Maggi64

I am so annoyed that the most interesting couple is being relegated to the back seat, with no progression of their story. Rather, they just keep showing us how Vee is upset, and Dome is frustrated. Yea, we got it, guys. Now can you show us how you plan on resolving this conflict? Previews show the sister finally hearing them talk and that means, finally, we'll get some progress next week. Otherwise, this episode was all basketball. Ugh.

Actually, someone here said one of the leads is 29. That's even older than I thought. But yes, they are both very cute :)

You also ask a good question vis-a-vis teaching what threatens them anyway. Sometimes I do, but often it's not worth it. For instance, the white kids will claim a professor teaches racist literature, which makes the black kids fear taking the course. I don't want that. But Christ, I am still teaching Gatsby, because only a fool would miss that Fitzgerald is making fun of Tom Buchanan's racism (Tom asks Nick if he's reading the new "science" about the superiority of white men, and continually says it's "very scientific" lol). He comes off as an idiot.

Yes, I teach English. I thought I had said that, and I am sorry if I'd omitted that crucial detail. It's crucial because yes, my experience as an English Professor has shown me how students are more and more adverse to anything they deem "toxic" or worse, "socially unjust." We can't even teach "The Great Gatsby" anymore because they critique it as about rich, sexist, racist white men (Tom Buchanan is a racist but, um, Fitzgerald is clearly making fun of that character).

Yep. It is distracting how old they are.

RatzWaltz, I disagree, but thank you for being polite in how you express disagreement. I have been attacked by girls who behaved as if in a cult in the past. Oy!

I tried to have a convo about Bad Buddy on Reddit and was attacked so verily by silly subliterate girls I just bowed out. I am a college professor and I find the younger and younger girls tolerate less and less human messiness in literature. I won't even attempt Wuthering Heights anymore. I get into trouble with The Great Gatsby (Tom Buchanan is "toxic").

As for "My Beautiful Man," yes, you must check it out. It's Japanese and is getting tons of attention in China and Japan where they don't give a shit about our "cult of consent." I watched it on Viki, cuz Youtube has awful subtitles. It translates a main character as calling an obsessive one "disgusting" when, in fact, the word should be "weird." Because he is weird, lol. The show dares to portray an obsessive, weird guy who's totally ok with lusting for a boy. It's not even explored on the gay level, but on the level of whether or not the obsessive one will ever get out of his own world long enough to see that the beautiful one loves him too -- his calling him "weird" notwithstanding.

I am seeing a lot of comments from gay men on Viki and elsewhere because it portrays gay teen sex in a real way. The sex scene does not happen until the end, when they have their 1st kiss. And man, then they go for it!

You'll find the show under "Utushare Kare" but just as often as "My Beautiful Man."

Oh, how I love you for agreeing about Bad Buddy. The high ratings and rabid following for that show cemented that the fan base for BL's are all precious, pc women. They were going on and on for every episode about how "healthy" the relationship was and how the boys got "consent" from each other (I call it the "cult of consent" whereby these girls want a legal contract before kissing). I thought, yea, and it was also a cartoon version of human emotions. They had one genuine kiss, and after that it was all hen pecks with closed lips (as if their contracts stipulated "one tongue kiss per drama"). They even tell their pals they haven't had sex yet, months after beginning to date. Yea, like hormonal boys in early 20's ain't having sex. This was a pure female fantasy of what boys should be like. Not the true, horny, animal grunt sex creatures that they are.

Meanwhile, the SJW females came out in legion against the show "My Beautiful Man" as being "toxic." And that show actually had boys who were comfortable being gay and having gay sex after the very first kiss. They didn't mess around with hen pecks on closed lips for months on end. They dove into it, just like real teen boys would do. Moreover, a lot of actual gay men were fans of the show, including some very famous Japanese gay male writers and directors. But BL fans are all girls, largely under 30, and do not want to see male sexuality on screen -- let alone emotional messiness which they call "toxic." I'd love to see these girls endure Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights," cuz he was "toxic" as hell and one of the greatest characters in literature. At any rate, thanks for agreeing that "Bad Buddy" was bad. I tried to critique it once on a comment thread and was attacked by hoards of shrieking little fan girls.

Oh, and as for "In Your Heart," I take it in context of Chinese BL's having no budget and uber restrictions. You just have to judge them by a whole different standard, and then, as you said, you can kick back and have fun with them.

ADDICTED UNIFORMS

To those reminded of the uniforms in "Addicted" -- virtually all public high school students in Communist China wear blue and white sweat suits. The stripe designs may vary school to school but, otherwise, all public school students in the nation wear the same blue and white sweat suits. It's according to the communist principal that students not wear personal clothes that indicate material status or individualism (ie, individualism versus communism). The irony is that the guys running the Communist Govt are all rich and send their kids to private schools where they wear pricey designer clothes from Capitalist countries.

Also, I want to point out that the Communist Govt's restrictions on gay content largely accounts for this show's poor production quality. They are essentially shooting in secret with next to no money. The BL "Capture Lover" also had terrible production values. I don't judge these shows compared to, say, Japanese BL's. Rather, I view them in context of the restrictions the production team faced. Accordingly, this show is actually ok. See?

Frankly, my biggest issue is the age of the 2 leads. They are supposed to be 17 year old high school kids but look to be about 27. Even the guy playing Gu Ha in "Addicted" was only 24 at the time of that show (while the kid playing Ming Ling was 16, and thus really made Gu Ha's age obvious by contrast). One doesn't need a big budget or freedom from censorship to cast actors who are the proper age.

Is the manga a BL? Because the Japanese producers are highly faithful to source material. In short, if the manga is BL, then this will turn out to be. If it ain't then this ain't.

That's an excellent point. It also occurred to me that Sean and Aii are a new couple whereas Fah and Thorn were friends for years. That would make them take it more slowly and kiss more gently rather than passionately the first time. Thanks for your polite reply.

No, I had no idea there was a deleted scene! I just know the famous Alec through the window scene with him saying, "I know Sir, I know." That was soooo good!

Good point. I think I got spoiled cuz in "Not Me" and "Bad Buddy" the close ups of the kisses were very passionate with tongue. But this kiss actually makes more sense to be tame since it's the first one and they were friends for decades. After some thought, I realized this.

Thank you for the polite reply. Some replies were very aggressive, so I appreciate it. One may disagree and still be polite, right?

Woa! I totally missed that! Where was that either stated or hinted at? Can you tell me cuz now I wanna go back and rewatch.

Rupert Graves is in one of my other all time fav BL movies, "Maurice." It's a must see for any BL fan.

Thanks for explaining about the cell phone and Eugene's tape. I did not know it was Black saying "you could be in danger." So it made no sense to me. I am waiting for the "tying up" bit to be explained.

Great reply, thank you so much! I especially appreciate your point about the tying-up as a red herring.

And I have been thinking of "Dead Ringers" while watching this too. You must be closer to my age cuz it came out in the early 80's. I am 57. Most BL fans are under 30 so I am a way older than the BL market niche. Thanks for making me not feel so ancient! lol.

It's the lens' filter. Because you cannot even see the men's beard stubble. It's as if they are women's faces or pre-adolescent boys. It's a bit much, frankly.

I agree that he was an ass to Kuea. He was also an ass to those PR people for the water branding. And he was an ass to his assistant. But I'm sure he'll soften up as the series progresses, just as Kuea will stop being such a goody-goody with him.
Each will make the other a better person. That's usually how such love stories are handled.

I thought the exact same thing. Moreover, hetero men of that generation would never be so homo-friendly, forget wanting their own grandsons to get married. I decided to just let it go cuz the show is designed to be cute and silly.