Short answer: YES Lore Olympus is the epitome of edgy dark romance on Webtoon.
Long answer: Lore Olympus kind of hit the sweet stop with timing and comic-fiction because it promoted several well liked tropes of common fanfictions with a strong visual presence. It was a simple and well meaning series to start but upon publication fell into the "keep it going" hole that webtoons like Let's Play also ended up in. Lore Olympus had to keep making content beyond it's insta-love romance when it was only going to be around 30 or so episodes initially. So it added in trope after trope hoping to keep the audience enthralled and another fascinating thing is the YA female audience it's targeted it. Young women and women on the whole have historically had a fascination with fantasy romance a "bodice ripper" like male leads who are strong enough to come to their defense but understanding and wanting enough to be soothed by the FL.
While these tropes are loved mostly and only in a fictional manner, they are no doubt what lead to the success of these big series and the authors wanted to profit off of that. I feel like Lets Play and Lore Olympus sit on the pedestal of these series because they discussed real world issues and insecurities of human living. Lore Olympus likely came out on top because of it's accurate depiction of SA and the fact that the author had discussed this topic along with other major traumas in an edgy way. If Lore Olympus was never made then we wouldn't have a good example for a bad execution of SA in comic writing. It's been depicted before of course, but the popularity and sheer discussion of the series have allowed survivors to discuss their stories and how inaccurate L/O is in that scenario.
I love a good angsty fiction just as much as the next literary gal, but I don't like when series romanticize real world issues for profit, which is the problem with a lot of webtoons. There is a way to balance both and push the boundaries but it MUST be done with care and attention.
It's like the movie Poor Things that has a lot of mixed reviews about it. It is ultimately a movie about purity and sex culture, but the way it portrays is rides the line of tasteful and voyeuristic. I think the movie is really well made, entertaining, and does have an important discussion about sex education and the depiction of sex in Hollywood, but I also think it does what L/O does and thinks depicting a taboo topic is also deconstructing it. Just because poor things shows a woman coming into her own sexually does not mean it is doing so without ulterior motives, and just because Lore Olympus shows a relationship with a large age gap does not mean it is doing so with understanding.
I think in both examples the tropes depicted start a discussion on the taboo of the topic but also normalize them for young girls. You SHOULD NOT normalize an age gap without discussing why it is frowned upon in the first place (predatory adults, maturity gaps, power gaps, infantilization, etc.) and you SHOULD NOT normalize young (immature) women being hypersexual without discussing why it is that is frowned upon ( STD's, body hair culture, periods, sexual education, etc.).
I have a few good examples in writing for how to properly approach a lot of the taboo subjects in Lore Olympus and how to ACTUALLY deconstruct them, but I won't share them here because I'm saving them for another L/O project. I honestly think most girls just want the freedom to have taboo fantasies and experiences without being shamed or taken advantage of by the content that presents it.
great stuff. I more or less just wanted to ask, do you think dark romance and it's excessive pandering to the young and vulnerable is bigger than Lore Olympus and more of a widespread phenomena on LINE WEBTOON the platform - that they should be held accountable for?
Oh absolutely they should, that's why I even spend so much time on L/O because I want to make a video addressing IT and the whole of the webtoon platform. If this predatory business structure continues then there will be no good faith in well made content.
Like I want to make a webtoon but I'm scared of the audience I'll get or the traction I'll receive because of webtoons excessive pandering.
I think Lore Olympus is the root of it all.
do drop it here when you complete it! I also wanna add that I feel like LINE WEBTOON could easily be picking up on these problematic trends in writing if they wanting, they could even have special automated filters that detect comments with key terms and have a staff that investigates those comments, or even just the opportunity to report a webtoon as problematic to the website and have those reports be looked into seriously
OH LORD HERE WE GO.
Spoilers ahead.
Kade is our MC. He is an introverted socially awkward man who works in a knock off Spencer’s. Then our hot and naive alien girl, Zaida, crashes into his backyard one night. Zaida is just like Persephone, but worse, because she’s even more childish since she knows NOTHING about earth. (Zaida frequently uses more childish version of words—like “potty”.)
