Author, you had no right to make me feel this sad

i come back 5 years later and this still on going wtf

It's got 370 pages so far (give or take a few) and was first uploaded to dynasty on sep 27th 2018. That's roughly one page every six days. Pretty slow, but honestly it's the same pace as most webcomics.

ARGH I FORGOT ABOUT THE SUMMER YOU WERE THERE BECAUSE I WAS TOO EXCITED TO SHILL CIRQUE ARACHNE

^ I get the feeling it's barely budged from last time but with like, no gay men, instead of like three. I'm pretty sure the mlm guys here are bi

Edit: Also I answered Cirque Arachne, Mermaid Line, Bloom Into You, Girl Friends, and one other that I forgot because it was honestly spur of the moment and my brain function continues to deteriorate as the inexorable march of time soldiers on

Cirque Aracne is a gem. It's a shame it doesn't get enough recognition. I love your choices by the way.

I'm trying to figure out if I can accurately name a top 5 without spending half a day compiling a list of everything I've ever read. Probably not.

last edited at Jan 1, 2025 4:24AM

WHERE IS THE TABLECLOTH?

Credits page is so true

Sorry, my goal here really was just to make a silly remark about sound on ads, I didn't mean to get political about it.

And don't even get me started on ads. I actually did the math on that one, a few years ago, because it's a fixed rate. The amount an author receives for ads is negligible. If I recall correctly, it's about 1% of what you would get for a Google Ads impression on your own website.

By this, I don't mean to encourage anyone not to use tapas/webtoon. There's plenty of authors who depend on services like these for visibility. So, by all means, use the service, read your favorite series there, but don't donate through its system, use whatever other means the author themselves suggests.

It's also a little different if you're paying for a series that was commissioned by the service, since they're actually creating job opportunities, even if at low pay. It's okay to pay for a series you enjoy. Just remember that the money you spend is going mostly to the service, not the author.

last edited at Dec 3, 2024 6:24PM

Speaking as an author who used to publish on one of those websites, I have firsthand experience with how they handle conversions. The difference between what a reader pays and what an author receives is huge. And that's not transparent, because, as I've said, the conversation rates are variable.

These websites bite a chunk out of donations by selling coins for a certain (variable) rate (say, $1 per coin) and then paying authors at a different (also variable) rate (in our example, maybe $0.60 per coin). On top of that, they also charge an administrative tax per donation (which, you guessed it, is also variable).

The fact that all of it varies a lot is an obfuscation technique, it means that you can never accurately measure how much they're taking from each donation, or how much the author will receive from what you pay. From my time as an author, I estimate they retain at least 50%, but it could be much higher.

All of this is intentional. They're defrauding authors and they know it, but they want readers to think they don't, and expect authors to remain quiet for fear of retaliation. Would I openly speak against The Service to my readers and risk never getting featured again. Or worse, getting buried into obscurity by their algorithms?

It's a predatory service, so I encourage everyone to not spend money on donations via these websites. They're not doing authors any favors.

last edited at Dec 3, 2024 6:22PM

I think both Tapas and Webtoon are mercenary websites that obfuscate the real value of donations by converting it to their proprietary currencies at variable rates and therefore defraud writers and artists. Nothing new there.

What's new is that Webtoon just showed me an ad after an episode with sound. WITH SOUND. What maniac puts ads with sound on a webcomic?

I am outraged.

(sorry for the silly rant. I'm serious about the defrauding stuff. Don't ever pay money to these websites, people. Go to the artist's patreon or whatever else they link to in their profile and donate there instead. If unsure, ask how you can contribute. A lot of authors take money via their personal websites or online stores, and some will prefer that you donate to your charity of choice. Just, don't use the Webtoon/Tapas own donation feature)

last edited at Dec 3, 2024 6:38PM

I don't know how I feel about this one.

I am so glad that this didn't rehash that old fallacy of "nobody will ever love you if you don't love yourself". It's refreshing, really.

Well, now that's just ridiculous.

No but seriously, what does "starting with the form" mean?

I'm guessing it's about function vs form? Often times, if you don't understand the function of a (well designed) thing, you can start by exploring its form, and maybe learn some insights from that.

