Maggi64

A LACKLUSTER SHOW WITH NO NARRATIVE PULSE

In ep 1 Amagi was upset that Takara told a girl he was not dating anyone. But Takara only said this cuz he didn't want others knowing about Amagi. In other words, the conflict was about T & A dating vis-a-vis how the larger social group treated their dating. Well, 8 episodes later and we were still rehashing this same exact plot point. In short, nothing happened in 8 eps except for these 2 boys endlessly reflecting on the nature of their relationship, and on how that relationship would be treated by their social peers.

The endless internal monologues examining their relationship would not have been bad if that relationship actually had depth and complexity. But it was, rather, a stale relationship that had not even progressed to the point where spazzed out, ditzy Amagi could accept a proper kiss from his boyfriend. He was continually running away like a 5 yr old kid with ADD in dire need of Ritalin. This became so repetitive that, eventually, I just groaned every time Takara leaned in for a kiss cuz I knew spaz boy would reject it. Ugh.

Ultimately, the only thing that kept me invested in this show were Amagi's BFF and Takara's BFF. The 2 BFF's gave a much needed jolt of energy whenever they were on screen. They were also MUCH better actors than either of the leads. All in all, this was an underwhelming show with no narrative pulse and 2 leads who could not act.

SAME ACTOR AS "MY BEAUTIFUL MAN"

Anyone else notice that the homophobic student calling Mamocchi gay was the same actor as Yoshida in "My Beautiful Man"? He played an ass in MBM as well. For instance, he was the one who demanded that Hira clean up the bucket of spilled water when Kioyi, splendidly, rose to Hira's rescue. Gotta say, it's a fun connection cuz Mamocchi, like Hira, is so mired in low self esteem that he's blind to the signs that his beloved loves him right back!

How can I access this scene? Can you send me a link? I loved this show so much that I'm desperate for any extras I can get!

Is it that ten second clip of Nozue feeding Togowa apple pie?

It says "room not found" when I try to access this.

Well said. And, yes, that's pretty much what I meant. But we'll see next week. BTW, thx for pointing out in your prior comment that it was JW from the future who gave the kidnapper from the past the knife he uses to kill JH, cuz I did not catch that. Man, it really is a time loop between future and past, eh? It makes my head hurt trying to get it all straight, lol.

Oh, I think the ending is going to be a weepie one, but that the show's creators will also find a way to make it emotionally satisfying somehow. I doubt they'd have us watch 8 eps only to leave us feeling miserable and angry. The Koreans just don't do that with any of their shows, lol. The only time I've seen a K-BL where a lead died and his lover was left alone was "Kissable Lips," but dang, that lead was a freaking vampire so, ok, I could let that go. In this one, the lead is already dead when the show begins, so I really think that what the show wants us to focus on is the time the 2 guys get to spend together in the past, not in the present. The preview made it seem like they'll share some nice relationship stuff in next week's ep, so I am all in for that!

Yep, it's my all time #1 BL, and I've seen them ALL. Every series, and every movie.

It's not really about the rating on MDL, cuz few get higher than an 8.0. It's about the number of viewers. Accordingly, this film actually did ok cuz 8,600 people watched it according to MDL alone. Consider that "My Beautiful Man" (my fave BL ever), only got a 7.8 on MDL, but that rating was out of 20,000 viewers. This means that "My Beautiful Man" actually did quite well. If a show on MDL has only gotten, say, 2,000 viewers, that's pretty bad regardless of the fact that its rating was higher than this show's.

You see, national ratings systems such as the Neilson Ratings don't care about the opinions of reviewers (not even professional critics' reviews). They only care about the number of viewers -- because that's the number who either see the advertisements or who subscribe to a streaming site (ie, it's about money, not reviewer's opinions). Accordingly, they'd say that "My Beautiful Man" did very well, regardless of reviewers' opinions, cuz it got tens of thousands of viewers based on this site alone (and likely millions more based on other tallies). This is why I always look at the number of viewers on sites like MDL and Viki Rakuten when I watch these Asian shows or films.

