timotey

The main draw for me here was Inukai Atsuhiro playing the lead, 'Mob'. Mob, as in the 'extra' in a BL manga. The character who's there but doesn't really add anything to the story. And he's just fine with it, thank you very much.

Gosh, Inukai and his facial expressions were the cherry on top of an already hilarious plot. The way he hunched over, narrowed his eyes and almost wrinkled his nose, expressing his "Pah, lovebirds!" feels, had me in stitches. I loved how he dodged his own love encounters, refusing to become a "trope victim" while "sacrificing" others for the greater good - and wishing them all the happiness in the world!

But also, Mob's relationship with his brother honestly warmed my heart. He loved Ayato and Ayato loved him, dearly so, that much was obvious. And though Ayato couldn't help but see his big brother as a bit of a nutjob - really, no wonder! - that didn't change anything. And even their parents - also eyeing Mob with suspicion - were sweet. At the center of this mad thing truly was a sweet, loving family. Which was what ultimately sold me on this drama, its solid center.

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This is a story of two couples who switch partners after university. And then, 18 years later, they switch partners again, divorcing and remarrying immediately. And then, on top of that, they all move into one big house together, the four of them and their two teenage kids, Miki, the main heroine, and Yuu, the Marmalade Boy. The teens start off on the wrong foot but after some time, they become good friends and then they fall in love. But then the real bombshell comes when it seems that Miki and Yuu are actually half-siblings, that they're blood related. But are they really?

Sakurai Hinako as Miki and Yoshizawa Ryo as Yuu were absolutely fabulous! I loved how different they were, Miki and Yuu. Miki was so brash, always saying out loud what she didn't like and not budging. Yuu, on the other hand, kept it all in, all his hurt and everything else, because all he wanted was for their parents to be happy - despite their questionable life choices! - for everyone to be happy.

It's a story about the consequences of miscommunication, really. Because Miki and Yuu were simply trying to navigate the mess that their parents unwittingly created by keeping vital info from them. What I did love, though, was that not for a single moment did the kids think that they were not loved. They knew they were, deeply. Even Yuu, thinking that his dad was not his real father, didn't feel bitterness towards his parents, no, he was grateful that his mom didn't simply abort him and that his dad brought him up as his own child and he loved them for it. It was honestly wonderful.

I loved it a lot. What a weird and not at all normal family, true, but also so full of love!

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This movie! Magical realism at its best! And honestly, one of the most amazing roles I've seen Iwata Takanori in so far!

Juliette Binoche plays Jeanne who returns to Japan after some twenty odd years to look for a herb called Vision that appears only every 997 years. It's a miracle herb that should be able to erase all the pain in the world. She meets a forester and his old blind female friend who claims to be 1000 years old. The old woman recognizes Jeanne and Jeanne recognizes her. And then the woman disappears, we last see her dancing in the forest and the trees and the wind responding to her. And Jeanne returns home, promising to come back in the fall to see Vision come alive...

When she leaves, the forester, Satoshi, who now lives all alone just with his dog, finds a hurt young man in the forest, Iwata Takanori's Rin. He takes Rin home and Rin stays with him and he starts taking care of the forest with Satoshi. Satoshi really takes to him, treating him almost like a son. And then Jeanne returns and she immediately senses that there's something odd about Rin who almost doesn't speak, though he's very smart - odd like the fact that he can sense approaching death and things like that...

And now to the awesome twist!

It turns out that Rin is Jeanne's son, she had him with a Japanese man who got accidentally killed during a hunt. When Rin was born, Jeanne left him with the old blind woman who then took him to his grandparents who brought him up. But that's not all. Because Rin was born in the forest, it reacts to him just like to the blind woman before him and, guided by his father's spirit, he sets the forest afire with his dance to make Vision come alive again...

Wow, it was so... I mean... that was so cool! You can speculate if Rin is like the old woman, if he will also live to 1000 years till the Vision herb will need to be reborn to guide the next person who will have the power to set the forest afire and make it grow again. Or if it was all just a dream and a series of coincidences and made up stories, but that's the amazing thing about magical realism, there doesn't need to be an explanation. It can just be.

