Ode to Ssamba & Fluttering Feelings | Anime Amino

Fluttering feelings manhwa recommendation

Fluttering feelings ship post of lead females

Fluttering feelings or Exciting Feelings as it is also known as, tells the story about two college girls, with no previous romantic experience with girls, and their growing feelings for each other. While it started as an unsure and tentative friendship there seems to be something more developing bit by bit.

While their bond is the main focus, this story tells so much more about love, friendship, growing up and letting go or learning to deal with your past and your experiences in general.

I would be lying if I said I was done talking about fluttering feelings with the 2 FF centric blogs I have written already and the copious amount of times I have mentioned it in my other yuri blogs, but I didn’t or I should say, I was hoping never to have to do it as a means of paying tribute to in my opinion one of the greatest yuri authors I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

I have re-read fluttering feelings a total of 4 times already, all the 68 chapters; I’m sure I will re-read a few more times in the future as well, since there’s no other yuri story that tops fluttering feelings for me (as incomplete as it will remain) and even better I cannot earnestly say most of the yuri stories in my favorites for the genre actually make a solid story in general outside just purely being a yuri work, but Fluttering Feelings definitely succeeds in this regard.

Fluttering Feelings additionally doubles over as a character study and subtle yet poignant slice of life about hesitation, regret, fear, new exciting feelings and what to do with them, where you’re going in life and maturing.

It has a fairly slow pacing and the lead girls bond is center-stage for the most part, yet the way you go about exploring what kind of people they are, their commonalities and differences, their insecurities, their genuine care for one another as they go about navigating college, friends and life in general is something I truly value it for and part of what makes it so memorable for me.

While Octave manga was the yuri story that got me into Yuri genre in general I would be lying if fluttering feelings wasn’t the one that made me always search in the hopes of finding a yuri story with so much care put into it and such a gradual and more realistic slow-burn, especially keeping in mind both lead’s history of only having dated boys previously and the stigma that has been subtly hinted at in fluttering feelings about lgbt not being quite as accepted yet in Korea, so despite it being snail-paced for a lot of people I find the lead’s hesitation reasonable keeping in mind the previous points I brought up.

The nuances and how multi-layered the lead’s feel in general also helps you appreciate even more the attention to detail that the author puts and how previous scenes reinforces not only their bond, but high lights various facets of their personalities.

To be fair there are loads of reasons why I love fluttering feelings. So many that I can talk ages about it, but I believe my fluttering feelings recommendation did a decent job in explaining why I believe others should give it a read and the ship blog of the leads No-Rea And Seol-A does its job in highlighting their bond and just how much they complement each other, despite seeming they probably shouldn’t work at first glance.

Also the fact that I identify so strongly with No-rea helps elevates this work even more because every facet or quirk I learn about her makes me feel she isn’t just a one note character and her little traces of how she keeps people at arm’s length after a certain point or hating conflict or even her clumsy nature just makes me appreciate her so much more because she’s horribly flawed, but she’s not a bad person and her flaws are actually have overlap with mine and that helps me connect even more with her and the work.

So thank you Ssamba for creating a character I can identify with so fiercely and yeah, she’s not conventional or even exciting, but neither am I, so I appreciate that.

However now that I’m done explaining again why I value SSamba contribution as yuri mangaka and as an author in general in portraying a heartwarming, humane and wonderfully done slow-burn of story, I believe it’s important to address just how much this author was adored not only for the subtle beauty present in fluttering feelings, but more importantly as a testament to what a pure, magnificent and lovely individual she was.

As can be seen this obituary went out on comico, the host site of Fluttering feelings.

Ssamba had started in October of 2014 with fluttering feelings and continued with only a few breaks in between till March 2016. She is dedicated and loved her story just as much as she loved her fans and she was a lovely individual that her particular style of drawing herself as a dumpling never failed to put a small smile on my face; whether it was a small scribble on end note commenting on holidays she celebrates or cautioning others about the weather and to dress warmly in winter times or even apologizing for being later than usual at certain updates, the genuine way she came across was always appreciated.

Apart from that we even got bonus chapters like this random skit of 50 shades of Seol-a or perhaps even one centered on one of her holidays

Or even ones that goes about highlighting back stories or random snip bits of the characters that she couldn’t organically fit into the main story without it coming off as awkward.

What made me appreciate her though from the get go as soon I discovered fluttering feelings when it had 20+ chapters already out was the Q& A’s she had as bonus chapters, where she made her inspiration clear, but more importantly I respect the fact that despite people being used to lewd and instant gratification present in a lot of yuri works, SSamba noticed what I noticed when I was dipping my toes in the yuri genre.

A lot of it is sexualized and most of them don’t care to put a generous amount of panel and chapter time in building up the bonds between the female leads, especially in a way that feels organic and make you really grow attached and genuinely wish for their happiness.

It’s for that reason Ssamba saying her thirst for that particular type of story that felt lacking in the genre made her write Fluttering Feelings, because if you can’t find what you want, then best make it or pave a way to get it, right?

Also have you seen all her dumpling drawn renditions she has done as herself? Simply adorable.

It was with heavy heart though that we got the news sometime in april or may 2016 of Ssamba’s terminal cancer diagnosis and she has struggled with chemo and had a bunch of log entries at first that gradually became less and even though she recovered for a bit.

However it was likely only partial remission and the world is rarely ever fair and so we have lost a marvelous person and more than not getting a proper conclusion from her masterpiece, I’m sad this splendid individual wasn’t given a 2nd chance at life, because 33 is a very young age to go, but at the same time I’m glad she was not suffering anymore and may she truly rest in peace.

As an final end note Ssamba despite being criticized of same face in her characters , which had me confused at times too, her art itself, except her lack of diversity of faces on new characters, did improve throughout and she had a lot of other works planned as well and even had a small work she did before fluttering feelings.

Up to 19 chapters were done, but then she removed and polished the first 2 chapters and although it’s too little to make an impression based on this I believe this would’ve been an interesting read as well, actually I believe she had a lot more masterpieces in her left would she have been granted a new bill of health, but alas misfortunate and truly devastatingly sad events happen at times.

It’s never easier, but if anything I look back fondly to the weekly updates, laughs, heartwarming and fangirling moments and sentiments I expressed every Monday morning I got to read a new translated chapter of this lovely work and despite its incomplete state, fluttering feelings is a masterpiece in the yuri genre and a darn good romance and slice of life story in general and Ssamba is one the purest, sensible and genuine individuals out there and despite not having personally met her, her passion, her love for her characters and work and her fans, leaks out of fluttering feelings and the fans recognize this, because Ssamba you’re an angel that went too soon.

Thank You for Fluttering Feelings.

Thank you for your adorable dumpling drawings.

Thank you for all the joys you brought Yuri fans nation-wide

Thank you for having existed.

May you Rest in Peace Ssamba.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Source

Some information and pictures where taken from halmoniswag tumblr, the translator of fluttering feelings and korean messages in general connected with fluttering feelings related material and ssamba journal entries as well.

Other picture were taken from fluttering feelings artists on tumblr or other platforms.