What Are Your Tastes? Chapter extra 1 Discussion

I don't know if there's a tag for this yet on NU, but the side couple in this story is GL (previously straight divorcee doctor x lesbian clothes designer). They usually mark that as a tag on mangaupdates, so I thought to mention it here.

In terms of quality as a danmei novel, this is pretty good. There are a few issues I noticed towards the end which often occur in danmei, so I feel like it might be strange to only knock down a star for that reason.

It reminds me a bit of Exclusive Rights to an Online Voice Actor, except this one has less drama. You can't really tell who is top/bottom or if they switch because it is very pure shounen ai without a speck of bed scenes. So I'll just say that the ML was originally straight, and fell in love with the MC who is gay after a series of cute misunderstandings and gradually coming to realize that he truly cared for the MC (it's pretty slow burn). I usually dislike the misunderstandings trope, but it wasn't too bad in this story (not too illogical). The unrequited love part of the story was sad to read because Spoiler

you could tell that the MC would never try to actively seduce his straight friend, and left the initiative to the ML to pursue him. His attitude of resignation mixed with genuine love that was willing to simply be his close friend was quite heartbreaking. But then the ML also misunderstood that the MC was in love with a married straight man of their mutual acquaintance, and it was "mutual unrequited love" for a short time lol...

[collapse] Their mutual misunderstanding was cute to read about and didn't really bother me at all.

What I liked about this story in particular:

It's written in a little bit of a dual perspective (in 3rd person) which allows you to understand some of the ML's feelings and backstory a bit better than some single perspective stories. I really am tired of the Western M/M (gay romance between 2 men) writing style which is almost exclusively dual first person perspective. Dual 3rd person POV is much better, since the story isn't devolved into a cutesy diary (the diary style makes it seem like a comedy or a lighthearted type when often it might be dramatic or even dark angst). I grew up reading only 3rd person novels for many years, and then suddenly almost everything was published in diary format (in English fiction works). It works well for young adult stuff and comedy, not so much for adult content (just my opinion). This author was able to judge very well when it was appropriate to introduce the ML's POV and when not to. I think it actually requires quite a bit of finesse as an author. I mean, there are literally hundreds of bestsellers in America that always only write the diary type POV, and they publish very frequently as if their books are made in a factory on an assembly line. I really think that some Western authors could learn a lot from danmei writers when it comes to lyrical quality and the POV issue.

What I disliked about it:

Tbh, the two things I noticed that bothered me also bother me in a majority of danmei I've read, so I don't think it's okay to just rate it as 4 stars (because overall, it's very well written). The problem is the perspective of the author, who may be limited by a narrow mindset or a narrow range of what they've read before. As if they lack a broader perspective.

What I noticed was the main villain in this story, was so unreasonable Spoiler

that he actually commited crimes by corporate theft and abducting the MC and a side character

[collapse]. I don't like the typical villains in danmei or other Chinese works because they almost always are such foolish/insane/illogical/unreasonable people that they do something out of jealousy towards a main character, then either go to jail or die as punishment for their sins. I mean, this type of plot is so unrealistic. It's okay if you read about this type of plot once or twice. But then you read nearly every danmei with some dramatic content in which the villain does something completely insane and illogical, mostly out of jealousy... Boring! I think these authors are usually quite good, but then the villains are depicted as some evil caricatures, there's no nuance. You can't relate as a reader very much because these kinds of villains would usually make breaking news in normal society. How many of us readers are involved in breaking news stories like that as ordinary folk? Very few. So we have no sense of empathy for these types of plots. But I still keep reading danmei and other Chinese novels out of the sheer hope that one of these authors will break the pattern and write all the main characters, side characters, and villains as not just black/white, good versus evil.

The last thing I noticed was a comment by the MC, which made me feel uncomfortable. Combined with his narrow minded comment, and the lack of representation (zero diversity) in many danmei and other Chinese works, I guess it made me think that this author is biased or narrow minded themselves. Spoiler

In the extra, the MC was asked if he wanted to travel to anywhere besides Mongolia. This is their convo:

"'I've already been to all the places I wanted to go... can't think of anywhere else.'

'Take your time, ' Zhou Yanchuan continued, 'So... did you enjoy this trip?'

'Of course.'

Lu Yunchu had seen vast plains in Europe, but the grasslands in China had a different kind of majestic beauty."

What I find weird about this convo is that it reflects the absolute lack of diversity in Chinese novels as a whole. You basically only ever get to hear about Chinese protagonists that live, study, or travel to Europe or America (or perhaps in Korea, Japan or limited nearby nations) if they study and travel during the course of the book. However, this does not reflect the reality of the Chinese experience. I know for a fact that many Chinese people have immigrated to places in Latin America, to the extent that there are countless mixed race people of both Latino and Chinese descent. China has a strong business relationship with many African countries and there are actually quite a few mixed race families who have African and Chinese parents. But I've read hundreds of these types of books and never once did an author feature a mixed race character (not just main characters but also side characters) with Latino or African heritage. I find it strange that the MC Lu Yunchu had zero desire to travel to anywhere besides Europe or China. I guess many people are homebodies that dislike travel, but the impression this author gives is more like "only Europe and China have interesting places to travel to" which seems weird and even narrow minded.

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However I do want to note, that lack of diversity affects both Western M/M fiction as well as danmei. If it's a Western author, you almost only see white main characters (including white European characters). And if it's a person of color, they are often stereotyped as criminals and/or p*rverts and even hypersexualized (which is another racist stereotype about POC). So I feel like it's not proper for me to remove a star on my rating for these kinds of things that happens across the board in a global context for popular literature.