Maggi64

That's a good point, and helps ameliorate what still felt abrupt to me.
Thank you!

I hear you, but that was all unconscious. As I said above, there was little sexual vibe that was on the conscious level. So it was abrupt when Sean is suddenly so aware of his feelings that he goes in for a kiss, which he assumes will be reciprocated, and truly is reciprocated. In other words he went from conflicted and confused, to confident and conscious of his feelings in a flash. Now, I am glad it finally happened, it's just that it felt abrupt.

Did anyone else find the kiss between Sean and Black to come without enough build up from prior episodes? I mean, just one episode ago there was virtually no sex vibe between them (not conscious anyway), and then -- bam! -- suddenly they are kissing. On the one hand, I am glad we are finally getting some romance with these 2, but on the other hand, there should have been more build up in earlier episodes. You know, like how Dan and Yok had steam building right from the start.

Oh, and speaking of Yok, how slick is he? It's his 1st time alone in a room with Dan and yet he's already got Dan naked! LOL. Dang, that boy knows what he's doing, eh?

Wow, that's amazing. But that actor still looks like a baby faced teen. It made it hard for me to ease into that relationship. But the main couple were soooo good that I loved the show anyway. Thx!

I agree with Hhhyaya below who says it's way different than Cherry Magic. I am rewatching Cherry right now and all it has in common with Utsukare is that it is Japanese. Also, was anyone else grossed out by the age difference between Tsuge and Minato? Tsuge is 30 and Minato looks like he's around 16 or 17. It's kind of creepy. Otherwise, Cherry is a great show. All the Japanese shows are good.

I also really appreciate the absence of product-placement in Japanese bl's (Korean bl's also don't do product placement). I could not imagine Hira advertising soft drinks to Kiyoi, lol. Meanwhile the friggingThai bl's are advertising constantly.

It's sometimes just plain funny in the Thai shows. For example, I just watched Why R U this week and Fighter and Tutor are staring lovingly into each other's eyes, and a second later Fighter hands Tutor a compact powder, with its brand name heavily emphasized. It was so out of place that I laughed. Otherwise, gotta say, I liked WhyR U, which was only bl I had not seen yet. Fighter and Tutor are hot stuff, lol.

At this point I need new bl's. Viki has a new Korean one this week called "Kissable Lips" with a hot vampire. And I started a new Thai one 3 weeks called "You're My Sky" on Viki, which also has product placement, but not as obvious as most other Thai's.

Otherwise, I have at least seen part of every bl, so I've been all through the list. It's just that I did not complete some cuz they were bad. I complete all the Japanese and Korean ones, but I turn some off of the Thai bls cuz they are so bad.

In fact, I had turned off WhyRU twice cuz the first episode was all over the place (and reviews were bad for some reason). But once Fighter and Tutor got going, wowza! The second couple is cute too. You have to wait 2-3 episodes for both couples to get going, so I am glad I stuck with it. I wonder if there are any others I need to revisit? Any recommendations?

Thanks! Cuz I am embarrassed to admit how many times I've watched this show this month (at least 5 times start to finish), so I know most scenes by heart and I don't think that's in it.

But it would be soooo sweet if it were! lol

Wait, is this a line you are imagining? Cuz it wasn't in the show. I saw it on Gagaloo and Viki and neither subtitled versions had that line. Did I miss something?

Well, 7 episodes of nearly 6 hours to FINALLY generate some heat. Yok and the hot cop Dan are the only things going in this show, and it took forever to give them to us, and then it was only about 5 minutes of screen time with them together talking.

There's an scene somewhere in the past weeks where Yok tells somebody he thinks he's fallenin love, and we know he means Dan. But I can't recall where this scene is. Can somebody tell me? What episode? What minute mark?

Exactly! We could've gotten Kiyoi's p.o.v. on all those things! Instead we kept getting what should have been a super minor character.

As for why Kiyoi says he hated Hira in epe 3, I think it was the timing. I mean, Kiyoi had just lost a big contest that same night and it was his life dream. Then, on top of just losing the contest, the kids were being insensitive in the diner. Then Hira said something about how Kiyoi "was special just the way he is," which Kiyoi misunderstood to be condescending and pitying. So that set him off. All those things together made it NOT the night to be telling a guy that you love him! LOL.

Thank you so much because you solved the mystery with your comment:

" producers/director wanted to introduce his actor further to the audience because he might have other projects with them in the future? If I'm not mistaken, director Mai is directing a play/recitation drama(?) wherein Takano Akira is one of the main actors."

I read the link and, yep, that is absolutely what they were doing. They were promoting that actor for future projects.

Listen, I won't argue with people who liked Koyama, cuz I also like the actor and liked the character. But the fact remains that in a 21 minute show with only 6 episodes, they were cutting so many crucial things with Hira and Kiyoi and, meanwhile, dragging out scenes with Koyama that were not even in the book, and not even driving the plot.

