The intensity of this argument makes no sense given the context of what we've seen of their relationship in episode…
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.
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.
The intensity of this argument makes no sense given the context of what we've seen of their relationship in episode…
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.
I am following with the manga online and I am really shocked how this show is almost exact copy of the manga -…
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.
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.
That was such a great scene and it isn't even the best this drama has to offer, I think you're going to love it!
Episode 4 was when the narrative stopped progressing. Nothing else happens for the next 12 episodes. I had high hopes for it based on the opening episode. But now I see why the ratings in Korea just kept dropping as weeks went by. By ep 16, the rating was a mere 2%.
There is no message here. Just vapid, bumper-sticker platitudes posing as poetic depth. For instance, a character says that, "Youth is as lonesome as growing old," and yet the neither he nor the show gives any explanation or insight as to why this should be true (in fact, it's flat-out untrue, because the elderly statistically live uncared for and in isolation). The show's full of these bumper-sticker platitudes. But that's when someone in the show is actually speaking, rather than staring into space in utter silence.
It's the sort of thing where the director thinks having a character stare into space while saying nothing is tantamount to depth of character. Indeed, a good 6 hours of this 16 hour show could have been cut out simply by deleting all scenes of characters silently staring into space . Characters ask another character a question, and the other simply does not reply but, rather, stares silently. If someone failed to reply to my questions as often as the characters in this show do, I'd slap them.
When it's not utter silence it's only because, in lieu of dialogue, we're given long, circular internal monologues about how sad and confusing life is. Each of the characters gets to give one of these long (and often semantically nonsensical), interior monologues, and since they are all given in a low, lethargic tone of voice the viewer is supposed to assume that something poetic has just been stated. It hasn't. It's just a lot of mumbling about how life is bleak, empty and miserable. Why yes, it can be. Especially if strapped to a chair and forced to watch a freaking show like this for 16 hours. I only finished it because I wanted to know the answer to what was presented as a mysterious connection between characters who'd all met in a Suicide Club, only to find that the answer was as boring as the show itself.
As for the aforementioned Suicide Club, the show presents clinical depression as romantic. Let's just call it the "Sylvia Plath Complex," wherein legions of teenage girls have misguidedly romanticized this poet's suicide for decades. Worse, this show presents a 40 year old, unattractive woman's misery as the sole reason that a 27 year old, gorgeous-as-a-model man falls in love with her (it doesn't help that the real life actress is actually 50, and visibly twice her romantic costar's age). But age is not the issue, as lots of middle-aged women can be gorgeous and charismatic. The issue is that this particular woman is neither.
To the contrary, she has a pinched up, unpleasant demeanor. She is not depicted for one second doing anything generous, grateful, endearing, interesting, or realistic. Nay, she's so unrealistic as to sign a contract to ghostwrite a celebrity's book, but then stalks the celebrity demanding credit once the book becomes a bestseller (she clearly did not read her contract). She is not only delusional, but so catatonically depressed as to warrant hospitalization. Yet according to the show's narrative logic, it's her very misery that attracts the hot, model 27 year old guy.
Sorry Mr. Director and Mr. Screenwriter, but I'd always assumed only 13 year old girls thought that making displays of misery was so poetic as to attract the attention of hot guys. Frankly, I was surprised an adult male directed this. Then again, it began to make sense when I discovered he'd never done a drama series before and that, moreover, his background is in arthouse cinema. In short, the director's background is in pretentious, artsy films and now, with this, he's been given 16 hours, instead of the traditional 2 hour film time, to bore the hell out of his audience. There's a reason this show's Korean ratings dropped to a mere 2% by episode 16.
If you want a K-drama with true depth, and genuine insight on what it means to be human, try the splendid series, "My Mister."
The best chemistry generated in this entire show is in the closing credits when their hands are inching toward each other, and then each of them extends a finger to caress the other's finger ever so slightly. That was sexy and original in a playful way. We saw that in the closing credits of Episode 1. Alas, nothing else in the entire show held up to the promise of what we saw then.
IS THAT HALF NAKED WET HAIRED 18 YEAR OLD SHIN?Hey AKIRA, fix your decisions in life 😂
It's Shin, but I don't get your question because he's the same age he is in all the episodes. He's 18 and just has his hair wet and no shirt on. He's got a towel over his shoulders, as if he just got out of the shower or something.
LOL, I am with you on the teacher and his brother having been begat by a couple of funeral director parents. I…
BTW, I noted that you used, "Minato" while some people in these comments used, "Akira." The characters on the show use his first and last name interchangeably. Yet when it comes to Shin, it's always "Shin." What's up with this?
LOL, I am with you on the teacher and his brother having been begat by a couple of funeral director parents. I…
Wait a minute, I just noticed that this is you Tim! You changed your profile avatar. I should've known it was you just based on the witty "funeral director" comment.
