Maggi64

Not especially sad, just realistic. Both men have their own separate lives to live, but having known each other has enriched both of their lives and they know it. Also, when we consider that this was made a quarter of a century ago, it's one of the more positive endings. Most movies from that era show gay men getting killed or enduring some other horrible violence.

I suggest you watch it because it is so well made and well acted and the love is conveyed so tenderly. It's just beautiful.

Wait, what do you mean?

Yea, I hear you. I had just responded to another commenter here that I think it's ok to portray gay marriage as a way of normalizing it and getting people accustomed to seeing it. The LGBT talks a lot about "representation" and how representing certain gay lifestyles in the culture forces the culture to accept it. So yes, I understand that. My problem is with how gay marriage just pops up as a cheap plot point so may times without any meaningful context. That's how I saw it in Cherry Magic. Otherwise, yes, I understand what you are saying :)

I suppose it is useful to depict gay marriage as a way of normalizing it and getting people accustomed to seeing it. I grant you that.

But sometimes it also feels jarring when it pops up in a show like "Cherry Blossoms After Winter" when we'd just seen a parent express ardent homophobia for much of the show. The viewer is left wondering, wait, which is the true attitude toward gays in Korea?

I also don't like seeing it when it's just a cop out ending, as it was in Cherry Magic, because the writers did not have any other ideas of how to end their movie. So they just think, "Oh, I know, let's give the viewers a wedding. That always pleases a BL audience. Yea, let's go with that." So my gripe is not merely that gay marriage is still not legal, it's that it is used as a plot point in such a cheap way.

Otherwise, I agree that it is useful to portray gay marriage as a way of normalizing it. I'd just like to see it portrayed more realistically. In fact, a great BL plot would be a show about a couple who wants to get married in Asia, and them going through all the steps, and all the battles to get there. Then making it clear to the audience that the wedding they finally have at the end of the show is ceremonial, not legal (but that the symbolism of the ceremony still matters). That would be a great show!

I would suggest watching it, but not to expect anything special. It's only worth watching for people who loved the first and simply want to see the characters again. But a truly good sequel is when it has a plot that even new watchers will enjoy it. For instance, the plot of "Mood Indigo," (the sequel to "The Pornographer"), had completely new elements and was so interesting that even new watchers could get into it. In other words, they came up with an original story that stood on its own. Alas, "Cherry Magic's" sequel is only for fans who want to see the characters doing much of the same again. But without any of the surprises and fun of the original,

Nah, not the same at all. They still can't inherit property nor adopt children as a married unit, so it lacks all the vital aspects of legal marriage. Instead, it's purely ceremonial. Again, all the weddings and marriage proposals we see in BL's are a form of pandering to BL fans by giving them a fantasy view of gay life in these countries. In fact, it is still very hard to be gay in Asia. I mean, look at Cherry Blossoms After Winter, where the mom finds out her son is gay and is so homophobic that she reacts by having a panic attack. Then the show ignores that this is the attitude of the majority of Korea by having the characters propose marriage as if it is perfectly normal for gays to marry in Korea. I thought, wait, does this disqualify the entire prior plotline about the mother? What just happened? In short, the plotline with the mother reflected the true Korean attitude toward gays, while the ending was a fantasy to pander to audience's desires.

LACKED ALL THE CHARM & WHIMSY OF THE ORIGINAL

(spoilers)

Well, that was disappointing. I don't mind the lame, fake kiss as the first one had no kiss at all, and it was wonderful. It had charm and whimsy, and surprised us with so many funny moments. This had no charm, and no surprises. They just rounded up the same actors and then had no story for them to enact. The screenwriter seems to have taken 10 minutes to write this, and just gave a boring conflict of "Oh, let's have Adachi transfer for his job." Well, that drama flailed out boringly in about a half hour, so then they thought, "Oh, ok, let's have them come out to their parents." It was another conflict that we've seen a ton of times before and was boring. I mean, it's a fluffy show so we knew the parents had to accept.