Amazing movie, honestly. The cinematography, the music, all the relationships - especially between Satoshi and Rin, it was awesome to see Satoshi laugh! Though it took me a bit to get used to them switching between French, English and Japanese constantly. That was fun!

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And another Jdrama where the power of friendship saves the day and its message is that you're never wrong believing in people and trusting them. Even when they betray you, you haven't been wrong believing in them because their betrayal was their choice, you did nothing wrong.

Also, another drama featuring the Exile Tribe members. In abundance!

The series was so sweet and funny and cute, though it did have its cringe-worthy moments - their battle cry of Who Are You?! was, well, yeah... just like their heart-to-heart moments during the battle at the end - and the humor was sometimes rather juvenile - it is a drama about 7 guys, so - but overall, I loved it!

I loved that all the main characters were thoroughly fleshed out, every single one of them - like Pii-chan who let his wife buy all kinds of stupid stuff online (which came surprisingly handy during their escapades) because they couldn't have kids, or Mikki who took care of his grandma with Alzheimer, or Choko who lost his parents as a kid (for which he blamed himself) and since then had no regard for his own life - that it didn't feel like they were just extras to Kiibo's main hero. Every one of them felt alive, if you know what I mean?

My main reason for watching it was, of course, Iwata Takanori, who was simply awesome here and his character had so much depth! I loved it!

Also, there was this one particular tune that was just so cool! I fell in loved with it!

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I really liked this drama - until the finale, that is.

Like I stated before, I don't like coffee shop romances, they're all fine and good in fanfics but I need some real conflict, something that in a way carries the fluff, and though it looked like this drama would have that, it was just a red herring, that was all. I kinda felt cheated.

Also, that the people closest to Yu Zhen manipulated him and made him think he was being left behind again? Made him chase after his love even though the last time he did that - chased after a man - he got in an accident and almost died? That rankled. Instead of Shi Lei telling Yu Zhen, "Look, I get that you're really bad at communicating for understandable reasons, so sit down, shut up and let me do the talking!" they played this... game on Yu Zhen? Uh.

I'm curious about the special next week and about where Yi Zi Tong's story is headed, true, but I would lie if I said that the conclusion of BLIHID didn't disappoint me.

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This drama started really strong but around the middle slowed down a lot and even became rather boring. The final episode was excellent, though. I loved how they all connected, became friends, that at the end, it wasn't just the ship couples but one big interconnected group of friends who shared different interests, these two and them two, but everybody had everybody else's back. It felt very... rich.

I also really liked the introduction of a gay character and how one of the characters reacted to finding out that he had been said person's first, unrequited crush. That was so sweet and lovely.

And it featured one of my favorite tropes too: older woman/younger man which also covered cold woman/warm man. Thumbs up!

Overall, a really good, solid series, though a bit heavy-handed with the "you're your own first and foremost" message.

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It was definitely different. I loved the atmosphere of this drama, the creepiness of the cursed castle, the creepiness of the fairy tales, the creepiness of the culprit. I loved the relationship among the main three, the love they had for each other, the fact that each of them had his or her own flaws, that they all made mistakes they needed to take responsibility for, it made them feel 3D. I loved the cinematography, the costumes - wow, Ko Moon Young’s dresses were really something, just wow! - and the music, too, the main song was so catchy! And I loved all the patients in the psychiatric hospital, I loved that the writers went that extra length to give them all their own personalities and stories, that they weren’t just props.

What I cared little about was the relationship between Ko Moon Young’s publisher and the young nurse, that one didn’t really click with me. I also didn’t like how the publisher treated his assistant. Sure, the girl knew how to use her young looks to her advantage but that didn’t justify his behavior towards her.

Overall, an excellent drama that I can highly recommend.

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Boring

Unfortunately, this was just plain boring for me. There were some really good scenes in it - like when Bar set some boundaries for Gun because he didn’t want Gun to work himself to exhaustion - but overall, this drama made me realize anew that “coffee shop” stories, ie stories with little to no angst or drama, just don’t work for me. I need some push-n-pull, some tension, some conflict to happen to keep up my interest.