I continue to enjoy this series a great deal. I sure do wish they had released all eps at once or maybe six one-hour…
LOL, I am with you on the teacher and his brother having been begat by a couple of funeral director parents. I had said last week that the teacher had all the sexual allure of cold, lumpy oatmeal, but yours is better. Meanwhile, Shin is seething with sex appeal! Sure, he's the younger one, but when it comes to physical contact, Shin is the master. Indeed, so masterful that every time he touches Akira, why, he simply sets his boy's body aflutter! I mean, that bit with the sheet last week. Did you catch how he tucked his hair behind his ear and licked his lips? Let's face it, Akira was trembling for reason.
what is Cherry Blossom?Also Old Fashion Cupcake had a kissZettai BL having no kiss makes senseI think it's too…
Exactly. The show was wonderful, with mature characters and a great theme about 2nd chances, which was why it disappointed me all the more that, in the end, they were cowards about the kiss.
what is Cherry Blossom?Also Old Fashion Cupcake had a kissZettai BL having no kiss makes senseI think it's too…
The fact that Cupcake chickened out on the kiss in the alley really disappointed me. In fact, I regard the show as having NO kiss between the couple.
You see, the kiss that Togawa planted on Nozuo during his confession does not count because it was a quick, closed mouth kiss. This show clearly did not want to show an open mouthed, slow, tender loving, male-on-male kiss.
1 
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.
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.
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.
Which episode are we on (is it ep 9 today?)
Where can I see it other than Gagaloola?
There is no message here. Just vapid, bumper-sticker platitudes posing as poetic depth. For instance, a character says that, "Youth is as lonesome as growing old," and yet the neither he nor the show gives any explanation or insight as to why this should be true (in fact, it's flat-out untrue, because the elderly statistically live uncared for and in isolation). The show's full of these bumper-sticker platitudes. But that's when someone in the show is actually speaking, rather than staring into space in utter silence.
It's the sort of thing where the director thinks having a character stare into space while saying nothing is tantamount to depth of character. Indeed, a good 6 hours of this 16 hour show could have been cut out simply by deleting all scenes of characters silently staring into space . Characters ask another character a question, and the other simply does not reply but, rather, stares silently. If someone failed to reply to my questions as often as the characters in this show do, I'd slap them.
When it's not utter silence it's only because, in lieu of dialogue, we're given long, circular internal monologues about how sad and confusing life is. Each of the characters gets to give one of these long (and often semantically nonsensical), interior monologues, and since they are all given in a low, lethargic tone of voice the viewer is supposed to assume that something poetic has just been stated. It hasn't. It's just a lot of mumbling about how life is bleak, empty and miserable. Why yes, it can be. Especially if strapped to a chair and forced to watch a freaking show like this for 16 hours. I only finished it because I wanted to know the answer to what was presented as a mysterious connection between characters who'd all met in a Suicide Club, only to find that the answer was as boring as the show itself.
As for the aforementioned Suicide Club, the show presents clinical depression as romantic. Let's just call it the "Sylvia Plath Complex," wherein legions of teenage girls have misguidedly romanticized this poet's suicide for decades. Worse, this show presents a 40 year old, unattractive woman's misery as the sole reason that a 27 year old, gorgeous-as-a-model man falls in love with her (it doesn't help that the real life actress is actually 50, and visibly twice her romantic costar's age). But age is not the issue, as lots of middle-aged women can be gorgeous and charismatic. The issue is that this particular woman is neither.
To the contrary, she has a pinched up, unpleasant demeanor. She is not depicted for one second doing anything generous, grateful, endearing, interesting, or realistic. Nay, she's so unrealistic as to sign a contract to ghostwrite a celebrity's book, but then stalks the celebrity demanding credit once the book becomes a bestseller (she clearly did not read her contract). She is not only delusional, but so catatonically depressed as to warrant hospitalization. Yet according to the show's narrative logic, it's her very misery that attracts the hot, model 27 year old guy.
Sorry Mr. Director and Mr. Screenwriter, but I'd always assumed only 13 year old girls thought that making displays of misery was so poetic as to attract the attention of hot guys. Frankly, I was surprised an adult male directed this. Then again, it began to make sense when I discovered he'd never done a drama series before and that, moreover, his background is in arthouse cinema. In short, the director's background is in pretentious, artsy films and now, with this, he's been given 16 hours, instead of the traditional 2 hour film time, to bore the hell out of his audience. There's a reason this show's Korean ratings dropped to a mere 2% by episode 16.
If you want a K-drama with true depth, and genuine insight on what it means to be human, try the splendid series, "My Mister."
FINGERS TOUCHING WAS THE BEST BIT
The best chemistry generated in this entire show is in the closing credits when their hands are inching toward each other, and then each of them extends a finger to caress the other's finger ever so slightly. That was sexy and original in a playful way. We saw that in the closing credits of Episode 1. Alas, nothing else in the entire show held up to the promise of what we saw then.
You see, the kiss that Togawa planted on Nozuo during his confession does not count because it was a quick, closed mouth kiss. This show clearly did not want to show an open mouthed, slow, tender loving, male-on-male kiss.