Kochase

Omg I can't believe how well done / true to spirit this drama is. I only had vague memories of the plot / character dynamics from the anime and remembered it being good but... so glad to see the drama brings it life 110%. And even though I'm all onboard the Maki x Aoki ship, I do absolutely love the FL too. What a great, strong personality character.

I need BL writers to please take note here on how to properly include a woman in the drama, thanks.

The acting really is fantastic all around... more so than the average drama. Wow.

In the version I watched, there was only WCM collapsing holding PW's dog tag, but no flashback sequence was included.

Yeah that scene itself must be a cut scene, but what I'm curious about is if this specific flashback sequence (which seems like should have taken place when WCM learned PW was dead) seems to also have been cut? But then where did people get it from?

Ok can someone explain... did iqiyi international remove a flashback scene or something in the last episode? Or did I miss some extras content somewhere? I keep seeing this flashback sequence for Peng Wu x Wu Chongmo being shared around in the form of MVs. It's the specific sequence, however, which also includes a minor bathroom scene that was not aired anywhere (chinese comments also indicate this), so it's definitely not just a fan edit. It has to be something more official.

(Spoiler in the video of course: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1jWZ4YsE4k/)

The second CP is 100% where it's at lol. If you need convincing and don't mind some spoilers, here's the vid that reeled me in: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1iCZAYWEKq

Poor Sizhui... gotta suffer like his dad, dealing with a womanizing drunkard of a partner hahaha

My dude... ignoring the people who namecall, because that's always disrespectful, the point is... being consistently negative and upset on an MDL page is generally frowned upon and not appreciated. You don't like it, you express it once, and you move on. You really don't need to constantly hover around and go on some crusade. Sure, there's no hard or fast rule about it, but culturally I feel like folks take the approach of - have positive or critical comments, but don't repeatedly leave the same generic negative comments over and over again. And tbh, I'm pretty sure your incessant need to push your perspective on other people is what's generating a stronger backlash, to the point where some people are also unreasonably making over-generalizations / behaving rudely.

You've expressed your upset at the adaptation choice. Totally understandable. Now you really don't need to harp on it twenty different ways. Move onto something you do enjoy, yeah?

I don't see people loving this drama as much as you hating this drama. If people do defend it, it's only because you keep attacking it so hard. If this were on Korean social media, I'd almost wonder if you were secretly an account of the production team, stirring up negativity to continue engagement on purpose to hype the drama 🤣. And actually on that note... eh if you want to waste your energy crusading, by all means. Maybe that was the strategy of the production team to start... intentionally ride the wave of people being upset at the adaptation and then showing it's not that bad and then queue the debates. The drama producers thank you for your continued support~

I usually dislike toxic tropes too, but I do like how they portrayed the real insidious nature of toxic dynamics and how it can subtly sneak up / change on you. I think it became quite clear somewhere in the middle that the only real well-adjusted person / healthy dynamic would have been Seong Hyeon, so to me it was less a love triangle / harem in the traditional sense where it keeps you guessing till the end. But it was still quite fascinating to watch play out because you wonder how they got from 'normal' to this. And they keep showing that contrast with the end flashbacks. Even if the drama got a little amped up towards the end... I can kinda see it also happening in real life?

Shit, I loved that this seems like... properly / realisticly toxic, if that makes sense. Too often with toxic BLs, I feel like the MC is made super effeminate (like, more so than the average woman even) and pathetic. But here, Daon still holds his ground and tries his best. He's dealing with some proper trauma, but he's still dealing and not just crying and doing nothing. This is what a proper toxic drama should look like... not just pure violence and a MC with the emotional / mental capacity of an 8 year old.

It takes two to tango though. If you want to hate in peace, then don't go seeking out people to continue arguing with? Or just stop responding?

