Maggi64

Thank you, I knew I couldn't be the only one who felt this way. But I still want to know WHY this show was rolled out with such little attention. Do you think that there was some kind of fight between the director and the producers? I know that sometimes a Hollywood movie will only be released in limited theaters with no advertising if there is a fight between the director and the studio bigwigs. Perhaps that's why the show's producers did not work to get sites like Viki and Gaga to pick it up????

I can't come up with any other theory as to why a show that was clearly directed/written/acted with much care, was subsequently released with such little care.

I am deeply impressed by the actor playing Yamato. His facial expressions at the end of ep 5 when he saw Kakeru arriving on the bridge conveyed longing, love and desperation all at once. In ep 6 his every look conveyed fear, apprehension, and the fact that he was suppressing a heated passion for Kakeru. Thank god this actor is so good at conveying all this with his facial expressions because, lord knows, the freaking subtitles are not conveying the story.

These subs have mistaken the pronouns "you" and "I" for "him" and "her" so often that I grew frantic mentally translating them to the proper pronouns in my head. I finally just gave up and, instead, began looking at the characters' actions and expressions to figure out what was going on. So, ok, the actors were so good that I could do this. But I am still wondering WHY the subs are so bad.

I wonder if the bad subs are the result of nobody taking the time to properly translate the show because, in general, it is getting no attention. It did not get picked up by Viki or Gaga, and you can even see how little attention it's getting by the fact that there are only 500 MDL comments after 6 eps. I am baffled by this because the show is so damned good.

The director did a fine job pacing the narrative and structuring eventful scenes. The screenwriter did a fine job creating characters whose motives and actions make sense. And the actors did a fine job inhabiting these characters in a believable way. In short, everything in this show has been professionally superior to most BLs out there (ie, better than some silly fluff like "Jun and Jun"), yet it's getting far less attention than such shows .Why?

No, really, why?

Yep. You nailed it on how people have been using mind altering substances since antiquity. Even the Ancient Greeks and Romans have records of certain people who drank too much wine. It's stunning that this person does not understand that addiction is universal. She actually thinks it has something to do with a country's politics or culture. Worse, she thinks that if more people go to rehab in a certain country, it is evidence that the country has more addicts.

This is akin to saying that if more people go to cancer treatment centers in America than they do in a poverty stricken country like Haiti, then it means Americans must get cancer more than Haitians do. Umm, no. Haitians are just as susceptible to cancer as any other humans on earth. They just don't have the funding for the same sort of healthcare that a First World Country does, so they don't get treatment in the same large numbers. In short, people not getting treatment for either cancer or addiction is not evidence that these ailments do not exist. It is merely evidence that the countries are not treating them.

At any rate, I think this poor soul has finally gotten my logic but just won't admit it, because they've bowed out of the convo.

Wait a minute, are you actually saying that only America has a large flow of addicts simply because we have a large flow of treatment centers? Because that logic is utterly flawed. The fact is, the stats on addicts here is large because addicts here actually ADMIT to their addictions in order to get the treatment. In Asia, the addicts are all in hiding. So we have no idea how many they actually have. In other words, it only seems like America has a lot of addicts because we come out of the closet here. But according to your logic, if a country has a culture where addicts hide in shame then the country, ipso facto, has no addicts.

Do you see how messed up your logic is?

If not, I'll help you out. AA and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) exist in virtually every country in the world. Which means, by extension, that every country in the world has people suffering from addiction. But people who go to AA and NA in Eastern Countries are more adamant about the "anonymity" principle of AA because they know their countries will persecute them for addiction. Westerners, however, don't really care if anyone knows that we go to AA or NA. But trust me, there are plenty of addicts in Eastern Countries secretly going to AA and NA. Please check the stats on the worldwide network of AA and NA programs. Then you might understand that addiction is a universal problem, and not a problem endemic to only certain countries, such as America. I mean, really, how can you not understand that addiction is a universal illness to which all human beings across the globe are susceptible?

Precisely: his addiction should land him in treatment, not prison . The American justice system even has a whole separate court system designed for addicts called "Drug Court." It recognizes that people who USE drugs are sick, and quite different from people who SELL drugs and feed off the sick people. The dealers are criminals and, thus, do not qualify for Drug Court

Drug Court is only for addicts who suffer from drugs and have no record of profiting from drugs. The judges who run Drug Court specialize in addiction cases and, hence, only give sentences of rehab and halfway houses. They also assign parole officers to make sure the addict goes to treatment. They do things like give the addicts what is called "the weekly piss test" to make sure they are drug free. So it's not like they let the addicts who are charged with Possession off easy. Drug Court is still tough, but at the same time it's compassionate because it recognizes addiction as a sickness. In fact, once the addict completes the court ordered program, their records are often expunged.

