Maggi64

Why are you here if you never watched the show?

Do you mean that rievr asshole? He has been leaving comments while admitting that he has not even watched the show. He is just saying that the title "Cupcake" is stupid. When he found out Nozue is 39 he started asking if "his dick still works."

He's been leaving a string of nonsensical comments down the line. In one comment he asked, "Who farted?" That's all he said. It made no sense. In another comment he copied/pasted lyrics to a song. This person is just a troll. Ignore him.

He's the only person who said negative things and since he NEVER watched the show, he does not count. Hence, this means the MDL comments by people who watched the show are still 100%.

It's interesting what you say about their being so insular, because the Japanese have been accused of being isolationist for centuries. It's what got them into WWII. I suppose that mentality still lingers in their culture for better or worse.
I think the "better" is that it's what gives their culture its distinctive essence (ie, they have not been watered down and Westernized yet), while the worse is that they are a bit xenophobic and still refer to white people who live there as "foreigners." I know a woman who married a Japanese man and lived there for years and was always referred to as the "foreigner." But she said that was only outside the cities and that in Tokyo it was totally cool.

I am utterly lost now. I know the lyric but still have no idea why that should be homophobic.

I don't get it, how can referencing a song by the Clash be homophobic? Is one of their lyrics homophobic?

Actually, in the manga, just like in the show's episode 4, there is a part with Togawa laying on a bench drunk after the mixer and saying Nozue would have rather been with that girl. It's exactly the same. I just read the manga 4 days ago, so I recall. lol. And he also yells at Togawa about putting the keys on his desk at the office. It's also exatcly the same. I was surprised at how much this director kept things exactly the same. But you are right that when he looks at the hetero couple in the park, it's an interior thought that the reader understands, but that the director could only hint at for the viewer by having the camera show Nozue looking at a cute hetero and thinking that this would be better for Togawa. I'm not sure if viewers caught this or not. It was clear, of course, in the manga. I think the director did a good job of hinting it in the show by having Nozue stare at the hetero couple. But everything else is
surprising like the manga. As I said, I read the manga 4 days ago, and I am shocked at how this show is unfolding almost frame by frame. It's crazy! lol . I even went back and rewatched it to check.












couple playing in a park.

Yep, I agree. The phone rang, and he snapped out of it, and was suddenly so embarrassed and wanted to get the hell out of there. But Togawa. man, he was NOT gonna let that happen. Forget the manga, these 2 actors played that scene to perfection. I was so impressed by the acting in that scene. I later discovered that the guy playing Nozue is pretty famous in Japan. I've never seen either of them before but they are both doing an
amazing job.

Exactly. Nobody does dark themes like the Japanese. What's fascinating is that their culture is so imbued with propriety and politeness on one level (eg, they are always bowing, thanking, and apologizing in real life), while at the same time, they make art that is fearlessly perverse with sexually and morally outrageous characters. And, as you said, they do it with conviction. I love this dichotomy between how the Japanese act in real life and then how they create their art. They have such a cool culture.

Yep, I put it in spoilers just now. Thank you!

I am so glad to hear that! You wrote, "we" love excellence. Does that mean that you are Japanese yourself? I agree that the Japanese have good taste. I was worried that this amazing show was being overlooked, but it seems it's only being overlooked in America (where I live). Well, who cares about stupid Americans if the Japanese love it! It's the Japanese who count when it comes to a sequel, right?

Oh, no, but you do! Because there is a part 2 to the manga. That's all about them as an established couple trying to keep it a secret. I am guessing that if there is a sequel (and I hope there is) it will be based on this 2nd manga. Both are on "MyReadingManga."

The show and the manga are the same length and they cover all the same material. In fact, what's amazing is that the show follows the manga EXACTLY frame by frame. They have not omitted a single scene, or a added a single scene. It's 100% faithful to the source material.

But consider what he'd just said. He just told Togawa, "You are the only one who makes me glad I am alive." That's tantamount to saying, "I love you." So he was embarrassed, not jealous. The manga actually has him say, "I am so embarrassed," as he runs off. The show, however, did not bother with that line of dialogue because the director probably thought it was obvious from his behavior and the context that he was embarrassed. But I don't know, based on your comment maybe they should've left that line to make it more clear.

