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Book Club: #Blessed · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Smantha and welcome to stuff.
0:08
Speaker 1: When I never told your predictive I heard.
0:09
Speaker 2: You welcome to another book club. Yes, this is a
0:19
Speaker 2: Pride book club. Of course, I feel like most of
0:21
Speaker 2: you already know. Yes, June is Pride month in the US,
0:25
Speaker 2: so we are going to do Pride themed things. So
0:28
Speaker 2: for this month's Pride edition of book Club, we are
0:31
Speaker 2: doing our first web tunes featuring M Victoria Rabbado. And
0:36
Speaker 2: I'm really sorry if I said that wrong. She is
0:39
Speaker 2: an Argentinian artist slash writer, so I'm probably going to
0:43
Speaker 2: just call them m for now since I don't quite
0:46
Speaker 2: know how to say her last name.
0:48
Speaker 3: But this is hers.
0:50
Speaker 2: And just a bit of history about webtoons, because I
0:53
Speaker 2: know we haven't really talked about it. We talked about
0:55
Speaker 2: manga recently, but we didn't really talk about manhua or webtoons,
1:00
Speaker 2: which are Korean editions.
1:02
Speaker 3: So just real quick.
1:03
Speaker 2: During the financial crisis in South Korea in the nineties,
1:07
Speaker 2: the buying and renting of comics in that area suffered
1:11
Speaker 2: pretty badly, causing many comic stores to close down. Like
1:15
Speaker 2: it went from like eighty percent by rate to twenty percent.
1:18
Speaker 2: That's how badly the industry was doing. And on top
1:22
Speaker 2: of that, the Japanese literature was previously banned in South Korea.
1:27
Speaker 2: All of a sudden that was lifted in the late nineties,
1:29
Speaker 2: which meant there was many more mangas that were on sale.
1:32
Speaker 2: There caused a little dip in the South Korean market obviously,
1:36
Speaker 2: and at this time they also do rentals outside of
1:40
Speaker 2: just outright buying.
1:42
Speaker 3: Do we have a system like that?
1:44
Speaker 2: I know we can borrow from like libraries, but they
1:46
Speaker 2: actually had comic stores that you can just rent out
1:49
Speaker 2: and bring it back.
1:49
Speaker 1: Do we have system like that? I think some places
1:52
Speaker 1: do that. I don't know how common it is, but
1:54
Speaker 1: I believe some places do that.
1:56
Speaker 2: Okay, I've seen the men Key drama, so we go
2:00
Speaker 2: the little I know about the nineties cultures. So with
2:03
Speaker 2: all of that, this really caused a really big low
2:07
Speaker 2: for the comic industry. And then add the new fingled
2:10
Speaker 2: internet to be mixed in, and this just added to
2:13
Speaker 2: the crash. So not many people were getting any kind
2:16
Speaker 2: of money off of their comics or their animations or
2:20
Speaker 2: their writings, so this was a pretty big deal. But
2:23
Speaker 2: like most mediums, they changed their delivery tactic to grow
2:27
Speaker 2: with the Internet with the creation of webtoons, which is
2:30
Speaker 2: web plus cartoons. I feel like that might be obvious,
2:33
Speaker 2: but just in case, webtoons are named after that which
2:37
Speaker 2: grew into and has grown into a huge industry. And
2:41
Speaker 2: I mean huge, I mean multi billion dollars industry for
2:45
Speaker 2: one company. So the one the app that I used,
2:48
Speaker 2: which was webtoons, they are like, they make like five billion.
2:53
Speaker 3: I think they're at that mark right at this point.
2:55
Speaker 3: I'm like, good.
2:55
Speaker 2: Gosh, because most of their stuff is free. You can
2:59
Speaker 2: get a lot of their stuff free, and you have
3:00
Speaker 2: a lot of ads, and that's kind of how they
3:02
Speaker 2: make their revenue. You can also, I think go to
3:05
Speaker 2: a premium status that might cost money. I didn't look
3:09
Speaker 2: too much into it, but yes, they're a multi billion
3:12
Speaker 2: dollar industry at this point. And with that chunk of
3:15
Speaker 2: the k dramas that you see that many people are
3:17
Speaker 2: watching have been webtoons turned TV and movie dramas. Netflix
3:23
Speaker 2: has really jumped on board, I believe, in like the
3:26
Speaker 2: two thousands of era and really decided this is their way,
3:29
Speaker 2: this is what they're going to do, and take those
3:31
Speaker 2: webtoons and finance them into being big market dramas.
3:35
Speaker 3: And it's working.
3:36
Speaker 2: It's working obviously with the help of smartphones. The demand
3:40
Speaker 2: for webtoon has only grown. It's digital format with the
3:43
Speaker 2: vertical scrolling, which is what the whole thing is. Oh yeah,
3:46
Speaker 2: we just keep on going and fun art and graphics
3:49
Speaker 2: seems to be a match made in comics heaven, so
3:52
Speaker 2: this is their thing. In twenty fourteen, the apps soon
3:55
Speaker 2: spread around the world, with a launch in the US
3:58
Speaker 2: and across the globe. You can get different types of
4:01
Speaker 2: webtoons with different ways to read. Some again offer subscription
4:04
Speaker 2: services which would give you early access, while some rely
4:08
Speaker 2: on ads and views. Some others offer just chapter by
4:11
Speaker 2: chapter purchases, which I thought was interesting, and some offer
4:14
Speaker 2: it for free, but it comes at a later date
4:17
Speaker 2: from the original release, so if you want it immediately,
4:20
Speaker 2: you pay for that premium, or you could wake a
4:22
Speaker 2: few months and then get it for free.
4:24
Speaker 3: So they have a different tactics on.
4:27
Speaker 2: How they deliver these types of webtuns, and much like
4:30
Speaker 2: fan fiction, the story can be as long or as
4:35
Speaker 2: short as the writer or artist.
4:37
Speaker 3: Wants to like.