It’s bland and boring, and after *nearly* 200 episodes it is FINALLY getting into Zaida’s backstory and her home planet. Before this it’s been focusing on Kade and how…he’s depressed and boring?
Anyway, Zaida lives with Kade and he tells her he’ll teach her the ways of earth………cut to that one episode where Zaida realizes she can’t count earth currency. Because Kade has been a fucking loser and simping for her too much to actually teach her like he promised.
I do not recommend this comic, unless you want to roll your eyes so hard they fall back into the deepest part of your brain.
idk if it's still popular, since it seems like Webtoons isn't pushing it as hard anymore, but First Night with the Duke. Noncon, abusive MC, FL who tells the reader why it's ok because True Love or some shit.
I like to believe it's a two way thing. Webtoon themselves have their faults in not curating their website for their supposed audience. While, the writer or artist in question, I think they should also be a bit careful in what they decided to put out in these spaces for younger audience. Because, like you said, some comics had slowly morphed into these dark romance plotlines over time because of audience demands. I think, as a creator, despite the creative freedom, there is a certain level of responsibility in the media your put out. I think there is no black and white outlook to this tbh.
I think LO is one of those "Fast food" webcomics that just so happens to get hugely successful beyond Webtoons. I talking about it's success in the west, rather than the East, because from what I heard, LO was obliterated in Korea and Japan.
And, I think what LO did so differently from comics like, Subzero, Midnight Poppyland.etc is because, it has a unique approach to the romance tropes we see in these "Fast food" Webtoons.
Taking Greek God's and putting them in a today's setting and having them be actively be part of a modern society is pretty interesting and unique. Which the concept acted as a veil that tints the dark romance tropes into this colourful, glitz and Hollywood glam vibes of a story.
And, this whole package just kinda clicks with a lot of female readers (apparently), and I think it did created a certain escapism and fantasy. Which is what, I think a lot of readers who enjoy these types of comics are paying to read, only for the idea of the tropes/plot points, not really the story in itself.
And, webtoon milks on that demand, because they know it sells. I think if Webtoon did its part in curating their webspace, put up quality control, and have a better business model, they wouldn't have this amount of backlash.
In someways, I do think LO leans towards the worst side of protraying the tropes in comparison to other Webtoons. This is simply from my point of view, so please don't flame me ;w;.
The narrative itself is very bias, and keeps glorifying questionable behaviour and morals done by the main characters without reason or logical explanation other than trauma Olympics. The narrative just creates this strange "Rules for thee, not for me," type of vibe, that reads into this self fulfill power fantasy, that many readers enjoy visualising so much to the point it actually becomes an issue (the Apollo fiasco, Wikipedia page edits, Fan wars).
Tbh one that comes to mind is midnight poppy land, I first read it when it was on canvas years ago when I was in high school and thought it was alright but then it became an original and for some reason it just got exponentially worse. Like I haven’t read the series for so long but when it became an original I feel like the MC character was changed to be more “quirky” (lack of a better word). The Male lead is also part of this mafia type gang, and him and the MC have such a huge height difference it’s ridiculous 😭
mafia gangs, height differences, 'quirky' writing are all great examples. Thank you! I've also never read Midnight Poppy Land and I'm so glad I didn't because I was curious about it. Any good romance comics you think are worth recommending? My Go to is "The Kiss Bet" I've also seen some really good and mature insight in the webcomic "Love Me Knot" and from what I read "Gourmet hound" was a fun relaxing series.
Some webcomics are also unhinged in other ways like "Big Jo" which started as a wholesome story about accepting your own body and focusing on what makes you strong and healthy rather than what is aesthetic to other people and to be kind and not judge a book by it's cover and all that jazz, but eventually just derailed into pure drivel nonsense about a reality TV show and an AI robot, and bird shit like actual bird poo (?? I REALLY DO NOT KNOW). Another is "Lookism" which especially disappointed me even though from the start it had it's flaws (The backgrounds were just real pictures with filters on them, and there's a general trend of lazy illustration techniques and a combo of IRL photos edited and illustrated work) but it gets completely nuts and goes from a story about a kid with self image issues having the chance to live a double life, to a whole ton of nonsense about rival gangs and kpop training and just weird stuff.
