FrothyMix

I think it has a good heart at its center, but yeah, everything else is extremely amateur-ish. Kind of like Bad Buddy. :D

Which country? I am an American living near New York City. That is too bad about the fighting between faculties. What a waste of everyone's energy. Part of what I meant about the fighting in BB though was that to me it was poorly choreographed and acted. Not convincing at all. I don't expect Korean-level excellence in the fight scenes, just that it not look overly fake. To me, BB fights were overly fake.

As for warmth and smiles, I really am for all those things, but for me to feel them the acting has to be good. And as I've said, to me the acting was terrible.

But yes, I almost NEVER watch silly, hearts, flowers and rainbows romcoms, gay or straight. They bore me to tears. Have you ever seen "Teichi's Country?" THAT's the kind of comedy I like. lol Suda Masaki is a genius. :) I know I've enjoyed some quirky romcoms too, just can't think of any at the moment. lol

Oh, thought of a couple romcoms I liked:
"We Best Love: No. 1 For You" (but NOT its sequel which is terrible)
"My Tutor Friend"


Thanks for the discussion!

"The chemistry was one of the best among all romcoms I have watched (and trust me I have watched almost all out there untill 2017 in almost all languages). " See, that's one of the key areas I part ways with those who love BB: I felt almost zero authentic chemistry. To me Ohm and his character were in another league altogether from Nanon and it just didn't work.

I also hated things like poorly choreographed and executed fight scenes, cheap sets like the bus stop thing that fell down because some guys fell against it. I know it was supposed to, but that's just terrible writing. Who builds a bus stop that can't even be leaned against?

The entire plot line with the warring gangs was extremely junior high school, and this was supposed to be college. Guys who hate each other because they have different majors...just stupid.

My favorite genre would have to be dark-themed gay psychological dramas I guess. I am definitely drawn toward darkness in all the art I enjoy, BUT there are romcoms I think are hilarious and touching and I don't mind one once in a while, but I still like them with some quirks and the more oddness the better. I see no purpose in watching ANY film or series in which I already know what will lhappen because of its genre. Why bother?

I like quirky, slap-stick comedy too. "Teichi's World," out of Japan, is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

If all copies and files of BB were destroyed in a fire it would be a gift to the world. BTW, I exaggerated: I didn't really stop ONLY for shirtless Ohm; I also stopped whenever it looked like something significant might be being discussed or happening. I didn't stop very often but plenty of times to experience Nanon's bad acting.

I feel you. Have a good one. :)

Hi there. Oh yes, I know all about BB and Nanon's role in it. I believe BB to be one of the worst, most amateurish BLs ever made, and after 2 eps. I started fast-forwarding to Ohm's shirless scenes and left the rest. :) I think the show is so lacking in so many ways that it's difficult to believe so many people think it's Heaven on Earth. One guess is that the show's very blandness, and the milquetoast vibe of Nanon's character and sexuality is are the reasons all these people like it. They WANT BLs to be bland/saccharine/fake; that's what they are comfortable with. I don't mean to offend, but I really dislike that show.

As an actor, Nanon has zero range and I always see him ACTING, especially when he thinks he's being a wise-ass or trying to project a knowing vibe. God, I just get nothing from him except in MDL. I see him TRYING to emote with his eyes, but it doesn't work for me.

A tough watch, but a realistic one for many of those of us who are crippled from a young age by circumstances beyond our control, raised in negative, harsh surroundings and scarred for life by the experience. Then when someone comes along who might just be a ray of hope to a way out for us, the self-destructive impulse kicks in and we sabotage our relationships, mistreating people we actually care about, and they inevitably leave. From there it's a downward spiral.

Anyone know where he fell from at the end and what he might have been writing? I kept expecting him to end things.

Harsh story, slow at times, for a certain type of audience member, me being one of them.

Moriyama Morai is outstanding in the lead role.

