Luna6

I think people were discussing the cases a lot, especially before the romance storyline developed much. I think the reason why people are not discussing it so much today in particular is because it seems to be another case that is stretched to two episodes (like it was last week) so we haven't really gotten the conclusion yet. And people are discussing other plotlines as well it's just that for the main couple romance storyline we are having a key moment, so of course everyone wants to know how it will be resolved. But I also see many comments wondering about the mom storyline or Minwoo being a weasel and traitor storyline.

Somebody identifying as they/them is absolutely trans. Trans means you identify as a gender other than the one you were assigned at birth. You don't need any gender affirming surgeries or hormones to qualify as trans. So if they are using third gender language while likely being assigned male at birth that would qualify them as trans (or as @Moonchild said above they are at the very least not cis men.)

I think they explained that only one pair needs to get the dreams and so on, it doesn't need to be both pairs. So even if only Puea and Talay follow the things they need to do to switch back it will work.

right?? that was insane! he took off his shirt but left his shoes on? What kind of a weirdo does that! Also having shoes on indoors is already a bit weird in my opinion but shoes on bed is absolutely disgusting 🤢

i thought at that point the commercial was over already - they drank the drink. But if that was also part of it then it was WAY too long

I am sorry but what the hell was that tapping/singing scene 😭 it made me cringe so much

oh ok then :) I would guess they got concerned that this will not be to their taste because in ep 4 Akira first starts to give in to Shin's advances (almost kissing him and moving some boundaries he established with him before)

I can't really speak on that as I haven't watched any young girl/older man dramas but to me personally it would be much worse if the older person didn't at least contemplate if the relationship is appropriate. Also all the situations mentioned (proffesor/coach/boss) are ones where it's not just difference in age it's an inherent position of power over the other party so to me that would also be much worse.

Regarding your last point that comments are adressing the older person - yes because if you are the older one you should know better. Teenagers sometimes do stupid stuff like fall in love with (more like have a crush on) their teachers and what not. But the adult in that situation has to know that such a relationship is not appropriate and react accordingly. If there is innapropriate thouching or behaviour from the child the adult might have to go further by involving parents or authorities to try to protect themself of course.

The situation we have here is not as dire as Akira is just some neighbourhood guy as some other commenter put it, so while it's still good that he considers whether their relationship will even work it will not be inheretly an imbalance of power if he chooses to go with it.

I agree about your take on sexual assault. And taking both their comments into account this does seem a bit of an extreme view. But the original question was pretty innocent. Someone that finds this situation creepy (which isn't that out of the left field) looking for information to decide whether to continue watching or not. I often times see this sentiment on MDL 'if you don't like it don't watch it' and they were just looking to confirm whether this is something they don't like.

Why such anger? I continue watching because I don't find this particular situation creepy. As many others have pointed out it's Shin pursuing Akira and Akira clearly has no ill intentions of manipulating (since we know his inner thoughts). And whatever choice he makes at the end he will have put a lot of thought into it and not choose a relationship with Shin lightly.

I can however easily see where people with other views might come from. And I'm guessing OP's question was posed in order to decide whether to continue watching or not. So no need to get so angry when the thread is useful for some people to figure out whether this is a story they are comfortable watching or not.

not that i necessarily disagree with your point about big age gap being creepy, the incident in ep 4 can hardly be called assault. Age of consent in japan ranges from 13 to 18 depending on where you're located, so I'm not entirely sure if Shin is of consenting age or not, but if he is we know for a fact he'd be willing to be kissed as he straight up said that to Akira in one of previous episodes.

i don't understand why some are so surprised or angry when people feel big age gaps (where one is very young) are gross. It's not just an opinion of sexual puritans as you call it, it's the prevailing social conditioning in the western world. This is just how most of us are raised to feel, because there is truth in big age gaps more often than not having power imbalances, which leads to unhealthy relationships.

But even beyond this being a very common opinion, this is a very topical discussion for this drama, as this is literaly the main conflict. Our main character himself feels there is something wrong with him being attracted to a much younger guy. This is the only reason i see that he's denying being attracted to him, as he clearly has no issues with himself being gay (which is often the reason for such denials in other dramas).

So discussing whether this is something to be grossed out by or not is discussing how we feel about our main characters motivations. The OP is right that drama makers apparently feel it's fine as it's generaly presented that way, so if some one's opinion differs from that it would of course make one uncomfortable and feel like the story ending might not be to their liking.

btw i'm not sure what the age of consent is in japan so it might not actually be illegal, just moraly questionable i guess.

i think he's lying to himself. Because if he truly admits to himself that he likes him the only moral thing would be to cut contact with Shin if he wants to avoid having an illegal relationship. While he's still in denial he can rationalize all the hanging out as ok since he doesn't like Shin like that.

i mean Porche mentions that Vegas is getting better in the party scene before the credits. So they told us he's not dead before credits roll.

I do understand it’s hard to think rationally when you’re hurting and in love. And I do understand why Seo Joon forgave him so quickly. I just think it’s doing a disservice to them both.

This way Ji Woo was never forced to confront his feelings of lonelines and jealousy so he doesn’t understand why he felt that way and how to fix that. So if it ever happens again (which it probably will since their situation is the same as it was before) he won’t have the tools to make differen decisions and his emotions will likely overtake again and he might repeat his mistakes.

This is why I find it important that people have to earn forgiveness through truly understanding what they did wrong and how to never repeat that. If you skip any steps the problem might repeat. And of course there is forgiving for the sake of the one that is doing the forgiving but that is aplicable more to the situations where you don’t have contact with the one you’re forgiving or they don’t feel any remorse. Ok that went a bit off topic.

That’s true maybe some of this is just my hopes of what I wanted to see and I’m projecting it on Ji Woo a bit.

I think he realised that he regrets how he tried dealing with his problems and maybe constant exposure to Seo Joon wore him down (he does still love him all throughout this supposedly) and he couldn’t bear to lose him again (Seo Joon said that he will now leave him alone for good and that scared him). These are the reasons I felt they were trying to give.

But even if he now wants to react differently when his old issues present again we can’t know for sure that he will be able to. He didn’t really think through any of the reasons for why he felt that way in the first place, so when he feels like that again his emotions will overtake again and he might end up doing the same thing.

The only way to break this is to understand why he feels and acts this way in order to give him a chance to recognise these feelings when they reappear and react more rationally. Basically his coming back to Seo Joon could be the start of him trying to learn from his previous mistakes and heal, that’s why I’m saying this happened too late. Instead we got a happy montage as if the problems dissapeared into thin air.

Yes the show made it seem like just because Ji Woo was also hurting that means all the pain he caused Seo Joon is now nullified. But we can understand and empathise with his pain caused by his insecurity while at the same time not forgive him for the pain he caused Seo Joon.

I agree with your reasoning of why Seo Joon took him back so easily, I just don’t think he should have. Ji Woo did nothing really to deserve forgiveness and a second chance. As you said he didn’t learn anything and he didn’t resolve any of his problems that caused this whole mess.

Yes, it didn't feel like any of Ji Woo's issues were actually resolved. Like I said in a comment somewhere below, the trust in their relationship was broken, there is no reason for Seo Joon to believe Ji Woo when he says he won't leave again, as he broke this promise before. They needed time to fully explore and work through Ji Woo's insecurities so that the trust could be established again, otherwise they will immediatley have the same issues again.