/bl/ - General BL

Personally I prefer manga, there's something about manhwa's art styles that I don't like but I can't really put my finger on it to say exactly why. Even then I did really enjoy Killing Stalking, tho I prefer the early art style a lot more.

>>3149
I saw this thread on cc and I'll say nearly the same thing here: manhwa is really ugly to me and every time I take a chance on one based on the chatter of other fujos I feel like I got tricked. I don't care for the formatting either. Original BL comics outside of 18+ one-shots are a hard sell to me though.

>I just like colors if I’m being honest.
Colors are actually a minus to me because if I like something I want it to come out as fast as it can haha. Screentone that shit and send it off to print!

I'm more of a manga fan. I've never cared much for color, and I don't like the art style, as other anons have said. I think it's the shoulders and something about the faces. I know nothing about art, so it's hard to say why, but I like how manga often looks more expressive?

I hate the scrolling in manhwa. You sometimes can't see all the pictures effectively because there's such an emphasis on continuous scrolling it feels like all of it is noise. That or there's just a whole bunch of wasted white space. The whole format is just a pain in the ass.
There are some that use it well (King's Maker and [not-bl but its beautiful and underrated] Carp With Thousand Eyes comes to mind), but Id' rather not go through so much trash to find something like them… I just leave that up to friends who like manwha to recommend to me.

I mainly read manga and have no strong opinions on manwha. I don't read webtoons or anyrhing and their print books are clearly not Japanese but that doesn't bother me. I guess from my experience their stuff tends to be "girlier" for lack of a better term. Like in all the ones I've read their men are much more androgynous. But it might just be the series I've checked out.

Source of the manga picrel?

Manga. I've read some manhwa before but 8/10 times the art is way too bland and soulless for me. I prefer manga illustration and panelling a lot more. Korea also seems to be going through its early yaoi stages because holy fuck are some body proportions insane. Some semes are so roided up and huge it's too gross for me to look at.

>>3164
usagi no mori

>>3165
> Korea also seems to be going through its early yaoi stages
Holy shit yes. I'm sure that there's some decentely drawn BL manhwa out there but damned if I'm going to slog through all that bland trash. Honestly, I'd rather wait out its awkward teen phase.

Going to go against the grain a bit and say manhwa/webtoons, even though I like manga just fine too. It makes me a little sad when people wholesale dismiss manhwa art because there's quite a lot of variability in my experience–some is even black and white, like Yona and Chang-il as well as BJ Alex. I can agree that a lot of webtoons are unapologetic slop because the BL space is so oversaturated and relatively new with a low barrier of entry. And the schedules are so tight it doesn't leave any breathing room, so for a lot of releases, there are obvious signs of 3d model usage, sloppy coloring that detracts from the style, and wonky proportioning. I also dislike how much white space a lot of webtoons have. On the flip side, I think it is much easier to read on mobile (where I do most of my reading), and there is just so much content that I never run out of stuff to read. There are webtoons with art styles that I genuinely like a lot, and because the space is so competitive, there are a lot of titles that have interesting plots and dynamics. I still read and enjoy yaoi manga, but I definitely read more BL webtoons and have a lot of fun with them.

I feel partially responsible for this thread existing because I defended webtoons in the other thread, then as usual I chickened out of responding when I realized that I'm not reading explicitly BL comics. I have since tried reading a couple, and they were the most aimless things with no plan or ambition, just a decent artist (which, given the examples people post, doesn't seem to be common for current BL webcomics) and a gimmick concept. Years back I read Raising A Bat, King Maker, and The Priest's Chart, which were actually BL, and I quite enjoyed them, but all of them had issues with translations being stuck behind ever moving paywalls. Different seasons on different apps, so you had to wait for some shoddy JPEG rip on random manga aggregate sites that didn't always support vertical comics. They're probably better at vertical uploads now.

At the moment the only BL webtoons I'm reading are Raising the Demonic Cult's Leader (extremely slow murim with a pretty MC), and I Became The Lousy Side Top, an adaptation of a webnovel parodying generic Korean BL tropes. However the quality of the latter's chapters has noticeably declined, and it was of course plagued by stock background assets ("there's no oven in this entire kitchen!" he states, staring at 2-4 copypasted ovens). The MC's love interest is fairly bland and too innocent, but I loved his interactions with the bad boy loanshark because cynical bitch bottom and baffled stoic demon top is pretty fun. I want the "original novel"'s couple to get together because it'd be more interesting than the MC having fluff with him.

