I mean why is it so difficult to come across a rly good female lead? Is being strong meaning being obnoxious af ? Idk but the term is ruined for me now. I'm all for strong female characters and the concept behind it , but I'm getting tired of seeing them portrayed as cold hearted, emotionally flawed messes. It's like essentially writers are just trying to make a strong female character by making a traditional masculine character and swapping the reproductive organs. And also besides that While I agree that it's important to show that women can be cold, flawed, violent. etc. it feels like it's becoming it's own trope at this point. It's also frustrating because it perpetuates the idea that "strong" characteristics are things like stunted emotions, anger issues, and violence. But then again alot strong male characters can be toxic af too , does it just come down to the author's skill? I think this is why I like characters like Sherlock Holmes , he's basically the perfect mix. Because although he doesn't hv jacked muscles and shit he's strong af in his own way.
Not every strong female lead. For example, the female leads in Chun Dao Han’s and Chestnut’s stories. If you ignore the cutesy backdrop and situations and look only at them as a character, they’re pretty much independent and strong. Most female leads in Gu Man, Ding Mo’s and Mo Bao Fei Bao’s novels are also strong. They love their male leads dearly but they wouldn’t die without them. But, I do agree that some of female leads are portrayed as cold, emotionless, etc. to be shown as strong. Such as the female lead from Rebirth of the film emperor’s beloved wife was just plain unreasonable. That was just the female version of the male CEOs in Mary Stu novels (Not that I’ve read them, just read spoilers). The same goes for strong and dominant male leads. Like, I love Feng Teng from Come and Eat Shan Shan or Han Lei from Life After Marriage. They were both dominant CEOs but they were never toxic. Qin Zhi from Every Vicious Woman Needs A Loyal Man was a sweetheart but if you just look at him outside of the story, he’s really strong. That’s just the perspective. The female and male leads depend on the stories you read. I mainly avoid stories with more than 350 chapters (excluding QTs) as they are too dramatic and dog blooded with toooo many plot unnecessary plot points. You can basically recognize the quality of the the protagonists from the summary. If not, just go look for spoilers and reviews before you read which may tell you both pros and cons. Edit:- I forgot to mention female leads of 叶斐然 such as Bai Duan Duan from You’ve been fired, Cheng Yao from What comes around goes around and the FL from I advise you to like me as soon as possible.
What you said is right , it just began a troupe of such kinda female leads in strong FL novel , and also these strong / smart leads who win against their opponents are dumb af in front of the ML , silly mistakes, I mean just why ?
I totally get what you feel. I usually only read manhwas and if I like the story then proceed to read the novel. I also really hate this trope when the FL is strong but truly lacks braincells. They literally only rely in their strength and think they can won the world with that. There is another trope I truly hate is where the FL is strong and all but the ML shows that he isn't all that strong but when the time comes the ML is actually proven to be stronger than the FL. Its as if the FL can never surpass the ML's strength no matter what. There is always that differnse in strength between them. Another trope I don't like is when the FL's tend to be all slim and have literally no muscles what so ever. As an athlete my self who doesn't have to do much with weigh training all that much, I think even I will be more muscular than them. Seriesly its freaking annoying
As for me, I like the FLs who are soft and kind-hearted like Shen Xi (Please Confess to Me), Mu Xiaoya (My Husband with Scholar Syndrome), Qi Ying (Transmigrating to Become the Boss' Little Fairy) or the classic example is Honda Tohru (Fruits Basket) yet, at the same time they are strong in my opinion. Their lack of physical strength or ability to master martial arts skills does not mean they are weak characters. Their strengths are in different aspects like being able to provide warmth to people who need that, are not quick to misjudge things, level-headed when in needs etc
I'm uncomfortable with Boss' Little Fairy's FL. She's lucky she's the ML, else she'll be sold in the street.
Not all naive girls are sold in the street especially since she has a protective family. If naive people are sold in the street, then the first ones to be sold would the those typical naive shous that act like 10 year olds or the FLs that are said to be kind, pure and angelic.
I’m not trying to argue but most girls go behind their families if they are in puppy love or are from conservative families but they don’t get sold unless the one they fall for is a scammer.
That's what I'm saying. She fell in love just because ML looks like the general and 'felt' like the general without even talking once to him to know his personality. If he is just as bad as the rumour about him then she'll be gone by the next day.
I misunderstood your words. I thought you said she’s lucky she’s the FL rather than she’s lucky she has the ML or she’s lucky she found the ML. I got confused.
Why do women become trash when they get a man? Like they are really badass before then get a man and become overly emotional messes crying every other chapter basically what happened to the badass that want revenge and didn’t believe in love anymore and never wanted to be vulnerable or betrayed again? First fl starts off as naive then realised how cruel the world is then they become stronger characters that’s good but why do they end up weak and pathetic again when they fall in love?
Honestly I just wanna thank you for the unintentional recommendation list u gave me , I think I just have bad luck with the novels I read cuz the female lead always starts out so nice then becomes so annoying at the end. It's like she's just there for the sake of being there and thus the author reduced her iq to be like a 13 yr old. I think it all comes down to the author being lazy tho and thus the character development becomes trash.
. If you’re looking for strong female leads, you’d better go for Ding Mo, 叶斐然 (Ye Fei Ran) or Mo Bao Fei Bao. Chestnut novels have good female leads but the stories are too fluffy to feel their individual characters and Chun Dao Han’s and Gu Man’s female leads have both sides (such as Xu Zhaixing from ‘My Crown in the Entertainment Circle’ is extremely mature and eloquent with others but becomes the little star chasing girl she is in front of the ML or Qiao Jing Jing from You’re my glory). I also highly recommend ‘I have the aura of overbearing president’ in which the female lead is strong, sharp tongued and lazy and stays how she is even after falling in love.
I don't like strong female leads much I guess... Though I like sensible female protagonists at the very least.
Being strong does come is different forms. Such as mentally strong and physically strong are two different forms of strength. Being warm hearted to people and help them is one form of kindness but I can not call that being strong neither mentally nor physically. The biggest reason why I hate soft FL's is because they are over used. In every story with a bad boy or cool ass boy or a polite but perfect and well liked boy, there will be an extremely shy girl who will make the boys' heart melt with her goodness. Sometimes this is good. But when most of the time this is what happens I honestly end feel like why do I even read different shoujo anyway if all of them are gonna be the same old thing? Sometimes I feel like these kind of FL exists just so they can get into trouble. And then the ML will come and save the day. And in the end feel bad about not being able to protect the FL so will stay besides her and protect her their whole damn life(like that sh*t is even possible). End of the story. Seriesly? Is this what strength is? Then I would rather not have that kind of strength. PS: the upstair's discussion was based totally in my own opinion. You are free to like whatever you want and I can't say sh*t to you about that. So yeah