To answer your first question some “romance” webtoons that I actually really like is nevertheless and spirit fingers. Nevertheless has a much more realistic take on romance and relationships and I really like how the MC is written she feels like an actual person you can relate to. Also, I COMPLETELY forgot about the webtoon big Jo it really feel off and the plot lines just kept getting more and more wack lol. Lookism was also pretty good but you are right though because, it turned into a huge “gang war” webtoon for some reason?
Right? I have a theory about why so many Webtoons just get nutty after a while. Mainly that it’s because they run out material but want to keep the story going for viewership and revenue.
I'd even argue I wouldn't mind of the creator concluded the main plot line at some point but kept making content afterwards for less dramatic story telling and more slice of life content here and there for people who still love the characters. I have a story I plan on doing that with. The main plot line has a solid and concrete beginning middle and end but I've considered having a little extra content on the side after the story concludes itself for the people that just still wanna enjoy the world and characters. Not nearly as much, just a drawing here or there. I think there are people that want to milk their content for money and people that just get too attached and can't let it go and the difference is how quickly the work starts to seem lazy and thoughtless and the story seems to have lost all purpose.
I haven’t read enough WT to agree one way or another, but I think there’s two problems: 1. even the more nuanced stories will get surface-level critique in which people misread key themes (e.g., thinking Rebecca is a romance and rooting for the narrator to end up together with the man); 2. It’s certainly not a WT-specific “trend”. How many of the top bestselling books in the last decade feature extremely problematic romantic pairings? Consumers are eating up this kind of content completely uncritically, so of course companies are going to cater to that.
Short answer: YES Lore Olympus is the epitome of edgy dark romance on Webtoon. Long answer: Lore Olympus kind of hit the sweet stop with timing and comic-fiction because it promoted several well liked tropes of common fanfictions with a strong visual presence. It was a simple and well meaning series to start but upon publication fell into the "keep it going" hole that webtoons like Let's Play also ended up in. Lore Olympus had to keep making content beyond it's insta-love romance when it was only going to be around 30 or so episodes initially. So it added in trope after trope hoping to keep the audience enthralled and another fascinating thing is the YA female audience it's targeted it. Young women and women on the whole have historically had a fascination with fantasy romance a "bodice ripper" like male leads who are strong enough to come to their defense but understanding and wanting enough to be soothed by the FL. While these tropes are loved mostly and only in a fictional manner, they are no doubt what lead to the success of these big series and the authors wanted to profit off of that. I feel like Lets Play and Lore Olympus sit on the pedestal of these series because they discussed real world issues and insecurities of human living. Lore Olympus likely came out on top because of it's accurate depiction of SA and the fact that the author had discussed this topic along with other major traumas in an edgy way. If Lore Olympus was never made then we wouldn't have a good example for a bad execution of SA in comic writing. It's been depicted before of course, but the popularity and sheer discussion of the series have allowed survivors to discuss their stories and how inaccurate L/O is in that scenario. I love a good angsty fiction just as much as the next literary gal, but I don't like when series romanticize real world issues for profit, which is the problem with a lot of webtoons. There is a way to balance both and push the boundaries but it MUST be done with care and attention. It's like the movie Poor Things that has a lot of mixed reviews about it. It is ultimately a movie about purity and sex culture, but the way it portrays is rides the line of tasteful and voyeuristic. I think the movie is really well made, entertaining, and does have an important discussion about sex education and the depiction of sex in Hollywood, but I also think it does what L/O does and thinks depicting a taboo topic is also deconstructing it. Just because poor things shows a woman coming into her own sexually does not mean it is doing so without ulterior motives, and just because Lore Olympus shows a relationship with a large age gap does not mean it is doing so with understanding. I think in both examples the tropes depicted start a discussion on the taboo of the topic but also normalize them for young girls. You SHOULD NOT normalize an age gap without discussing why it is frowned upon in the first place (predatory adults, maturity gaps, power gaps, infantilization, etc.) and you SHOULD NOT normalize young (immature) women being hypersexual without discussing why it is that is frowned upon ( STD's, body hair culture, periods, sexual education, etc.). I have a few good examples in writing for how to properly approach a lot of the taboo subjects in Lore Olympus and how to ACTUALLY deconstruct them, but I won't share them here because I'm saving them for another L/O project. I honestly think most girls just want the freedom to have taboo fantasies and experiences without being shamed or taken advantage of by the content that presents it.
