Maggi64

Where were there 11K watchers? Because that's not many. After all, Semantic Error got 100K watchers on Viki alone. I don't know why, but Cupcake got only 18K on Viki.

I don't know why Cupcake did not do as well as Semantic Error. Of course, Semantic Error was a delight with crackling chemistry and the guys (both idols), put in good performances. But the actors in Cupcake are a different level because they are not idols; they are exclusively actors (ie, trained in acting). You can see it in how Togawa's crying scene was so raw. And in how Nozue nails tiny micro-expressions to imbue his character with personality. Both of them did that scene where Togawa kisses him in one continuous take from the point where Nozue says "You are the only one who makes me glad I'm alive, to Togawa's confession and right through to Nozue walking out the door. If you watch it, you'll see there are no breaks. Meaning, they had to know all their lines and exactly how they were going to play it. That takes some serious acting of the sort we usually only see in stage actors who also must know the lines for long scenes by heart and keep up the energy for their characters for up to an hour before intermission.

At any rate, I heard this did well in Japan, and I hope so because I want a sequel. "My Beautiful Man" did not do so well in the West, but it was a hit in Japan so it got a sequel coming out next year. I hope the same thing happens with this.

14 minutes is a lot considering each ep of the show's only 20 minutes long.

What do you mean by apple pie? Is that what Nozue is feeding Togawa? How do you know? You can't see it. Was this filmed to be an alternate ending? I have so many questions, lol. I heard that we have to buy the CD to get these extras but I hope somebody downloads it elsewhere, like they did for the extras for Kiyoi's and Hira's date in "My Beautiful Man."

Wait, you think it was a stiffie? I thought he was just flummoxed with emotion. But I am pretty sure you are a guy, and as a guy, I defer to you you. You boys know how often you all get stiffies -- especially at that age!

Yes, someone above pointed that out. But she also said it would not have left that much of a burn. So it was still a BL trope of getting a boys shirt off. Not that I mind! lol. I mean, if it moves the romance along, then go for it. The trope that I really don't like is the old "Slip-And-Catch" whereupon they look meaningfully into each other's eyes. I see that so often I call it the SAC. So no more SACs please. But shirtless boys? Oh yea, I'll take more of them.

It started off with a bit of whim and quirkiness, but soon descended into just plain silliness. It was boring and like all those sillier Jpl's the boys' only kiss was a light, closed lip quick peck. Imagine if a hetero romance ended with that kind of quasi kiss. We only see heteros kiss like that in movies if they are grandmas and grandpas.

The funniest excuse for a boy to take off his shirt was in "Senpai this must be Love" where a colleague tells the lead he needs him to take some pix for him as a favor and just happens to need one pix to be shirtless. Naturally, the lead happens to be with his crush at the time, so he takes a pix of his crush, yes, shirtless. It was as if the script said "insert shirtless scene here." LOL.

QUESTION

How does one burn their upper back while making soup? Answer: they don't. The show just wanted to get that boy's shirt off, lol.

A lot of people on this thread are asking where it's subbed, because apparently it was not subbed last year. However, it's now subbed in English on Blparadise.

Oh, I know there are very beautiful women in K-dramas. But the joke in the show "The Man Who Defied Boys Love" was about the specific K-dramas called "noonas" which area about older women and younger men. In America we call an older woman with a younger guy a "cougar" or a "MILF" (ie, mother I'd like to fuck), lol. Apparently, there are a lot of Korean shows with cougars and MILFS but they call them noonas.

You know, President Macron of France is 25 years younger than his wife. It is highly unusual for the man to be younger. Ordinarily, it is a rich older man and a younger "trophy wife." But in this case, it's the man who is younger and powerful. He has it all, but he still married an older woman. I suppose he just loves her. Prince Charles of England also married an older woman, but Camilla Parker Bowles is not that much older than him.

Well, I hardly know what to say because I agree down the line. I'll just add that yes, I am a writer. I've published some short nonfiction but I have not published my novel yet. I have an agent and she's pretty famous but, alas, she has not done much for me. I am actually very annoyed with her. I have put down my novel for some time to give it some space in order to have more objectivity when I go back and make revisions. In the meantime I've been spending a lot of time here, watching movies and hanging out with pals in what I regard as our Asian Movie Club. But I'll tell you, the greatest single compliment a person can give me is that they like my writing. The fact that you said as much before you even knew that I was working on a novel was thrilling to me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I love that you are Asian! I am a flat out Asiaphile. To be specific, I am a Japanophile, because the Japanese are so wonderfully weird. I adore how their culture is at once polite, tentative, and sexually fearless and perverse. Look at their BL's such as "Double Mints" and "Dangerous Drugs of Sex."

Funny, I love a dark sensibility such as what's found in dramas like those while, like you, I am also fond of the straight-laced Victorians. In fact, I concentrated on the Victorians. I was all about the Bronte sisters! My favorite novel is Wuthering Heights. Naturally, I am all about dear old Oscar Wilde too. In fact, if you like BL's, then you must check out the movie from 1996 with Jude Law and Stephen Fry . It's the best biopic on Wilde ever done.

Incidentally, I became pen-pals with a guy from MDL named Tim and we share our opinions on shows and movies. He has a list of favorite Asian films. I have seen all the BL's already, but I love Asian film in general so if you have some Asian flicks to recommend by all means let me know! Just send me a list in a message.

My rule for dating is no more than 10 yrs older or 10 yrs younger (give or take in that range). I am 55 and I am grossed out by men my age who chase girls in their 20's. They think that dating girls that young makes them look young when, in fact, it makes them look old by comparison. So, ok, I am not down with age gaps of 25 to 30 years. But a 10 year age gap is perfectly healthy. Also, you gotta understand that from where I sit at the age of 55 I look at a characters like Minato who's 29 and Shin who's 18 and I see then BOTH as very young. See what I mean?

