#seme like uke

[hibonbl-scans]

IrTOSHISHITA NO OTOKONOKO - CAPITULO 3

Sheeeeeesh 🍆🥵 Ya subido en el blog!

#Toshishita no Otokonoko #Toriyoshi #bl manga #yaoi #Younger seme #Older uke #Seme like uke #Uke like seme #bl recommendation #yaoi recommendation #Yaoi hard

[beybuniki]

Any bkdk Valentine art?:)

gay chicken

#i want to be petty but this ask is worded nicely :) and its valentines day so here you go #10k likes and i'll draw the part where bakugo chickens out #this is actually so good for a 1 min sketch #bnha #bakudeku #dekubaku #bkdk #yaoi #seme x uke #valentines day #asks

[jessaerys]

sun visits the moon at spk headquarters and gets so so so sleepy

#death note #my art #meronia #mihael keehl #nate river #mello dn #near dn #mellonear #trying out this new thing where i post quick art that is entirely for my own self-indulgent amusement here #this was an exercise in letting go of a piece as soon as possible and you can tell i failed because i couldn't stop retouching it #here and there. OLD HABITS DIE HARD but [with passion and confidence] expect a drop in quality/finishedness #kind of very into the colors here i like exaggerating their colors and saturations. their sun and moon codedness compels me #i also think people aren't as much into this ship because they assume they have very rigid [pardon my language] seme/uke roles and i'm like #[standing on soapbox] [crazy ex gf voice] the situation is actually a lot more nuanced than that #but these tags are long and i can't get into the push and pull power dynamics of it all. mello can heel is all i'm saying #ok that's all i have work to get back to drawing for work ( <- girl who just took a two hour break from drawing to draw) #brothercrush.txt

[skrunksthatwunk]

the debate continues (pt 1) but kurama gets called in

bonus under the cut (ft hiei):

gay people

#can you tell i'm much more used to drawing hiei and kurama? lol. i just love their hair sm like.. mwah #anyway idek if this is funny but here's more of it ig #also i just typed 90s yaoi cover into google so i know nothing about that image or its source material so like. open to fun facts ig #yyh #yu yu hakusho #kuwameshi #kazuma kuwabara #kurama #shuichi minamino #hiei #anyway kuwameshi bi4bi moment and i think about the discovery of that a lot. also yusuke's nb to me so im picturing another side of this #where yusuke's like oh man... maybe i AM the girl??? but for gender reasons and not like. relationship dynamic or uke/seme reasons or whatv #also poor kuwabara. that's not going to help you very much i think. he's gonna believe in the yaoi hole :( #skrunkart #thinking about how kurama uses telepathy when he's first introduced and kind of never again after that?? anyway that's what going on in tha #hiei extra fyi #kuwabara kazuma #minamino shuichi #idkkkkk #hoorayy anyway so like. yusuke and kuwabara here like each other so much but don't know what that makes them (bi in this case) bc of the #past interest in girls. like they both have been into girls but they feel so strongly about each other they can't just ignore it. so they'r #like shit i guess we're gay now. and that doesnt fit right but what else could it be? and also they have like zero accurate knowledge of #queer people and queerness. very 'completely trusts an am i gay quiz' moment to me #they don't know where to look besides yaoi and that's Not For Them so that doesn't work. confusing times for kuwameshi i spose #plus kuwabara spirit sensitivity = gaydar in this case #a little tiny tiny kurahi in there. to me :)

[oceanwithouthermoon]

ive come to realise that i dont actually hate kubokai, i just hate the way people write them

