Shoebill

From the producer:
"In EP9, various plot threads will begin to move all at once."
"From EP10 onwards, I couldn't watch without crying."

Lmaoooo oh boyyy, how angsty are they gonna make it?

https://x.com/mina_kase/status/1823699257905570110?t=xkTxX771LmBlduTgu9ujLw&s=19

We did get a scene of Taichi thinking at the beginning of the EP and hints such as Taichi asking Kohei about his career choices, but yes I'm a little worried how they're gonna transition to next ep's major plot point. Especially since Sai's first appearance (supposedly with Maya at the orientation) has also been removed.

I assumed it was the beginning of the semester, maybe 2 weeks in because Kohei would've probably signed up for a notetaker if they were further into the semester? But I'm not 100% sure

Why don't you just read the manga? You're basically asking for the whole volume to be spoiled anyway.

Taichi and Kohei meet at the beginning of their first year in ep 1, which is in April. Their summer break (ep4) is in August to September. They reconcile (ep5) sometime after around October, then they camp, spend new years, and Maya joins as a first year in April whereas they are now second years. So slightly over a year has passed.

Here's a good post by a hard of hearing viewer explaining why she's mad at Taichi. It's not without reason.
https://www.tumblr.com/kennyomegasweave/758608572571680768/i-never-said-she-wasnt-saying-fuck-this-guy-just?source=share

Ah, I see. I think Mando/cantopop mainstream music are mostly ballads, especially among older listeners. I also think there is too little variety, but that's what's popular lol. The songs that Magnet performed in the flashback is already considered upbeat to me. At least they are a bit more guitar and percussion-heavy, and the intro has synths.

It's basically Begin Again/Music and Lyrics but gay and Taiwanese. If you're into type of musical romance drama you'll enjoy this.

It sounds like mainstream pop music that fits the story. If Magnet were like, a metal band, they wouldn't be mainstream, even though I myself like metal.

No, but two of the scriptwriters are BL novelists. One is the author of About Youth's original novel.

Sure, but most hate comments disregard her depth and importance?Everyone's just saying she needs to get out of the story, she's a typical one dimensional BL girl villain, irredeemable bitch, ruining the show etc. This is purely based off of one (1) scene where she's mean to Taichi, where she even makes some reasonable points about his bad notetaking. One scene and yet everyone is so worked up and refusing to give her and the story a chance to showcase her complexity.

The ableism jumped out in that comment 💀 It's like saying disabled people are only acceptable when they stay quiet and suffer in silence, but if they're angry out loud they suddenly don't deserve help or care

Maya actually does develop a crush on Taichi, funnily enough. It's never outright made clear in the manga but it was confirmed in a relationship chart that came out for the 10th anniversary. Not only does she NOT get in their way, she still gives them helpful relationship advice when Taichi comes to her and moves on with Yasu like any normal person with an unrequited crush.

Kohei clearly looks concerned that scene, but obviously he can't pry it out of them if they don't want to talk about it? He doesn't know they were arguing about him either.

But he isn't manipulated by her. He's a person with agency. If you lined up the events, Kohei said he had been tutoring Maya for 6 months, so he met her sometimes after EP5. Along with the sign language club she's one of the new connections he made as a result of Taichi breaking him out of his shell and telling him to not give up. He sees these new relationships as progress on accepting his disability, plus she's his only friend who understands his hard of hearing experience, so of course he particularly cherishes his friendship with her. Most other BLs make the seme wholly obsessed with the uke, so maybe people aren't used to the fact that he has a life outside of Taichi while still being in love.

There are a few reasons why they aren't together yet. One of which is Taichi's issue of needing to feel "needed/useful" due to his parents' abandonment. If they get together too soon, this root issue in their relationship will not be resolved. So something has to separate them so that Taichi will realise that he can in fact choose to be with Kohei and that he deserves to pursue love, not clinging to conditional relationships that depend on "usefulness". Furthermore, the idea that Kohei, a disabled person, NEEDS Taichi is ableist as that would make Taichi the saviour in Miho's romance story. That's why the author always focuses on developing them as individuals first.

Which country are you from? Japanese fans don't hate her, majority of English readers don't, and neither do Taiwanese readers which is the publication I read. The drama doesn't cater to international audiences and just cause you don't like that she is an obstacle to the romance doesn't mean her character has no value in the story, which focuses on disability commentary. It's a good thing that the drama team actually respects disabled people and tries to represent them properly.

Kind reminder to keep your negative comments in the discussion forums, whether it is about the MV or story or whatever. DO NOT comment hate to the staff and actors or tag them.

Don't be surprised if we don't ever get a season 2 because of international fans' entitled behaviour.

https://x.com/youroli0804/status/1821667320349257760?t=mZRU9VACOYztAlNsV1b1Ww&s=19
https://x.com/youroli0804/status/1821347239689609605?t=mBnL539KXRNMBv-y9yBZZg&s=19

Majority of manga fans don't hate her lol. Where did you find these "pissed" manga fans?

We have 5 episodes left.

Apologies, my bad. I think it's pretty clear that Taichi has feelings though? The show has shown him staring longingly at Kohei many times, get jealous over him with a girl (directly in parallel to Kohei getting jealous over him). I'm not sure why you believe those are only signs of friendship. To me your concerns are unfounded.

It's wild that the audience wishes death on her because she's judgemental but ironically they're the ones judging her after she showed up for only ONE ep lmao. Apparently if a disabled person doesn't act saintly and nice to able-bodied people all the time they deserve to die/suffer??