manicrush

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About

# What I like: GL, yuri, joseimuke, seinen, psychological, thriller, sports [especially volleyball], femdom [not all], body swapping, twins, sibling rivalry, [gender] role reversal, whipped puppy mls, tall cool girl x short androgynous boy, extrovert x extrovert, androgynous characters, lgbtq characters, manipulative characters, some yandere characters, blunt or rude female characters, morally grey characters and anti-villains.

# What I'm picky about: Shounen, shoujo, and BL since they're oversaturated and often predictable and formulaic, their markets run on a "quantity over quality" approach/logic. Sometimes I can make an exception and enjoy a clichéd story if the characters are well-written (e.g. Blue Lock).

# What I don't like: iyashikei, cooking stories, isekai, harem, ecchi, hentai, porn without plot (PWP), "water bottle-sized penis = enjoyable sex" trope, girls fighting over a guy, yangire/black flags, ero guro, shock value gore/violence, police procedural/detective, wrestling, martial arts, adventure, self-insert MCs, otaku nerd character, "victim forgives stalker/molester/etc. easily" trope, "mentally ill = violent and crazy", and oversexualized/sidelined/damsel in distress female characters (no equality in respect and importance for female characters like their male counterparts is a big no).

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Twitter/X account: @fitjimin (previously was @minsapphic but got suspended)

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__In my standards (long ass rant warning!!):
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Online buzz (including hate) ≠ well-known or successful irl. Success is measured by sales, views, and worldwide acclaim, not by posts and illegal viewing on virus-infested sites. Anyone can spam or fake these.

Well-known or established anime or manga ≠ peak cinema or a masterpiece.

"X is so popular/overhyped it's trash" you could say this about literally any product or output, so this line of argument doesn't make it true. Many times, failure to understand why something is hyped in the first place just means you aren't the intended target audience, so you view it snobbily because you don't understand the appeal or haven't even given it a proper chance beyond superficial knowledge.

Obscure/lesser-known work or one that has a smaller fanbase ≠ [inherently] superior. They can either be hidden gems or germs that should stay hidden, though.

"The same [shounen] premise but women" ≠ guarantee good writing or handling of female characters. This depends entirely on the talent of the creator, the artistic freedom, lack of editorial pressure or meddling, and the demand. Many pre-existing animanga and manhwa were female centric but still had the same complaint of them being sexualized, or flat and basic personalities and feats. Instead of reading something that's written for men's enjoyment, something that doesn't target progressive and feminist female audiences, how about viewing and reading something that actually targets you and women? Life would be much easier if yall grasped that shounen always targets young male audiences and switched to genres and markets with female entertainment and preferences in mind!

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Big, divided fandom ≠ the subject, creator, themes, or content is terrible and "overrated." Separate the three (but it could depend because some creators can be bigoted, messy, subtly encourage it if they have online platforms, or downright unpleasant with weird fantasies). Remember (me as well), a lot of fandoms are from different countries and cultures coexisting together with differing priorities and values.

Commercialized, trendy formulas and genres won't fully satisfy everyone and will pale in comparison to their predecessors or those who popularized them since the animanga industry is oversaturated with the great, good, average, bad, and awful. Same as the Kpop market, same as the video games market, same as the American pop market, and so on. Overconsumption and consumerism go brrr.

Underappreciated (or not talked about actively in recent years) ≠ underrated [aka not rated highly enough; this is subjective] or unrecognized. If it had even 50k views or sales somewhere with records and numbers as solid proof at a point in time, then it was known and hyped during that era, but it's just not as relevant anymore and it failed to keep up, got overshadowed by more mainstream releases or had strong competitors in an oversaturated industry, or it simply wasn't worth it to begin with. Just bc you didn't witness it, doesn't mean it's an all-time forgotten flop. (examples: Seraph of the End had 13 million print copies in 2021 and 1M views on YT clips 7 or so years ago. It just had Attack on Titan as competition and the demand decreased after the anime ended with the fandom going mainly inactive.)