#sorry i read like two cute in character kubokai fics and im enjoying it now #theyre cute and im a closeted shun kinnie so. obviously i will ship him with my crush from the show. #i just really really REALLY hate the super cliche seme uke dynamic people usually give them #those people have NEVER watched the show.. my boy shun is NOT like that #its sooo stereotypical and they obviously give shun the role of 'the girl' in the relationship which is. um. ew #'shun is so fragile and innocent and uwu and he needs big strong aren around at all times to coddle him' #'and aren has a soft spot for shun and shun only and only shun can stop him from being totally murderous and dumb' #do yall know that one scene from the kissing booth #where elle is like 'NOAH! LOOK AT ME! THIS ISNT YOU! LOOK AT ME' when hes about to beat the shit outta his brother #thats how kubokai gets written usually #'aren pwease nevew fight again🥺pwease? fow me?' #me reading anything kaido says in most fics: HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT #sorry #people can write whatever they want its just. so ooc. #canon them is soooo bromance core #im sorry idk why im posting negative shit again when i like JUST said i wasnt going to do this anymore LMAO #not a callout post about anyone on here obvi- actually reading more recent fics from people on here is whats gotten me more into them #saiki k #tdlosk #the disastrous life of saiki k. #kuboyasu aren #kaido shun #kubokai #meows post

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

I will always argue that Vox and Valentino are both verses that choose to play top/bottom parts when they feel like it, because strict binary division in that matter always gives me heebie jeebies.

I see what your doing here, trying to introduce heteronormative dynamics into my queer ship

#especially when the thought process goes like #val wears a dress so he's a bottom #but honestly every top/bottom discourse drives me bananas #just go back to seme/uke yaoi world where you belong #hazbin hotel #vox #valentino #voxval #vox hazbin #valentino hazbin hotel #staticmoth

[absolutebl]

hey, do you know of any BL-s similar to A boss and a Babe? I don't mean plot wise or setting but a bl with a similar uke (Cher). I feel like I haven't seen much or at all BL-s with an uke that's such a crackhead, so vital, positive, non dramatic, up for anything, vocal about feelings and love, the one who also kinda pursues when it's needed, that pushes boundaries etc etc

Huh, you mean like a GGG uke? (good giving game)

There are LOTS of crackheads... seek ye Japan. But that goes real fast into cringe, like Secret Crush On You.

The GGG part is where we fall down. This is a very new take on the archetype. Also non-dramatic, I mean it's a BL drama so dramatic is kinda the point.

I'll take a stab!

crackhead

vital & positive (sunshine)

pursues when it's needed (switchy)

non dramatic (good)

vocal about feelings and love (giving)

up for anything, pushes boundaries (game)

Fits all 6 criteria (but in their own countries' style):

All the Liquors (Korea)

Mr Heart (Korea)

Ocean Likes Me (Korea)

Be Loved In House I Do (Taiwan)

Love Sick (Thailand - bet you didn't see that one coming)

And now some that do their best satisfying 4 ore more of the above requirements.

Thailand

Everyone is just really dramatic in Thai BL.

Coffee Melody (sides 1,2,4,5,6)

Ghost Host, Ghost House (2,3,4,5,6)

Great Men Academy (if you count it 2,2,3,6)

Ingredients (2,3,4,5,6)

KinnPorsche (1,2,3,5,6)

Love By Chance 2 (1,2,5,6)

Love In the Air (PayuRain 1,2,5,6)

Love in Translation (2,3,5,6)

Make A Wish (1,2,3,5,6)

My School President (2,3,5,6)

My Tee (1,2,3,5,6)

Secret Crush On You (1,2,3,5,6)

Why R U? (2nd couple 1,2,3,5,6)

Taiwan

Seme/uke is always weak, queerness is more authentic so roles less prescribed and campy

DNA Says Love You (sides 1,2,3,6)

Kiseki Dear to Me (sides 1,2,3,6)

Stay By My Side (1,2,35,6)

Korea

Seme/uke is pretty weak, little to no crackhead, and everything will be more reserved and muted.

Some More (2,3,4,5,6)

The Eighth Sense (2,3,4,5,6)

Behind Cut (2,4,6)

Jun & Jun (2,4,5,6)

Long Time No See (2,3,4,5,6) but also LIES

Our Boarding House (2,3,4,6)

Oh My Assistant (1,2,3,6)

Tasty Florida (2,3,4,5,6)

The Lover (2,3,4,6)

Tinted With You (2,3,4,6)

Unintentional Love Story (2,3,4,5,6)

Why R U? (2nd couple 1,2,5,6)

Japan

But the ones it does have it REALLY leans into.

