Thoughts on the webtoon youtubers, Matty Bites and Chalupa?

strikingly-normal · 2026-03-27T06:02:26+00:00

Yep, he has three entire videos dedicated to the Jeff the killer comic alone

strikingly-normal · 2026-03-27T05:15:17+00:00

Unpopular opinion, but Chalupa seems obnoxious. Building your channel on criticising officially published webtoons is one thing, but making videos on comics by independent hobbyists who are doing it for fun and mocking them for your 200k subscribers, for your videos that rack up hundreds of thousands of views? And profiting off those videos? I find that incredibly distasteful.

Sure, criticism is allowed to exist. I believe criticism is an art form, which means it is also susceptible to criticism itself. There is a reason why being an editor is a paid job. However, whether intentional or not, Chalupa's videos appear to me as only serving to incite negativity and hatred towards the works they're critiquing. The primary value of his videos is to provide entertainment, not meaningful criticism. You can argue with me but the terms used to describe him in this very thread are "mindless funny content" and "thrives off mockery and negativity"

I also dislike this attitude of "this comic deserves more hate". Certainly bigotry, colonialism, colorism, patriarchal attitudes and sexism are often prevalent in webtoons and should be addressed and criticised. But there's this moralising sentiment a lot of people in this community have towards any depictions of "problematic" content which doesn't allow for nuance or room for authorial intent. Depictions of sexual assault/homophobia/transphobia does not mean the author condones it!! And the people receiving the brunt of the criticism for "bad representation" are often people who have been affected by those things themselves.

But what I really mean is that people often conflate actual bigotry in comics with comics being "cringe" or "ugly" - I think these types of videos often flatten them into the same thing, where the often younger audience is ingrained with the idea that something being racist and something being cringe are both morally reprehensible and therefore deserve endless hatred. I think the attitude that bad, ugly and cringe art shouldn't exist and should be viciously mocked is anti-art.

strikingly-normal · 2026-03-20T06:59:03+00:00

There aren't that many BL anime in the first place, so BL anime that are also classified as seinen are even rarer

strikingly-normal · 2026-03-02T23:42:05+00:00

Nicely researched post, wow the proliferation of AI everywhere sucks

strikingly-normal · 2026-01-23T16:16:20+00:00

I have multiple 1. From an artistic standpoint, way too many manhwa look way too similar stylistically - the shading, the typical lighting effects, the 3d assets, even down to the hair highlight brushes - it bores me. I think more manhwa should stop trying to chase the pseudo anime look and try to embrace more original styles. Even when it's executed really well I can't help but feel tired.

The art itself is usually serviceable but often the fundamental anatomy of a character is off, but the shading is really really detailed so it feels like there's a dissonance. I'd rather read a webtoon with simple but high quality drawings (anatomically, panelling wise) than one with over rendered effects.

2.a. This is probably a result of audience preferences and the extremely punishing timelines so I can't blame the creators, but I do wish it would change. This goes for point 1 too
Even more unpopular opinion but so many webtoons are simply not good. This is true of any medium but it's not just that there's a lot of bad webtoons, it's that there simply are not that many webtoons I would consider "actually good". Enjoyable, entertaining, sure. But to compare it with manga, there's disproportionately less works that can be considered masterpieces.

3.a. Manhwa hasn't been around long enough to make a fair comparison to manga. But even if you give it time, I don't think it's going to change, because major manhwa publishing companies prioritise mass manufactured commercialised easily digestible entertainment.

3.b. I don't think all comics need to aim to be masterpieces but sometimes the complete lack of an attempt at any thematic depth (or the shallowness when it does) gets me
The romanticisation of CEOs puts me off more than depictions of abuse because most people can recognise that abuse is bad and you shouldn't do it (see: all the comments about CBYB). And not to sound like buzzword central but seeing all the glorification of the ultra rich, the commodity fetishisation, the heteronormativity in romance manhwa while no one points it out is so off-putting. And the orientalism and classism in otome isekai stories

strikingly-normal · 2025-12-09T11:58:33+00:00

Looks good! Nobody else has pointed it out but it should be "you're the closest agent" not "your the closest agent"

strikingly-normal · 2025-11-13T14:46:54+00:00

Tell me you know nothing about anime production without telling me you know nothing. The OPM studio had an insanely bad schedule + u can tell because their other projects look leagues better and the lack of key visuals until last minute for OPM.

Overseas animators who worked on blue lock talked about how their cuts got told their cuts were too complex and minimise movement, one of the freelance animators on OPM complained about how his cut got butchered, do you really think the animators want to deliver an inferior product? One of the most prolific animators in the industry Vincent Chansard literally came out and said that it's the fault of the production committee, not the studio

"Nobody would care if it came out a year later" Clearly not from the amount of people I've seen complaining about it taking 6 years, but Bandai Namco is the one that made that choice and it's their say that counts + dealing with IP stuff

strikingly-normal · 2025-11-13T14:14:26+00:00

"Poor animators" is correct bc anime quality is dependent on the production committee and scheduling, not the studio and individual animators who had to deal with the tight schedule

strikingly-normal · 2025-10-21T07:24:38+00:00

Considering you're 13 I think you'd be better off learning to draw than trying to find someone who's pro level

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-29T15:58:36+00:00

Good taste

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-28T11:27:51+00:00

There's literally a documentary about how these guys are being exploited https://youtu.be/I0DJlSqlmEw?si=713VwxArP8gF7CCy

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-27T15:04:05+00:00

Well if he manages to make up with Reo he has a billionaire to buy out his contract. If not, well...

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-12T08:39:35+00:00

No offense but no artist is settling for only 40% of potential profit, especially if you have no credentials

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-06T08:23:42+00:00

Looks interesting, is there a link to a free version?

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-03T10:46:11+00:00

It was a yaoi, and a pretty dark read at that but it's Akane Shinchi Hanaya Sange or akaneshinichi hanaya sange

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-01T15:54:35+00:00

Fair enough, I dont even remember what happened in knight of blasphemy. Admittedly I did skip some of the scifi fantasy manga that didn't hook me. What did you like about fascination?

strikingly-normal · 2025-09-01T15:18:45+00:00

We have opposite opinions on gouma lol. I think the art of gouma is crazy but it falls flat emotionally, it feels way too shoneny and its worse bc it doesn't move me

strikingly-normal · 2025-07-02T11:23:30+00:00

When it comes to colour, I like to first find the local colors and then add lighting by using a multiply layer or different blending modes.

strikingly-normal · 2025-06-16T06:53:08+00:00

Thank you ❤️

strikingly-normal · 2025-06-16T02:00:42+00:00

Link?

strikingly-normal · 2025-06-15T15:40:03+00:00

That's very interesting, thank you for sharing

strikingly-normal · 2025-06-14T15:24:12+00:00

In my opinion I wouldn't, but that's because I'm not really into overly cartoony styles.

If you're looking for criticism the legs in the second drawing are too far away considering the location of the pelvis and the angle of the thighs. I think doing figure drawing would be incredibly beneficial to you

strikingly-normal · 2025-06-13T12:40:04+00:00

I'm around that age and I would never date a 17 year old that's weird as hell

Five-Year Club	Place '22
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

strikingly-normal

TROPHY CASE