the sex scenes in the book and it makes me cringe so hard). But the love story is on point and the plot is chef kiss.

The whole queer/trans thing is just a heterosexual appropriation of same-sex attraction.

This book is extremely boring!😅😂😂

the way I just finished reading this and had a hard time explaining why I hated it but you just listed absolutely everything about it Especially trying to do so much. I would’ve loved it we focused on Audrey and had some sort of tie in with the past or something; Merrill was insufferable to me the entire time and the “reveal” of the past was such a let down I found myself speed reading to just get it over with. Such a disappointment

It got popular because it’s like a re-branding of the genre from the previous Yuri titles for the anime audience. A lot of the new titles seem to be doing this re-branding and keeping the less marketable elements in manga form. It also helps Bloom being about an asexual/demi experience. It’s an interesting experience for viewers/readers who haven’t seen a story like that before.

I downloaded a reading spreadsheet where you input the data of a book, including the identity of the author (race, sexuality etc) and own voices: I struggle with this bc never before have I really tried to stalk authors and find out their identities before! It feels uncomfortable for me to judge for myself how I should label the author if they havent discussed it online. I also feel uncomfortable putting no to own voices bc it feels like im saying the book is invalid. find this topic so interesting. I agree with you. I think the term can be helpful to find books by diverse authors with representations of themes based on lived experience. But it shouldn't be used as a metric to judge all books on. Being a reader is reflecting on the book, including representations and that can be discussed in a respectful forum. But Own voices can encourage the reader to assess the VALIDIRY of a character based on THEIR own experiences and EXPECT accurate representation of themself. An author cannot represent every person of a certain identity in a book, even if they tried. If we use ownvoices as a metric go judge every book, its impossible. What about an MC with an identity only partialy based on the author? How do we know for certain an author's sexuality when they dont want to disclose it? What about an MC based on a close family member who was involved in the writing of the book and as a sensitivity reader? How do we champion diversity if every book cant have a character that isnt the exact same as the author? Do we require minorities to always write about their identity? An author may not want their race to be a defining characteristic of themself and their work. It's so nuanced that it's hard to label a book as #ownvoices. It should be used by the author to describe a book heavily based on their own experiences. And perhaps ised as a starting point for finding lists of books on a theme. Readers should be careful to question the identity of the author and assessing the experience of the author. That belongs to the author alone. Expecting every book to be ownvoices requires every author of a minority identity to be an activist. Not everyone wants to do that.

the fandoms I'm currently in are all pretty open to aspec hc from my experience, thankfully (mcyt, warrior cats, one piece)

As a gay dude on the one hand I think it's really cool that women have a way of exploring their sexualities or romantic interests without the oppressive and like omnipresent chauvinism and bodily/sexual alienation they're subjected to in patriarchal society but on the other hand when a majority of 'MLM' media is so utterly divorced from my own interests or sensibilities or my experience of my own sexuality it can be pretty alienating. Though I mean lesbians re 'lesbian porn' have my sense of alienation beat on that count, by far, it's still just kind of weird lol. On the rare occasion that something actually has crossover appeal for both girls and gays I'll be pretty elated to feel like I actually have some space I want to occupy there, but on the whole it does seem to be comparatively rare.

i’m a year late but THANK YOU! i’m glad someone understands. grace is, and has always been, a victim. also, love from a fellow aussie. i’ve just subscribed

Bang on, repetitive and stakes weren't high enough as no main character is ever in any real danger since they never incur any actual reprocussions for their major actions..plot armour thicker than a bowl of oatmeal

I just finished the anime to that book series and I wasnt sure how to feel about it either. It also doesnt really have a conclusion. Does Touko figure out if she can love herself? Dunno. Maybe? Not? What I didnt like was how the show dragged things out sometimes. In one episode they "overcome" a problem with such certainty and in the next its like that moment never happened. It started to bore me a bit to be honest. While I know that finding yourself isnt always easy, for the sake of the show they couldve explored it without nullifying what has happened before. Well, Ill give it Dunno/5 Stars

My absolute favorite yuri of all time is called “She loves to cook, and she loves to eat” aka Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna. It has a j-drama adaptation that had me smiling ear to ear throughout the whole thing. Such a beautiful portrayal of lesbian self acceptance imo. It’s gotten renewed for a second season which is coming out january 29th. I also adore the fact that it is about adults rather than high schoolers, for a nice change. Don’t be discouraged from checking out other yuri, I think some of the mainstream ones are quite lacking, but there are plenty of beautiful stories written by japanese women about sapphic relationships that are amazing.

I really wish I had watched this before buying this for my niece. Oh well, I guess she can always take it back… The beauty of fascism, oh, I mean, Amazon.

If I can just share my perspective on this as a gay guy for a moment, a big part of this that really annoys me is the fact that the majority of M/M romance stuff feels like it's directed towards women, and usually is also written by women. It's really hard to find something I can actually relate to just because I don't fit into the perfect little wholesome stereotype that's deemed acceptable by these stories.