Seven Days (2,3,4,5)

If It's With You (2,3,4,5,6)

Restart After Come Back Home (2,4,5,6)

Silhouette of Your Voice (1,2,4,6)

Takara & Amagi (1,2,3,5)

My Memory is shot but???

Like Love from China might work.

Most stuff from the Philippines first some if not all.

Vietnam's My Lascivious Boss and You Are My Boy satisfy soem criteria.

Might also be worth reading

List dated Mid Dec 2023, ongoing BLs not included. If it aired after that date you should add it to the comments or something.

#thai bl #a boss and a babe #gmmth #spirited uke #ggg uke characters #crackhead BL #sunshine uke #weak seme/uke #Thai BL #Japanese BL #Korean BL #Bl suggestions #Bl recommendations #Vietnamese BL #Taiwanese BL #All the Liquors #Love Sick #Be Loved In House I Do #Ocean Likes Me #Mr Heart

[danothan]

everyday i log onto the internet i am forced to fisticuffs combat the halbarry default yaoi allegations. THEY’RE NOT A BASIC BRUNETTE/BLONDE JOCK/NERD DYNAMIC THEY’RE MORE THAN THAT (coping)

#i can’t talk to certain dc fans some of them are too immersed in fan conversation that they lose their fresh perspective #yk krillers doesn’t know anything abt superheroes and actually told me that they thought halbarry were the opposite #bc hal’s got that plane autism and barry is basically a track star #and i think that is far more enlightened than some of the stuff i see in my peripherals #but they can’t be reduced to fanfic tropes like that either way… they are special… TO ME #it’s just wild to me that i’ll see 2013-style yaoi fanart in 2023 #they’re not twinks!!! they’re not twinks and they’re not seme/uke substitutes!!! #i think a good rule of thumb is that most of their dynamic goes both ways #<- not referring to seme/uke but that too ig (does not know which word means what) #but you’ll especially notice this in older vs newer iterations of their relationship #does ‘i won’t let you get lost to the speedforce. don’t let me get lost in the stars’ mean NOTHING to you ?! #they’ve done it all! #older hal used to be the one to reach out and bridge their early friendship while barry was the stick in the mud #and newer hal struggles to adapt to barry’s way of friendship while barry is the one to usually initiate their bonding #also i love hal annoying barry bc that is honest to god his love language #but i never see the reverse in fanworks? #ig bc barry’s way of being annoying is more understated but it’s still pretty egregious #hal is annoying bc he likes attention barry is annoying bc he likes to see hal’s reaction #thank god they have each other so they can (relatively) contain their annoyingness to themselves 💚 #except the pda is rly just shameless. why are they always all over each other in front of the justice league. #i’m not even rly complaining anymore i’m honestly just waxing poetic abt their relationship #they have a sedating quality abt them (when they’re not riling me up in a fit of passion) #halbarry #the flash #green lantern #barry allen #hal jordan #dc #danbles

[azumasoroshi]

i think an incredibly funny part of the aiichi dynamic is that at least one of them has to be traumatized and/or possess incredible worldly exhaustion in order to even consider the other as a romantic love interest

like they need to go through decades and time loops of war and hopelessness and death and destruction in order to be like huh maybe this guy isn't so bad

of course this doesnt go for every fic (academy blues my beloved) but. a lot of them do and it's SO funny

#aiichi #and the award for the worst ship ever is....... #aiichi and monipai are like the two ships you would not catch me DEAD admitting i like in real life #i cant imagine how it is for the shippers on twitter dawg #the p*do accusations must be absolutely insane on there #like no!! im not into the super seme rich sugar daddy aizen and innocent baby uke ichigo dynamic!! that's weird!! #but them being besties after fighting for their lives together and learning to depend on each other #and aizen being fond of ichigo but trying to pretend he's not because mwahaha he's so evil and above it all #and ichigo not trusting aizen but finding himself rooting for aizen and discovering he's not bad company #like. cmon #and if it's in canon then ichigo being a true punk and siding with aizen because fuck soul society's cringe ass hierarchy #(academy blues my beloved) #i should read it again tbh #and forever with you never sounded so stupid #ahhh but it should be reserved for like a once every 5 years thing so that i totally forget everything #and can relive the absolute joy that is that fic series #bleach