4:39
Speaker 2: Some have continue stories that last years. One of the
4:42
Speaker 2: longest running ones is called The Sound of Your Heart,
4:45
Speaker 2: which went from two thousand and six to twenty twenty,
4:48
Speaker 2: so it was a fourteen year run and it had
4:50
Speaker 2: over twelve hundred episodes, so there's some out there that
4:54
Speaker 2: like counts at three thousand. I believe there's a Chinese
4:57
Speaker 2: version of it, so like, there's a lot to be said,
5:00
Speaker 2: you control it. And as for our featured story for
5:04
Speaker 2: our book club, from what I can tell, there are
5:08
Speaker 2: two seasons with sixty four episodes in total, or chapters.
5:11
Speaker 2: They call them episodes from what I've seen, but also
5:14
Speaker 2: known as chapters.
5:15
Speaker 3: But it's currently not finished.
5:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, so m seems to have taken a hiatus and
5:22
Speaker 2: there's no current date of when and if she plans
5:26
Speaker 2: to continue, so it's up in the air. Also, when
5:29
Speaker 2: we first picked this, I didn't realize that the before
5:33
Speaker 2: not a Korean author. In fact, she's an Argentinian author.
5:36
Speaker 3: But I love the fact.
5:38
Speaker 2: That this was a story with a bisexual woman lead
5:40
Speaker 2: that didn't over sexualize anyone. I think that was one
5:44
Speaker 2: of the first things that popped up about, like finally
5:46
Speaker 2: a story with a bisexual lead who was not being
5:49
Speaker 2: over sexualized. And I'm like, you know what, Yeah, that's true,
5:52
Speaker 2: And this one is very cute because you know, sometimes
5:56
Speaker 2: manhuas and mangas are skilled. There's been a lot of
6:01
Speaker 2: accusations and I've seen it just recently where some of
6:05
Speaker 2: the web tunes are being called out for a sexist, misogynistic,
6:09
Speaker 2: racist takes. So it's kind of like you have to
6:12
Speaker 2: kind of be careful, like anything else.
6:14
Speaker 3: What you get.
6:15
Speaker 2: And this is one of those reviews about why this
6:16
Speaker 2: was a top one, especially for the queer community, because
6:21
Speaker 2: it's actually nice and a fun story with a good
6:25
Speaker 2: plot that doesn't necessarily sexualize over sexualize anyone, not like
6:30
Speaker 2: it doesn't really sexualize anyone other than their companionship kind
6:34
Speaker 2: of thing. So it was nice to see that. So
6:37
Speaker 2: that's why we did pick this one. It was one
6:39
Speaker 2: of the top recommended ones. Easy read, fun, fun art.
6:43
Speaker 2: The illustrations are fantastic. She does an amazing job and
6:46
Speaker 2: if you want to go and check her site out again,
6:48
Speaker 2: it's m dot Victoria Rabbido or rabato, it's our obad
6:54
Speaker 2: o and you can check her out. But the book
6:56
Speaker 2: we're talking about, or the actual webtain we're talking about,
6:59
Speaker 2: is hashtag Blessed, so it is a translation, so you
7:02
Speaker 2: will see some like oh yeah, you can tell this
7:04
Speaker 2: with pot parts probably harder to translate, including some of
7:07
Speaker 2: the names of the gods.
7:09
Speaker 3: So bear with me because I didn't.
7:13
Speaker 2: I can't get those pronunciations, all of them, so I
7:16
Speaker 2: am guessing. And this webtoon was created in twenty seventeen
7:20
Speaker 2: and leased, with the second one released the next year,
7:23
Speaker 2: and I know they are now available in hard copies.
7:26
Speaker 2: So if you want to actually be able to, like Annie,
7:29
Speaker 2: have something physically there, because I know that's how she
7:32
Speaker 2: feels about her movies and wanting for DVDs. A lot
7:35
Speaker 2: of people just feel the same way about things like
7:37
Speaker 2: this where you can't get you only have digital copies,
7:40
Speaker 2: but you don't know the Internet could disappear.
7:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, so if you want.
7:44
Speaker 2: A hard copy, I believe the first one is definitely
7:47
Speaker 2: out and available on different platforms. The second one had
7:51
Speaker 2: a Kickstarter.
7:52
Speaker 3: I believe to get it to that format.
7:55
Speaker 2: I'm not sure for sure that that's out though, but
7:58
Speaker 2: you can go check it out or help with the kickstarter,
8:00
Speaker 2: you know, to have that actual hard copy. But very
8:03
Speaker 2: cute indeed. So there you go a little bit of history. Yes,
8:07
Speaker 2: and now we're here, okay, so let's talk characters again.
8:12
Speaker 2: This we're only talking about season one, and it does
8:14
Speaker 2: end on a cliffhanger, so I think there's a likelihood
8:18
Speaker 2: that I'll be returning, even though apparently it's gonna end
8:20
Speaker 2: on another cliffhanger and Wamy over find out the ending right.
8:24
Speaker 1: To your own ending. This is what I do, and
8:26
Speaker 1: my fan fiction fails me.
8:27
Speaker 3: It's true.
8:28
Speaker 2: I mean, apparently there's a lot of people who have
8:29
Speaker 2: I've seen a little bit of like people like I've
8:31
Speaker 2: got this version.
8:32
Speaker 3: I was like, oh sweet. Anyway, so there you go.
8:35
Speaker 3: But let's talk characters.
8:36
Speaker 2: We have the main character, Joanna, who is a social
8:39
Speaker 2: media manager and dating advice writer for a magazine. And
8:43
Speaker 2: in the story, we have seven gods courting Joanna to
8:47
Speaker 2: create a demi god to rule the world.
8:49
Speaker 3: We'll get into that.
8:50
Speaker 2: In the pod, we have Dariel, Trail, Alvis, Zatis, Zidabi, Avusavia,
8:55
Speaker 2: and bless X, which she calls Alex because she could
8:58
Speaker 2: not read his name. I'm glad to have that one name, Alex,
9:01
Speaker 2: because everything else I'm guessing. We also have her roommate
9:05
Speaker 2: Maara and her ex boyfriend Jake. So those are some
9:08
Speaker 2: of the characters that you need to know.
