Moonbeam

By leads, you mean..?

Ep 12? Idk
Anyway, I can’t understand why he can’t just say that he’s not seeing someone (when talking with Giseok in the car)? It’d save him some trouble and he wouldn’t be lying at all. They might like each other but they’re not dating yet, the fact that they like each other doesn’t mean that they’re already “seeing each other”.
Jeong in is still in a relationship with Giseok (by the way, I did not understood her behavior either… she was all like “let’s break up” and even told her friend about it but after the fact (except that one moment when talking to Jiho) she just acted like it didn’t happen at all?? Which puts them in a weird situation where Jiho knows she “broke up” with Giseok but no one else does, so he’s naturally behaving differently even though she’s back to behaving like Giseok’s girlfriend. Because of that she consequently just put Jiho in more shit than necessary and she doesn’t even realize it…?) and nothing suspicious happened between her and Jiho, they hardly touched like at all, even while greeting each other or whatever.
They’re both just asking for trouble by acting more suspicious than they need to, it seems…

Also if he spoke like I said he should have, the responses of people would have been different and better, considering the situation. Instead of something like “be a little selfish” “go for it, I want to see you smile like you used to” and “You’ve suffered enough, you’ve pushed yourself enough, now it’s time for you to act how you want”, most of them would still convey the messages of support but once they would’ve known what exactly he is talking about they would obviously tell him to better not make her cheat, or not to involve himself romantically with someone taken. I mean, unless they aren't decent people, but they all can't be indecent, can they?
And then,(while Jeongin was still in a relationship with Giseok) because of lack of clarity on his part, they were literally unknowingly encouraging him to be the cause of infidelity/cheating and feel validated to do so...

I’m watching drama right now, and it seems good so far but there's one thing that just irks me non stop... why wouldn't Jiho just say something like "I like someone, but it might be troublesome for the person I like, unfortunately she is currently in a relationship" or "it's true that I really liked this woman, but I ended it early, because it turned out that she was in a relationship already" (while talking to his friend over dinner and answering his questions about his unusual demanour recently).

Like, why is he beating around the bush so much? instead of constantly saying "different situation" or "difficulties" etc he could've just said it as it is! He was literally talking to either completely unrelated people (his co workers/friends who don't know Jeongin and her boyfriend at all, and his parents) or people kinda related but who aren't making it particularly their business (his two friends).
Like, that's not a bad thing at all!
It's called being honest. And it wouldn't have changed anything in his situation for worse, and wouldn’t have made him look bad either, because that would be exactly why he wouldn't have made a clear move on her.
It just seems more unnatural for the character to speak around the topic like that, with literally everyone (including the love interest in question), instead of being precise with at least one of the people he talked to.

I'm also bothered because, when it goes on and on for 12 episodes (when he can't even once say that yes, unfortunately the girl he likes has a partner already, or that she was already in a relationship when he started liking her, and that's one of the reasons why this situation isn't that simple, while talking to people he trusts and is close to) it really makes it look like he actually didn't care at all that she was in a relationship at that time.
It makes it look like, Jiho didn't make a move on her only because he didn't want to burden Jeongin personally/make her feel uncomfortable or stressed but he would have been entirely okay with her cheating on Giseok with him, if she was enthusiastic about it.
And with that, he'd be actually behaving like a truly nasty person...
Which, in turn seems out of character for Jiho (he doesn’t have a motive to act like that, he did not try to sabotage Giseok or make them break up on purpose), so it seems like it probably was not intended to make him look like that, that's why it's bothering me so much.
(Or maybe it was supposed to be like that? Maybe he really just was a nasty person about that situation and I’m just naturally annoyed by his behavior?)

Sorry for this rant, as you can see, I was REALLY annoyed.

ah, Sungmin…
No offense, but even from that stage clip showed during eliminations, it shows how his moves are still stiff.
Besides he can’t sing well either, and needs more training.
I get that he’s objectively a handsome guy, but even his looks aren’t that breathtaking.
Personally, he doesn’t seem to have a unique charm.
So even if he debuts like this, it won’t work with looks as his only skill/speciality, the competition is too tough and it may bring down the group as a whole (in terms of performance quality and popularity etc).
Contestants like Sihun should have entered the top 7 instead.
Yeah, that’s all I’ve got to say.

Although I am happy to see all four bae members in the finals, it’s such a pity that Hanbin and Minseo got eliminated, really…

Also, what the hell is Sungmin still doing in top 7?
Mowing on, I’m kinda sad that Wu Chenyu got eliminated, I mean it was very predictable, I think even he knew before that he’ll get to “go home” but still, I liked his voice and vocals a lot.

I’m wondering, what will PocketDol Studio do with the Bae173 and Fantasy Boys members who won’t debut through Project 7 or Starlight Boys?

At this point I’m pretty sure that Minwook is guaranteed to debut (maybe not as po1 but still) but sadly, he’ll probably be the only one from his group/company making it.
I don’t know how the situation is on Starlight Boys right now but from what I remember both Bae173 and Fantasy Boys members have a chance at debuting through the show, but also not all of them.

