I came to the conclusion that the FF fandom is full of masochists who are punished each week or so by Ssamba.

It's like orgasm denial, or something.

So that when she will let you release your... tension, you will think it's the best thing ever.

Well. It's certainly a technique that works well. :p

Hey guys! First time posting here in this forum, I've been a lurker for the past months but with the current events I can't help it but to finally say something lol

As always thanks to halmony, thatanon and everyone who makes it possible for us to read this amazing story. And to Ssamba of course, I hope she's aware of how many people around the world read FF.

Anyway, when I read ieeheh's analysis on Norae's "hat" scene some pages ago it reminded me a bit of the hospital scene on chap.38 when the coat slips off of Norae's shoulder just before she hugs Seola. I've had a similar interpretation regarding this scene with the coat symbolizing Noraes's walls falling apart in that moment and the revealing of her vulnerable side. But maybe i'm overnalizyng it idk.

I've always thought that the coat just slips off in that scene but having had a good look now, it seems that it was Seol-a who slipped the coat off? I don't know, her hand placement in the first panel makes me think that she was the one who took it off.

I still do agree that it could represent No-rae's walls falling, even for just a few moments. In chap. 38, it was actually Seol-a who made No-rae just vulnerable enough that she(No-rae) is able to let go of her "I'm totally okay" facade and show Seol-a that she was really shaken up. In the hat scene, it was No-rae who did the same of her own accord, albeit with a little help from the rude guy who doesn't know snowboarding etiquette.

The way I see it is that if I was to interpret a difference in the two scenes is that No-rae was initially unsure if she could really let all her walls down with Seol-a in chap. 38 and in the hat scene she did it rather easily in what I would assume was a scene where she would have normally been rather guarded (as she was talking to her ex at the time, who I personally think she didn't get any actual closure from, she just had to make do with figuring it out herself plus with the help of time).

end rambling

last edited at Feb 9, 2016 7:09PM

Could've copied this out of my head "...And it still felt like they were in a relationship. It was obvious from the atmosphere around them."

Wow, this stinks...

--The ending. That was... I feel like if that super depressing moment hadn't happened earlier, that would've been cute. But it did. So this whole thing is just really depressing.

Good job, Ssamba. :'(

Omg. This is so real and terrible feeling. I'm going to have to put this away until next chap. So long. o7 ...

Real and Terrible Feelings. Could totally be a subtitle or an actual title for the previous thirty or so chapters.

last edited at Jan 24, 2016 8:44PM

wtf I had so much fun reading this chapter drama llama and salty tears mmm - http://pastebin.com/Pa9uLgaq

idk I'm a sucker for Ssamba's inner monologues like dayum hit me right in the feels
seol-a was crying because she didn't get enough guac in her burrito rly sad I know

Thanks for the translation, Halmoni. T_T

last edited at Jan 24, 2016 12:51PM

@ffins07

Hey you love each other it seems. And this is crazy, but you should just confess! Or, you know, drop hints?

As takachi and ieeheh said, people are different. There are people who don't do that. Some of them are reading this. You sound more confident about this than most people--females--with whom I've interacted.

How common is it for people to just confess? Especially girls? In Korea? In any country? Logically, yeah, seems like a thing to do, but when are (most) people in love (or in like) rational? Then there's the obvious liking-a-girl hanging in the back of their heads. That is still a thing for the vast majority of people.

Real life story time: My first ever class in college more than a handful of years ago was English. The professor made us sit in a reverse alphabetical arrangement. I sat beside this girl B who I was immediately attracted to. She tried to start a conversation because we actually had the same watch but different watch face colors. What did I do? Did I immediately confess to her that I had a crush on her? Nope. I tried my very best to be distant because we were taking the same course and I didn't want to make it awkward immediately since we'd be taking the same classes together for four years. I also wasn't sure if she swung that way or, even if she was bisexual or a lesbian, if she'd like me at all. She could have just been trying to be friendly. I didn't hang out with her regularly, even in the company of other people from our course, for a good eight months. Then one of my high school friends (who was also taking the same course) R started going out of her way to have us hang out with each other. At first it was the three of us all together, then eventually R started excusing herself out of hanging out last minute. Even when I was spending time with just B, I didn't tell her that I really really liked her. It took a really long phone call where we were both drunk in different parties for us to tell each other that we liked each other.

