Talks about otome games, drama cds, and occasionally provides advice? Running away endlessly from my backlog of hobbies.

Ilinox

Yup, you're right on the money about this, it's a very common phenomenon HAHA. Around the end of 2022 (this would have been after Chapter 17), there were a ton of dark and depressing stories written in the perspective of the reader (author), where they would basically go through a session of self-dissection and catharsis with the help of Osborn as a character.

My thoughts on this are scattered throughout threads everywhere, haha, but to put it simply I do think Osborn attracts some girls who feel like cold indifferent bystanders in the world. We're a little too efficient, too logical, and thus too "sharp" towards others and towards ourselves.

Osborn is someone who's seen the worst of the world and clawed his way out of the mud at rock bottom, and yet he learned to put down his wrath towards the world and reconciled with it and himself. He doesn't struggle with his own identity or place in the world and truly embodies the concept of freedom, enjoying whatever he wants and doing whatever he wants. Like you said, this feels like a light for Evan-adjacent girls, who think a little too much and consider too much that we trap ourselves in the maze of our own thoughts, responsibilities, and concerns. Sometimes, we really need a person to just simply reach out and pull us out one step.

Anyway, because of Osborn's background, we won't dismiss him as being naive and just saying pretty words because he's walked the walk and talked the talk. He has that admirable courage and puts things immediately into action, so he doesn't get bogged down in anxieties. Lastly, he's extremely direct and says what's on his mind, so that's a mental load off of people like us who automatically analyze people and read between their lines. There's nothing to read between Osborn's lines LOL he means what he says and he always fulfills his promises.

Haha, probably not a surprise given how much I talk about him, Evan is my favorite character for those reasons too. He's way too relatable and I love reading about his journey of self-discovery, it hits too close to home, but he's also just a fascinating character in general because of this.

You could almost say Evan and Osborn had the same origin but they chose completely different paths and that one scene in Osborn's Chapter 13 card has always stuck in my mind, where Osborn "returns" the heart of the watch to Evan and in return Evan shows Osborn the way out of the castle. Osborn asks Evan if he wants to run away with him, but Evan shakes his head. Both kids had nothing out there waiting for them, but Osborn will always be drawn to the light while Evan stays in the dark. Osborn will break systems from the outside because he refuses to be caged and do things that go against his conscience, but Evan chooses to break systems from within and so will always get touched by these "sins". Ugh, I could go on and on about these two (and any of the Light and Night men LOL).

In short, yeah, you aren't alone. There are many "gloomy" Xiao Fives who bias Osborn because he's their personal sun, haha.

Yup, you're right on the money about this, it's a very common phenomenon HAHA. 

 (this would have been after Chapter 17), there were a ton of dark and depressing stories written in the perspective of the reader (author), where they would basically go through a session of self-dissection and catharsis with the help of Osborn as a character.

My thoughts on this are scattered throughout threads everywhere, haha, but to put it simply I do think Osborn attracts some girls who feel like cold indifferent bystanders in the world. We're a little too efficient, too logical, and thus too "sharp" towards others and towards ourselves.

Osborn is someone who's seen the worst of the world and clawed his way out of the mud at rock bottom, and yet he learned to put down his wrath towards the world and reconciled with it and himself. He doesn't struggle with his own identity or place in the world and truly embodies the concept of freedom, enjoying whatever he wants and doing whatever he wants. Like you said, this feels like a light for Evan-adjacent girls, who think a little too much and consider too much that we trap ourselves in the maze of our own thoughts, responsibilities, and concerns. Sometimes, we really need a person to just simply reach out and pull us out one step.

Anyway, because of Osborn's background, we won't dismiss him as being naive and just saying pretty words because he's walked the walk and talked the talk. He has that admirable courage and puts things immediately into action, so he doesn't get bogged down in anxieties. Lastly, he's extremely direct and says what's on his mind, so that's a mental load off of people like us who automatically analyze people and read between their lines. There's nothing to read between Osborn's lines LOL he means what he says and he always fulfills his promises.

Haha, probably not a surprise given how much I talk about him, Evan is my favorite character for those reasons too. He's way too relatable and I love reading about his journey of self-discovery, it hits too close to home, but he's also just a fascinating character in general because of this.

You could almost say Evan and Osborn had the same origin but they chose completely different paths and that one scene in Osborn's Chapter 13 card has always stuck in my mind, where Osborn "returns" the heart of the watch to Evan and in return Evan shows Osborn the way out of the castle. Osborn asks Evan if he wants to run away with him, but Evan shakes his head. Both kids had nothing out there waiting for them, but Osborn will always be drawn to the light while Evan stays in the dark. Osborn will break systems from the outside because he refuses to be caged and do things that go against his conscience, but Evan chooses to break systems from within and so will always get touched by these "sins". Ugh, I could go on and on about these two (and any of the Light and Night men LOL).

In short, yeah, you aren't alone. There are many "gloomy" Xiao Fives who bias Osborn because he's their personal sun, haha.

i know that’s a sweeping generalisation so i’m not being entirely serious but- GODDAMN

i identify with evan’s struggles in ways that cannot be healthy and purely as a fictional character he may be my favourite of all-time, but osborn is my favourite male lead because he feels like the light to me 😖 these two parallel each other so heavily where it’s like they represent an opposite perspective on the same themes so i find them both so comforting in different ways ☹️  i wonder if this is a common experience for fellow 萧小五 LOL

Ilinox

is it an osborn girl thing to relate to evan a little /too/ hard???