Ineptitude, stupidity, purity, embarrasment, industriousness and engagement.
I think I've sort of figured out why I dislike pretty much all of Yoshida Yuuko's characters, despite them sharing some character flaws with similar characters that I've liked. Her seme's all fluctuate between being manipulative assholes and sincere nice guys, all the whilst constantly tired of the endless vicissitudes of life to give pithy one liners that is supposed to presumably show depth of character. Her uke's are all useless and stupid (though, to be perfectly fair, one of the characters outrights says it. still, lampshading doesn't make it better.) In fact, some are stupid to the point of willful ignorance, all the whilst exuding an obvious kind of purity that is supposed to make the reader sympathize with them, bringing out protective instincts we all have. They have the opposite effect on me, because a lot of their misfortunes are brought onto themselves, through the lack of any action on their part, through letting themselves become so passive that they end up having less character than my desk lamp. There is no real decision making on their part, they don't grow as characters, they don't learn and realize the effort the world requires you to make, they are utterly incapable of communicating their feelings, they are leaves in the wind with no agency of their own -- and somehow, in the manga, it's written off as fine. There'll be someone to take care of them in the end -- the seme who eventually falls in love with the uke's purity.
All these things are wrapped in these dark art-house scenes where it comes off like an exploration into the human condition, Wes Anderson style.
So fukken stupid man. Inept characters are fine, stupid characters are fine, pure characters are fine, but without agency, I may as well be reading about a pretty wooden block for all that I care. Bleh. I wouldn't be so annoyed if it didn't feel somehow insidious tbh. It's not that there's a lack of shitty BL manga floating around, but this mangaka has real talent for sort of touching on really interesting things about the human condition, but her stories either miss the mark by just that much or so completely you're kind of left wondering just what she's trying to achieve.
All these things are wrapped in these dark art-house scenes where it comes off like an exploration into the human condition, Wes Anderson style.
So fukken stupid man. Inept characters are fine, stupid characters are fine, pure characters are fine, but without agency, I may as well be reading about a pretty wooden block for all that I care. Bleh. I wouldn't be so annoyed if it didn't feel somehow insidious tbh. It's not that there's a lack of shitty BL manga floating around, but this mangaka has real talent for sort of touching on really interesting things about the human condition, but her stories either miss the mark by just that much or so completely you're kind of left wondering just what she's trying to achieve.