One reason why I was attracted to B was that she reminded me of this other girl A I liked back in high school. This reason was the same reason I tried to be distant. A had led me on back in high school and I didn't want to go through that again. Yes. People really do have baggage and that's one thing I appreciate about Ssamba showing us why Seol-a is actually very insecure when it comes to girls who befriend her. She has dealt with bitches and users before.

What I'm trying to say is that there really are people who take ages and ages before they confess to someone. There are even people who take ages before they realize they actually really like that person in the first place for whatever reason. I'm one of those people who unfortunately suffer from both afflictions. :P That's why I really like FF. I can see the flaws in this manhwa but I'm not really looking for the perfect story whenever I read manga or novels. All I'm hoping for is a good one. I just so happen to think that FF is a good story, despite its flaws.

In most other romance stories, manga, manwha I never know the characters well enough to relate. There are so many commonalities in human experience--take any two people living in developed countries, seriously--if you know someone else well enough, there will be many things to which you can relate. I'm not saying everything, just many things. We eat. We sleep. We feel. The way we react to things differ. Our experiences differ.

I rarely feel like I relate to characters in manga, manwha, books, whatever, so that I can relate to parts of FF makes it very special to me. Doesn't matter how many people like it or read it or whatever. And the story here is vivid such that I can feel empathy or compassion for parts of the story that I can't put in the context in my own life.

In a way, I'm more experiencing Fluttering Feelings and not reading it to be entertained. I tend to want to be immersed in a story. Not just drop-in and be entertained for a few minutes. That's my preference.

^ This. Just this. All of it.

last edited at Jan 20, 2016 7:49AM

I just want to put in my two cents regarding the plot progression discussion.

From the stories I've read, I've always enjoyed those that have a healthy mix of plot progression and character development. Some stories can have some hella interesting plots objectively speaking but tend to lack what the audience would need to have a good feel of the personality of the characters. In my opinion, stories that put plot progression above all else have a tendency to feel like the characters are merely going through the motions, as if they're one-set track robots. To use a metaphor: if a writer isn't too good at creating situations where the characters are forced to grow in some way, it feels as if the writer is merely trying to pulverize a large piece of stone into dust. When the two elements (character development and plot progression) are well done, it's almost as if the writer is creating a sculpture of some sort. In the end, the writer that emphasizes plot progression only and the writer that uses both elements of story writing are technically doing the same thing: chipping away at the piece of stone. But that same act only gains meaning if there is a purpose behind it.

The length of the work (where the genres now range from fast fiction to Russian and French-length novels and series) can affect how the author chooses to balance the two aforementioned elements. Short stories tend to put more emphasis on plot progression while full length series tend to develop their characters, albeit through a series of plots. This is of course not set in stone and there are some good short stories that I've read that are character driven while action novels and series tend to be more focused on plot progression. So I guess it's both the length and of course the style of the author that affects the balance.

There's also how the author wishes to present the point of the entire story. From what I've noticed in Fluttering Feelings, Ssamba gives us snapshots of the daily life of characters, which I think explains the myriad of side characters we get.

I think the beauty in Fluttering Feelings is that it presents to us that it isn't just amazing big events that can change the characters (like Seol-a getting run over by the motorcycle changing her plans for her future) but little interactions (like Seol-a and No-rae going to No-rae's friend's art exhibit or the scene in the train) that can cause some sort of change to how a character reacts, no matter how tiny. It's not just bam-bam-bam action that can get things moving and make things interesting but also slow trickles. To use another metaphor: quickly boiled beef (like in hot pot) tastes awesome, but so do slow-cooked stews.

Sorry for the rambling and the ten million parenthetical remarks. :P

edit: I also agree that there are a lot of cliches in the story but they don't bother me too much. Could they have been presented better? Sure, but they aren't eyeball-gouging terrible for me in any degree.

last edited at Jan 19, 2016 10:58AM

Hey guys! I've been following FF since chapter 26 and lurking on this thread for just about as long and I just want to say UGH THAT ENDING. Poor Seol-a. T_T Ssamba is really damn good with micro-expressions.