It’s a bit iffy, but I think yuu is a good representation of someone on the aromatic/aroace spectrum and as a aroace spec person i related to her a lot wanting to fall in love and enjoying romantic things but not really the person, even if she started to like her at the end she doesn’t feel the way society expects her too. Reminds me of a queer platonic relationship even if it was handled weird at times

thank youuuu i felt like i was crazy for being the only one to notice all this

I love your video sm❤

3 gender 😅😂😂😂

If I recall correctly, Touko confessing to Yuu doesn't happen out of nowhere, it's precisely because Yuu told her she can't fall in love. Now, there's two sides to Touko's view of love. One is the standards thing as you mentioned, which is, to my knowledge, pretty fleshed out in the manga. Her older sister presented herself as a model student, and when she died, Touko thought she had to pick up the banner and what's more, she got praise for being just like her sister. So this just reinforced this notion that you can be loved only if you live up to someone else's high standards. So there's a question "what if I change? will people love me the same?" The second thing is, which kinda stems from the first one, because Touko doesn't actually love, but hates herself (because in her view, she's nobody and can receive praise and love only in as much as she's a reflection of her late sister), she can't accept someone loving the real her. And why is that? Well she told Yuu "Please don't fall in love with me. Because how can I love someone who loves something I hate.". Also, it's the fear of change and thus being unworthy of love that she doesn't want to be loved by Yuu. If Yuu accepts her but doesn't love her, she doesn't have to be worried about changing, she will not be burdened by the standard and expectation placed on her by Yuu's love. And then the story revolves around Touko coming to terms that she can find her own excellence and follow her own interests, that she doesn't have to be a carbon copy of her sister, that she's worthy of love and around Yuu growing to understand what love actually is, that it's not just this fluffy feeling you get in your stomach, but that it's giving your everything to the one you love, and growing to be courageous enough to express this love, no matter the cost. It's not that complicated, but there's many layers to stuff so that makes it a little bit difficult to piece together. EDIT: And yeah, I mean, those girls "need therapy". That's the point. They're flawed and they overcame their flaws together. There is something to be said about the relationship between love and expectations. This will sound mundane, but there needs to be a balancing act between the two extremes: 1. If our expectations are high, we won't find it in ourselves to ever love anyone 2. but if we don't have any expectations, can we actually claim that someone is truly special to us? it would seem the person could be replaced on a whim because we don't have any expectations or standards which makes all people the same to us, and thus nobody can be special by definition. or they could change into a horrible criminal, but we would still love them? so the balancing act is finding the right standard by which we allow ourselves to fall in love.

I’m reading through this (just read through the date) and I’m feeling a lot of what you’re saying. The modern story DRAGS and it feels like nothing has happened in 250ish pages. I can’t decide if I wanna DNF or suffer through since I’ve read so much.

This problem won't be solved until women stop making excuses and just loudly yell "Gay men make me horny!". It isn't about how many women are in media, it isn't about how women are told sex is bad, it isn't about feminism or patriarchy. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If straight men into lesbians is wrong, then so is straight women into gay men is wrong. That's it. As a gay man, who constantly tries to find books and media that are salient for my life, and finding virtually nothing, I'm tired of women messing things up for me, and then pointing their fingers at men. Have some personal responsibility and accountability.

It's such a tricky thing. My novels are about disability and there's so much misunderstanding and awful use of disability in novels from authors who don't know anythinga bout the experience (and celebrated for it, I'm looking at you A Little Life). But then there's also such a wide variety of disabled experience. I've had a critique on my book saying a character wasn't realistic because he could do things that she could not, which was a very strange thing to say and the character's abilities are based on a real person.

God forbid a gay romance has conflict

5:42

OMG I agree with everything you said. Now that I trust you, what fantasy series do you recommend?

Im years late to this video, but im about 300 pages into Kingdom of Ash and its already too long. I have had such a love/hate relationship with this series. I did the romantic order when i read the series: tog, com, hof, tab, qos, tod and eos (tandem), then finally Koa. Honesty the first 3 books were just ok for me. I actually loved assassin's blade, mostly because of Sam. The only part i liked about queen of shadows was the revenge on arobynn for Sam, other than that it was ok. I attempted a tandem read with empire of storms and tower of dawn. I ended up dnfing empire of storms. But i loved tower of dawn. Ive always loved chaol and i dont understand the hate he gets. But i loved his whole healing story. Im reading kingdom of ash because i feel like i have to finish it. I like parts of it so far. But i agree, there are way too many povs. I skimmed a few pages here and there, but im determined to finish the damn series. 🤣

this all we got bro

I assume you’ve read Iron Heart now.. how are you thinking now?

I love reading saaphic books it helps me accept my sexual identity as a lesbian

dream lover 😍

Thank you for this review! You echo my sentiments exactly! Also, I’m personally very confused about the ending of this book. I’m not exactly clear on why the haunting is happening and what exactly the Verrett’s motivations are behind such an elaborate scheme? Does the family hate lesbians because the two women left for America to raise Simone? Are they enacting revenge for Simone’s death? Who or what is the force behind the present day haunting? Did Libbie actually survive and if so, why not go back and save her daughter? It’s all very muddled and I’ve been unable to find good answers to these questions. I almost wish I could read a sequel

Shouldnt have caved

Giod point its out there yall just be looking at big names to do shit even if its out there

as someone who absolutely loves Bloom into you. i noticed u forgot to mention why Touko needed to act like her sister. Touko was basically forced to be like her sister because everyone around her only wanted her sister, they wanted her to become her sister because she was more important to everyone than Touko. she didn't choose it she was forced to become her. this affects everything in the story and is the reason why Touko has such a skewed view of how love works. she lost herself because everyone wanted her sister not her. Bloom into You is absolutely fucked, gross, and beautiful piece of media. in my opinion the best piece of media ever created. it is so emotional and so well written. it hooks u in with the characters and story. i know for a fact that it has made people realize their sexuality and helped people understand some of their struggles. i just now realize how much i relate to Maki. im aro/ace and i love reading and watching romance stuff but even before i realized that im aro/ace i never wanted to be in a similar situation. i hope more people would find this masterpiece.

I want to have a talk with the person who wrote this book to know what the heck was going inside her head, like, did she wrote it that way because of the way she was educated or because it was the 50s and she couldn't write it in another way.

The certainly applies now, because ever since Honkai star rail came out it’s been nothing but MLM even though there is a canon lesbian relationship and a canon bisexual female character and yet the mlm romances continue to get attention. It’s frustrating how WLW will get overlooked in favor of MLM.