I don’t understand why I see so many people making stories that show such sensitive and serious topics/situations like slaves, sex trafficking, sexual harassment, mental disorders, serial killers, abusers, and many others stuff and make them seem like they are “good to have” and “lovers.” It’s not cute. I don’t get it. AT ALL! What do you think?
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12 year olds.
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Yeah, I’ve been noticing this a lot lately. I’ve seen a lot of, what I consider to be, problematic stories popping up everywhere. I think there’s a right way and a wrong way to write about all those topics you mentioned… And unfortunately, most people find the wrong way to write about serious themes the easy way, as well as the way that gets them the most reads 
I usually find the fanmails to be the most concerning thing about it though. It’s either readers praising the author for what they’re writing about… In other words; failing to see that the author has actually been making things like gangs, human trafficking and kidnapping look romantic.
OR it’s a concerned reader, who tries to explain that there’s something wrong with the way they’ve portrayed a certain topic or theme, and then the author going off at that reader and trying to defend themselves.
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A perfect example is these stories: My Psycho and Therapy 101. The psycho story practically glorifies a damn serial killer that hits the Mc countless of times and people think it’s “hot.” Therapy 101 does not even represent mental health correctly. I remember her calling a girl with autism “mental retardation.” You’d think that since she does a story on the subject on mental health, she’d realize the word retard is an offensive slur to people with mental disabilities.
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Idk about everyone here but do y’all know that anime Mirai Nikki? Or Future Diary, in english? It’s about a girl who is a yandere (a person romantically obsessed with you and would do anything for you - e.g: killing people.) I see stories on episode like this (people killing for someone they love) I don’t know, the anime is a very successful one and everyone loves it. There was never a complaint or someone saying that it was “sick” to romantisize killing and unhealthy obsessions with people. What do you think?
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Omg yes 
I hate when people glamorize this, it’s not cute. It’s a stalker if not a murderer 
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It isn’t. But lemme be guilty of liking Yandere’s. Not because they are cute, they are evil characters and psychotic. I like watching people play Yandere Simulator. It’s supposed to be sick.
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I like yanderes in general, I actually really like Yandere Simulator too. I like the story behind it and gameplay is fun.
But our community loves ruining everything, it would be so great to see something that actually shows the stalker as who they are, not some hopeless romantic.
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Yeah, I mean obviously the girl in the anime was mentally unstable. And they showed that too - she was a bit crazy. But I think the guy grew to love her back because she protected him (he was a pussy lol)
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It doesn’t show them as romantic, it shows them as crazy. Mentally ill. A villian. A killer.
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I mean, they did a good job of showing her bad ass creepy side. And their intention was to show how unhealthily obsessed she was with him and how that isn’t ok, but near the end it was literally like everyone was killing each other so i guess it didn’t matter who she killed because there has to be one diary holder left to win 
Also, Yandere Simulator was made to show the sick and weird obsessions that Yandere chan has with Senpai. The developer, Yandere Dev said he wants the game to be taken seriously and not all cute and lovely. I like how he portrayed the character (Yandere chan) as a victim of apathy syndrome or lack of emotion to others. This gave it much more meaning to just “i love you so much for no reason.”
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Nah, I’m not talking about Mirai Nikki or Yandere Simulator, I like them. I’m talking about stories on writing platforms like Episode. Some people don’t realize what they are writing and show them cute.
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Oh yeah ikr? It’s like they’re saying it’s ok to be a creepy stalker. Obviously it’s ok to love someone and somewhat be obsessed with them (as long as you don’t come into physical contact with them or in their lives and to not cause problems) And it is advised to get help if you are mentally unstable - but it’s not ok to portray the creepy stalker person as “hot” or romantic. No. They need help and it’s not healthy. In Mirai Nikki, the girl dies and the guy becomes “God” (sorry lol this isn’t going to make sense to people who haven’t watched it) The creators obviously didn’t want a happy ending. They portrayed what would actually happen in real life - someone could die or get hurt. Another example is the film Fear, 1996. In this film a boy named David McCall or smth is obsessed with this girl and at the end he goes as far as cutting her dog’s head off as revenge. He spies on her and he kills her best friend, who he thought was getting too close to her. At the end him and his thugs break in her house and long story short the father throws the guy out of the window and he dies. Not the nicest ending but it doesn’t put toxic or creepy relationships and people in a good light. The stalker dies and the girl lives in peace.
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Moved to Episode Fan Community since Community is for discussion of specific stories. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about where to correctly create topics, and feel to PM me if there are any questions. 
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For sexual assault/abuse/harassment/rape, I’m just gonna drop this here:
@ShanniiWrites says wayyyy more than I could.
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It depends, I love things based on true stories. It’s good to know what’s going on around the world, but if they change it into something like “falling for my abuser” that’s another thing because they would be playing with a serious matter. If the story shows how the life of someone being bullied, a slave, someone that survived and escaped sex trafficking, etc… (and nothing like romance is added) I would love to read it because we can’t solve an issue if we don’t know it exist.
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Agreed
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Honestly, I do not like the fact that authors write a story about/with such serious situations (like rape or any sexual abuse) unless it is based on a real story. But, I wouldn’t highly recommend to write more stories about those situations nor to read, especially when there are young people (around 13 and above) in Episode who read stories and I think no one of them should not be exposed to it like that, since such topics may simulate anxiety and fear.
I do not know what about you, but if I see/read a story/movie with a sexual abuse or something like this, I will not be able to look right or left when I go out 
.
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A lot of (young?) people believe everyone can change and it can be appealing for some readers to be the one who changes them (or “tame” them). There is the abusive schoolmate or a dreaded gang leader, they meet you and they take a U-turn only because of you. There is the cold-blooded serial killer, he meets you and he literally does everything for you to be his one and only, while developing genuine feelings for you. And it’s totally okay, in my opinion, if these stories contain a proper, detailed character developement and internal struggles (as it can be seen in one of my favorite TV-shows ‘Dexter’ that brilliantly depicts how the bad guy gets rid of his “dark passenger” by meeting the right person[s]).
So these authors are aware of the demand for these kind of stories, but not all of them are able to provide a legit storyline that’s supported by background researches. They just think “Oh, it’s gonna be fun, I’m gonna have a lot of readers, I’m gonna be famous, yay-hurray!” Then others follow their examples because they think it’s good, but it’s plain and shallow in real.
(I hope I succesfully managed to express myself kinda clear, despite me being half-braindead. :,D)
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I don’t think serious stories need to be based on real life. In fact, I think that might upset the person it’s based on if it’s not the author.
There’s a way to talk about serious issues, whether it’s a real story or not, and not a lot of the people on Episode can handle that yet!
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