Forum › I Want to Stare discussion

joined Jun 11, 2016

lol Kenji staring back at them at the end

anw people on Dynasty really needs to loosen up, Kenji was a bit pushy but since he never confessed and Kaho never outrightly rejected him, it's fine for him to continue "flirting" with her.

Honestly every time people in Dynasty Scans criticized a man, I wonder what the reaction would be if that had been a woman. Like seriously, you people are absolutely fine (and love it) when a woman is creepy as fuck (My Younger Senpai series, where the MC actively preyed on a teenager) but a man being a bit too persistent is definitely a creep.
Hypocrisy much?

Avatar
joined Aug 29, 2019

lol Kenji staring back at them at the end

anw people on Dynasty really needs to loosen up, Kenji was a bit pushy but since he never confessed and Kaho never outrightly rejected him, it's fine for him to continue "flirting" with her.

Honestly every time people in Dynasty Scans criticized a man, I wonder what the reaction would be if that had been a woman. Like seriously, you people are absolutely fine (and love it) when a woman is creepy as fuck (My Younger Senpai series, where the MC actively preyed on a teenager) but a man being a bit too persistent is definitely a creep.
Hypocrisy much?

inb4 mods having to shut this down
This won't end peaceful. Let's not go there.
Besides, there's plenty of hate for series like My Younger Senpai as well, different strokes for different folks. The forum has at least some measure of diversity of opinion and there's quite often a lot of criticism about how and why certain works make it onto the platform.

zanpakutoman
Chibi_blademan
joined Jul 23, 2013

I was a little worried when I saw the het and yuri tag, thought it was going to be NTR or something. But the ending was great!

Didn't see a bisexual tag, so I felt safe enough that it wouldn't go down a NTR/unhappy ending road.

Dynasty%20icon
joined Feb 16, 2021

GUYS YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL THIS?

AN ABSOLUTE FKN BANGER

63515893-13a8-47bc-ac30-925c9c72c86e
joined Mar 1, 2018

I quite adore the college students

Gay%20panic
joined Sep 11, 2020

Adorable. Very happy to see chubby yuri done in a way that's not offensive or poke fun at her weight, it's hardly even mentioned. Wonderful~

Yeecon
joined Feb 6, 2013

:'D my dreams are becoming reality

Butt
joined Sep 26, 2020

Sal Jiang likes her big and tall ladies, and I really like the edge her stories have. Did she ever finish Black & White? And is anybody going to pick up Ayaka is in LOVE*LOVE*LOVE with Hiroko?

Screenshot%202022-05-05%20at%2020.52.05%20copy
joined Sep 23, 2021

I'm just gonna flat out say, I think Kenji was a creep. Not, like, to unforgivable levels, but I feel like it was made pretty clear from the very start that Saho wasn't taking his approaches seriously, and yet he (and, honestly, everyone else, even Tamaki) basically saw it as guaranteed that Saho would eventually say yes to him. Even her gossipy coworkers just saw it as this cute love story, rather than paying attention to what Saho actually said or felt. It was very uncomfortable to me, in how it seemed to illustrate the "dogged nice guy" trope where a man is seen as entitled to a woman simply because A) she hasn't flatly said no, and B) because he's put a lot of time into pursuing her...and frequently the former will slide. He really stunk of cishet male privilege.

Like, Saho was nice to him - because she's nice to everyone. And the only one she showed any special interested or attention toward was Tamaki. Whether Saho is bi or a lesbian, I think the subtext is that she was attracted to Tamaki from the very start, even if she didn't realize it, while she never was interested in Kenji beyond him being a "friendly" regular customer. While it's easy to say, "Well, she should have clearly shut him down," it's also implied that she's got some self-image issues that would lead her to assume any flirting is non-serious or that she shouldn't assume he meant it.

He's not evil, but that's sort of the problem. His behavior is so normalized that nobody even bats an eye at it, despite it actually being kind of creepy and troubling. I'm glad Tamaki was there, not just because she had a chance to confess as well, but because I would worry that, absent her giving Saho motivation, Saho might have been pressured into doing something she clearly didn't want just to get out of that moment. Or Kenji might not have been even as "graceful" a loser as he was. Did he really seem like the type to take "no" for answer? I'd see him as the sort who just assumes that means he has to try harder.

very well expressed! also, and i think this should really be stressed - persistently hitting on service industry workers is not cool, since it can put them in a very uncomfortable position. the work is often precarious and not well paid, and depending on their relationship with their boss/manager they may not feel they are in a position to flatly reject you/call you out for being a creep in case they get in trouble themselves. so forcing them to put up with constant unwanted advances when they're just trying to do their job sucks.

on another note, score one for good representation of different body types in a yuri manga! another banger from sal jiang!

