Yuri Project
joined Jul 14, 2016
Finally finished this, and it was definitely exploitative, but still fairly interesting as a narrative. It was pretty clear early on that Yeonhwa was not quite right, but seeing the bullies get attacked, and especially seeing Dahye get tormented felt so righteous that it was easy overlook her misdeeds. I started to dislike her more when she abandoned Yoonseo, but even after that she still seemed somewhat sympathetic. Until the reason her sister ran away was revealed.
By the end I was wondering who was worse, her or Dahye, and I still can't really decide. Dahye is a more conventional sort of bully while Yeonhwa is a psychopath. Yeonhwa seems more animalistic, driven by passion, while Dahye is more calculating. Dahye has some restraint, meaning that her actions are less extreme but also that she can go under the radar and thus to continue her bullying for a long time. Yeonhwa's inability to hold back means that she does truly vicious things to people but also that she will cross the line and attract unwanted attention, limiting the amount of damage she can do over the long term.
On the other hand, the other bullies, Yoonseo, and especially Ayeon didn't have much going on as characters. The bullies bullied because they were bullies. Yoonseo was a punching bag who desperately craved affection. Ayeon... was just there. She didn't do anything or say anything important the whole time. It's hard for me to even guess why she existed in this story, much less why she was presented as the main character in the beginning.
The ending felt right. Yeonhwa was an aberration who broke the rhythm of the school. For a time she changed some things, but she was inevitably caught and removed, and everything returned to normal. Including the normal amount of violence and victimization.