Until it's actually dead in the water, I'd rather hope it's not a total loss. But if I'm wrong, I'll have plenty of time to be upset then. You're the one who seems like you're not ok with others having another opinion. Rather than making other people hate something they have every right to enjoy, you can just hate on it on your own.

omg the younger 'sister' is driving me nuts... Idk what age she is supposed to be (I guess ~20 given she's in college?) but her behavior of acting cute and crying like a little kid is so immature and annoying it feels like she should be in middle or high school instead. Worse is she doesn't even look like she's in her early twenties, but late twenties, so it's even more cringe to watch.

I hope she either matures up in later episodes, or stops being so 'coincidentally' relevant in all the crimes thus far.

Other than that, show is ok. Nice casual watch.

Hers is one of the first CEO / leader type roles in BL that actually seems plausible. She's focused on the business angle, totally rational, not entirely inhumane / un-empathetic, but not compromising either and is still business first at the end of the day. Feels like a lot of real life CEOs. Even when they're not total sociopaths, they had to have been somewhat ruthless to get where they are.

Bravo to these series for having plausible, mature drama.

Omg I was not expecting such wholesome fleshed out drama from such a tropey setup. I was definitely expecting slightly cringe conflicts and even cringier romantic dynamics, but so far everything is surprisingly mature and wholesome!

The only unbelievable thing is... how the heck do they walk around everywhere in public with zero fear of being recognized when the whole initial meeting was Thame suspecting Po of being a sasaeng 😛

Depends on your definition, but probably yeah. I mean their dynamics are really good / funny / cute and trumped the romantic interest Benjamin had going on, but war is war so it's not a happy ending. One of them dies at the end.

I'm definitely impressed by how adult he manages to come off as, but there's still something about him that reads child-like to me that Maki probably wouldn't have. That said, it's exceedingly hard to cast for that sort of profile, so definitely no complaints at the end of the day. Way better casting than Ikuta Toma at least hahaha.

But as an example purely based on 'looks like a teen but also seems adult', I'd point to Koike Teppei when he was closer to ~30.

Ok idk what the downvoters are talking about... yes, there were some scenes here and there where you could obviously tell some key moments got cut. BUT, it's not choppy in the sense like you feel it every other episode. There's just a few critical moments where you can tell something got cut (sadly). For the rest of the drama though... it's still amazing bromance (of the more familial kind). The brotherly love and family dynamics are all there, super sweet and endearing. The leads did a great job.

The only slimmest hints at romance are both brothers having girls crushing on them, but they're clearly too preoccupied with each other to notice or care (the girls are lovely though, no hate). 🤣 It's primarily a friendship / family drama, no romance.

Yes, I was skeptical but they did good! He manifested both Suzuki and Aoki so well. And Maki is so Maki. He's just a bit too actually young looking (because the actor IS young), but otherwise demeanor is great. Kainuma is also very on point.

Mental health support in China is pretty behind the times for a stable, developed country. I'm not entirely sure of the full details of where it's most recently at, but overall it often does feel like the 'burden' of support falls solely on the family, or they get institutionalized. There's not a lot of middle ground options, and families are often stuck making the tough call of committing their loved ones if they can't support them alone.

Omg Benjamin x Sa Xin my heart... such a nice surprise of bromance. The actor for Sa Xin looks even younger and cuter out of the military uniform and looks like such a lost puppy next to his costar(s). Tbh I skipped all the main drama and only watched their parts hahahaha

Oh my word it got ridiculously cheesy towards the end and I'm all for it. I didn't think I'd say this but I like it better than the original, though they're different enough

I'd only wish for them to become a BL couple if they maintained the same level of plot intrigue and depth of character dynamics. But certainly not if it's traded for shallow tropes. Although I do enjoy a lot of BLs, I've still yet to see one (fully uncensored) BL be able to follow the same level of complexity and nuanced character dynamics as some of their censored / bromance counterparts. It's just in the production budget, for the most part. A romance-based plot (het or BL) just doesn't have the same draw of audience (and therefore funding) as more general drama that serves a side dish of romance.