Kochase

Dammit... I was holding out hopes it gets better *sobs*. And here I thought the beginning was unnecessarily dramatic with WX reaching out to San-shu like that... yikes.

I will admittedly enjoy a bit of amping up Xiaoge's emotions for sake of bromance... but if you depart *too* far from the original novels.... it just becomes unbelievable. And part of the beauty of their relationship too is that because he's such an emotionless ice block for so much of the story, when he finally does show more emotions it's pure gold.

TBF, with Xiaoge's kind of character, Yang Yang's portrayal is probably most accurate (ironically). I do agree with the criticism that Yang Yang is unable to portray emotions... or at least he has yet to take on roles that challenges him to portray proper emotions. But for Xiaoge, it kind of fit because he really is an emotionless block. At least until minimum Book 5.

Xiao Yuliang's Xiaoge was also accurate too because he is further along in the emotional journey. Cheng Yi was definitely a bit... OOC but still tolerable. And now I'm terrified to continue watching this adaptation... rip.

Lol I think for once though… it’s fair criticism. The script and acting in the first episode at least were awful. The other ones were kinda cringey at parts (lol at Neo Hou’s gratuitous body shot opening), but this one took it to a new level of melodrama that the acting failed to smooth over.

I’m definitely hoping that once we get past the transition start and onto more of the original novel scenes, that it’ll be better. Otherwise if it continues as is… definitely not unfair criticism. Ultimate Note got initial unfair criticism because ppl didn’t like Joseph Zheng’s looks. The production was fantastic though. But for this one…. the production team definitely screwed it up lol. Room for redemption though; let’s see.

Continuation of 2019, prequel to Ultimate Note. But I’m order to make it work on its own, there may be some overlaps or retellings of some parts.

Yup. This is after the lost tomb 2 but before ultimate note

Yay that’s good to hear! I’ve only watched one ep so far and the script / acting was kind of atrocious. But I feel like the acting was also negatively impacted by the poor script writing.

I’m really hoping once it smooths out the awkward start and gets back to the storyline that’s more familiar with the novel, it’ll all be a bit more tolerable. That first episode though… for once I think the low ratings isn’t unfair bias against a new cast.

Yikes first episode and it's kind of disappointing... really hoping it gets better. TBH the cast 'looks' don't bother me so much, even though I'd love for them to keep a steady cast for once. It's the acting and the script that's... hmm.

Also, I'm not really sure where they're taking this, as it's different from the novel once again. I kind of understand the reason behind the deviance though, given the original mirror pagoda tower thing (first episode) was originally purely a flashback narration sort of thing with none of the main crew. I'm guessing that would have made for a pretty weak start if they didn't show any of the mains. Still, the script writing as a result is rather... unnecessarily dramatic? Hoping that once it steadies onto the original novel lines, it is less cringe.

LYX and CFY entered the entertainment industry as actors rather than idols, so their fanbase *should* be less crazy / immature on average. (Not saying all idol fans are crazy and immature but... you know.)

Sadly, as long as XZ sits in the top position of popularity, he will continue to be subject to these kind of things. Welcome to the past 5000+ years of Chinese culture hahaha we're all about hating on the top dog like it's a national past time hahaha *sobs*.

It's not super deep, but it does feel like quite a different flavor from most other dramas? I quite liked the balance of bloody / twisted darkness with ridiculous humor. Straight up dark / creepy is a bit too intense for me, and complete humor is a bit too light-hearted / boring. This was a uniquely good blend, even if it did get progressively ridiculous in terms of writing.

It's super refreshing to have a drama that doesn't try to preach righteousness for once lol. *Especially* where a FL tries to 'redeem' (intentionally or unintentionally) the ML. OG justice Hammurabi style is... so satisfying haha. Not having to deal with the whole drama of 'we should let them be punished by the law!' kind of spiel, which is good in practice but kind of tiring to watch for the umpteenth time.

Don't bother so much with the ratings. They vary so much from platform to platform too.

What the fck happened at the end. How did the plot turn into the cliche and poor writing it made fun of this whole time (I mean it did grow continuously ridiculously, but it was always played up a bit humorously like the pigeon incident). But like... Myung-hee for all her scheming and conniving brilliance *didn't* think to consider that Jang Han-seok the unhinged bastard would prioritize revenge above all logic? And Vincenzo the badass Mafia allowed himself to be frisked? AND... when Jang Han-seo tackled his brother, like what you're supposed to fucking do if you're in close range of a gun, Vincenzo just decided to run away? 1) Abandoning Han-seo and 2) thinking he can get away unscathed when Han-seok still had a gun? Neither Han-seo nor Cha-young were safe with Han-seok still holding onto that gun! How was his plan *not* to go blunt-force-trauma the guy!

And no, don't give me that BS about how he was emotionally compromised because 'the love of his life' was in danger. He's mafia. He's trained to react under high emotional distress. He walked in there knowing the situation at hand. He must have dealt with hostage situations before. He might have even dealt hostage situations before. No matter how you look at it... it just seemed stupid.