Anyway yeah, I read far more BL manga than BL webtoons. The format is best suited for page turners, sort of throwaway entertainment that is made of cliffhangers and twists, however that means many originals are in a perpetual cycle of trying to make something happen only at the end of a chapter to make you come back next time. And next time it ends up being nothing until the end of the chapter. I think it works far better for adaptations and planned stories, where they can have some meat in the chapter before timing a reveal or cliffhanger, but as far as I can tell the BL webtoon industry is quantity over quality. That means the majority are also not my genre, I get far more fantasy, supernatural, and wistful romances from manga.

So why did I say I read some pretty good webtoons? Because I'm into those webnovels where all the comments on official uploads treat it like a BL. The ones with two male leads who can't stop having back and forths and reluctantly broing it up. My first was probably How to Survive in a Fantasy World back in 2012ish, and I was not surprised to learn it had fanbook events for shipping. Old man stop looking for your wife and see the strapping fella stood beside you, geez. Going onto SID after that was easy, and it had some vibes that reminded me of manga I liked in the past. Never did finish that one.

Post got too long, hang on.

>>3248
The current ones I'm into are TWSB, LCF, BIDS, SRH, SRIH, HI, and GED (two of these don't have comics yet, one has a comic that is so shit it actively made me pay money for overpriced novel chapters full of typos). It's like danmei all over again with these abbreviations. Biggest difference is your mileage will vary hard on how much isekai/transmigration, dungeon break, and regression you can stomach. I love this shit for narrative convenience and creating both action and social situations. I think the long format suits these best because they're sagas that go on for fucking ever. The adaptations don't have to worry about making up something new to end each chapter with, they have a plan that goes on for months worth of content. Most of all what I like are the types of MCs who draw people in with concern and admiration. MCs who take casts on wild rides because they think in unexpected ways, and sometimes pull off captivating acts/speeches. If someone worries that they're mad but brilliant then I am here with my popcorn.

I love my tidily concluded short BL manga, and how pretty and varied the art styles can be with some wonderfully researched clothing and architecture, but webtoon provide a different entertainment that I also crave. It's easy for me to consume both at their own rates. The Korean content however has fanart by the bucket load compared and I can actually talk to people about it without embarrassment. You read a five chapter long BL, enjoy it, and nobody has any clue it exists and if they do they'll tell you it's "generic shit" for some reason or another and shut down conversation. The genuinely dumb adventures of "guy stuck in a book" generate more chatter and jokes. As a result it ends up looking like I don't read BL manga at all and spend all my time on Korean no homo.

>>3248
>I think it works far better for adaptations and planned stories
This is fairly common for BL webtoons, though, no? Passion, Payback, Zero Day Attack, Define the Relationship, Odd Love, Touch-up, Codename: Anastasia, XXX Buddy, and Hard-boiled Love are all based on novels, and that's just off the top off my head. In general, I think webtoons based on novels tend to have a better "hook" and have more substance (so they don't feel aimless halfway through), but they tend to suffer from similar problems as any other webtoon, especially if the artist is just okay or doesn't adapt the novel very well. There are BL webtoons written and drawn by just one person that have better narrative substance and pacing than ones based on novels, so it's very YMMV. You did help me realize that part of why I'm drawn to BL webtoons (and webnovels) is probably because I like long stories, and BL manga tends to be rather short. I'm usually left wanting more…

>That means the majority are also not my genre, I get far more fantasy, supernatural, and wistful romances from manga.
Also, about this…I feel like there are a lot of supernatural/fantasy entries within BL webtoons, which isn't surprising since Koreans are huge fans of media that deals with muism (Korean shamanism), both in K-dramas and in webtoons. The Ghost's Nocturne (picrel) is probably my favorite example, but there's also Night of the Unmarked, One Summer Day, Uncanny Charm, Dreaming of the Dokkaebi, A Twisted Fate, The Boy Who Stole From the Fairy Lake, and quite a few others. If that's not the kind of fantasy/supernatural you mean (I really like stories about muism, so I seek them out), there are probably still entries that would suit your tastes. Unless you mean LOTR type of fantasy, that seems to be peculiarly unpopular. Also, there's plenty of sad wistful pining in BL webtoons, but I'm not sure if that's what you mean.

I'm not trying to argue with you or anything, I just wanted you to know that it sounds like there might be BL webtoons that actually are a good fit for you. I think the sheer magnitude of BL webtoons makes people reluctant to go hunting, especially when there are so many weak entires, but as someone who stress reads BL webtoons by the dozens, I feel a sense of duty to clarify things about them that people don't seem to realize. But, if you're happy with your webnovels with BL vibes and those adaptations, more power to you, of course. I was surprised you didn't mention ORV, though, since that feels like the most common example.

I used to like manga better but these days I prefer manhwa. The colors and webtoon style make it easier to scroll on my phone when I don't want to get out of bed.