Hanatoko

Because Leo and Fiat first appeared in Tharntype 2 and that's where their story began.

Not surprising at this point. Mame has a habit of rewriting and/or retconning established narrative to make bank on another season or series. Just look at how much of a mess Love by Chance 2 was.

They're all valid criticisms. It's one thing to spew pointless and directionless hate in a comment section, and another to point out evident flaws. This falls under the latter.

I never said anything about not having a right to comment. I suggested maybe it was unfair to judge an entire plot's progression from beginning to end without having seen even half of it.

I'm not discarding the obvious association with Tae Kyung's inevitable journey of learning about friendship and love. He is the one looking back in that scene, after all. It just so happens that his first experience with both happens through Da On, and Da On's story alongside Tae Kyung's is a prominent fixture in this drama regardless of the endgame or whatever trope the main loveline follows. When I said it was "about" Da On, I meant the line or the person he's talking about, not the entire scene's reason for existence exclusively.

I specifically mentioned the last 2 years of popular mini dramas in terms of Korean BLs for a reason, and I’m not arguing with you about criticism so there's really no need to keep defending yourself there as if it was my intention to stifle freedom of opinion or something. I really don't care/mind whether or not you're attacking the show or expressing disappointment nor am I claiming this drama to be some sort of masterpiece shining beacon of originality.

He hasn't really ignored the bait, though. If anything one of his defining character traits is that he leads people on so that he doesn't have to say no or reject them in fear of being disliked.

(Not to defend So Hee of course. Just saying...)

"It presented itself as almost a mystery, and gave us three likely candidates for Tae Kyung’s first love. ~ I knew exactly who it was based on who treated Tae Kyung poorly."

You originally wrote that you questioned why they used the first scene, because it was obvious who would end up with who and was pointlessly acting as if the ending would be "different". I see that scene as setting up for Da On's own eventual arc among other things. The prominent information from that scene is that one of them was his FIRST love, which creates the distinction that they might not have ended up together. The person in question is not Shin Woo. It's about Da On.

I'm not against your criticism of trope usage. I commented originally because Da On is just as important to this story as Tae Kyung, and writing off the plot as predictable from the get go because of said trope discards Da On's importance and journey within it, which I felt wasn't necessarily fair. We've gotten many Korean BL dramas over the past 2 years or so, but this is the first of these releases to actually address what being LGBT in Korea is like, and I thought Da On's story in particular was an important addition for both the drama and Tae Kyung's growth as a person confronting society.

But it's aight. We're arguing two different things here.

I'm against that label here mainly because both their story and the drama overall has little to do with Shin Woo disliking Tae Kyung, and Shin Woo never really "disliked" him to begin with. Most "dislike to like" romances have that gradual progression as a primary feature of the love-line, but there is no real gradual shift here for Shin Woo and there is at best an arguably insignificant one for Tae Kyung.

It's just so minimally relevant to the story that summing up this entire drama as a predictable and cliche enemies to lovers BL plot seems misplaced to me, especially as I consider this drama to be about more than just who Tae Kyung ends up with. Da On's story is as integral and important as Tae Kyung's, but his story gets dismissed if you think of him as irrelevant because he's not the one involved in a trope. Regardless, if you still feel that way it's fine. No one made me an arbiter of tropes.

I mean, it's not really "dislike to like" either IMO. At least not in any conventional sense, nor is it the focal point of the plot or romance at all. I'm also not sure it's fair to discredit or comment on the entire plot's journey (as a whole) if you're still on episode 6.

A story is more than its ending, though. The journey matters just as much, and in this case I'd say that's true. I also wouldn't really call this an enemy to lovers plotline, though I can see why someone would think it is in the first few episodes.

Taekyung seems to be a person experiencing everything for the first time, and he doesn't care all that much what people think of him unless it gets in the way of something. His mindset and the way he approaches situations is always very simplistic and straightforward. He doesn't want friends? He tells them that. He now wants to join the student council? He pursues that. People don't like him? He asks why. He doesn't understand something? He just outright asks regardless of the social etiquette.

I don't think liking a boy or a girl is even really on his mind. He likes someone, so he pursued them and confessed.

He's a sharp contrast to Da On who is ALWAYS aware of the social etiquette, always overthinks his situations, always cares how people see him, and is always thinking of how his parents will get involved.

Despite the stupidly unnecessary conflict with the main couple at the end, I still ended up happy with everyone else's conclusions and I was happy the drama stayed true to its theme of home ownership and what having a home means. So regardless of the unsatisfying main romance, I think this drama still succeeded at something and I leave moderately content.