This is the first time I've ever seen either of them. I had no idea the guy playing Nozue was big in Japan . Are you Japanese? I'm American and he's not known here. But I will pay attention to him from now on.

The trailer already showed it's gonna be a happy ending, so don't worry! :)

THESE 2 MEN KNOW HOW TO ACT


I was impressed by how the actor playing Nozue handled that kissing scene. Did you all notice that he actually returned Togawa's kiss? His lips moved and he was responding and returning the kiss -- but only, ever so slightly. Which made sense. This is a 39 year old man who's never kissed another man. It was perfect that he returned the kiss slightly (because he's in love with Togawa), but did not return it fully (because he's scared and needs time to process all this).

Hell, Nozue was scared even before that kiss, and the actor did a terrific job conveying this as well. Consider his facial expressions and intonation as he was suddenly embarrassed and tried to run away saying, "I have a package coming..... I have to tape a show..... I have to do the gardening...... I have to prepare the week's meals.... I have to do that, um, that thing." LOL. That thing!

Dang, the man just dropped a massive bomb telling Togawa, "You are the only one who makes me glad I am alive," and then tries to run off! That is a powerful thing to say to another human being. Christ, if someone ever said to me, "Maggi, you are the only one who makes me glad I am alive," it would fucking rock my world! It clearly rocked Togawa's world. And that actor did an amazing job with subtle facial expressions to show how the import of what Nozue had just said was dawning on him. The transformation of his facial expression was brief, and it was subtle, but it was unmistakable. You could see shock transform to realization, and then there was his sudden lunge toward Nozue.

The guy playing Togawa was amazing in that scene. In a flash, his stalwart, alpha-male exterior melted, and he morphed into exposed, raw, pink-fleshed vulnerability. And then his voice is cracking as he says, "I love you so much I could die." (Note: the subtitles mistranslated "love" to be "like" here, but the manga version properly translated this line of dialogue as "love"). It was a powerful scene because everything that happened leading up to it had already earned the emotion that we viewers were investing in it. This is the mark of a good story -- it EARNS our emotion.

I'll just sum it all up by saying that these two guys know how to act. Their performances are why I am loving this show so much.

It is fascinating that Japanese dramas are not subtitled for an international audience, because it fits Japan's reputation for being isolationist for centuries. Hell, it's what got them into WWII. Even so, if there's money to be made by selling a product on the international market, I would have thought they'd get past being cultural isolationists. Isn't it just plain bad economics, isn't it?

That out-the-door and on the street running were for the preview for episode 5. They were not part of that final scene in episode 4. It is confusing because the show never runs credits after the final scene. They just go right to the next week's preview, so it felt blended in with episode 4, but it wasn't.

I noticed that too. I even REWOUND four or five times to doublecheck. Yep, Nozue's lips responded in kind every time! lol.

Thank you for such a thorough comment. I was so freaking baffled by the popularity of Thai BL's considering their uniformly bad quality, that I researched a couple of months ago. Turns out that Thailand churned out over 100 BL's last year alone. That's why they feel like they're coming off a factory assembly line. They are such a cash machine that Thai's Govt counts BL's as one of its Gross National Products. Wow. This, I suspect, is why they invest in their BL's international promotion. But the sheer number of Thai BL's per a year is why they are so cheap and unoriginal. And the fact that they're watered down to appeal to Western girls' obsession with "toxicity" and "consent" is also why they are so boring and bland.

The Japanese BL's are original even when they are fluffy, like Cherry Magic. They have compelling themes, such as the one about mid-life 2nd chances in Cupcake. And they dare to be different, as with My Beautiful Man. And in every case, the acting is stellar. Hell, the acting in that low-budget YouTube Japanese BL, 8.2 Byo No Hosoku was better than what I see in 95% of the big-budget Thai BL's.

Thai BL's seem to pull cute boys out of high school homeroom class and shove them in front of a camera that same day.