[bumblingbabooshka]

Star Trek Voyager Season 6 Episode 6: "Riddles"

#st voyager #star trek voyager memes #I was gonna put this into a meme compilation but then I thought people might misinterpret it as ME misinterpreting their daily dynamic #which I couldn't allow #this meme applies for one episode only #limited time only seme-uke #Great Vulcan philosopher of the BL genre named Semeuk #foremost mind in his gay ass field <3 #I love this screenshot btw Tuvok looks like a gd princess #if Neelix doesn't have a crush on Tuvok why's he got him set up like Sleeping Beauty??? #Tuvok #Neelix #Tuvix #Tuvok/Neelix #If you're in the Tuvix tag you deserve to see my yaoi posts #I submit that like the 'trad wife' there is a 'trad uke' and Tuvok is giving that energy in this episode #He's scared DX and shy and clumsy and he's making yummy desserts for everyone~!!! <3 xoxo #Tuvok waking up after surgery: ................<- internally screaming bc he remembers insisting that Neelix sleep with him (literally) #bc he was too SCARED!!!! To be alone!!!! #A memory Tuvok will pretend to have forgotten and never ever ever ever admit to

[bandtrees]

i know it’s because serirei as a ship exists in part because people just like reigen and getting someone to ship with him is a way to express that, like the reigen feelings came before the ship, and people like to make their popular favs angsty and sad... 

...but it’s SO funny to me that out of the two of them, reigen gets the “troubled mentally ill guy with baggage who’s comforted by his partner” treatment. as if serizawa isn’t the most traumatized character ever put to animation

#babbles #does this make sense #ship hate #not really? i like serirei but tagging this jic #but yea the like... typical Seme Uke dynamics people ascribe to serirei amuse me to no end #literally people only make serizawa the big burly protective comforting one cuz hes tall. ...and bc they like reigen more than him #like idk how to put it but the meowmeowification of reigen has been devastating to serirei economy #bc it just becomes 'a way to make reigen content' or 'The Reigen Ship(tm)' and not really exploring the chars on their own merits #or any interesting conflicts etc etc or anything past... Reigen And His Plus One #tldr. i like serirei but fanon serirei is so much wasted potential to me<//3 #as someone who loves serizawa but sees serirei make up like 90% of the stuff of him BOOOO #also stole some of this phrasing from fig bc we have this discussion OFTEN LMAO

[lord-squiggletits]

Idk if my previous posts were unclear but I don't remotely hate any Optimus version that isn't IDW or think they suck. Every Optimus is good and there's a fan (or multiple fans!) of every version of OP no matter how obscure or underrated (as well as all the other characters).

What's more questionable (or at least annoying) is when fandom ignores canon character personalities in favor of writing specific archetypes that are either out of character or repetitive/stereotyped to the point of annoyance. As an example of this, it would be a female character being called the Team Mom just because she's a woman existing in a group of (primarily male) characters even if she's not remotely motherly or nurturing. Or, as a more topical example, how often I've seen Transformers ships where even though both characters are canonically masculine (or gender neutral), fanartists love to turn one of the characters small and weak (or even outright feminine) to turn the ship into Strong Dominant Seme and Sweet Cute Uke to fit a specific kink or romantic fantasy, even if it's a disservice/OOC to portray those characters like that.

In other words, a fandom's popularity of certain characters, ships, headcanons, etc is often more informed by tropes and forcing canon to adhere to one's personal tastes, as opposed to approaching canon and trying to understand it on its own terms. I'm not talking about the quality of the source material, but rather the way that the fandom interprets the source materials in ways that don't make any sense, approach it in bad faith, or just generally don't care about canon at all. So I'm not saying one OP is better than another, my problem is when fandom consistently focuses on certain stereotypes or flanderizations of a character, and then any character that doesn't fit the popular (often stereotyped) mold is ignored or virulently rejected. In other words, I think popular fandom often does a DISSERVICE to characters whether they love them or hate them, it just takes different forms.