9:10
Speaker 3: Now.
9:10
Speaker 2: The plot, so we have Joyna, who is struggling with
9:13
Speaker 2: her love life, her job, and just her ability to
9:15
Speaker 2: communicate with others. Oh, with her jobs centered around dating
9:18
Speaker 2: a love life, she decided she too wanted to try
9:21
Speaker 2: out the dating world and downloaded a new dating app,
9:24
Speaker 2: and because she thought maybe she was being too picky,
9:27
Speaker 2: decided to swipe yes to all of the people, which
9:30
Speaker 2: then turned into a binding contract she didn't realize she
9:33
Speaker 2: signed up for, with several different gods trying to procreate
9:36
Speaker 2: with her to rule the world. Literally, there's a prophecy
9:39
Speaker 2: in which they must find someone to procreate with in
9:43
Speaker 2: order to take over the world, and it's kind of
9:45
Speaker 2: like they're buying for this one queen. They call her
9:49
Speaker 2: my Queen in hopes to be chosen by her to
9:53
Speaker 2: have a baby to rule the world.
9:55
Speaker 1: Yep, and they are so cute.
9:58
Speaker 3: It is so cute.
10:00
Speaker 2: So in an effort to stall and figure out what
10:03
Speaker 2: to do, she decides to go on a date with
10:05
Speaker 2: each of them, starting with Zabadi, who immediately sweeps her away,
10:08
Speaker 2: like literally carries her off and flies away. On their date,
10:12
Speaker 2: he takes her to a fancy restaurant where she can
10:14
Speaker 2: tell that he knows a lot more about humans than
10:18
Speaker 2: he let on, and then she expected. Turns out he
10:21
Speaker 2: has dated a human before and she died somehow a long, long,
10:25
Speaker 2: long time ago, he says, but he truly loved her
10:28
Speaker 2: and still thought about her, including a book that the
10:31
Speaker 2: old girlfriend called girlfriend gave him about romance.
10:36
Speaker 3: All of this goes.
10:37
Speaker 2: Down with the assistance of Daniel, who has been watching
10:41
Speaker 2: and like, kind of she's kind of like the foil
10:44
Speaker 2: in this entire plot.
10:47
Speaker 3: You trust her, but you don't.
10:48
Speaker 2: She is a demon. She's proudly a demon, she says it.
10:51
Speaker 2: But at the same time you can tell she kind.
10:53
Speaker 3: Of has some good deeds or thoughts or intentions.
10:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so she as she's trying process she being Joanna.
11:01
Speaker 3: All the new information.
11:03
Speaker 2: She is visited by the gods at her workplace the
11:05
Speaker 2: following day, where she was almost fired for not doing
11:08
Speaker 2: her work in time, and she lies a lot about
11:12
Speaker 2: this about like.
11:13
Speaker 3: Oh I'm almost done, Oh no, I got it.
11:15
Speaker 2: I'll like all that, And somehow she gets shrunk, like
11:19
Speaker 2: literally as a tiny person and into a cute other
11:23
Speaker 2: form of animation, changing the style of the art and
11:25
Speaker 2: the way is drawn. In Joanna's web tunes, she has
11:29
Speaker 2: a couple of chapters dedicated to Q and DA's and
11:32
Speaker 2: she talks about her style of drawing and why she
11:35
Speaker 2: switches this up and how much she likes it.
11:36
Speaker 3: So you need to go into that look that web.
11:39
Speaker 2: So with that and with all of that kerfuffle, Joanna
11:42
Speaker 2: is the ends up being suspended from work because not
11:45
Speaker 2: only does she not have her work done, a lot
11:48
Speaker 2: of disaster has been happening around the office, seemingly around her.
11:52
Speaker 2: So Carla the boss was like, you know what, You're
11:54
Speaker 2: just gonna be suspended, sending her into a set scrolling
11:58
Speaker 2: spiral depression. Whena realizes her ex Jake is in town
12:02
Speaker 2: and rushes with her next date of Usavia to find him,
12:07
Speaker 2: so using Avasavia as a ruse to try to hunt
12:10
Speaker 2: him down while also.
12:12
Speaker 3: Pretending to be on a date with her, which is
12:13
Speaker 3: not nice.
12:14
Speaker 2: She catches up to him at a coffee shop, where
12:17
Speaker 2: he reminds her that she actually left him because she
12:20
Speaker 2: wanted a new start in a new city that didn't
12:22
Speaker 2: remind her of home, so she had broken his heart
12:24
Speaker 2: and kind of forgot yea and kind of lied to
12:27
Speaker 2: herself that he broke her heart. Awkward and realizing not
12:32
Speaker 2: only did. She upset Jake, but she also upset Avasavia.
12:35
Speaker 2: She vows to do better and make sure to go
12:37
Speaker 2: on the best dates possible. So her next date is
13:01
Speaker 2: with Zatis, who is very small and very quiet and
13:04
Speaker 2: apparently since can sometimes stop time, rewind time, undo things.
13:10
Speaker 3: Isn't interesting.
13:11
Speaker 2: Trying to make it the best dage she could, she
13:14
Speaker 2: tries her hardest to get more information out of him.
13:16
Speaker 3: He is not interested. He is very very quiet.
13:18
Speaker 2: He just seemingly just sits there and stairs, which doesn't
13:21
Speaker 2: seem to go well until Treyer comes bursting in not
13:25
Speaker 2: looking like himself to still the date. So doing all
13:28
Speaker 2: of these dates, they all have like a chaperone to
13:32
Speaker 2: watch the other to make sure there's no trickery during
13:35
Speaker 2: the process. So all the things and something happens for Trayor.
13:38
Speaker 2: He falls asleep and comes back almost a total different person,
13:41
Speaker 2: very conceited, very over the top. He takes her away
13:45
Speaker 2: where they go dancing, watches movies and all the.