I know. And the instant I see it I know it does not bode well for the rest of the season, because a show that has original ideas would never fall back on the old "SAC" (ie, that's what I call "Slip-And-Catch")

I was expecting better from this show because it's the same director as "HIStory Crossing the Line" which I adored. But the acting is a tad stiff and the instant I saw that SAC, I groaned. Especially as this SAC came so early in the show that the boys barely knew each other and, hence, their looking into each other's eyes did not resonate.

Nevertheless, I'll keep watching it because it's not bad. It's just that it's not great. It's also the only decent BL airing right now other than Minato's Laundry.

I know you said elsewhere that you are only 24, and I think your youth accounts for your feeling that 29 is old when, in fact, it's quite young. I also suspect you are from a Western country, such as America, where we are very hung up on jailing people for sex with those who are 17, even if the culprit is only 18 himself (yes, it often happens that 18-20 year olds are arrested for sex with 17 year olds, despite it only being a 2-3 year age gap). I myself am a 55 year old female American, and I think my country's laws about minors can be a tad severe.

After all, if we think it's ok for 18 yr olds to join the military and live and die in foreign lands, then surely teenagers can make up their own minds about consensual sex. Also, the age of consent different state to state in America, with it being as low as 16 in some states and as high as 18 in others. The fact that it differs state to state in the very same country indicates how arbitrary these cut off ages are.

May I ask if you are American as well? Are you male or female? I ask because I think a person's demographics informs their opinions. For example, the fact that I am 55 makes me more inclined to regard a 29 year old such as Minato to be very young.

Ephebophilia is the attraction to teenagers, while ephebiphobia is the fear of teenagers. I always remember the difference by the suffixes (ie "philia" is Latin for love while "phobia" is Latin for fear).

Wow, thank you so much for remembering that review! And may I say, in turn, that I love your username, "Solipsism." I saw that I thought, "Oh, this woman is witty and smart." I know one is not supposed to judge others on such small things, but the fact is, I do it all the time lol. It's also extraordinary how often my first impressions turn out to be correct. I am an Eng Prof and I can pick up if kids are smart by little things they say in the first week of class, well before I've assigned or graded anything.


Speaking of my field, English, I gotta say that before discovering the world of BL's (which are largely Asian), I had only read novels and short stories. But with so many BL's based on mangas and manhwas, I decided I would find out what they are all about. To be clear, I still don't really get the appeal and prefer prose novels to graphic novels. But I respect mangas/manwhas more than I used to (eg, I used to think they were glorified comics for adults).

The 1st manga I ever read was "The Pornographer." Then I read "Double Mints." I could not believe just how fastidiously faithful the Japanese are to source material! Indeed, the live actions of "The Pornographer" and "Doublemints" are the same frame by frame. The only thing they cut out was teenaged Matsuda the Masochist going down on that girl after Matsuda the Punk had sex with her, cuz he wanted to taste Matsuda on her. Otherwise, the adaptation is 100% the same. Likewise with "Pornographer."

I also read the manwha "Cherry Blossoms After Winter" and if that's any indication , it seems the Koreans are less fanatical about sticking to source material. It only changed couple things, but the Japanese don't change anything at all. Thus, I was surprised by your comment that they changed a lot in Minato's Laundry. Fans of mangas complain about changes but, frankly, sometimes a change would improve upon the manga. For instance, I did not like how "Old Fashioned Cupcake" was fanatically faithful to the manga, because that resulted in there being no kiss at the end.

Speaking of which, something tells me that we won't be seeing a kiss between Akira and Shin either. The writer portrayed Akira as so hung up on the age gap, that I can't help feeling that the writer, personally, thinks it's unethical too. Meaning, they'll shy away from showing the boys getting physical. I hope I am wrong, because while I don't need a kiss in certain BL's (eg, Cherry Magic worked just fine without one), this one has had Akira and Shin come close to kissing so many times that the audience has been seriously primed to see it finally happen. Besides, hetero romances always end with a kiss, so why not give us a gay kiss too? Dammit, I wanna see those boys kiss! lol

Precisely. I had thought the same back when "My Beautiful Man" had aired and everyone was calling it toxic. There were a lot people taking issue with Hira's fantasy about shooting bullies with a machine gun. I had to point out that:

(a). There are countless shows/movies with splattering, bloody violence galore, but people took issue with this scene merely because the fantasy shooting took place in a school setting.

(b) Japan has gun control and, hence, they have no gun massacres and school shootings like we Americans do. Thus, a Japanese audience would never respond to such a scene by shooting up a school the way we Americans would.

(c) If we remove all so-called "toxicity" from shows, there is no damned drama left! I loved how Hira's and Kiyoi's relationship was so messed up, because it gave the show tons of dramatic conflict to be resolved as the show progressed. I also loved the dramatic conflict in "The Pornographer" while many others thought that the novelist was "toxic" for lying to the student. But that dramatic conflict was all the fun in watching the show!

But hey, at least there was something genuinely unhealthy in the novelist's behavior when those viewers called him "toxic." I was shocked, however, that people found anything toxic in "Minato's Laundry." I mean, this show is the purest, pinkest, fluffy cotton candy!

Nah, I wasn't being defensive. It's hard to capture tone here, so that's why I added a LOL at the end of my comment. I was trying to indicate a certain friendliness.

Moreover, I had not yet read the thread on this page until I scrolled further down, and saw all the arguing. So I did not know what you were referring to at the time. But now that I've read it all, I think you specifically meant the angry long comments, and not long comments in general. But I was talking about long comments in general.