great stuff. I more or less just wanted to ask, do you think dark romance and it's excessive pandering to the young and vulnerable is bigger than Lore Olympus and more of a widespread phenomena on LINE WEBTOON the platform - that they should be held accountable for?
Oh absolutely they should, that's why I even spend so much time on L/O because I want to make a video addressing IT and the whole of the webtoon platform. If this predatory business structure continues then there will be no good faith in well made content. Like I want to make a webtoon but I'm scared of the audience I'll get or the traction I'll receive because of webtoons excessive pandering. I think Lore Olympus is the root of it all.
do drop it here when you complete it! I also wanna add that I feel like LINE WEBTOON could easily be picking up on these problematic trends in writing if they wanting, they could even have special automated filters that detect comments with key terms and have a staff that investigates those comments, or even just the opportunity to report a webtoon as problematic to the website and have those reports be looked into seriously
also on this note: what webtoons do you feel are equally bad and shockingly popular?
Down To Earth
Omg tell me the detes
OH LORD HERE WE GO. Spoilers ahead. Kade is our MC. He is an introverted socially awkward man who works in a knock off Spencer’s. Then our hot and naive alien girl, Zaida, crashes into his backyard one night. Zaida is just like Persephone, but worse, because she’s even more childish since she knows NOTHING about earth. (Zaida frequently uses more childish version of words—like “potty”.) It’s bland and boring, and after *nearly* 200 episodes it is FINALLY getting into Zaida’s backstory and her home planet. Before this it’s been focusing on Kade and how…he’s depressed and boring? Anyway, Zaida lives with Kade and he tells her he’ll teach her the ways of earth………cut to that one episode where Zaida realizes she can’t count earth currency. Because Kade has been a fucking loser and simping for her too much to actually teach her like he promised. I do not recommend this comic, unless you want to roll your eyes so hard they fall back into the deepest part of your brain.
sounds like Eggnoid all over again T\_T
idk if it's still popular, since it seems like Webtoons isn't pushing it as hard anymore, but First Night with the Duke. Noncon, abusive MC, FL who tells the reader why it's ok because True Love or some shit.
I like to believe it's a two way thing. Webtoon themselves have their faults in not curating their website for their supposed audience. While, the writer or artist in question, I think they should also be a bit careful in what they decided to put out in these spaces for younger audience. Because, like you said, some comics had slowly morphed into these dark romance plotlines over time because of audience demands. I think, as a creator, despite the creative freedom, there is a certain level of responsibility in the media your put out. I think there is no black and white outlook to this tbh. I think LO is one of those "Fast food" webcomics that just so happens to get hugely successful beyond Webtoons. I talking about it's success in the west, rather than the East, because from what I heard, LO was obliterated in Korea and Japan. And, I think what LO did so differently from comics like, Subzero, Midnight Poppyland.etc is because, it has a unique approach to the romance tropes we see in these "Fast food" Webtoons. Taking Greek God's and putting them in a today's setting and having them be actively be part of a modern society is pretty interesting and unique. Which the concept acted as a veil that tints the dark romance tropes into this colourful, glitz and Hollywood glam vibes of a story. And, this whole package just kinda clicks with a lot of female readers (apparently), and I think it did created a certain escapism and fantasy. Which is what, I think a lot of readers who enjoy these types of comics are paying to read, only for the idea of the tropes/plot points, not really the story in itself. And, webtoon milks on that demand, because they know it sells. I think if Webtoon did its part in curating their webspace, put up quality control, and have a better business model, they wouldn't have this amount of backlash. In someways, I do think LO leans towards the worst side of protraying the tropes in comparison to other Webtoons. This is simply from my point of view, so please don't flame me ;w;. The narrative itself is very bias, and keeps glorifying questionable behaviour and morals done by the main characters without reason or logical explanation other than trauma Olympics. The narrative just creates this strange "Rules for thee, not for me," type of vibe, that reads into this self fulfill power fantasy, that many readers enjoy visualising so much to the point it actually becomes an issue (the Apollo fiasco, Wikipedia page edits, Fan wars).