13:48
Speaker 3: While Zetis is very upset.
13:50
Speaker 2: He just didn't get his flawn, Like there's nothing else
13:52
Speaker 2: that he seems to be upset about except for the flawn.
13:54
Speaker 2: Soon during the whole chaos Treyer falls asleep, passes out,
13:57
Speaker 2: and comes back looking more like himself.
14:00
Speaker 3: Turns out he.
14:00
Speaker 2: Has a twin with an who is an evil half
14:03
Speaker 2: who he absorbed at one point, and he's sometimes a
14:07
Speaker 2: twin comes out to try to take over. So like
14:09
Speaker 2: that was the whole back and forth that no one
14:11
Speaker 2: knew about, So there was like another.
14:12
Speaker 3: Contestant because of this.
14:15
Speaker 2: Joyna says she will know that was his date and
14:17
Speaker 2: she's not giving another one, so that he has stated
14:19
Speaker 2: is over. That's a punishment. But he tries to hide
14:21
Speaker 2: this from the rest of the group for some reason.
14:24
Speaker 2: And on top of that, Joyna is able to get
14:26
Speaker 2: Zeta's some flawn, so all is good there, he smiles.
14:30
Speaker 2: She's like perfect, I did the best date ever. When
14:32
Speaker 2: returning home, though, we find out Maya has found her
14:35
Speaker 2: date book, Joyna's date book, and Joanna finally stops lying
14:39
Speaker 2: to her and tells her what is going on. By
14:42
Speaker 2: the way, the relationship between the two of them is
14:43
Speaker 2: very sweet. Turns out that Joyna was very kind to
14:46
Speaker 2: her when Maya was at her lowest, supported her make
14:50
Speaker 2: sure she had rent, helped her get a job, boosted
14:53
Speaker 2: her confidence. So they're best of friends very cute. Then
14:56
Speaker 2: we have Dariel who shows up and says, it's my
14:59
Speaker 2: turn go on a date.
15:00
Speaker 3: So they go on a date.
15:02
Speaker 2: She is taken to Limbo by Dariel, although Alvos objects
15:06
Speaker 2: because he was like, I have a date. Here we
15:08
Speaker 2: find out what actually happens when the contract is destroyed
15:11
Speaker 2: or if the human doesn't follow through Demon's gods, and
15:15
Speaker 2: even the human could die. Dariel has seen this three
15:18
Speaker 2: different times and barely survived the first time, while the
15:22
Speaker 2: second time the human who was Zibadi's love the girlfriend
15:27
Speaker 2: she actually dies in order to save the rest of them,
15:30
Speaker 2: and so Dariel decided to bring Joanna to Limbo where
15:34
Speaker 2: they could not be found. But soon all the other
15:36
Speaker 2: gods come and rescue her. In part two, thanks to Mara,
15:40
Speaker 2: who has told them what was going on during this time,
15:44
Speaker 2: they could come and rescue her. Dariel gets mad because
15:46
Speaker 2: she's like, you ruined it all. If we were in Limbo,
15:49
Speaker 2: the ultimate, I guess God wouldn't find them and they
15:53
Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to fulfill the death of all the gods.
15:57
Speaker 3: So all this happened.
15:58
Speaker 2: They go back and forth and finally Joanna's left alone
16:02
Speaker 2: has the phone and then throws the phone. It destroys
16:05
Speaker 2: her phone, and then we hear maybe a clash, and
16:09
Speaker 2: then the end. But during this whole time, we find
16:14
Speaker 2: out a lot of the gods have fallen for Joanna
16:17
Speaker 2: and definitely cares for Joanna and tells her to do
16:20
Speaker 2: what she needs to do and they'll be okay, and
16:22
Speaker 2: that they will save her and they will protect her
16:25
Speaker 2: their queen. And that's how Seasoned one yans. Did I
16:28
Speaker 2: forget anything any nothing major? I don't think nothing major,
16:32
Speaker 2: all right, So with this we I guess we would
16:35
Speaker 2: call these different themes. I guess it was just more
16:37
Speaker 2: like topics within that we could address from the webtoons
16:41
Speaker 2: because it's very sweet. Obviously, there's a lot in Joanna's
16:45
Speaker 2: perspective of who she thinks she is, so it was
16:47
Speaker 2: kind of interesting how they took what she does as
16:51
Speaker 2: in like she lies about everything she really does. She
16:53
Speaker 2: kind of like puts herself as a victim. As story unfolds,
16:56
Speaker 2: we realize maybe she's not so much the victim, but
16:59
Speaker 2: that she has let her anxieties just overtake her. So
17:04
Speaker 2: the first thing with the job, like she talks about
17:06
Speaker 2: doing all these things and trying to be good at
17:08
Speaker 2: these things. But then we find out she doesn't turn
17:10
Speaker 2: things in, that she doesn't uphold the requests. Apparently she
17:15
Speaker 2: likes to talk to herself. Even before the gods came around,
17:18
Speaker 2: the coworkers were talking about her. At that point, Carla
17:21
Speaker 2: had given her chance after chance after chance. But at
17:23
Speaker 2: first we thought maybe Carla was I thought.
17:26
Speaker 3: I don't know about you. Carla was being too mean
17:28
Speaker 3: and bullying her.
17:29
Speaker 2: But it kind of was like, uh, no, she's frustrated
17:31
Speaker 2: because apparently she's given her so many chances to actually do.
17:35
Speaker 2: Give her the updates, give her that email, give her
17:38
Speaker 2: that article, like she's had time. And at one point
17:40
Speaker 2: she goes through her emails to find an old article
17:42
Speaker 2: to see if she could redo it because she knows
17:44
Speaker 2: she didn't do her work.
17:46
Speaker 3: So you're like, okay.