Or maybe, it was the acting. The actor playing Bar was amazing - but the one playing Gun... wasn’t, to be kind. I felt that Folk Thitiphat who played Bar carried the entire show by himself and, really, when the story is very plain then the drama needs to be build on the actors. And here, one part of the couple was simply lacking in acting skills. Or maybe in experience. Maybe Win Achawin will turn out to be a fantastic actor in the future but here, well, he simply couldn’t keep up with Folk in the acting department. Which is too bad.

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The story of Tharn and Type wasn’t bad per se - though I still maintain that Dark Blue Kiss did the stalker kid arc better with Non and PeteKao - it simply proved that some stories may look great on paper but they don’t really work on-screen. Eps on eps on eps of nothing but cute domestic scenes might work as a fic but drama needs, well, drama to stay interesting. No matter what some people say.

But I will be forever grateful to TTS2 for LeoFiat and for introducing me to the awesomeness that’s JaFirst and their chemistry and for directing my attention to Ja Phachara in particular who was criminally underused and ugly-wigged in UWMA hence he flew under the radar for me (which reminds me I need to re-watch his scenes from that). But LeoFiat, their strange push-n-pull, their odd dynamics... yeah, that gave me life and kept me hooked. It’s too bad that they weren’t given more space, more background and development. Oh well...

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Perth Tanapon was the best actor of that bunch and Can was a pint-sized - though slightly dull-witted - knight in shining armor. Basically.

What truly got me, though, was the TulHin pairing. Maybe because it came out of left field, totally out of nowhere, and stole my heart. Hin was so soft and kind and sweet and around him, Tul became a better man. Tul was a bastard. Don’t get me wrong, his terrible backstory explained his behavior, but even Hin who was head over heels for him found his actions inexcusable. And yet, he still couldn’t stop loving Tul...

So yeah, TulHin were THE pairing of this drama for me. Their dynamics, the fact that Hin never stopped calling Tul “Khun Tul”, it all fascinated me to me no end. And they were also very hot together.

TinCan was cute, I’m still mad that they didn’t bother to ask Saint to do at least a cameo and I didn’t care at all about the rest. Also, the product placements were downright ridiculous.

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Slice of Life

This was a slice of life drama. And it was really lovely. It always filled me with calm when I watched it. The way it was filmed, the music, the slow pace... it was very calming, peaceful, indeed. I also loved how the whole story and background of both Eun Seop and Hae Won were revealed bit by bit throughout the series.

Some of the character reactions irked me - both the leads’ in certain moments - and a few of the characters rankled a bit - Eun Seop’s little sister was too much for me, just like Ji Eun Shil - but overall, I fell in love with all the people living in that village. And with Hae Won’s mother and aunt, too, once I got to know them better and found out why they behaved the way they did, how much they both suffered. I think that the one character that I felt truly sorry for at the end was Crybaby because he never stopped loving Hae Won’s aunt.

If you like slow dramas with little action/suspense that focus on character development and relationships more than anything else, then I highly recommend this drama to you. But I need to stress the word ‘slow’ here. Because everything happens slowly in this. And that might not be everyone’s cuppa.

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This has been, hands down, the best gay drama I’ve ever seen. Did it have its issues? Sure. Would I change some things? Yeah. But generally, it was made with a lot of heart and warmth and a genuine desire to give people a fanfic-like story about a mob boss and the cop chasing him, literally.

Out of the 3 main pairings - Shao Fei/Tang Yi, Jack/Zhao Zi and Hong Ye/Dao Yi - I was most interested in Shao Fei & Tang Yi, the least in Jack & Zhao Zi, which was probably obvious from my recaps. But I really liked Hong Ye & Dao Yi, the only het pairing, and that’s a rare thing in gay dramas, that the het pairing isn’t there just so not everybody’s gay but that they actually have an interesting arc, too. So much kudos for that.

