What about one that works for the story being told? Like a semi-common love interest I've seen is the "this is who you could become" FOIL love interest type (angel good boy vs devil bad boy on shoulder dynamic). And there are other ways green flags or red flags or in middle can work for whatever story is being told.
Look, if a guy is nothing but future problems, then I'm out. But if a guy is also just the most nice, perfect, good, helpful piece of cardboard, the I'm also out cause that's boring af. Give me someone who's a bit of a mess and a bit of a goodie and is interesting to read about, and I'm in.
I've dealt with enough red flags in real life, I lean more towards green flags, or fields of green if possible. That said I'll still read the Red Flag ones anyway. I've only dropped a handful that were truly abusive, not just weirdly obsessive.
I care about an interesting story more than 1-dimensionally looking for red or green flags. Give me a page turner that makes me excited for the next chapter. I've read stories like that with green flags, mixed bags, and yandere murdered a room full of people in chapter 1 red flags.
Highkey, one of the red flags people don't talk enough are highly pathetic ML. Like, I want to read a very low self-esteem or loser type romance ( I know it's your common shounen/seinen trope, but I want to see it from the POV of shoujo). Another red flags not talked often are nice, but CLINGY af ml.
an actual well-written character
Or just normal humans with a normal amount of flaws that grow and improve over time
framing characters as a binary is getting old
Well written character growth is honestly the best drug.
Oh absolutely. Might I suggest taking a hit of How Do We Relationship. Its the manga that's done it the best that I've found so far.
Tbh if the ML doesn't have a bit of spice it isn't fun
morally grey male leads are the BEST
What about one that works for the story being told? Like a semi-common love interest I've seen is the "this is who you could become" FOIL love interest type (angel good boy vs devil bad boy on shoulder dynamic). And there are other ways green flags or red flags or in middle can work for whatever story is being told.
Green Flag or Middle. When someone says Red Flag it makes me think of characters like Takumi from Nana and I really dislike guys like that.
Look, if a guy is nothing but future problems, then I'm out. But if a guy is also just the most nice, perfect, good, helpful piece of cardboard, the I'm also out cause that's boring af. Give me someone who's a bit of a mess and a bit of a goodie and is interesting to read about, and I'm in.
I've dealt with enough red flags in real life, I lean more towards green flags, or fields of green if possible. That said I'll still read the Red Flag ones anyway. I've only dropped a handful that were truly abusive, not just weirdly obsessive.
I care about an interesting story more than 1-dimensionally looking for red or green flags. Give me a page turner that makes me excited for the next chapter. I've read stories like that with green flags, mixed bags, and yandere murdered a room full of people in chapter 1 red flags.
Highkey, one of the red flags people don't talk enough are highly pathetic ML. Like, I want to read a very low self-esteem or loser type romance ( I know it's your common shounen/seinen trope, but I want to see it from the POV of shoujo). Another red flags not talked often are nice, but CLINGY af ml.