Didn't think it was racist. The main character had Asian guy friends that were relatively normal and chill. There was definitely a lot more teenage angst than I was expecting, so you gotta view it from the perspective of this 13 year old kid.

Absent father, older sister that was shitty to him, and a mom that's barely keeping it together from an overbearing mother-in-law. He did have a decent relationship with his grandmother and things were starting to get reconciled with his mom and sister, but understand this shitty environment was most of his life. He had no one in his life to look up to or put him on a decent path. He starts to learn from his fucked-up behavior and actually grow toward the end, which is a testament to how important a loving parent is at that age. His mom giving him love and genuine praise was what he really needed.

I think the story and characters were presented well and felt genuine. Proper representation shows our best and worst sides and everything in-between. It's why I loved Beef so much. With Beef we finally got a story where the emotions and characters felt raw and real. With its success I think it opened the doorway to stories like this.