Maggi64

The screenwriters had to have made up their own ending if the manga is still unfinished. After all, the show was shot in advance and is already wrapped up, so it's not like the writers are sitting around waiting for the manga's last chapter so as to complete the show. At any rate, it's very odd that they chose to make a show wherein the source material is still a work-in-progress. I wonder why? Is it that the manga is super popular and the wanted to capitalize on its current popularity? Do you know if it's a popular manga in Japan?

Holy shit, I had to read that comment twice to glean that she was being serious. Truly, the 1st time I read it I assumed she was being sarcastic about puritans who actually think a cute, fluffy little show like this is, "The vanguard of a political movement to destroy the moral and legal codes that protect teenagers from sexual predation."

I was even ready to reply that I found her sarcasm really cool and funny. Until, that is, I reread it and realized she was serious. Oy vay!

I tend to write long comments, but that does not mean it necessarily takes me a long time to do so. I can compose long comments quite quickly because I am a 55 year old college English professor as well as a writer by trade. Hell, I don't just write for a living, but I enjoy writing as well. Thus, I have a lot of fun writing long comments in these threads. I trust that those who don't like longer comments will simply scroll past them (ie, no harm done). Meanwhile, I hope that those who do read them will find my ideas to be interesting, as well as presented in a prose style that flows smoothly and is easy to read. In short, don't hate on we long-comment writers! LOL.

Agreed, but it's more than drab screenwriting. It's also matter of poor casting with that Teacher/Tutor Brother Duo. Neither has any sex appeal WHATSOEVER.

Now, I realize that their characters are not intended to be hot and sexy. The teacher, for instance, is supposed to be an airhead. Meanwhile, his little brother is supposed to be an Aspergers type and, hence, emotionally aloof with people while obsessive with inanimate things (eg, architecture). But good actors could imbue an airhead and an Aspies guy with far more compelling spirit than these 2 actors do.

I've seen many portrayals of Aspies types where an excellent actor managed to present the Aspies' aloofness while somehow, simultaneously, projecting a kind of charisma. Likewise, a better actor could've imbued the teacher's character with a lot more oomph. As it stands, both characters are so utterly and irredeemably drab, that it defies belief for 2 young, vibrant, sexy charismatic guys like Akira and Asuka to be attracted to them. I don't find anything about this to be believable. Indeed, when I ask myself why Asuka and Akira would like that teacher/tutor duo, all I can surmise is the following: They like the duo because the screenplay told them to do. In short, it feels artificial and as if they're just reading the lines.

It's a shame too because, as you observed, the show started off with so much oomph! It isn't just that Akira, Shin and Asuka are all physically adorable, but the actors also know how to bring energy and charisma to their performances. But damn, even they cannot make their scenes with the the teacher/tutor duo compelling. Those scenes all fall flat. Especially the Aspie tutor's scenes. He is so drab that he even managed to suck the charm out of Asuka in their scenes together. And that's saying something, because Asuka is pure charm itself!

Yes, I have noticed that K-dramas are pretty silly and formulaic. They put out so many because Korea's famous for these formulaic dramas, just as Thailand is famous for its formulaic BL's. In short, each country churns these things out a dozen a month because people like them. Now, I do not like them, but others do. K-dramas are so famous in Japan that there's even a scene in "The Man Who Defied the World of BL" where Mob's mother is watching K-drama and sobbing her eyes out.

The joke was that she's sobbing cuz those Kdramas are so melodramatic. Mob also observes that the man in those shows is always hot, while the woman is only average. In fact, K dramas have this whole sub genre called "noona" where the woman is older than the guy. In America, we call them "cougars" or MILF (ie, Mother I'd Like to
Fuck) lol.

So ok, Korea and Thailand each manufacture some silly shows. I agree with you there. But where I REALLY agree with you is how Japan's BL's and film aesthetic in general, is awesome. The Japanese are my favorite of all the Asian countries. Not just their BL's (which can be fearless like in "The Pornographer" and "The Dangers of Drugs and Sex") but ALL their movies.

Funny, how the Japanese can have this terrifically perverse, unique aesthetic and daring subject matter while, at the same time, they favor silly, childish shit like "Senpai" and "Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss." Um, he actually did NOT kiss in that show. Did you notice the irony of giving the show that title when the boys never actually kissed? There was a light closed mouth, super quick peck in Ep 1 and that's it.

Meanwhile, the guys in "The Pornographer" are ramming their tongues down each others' throat. And I'm loving it! LOL.

Taiwan's have slipped and are no longer good like We Best Love1 or HIStory, but dang, they still are not as bad as the Thais. The Thais manufacture about 100 a year off a factory assembly line. And I am not exaggerating, they literally put out 5-10 BL's a month. And the Thai acting is even worse than it is in this one, "About Youth."

The Koreans right now are killing it for BL's (Semantic Error and Blueming, etc), and the Japanese still put out some good stuff this year (My Beautiful Man and Old Fashioned Cupcake).

I know it's unpopular here to sympathize with the King, but his lover let the Queen's brother, a proven traitor, go free. The King should've executed his lover for that alone, since he'd already executed a whole room full of traitors who'd collaborated with that brother. In this context, when his lover betrayed him yet again, castration was letting him off easier. Overall, I thought the movie did a nice job of showing that the King was so besotted by love that he just kept letting his lover off the hook, until the betrayals were just too much. Of course, the movie developed sympathy for the lover and the Queen too, which is why it's such a good movie. It made you sympathize with all of them.