How can a movie be "well done" with a plot you don't like? Also, I hate smoking too, but do you really avoid films in which characters smoke? Seriously? That's 3/4 of Asian films. Newsflash: A lot of people still smoke. What I don't get is what the director felt he was adding to Akira's character with the cig smoking all the time. I get you that it stinks and tastes disgusting, and I could not be in a relationship with someone who smokes because it stinks up everything and kissing is out of the questions, even hours after they've sucked the last one and used mouthwash.

And now you want a "warning" that there is smoking in a movie? What other peccadilloes will have to be included in the tags? Farting? Drinking booze? taking a dump? Jesus, get real.

Well, I'm a wreck. In a happy way. :D

I watched this once before, but it was not the director's cut and I am so happy to see this version. The added scenes were beautiful, especially the last ten minutes or so. I cried through all of that, but they were good tears. Hell, a few are still leaking down as I write this.

I don't know if this is true for everyone, but the second time, or third, or fourth time I watch a film that I love and admire, I get more and more from the experience that I just did not absorb the first time around. So many extra connections, for-shadowing, symbolic references, little bits of dialogue that are deeply meaningful that I didn't pick up on the first time, whatever. This is that kind of film that gets richer for me every time I watch.

I've been down my own road very similar to Akira's, so this hits home with me. I felt everything.

Bravo to all involved.

9/10

WTF is up with synopses like this that spoil the entire movie with every plot detail? The synopsis is a huge spoiler. again, WTF?

lol "are we now normalizing forced kisses?" No, we are now telling a fictional story with a ML who has boundary issues even in the workplace. Such people still exist in 2022 and there is still a lot of work-place sexual harrassment of various levels happening every day. If you think all that is over, you are extremely naive. Also, most people don't look to silly TV dramas or movies for the moral guidance. Do you? I get you're an SJW and all, but just because there is a forced or unwanted kiss in a drama, doesn't mean anyone's going to go to work the next day and force-kiss their boss or secretary after seeing this show. Get a grip.

Yeah, I have to agree.

By the end, I was more than ready for this to end. The hair was an hilarious sight gag that was funny for about a third of the movie, then just became completely irrelevant. People mostly had no reaction to it in the film so after a while, it was like "why is the hair even still here?" Its purpose as an over-arching theme or something was over ten minutes after the movie started. Jokes mostly fell flat for me; I laughed out loud a few times at other sight gags and the occasional one-liner but it got lamer and lamer as time dragged on. Matsuda is very talented but can't carry a film all by himself with a lousy script and slow pacing, which is weird for a comedy like this. The wedding speech scene could have been done in half the time and been funnier for it.

"I felt happy for a minute when my ex asked me to get back with him and I said no, but I can't forgive myself for that one minute so I can't go out with you even though I like you." THE DUMBEST EXCUSE I have heard in an Asian flick yet for someone to back out of a relationship. So stupid.

6/10

I've been through this over and over with other commenters, so I'm not going to rehash my position other than to say that telling everyone in comments there is a rape or a shooting or a kidnapping is without a doubt a SPOILER, something I now know is coming that the makers of the film/series didn't intend me to know until it, you know, ACTUALLY HAPPENED. How can I be surprised by a rape you just told me, ahead of time, is in the movie? This is what the SPOILER button is for. It's not hard to understand. As for tags, I'd like to see them put behind a "TAGS" button because they are always a sort of spoiler, revealing elements of the story I otherwise would not have known. What is so hard about having to press a "TAGS" button if you're worried about being traumatized? In reading about the film or series, actors, whatever, it is not always easy to avoid a tag catching the eye without meaning for it to. I don't know if tags have always been on MDL, I've only been here about 18 months, but I've a feeling it was a capitulation to the SJW/PC crowd here who are always so worried about confronting something that might make them have feelings that aren't centered around rainbows and unicorns. Life is full of triggers. Learn to deal with it or live in a cave.

Yeah, that's what I don't get; the terror of reading or watching or listening to anything that presents a flawed, ie. racist, sexist, classist, etc. character, even if the character is clearly mocked or otherwise receives a come-uppance. That type of thing is clearly a message about the stupidity and folly of such attitudes, yet they don't get it, or more likely-and this is what I think happens a lot-they don't WANT to get it. They enjoy their outrage and feelings of moral superiority too much to let go of them. Hell, I must have seen hundreds of movies which present straight and homophobic characters as major players and I've lived to tell the tale. I have NO desire to have theme erased from my artistic experiences.