Type1afterthecurtaincallssoyoungregrets_sm2
joined Sep 1, 2021

Keep Japanese culture in mind, and you will extract more flavor from this chapter

In Japan, being direct is often considered rude, with some degree of "preserving face" for another party as in Chinese and other East-Asian culture. Being too direct might be seen as insulting, as a faux pas, or as aggressive. There's some leeway for not taking an obvious hint and for keeping pressure on, but the norm is figuratively and literally turning away from arguments. Women are often expected to be even more indirect and passive, which enables persistent men to push or cross boundaries. And women being less blunt also can give the impression their opinions are less solid. When a man in manga is badgering like Kenji and not being told off (such as in Hikizan Tautology), he's on one level supposed to take the hint and very rude for missing or ignoring it, and on another level he can be seen as sympathetic as he isn't conditioned to take hints as seriously from women. Kenji had years of soft rejections, and his traditionalist biases and sense of entitlement won out for years before he was willing to risk an uncomfortable direct answer.

Kaho isn't a total airhead. She didn't return interest in Kenji, or even reflect on what he wanted. She told him stuff like "you're going on about that again" and ignored blatant flirting. She gives constant soft rejections. She never indicated he had absolutely no chance, and she never said statements with finality. She was acting how a humble passive woman is expected to, especially in customer service. Being too gentle and conflict-averse further softens a person's soft rejections. Kaho couldn't even look at the guy's face when rejecting him! With all this in mind, turning him down was a huge moment because she's not only making a big decision but going against how she lives and is expected to live! Then Tamaki was much more direct, and Kaho immediately accepted her, that was great~

And all the other stuff in this story! Tamaki getting attached, and her expressions contrasting Kaho, Kaho just folding immediately at the end. The different body types and Kaho's appearance being only a bit relevant. I wonder what a manga with Tamaki and Kaho in bands would be like, music came up as a connection then didn't matter...

last edited at May 19, 2022 11:28PM

joined May 10, 2021

Holy crap that ended-up being way more cute and wholesome that I expected!
AH! Screw you Kenji you fucking loser!

Duke
joined Jul 29, 2017

Saho-san is pretty and I'm glad she ended up with a loving girlfriend.

joined Apr 17, 2022

Saho-san has extremely cute expressions.

Images
joined Feb 9, 2015

Sal Jiang​ became​ my​ favourite​ author now.​ The​ art​ is​ super​ clean​ and​ nice.​ The​ story​ always​ present​s​ something​ new​ with​ background​ for​ each ​characters.​ Good job!

saltyslug5561
Yvo0lylulbwzixjblrxj
joined May 12, 2020

Needs lots of hugs tag urgently. And a sequel.

White%20rose%20index
joined Aug 16, 2018

AH! Screw you Kenji you fucking loser!

Lol and what a way to lose! I kept thinking of Button Mash's song "Don't Mine at Night" while reading the final arc of the story. This refrain:

Though I'm here to fight for you
I'm biting more than I can chew.
This is the last time I try to be your light.
I FAILED. SO BAD.

joined Aug 21, 2017

I like the more realistic faces at the end.

Dynasty Reader
joined Sep 7, 2021

Everyone's ragging on the guy for saying "doesn't mean a woman is fine.." What's wrong with that.. Imo it's not his place to say but it's not like she said to him, "nah, I only like women." She just said no because she didn't wanna stand between her friends happiness. I think it was only once she finally realised, she was the source of her friends happiness, that she accepted. That's what I feel. So yeah, guy shouldn't have said that, but he's not the worst ever for saying it. Her rejection more implied that she just flat out wasn't looking for relationships at all.

Ihaveseenthelight
joined May 28, 2013

i would've felt a little bad for kenji if he didn't go for the "if she doesn't want to date me that doesn't mean a woman's fine" line, coupled with that expression. Talk about an immediate bad taste in my mouth, how rude.

No kidding. Went from nice guy to jerk pretty quick.

EDIT: I don't think what Kenji did was bad, though he didn't pick up on Saho's small rejections. The comments at the end, though, were unnecessary. He might still be a decent person, but his arrogance is off-putting.

last edited at May 20, 2022 4:47AM

Dynasty Reader
joined Sep 7, 2021

Love this girl to bits, she seems like total cinnamon and she's like a warmth magnet, everyone wants to be around her. Real breath of fresh air, I like that she's not completely perfect either, she's able to get things wrong but she's always thinking of others. She's too sweet. We need more characters like her. Man I could read a short series about this ship.