Cult classics (of ~2015 and prior) are best enjoyed as... iconic cult classics. No need to bring everything back. No need for 12 modern adaptations/reboots/LA movies and whatnot. Universal cultural values dissonance and social change, competitiveness, and audiences' nitpicking won't guarantee that the work will be well-received, have the same essence and execution as originally, or be well-accepted with its themes nowadays. No, Ouran High School Host Club doesn't need a remake, no Utena doesn't either. Some things were fair for their day and aren't progressive or timeless now plus they just can't be replicated easily with the same impact and essence. Respectfully, let it go or just go rewatch and make fan content, girl. That's the point of fandoms. Support the creators and authors of these classics in branching out and in their latest creative outputs. ("Needing" implies that the source material wasn't enough, btw).

Don't go read or view a manga or animation written by a traditional, heterosexual Japanese guy for a traditional, heterosexual young male audience expecting it to be LGBTQ friendly, representative, or give visibility to minorities. Sorry, but many of you are like Western tourists looking at Eastern art in a museum and thinking, very Anglocentrically and in a Westernized lens, "it represents me and my values obviously. This piece of work with differing values and themes is clearly catering for everyone!1!!" YOU are not the primary target audience and you're completely misaimed. Discarding and undervaluing the generally conservative Japanese culture, customs, societal norms, themes, and characteristics that permeate their content IS your mistake from the beginning. Many of these creators try to push against limitations to add LGBTQ characters even as background characters or try to release and license LGBTQ-centered media but yall would rather self-project and hallucinate the yaoi, LGBTQ, etc. narratives between the two males who have distinct female love interests, womanizers or have the most macho hypermasculinity in straight fiction. Look up, support, appreciate, buy, and hype fiction that's marketed and intended as queer media with queer themes and exploration instead of harassing these overworked and stressed creators. Yall don't give media labelled clearly as BL, GL, Shounen ai and Shoujo ai the same attention and push for them to be more mainstream then wonder why they're underrepresented. You're looking in all the wrong places by reading outside of your demographic and genres; that's why.

If you want respectful black characters, blasians, bipoc, and queer themes read more OELs and English webtoons

Attack on Titan will never be overrated or overhyped, sure it has its flaws, but the lack of sexism + stereotyping + objectification + with the realistic depiction of war and depth of thecharacters will always make it a top 5. It's for the history books 20 years from now.

Not everyone can be called an author or a creator, as not everyone who holds a brush automatically becomes a painter; the creative vision and original worldbuilding are lacking in many, but that doesn't justify blatant harassment or entitlement on their social accs or in fan meetings. Just drop it and move on to something else.

The same but salvaged by great lore, themes, and/or worldbuilding = automatically minus 4 points with skipping or watching it off edits.

Repackaged rose-tinted male fantasies aimed at impressionable young female audiences are on thin ice, depending and the lore, execution/interesting takes on female characters, and art style (True Beauty and OTL are big no).

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Seinen or graphic and gory ≠ superior. Yes, Tokyo Ghoul is great. No, the excessive torture he want through wasn't wholly needed for him to develop and mature. No, the tragically gory aspects don't make it "tuffer" than shounen. No need to act like a snob or elitist. TG isn't great because it's hardcore, it's great because the characters' writing and twists are good.

Overt fanservice, power or revenge fantasies, fetishized minors, incest as a fetish or an option, "waifu" bait, and childlike/babyish-looking adults, "she's actually 9000 yo in the body of a—" = not viewing or dropping immediately. HARD NO. -1000 Example: Fire Force, isekai harem

Female fanservice + "prized possession with little individuality, agency, screentime or are underutilized" handling of female [and sometimes male] characters = dropping or not picking up under further inspection.

The same, but it's not overdone or doesn't take away from the overall plot or can be overlooked/skipped PLUS it has great lore, worldbuilding and flavor in female characters = automatically minus 3 but will still view critically to see if it's worth the pain.

Ecchi: not viewing or reading any more than I've done in the past. Big mistake and honestly cringeworthy.
Isekai/harem: not viewing or reading anything after Saekano.