I loved Tang Yi and Hong Ye’s sibling relationship. I loved the glimpse of what could’ve been between Shao Fei and Chen Wen Hao. I loved the unexpectedly multi-layered relationship between Shao Fei and Captain Shi. I loved Tang Yi’s friendship with Doctor Jian. And I loved the flashbacks to Boss Tang mentoring Tang Yi…

What I didn’t expect was how non-cliché turned out Shao Fei to be. No crisis of sexuality or morality when he realized he fell for a male gangster. No, just pure love and determination to save Tang Yi even against Tang Yi’s will.

And the same goes for Chen Wen Hao. I started off hating that guy and ended up crying for him. He truly was a man screwed over by fate - and his friends. If only Boss Tang tried harder to get him out of jail. If only Li Chen waited for him. Everything could’ve been different.

I was one of the few who liked the music choices in this drama - from smooth jazz to the tinkling bells - and the slo-mo. But then, I’m old-school *shrugs*

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This movie was the purrfect ending of the whole Kamen Rider Build era, it really was. It corrected everything the previous movie messed up - that annoying girl was gone, gone, gone! - and we - or at least I - got everything we wanted: Sento & Banjo together again, Kazumin & Misora finally dating, Gentoki & Sawa finally dating, Grease finally getting an upgrade... and we saw Build fighting on-screen one last time!

I loved that we laso got to see Mad Scientist Sento Kiryu one more time, him being all clever and devilish, doing dangerous experiments juuuuuust this side of evil, considering his subjects were human, and yet being a ball of sunshine - and Banjo being happy simply because Sento was happy. That was so good!

I admit that the beginning was a bit over the top but at least it was actually a part of the overall story, not just some crazy shenanigans for the sake of crazy shenanigans, so there's that.

Overall, this movie made me grin when it ended which is all one can ask for from the last movie in a series, right?

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South Korea really upped their ante lately when it comes to BL dramas. Though short, most of them hit just the right spot with me. And this one was no different. Why?

Because it ended up going in a completely different direction than I thought at first. I thought that Jaeyoung would be your typical jerk and Sangwoo the soft and emotional woobie or... whatever. But no. Jaeyoung turned out to be much softer and sweeter and Sangwoo much more cynical and clinical that I expected. It sure made for a very interesting storytelling.

The story itself was very standard, there was nothing exceptional or all that original about it - for original or downright weird and twisty stuff one really has to dig into Japanese BL - but the characters sure elevated the whole thing, they made me smile while watching which is always a big plus for me.

Overall, a sweet story. Loved it.

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Oh, wow. Korea is sure on fire with their BL dramas. Sure, they’re very short but it’s quality entertainment, well written and well acted stories. And with each one they raise the bar. Incredible.

With this one, I wasn’t sure what to think of the characters at first. Kang Seo Joon seemed like your typical spoiled rich airhead whereas Han Ji Woo was his typical cold and stand-offish counterpart. But then... Then it turned out that Seo Joon was sweet and kind, immensely capable at handling his affairs and all around just a really good egg. And Ji Woo wasn’t so much cold as so very, very afraid of getting hurt that he would rather prefer not to let anyone in. Until Seo Joon happened, that is, someone willing to go the extra mile and climb over all the walls that Ji Woo erected around himself to protect his heart. Wonderful.

My favorite moments happened towards the end of the drama. When Kang Seo Joon stood up for himself and let the reporter have the CCTV vid. When Han Ji Woo realized that his boss planned to blackmail Seo Joon, that it was someone from his life who threatened Seo Joon this time. When Seo Joon came to deal with Ji Woo’s boss - Ji Woo’s face! When Seo Joon wouldn’t let Ji Woo push him away, saying (basically), “If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you.” The whole of episode 9, of course, their soft intimacy...

But also the whole plot with Kang Seo Joon’s panic attacks, the way Ji Woo did his best to protect Seo Joon from the triggers once he realized what was going on. Seo Joon’s manager’s and his boss’ reactions when they realized that Seo Joon was still suffering from them and he just kept it to himself. That was wonderful and it gave the drama depth.

I think this is a drama that demands a re-watch once you reach the end and understand all the characters better. Because then you go all, “Oh!” in certain places and it makes the story seem all the richer.

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