So, just as an example, I think one fandom caricature of Optimus that I see a lot (and heavily dislike) is making Optimus some sort of shrinking wallflower type who's innocent, sweet, and virginal, in contrast to an opposite caricature of Megatron that's big, strong, dominant, and rugged, and making ship art that forces the characters into some kind of seme/uke or borderline heteronormative romance. Despite the fact that canon Optimus (in, say, TFP for example) is tall, broadly built, deep voiced, dignified, assertive, and strong (physically and morally), completely incorrect interpretations of him as a shy feminized uke type are still pretty common to find. And it makes you ask yourself why it is so many people make MOP ship art of them of The Small One and The Large One or The Small, Cute One and The Big, Violent One when it's completely different from canon. It feels as if such fanart is made by people who just want to see seme/uke style slash ships, and if canon doesn't give them what they want, they'll simply trash it and replace it with their own version, even if it's completely OOC.

So when I said in my other post that people don't like IDW Optimus because he can't be fit into caricatures like happy dad or shy twink, I'm not saying it to say "other OPs who resemble that suck," I'm saying it to express "Fandom tends to simplify characters into easily palatable and comfortable tropes, and when they encounter a character they can't do that with, they respond by ignoring or even hating on that character."

Other versions of Optimus have the problem where fandom turns them into a stereotype instead of the actual character they are, e.g. portraying TFA OP as some poor abused damsel with no self confidence and crippling anxiety being abused by his superiors, and then they talk more about this fake uwu smoll bean cinnamon roll version of TFA OP than they do about actual canon TFA OP. And honestly I can't think of any prominent content/meta about G1 OP that isn't just "he plays basketball and does funny one liners and is Team Dad/Grandpa." (Hell, you even get that with non-Optimus characters that get simplified to just sexy twink, old grandpa, comedy relief, evil ex, Diversity Win-- She's A Lesbian, third wheel to the favored ship, etc even though there's way more depth to them than just their surface level stereotype.)

IDW OP's problem is that he can't be stereotyped like that so instead the fandom ignores him. He's not small, so they can't stereotype him as a skinny twink getting topped by a burly uke. He's not jovial or happy go lucky or extroverted, so they can't stereotype him as Team Dad or Comedy Relief. He's assertive, blunt, and has a temper, so they can't stereotype him as a shy wallflower in need of protecting. He makes catastrophic mistakes and is responsible for bad things happening, so they can't stereotype him into a sweet cinnamon roll who has never done anything wrong in his whole life or The Infinitely Wise and Kind Paragon. There's no Big Bad Authority Figure who was mean to IDW OP and traumatized him, so they can't excuse the bad things he did as "he's traumatized so he couldn't help it" and wave away his flaws as "it's his abuser's fault, they made him this way." IDW OP has the kind of depression where he's grumpy, shut off, and angry-- as opposed to the shy, sad kind of depression that just stares forlornly out of the window in a beautifully tragic way-- so they can't make him into a sad woobie kicked around unfairly by life.

Or I guess they just stereotype IDW OP as "evil bastard with no redeeming qualities that's mean to everyone for no reason, plus the writers forced everyone to like him just because he's Optimus Prime" even though that isn't accurate either.

Put bluntly, IDW OP forces fandom to contend with the idea that someone can be a good person with good intentions but still fuck up on a massive scale and maybe end up hurting more than they helped. IDW OP is messy, ugly, flawed, mean, stoic, closed off. When IDW OP has mental breakdowns or has his feelings hurt, he's loud and angry and harsh, and the consequences of what he did while he was unwell continue to haunt him long after. In other words, he actually experiences negative emotions the way a real person would, and sometimes when he's under the influence of negative emotions, he lashes out or does stupid things (like a real person might) instead of inoffensively crying in a corner somewhere. He isn't sanitized enough for a fandom that only wants Perfect Pure Good Optimus Who Never Hurts Anyone Even By Accident, so instead of IDW OP's mistakes and dark moments being treated as the logical end point of a person put in constant no-win situations until he breaks, he gets treated as if his mistakes and flaws make him an irredeemable bastard with no good qualities who should've fucked up less often to make fans actually like him.