Argh it's like GoT on a smaller scale. The ending alone has ruined the show.

Ok I loved it a lot and then hated it a lot.

I loved most of the series. It was a nice balance of action / badassery, humor, and heart-warming. Did it drag a little? Maybe? But compared to most other dramas, it doesn't do nearly as bad. At least we're having fun while it's dragging. (Unlike lots of heavy-romance dramas that are re-hashing lack of communication as a plot point for the umpeenth time.) I also loved that the romance was minimal and the FL doesn't try to 'redeem' the ML. Vincenzo is just a frickin' badass who's not trying to make some righteous judgment.

But the part I hated...

That'd be the most expensive production budget hahahaha

Lol can someone explain why Liu Sang is so popular? Like... not hating on him or anything, but it's got me a bit baffled. Why is he getting so many random spin-offs? And also, fandom seems to disproportionately like him. He only shows up in one of the 8? 9? 10? DMBJ books... so he's a very minor character in comparison. Is it because the Sound of Providence has a way larger audience share? But yeah... this has had me scratching my head for a while. He's very minor in the grand scheme of all things DMBJ. Yet he seems to be everywhere.

No news of sequel at all... the next DMBJ drama to come out is for the events right before this: https://kisskh.at/search?q=heavenly+cloud

Edit: Lol I see you made your way there already.

I mean... have you seen this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ChgdEmhcA

Maybe. But having these be censored adaptations is how so many non-BL audiences have now become exposed to these sort of dynamics between men. There's actually plenty of people who have shared stories on how their parents / people they know are rather conservative / traditionalist, but from watching these kinds of shows, have perhaps become slightly more open-minded about it all. Not saying they're suddenly LGBTQ+ right activists, but ya know...

And who's to say that this *isn't* a depiction of same-sex romance? Just because there's no physical aspect involved? No verbal confirmation of a relationship? If it were a straight romance, do they *have* to have kissed or said 'I love you' for it to be considered a romance? I'm sure even if those scenes weren't included, it would still be classified as a romance. Also, the gov may operate one way, but the drama production teams will vary in their earnestness to bring forth an authentic production. Some work very creatively and honestly, do such an intimately amazing job of portraying emotions that it's so much more satisfying than seeing some skinship.

But sure, I get it. The censorship does suck. The works shouldn't have to cut out important bits. And here is where it depends on the original BL story too... there are plenty of BL stories that don't have that much physical element until the very end, or sometimes even at all really, focusing instead on the emotions. The ones that do rely heavily on such moments... perhaps they should consider if an adaptation with censorship really works.

Eh? I actually thought they did a decent job of addressing it holistically. First off, it's usually it's the femme fatale, so it was kind of a nice plot twist that it wasn't the usual gender stereotype.

And she just casually mentioned how, well that's his preference, with no indication of negativity towards his inclinations. Instead, she focused how the important part was that men could get abused too, and that what the president was doing was scummy. And isn't that a huge issue? That people think that because you're gay, you can't be abused because you're men. In that one statement, I feel like they artistically normalized gay relationships, but also acknowledged that they can have problems too and men can be abused.

I'm not sure what trend you're seeing, but I feel like villainizing queer people doesn't rank super high in terms of harmful queer stereotypes? In fact, I don't even notice it being a thing really...

Can I just say that it's such a breath of fresh air to have a drama for once that *doesn't* try to be all morally clean, but isn't a totally dark story either. For legal / police dramas, I feel like I always have to mentally prepare for 40% of the drama to lay in the 'we can't stoop to their level of morality, whatever shall we do' conflict. While I don't disagree with the sentiment, it gets kind of churn-y and mentally draining to watch.

And I loooove that here, we're just like, '... he's a fucking Mafioso, so he's not gonna do this bs of doing things by the book' and the FL is just like '.... Imma roll with it' instead of being the whiny goody-two-shoes who non-stop rebukes ML's for his lesser moral ways.

Tbf I think she (the character) acts like that a lot of the times precisely to *be* annoying. It's how she pisses off the opposition, so it's kind of fun to watch. She doesn't trigger my 'annoying FL' alerts, as in she doesn't act naively / unrealistically morally superior or scream at people for no reason.

Seconded! It wouldn't have the same impact without the comedy to deceive you into a light=hearted mood... this was a great execution of story pacing / mood control. Having something dark and suspenseful the whole time just makes for less bam in the end I feel.

Honestly, I have a pretty low tolerance for annoying FLs, but I thought she was totally fine here. I liked that she wasn't a typical 'I must always do what's right! Follow morals! Help the weak!' FL who always judges the ML for being morally less. Or the drama overall just lays off the absolute moral superiority theme. It was such a breath of fresh air.... I think I've gotten minor ptsd from those kind of FLs who cry and scream justice ayyy....