Maggi64

Now that Kohei's going to be completely deaf, while Taichi can hear, I recommend another romance with the same relationship dynamic called, "Children of a Lesser God." There's a beautiful scene where the hearing lover wants to know how his deaf lover experiences life. So he takes her to the school pool, alone, because being underwater is the only time we experience complete, utter silence Think about it; even if we're alone with no tv, music or appliances, it's still not 100% silent. Thus, we can only know the sort of silence a deaf person lives with when we're underwater.

OMG, I am so glad you said "re-watch" vis-a-vis Bleuming. I thought I was the only obsessive who re-watched my fav shows. I've watched Bleuming multiple times. I've also re-watched My Beautiful Man because it's fun to detect that Kiyoi really was paying attention to Hira the whole time.

That was my first BL and back then I did not know that the leads ALWAYS end up together, so I was super surprised when we got Kiyoi's point of view later on. If you'd never seen a BL before, then you'd never have seen that coming.

I re-watch Old Fashioned Cupcake because I love to see Togawa make certain facial expressions that denote how he's madly in love while suffering in silence with it. And then, wow, when he finally gives that explosive confession! I'm ashamed to admit how many times I've re-watched that scene of him slamming Nozue against the wall and sticking his finger in his mouth! But, like you, I wished the show were longer. It was only 5 eps of 25 min each.

Yet I'd prefer a BL that's too short over those Thai BL's that go on endlessly, just dragging things out for 12 eps of 1 hour each. I think that Hidamari ga Kikoeru is also 12 eps, but each ep is only 25 min., so that's under 6 hours in total. There are some Thai BL's that are 15 hours! And it's all filler.

I hear you. There is even a theory in literature that there are only 12 basic plots in the world (eg, forbidden love, sins of the parents visited upon the next generation, people from the other side of the tracks falling love, etc). But readers/audiences do not care if "Romeo & Juliet" and "West Side Story" have the same plot about forbidden love. They're still both great plays because they have tiny, compelling details that distinguish them from each other.

Frankly, I loved "My Beautiful Man" because it distinguished itself from all those other formulaic BL's with a Popular Boy + Creepy Dork by giving us compelling details. For instance, Hira's stutter was a unique detail. So were the background details about Kiyoi's mother remarrying and paying more attention to her new kids. I loved "Bleuming" because it gave interesting family details as well. But most BL's writers are lazy and simply rehash the basic outline of the 12 plots, without adding any unique details.

Thank you! I will check out the manga, but since I already know this show is 12 eps, at 6 hours I suspect they will add some romantic element. But only if it's in later issues of the manga.

Because one thing I learned since discovering Asian film/dramas 4 years ago, is that the Japanese are fastidiously faithful to source material. The Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese will occasionally change elements when they adapt a written work for the screen, but not the Japanese.

Sometimes the Japanese are TOO faithful to source material. For instance, the producers of "Old Fashioned Cupcake" really should've included a kiss between Nozue and Togawa at the end. But the manga illustration portrayed that there was teeeensy space between their lips when they were interrupted by a noise, so the show also portrayed a teeeensy space.

Well, I don't know if you've seen OFC, but if you had, then you know what I mean.

I am guessing something with her will turn up in the narrative. Otherwise, there's not enough dramatic plot points to fill the space for a 12 episode show. The movie was only 90 minutes, whereas a 12 ep show is 6 hours.

Yea, the movie is not even a BL; it's a bromance. I am curious if the manga is BL and the movie censored the sexual heat, or if this is how the original material is too.

Some censored shows, like "Advance Bravely" are obviously depicting sexual heat, with or without a kiss. Those 2 guys looked like they wanted to devour each other! But there was no sexual vibe in the movie version of this show so I am wondering if the source material was also bromance.

Good list for the Japanese. But I would add "Old Fashioned Cupcake," because the characters are actually adults (one's 30 and the other is 40). I am middle-aged myself and often feel embarrassed that I watch so many shows featuring high school kids.

I think Korea puts out a lot of fluff, but then they have real gems like "Blueming." That is so much more than a BL and did an excellent job of taking on significant issues such as domestic discord and a broken family.

I won't even watch a Thai BL anymore. They manufacture over 50 a year in their BL's factories. And that number is not hyperbole -- they truly do make over 50 a year.

Well said. Indeed, I just commented (above), saying pretty much the same thing.

Well said. Indeed, I just commented (above), saying pretty much the same thing.

I think Kohei looks just like the actor who played Shin in "Minato's Laundry"

You mean that girl who wanted Taichi to fix her up with, Kohei, right? Because I just commented right after you (see above), how glad I was that Taichi told her off.

I saw the movie version of this a while back, and don't recall the cousin coming between them. But this drama is a lot longer so perhaps the writer (who did both the movie and the series), added more plot points.

I am soooo glad Taichi told off that girl who wanted to use Kohei so she could play a character from a romance novel. People with this sort of Savior Complex delude themselves that they're helping. Nope. They're actually treating the disabled person as a stage prop in some drama rather than as a fully dimensional human being.