I will forever appreciate Jae Jin being a soft, genuine, sentimental, emotional, prone to crying male character completely unbothered by others' perceptions of his "weakness".

Old comment but I want to add for readers (in support of you): it is definitely a cultural thing and you see it come up reasonably often in kdramas. There's so many layers here that come into play.

Korea has a strict age-centric culture and language revolving around levels of respect. If someone is older than you, you treat and speak to them differently. The same is true if someone is your senior. Having an older person in entry level positions complicates that dynamic for other employees. Further, Korea's job market is extremely competitive and highly values youth. Part of this is because the younger you are, the more time you can invest into a company. This acts doubly against older women because mothers are still expected to be available for their children (vs fathers who often relegate that to their wives and work all day). Also worth noting is that lookism is a huge issue in Korea as well, so much so that resumes are obligated to have pictures on them.

Da Jung is an older divorced single mother AND got pregnant as a teenager which throws a slew of issues into the mix. She's like the shining representative of what a conservative patriarchal society deems improper and undesirable. Being a single mother is still frowned upon in Korea, and they're not often treated well. News anchors are very public figures essentially acting as makeshift celebrities or the face of the network, so having someone that can be easily criticized is a big no-no. Anchors are also typically expected to be young and attractive. She's older and has two children already, which means she won't be at the company as long as a younger college graduate would and she also has to dedicate time to family instead of working. In a culture like Korea where people literally wait for their boss to leave before they can go home or are obligated to attend after-work drinking parties, none of this is ideal.

I'll leave it at that for now, but it bothers me when people can't look beyond their own cultural bubble and then insult something as childish or ridiculous because they don't understand it or never experienced it.

I think diagnosing fictional characters yourself and then getting angry at the way you think said diagnosis is being treated is just unreasonable. I haven't watched Run On and thus will not comment, but Louie frivolously spending and being generally unaware of the world are just symptoms of his grandmother coddling him his entire life. He also proves himself to have skills useful in a job environment anyway, so it's not like he's "incapable of surviving by any standards if not for his wealth". These are not exclusively autistic traits and shouldn't be treated as such.

And in what world is there any abuse in My Roommate is a Gumiho? He is by far one of the most harmless MLs to grace our TVs in recent memory.

Sang Tae was thought of as a nuisance by his brother, but that doesn't mean he WAS a nuisance. At the beginning of the drama when we're told they move constantly because of Sang Tae's fear of the butterflies, Sang Tae immediately agrees to go back to their hometown without so much as a second thought when asked. Gang Tae was using him as an excuse to escape his own issues and run away. The burden upon Gang Tae was more-so caused by his mother than his brother's actual neediness. He felt shackled because of his mother's expectations and the responsibilities that fell upon him when she died, but that feeling of being shackled was a personal issue that he continued to perpetuate upon himself.

This is not to say that Sang Tae was a fully independent autistic person that needed no help at all, because he did have outbursts at times, but I don't feel like the drama tried to depict Sang Tae as an actual nuisance and people often do not give him enough credit with how well he functions and communicates overall. He goes on to have his own arc in achieving his dreams and seeking independence from Gang Tae. It's noteworthy that both brothers have arcs that mirror each other. Both of them had similarly complicated, toxic, and possessive feelings towards each other mixed with a desire to be independent and free of one another. They're brothers that want to support each other and yet feel stifled by each other at the same time. In the end, both of them ultimately achieve independence and mutual understanding with Sang Tae leaving on his own to live his own life.

This has too much heart to be below an 8. It's not the most original plot in the world, but it doesn't need to be because its thematic is done so well. I love the theme of "home" and just how important having a space to call our own and unwind in is to our lives. The plight of the FL is increasingly relevant in modern society, and the juxtaposition between her ability to turn each apartment into a home she feels comfortable in versus the ML's barren houses is great.

Korea is not one collective mind and set of creators. Different directors and writers will do different things. Audiences also vary, and there are people who prefer younger high school dramas. It doesn't make much sense to assume that every Korean BL will be similar, or to be surprised when one doesn't match up in terms of content or quality to another.

The first episode is nearly identical and the overall plot is quite similar, but this drama is far better than the movie IMO. It has more heart and depth, and manages to add many new subplots that ground it in a Korean cultural context. This drama is a master class in adaptation because it makes the material its own while still being recognizable, and it elevates its content in such a way that makes the original seem even more childish than it already was. It also removes the weird elements of the original plot like the sister dating the brother's bully.

Basically me. SaiZon were the highlight, and now I've fallen into a hole of following Jimmy/Tommy content.