Incidentally, I just re-watched "Cornered Mouse" (that's why I'm here, lol), and it is just so damned good. I heard the manga has been translated into English so I gotta read that too. I am interested in how the endings are different in the manga and in the film.

Oh man, I HATED season 2 of "To My Star." I even wrote a scathing review of it on its MDL page and on Viki's review site. And that's saying something since this same director did 2 of my favorite BL's -- "Blueming" and "Where Your Eyes Linger." The 1st season of "To My Star" was never a favorite, but at least I enjoyed it. I did not enjoy season 2 at all. The director was given the longest airtime for a show than for any of her past BL's and instead of this bringing her best BL, it brought us her worst. Go figure.

Agreed.

QUESTION on EP 4

Why did Yiu have a key to Sheldon and Xavier's apartment? He just waltzed in there while they were doing the sex webcam like he owned the place. It made no sense.

I think "closure" is gonna be the whole theme of the show. Jae Woo may not be able to change the future by saving Ji Hoon, but at least the romance he'll have with him in the past will give him closure.

Light on Me truly is the exception for a K-BL's length. "To My Star" got 10 eps for its sequel, but that was only based on the popularity of season one. And the eps were shorter than Light on Me at that. I have no idea why Light on Me had such long airtime for a very first season. It's odd, isn't it?

I agree, I think it will follow the time travel rules and Ji Hoon will die again. But based on next week's previews, at least the two guys are gonna have a nice romance during the time they share in the past!

I think it's gonna happen now that Korea has seen how popular BL's are internationally. They are going to want to get in on the action, regardless of Korea still being pretty homophobic in general. I read somewhere that when Korea's first BL, "Where Your Eyes Linger" came out, people were shocked at what a huge hit it was. Then, suddenly, we started to see more and more K-BLs.

Well, the rule for time travel stories is that if you meet yourself in the past, you cannot change the future, otherwise you would not be the same person whom you already became. For instance, Jae Woo visits Ji Hoon's death memorial at the beginning of the show. If Jae Woo travels back in time and keeps Ji Hoon alive, then this would mean that the death memorial Jae Woo had visited never existed. Except we know that it DOES already exist in the present. So I fear this means that poor Ji Hoon is gonna have to die. Unless the show changes all the rules of time travel logic, which I do not think it will. But, hey, who knows. We'll find out next week!

The question of money and the phone etc definitely don't make sense. I also didn't buy that Ji Hoon would be so accepting of Jae Woo's bizarre, stalkerish behavior in the beginning. But the lack of a scar on his arm as an adult at the beginning actually makes sense. He would only have a scar there in the present if he'd been slashed as a 10 yr old child and then grown up with the scar on his arm. But his 10 yr old self was never slashed. To the contrary, he got the scar as an adult time traveler, so it'll be there when he returns to the future, but would not have been there before.

It's only things that happened to him at 10 that would last until the future -- eg, the writing under the desk that's still there, the pix he still has, and even his memory of an adult man yelling at him when he was 10 (who turned out to be himself). Remember how the adult Jae Woo says in that scene, "I was so scared that I forgot about this stranger yelling at me that day. Now I realize it was myself yelling at me." It's this crazy, confusing time loop, but makes sense. It's more the smaller details that are illogical, but not this larger one about the loop in time travelling.

I agree down the line. The Thai BL's waste the most time and do so with side couples and extraneous characters that add little to the story. It's almost as if they are desperate to fill up their 14 Ep, 45 min airtime with any filler they've got, because they have such huge budgets. Remember, the Thais use product placement to fund their BL's so they have big budgets. Well, I'd rather have a shorter BL with no product placement. Although I agree with you that sometimes it feels these K-BLs and J-BL's are too short and I'd appreciate more to the story at hand. Taiwan somehow manages to make longer ones w/o product placement (eg, the HIStory Series), so there must be a way, right? :)

I forgot to add that when 10 yr old Jae Woo gets his crush's pix, he lies in bed staring at it while smiling. I had crushes like this on older guys too when I was a kid. It's so cute!