I used to work with low income minorities in a special program where I was an English Prof, and I constantly witnessed the same attitude. Upper-middle-class colleagues exploited the blacks kids so they could play The Great White Savior. They'd slobber all over these kids with tears and pity, instead of respect and dignity. Well, poor people and disabled people both want dignity, which I know as a disabled person myself. I was not born with a disability, but contracted one when I was middle aged, and thus seen life from both perspectives.

I think this show does a fine job depicting how Kohei is falling in love because Taichi is kind to him, while never making him feel pathetic or needy. A great example is that scene of him telling Kohei to ask people to repeat things if he didn't hear. Taichi let him know that he deserved to hear whatever somebody just said. It seemed like a small thing for Taichi but, in fact, it meant the world to Kohei.

I felt this way too. I also think it was not the actors' fault, but poor direction. The editing was also very choppy with scenes switching in an overly abrupt way . There should be a smoother, more subtle sensation when scenes switch, such that the viewer is not even conscious they happened. I checked out this director's background and, sure enough, she's only directed one other feature film before this. Otherwise, she was an assistant on the crew for an Ang Lee moview.

Also, who is Top?

I got your recommendation in my message box, but did not realize it stars Hwang Jung Min until I came to this page. I love him! Like you, I count "The Road" among my Top 10 Fave Asian movies. He is magnificent in that. Indeed, he's terrific in every movie he's in and seems to have a good eye for choosing projects. So I know this movie will be good simply by virtue of him having chosen to do it. Thanks!

Thank you! I truly did love this movie. I am a BL fan, but see so much fluff & silliness in the genre that I am pleased to discover movies like this that we can take seriously. If you are a fan of Korean LGBT then I recommend "Night Flight" because it's also a serious film made for grown ups. Then again, if you're a fan, you've probably already seen it.

As usual, we agree . I loved this movie, but I also dropped my rating after the 2nd watch, and for much the same reasons as you. I was shocked at how careless the casting director was in choosing adult versions of the boys. They did a better job with that small, side character who wore glasses (the homophobic kid) . He was just a minor character, yet they worked harder in matching his adult character to the kid actor. I also think that it fell apart in the last quarter. In fact, we did not need that last quarter at all. It should've ended with the boys on the beach saying it was the last time they'd ever see each other.

However, the director seemed compelled to give us a present setting because it's based on his real life and he wanted to feel his past and present connect. Well, we all do, but that is something you work out in therapy, For the sake of a cohesive piece of fiction, you keep it grounded where the bulk of the story is. There was no narrative nor aesthetic reason to leap 30 years to the present-- especially when we leaned nothing about what happened in those 30 years. I know from a comment below that the real life Birdy is still closeted and married, so maybe the director wanted to work out his feelings about that fact. But again, save that for therapy, not a movie. In art either tell your viewer/reader what's going on for 30 years, or don't allude to being 30 years later. Really, what did that finale give the viewer when we learned nothing about the characters? We learned more about the priest than about the leads.

Lastly, Birdy flipping 180's. I laughed at your bipolar comment. I think this happens when a writer/director tries too hard to portray a character's every move on what happened in real life. Real people do flip like this, but it happens over a longer stretch of time. In a movie we are witnessing these flips in the course of a mere 90 minutes and it's head spinning.

What I loved, however, was the first section and then, wowza, that shower scene where they end up sobbing and crying. That was heartbreaking. The movie should've stayed there, in their youth, with no flash-forward. Indeed, nearly all my criticisms are about the final 30 minutes. If I pretend that wasn't part of the movie, then it's a 9.5. But with it included it goes down to an 8.5.

That was only Mia Farrow's adopted daughter. Woody Allen adopted 2 other kids with Mia, but not that daughter. Mia had adopted about 10 other kids.

SIX REASONS IT'S NOT INCEST

1) They don't share any genetic material.

2) They were not raised by the same set of parents, nor call the same adults "mom" and/or "dad" -- which is a phenomena that turns adopted kids into siblings.

3) They didn't come together as babies or toddlers then grow up in the same home -- which is another phenomena that turns adopted kids into siblings.

4) They didn't even meet for the 1st time until Qien was 16 and Yuan about 11.

5) They cohabited for a mere 5-6 years before Yuan got shipped off to America for 4 years (meaning they spent far more of their childhood living apart than living together).

6) Yuan was a homeless child sleeping in an alley when Qien took him in -- making the relationship that of a benefactor and his ward rather than that of brothers (they seem to call each other "brother" more as term of endearment).

Why do their colleagues wonder who's the bottom when it's obvious who wears glasses? Just as there's a rule in BL World that enemies must end up lovers, the guy in glasses must be the bottom. Sure, Qian is much tougher than the bespectacled weaklings in "Like Love," "The Pornographer" and "Follow My Sunshine," but he still wears glasses and there's no way around the rules.

I loved this show enough to watch it multiple times, so I was not complaining that the same thing was referenced in both seasons. I was, rather, simply curious as to why. And I am glad I asked because I like all the theories that you guys proffered.

I am in my late 50's and people our age actually find nothing odd about hard-copy mail. In fact, it's rather thrilling to get a letter as a hard-copy after 2 decades of email. I think that Kuzumi might have been annoyed to find that Kijima had a smart phone all along, but I bet he also loved the sensation of opening those paper envelopes in the hard-copy letters they shared over the years.