BoobTwinkler
Sleepyfrogwaifutiny
joined Sep 25, 2019

Keep Japanese culture in mind, and you will extract more flavor from this chapter

In Japan, being direct is often considered rude, with some degree of "preserving face" for another party as in Chinese and other East-Asian culture. Being too direct might be seen as insulting, as a faux pas, or as aggressive. There's some leeway for not taking an obvious hint and for keeping pressure on, but the norm is figuratively and literally turning away from arguments. Women are often expected to be even more indirect and passive, which enables persistent men to push or cross boundaries. And women being less blunt also can give the impression their opinions are less solid. When a man in manga is badgering like Kenji and not being told off (such as in Hikizan Tautology), he's on one level supposed to take the hint and very rude for missing or ignoring it, and on another level he can be seen as sympathetic as he isn't conditioned to take hints as seriously from women. Kenji had years of soft rejections, and his traditionalist biases and sense of entitlement won out for years before he was willing to risk an uncomfortable direct answer.

Kaho isn't a total airhead. She didn't return interest in Kenji, or even reflect on what he wanted. She told him stuff like "you're going on about that again" and ignored blatant flirting. She gives constant soft rejections. She never indicated he had absolutely no chance, and she never said statements with finality. She was acting how a humble passive woman is expected to, especially in customer service. Being too gentle and conflict-averse further softens a person's soft rejections. Kaho couldn't even look at the guy's face when rejecting him! With all this in mind, turning him down was a huge moment because she's not only making a big decision but going against how she lives and is expected to live! Then Tamaki was much more direct, and Kaho immediately accepted her, that was great~

And all the other stuff in this story! Tamaki getting attached, and her expressions contrasting Kaho, Kaho just folding immediately at the end. The different body types and Kaho's appearance being only a bit relevant. I wonder what a manga with Tamaki and Kaho in bands would be like, music came up as a connection then didn't matter...

Absolutely THIS.
Another user put it perfectly earlier I think:
"He's not so much a creep as he's just acting on bad intel."

He's expressed his intentions clearly for over 2 years and apparently the most he's gotten back from her is a vague implication that she doesn't think he's being serious with it. Most people in his position would've assumed she wasn't opposed to dating after that much time of flirting without getting rejected, her own inaction is just as much to blame for this misunderstanding after such a long timeframe as his pushiness is.

(By which I don't mean to imply she's at fault, I mean to say that neither party here is really at fault and it's mostly just a misunderstanding born from two ill-fitted mentalities colliding in an unfortunate way.)

last edited at May 20, 2022 7:55AM

Duke
joined Jul 29, 2017

Saho-san has extremely cute expressions

This, she keeps going :3

last edited at May 20, 2022 8:38AM

43353v3
joined Jun 7, 2020

Something to do??? She wants to do you! ♫

Img_3750
joined Feb 3, 2021

Absolutely THIS.
Another user put it perfectly earlier I think:
"He's not so much a creep as he's just acting on bad intel."

He's expressed his intentions clearly for over 2 years and apparently the most he's gotten back from her is a vague implication that she doesn't think he's being serious with it. Most people in his position would've assumed she wasn't opposed to dating after that much time of flirting without getting rejected, her own inaction is just as much to blame for this misunderstanding after such a long timeframe as his pushiness is.

(By which I don't mean to imply she's at fault, I mean to say that neither party here is really at fault and it's mostly just a misunderstanding born from two ill-fitted mentalities colliding in an unfortunate way.)

After two years, you would expect some kind of reciprocation from the other person. But from all we can gather, Saho never treated him differently than any other customer. Two years and he never got across to her that he was serious about his flirting. After two years he had to keep saying “no, no, I’m being serious” when she would laugh it off, and he never picked up on the hint that she wasn’t interested. I’m not saying that he can’t confess to someone he likes, but he really needs to learn that waitresses that look and smile at him don’t also want to date him. He made this assumption with Tamaki as well.

Also it’s really creepy to go into someone’s workplace and announce yourself as a boyfriend candidate to their new employee. Like what? Who says that? It makes it sound like Saho has multiple guys she’s filtering through before choosing someone. And apparently that was something he used to do but stopped, as noted by Saho’s “not this again” comment.

Roody
joined Feb 11, 2022

Saho-chan is so cuuuuute. She literally went “:3”.
But in what decade is that creepy dude at all romantic? Ugh.

Also, I agree with what another poster said about her being forced into the role of “mascot” because of her weight. The reason she’s so nice to everyone is probably cause she feels like has to be to justify taking up space. Even when it’s not open enmity, the way fat people are treated in society is extremely fucked up.

Also also, real surprised by all the people on her defending the creep who’s been sexually harassing her for TWO YEARS. yuck.

last edited at Jun 2, 2022 11:50PM

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