Actors High! (2024)

a fun comedy vertical series

Overall: note that the focus is more on the contentious relationship of the actors than the romance with the guardian spirits. 30 episodes about a minute each. Watched on the Vigloo app - the first few episodes can be watched here https://www.vigloo.com/video/15000105?season=15000105&episode=1 Vigloo also has: You Want Some, Match Play, Rule #1 No Dating Rule, Love in the Apocalypse

What I Liked
- the guardian spirits and their story
- it made me laugh a few times
- the group hug

Room For Improvement
- too much screaming
- kind of ambiguous with the actors' relationship


How to Watch for Free (episodes are 50 coins each, you can't skip episodes but once unlocked they stay unlocked forever, there are additional tasks to get more coins like following the company on social media)

Day 1
- watched episodes 1-8 (free on the app)
- can watch 10 episodes free with ads, I unchecked the auto unlock, clicked off of that box and another box popped up saying "view ads to watch for free 0/10" (I did that for eps 9-18)
- watched 15 ads per day for 30 coins each on the rewards page and did the daily check in (eps 19-27)

Days 2 & 3
- watched 3 more ads for the last 3 episodes

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Welcome the cinema within the cinema in the BL

Among the first questions we ask ourselves when we are faced with a romantic series or film in general, and a BL in particular, is whether there will be an explosive or electrifying chemistry between the protagonists, if one actor will be comfortable with the other, if they will manage to be close friends so that everything they do together looks natural, if they will truly manage to build a bond over time so that their characters are believable in the eyes of the viewer, if even the chemistry will persist after the cameras and microphones are turned off...
BL series such as the Japanese '25 Ji, Akasaka', directed in 2024 by Horie Takahiro and Kawasaki Ryo, and 'BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen' (2023-2024), by director Kumasaka Izuru, are one of the few audiovisuals of the genre that place cinema at the center of their productions.
How I would like to be able to visualize various productions in which, with great formal and plot diversity, they show cinema within cinema or metacinema, which allows the public to peek into the processes of film creation and the professional performance of directors, producers, performers and scriptwriters.
In this way, the viewer obtains privileged access to the backstage of the cinema, and suffers and enjoys the conflicts that emerge "behind" the camera. Likewise, you could witness a setting, the filming one, in which ego struggles, asymmetrical power relations, unforeseen events and human limitations are unleashed. Furthermore, like magicians who show their tricks, these films and series reveal the strategies that allow the cinematographic illusion to be generated. They also show us the underside of success and fame, and sometimes play with the transfers that occur between reality and fiction, between life and cinema.
'Actors High!', the 30-episode miniseries of just over a minute in length, broadcast on November 21, 2024 by Vigloo, tells us precisely about these topics.
The Japanese comedy introduces us to Matsushima (Ryo Shibuki), an associate producer in charge of preparing, in just three days and two nights, a couple of actors to star in a love drama between boys titled "Sunset in the Snow."
However, the task prior to the start of filming becomes difficult to overcome due to the refusal of the stars Shogo Aoyama (character played by actor Negishi Takuya, known for giving life to Raidou Hikaru in the 'Ultraman Ginga' saga), and Fujii Akira (Yutaro, who previously played the role of Miki Mahiro in the BL series 'Zenra Meshi' ('Naked Dinner'), directed by Kato Ayaka in 2023), to carry out their respective roles.
Gathered in a summer villa, the two actors will show that they feel uncomfortable while they rehearse their lines and seek to adapt to their roles, in which they will experience intimate moments and romantic scenes. Reluctantly, after learning what is required of them through reading the script, both express their intentions to abandon the film project.
Aoyama, who is looking to try something different as an actor after a string of successes playing heroes in action films, will be frustrated and surprised to learn that he will have to play one of the two lovers in a BL drama. Faced with the dilemma, Matsushima will try to assert his power of persuasion, arguing that getting involved in other narrative genres is important for the growth of actors.
For his part, Fujii, known for his youthful appearance and for starring in a long series for twenty years, which began when his character was just a baby, is not opposed to playing the romantic interest of another man in a BL drama, but is reluctant to have his character die of a terminal illness. Interested in persuading him, the producer in charge will argue that tragic melodramas enjoy the public's preference.
In the midst of the crisis due to the imminent abandonment of the project by the actors who cannot get along with each other, unable to motivate them, seeing the risk of not carrying out the order of the producer and the director of the play, Matsushima enters a state of panic that will lead him to hallucinate two meddlesome ghosts dressed in clothes from the Japanese feudal era.
These hilarious characters pressure Matsushima to insist that the actors not abandon the drama, warning him that they will curse him if the project fails.
But everything will become even more complicated when Heian (Gaku Matsumoto) and Bakumatsu (Takagi Nodoka), the guardian spirits of Fujii and Aoyama, respectively, declare that they also seek to make the two actors' relationship flourish in real life, as this would guarantee them being able to revive their own failed romance.
Before closing we can see the happy ending when Matsushima receives the recognition he deserves.
Through convincing performances, exaggerated reactions and silly, hilarious and extravagant situations, the comedy presents credible characters who will question, among other issues, the unrealistic narratives and frivolous and undramatic stories frequently present in BL series and films.
The Japanese series will receive the majority rejection of BL lovers for presenting very little romantic content, for the lack of chemistry between the actors, for telling a light story that consciously chooses to be frivolous and inconsequential, and even for being filmed in vertical format, but it fulfills its intentions of making the public reflect on the very nature of cinematographic representation, as well as exploring its operation and surprising viewers, through cinematographic techniques, of showing a story in which the characters are actors, act and even recreate scenes from a drama to be filmed in the near future.
'Actors High!' fulfills its purposes of creating a metanarrative, that is, a story within a story, which can add layers of meaning and complexity to the main plot, thanks to the well-achieved concept of "cinema within cinema."
Additionally, the series can serve as a form of self-reflection on the part of the director or screenwriter, allowing them to show and examine their creative process.
Don't miss it. Recommended for movie lovers.

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