I’ve seen people speculate that a lot of talented trainees eliminated from Project 7 are going to audition/take part in Boys Planet 2, so maybe they’ll go there too? (I’m not sure if that’d be a good or a bad situation, I don’t know how to judge that…)

Ah, okay, thanks. I agree!!

I was laughing-crying when watching some episodes because sometimes you can really see when the “interview” parts (the trainees comments, it’s present in every episode) have been cut or rearranged to create specific impressions or even artificial situations (I think it’s the most evident at the beginning of the show). Or when they put voice-over of the trainees sharing their thoughts on what’s going on, and you can hear that it’s taken a bit out of context/relates to a different part of the situation, yes, there have been a few moments like that.

I personally think that there are quite many handsome or really cute trainees there, and abs shots are fine as long as someone has presentable abs and such display is fitting to the stage/song performed.

Completely agree on the part about Guiders. They started being more helpful and teach these poor contestants but only around the time of the second mission.. they should have been like that from the beginning, and I’m sure that besides creating a better environment for the trainees, it also would have helped with the popularity of the show.
When I thought about it, Eric actually is only in the best moments lol
They didn’t put him in ep 2, he only appears to give feedback and help with the dancing while trainees are preparing the performances, has a nice talk with these guys and then is mc-ing the sports episode, which was friendly and playful.

Anyway, could you tell me more about the situation with Doha?
I care quite a lot about Bae173 members on the show but I still haven’t seen the latest episodes.

BP2 is said to debut two project groups tho? One Chinese with activities more focused in China and the other Korean, more focused on Korea (although there surely will be some contestants of different ethnicities that will be categorized under either ‘korean’ or ‘chinese’ group).

I’m pretty sure it changed as I’ve seen so many people talking about it

Yeah, you may be right, it seems bit rushed though

Also, what happened? Why did the number of episodes come down from 12 to 10? How are they expecting to fit second elimination, original mission, performances and final elimination/ranking in two episodes?

Ah well, i most certainly am biased, unfortunately, I really want Yoojun to do well. But I guess, I too felt underwhelmed by the performances. They did change the positions of the Polaris though.
Maybe you’re right about the practice time…

Yeah. He’s doing well as an actor, it seems like a good move to withdraw and if he likes music he could release songs anyway. Songs released by popular actors often do well in China, from what I’ve seen.

I agree, although dance positions weren’t as bad, but it seems the contestants went through great amount of stress before the performances (changes etc plus quite short preparation time after the elimination), and if some of them were mistreated too…

Not going to lie, I actually feel anxious about Bae173 members as I’m writing this (not only them, it applies to Junhyuk, Eden, XingXing and other talented contestants from various countries who take part in Starlight Boys) . It looks like only one of them is making it on Projekt 7, and this show here seems harmful and the results might be a giant flop afterwards…

I really adore Sung Yinghao, so it is making me feel sad but…
I think that part of the reason (aside from injuries) may be because as far as I know, they’ve been contractually bound to iqiyi before (ixform activites) and it wasn’t good in the slightest, they know what’s coming for them if they stay and they don’t want the situation from before to repeat (on the other hand, why didn’t XingXing withdraw with them? Not like I want this to happen, I love him wand want to see him succeed). The show doesn’t offer new opportunities…
If that’s true then this is really sad because a lot of trainees there came exactly for that, not overall recognition/first appearance but a new opportunity.

The contract and conditions situation, in turn makes me feel worried about Bae173 members on the show (although I like many contestants, they’re the reason I became interested and started watching so naturally I’m focusing on them a lot), as they’re already in a… well, quite unfortunate contract (which probably extends to fantasy boys members present on the show, they’re under the same company, but I don’t know them well other than that I like their performances etc so I’ll refrain from speaking too much about them).

Anyway, there have been allegations of mistreatment and racism (I mean, I think at this point every idol survival show like that, with a Korean writing/editing crew etc is racist towards non-korean contestants… nevertheless it is supposed to be a Chinese-Korean collaboration show, it’s literally aired on a Chinese app/streaming service so I really don’t understand why it is allowed to be like that still), I’m pretty sure it’s nothing from the trainees side though, as seemed like the contestants were getting along well, despite language and cultural differences.

Additionally, the paid voting this is shady, so there are many other reasons possibly responsible for their withdrawal…

Anyway, I hope that they’ll keep in touch with friends they made along the way (my personal observation is, Yinghao and Yoojun seemed to be getting along really well, the same goes for Guanwoo and Daeul so i hope that their potential friendships won’t suffer because of this situation) and find success somewhere else.
When it comes to other contestants I like… at this point I’m torn, I want to root for people that I feel like they deserve another chances to showcase their talents, the recognition for their hard work, and they deserve to debut/re-debut but maybe dropping out (although it probably costs a lot of money so many of them wouldn’t be able to easily do that) doesn’t seem like a such a bad idea… I have no means to know how it is in reality there but I don’t want them to suffer under a bad company or an unfair contract!!!

There are Taiwanese BLs and maybe some Chinese ones from before the ban, but generally all bls are turned into Bromances if they are being aired on Chinese platforms and still not all of them pass censorship

Thanks, but you should probably mark your comment as containing spoilers if you’re using his name

Yep, the most interesting character and his story kinda just got “cut off”.