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Let me try to write my feelings here without sounding racist.... XD

Okay, so I'm kind of bored and came across a Korean "manhwa" here on MAL. I didn't know it was Korean at first, but the thumbnail looked interesting on someone's profile. I clicked on it and was like, oh.... it's a Korean comic....

So I figured I'd kind of talk briefly(?) about my feelings on Korean entertainment.

Long story short (TL;DR): I'm just not very interested in it.

For more than half of my life, I've grown up as an anime fan, from around the age of 12 to now; that's actually over 20 years, almost 2/3 of my life! In that time, I've grown very close to Japanese entertainment (mainly anime and manga, but also some live action film, TV, and music) as well as becoming educated in the language and culture in general. I'm sure this is an extremely "weeaboo" thing to say, but the Japanese culture is almost like a second culture of mine, even though I haven't had a chance to actually visit and live there yet. This closeness with the Japanese language and culture really helps to get me into anime and manga and understand some nuances that I wouldn't really understand while consuming other foreign entertainment like a French movie or Korean comics.

And that is pretty much the main issue here. While I can enjoy French or other foreign films every now and then, it's not something that I typically seek out and I might actively avoid it if I'm not in a very particular mood. The same goes with Korean comics and other entertainment from that country. I basically don't feel any particular connection with the culture of South Korea (and other countries) and at this point in my entertainment-consuming-life, I don't really feel like putting in the work to learn about these cultures on the same level that I have with Japan over the last 20 years.

However, I do feel like I am being a bit close-minded when it comes to Korean entertainment. Sometimes I do bash Korean stuff, but it's usually in good fun and just among friends. For example, I have some friends who are really into K-Pop so every now and then I call Koreans "discount-Japanese" just to mess with them. Also, even though it's really popular, something inherently bugs me about the live action Korean adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, especially when it's someone's ONLY exposure to the franchise. You do realize it was a Japanese manga first, right? And that there is an anime adaptation AND a live action JAPANESE adaptation?! .... Yeah, that probably shouldn't bother me so much, but it kind of does. I am similarly hesitant to watch the Korean Old Boy movie even though I have heard great things about it.

But more to the point, I do feel like I should give more Korean comics a chance. I have read and enjoyed some in the past, mainly ones that were included in the short-lived Yen Plus monthly manga magazine (physical edition); One Fine Day was a particular favorite of mine in that magazine, which in thinking about it I just realized that I never added it to my list, along with most of the other Korean stuff that I read from Yen Plus (maybe MAL didn't include much manhwa back when I was reading them?). So maybe I'll try to read more Korean stuff or at least not be completely turned off by it when I notice that it's Korean. Maybe I'll try to get back to and finish some of the stuff I started from Yen Plus? Who knows.

But yeah, that's about it. I haven't really been all that into Korean entertainment largely because I'm lazy and don't feel like getting invested in another culture after putting so much work into Japan. Is that a silly reason? Maybe. Do I care? Maybe a little. We'll see if I care enough to actually follow through and change some of my habits.