And this is all in a fandom where 90% of the characters are war criminals and a good half of them have massacred organic planets. But god forbid IDW Optimus ever make a bad decision in a stressful situation. Or be mean to someone. Or have a character arc about how blindly idolizing people as paragons ends badly for everyone involved because no one can be that perfect. He is simply The Worst Optimus Ever and there's absolutely nothing about him worth discussing.

And just to be clear, the problem isn't the fact that some people don't like IDW OP, or he's just not their thing and they don't care.

The problem is the fact that he's consistently and actively hated by the fanbase who makes a concentrated effort to say he sucks and make sure none of their fan works ever include him. It's literally at a level where I stopped looking in the Optimus tag on this website because I was tired of people randomly going "and btw IDW OP sucks and I want to drown him in a ditch" in posts that weren't even about IDW, and I stopped looking for MegOP fic on AO3 because most of it is IDW Megatron/clearly TFP or G1 inspired continuity soup Optimus. Places that are Optimus friendly for Optimus fans, where I could reasonably expect to find positive conversations, but instead get sucker punched by hate about the character The Space Is About. And I can't even have conversations asking about why they do, bc the way 90% of them talk, I can tell they literally just didn't read the comics or deliberately misinterpreted the story.

I find it bizarre and frankly, tragic, that the hate train for IDW OP is so pervasive that people actively erase and replace him from fan works IN THE IDW UNIVERSE in a way that no other character is targeted in. I have tried so hard to understand why IDW OP gets this sort of hate and erasure when other characters who were as bad or worse than him have perfectly normal takes about them that go "yeah he kinda sucks but he's cool and I like him" or "who cares if he's problematic IRL, it's a story." The only conclusion I can come to is that because Optimus Prime (TM) has a specific brand image and is locked into being a cultural icon, he's held to a standard of The Ideal Perfect Hero instead of the way better standard of "Is he an interesting, well written character?"

#squiggposting #discourse #i tried my best to phrase this in a way that didnt invalidate different tastes #but like honestly. some ppls tastes suck. or are actually problematic and not in a fake way #like as an example from the main text avoe #i hate it so much when gay ships are made seme/uke - dominant/submissive - fem/masc #when that not only isnt in character or accurate to canon. but is also really boring at best or homophobic at worst #i cant control ppl's opinions but i can still think theyre boring stupid or even downright offensive #i have SEEN pretty much every popular TF character or pairing get flanderized somehow #so it's not just my attachment to OP in larticular #and i find it very frustrating when it seems as if ppl arent fans of the very media they consume #and they turn an interesting story into cookie cutter stereotypes #and then when the story isnt a cookie cutter stereotype easily divisible into black and white #they hate the characters and story and call it trash #might delete later bc i feel cring #but this is oretty much the culmination of all the thoughts and discussions ive had #with multiple people #anyways ive seen enough fandom discourse posts about The State of Fandom #and The Same 5 Tropes Recycled just copy pasted into different fandoms #what i speak of isnt just about my fave. rather my fave is a victim of this fandom tencency #and it is a FACT that fandom will force characters into offensive stereotypes that dont even make sense #tldr sometimes fanon.....is way worse than canon #also i revised and edited this like a billion times to make sure i wasnt hasty or vague or mean #so if i still made a mistake. whatever i guess this post took hours #it's not about wanting absolutely everyone to love my favorite #it's about the fact that ppl actively hate him even in spaces that are about him/ships he's in #to the point i have to not interact with strangers bc i never know if my fsve will randomly get shit on #and on top that the hate is mostly based on surface level assumptions and misinformation #so not only is my fav hated in a way no other character is. they dont even hate him for canon facts #sucks to see the fandom so thoroughly full of hate by ppl who arent informed bc they never gave canon a chance

[phil-lesterfan]

forcing myself to finish this manhua but we’re on couple two and the uke is mid

#oc #i fr dont care. like i keep thinking ‘oh i’ll get invested now’ but i just dgaf #the seme is fine. i like him well enough. the uke is just so boring and ugly tho #the third cp seems good tho. so if i can just push through…

[mojinchiimanga]

#when seme looks like uke #and uke looks like seme #iki dekinai no wa kimi no sei #breathless momentum #m: iki dekinai no wa kimi no sei #manga #mangacap #manga cap #yaoi #yaoi manga #bl manga #boys love

[gillianthecat]

The New Employee - episode 5

Gah this EPISODE!! 🥰😍🥰 Here are my thoughts during and after watching:

Excellent, we're getting right into the mystery of the terrifying pen.

