tangoecho

It seems Woong Ki might be more open to resolving the issue or at least was more neutral in his comments. But we don't know what happened. Not everything can be resolved by a talk. Especially if there was some sort of betrayal or bad behavior and not just a conflict of personalities.

Anyone think the teaser trailer was more exciting than the official trailer?
I'm not really seeing as much chemistry between William and Est in the new trailer.

How about the leads from Blue Canvas of Youthful Days?

Sugar Dog Life

Should include currently airing Japanese BLs which outshine many of the current Thai BLs in your list.

Happy of the End too is another abuse (very much so) series

Its not that it was a quick soft kiss. That would be fine for the circumstance. Its the fact Hirakuwa didn't even pucker his lips. Its not natural to kiss where you press stiff still lips against anothers lips. Try kissing your hand that way and tell me it feels normal! Hirakuwa watches a lot of movies. Hangs out with male friends who have GFs. Is a teenager with hormones and buys movie magazines. Is knowledgeable enough to sit next to Minase showing a touch of bare skin where his coat slipped down off his shoulders because skin is sexy. Gutsy enough to reach up and touch and cradle Minases head and
neck. Both those moves prove he's not ignorant about ways to seduce or show physical interest in the other. He knows what a kiss is supposed to look like and is smart enough to try to imitate it.

Puckering is universal - its not
limited only to
romantic kissing. Even my 6 year old puckers when she kisses me on the cheek.

So thats the issue with the kisses to me. I'm hoping for a bit more reality going forward.

Come on, almost every male character not related to her, falling in love with Zhou Ying is kinda of ridiculous.

The ladies bangs, oh my please no, make those hairstyles stop.

If they ever show the prince who is the bad guy behind the bad guy, I hope he looks like how I imagine him.

Du Ming Li is a nasty piece of work.

Zhao Bai Shi for being so so smart still hasn't asked if someone could be behind, let alone figured out, who would benefit if the 3 main families feud and/or go broke. You would think someone passing the royal exam on the first try would be well versed on the history of
treacherous throne seekers and powerful ministers and how they manipulate government, industry, etc to gain support and money and then work to stop or negate their actions.

This is like a soap opera and I can't stop watching.

Other than Shoma, none of the other 3 leads are that good looking. Or as good looking as I expected they'd be. And even Shomas hotness is dialed down in this series. Him in KissKiss - wow. Here, not so much. Maybe it's his horrible hair looking like dried straw.
The spanking scene was cringe.
I'm just not liking Rei. I don't know if its because I didnt much care for the Thai version of the character either so its clouding my opinion for this series too.
I have a feeling the 2nd couple is going to be my preference.

Did you consider that Minase said yes because he's intrigued by Hirukawa? He watched Hirukawa at the fountain and didn't move away when Hirukawa made eye contact, splashed water on his head, shook
his head like a dog, made eye contact a second time. The school bully and Minase stands there just watching. Then Minase does not tell about the beating. He did what Hirukawa asked. So you wonder why



Hirukawa makes a few more, increasingly intimate each time, requests? Its to see if what he suspects is true. That Minase likes or at least is interested in him in some way. And those intimate requests - feeding of
water, bandage applying, especially where others can see, is in itself confirmation that Minase feels something because otherwise, he'd say no.

This series is all about water. From
the opening scenes, to
the movie that Minase was watching to both their names have a water element to them. Hirukawa poured water on his head after the confrontation with the teacher. Again after the beating by his father.
Coincidence? Maybe. Weird? Sure.

So my feeling is Hirukawa's behavior is to gage how much interest Minase has in him while also transmitting back his interest in taking the relationship deeper and more personal.

He didn't technically fail fail. The thing is he wanted to go to one of the top universities in Korea and kept failing to get high enough scores to be admitted to that school so kept retaking the test. If he wanted to go to like a B tier school, he would've been fine and passed no problem.

This series is made for Korea audiences who understand the Korean educational, societal and legal systems plus the language. The various conflicts probably can't be translated in a few lines of subtitles that makes sense to international viewers.

It was confusing but I try to remember who the target audience is and then adjust my expectations.

Isn't that the same for Korean and Thai BLs set in high school too?
Compared to many other HS based BLs (regardless of country), I thought the quality of this first episode was pretty good even if nothing new storywise.

Well apparently both boys names have water as part of their meaning, the first scenes are all about water, the movie Minase is watching has water in the title (I believe), Hirakuwa seems to use water on his head as a way to reset or regulate his feelings after being an agressor or victim and we even see fish in a tank.
I'm curious if the webtoon has this much emphasis on water too.

Do you mean you find it boring because this story idea has been done over and over?
If yes, can you tell me which other BLs you're reminded of?

DH's father, despicable person he is, never abandoned JY. JY was abandoned by his parents, church, school, friends and ultimately DH in a matter of what? Six months? Do you think if DH had kept in contact and they had gone to Seoul togather, that JY would continue to give any attention to DH's father? I don't think so. I felt he kept in contact with the father at first to maintain some connection to DH, in the hope of hearing something about DH. Then it became a habit. And the dad continued to reach out to him. And as screwed up as it was, it was someone who didn't just toss him aside.
I totally understand still how DH could be mad about it. But just as easily as ghosting met DHs emotional needs even though it was cruel to JY, JY was trying to meet his needs too in the absence in his own screwed up way too.

When there's trauma, people do not act rationally.

I think he could've known where JY was. He opened a tutoring school in his neighborhood. So he either knew where he was or opened the school there to remind him of the happy moments they shared there that one day or he hoped to see him again "accidentally".

Maybe he couldn't get into architecture school and settled (in his mind at least) for engineering. Or the engineering dept offerred him scholarship money to major in that subject and he had to take it otherwise he couldn't afford school.
Thats why engineering isnt his calling and hes moved to teaching. He keeps the architecture drawing up to remind him of his dream and lied to JY because he's embarrassed he settled. Or a reason he could give to JY for abandoning him is to pursue his dream education and come to find out he threw that aside too?

Or maybe he never graduated. HH knows it but covers for him and that could be part of the reason why DH tolerates him.

I do think he did go to University and graduated with some sort of degree because it seems the wealthy in Korea especially would background check and verify the qualifications of who is teaching their kids
at tutoring school. SK is such a status/ education / job/ wealth conscious society

They do not need to do a season 2 of this drama with new leads. They need to do it with Thailand Addicted Heroin with new leads!

It looks like they met up again at college. DH didn't really have anyone then and I figure them being in Seoul, it was easier to rekindle the friendship away from the dad, the other high school friend group and the small town they were raised in. Keep in mind, Hyeon Ho didn't move back home after college either. He probably also wanted to escape that town.