The person who made the original comment slamming the USA clearly has no clue about how our culture and criminal justice system truly treats addiction. America's "Drug Court" has been around for 30 years and it's been so successful that other countries, especially those in Latin America, now model their own court systems on it. This fact alone puts us waaay ahead of the curve.

To be clear, I am not being a "Pro America Cheerleader" here. I am well aware of our country's ills. It's just that treating addiction is most certainly not on the list of those ills. To the contrary, it's on the list of things we can be proud of,

Umm, America IS in better shape on the drug front, as you put it. You say that we have a massive drug dealing industry. Ok, that's true. But we also have a massive industry of drug rehabs and treatment programs -- many of them sponsored by government funding, of which the public approves (ie, we vote for such funding).

Put simply, Americans conceive of addiction differently. When we hear that someone is suffering from addiction our initial response is to HELP them and want them to go to treatment. The response in Korea, to the contrary, is to punish addicts as if they were criminals. Therein lie the difference: America sees addicts as sick people needing help, while Korea sees them as criminals.

Incidentally, I am a recovering alcoholic so I know firsthand that my country treats we addicts with compassion, not contempt.

I think it's obscene the way Korea treats its celebs, but I think that these older actors who have legitimate acting chops can weather it better than the little kid idols who all kill themselves. To begin, these older actors have a long track record on which to fall, and this experience gives them the clout to act as free agents for their careers. In other words, they are not utterly reliant on their management companies for survival.

It's quite different for those poor little kid idols who even live in goddamned dorms run by their management companies. They are isolated from friends and family, and treated as mere corporate products -- all of which makes them more prone to depression and suicide when scandals hit them. However, I think a middle aged, experienced actor like Lee Sun Kyun will survive and continue to make movies.

Ultimately, I wish they would all learn English and come to America to make movies. We love to forgive celebs who overcome addictions. Look at Robert Downy Jr. The dude went to prison for crack possession, yet we all forgave it because we were so impressed by how he overcame his addiction and had the courage and strength to make a comeback. Americans love a good comeback story. I know my country has a lot of ills, but when it comes to forgiving people who overcome addictions, we have a terrific track record.

I myself am a recovering alcoholic and, thus, I know firsthand how our culture roots for people to recover from addictions. I was even able to tell my boss and colleagues that I go to AA. They did not judge me. To the contrary, they all say, "Congratulations on your recovery! Keep it up!" Well, that's how I feel about these Korean actors who have addictions. I want to say, "Good luck on your recovery! Please come back to make more great movies soon!"

I was gonna try this again after watching Scud's other movie, Permanent Residence, yesterday. I had dropped Amphetamine when I tried it 3 years ago, and for the reasons you just cited. But I watched Permanent Residence all the way through cuz it was better than Amphetamine. In general, however, I think Scud is an amateur filmmaker. Remember, he is not a trained filmmaker but a computer programmer of 25 yrs who just used his own money from computer tech to make his films. Nobody else would've given this guy money to make that 1st naked baseball flick of his. Amphetamine isn't much better, but he at least has some control of his plot in Permanent Resident

There are, nevertheless, silly elements in Permanent Residence -- such as a panelist on a TV talk show about computer techies asking the other panelist, "Are you gay?" out of nowhere. Then there were all the gay and straight guy scenes of naked wrestling, naked swimming and naked sleeping. I thought for sure the director wanted us to assume the self-proclaimed straight guy was truly bi. But then the gay guy says that after decades of loving his "straight" BFF, the BFF still will not have sex with him. He says the straight BFF is "too macho to be a bottom, and refuses to top me either." Well, if that's true then why wasn't he also too macho for naked swimming, naked wrestling and naked sleeping? It simply did not compute. Then, of course, the final plot point for the straight BFF was utterly out of character and a cheap way of ending the film. Nevertheless, it's a better film than Amphetamine.

But given that both films deal with a gay man in love with a straight man, you gotta wonder why this is such a preoccupation of Scud's -- especially when he went on record to say that Permanent Residence is autobiographical. Both films also give a very confusing portrayal of supposed "straight" men who proceed to act very gay. As you said, straight men don't do the things that the character in this movie did.

You know a show's good when even the old Slip-And-Catch works. For instance, I was happy to let the SAC slide in this show because it did not result in the boys sharing an exaggerated, interminable stare. To the contrary, the SAC had been quick and natural looking. I was also happy to give a pass to the other BL trope of wiping food from a boy's face. You see, by that point, I had already believed in the boys' attraction to one another so it did not feel forced.

That's the thing about the SAC and Food Wiping tropes: they are only fraught with sexual tension if the acting, writing and directing have all worked to ensure that a believable attraction was there to begin with. If it's not already there, then a SAC and Food Wiping are just cheap ploys designed to force the viewer into accepting something that feels, well, fake.

Yep, and it sure doesn't hurt that he's so damned pretty! I especially love him as a platinum blond in his MDL promo pix.