At any rate, thanks for solving the mystery! lol

I am so glad you guys agree with me. Because, listen, I thought Koyama was a cutie-pie, so that was not the problem. It was a matter of making choices when you don't have enough time to tell a story. There was barely enough time for Hira's and Kiyoi's story, yet there's the screenwriter dragging Koyama's character back in for no other reason than to give that actor more screen time.

I can see it if this were one of those Thai BL's that are 14 episodes of 45 minutes each, like "Bad Buddy." Those shows have tons of pointless filler. If this show were long like that, then great, give us more of Koyama, because he was a sweet, nice character. But not in a show that's only 126 minutes.

Oh, and I was not being sarcastic either when I said that this actor must be connected to someone important on the film team. So thanks for agreeing with me on that too. lol

Thank you so much! I get it now :)

Thank you! I appreciate your reply and it helps.

Watching it a 4th time, what irks me is how much time is given to Koyama who is, yes, a cutie-pie. But who is also, no, not essential to the plot when we consider that after credits and previews we've only got 21 minutes per episode, and only 6 episodes. That's a total of only 126 minutes with a lot to pack in. So why keep wasting it on Koyama?

They even squandered time on him in the final episode, when ALL anybody wanted to see was Hira and Kiyoi resolving their conflict. I did not want to see Koyama having a heart-to-heart convo with Kiyoi. I simply did not give a crap about Koyama at that point. Hira had already rejected him, meaning he was already out of the picture in terms of the plot. Nevertheless, the screenwriter and director dragged him right back into the story.

Then there is the fact that he's given multiple scenes that were not even in the book, but the screenwriter simply added to give his character more airtime. Moreover, the director/screenwriter not only gave lots of scenes to this non-essential character that were not in the book, but his scenes dragged on and on with dialogue that beat a dead horse (eg, when Hira rejects him in scene after he confesses). That conversation went on for like 12 minutes, whereas far more crucial dialogue between Hira and Kiyoi was condensed to 2 or 3 minutes.

For example, there was crucial dialogue in the CD with Hira telling Kiyoi that he never thought he could have him because of his low self-esteem due to being bullied over his stutter. He even said he identified with bullied kids who'd killed themselves. In the show it's been condensed to 2 tiny sentences of Hira saying, "I always thought of you as a god! I never thought I could have you!" So all the crucial stuff about his stutter cut reduced to 2 tiny sentences so we could, instead, get longer scenes of Koyama simpering about his rejection. He simpers about it to Hira in episode 5 and then he simpers about it to Kiyoi in episode 6.

I am thoroughly and genuinely convinced that someone on the film team, such as the producer or director was related to the actor playing Koyoma, either by blood or emotionally (eg, dating or something). That is the only explanation for why he was given so much screen time in a show where the director was clearly rushing everything else.

I watched this series 3 times and I am now on my 4th, so thank you soooo much for pointing this out. I thought I had noticed everything, but no, cuz I totally missed this. Brilliant observation about how our unreliable narrator had gotten it wrong once again, lol

I just watched whole series for 4th time and need to ask something that's been driving me nuts. Can someone explain why Kiyoi hated it when Hira used "kun" and called him Kiyoi-kun?

When I googled "kun" I couldn't find any reason for it to be upsetting to Kiyoi. It said it was an honorific title used for young men. In daily life, boys and girls use it to address their close male friends. At work, it is used by people with a higher position to address young employees. So why did Kiyoi get so annoyed by it? I can't figure out what's wrong with it.

Found it, so I deleted my question. lol. Thx!

I found this show on the website "Boys Love Paradise" and they really stretch the definition of "BL" so I want to ask you flat out if this is truly BL or if it's just Bromance.

Now, I don't need for the male protagonists to necessarily "end up together" to enjoy a BL show, and sometimes it's just as alluring when the attraction is merely implied. For instance, the show "Precise Shot" was censored by the Chinese, but man, the chemistry was so wonderful that I enjoyed it more than some of those crappy Thai series that go one for 15 hours with lots of kissing but no chemistry at all.

So, ok, I don't need for these guys to "end up together" in an explicit sense. But I do need to know if there is an gay subtext, or if it's really just a Bromance. Because the website "Boys Love Paradise has a really (really), bad habit of listing Bromance movies as Boys Love movies. In fact, they even list hetero movies if they feature even just one gay character. That site really stretches the definition of "BL" and it drives me bonkers. So can you save me time by telling me up front? I don't care if you give me spoilers. In fact, I am one of those people who likes getting spoilers, lol.

Thank you. I wish there was a novel, especially as it seemed so novelistic. It had that kind of depth. Again, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Can you tell me more about his comments about this drama? I also watched "Happy Together" this year. It's an old movie, so I was surprised to see you reference it here. But I really agree with his quote that you referenced. What was the context? Was it an interview?