Omg the second hand embarrassment in this college flashback makes me curl up and hide. Also, I assume it's less obvious in Korean that Seung Hyun thought they were talking about a gift for him, because otherwise Yoo Seong is being deliberately cruel, not just self-centered and obvious, and I don't think he's supposed to be.

This is a legit explanation for why Seung Hyun freaked out though. I also would runaway if I saw something that was both evidence that my new person once dated my toxic crush and a reminder of one of my saddest and most embarrassing memories.

Lee Beom with the wise advice once again! And it sounds like Seong Hyun isn't mad at Jong Chan for this, just freaked out and stuck about how to talk about it.

These two have really good friendship chemistry. Which actors don't always manage to make clearly distinct from romantic chemistry, but these two do.

Oh Jong Chan. I mean I get it. Everyone is freaking out here. But Seong Hyun is trying to be open and vulnerable with you. You don't need to get defensive and go on the attack now.

Something about this fight and break up feels very adult to me. I mean, Jong Chan is being immature and leaping to conclusions and breaking up because he doesn’t understand Seung Hyun and he’s scared to try. But it feels like adult immaturity somehow, rather than youngness.

Oh god, Seung Hyun is having the worst week. All this heartache from the past pops up out of nowhere, your boss dumps you just as your trying to do the adult thing and talk about it, and then on top of it you keep fucking up at work and everyone is getting on your case about it. Including your he’s-not-actually-your-ex-because-he-ended-things-before-it-even-got-to-that-point. Oh man, I ache for him.

Jong Chan is in pain too, and I sympathize with him having spent the last day confused about the sudden withdrawal of the man he’s falling for, right after sleeping together for the first time. And when he finally explains why, it makes it sound like he’s still hung up on someone else. But I’m also mad at Jong Chan for not even trying to listen. Probably because it strikes a nerve—memories of trying to explain my complicated emotions to various ex-boyfriends and them freaking out about it, not listening to what I was actually saying and instead making up a story in their head about what my emotions were based on what scared them the most. Which was very frustrating.

And at first I was surprised that Jong Chan went there so quickly. I had expected more understanding from him, more willingness to work. But then his monologue to his cat made sense of it for me: "I don’t like emotional quarrels." Look, I’m not sure what of this the show is putting in there intentionally, and what is me making up complexity for a stock "cold boss seme" archetype, but I think this might be the first time when he’s faced with the complexity of who Seung Hyun actually is, rather than the sweet new kid who hero-worships him.

And although Jong Chan has been in many relationships, I wouldn’t be surprised if he never actually put the work into them, but rather ended things, or more likely retreated into his career when the emotions got hard and his boyfriends wanted things from him. That memory scene in the previous episode made it sound like non of his exes had understood his values and his love of his job, and maybe that’s all it is, but his line about hating quarreling makes me think there is more to it than that, that he in fact hasn't cared enough about anyone to actually face scary emotions. Except that now he does with Seung Hyun.

Anyway, I did like his desperately stoic face whenever he had to see or hear about or talk to Seung Hyun. And the way he grabbed his wrist and positively yanked him into the elevator to finally confront him in the storage closet. (It's not making out in a supply closet, but I'm still happy about it. Although it does make the camera angles weird and distorts their faces.) And the way he kept drinking more and more at the work party while his eyes kept tracking Seung Hyun frantically trying to be a good intern and take care of all his seniors. It seems very reminiscent of Japanese BL, although maybe its just that that's where most of the office romances I've seen are from.

And then! Jong Chan apparently couldn't stand it anymore and then goes after him. I loved his line (I'm paraphrasing) "I don't understand your feelings, and I know I'm supposed to or supposed to lie and say I do, but I just don't. But I want to." It's just so... gah! This was the moment (and their subsequent hug and giddy walk back to the work party) that turned this episode from 'some nice stuff happening' to 🥰😍! for me. It felt so honest and vulnerable and true to the character. He doesn't understand the complexity of people's emotions. But Seung Hyun makes him want to understand him.