Totally agree. In fact, I have given up on using MDL ratings as an indicator of a show's true worth. I have seen awful shows get 8+ and great shows like this only get a 7.8. My only explanation is that the less obvious, more demanding shows get lower ratings.

It's hard to find this with decent subtitles. The only place I found it with good subs was on Fshare. I highly recommend watching it there. Internet Archives has it too, but their subs don't show up for whole sections. On Fshare, however, the subs are 100% complete. It's a terrific movie. Great performances, plot, and theme. And then, of course, there's that famous soundtrack! Simply mesmerizing.

I agree with your assessment 100% -- especially with what you said about the poor writing, pacing, and the monotone delivery of the actors. And when I said so last week I pretty much did get a lot of flack. But I still, however, felt emboldened enough to say the same in a review.

I never criticize shows for being what girls here call "toxic." To the contrary, I appreciate a nuanced, developed portrayal of unusual, edgy relationships. But that's not what we got. Indeed, if I had to summarize the show in one sentence it would be: 2 cute guys who cannot communicate and a lot of deep kisses, Which writers assume will make BL fans all happy. It also makes the job pretty easy for the manufacturers of BLs. That is why we are seeing more and more BLs, but not necessarily better ones.

Yep, Internet Archive has it with Eng Subs. Enjoy!

This was a very famous movie in Japan in 1992 because the Yakuza were so pissed about being portrayed as bullies and fools that a couple of them stabbed the director 3 days after the movie's release. He survived and wore his scars as a badge of honor. The idiot Yakuza thugs did not get that stabbing a director would inadvertently create media attention to make the movie 10x's more popular. In short, it became a hit! The stabbing also caused a public uproar that resulted in the law cracking down ten 10's harder on the Yakuza at the time.

As for the movie itself, it's a comedy, so the portrayal of the Yukuza's menace is handled lightly. But beneath that it's also an interesting expose on how the Yakuza truly were blackmailing and extorting regular citizens in the 90's because the law had cracked down on gambling, drugs and prostitution, leaving the Yakuza with few ways to earn other than by extorting regular people and their businesses.

The movie portrays this by showing how the Yakuza are extorting and blackmailing one particular hotel, and how one delightfully brave woman lawyer beats them. The actress playing the lawyer puts in a terrific performance as a smart, funny, sarcastic person who is, at the beginning, the only one brave enough to face down the Yakuza. The Yakuza are appalled that a "little lady" can dare be so fearless! Their sexism is hilarious.

She plays her role with a lot of charm, humor and wit and really makes the movie. The actors portraying the hotel staff also do a great job as bumbling men who are, at first, afraid of the Yakuza, but soon grow brave under the lawyer's tutelage. In all, it's a fun little comedy that also gives insight on how the Yakuza truly were behaving at the time.

Oh my. I think you failed to understand this concept entirely. Of course writers are not beholden to precise rules of form when writing stories, any more than they are when writing poetry. They can be creative with form. However, when writing a story the form one chooses MUST have forward moving narrative progression. That is what is signified by the classic, triangular plot diagram. Without forward movement a story is stagnant, which is the worse thing a story can be. I won't say anything further on this, because there's no point in arguing something that is common knowledge about the art of good storytelling.

Also, gotta love a movie that suggests listening to those awful Asian teen pop bands will make you want to fucking kill yourself. I want to kill myself too whenever I hear one.

It's chock-a-block with plot holes, silly pseudo philosophy, and the Sion Sono requisite scene of women being raped (really, does Sono have even one movie where a woman is not raped?). But for all its problems, it still has this mesmerizing vibe that makes it oddly compelling and worth seeing . Hell, it's worth the watch just for Rolly's scene as the character Genesis. Rolly does a glam rock, Ziggy Stardust reincarnation that's sexy, funny, charismatic, and altogether divine.

Bingo. I agree down the line. In fact, the reason I loved MBM so much is that I thought it was daring to present such a neurodivergent character instead of someone who is, for lack of a better word, "normal." The show made us see the challenges for neurodivergent people, as well as the challenges for people who love them.

As to your 3 points.

First, I am confused by how long they've been together cuz the dialogue has given us 2 different time frames. Some people who read the manga said they've been a couple for 3 years, but have only lived together 3-4 months. Regardless, they are an established couple who live together but do not communicate for reasons that are unclear.

Second, I agree that Taikan Yoho and MBM are 2 entirely different shows. However, I compared the 2 shows because so many people have been comparing them for weeks. They find the shows similar based on the fact that both are about miscommunication and contain many interior monologues.

Third, my plot diagram is not just some little thing I personally created. I am an English Professor and can assure you that the plot diagram I laid out has been accepted as the standard form of narrative progression for thousands of years -- as far back as when the ancient Greeks first began to write plays. Critics who review stories in novels, plays and movies commonly cite a story's success or failure to achieve that diagram's particular points.