Then it ends in the last 5 minutes by tossing in a wedding when, in fact, Japan has no gay marriage. Hence, it was just pandering to audiences' fantasy that gays can marry, which I see often in BL's and always troubles me (eg. Cutie Pie, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Old Fashioned Cupcake). Don't the manga writers from these countries know their own countries' laws on gay marriage?

I am not a screenwriter, yet even I could come up with more engaging plots for a sequel. Maybe introduce a new character who has the same wizard powers to read minds, and Adachi discovers that this guy has a crush on Kurosawa, giving him a rival. That's a setup for some funny and surprising situations. Hell, there's tons of ways to give us setups for the sort of inventive fun we saw in the original series.

But there was nothing inventive about this movie. Because the screenwriter was lazy and just relied on what they already had, and then added 2 boring setups that we've seen tons of times before -- ie, the job transfer and the coming out. It's like the creators did not care about giving us a good story and just figured fans would be happy with anything as long as they tossed in the same characters. Judging by the high rating here, I guess they were right. But I, for one, was not fooled. This movie was lame.

I can't decide if this is my fav or My Beautiful Man. The final sex scene in MBM was more satisfying than the ending of this, cuz it lacked the finality of a kiss. That was the only flaw. Otherwise, I'd put Cupcake at the top of the list. That's 2 Japanese with MBM and OFC and then a Korean with Blueming as #3

And we'll definitely get a sequel for OFC cuz it was trending on twitter. Indeed, MBM and Blueming are both already slated for sequels. So it they do this one, that means all 3 of my favs are getting sequels. Yay!

Does anyone know where I can watch with captions? It is usually on KissKH but there are no subtitles this week.

Shouldn't ep 6 be out today? Why so late???

So we've got 12 episodes about a guy who hates going to the dentist, when 99.9% of the human population hates going to the dentist and there's nothing original about this. You guys are all being very nice about this show, but I gotta differ.

Taiwan used to do such good BL's yet the past 3 were dull as dust: Plus/Minus, About Youth, and now My Tooth, Your Love were not merely dull, but dull in the same exact ways. All 3 had guys with no charisma. All 3 shows have guys with middling acting skills. And, yes, all 3 were full of BL cliches such as slipping, falling or somehow accidentally finding their faces inches from each other. They're still not as cliched as the Thais, but they're catching up.

The kid says at the beginning of episode, "Last summer we went camping." So he set this whole memory in the past. I almost missed it too and had to go back to check.

People are remarking on how they're surprised boys were a couple beforehand. But we actually saw a sign of that last week at the end when they held hands.

I knew that boy from Takara & Amagi could act! Indeed, he was a better actor than either of the leads in T&A. I'm glad to see him get a larger role. He deserves it!

SEMANTIC ERROR ENDING

Just as in Semantic Error, this ended with the leads on top of each other kissing when, suddenly, they hear a noise and both look at the camera in surprise. I didn't mind the replication because at least we got a proper kiss. All the Korean BL's do nice kisses. The Japanese could take a lesson (I am still not over that aborted kiss in the otherwise perfect Old Fashioned Cupcake).

Yes, they would've told about the little girl being abused in real life. As for the boy, he said "I got caught shoplifting on purpose" to hurt the dad cuz he was pissed that the dad admitted to packing up to run away without him when he was in the hospital.

Exactly. It's nuts that they are not putting these 2 in more scenes together when they have such good chemistry. But I suspect the fault is in the original manga, because the Japanese follow mangas to the T. And I mean frame by frame, line by line.

Yea, good point. I don't really get what Tsubasa is supposed to be about in this show. So far his character has only been useful in showing how nice Issae is because he always responds to Tsubasa's asshole ways with positivity.

Yea, and it's not even like it was a tangent about a bandmember -- it was a tangent about a bandmember's BROTHER, which makes it even further removed from the 2 leads. It felt like filler cuz there was no plot to move forward.

Nevertheless, it's not as bad as the filler we see in some of those 14 episode, 45 minute long Thai BL's. Now those have filler!

I just saw it and was disappointed as well. See my comment above.