17:48
Speaker 2: And then we find out that Jake is not what
17:51
Speaker 2: she thinks, because we think that at first, like he
17:53
Speaker 2: has truly broken her heart and she can't let it
17:55
Speaker 2: go and he's done something. I thought maybe he was
17:57
Speaker 2: like gonna be the villain in this whole story. Yeah,
18:00
Speaker 2: you know, by the way he built up. And then
18:02
Speaker 2: as you realize and he's like do you not remember
18:04
Speaker 2: you told me to leave you alone. I'm just here
18:07
Speaker 2: to help my family. I was willing to move with
18:09
Speaker 2: you and you said no. Yeah, like, oh, Joyana, and
18:13
Speaker 2: then her constantly lying to Maa. Whether it's about not
18:18
Speaker 2: pretending to not be on the app, the dating app
18:21
Speaker 2: pretending to because which is this was twenty seventeen, so
18:24
Speaker 2: I guess, or are we still in the era of
18:27
Speaker 2: hiding online dating?
18:29
Speaker 1: I don't think so. But it does have the element
18:33
Speaker 1: of she was writing about dating advice. Yeah, and we've
18:37
Speaker 1: talked about that before, of people questioning your advice if
18:41
Speaker 1: you are single, true or yeah, So I wonder if
18:45
Speaker 1: there was a part of that going on there.
18:48
Speaker 3: Maybe you're probably right.
18:49
Speaker 2: And then also we found out like Mara did not
18:52
Speaker 2: care and she easily believed her and so she didn't
18:55
Speaker 2: need to even lie to her like that, and she
18:57
Speaker 2: was doing everything because she cared about her. So we
18:59
Speaker 2: did see that unfold in a way that not necessarily
19:02
Speaker 2: because like, yes, Joanna is the main character, but she
19:05
Speaker 2: has also put herself in this stress, but also in
19:09
Speaker 2: that same level, like you think when you just think
19:12
Speaker 2: that she's the worst person, maybe in the story you
19:14
Speaker 2: have Mara's version of who Joanna is, who is the
19:19
Speaker 2: best person, who willing to sacrifice and give up time
19:23
Speaker 2: and help her new research, is encouraging and loving and
19:27
Speaker 2: giving like in that same realm, So like even Joyna's
19:31
Speaker 2: second version of herself, she's not seeing herself. Yeah, and
19:35
Speaker 2: I thought that was an interesting look into her personality
19:38
Speaker 2: as well.
19:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think the whole plot device of having
19:43
Speaker 1: seven potentially different perspectives of Joyanna and seeing how all
19:50
Speaker 1: these different people see her, I do think that's fascinating
19:54
Speaker 1: because you can be at your weakest and one day
20:00
Speaker 1: somebody and look really terrible, and then at your best
20:03
Speaker 1: with somebody and really make their their day or make
20:10
Speaker 1: them feel safe or whatever it is. And so it
20:13
Speaker 1: was cool to see the outside perspective of Joanna. But
20:18
Speaker 1: I also agree she's just consumed with anxiety. So she's
20:24
Speaker 1: like a self saboteur. Excellent, Yeah, as a self sabotaging herself.
20:32
Speaker 1: And so yeah, she was apparently painting this vision of
20:39
Speaker 1: herself when it came to her past relationship with Jake,
20:44
Speaker 1: when it came to her work, and she seems kind
20:47
Speaker 1: of impulsive where she's very Oh, I don't want to
20:52
Speaker 1: do any of these people out get this happen, and
20:55
Speaker 1: then oh my gosh, I want it. We're gonna have
20:58
Speaker 1: the best states ever.
20:59
Speaker 2: Right.
21:00
Speaker 1: So, I think she's just got a lot of figuring
21:04
Speaker 1: out to do with herself.
21:06
Speaker 2: Yes, she does, and she's kind of discovering herself and
21:09
Speaker 2: what she's willing to do for her people. I do
21:13
Speaker 2: find so she is a complex character. I do really
21:16
Speaker 2: appreciate that level. I don't think she gets into the
21:21
Speaker 2: backstories of the gods in the first two because I've
21:26
Speaker 2: seen some people be like, well, she come back to this.
21:29
Speaker 3: I feel like she's set up.
21:31
Speaker 2: The Webtoons so she can, so it can be enduring.
21:34
Speaker 2: It might be a lot because even in her like
21:36
Speaker 2: autobiographical part in the web Tunes where she answers some questions,
21:41
Speaker 2: like she's very cagy about what inspired her about.
21:45
Speaker 3: This into this webtoons.
21:47
Speaker 2: I don't know why, because she like comes back to
21:49
Speaker 2: it and she's like, I'm not gonna talk about it
21:50
Speaker 2: right now. Also, like her anxiety and meeting people. She
21:54
Speaker 2: talks about how like people might not think that she's
21:56
Speaker 2: excited because she just gets so quiet and turns bright red.
22:00
Speaker 2: Think maybe she's stressed out and doesn't want to talk
22:02
Speaker 2: to them, but she's actually trying to figure out how
22:04
Speaker 2: to handle it.
22:05
Speaker 3: She's talked about going to.
22:06
Speaker 2: Conventions because it's this is obviously blown up in a
22:09
Speaker 2: way that she didn't know it would blow up at
22:12
Speaker 2: the time. So it's interesting to see her own perspective.
22:15
Speaker 2: So obviously her and the main character may be similar
22:19
Speaker 2: into that level, but with that not really sure if
22:23
Speaker 2: we're gonna get that insight on the rest of the
22:26
Speaker 2: gods and who they are. We kind of get like
22:29
Speaker 2: we almost get a glimpse of like who may be
22:31
Speaker 2: the good guy versus the bad guys, which none of
22:34
Speaker 2: them are really bad guys, but they have a little
22:37
Speaker 2: more of a sinister plot line in this one.
22:40
Speaker 3: I don't know.
22:40
Speaker 2: Alvos and Dariel seems to be a little more in
22:44
Speaker 2: that lines as where you see like Zibadi and Alvosavia
22:49
Speaker 2: really caring about her as well as Alex. Alex seems
22:53
Speaker 2: to be all about her, who turns into a cat
22:55
Speaker 2: for her, which is a funny scene because he also
22:58
Speaker 2: has a film mouse.