Often, SJWs will be OK with a "toxic" character if they are clearly and mercilessly punished by the story line by the time it ends. But sometimes, in the real world, awful people get away with awful things, and that, to me, is a powerful statement that our culture needs to work harder, do more to make sure that does not happen. SJWs simply think they are owed, in their literature, film, stage experiences, fairy tale lands where flawed assholes do not exist. How boring.

EDITOR, PLEASE.

This movie definitely had potential and it started off with gripping and intense scenes that caught my interest immediately. But boy oh boy, once we got in prison things fairly quickly began to go off the rails. I don't think it's too strong a statement to make that the actor Choi Min Soo, as the warden or whatever the hell he was, destroyed this movie single-handedly with that WAY over-the-top, scenery-chewing, cartoon caricature of a character. He was so ridiculously EEEEEEVIL, and that stupid fake gravelly voice kept me in a constant state of anxiety between laughing out loud and hoping he would stop. But he didn't. The director should be gassed for allowing that performance alone.

Then there is the fact that at least half an hour could be cut from the film and it would improve things dramatically. Too many potentially powerful, moving moments/scenes were ruined because they dragged on and on and on...long after the point was made. A lot of the acting, from the ML and the other main prisoners, was excellent, but their performances were made to seem overwrought and melodramatic because the director doesn't know when to yell "cut." And when to assert his power in the editing room as well.

TONS of plot holes, irregularities and unlikely events kept taking me out of the story. How did the bus get from the street/wreck/shooting surrounded by cops to the deserted beach? Where did they get that car and all their fancy new clothes? Why did the family at the end develop Stockholm Syndrome so quickly? That was the last ridiculous element that topped it all off.

Too bad. I kept watching, but took breaks when I got impatient, which I never do.

6.5/10

Anyone else pick up on a homoerotic vibe between the two leads? My feeling is that both of them feel it, but Kenta moreso than Jun. I think of sexuality as fluid, so their attraction doesn't mean one is gay, the other bi, whatever, though that could be surmised. But at the end Jun chooses Kenta and only Kenta in a way that absolutely excludes Kayo, though he may actually have come to love her, if only a little bit.

I could never purposely drown myself. Even if I were so depressed as to overcome my survival instinct to stay afloat, swallowing and breathing that water into my lungs would just be a horrendous way to go. I'd go with drugs or gas of some type, maybe the slit wrists in the tub, though the slicing would suck. So maybe drugs AND the tub.

I felt moved by it too. Lovely.

Wow. That there is some nihilistic shit. Well-done nihilistic shit.
This is one that will come to mind now and then over the next few days.
A sad and tragic story that didn't once move me to tears...and I cry pretty easily at sad films. I don't know that that is necessarily a negative comment, but I don't understand right now why that is. I am all about flawed and tragic characters being given second, third and fourth and fifth chances...but I am not sure what was going on here at the heart of things so I'm left feeling unconnected to their suffering, I guess.
I recommend it for those of you who can handle a slow-paced film whose characters and their demons are revealed over time.

8/10

Do you teach English? I love reading your writing. "Verily..." lol :)
Ugh, it must be so frustrating teaching a room full of uptight SJWs who expect every piece of fiction in every genre to reflect their own world views and preferences. Do you get anywhere with the idea that art exists, to a great extent, to CHALLENGE our expectations and presumptions. Yes, you say Tom is "toxic," but HOW and WHY does his behavior lead you to view him this way, and do you expect all literary characters to reflect your own limited experience and prejudices? WHY do you expect that? Can you please get a clue? lol

I would think it would be fun to challenge all that SJW crap and make them squirm, or do they go to the administration with complaints? If so, that is really sad we've gotten to this point. SJW thinking is Puritanism in a new outfit.

I actually get a nice chemistry/connection from the two leads.