(I'm not sure dating is well designed enough to learn anything meaningful from it, tho)

Yeah, that's the intended meaning, although in this case I think "form and content" is a more appropriate concept (see this for reference). The "form of dating" would be the things you do, i.e. going out, holding hands, giving each other nicknames, et cetera. The "content of dating" is the feelings you have for each other.

Oh for fuck's sake

Wait, April as in 3/4 of a year from now? Why the hell would they sit on this for so long, that's like novel-length translation times. We might all be dead by then, who wants to wait all the way until April

Why does this sound familiar...?

Oh, right, the Switch 2.

So this has been licensed, under Viz's shojobeat imprint of all things. Yay for official english release

https://x.com/shojobeat/status/1796582651757048097

X is banned in my country. Can anyone tell me what it says?

https://officialshojobeat.tumblr.com/day/2024/05/31

Nothing much, just an announcement.

Thanks!!
Coming in April... I should write that down in a calendar.

I feel like this is such a random "ooooh I am actually bad" that it's actually pretty passé and lame.

Yeah this was trying too hard to be edgy imo

"you exist only for me to destroy" protect from bullies and fuck in the library.

So this has been licensed, under Viz's shojobeat imprint of all things. Yay for official english release

https://x.com/shojobeat/status/1796582651757048097

X is banned in my country. Can anyone tell me what it says?

Oooh, I really like this so far. It's like the moulin rouge movie, but gay and without the tuberculosis.

I love this story but I can't bring myself to read it again. That is a very conflicting feeling.

It might be best to wait till Asumi is over, and then skim the last 5-10 chapters.

I'm not overly invested in that particular series. I check it once in a blue moon to see how the plot is advancing. But I think you might be right about that.

I'd say the sex isn't filler so much as it's just not for you,

I just meant that it feels like filler (to me personally due to being ace), which is implied by context.

I don't think you can actually call a part of an original story "filler", can you? I mean, I usually see that term when an adaptation is deliberately deviating from the original series (e.g. in order to make time for the original series to catch up). But if there's a part of an original story that you don't like or feel is unnecessary, that's not filler, that's just a bit you don't like.

Since I think works like this, and works like Asumi, are both equally important even though they have opposite audiences. Getting more asexual and related LGBTQ media is important, just as LGBTQ media that embraces sex is also important. Having different forms of expression for different people and embracing all walks of life is valuable.

Never said anything different from that.

last edited at Aug 20, 2024 8:47PM

Gods for people supporting lesbian comics some of y'all sure do hate asexuals...

All those people saying that "ace people being loved is unrealistic" can go fuck themselves, since they like it so much.

Page 17 stings. I've had relationships end because my partner wanted sex and I didn't. Not even that I told them no; even after considering doing it to make them happy, just my lack of interest was enough for them to break up with me.

This. It's either people think you don't love them or they break up because they're unsatisfied, even if you do have sex for their sake. At some point, you just kind of give up.

(Right now, either I date someone on the ace spectrum, or I'll just flat out not date anyone again. I don't have the patience to go through all that stuff with allo people again)

Agreed. I'm ace, but not aro. (The concept of me having sex with someone else is like watching paint dry. And while I've read porn - or at least, works with explicit sex scenes; I don't like anything that's nothing but sex - I invariably rush through or skip the sex scenes. First four pages and last four pages are usually "the interesting parts" to me.)

Well, isn't that me skipping through 90% of the stuff here because I want to know whether Asumi is going to find her childhood friend and the sex scenes are basically filler.

Nothing pisses me off faster than someone implying our relationship somehow doesn't count just because we aren't having sex.

So basically they're telling you that the only thing that matters for them in a relationship is sex. That's how little they value their partner.

...Didn't mean for this to turn into a blog post, but I'm feeling emotional and my fingers just wouldn't stop typing.

Please do talk. I'm feeling understood and that's not something I get everyday.

Dang. I completely forgot about narcolepsy. Also anemia.

Depression and brain lesions generally present with a range of other more prominent symptoms, so they're more easily recognizable, it doesn't apply to the situation in this story. It's probably anemia, I guess.

Also, good article, thanks.