Agreed. He's the best looking one on the show. In fact, I assumed he'd be the lead when I first saw him at the beginning of the show. But then all the girls went chasing the other guy, who's also cute, but in bland way.

Fifteen minutes into Ep 1 and already there's a "Slip-And-Catch" for the 2 boys to look longingly at each other.

I just watched "The Last Ride" (Korean) because it was on your list of "Best Non Gay Asians Films" I read that it was based on "The Last Wish (Chinese) but both seem to have the same basic plot as "My Friend Is Still Alive", except that in "The Last Ride" the dying boy gets to have full-on sex, which made me like it more. But here's my question: aren't all 3 of these the same story?

You are so on point with everything you said. I may be a hetero female, but even I am driven bonkers by how women write gay sex scenes. Sure, it's gonna hurt a little going in the first time, but then you get over it and it's only sore a little while. And yes, the longer the duration of sex the better, so why do the characters always finish so fast in these sex scenes? I noticed that too. It should be the same for women so you're right that these women write sex scenes where men just about prematurely ejaculate as if it's good, lol

At any rate, I wish more men wrote BL's. As far as I know, KinnPorsche is the only one with a male author.

lol, perfectly put. It felt like it was spat out by a computer. And may I say, I am always pleased to hear from a man when discussing BL's on this site. So many of the fans are women, just as so many of the BL's are written by women. I wish more were written by men. One thing the female authors really get wrong is anal sex. In the novel "Addicted" the author actual has Bye lu Yin in so much pain from anal sex that he's in bed for a week with daily doctor's house calls. The novel "Semantic Error" also exaggerated the pain of anal sex. In the show "Lovely Writer" we see the seme the morning after assuming his uke is in so much pain that he can't walk, so he actually picks him up to carry him to the bathroom.

It's not just that these women have no clue about gay anal sex, I have to assume they'd never had anal sex themselves. I am a woman and can tell you that it's not the frigging painful. I mean, women get no pleasure from it cuz we have no prostrate, but sheesh, it's not like it was agony. It's a little sore afterward, but you can go about your business just fine. You won't be bedridden for a week, need a doctor, nor to be carried to the bathroom! Ugh. There should be a rule that women cannot write a BL unless they've had anal sex themselves, lol.

At any rate, it's nice to hear from a man on this site.

Yep, they go from fluffy with closed mouth kisses or no kisses, right to "The Pornographer" where the guys are ramming their tongues down each others' throats, lol.

I never read the manga for Blueming, I just heard from a lot of people that they changed it a lot. I said the show was changed "for the better" because I think it's alright to have creative license with adaptations as long as the live action succeeds on its own merit -- which I think Blueming did.

But I am reading the novel of Semantic Error right now (I have not finished cuz the translator is only 1/ 2 done), and the show seems to be very faithful to it. It's a novel, so it's longer than manga, meaning they show had to cut some things out, but otherwise the narrative line and character's attitudes and behaviors are the same. It's a good novel, by the way, and I can't wait for the translator to finish it!

Exactly, I don't hate it, but I ain't loving it either. I agree with everything you said, once again. I think they edited it to put the fight scene up front in Ep 1 to amp up some drama, but all it did was confuse the audience. It's as if they knew there was no inherent drama in Ep 1 so thought, let's cut up the chronology to put a lover's quarrel up front. But it ended up just not making sense.

I also vacillate between thinking the brunette's mannerisms are cute and obnoxious. At times I think, "Awe, he's adorable" and at other times I think, "He's acting so infantile I want to smack him," lol.

Thx for the link, but it's not in English so I can't read it. I presume you know Japanese?

Why is a teenage boy freaked out by a wet dream?

Boys have wet dreams and awake daily with erections from the age of 12 or 13. This kid is about 16 or 17, so even if puberty came "late" as his friend says of him, it would never be 4 years late. I realize that BL mangas are all written by women, but surely even women know this much about male sexuality. Thus, I am simply bewildered by this ridiculous plot point. Nevertheless, I will say that Ep 2 was an improvement over Ep 1.

I had the exact same questions about the timeline and all the same thoughts as you. That fight's intensity makes no sense given the context and brief duration of their relationship. I was gonna post my thoughts but you beat me to it, lol.

But that's the problem with Japanese Bls -- they follow mangas, word for word, frame by frame, even when they shouldn't. The K-BL Blueming made changes, and it was for the better for a live action show. It's why Blueming was so great. These J-BL's however, are uncreative carbon copies of the mangas. I don't get the Japanese's fanatical devotion to following mangas frame by frame. A live action should stand on its own, otherwise, why bother making it? We can all just read the manga.

CAN SOMEONE TAKE ACTION, PLEASE?

Watching Akira continually start to tell his teacher his feelings, then stop, is like watching someone endlessly start-stop because they suffer from a severe stutter. You just want to smack him and say, "Spit it the fuck out already!"

Meanwhile, the only characters who take action in the show are the siblings, Shin and his sister. The show has even reduced our erstwhile energetic, cutie-pie Asuka to passivity, wherein he just pines for Mr. Lump-Along, but does not take action. Although, really, I don't know why he wants dull, lethargic Mr. Lump-Along in the 1st place.