It was also this line that made me willing to handwave the rest of the conversations they need to be having. Yes, yes, there are only eight short episodes, so we need to wrap everything up soon. But I believe, behind the scenes, they are talking about the hard stuff. Jong Chan is someone who if he says he's going to do something he does it. And I think he does want to see Seung Hyun for who he actually is.

I also have thoughts about seme/uke dynamics in this show and Seung Hyun's... passivity? Or not that exactly, but his very uke role of following Jong Chan's lead and not initiating much of anything, be it kisses, romantic gestures or difficult conversations, himself. But a) I'm not exactly sure what my thoughts are yet, and b) this is already very long and I should get on with my day.

Although this conversation gave me some insight into what was going on--the show's very traditional manga roots nestled alongside the grown-up queer story the director wants to tell, create some oddities like this, where despite his insecurities and inexperience, Seung Hyun doesn't seem like he'd be as passive as he is, but the structure of the story kind of requires him to be, so there is some dissonance there. And it also creates this thing were I'm not sure if I'm reading too much complexity into the characters and their backstories, or if it's really there.

But anyway. Their giddiness and joy at un-breaking up! Seung Hyun can't stop smiling! The relief on Jong Chan's face. That hug, they way they held each other so tightly. Their silly little argument over carrying the bags and who would enter first. 🥰

And the queerness of this show, in showing both the fun things and the glimpses of being queer in a homophobic world. The way they spring apart from their embrace when someone walks by, and their relief when he reassures them with a "cute." And the whole extremely queer you-used-to-be-in-unrequited-love-with-my-ex-boyfriend.

(Speaking of the ex-boyfriend, I still want to know more about Yoo Seong. Including who he's in love with. OOOOOHHH. I just had a thought. Second season about him? Is that what they're setting us up for with all these dropped hints?!? That would make me so happy. I don't know anything about the source material, so I don't know if this is a realistic hope or just a daydream. But if this was an English language romance novel, it absolutely would be setting us up for a second Yoo Seong book. The ridiculously attractive mysterious "rake" who hurts both of the main characters, sweeping through their lives seemingly unaware. Who seems to have fallen for some unknown person. Come on producers, give it to us.)

Ok, back to our main couple. The sweetness of their texting from opposite sides of the corporate sleepover! Their promises to communicate and stick around when things got hard. Jong Chan sneaking over just to sit next to Seung Hyun as he falls asleep. And this is all the sweeter for me, because I feel like their giddy happiness means something now.

#the new employee #the new employee the series #gillianthecat reacts to bl #tne ep 5 #seme/uke dynamics #kind of like liveblogging #my ramblings #it was interesting watching this right after candy color paradox #two versions of a love confession/conversation re jealousy/clinging hug on the street at night after running away from a restaurant #also i finally figured out that tumblr treats all the bullet points as one giant paragraph #which is why it keeps telling me about the character limit for a 'block' #i assumed each bullet point was it's own paragraph and was confused #and then of course when i reopen to edit it converts my TWO shorter blocks of bullet points back into ONE overlong one. oh tumblr.

[cowboy-robooty]

new years resolutions:

- GET BACK ON YAOI GRIND

- SEARCH FOR OTHER HALF (best bro)

- GET FUCKING RICH

BONUS: FIND A CUTE YANDERE GIRLFRIEND WITH A BAD ATTITUDE AND HUGE SCHLONG!

OR

FIND SALARY MAN THAT IS 10 YEARS OLDER THAN ME WHO WILL BE MY UKE HUSBAND

#yandere gf aint happening tho cuz i cant date girls #dating a girl is like doing heroin it feels so good but its so bad for me bc i girls always be treating me like an apple pie #bake me alive cover me in white shit and sometimes sexually harass me (ever watch the movie american pie? #also because its my lifelong dream to be a sugar daddy seme and i only uke for girls so thats kind of a problem too