23:00
Speaker 3: She's like, why do you have felt mouths like, don't
23:01
Speaker 3: worry about it. So it's very comical, but it is.
23:04
Speaker 2: Interesting to see that level of like depth in the
23:08
Speaker 2: very small amount of like pages in that also this
23:12
Speaker 2: prophecy that they have to find this is the third
23:15
Speaker 2: attempt They've yet to be able to get this done
23:18
Speaker 2: to rule the world obviously, but it seems like even
23:21
Speaker 2: the gods don't know about it outside of Dariel and Zibadi,
23:26
Speaker 2: that two of them are like more aware of the
23:29
Speaker 2: consequences as the rest of them just see this as
23:31
Speaker 2: a competition, and then it kind of hits them like,
23:33
Speaker 2: oh wait, okay, what is this prophecy?
23:36
Speaker 3: Who is doing this?
23:38
Speaker 2: And why do we have such a contract that would
23:40
Speaker 2: allow for this. It seems ridiculously over the top and
23:46
Speaker 2: obviously very dangerous to them. So we don't know quite
23:50
Speaker 2: that depth of that prophecy outside of that small agreement.
23:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, we get some hints of it at the end
23:58
Speaker 1: through Dariel most but when they're in limbo, there's like
24:02
Speaker 1: the creepy voice and Dariel refers to her.
24:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, as ominous her, she's here, ominous her.
24:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is coming for them. I did think this
24:14
Speaker 1: was a fun take on the you signed a contract
24:18
Speaker 1: without really looking at the details, right, because we have
24:21
Speaker 1: seen that I mean like a little mermaid has that.
24:23
Speaker 1: Like a bunch of things throughout time have had that,
24:25
Speaker 1: but in our time of dating online, I thought this
24:28
Speaker 1: was a fun take of the well you accepted read
24:34
Speaker 1: it or not, that's whoopsy, that's on you. But also
24:38
Speaker 1: the I have to say I was taken aback when
24:42
Speaker 1: they were like, yes, we must have children, we must
24:45
Speaker 1: have a child. That's part of this prophecy. So yeah,
24:51
Speaker 1: that's a lot.
24:52
Speaker 3: That's a lot.
24:53
Speaker 1: That's a lot to just bring in and put on someone.
24:56
Speaker 1: Maybe she doesn't want kids.
24:58
Speaker 2: And then then she was like, wait, do you understand
25:01
Speaker 2: procreation right like, because they're like, according to what we
25:05
Speaker 2: see and how they're portrayed, they're both men and women.
25:08
Speaker 2: So she's like and they're like, oh, we got it,
25:10
Speaker 2: don't worry about it.
25:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I was like.
25:12
Speaker 2: Oh, that's okay, that's an interesting take. And this again,
25:16
Speaker 2: also we have the friendship portion with her and Maya.
25:20
Speaker 2: I really liked how quietly Marria just comes through, just
25:24
Speaker 2: like comes in. And at one point the Q and A,
25:26
Speaker 2: they ask what is Maya's favorite color? She's like hot pink,
25:29
Speaker 2: and she's obviously like a little bit gothed out.
25:31
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's very cute, but like she's willing to
25:35
Speaker 2: go to Limbo with the gods to see where she's at.
25:39
Speaker 3: But although the.
25:40
Speaker 2: Same time, Joanna is a diehard for maraa threatening them,
25:44
Speaker 2: like if you do anything to her, she'd better be
25:46
Speaker 2: like safe.
25:47
Speaker 3: All these things. I thought that was really sweet.
25:49
Speaker 2: And then I kind of look like there was a
25:51
Speaker 2: friendship among the gods as well, especially when it came
25:56
Speaker 2: to Joyna.
25:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, which was it was cool to see they did
26:00
Speaker 1: have sort of in group clicks. But overall I thought
26:06
Speaker 1: it was a nice portrayal of something competitive but not
26:12
Speaker 1: I don't know, hateful too strong a word, but like
26:14
Speaker 1: friendly competition. There's certainly some characters want it more than
26:19
Speaker 1: others for maybe the wrong reasons or like I don't know,
26:24
Speaker 1: they just want to win, but it's not portrayed as
26:27
Speaker 1: if they hate each other for it. They're kind of
26:29
Speaker 1: all in this together and are thinking I'm the one
26:33
Speaker 1: that can win this, but it's not looking down on
26:36
Speaker 1: anybody else necessarily, right, Yeah.
26:59
Speaker 2: And then of course we're all also coming in to
27:01
Speaker 2: talk about how Joyanna has to quickly get it together
27:06
Speaker 2: and take responsibility, and she does.
27:07
Speaker 3: That pretty well.
27:08
Speaker 2: Like in the end when she kind of sits down
27:10
Speaker 2: and assesses her job situation, her relationship with Jake, how
27:14
Speaker 2: she's handling Mara, how.
27:16
Speaker 3: She's handling the gods.
27:17
Speaker 2: Like she comes into a full swing of like, all right,
27:20
Speaker 2: these are the things that I know I need to do.
27:22
Speaker 2: These are the things I'm gonna face, and this is
27:24
Speaker 2: how I'm gonna do it. She might be one of
27:26
Speaker 2: those that needs the distraction though, because obviously each point
27:31
Speaker 2: was because of something, if that makes sense, Like she
27:34
Speaker 2: started the dating app because she felt like she needed
27:36
Speaker 2: to do the next article or get into the dating
27:39
Speaker 2: world so she can be seen dating and understand all
27:41
Speaker 2: these things. The next portion of like, Okay, I need
27:44
Speaker 2: to figure out this whole like in the world things,
27:47
Speaker 2: so let me figure out how to distract them. And
27:49
Speaker 2: then the next part was the job, and then trying
27:51
Speaker 2: to save Carla it's from being tiny. And then the
27:54
Speaker 2: next part was Jake, and then the next motivation was
27:57
Speaker 2: apologizing to the gods like all these things. The next
27:59
Speaker 2: part was like saving Mera, and then you know, it's like,
28:02
Speaker 2: I guess we all need motivation. But like each part
28:05
Speaker 2: of these things pushed her to grow into the next
28:08
Speaker 2: understanding and facing the responsibility and reality of what was coming. Yeah,
28:12
Speaker 2: so it was it was like, okay, okay, she has
28:15
Speaker 2: to grow very quickly to try to save the world.