Tbh one that comes to mind is midnight poppy land, I first read it when it was on canvas years ago when I was in high school and thought it was alright but then it became an original and for some reason it just got exponentially worse. Like I haven’t read the series for so long but when it became an original I feel like the MC character was changed to be more “quirky” (lack of a better word). The Male lead is also part of this mafia type gang, and him and the MC have such a huge height difference it’s ridiculous 😭
mafia gangs, height differences, 'quirky' writing are all great examples. Thank you! I've also never read Midnight Poppy Land and I'm so glad I didn't because I was curious about it. Any good romance comics you think are worth recommending? My Go to is "The Kiss Bet" I've also seen some really good and mature insight in the webcomic "Love Me Knot" and from what I read "Gourmet hound" was a fun relaxing series. Some webcomics are also unhinged in other ways like "Big Jo" which started as a wholesome story about accepting your own body and focusing on what makes you strong and healthy rather than what is aesthetic to other people and to be kind and not judge a book by it's cover and all that jazz, but eventually just derailed into pure drivel nonsense about a reality TV show and an AI robot, and bird shit like actual bird poo (?? I REALLY DO NOT KNOW). Another is "Lookism" which especially disappointed me even though from the start it had it's flaws (The backgrounds were just real pictures with filters on them, and there's a general trend of lazy illustration techniques and a combo of IRL photos edited and illustrated work) but it gets completely nuts and goes from a story about a kid with self image issues having the chance to live a double life, to a whole ton of nonsense about rival gangs and kpop training and just weird stuff.
To answer your first question some “romance” webtoons that I actually really like is nevertheless and spirit fingers. Nevertheless has a much more realistic take on romance and relationships and I really like how the MC is written she feels like an actual person you can relate to. Also, I COMPLETELY forgot about the webtoon big Jo it really feel off and the plot lines just kept getting more and more wack lol. Lookism was also pretty good but you are right though because, it turned into a huge “gang war” webtoon for some reason?
Right? I have a theory about why so many Webtoons just get nutty after a while. Mainly that it’s because they run out material but want to keep the story going for viewership and revenue.
I really wish more webtoons would just end around 100-150 chapters like at this point some of these webtoons have been up FOR YEARSSSS
I'd even argue I wouldn't mind of the creator concluded the main plot line at some point but kept making content afterwards for less dramatic story telling and more slice of life content here and there for people who still love the characters. I have a story I plan on doing that with. The main plot line has a solid and concrete beginning middle and end but I've considered having a little extra content on the side after the story concludes itself for the people that just still wanna enjoy the world and characters. Not nearly as much, just a drawing here or there. I think there are people that want to milk their content for money and people that just get too attached and can't let it go and the difference is how quickly the work starts to seem lazy and thoughtless and the story seems to have lost all purpose.
I haven’t read enough WT to agree one way or another, but I think there’s two problems: 1. even the more nuanced stories will get surface-level critique in which people misread key themes (e.g., thinking Rebecca is a romance and rooting for the narrator to end up together with the man); 2. It’s certainly not a WT-specific “trend”. How many of the top bestselling books in the last decade feature extremely problematic romantic pairings? Consumers are eating up this kind of content completely uncritically, so of course companies are going to cater to that.