28:17
Speaker 2: I guess that's the thing that happens. That's that's a
28:19
Speaker 2: whole thing, like the slacker that has to come and
28:22
Speaker 2: get it together and they end up being the one
28:23
Speaker 2: saving the world.
28:24
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and she has the added kind of trope
28:29
Speaker 1: of the anxious klutzy of course a girl. But you know,
28:35
Speaker 1: also I get why it's a trope. But you've got
28:39
Speaker 1: seven gods who are trying to get with you. It's
28:47
Speaker 1: a little boost to your ego. But she's like, you know,
28:50
Speaker 1: at first, very much anxiety about it, but then it
28:54
Speaker 1: kind of evolves into I like how she's trying to
28:58
Speaker 1: She decides, I want to make it good dates for them.
29:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I gotta make it up to that.
29:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I get why. You know, that's a fun truth.
29:08
Speaker 2: And the thing that's not really mentioned but it's just obvious.
29:12
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, she is bisexual. Like that's not like
29:16
Speaker 2: I think I appreciated the web tunes because it wasn't
29:20
Speaker 2: brought up, It wasn't necessarily a thing. There was no
29:22
Speaker 2: moment of like, but you're this other than like biologically,
29:26
Speaker 2: how we're gonna have children? Yeah, and that's kind of like,
29:29
Speaker 2: oh okay, and that's the end. Like none of that
29:32
Speaker 2: was a concern or question. It just was okay, let's go.
29:36
Speaker 2: And I appreciate that. Nothing none of this about finding herself,
29:39
Speaker 2: nothing about like figuring out all these things, none of
29:42
Speaker 2: these like just what is she experimenting? Its just is
29:46
Speaker 2: like it just is what it is, and like she
29:49
Speaker 2: has no there's no communication like about whether or not
29:52
Speaker 2: she would.
29:53
Speaker 3: Of course, she swiped yes to.
29:55
Speaker 2: All of them, so like they knew obviously that they
29:58
Speaker 2: thought she was interested, because that's why you swipe ys right?
30:02
Speaker 3: Is that swipe right and then left is now right?
30:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, for most of the accounts, I think so I've
30:08
Speaker 1: never done it.
30:09
Speaker 3: It's been a long time.
30:11
Speaker 2: I've been out of the game for a long time,
30:13
Speaker 2: so I can't quite remember. But like with that, I
30:17
Speaker 2: thought that was I thought that was a really like understated,
30:21
Speaker 2: big statement.
30:22
Speaker 1: I agree, And I think that the fact that it's
30:26
Speaker 1: not really discussed too much. But also she's not, as
30:31
Speaker 1: you said, over sexualized, which is usually something that happens
30:34
Speaker 1: to a bisexual character. She's really not, but like a
30:39
Speaker 1: lot of times she's folded up in a blanket and
30:42
Speaker 1: like sleeping until length two pm or whatever. And that's
30:46
Speaker 1: not to say she doesn't have moments of like she
30:49
Speaker 1: dresses up and looks great like, so she's not at
30:52
Speaker 1: the reverse end of it either, right, So I liked
30:55
Speaker 1: that too. This is so you know, as I'm saying it,
30:59
Speaker 1: it sounds like the bare necessity.
31:01
Speaker 2: Right, No, it just feels like this should be more common,
31:05
Speaker 2: yeah than not. But the fact is, like it to
31:10
Speaker 2: be as treasured as it is, as it should be,
31:13
Speaker 2: as it is, like for those who are in the
31:15
Speaker 2: bisexual community, feeling like, oh, this is for us, because
31:19
Speaker 2: there's no question about this. This is no explanation in this.
31:22
Speaker 2: There's no having to make excuses or reasons why or
31:25
Speaker 2: give yourself a big story of trauma about how you
31:28
Speaker 2: came to this point, like it just and just here
31:31
Speaker 2: and it's just a fun fairy tale.
31:33
Speaker 3: I don't I'm not saying.
31:34
Speaker 2: Fairy tale because it's like you have like gods involved
31:36
Speaker 2: in this conversation, you know, like it's a good narration
31:40
Speaker 2: fiction that has none of that baggage.
31:44
Speaker 3: Instead you have.
31:45
Speaker 2: The normalized baggage yea that everyone can understand.
31:48
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of the gods too, are
31:52
Speaker 1: they play with gender norms like there were some of them.
31:55
Speaker 1: I was like, looking, oh, yeah, actually I would have
31:57
Speaker 1: put you more in a feminine category. Maybe that is
32:00
Speaker 1: how the god identifies. I don't know, but they definitely
32:04
Speaker 1: don't bring any question to that either. No, Like, this
32:08
Speaker 1: is how, Yeah, I present myself and that's just it.
32:12
Speaker 3: This is it.
32:13
Speaker 2: This is who I am for this world. Except for
32:15
Speaker 2: the fact that Dariel, who says she's a demon has horns,
32:19
Speaker 2: actually has horns. Yeah, I'm like, oh, okay, I think
32:23
Speaker 2: I was very pointed. But yeah, so I think that's
32:27
Speaker 2: like the small bit to this that it's not a
32:30
Speaker 2: big theme for them, Like it's yeah, everything else is
32:33
Speaker 2: a big theme, you know.
32:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I really appreciated that thing is good.
32:39
Speaker 2: So yeah, there you go. What did you think about
32:41
Speaker 2: this webtoons? Is this your first webtoons?
32:44
Speaker 1: This was my first webtoon? Yes, and I really enjoyed it,
32:48
Speaker 1: you know, I love comics. Yes, and it was such
32:51
Speaker 1: an easy read. I'm an old timer who does it
32:53
Speaker 1: on my laptop, but it was easy enough on there
32:57
Speaker 1: and art was really pretty and I liked the switching
32:59
Speaker 1: up style. Else that was fun that she switched it up,
33:04
Speaker 1: and it was helpful because there were a lot of characters,
33:07
Speaker 1: so I was like, okay, let me keep jack of
33:10
Speaker 1: who's who and who I think she's gonna end up with, right,
33:14
Speaker 1: But no, No, it was really fun and I feel
33:16
Speaker 1: like for something so short, she accomplished a lot right,
33:20
Speaker 1: And also like character development wise, she accomplished a lot.
33:24
Speaker 1: I think so too.
33:26
Speaker 3: Did you have a favorite character, I feel like.
33:30
Speaker 1: There were some that I liked. I'm probably Mary.
33:34
Speaker 3: Maria Lara Mara. I'm calling her a Mara. She was
33:38
Speaker 3: a good character, I think because.
33:40
Speaker 2: She also like brings in a little bit of like
33:43
Speaker 2: difference in the character, like because it seems like Joyne
33:45
Speaker 2: is chaos constantly like going and marriage is like a
33:51
Speaker 2: kind of that Daria's friend character, Yeah, what are you doing?
33:55
Speaker 3: Jane? Right?
33:56
Speaker 2: Her name is Jane and Daria who just kind of
33:59
Speaker 2: comes in like, yeah, what's going on? That's how I
34:02
Speaker 2: see Mara speaking. Although I did really like Alex's character too.
34:09
Speaker 2: He was a little bit needy, but then he was like, hey,
34:12
Speaker 2: she gave me a name, and he wears a T
34:13
Speaker 2: shirt and then sweatpants with his name on his butt. Hey, hey,
34:17
Speaker 2: the winds wins and wins, and he was very excited
34:20
Speaker 2: turned a cat. He's like, I will turned into a
34:22
Speaker 2: cat for her. But I did like those two characters,
34:24
Speaker 2: and yeah, this was mine first one, Like I said,
34:26
Speaker 2: very interesting, Like I like this idea. I know, like
34:29
Speaker 2: in a lot of K dramas. This is a big deal.
34:32
Speaker 2: This is one of the biggest careers that I've seen,
34:36
Speaker 2: like managers, webtuns, app creators, like the are producers who
34:41
Speaker 2: have to go and like chase after their authors to
34:44
Speaker 2: get like them to finish writing out which I'm wondering
34:48
Speaker 2: if this was one of those situations.
34:50
Speaker 3: As well as like I'm trying.
34:52
Speaker 2: To think of the jobs that I see the managers
34:54
Speaker 2: also being like an idol and reporters. But webtoons is
35:00
Speaker 2: one of the big like plot points getting people to
35:02
Speaker 2: write web tunes and the competition end webtunes too.
35:06
Speaker 1: I bet apparently, Well, now you've read one.
35:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've read one that doesn't have an.
35:14
Speaker 1: Ending, not yet, maybe one day, maybe one day.
35:19
Speaker 2: She's got a lot of projects out there if you
35:20
Speaker 2: look at her stuff, like, she's got a lot under
35:23
Speaker 2: her belt.
35:23
Speaker 3: So she's pretty busy, I'm guessing yeah.
35:27
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sometimes I wonder too with people who didn't expect
35:30
Speaker 1: to get big if you had the ending already, or
35:35
Speaker 1: like you panic because it's never expecting someone to I
35:40
Speaker 1: just say this as a lowly fan fiction writer sometimes
35:45
Speaker 1: like oh, I wasn't expecting so many people to read this,
35:47
Speaker 1: and now I.
35:48
Speaker 3: Got Now you better get it together.
35:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet she had at least a loose idea.
35:55
Speaker 1: I kind of felt like I could see where it
35:58
Speaker 1: was going towards. Yeah, but I don't know. We'll have
36:01
Speaker 1: to wait and see and hope it's true. Yes, do
36:05
Speaker 1: you think she's do you?
36:06
Speaker 3: If they? What is your prediction on who Joanna might choose?
36:11
Speaker 1: So I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
36:14
Speaker 1: I was thinking the last guy who was like Dariel Alvos. Yes,
36:21
Speaker 1: she hasn't gone on date with me. I was thinking
36:24
Speaker 1: him them or she get back for Jake Jake.
36:30
Speaker 3: I'm all honestly thinking maybe mahra Oh. I would love that,
36:35
Speaker 3: like they ended up being together.
36:37
Speaker 2: Yes, because like she has been there for they've been
36:40
Speaker 2: there for each other, and she's so protective of her
36:42
Speaker 2: m h.
36:43
Speaker 3: I would be into that, so that might be her witness.
36:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of characters.
36:50
Speaker 2: So anyway, all right, Well, if you readers, if you
36:54
Speaker 2: have some web tunes recommendations.
36:57
Speaker 1: Yes, we're in, Yes, please let us know. If you
37:02
Speaker 1: have your own predictions for what will happen in this,
37:06
Speaker 1: please let us know those as well. You can email
37:09
Speaker 1: us at Hello at Stuffenever Told You dot com. You
37:12
Speaker 1: can find us on blue Sky at home stuff podcast,
37:14
Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok that stuff We've Never Told
37:16
Speaker 1: You for us on YouTube. We have some merchandise at
37:18
Speaker 1: coompuro and we have a book you can get wherever
37:20
Speaker 1: you get your books. Thanks is always to our super
37:22
Speaker 1: producer Tandler and our executive producer Maya. Thank you and
37:26
Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening Stuff Never Told Us. Direction
37:28
Speaker 1: of my Heart Radio. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
37:30
Speaker 1: you can check out the art Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
37:32
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows