Maggi64

Basically, I have a list of 5 reasons for why women love BL's. I found numbers 1, 2 and 3 in Queer Studies papers, and I devised numbers 4 and 5 on my own.

1) The reason I just elucidated about freedom and equality.

2) BL's allow women to see men's softer, vulnerable side.

3) It makes us feel as if we're watching the secret lives of men which, in turn, makes us feel closer to men in general.

4) The dramatic conflict in BL's is inherently more compelling because gays are still not 100 % accepted in Asia (eg, the stakes are higher for a gay couple, making the dramatic interest higher for we viewers).

5) Just as hetero men like lesbians in porn because it's a hot girl x's two, we hetero women like BLs because it's a hot guy x's two. lol.

As for your desire to see more GLs, I have a recommendation for a gloriously good Korean movie featuring lesbian lovers called, "The Handmaiden." It got rave reviews in both the Korean press and the Western press. It won the BAFTA for the Best Foreign Film of 2016 (ie, the English version of the Oscars) and was praised unanimously in Cannes, where it was nominated for its highest prize, The Palme d'Or.

It is not only a beautiful love story between two women, but it also has an intricately woven plot that keeps you enrapt for the full runtime. The story is told in 3 sections, from each of the 3 main character's point of view. Just when you think you know everything there is to know -- wham! -- you get the next character's point of view and it surprises the hell out of you. It just kept surprising me with compellingly clever twists and turns. In short, it's a delight!

It's on Amazon, but you can find it free all over online. Kissasian's print is a tad fuzzy, so I suggest you download the subs from another website. You'll find a couple different sites when you google: The Handmaiden 2016 English Subtitles

If you watch it, then let me know what you think! I'm sending you a friend request so we can chat about it via private messages if you want.

Please forgive this late reply, but I was not on MDL all weekend. Now that I've read your comment, however, I want to reply because you are, once again, spot on! I have also noticed that there will be a class disparity between the lovers in BL's. Indeed, I see it as an evocation of the old fashioned Cinderella story where a rich prince saves an impoverished maid. We don't see the trope in the same exaggerated manner as we do in fairytales; however it is still the exact same trope, even if it is watered down.

I imagine BL's use what I call the "Cinderella Trope" for the same reason fairytales use it. That is to say, society admires people with money because money will make everything about our lives easier. If seen in this light, then it makes absolute sense to employ the Cinderella Trope in a fluffy BL because fluffy BL's are designed to make viewers fantasize about ideal love scenarios. In other words, we enjoy seeing this fantasy in BL's, just as we enjoy seeing it in fairytales.

To be clear, it is not morally correct to pursue your lover strictly based on income. But, hey, if you can get true love + money then you've won the fairytale lottery! LOL. Because, let's face it, money eases so many of life's discomforts. Therefore, it is not wrong to fantasize about having it, nor to enjoy seeing characters in a story have easier lives because of it.

Now, while all this is true, it must be said that the Queer Studies dissertations do not mean financial status when they say, "Hetero women enjoy seeing 2 partners on an equal footing, and the partners in BL's are equal because they are both men." The equality they are referencing is not financial, but domestic. For example, consider the inequality in a hetero relationship wherein the woman gets stuck cooking, cleaning, raising the children and planning all the family's social activities.

Women are also expected to be the more passive partner, while it's assumed that the more aggressive man will always have the last word when making major decisions. Consider how often we hear kids ask their mothers' permission for something, only to have the mother tell their kids, "Wait until your father gets home and see what he says."

Moreover, consider how it's still regarded as the man's role to propose marriage to a woman. It's actually rather shocking that in 2023 it's still up to the man to make this vital, life altering decision, while the woman is relegated to the role of merely replying with a yes or no. Simply put, the man Acts, while the woman only gets to React.

Of course, I know women who proposed marriage to their boyfriends first. Alas, these women were considered "pushy" and "overly aggressive" when their friends, family and colleagues heard about it. The unspoken rule is that assertiveness is only acceptable in a man, which is why it's only acceptable for the man to propose marriage. In a gay relationship, however, either man can pop the question and society would not judge either of them as "pushy" for doing so.

If one of the men in a gay relationship assumes the more aggressive role, then that would be the result of his individual personality simply being more aggressive than his lover's. It would not be the result of society assigning him the role of the aggressor. This is crucial, because in hetero relationships, it is society that assigns the aggressive role to the man, and the passive role to the woman.

These roles are imposed on us from outside, social forces without our having any inner, individual participation in the matter. With a gay couple, however, such roles are entirely determined by each man's individual personality. In short, they are each equally free to determine their own roles, whereas the woman does not have this same freedom in a hetero relationship.

There are lots of other examples for how gay relationships afford more freedom and equality, but I'm sure you've gotten my drift by now. At any rate, witnessing freedom and equality is the #1 reason that Queer Studies' gives for why women watch BLs.

But isn't the time jump only 8 years? I remember people calling it the "8 year promise" because that's when the guys got back together again to get married or something. But I might be wrong????

I don't get whey they are flip phones either. The novel is old but there is still no reason for the show to be set 25 years ago.

If Wu Bi now lives in a dumpy little room cuz he moved from his fancy apartment, why does he still need to trick Su Yu? Isn't that dumpy room proof enough that he's poor?

Thank you for such a thoughtful, intelligent reply.

I agree with you on the element of bisexuals in BL’s. Kazuma is probably bisexual, and as the other woman above suggested, a late bloomer in realizing that he could ever have sex with a man at all. I only wonder why the show does not designate him as bisexual. But BL’s tend to shy away from characters who identify as bisexual as much as they do from characters who identify as flat out gay.

There are, of course, exceptions. I thought the BL “End of the World With You” did a terrific job depicting a bisexual character. If you’ve seen it, then you know the show did a great job of showing this character's attraction to both genders, but with a seemingly stronger one for men. His lover identified as flat out gay, which I also appreciated.

I think it’s no coincidence that “End of the World With You” was directed by a gay man. He’s the same director of “The Pornographer” and “Mood Indigo” which were both very open depictions of male-on-male attraction. That director did not shy away from sex scenes and had no interest in “fluffy” narratives. He also did a nice job portraying Kido as bisexual, even if Kido never used the specific term “bi” he clearly discovered that he was, but chose to be with a woman for life. I wish there were more BL’s directed by actual gay men, as their portrayals of gays and bisexuals ring true. Two of my fave gay Asian movies, for instance, Night Flight and No Regret were written and directed by a gay man.

Alas, most BL’s are written and directed by hetero women.This is not to say that we hetero women have no business creating content. I think we have every right to be part of the aesthetic phenomena called BL. I just wish we did a more realistic job of it.

I also think you make an excellent point about the “bottom” in BL’s being a stand-in for the female viewer who can, hence, fantasize that she’s with the cute man on top. After all, we fantasize when watching hetero-romances, so why not when watching gay-romances? But it’s your point about the top usually being the one who identifies as hetero that really intrigues me. I realized after some thought that you are absolutely right! If and when we get a BL character who openly identifies as gay, he’s usually the softer guy (ie, the bottom).

It’s telling that you are interested in the academic discipline of Queer Studies, because you said something that I often read in Queer Studies PhD Dissertations. You said the following, which I’m copy/pasting from your comment:

“He can be traditionally feminine; soft, naive, insecure, passive, small, helpless, clueless etc, without having to be a girl and therefore without having to deal with some aspects of misogyny.”



The Queer Studies papers often cite how hetero female fans of BL can engage in love stories where the partners are social equals because both are male. That’s a very astute point. Thank you.

Lastly, when you said that Queer Studies "was your jam" did you mean that you are majoring in Queer Studies?

I found this movie by checking your Completed List, so thank you! It was good. BTW, I checked your list cuz you and I always have the same taste! Wow, I also saw that you watch even more Asian movies than I do. lol

Someone on IBMD complained that it was unrealistic for the girl to have survived a jump from the building's roof. But later scenes show that this building was merely 2 stories high (ie, the height of the average person's house). They show the building in a shot at the 43.57 minute mark and it's not high at all. Moreover, the script has characters say multiple times that a bush broke her fall. Hence, it is entirely plausible for her to have survived.

I cracked up at this entire comment. But my fave line has to be: "Akira's bollocks must be like the coldest place in the universe at -272 Celsius (Boomerang Nebula)."

Andrea, I wanna steal that line!

Don't be fooled by the switched-identities premise described in the synopses which is, of course, an overused, and ordinarily uninspired plot premise. Because "Key of Life's" director/writer, Uchida Kenji, infuses this premise with a series of ensuing plot points that are utterly original.

Like Uchida Kenji's earlier film, "A Stranger of Mine," the plot is cleverly woven , with terrifically unexpected twists, and loads of fun. However, as many critics have observed, "Key of Life" has a bit more heart. It also has more fully developed characters, who provide a good amount of charm and humor. Finally, it features the most unlikely, oddball couple to have ever fallen in love! The movie's a real gem, even if few on MDL have discovered it.

I checked out the Korean version and could barely make it halfway through because it was so over-the-top goofy in an obvious ploy to make it "comedic." The comedy in the Japanese version was so much more subdued and, hence, witty. There's a big difference between goofy and witty.

The Korean version was also stripped of all the quirkiness that made the Japanese so great. The Japanese simply have a knack for depicting people in all their oddball glory. For instance, the female lead is such an oddball that her OCD compels her to not only keep meticulous lists, but to keep a mini-vacuum at work so she can vacuum her desk, lol. The girl in the K-version, however, is depicted as utterly normal and, worse, as the typical K-pop, cutie-pie cupcake.

I could go on, but suffice it to say that the K-version is sopped with sentimental syrup and lowbrow slapstick humor, whereas the J-version opts for cleverness and wit. In short, the original J-version of this film is infinitely better. Naturally, this means people on MDL gave it a much lower score than the terrible K-version.

I'd love to see this since I enjoyed the director's other movies. But I cannot find it subbed in English. Does anyone have a link?

I googled and cannot find it anywhere. Where did you watch it?

Wait, does this mean you speak Chinese? I see you on MDL so often and our opinions on movies/shows are always the same, so I'm curious about where you are from. I checked your profile and it only says "female." I had assumed you were American, like me, but I now think I might be wrong.

As my profile says, I am a middle-aged, female American. You can message me if you don't like giving personal demographics on an open forum.

I just went to the site you linked and it's not dubbed. It has neither eng subs nor eng dubbing. Are you sure you saw this with eng dubbing?

Thank you for the link. I just now read the viewer's review.

I suspect exhaustion from Ryuto's jobs washing dishes and loading trucks did not help. However, Ryuto was only in his 20's, so it's not likely that this alone would kill him. Plenty of much older men have far more grueling full time jobs and don't die. Consider all the physical intensity the average working-class man endures in jobs being a construction worker, factory laborer, or lumberjack, etc. Thus, I still maintain that it was a hematoma from the head injury that killed him.

Otherwise, why would the director/screenwriter have taken the trouble to include that prolonged scene of Ryuta hitting his head; subsequently complaining about how much it hurt; and then Kasuke saying that Ryuta's head was swollen in that part?

Heck, when that scene occurred I even thought, "Ok, they're making a big deal about this plot point, so it must be laying the groundwork for something that will arise later on." Then, yep, Ryuto died.

But since the movie never specifically said the cause of death, I suppose the opinion of the viewer whose review you linked is just as legitimate as my opinion. Every viewer is free to interpret as they like, right?

Incidentally, thank you for giving me that link. I was wondering where the people below had gotten their information about "exhaustion" being the cause of death. They said it was from some other viewer's review, but I did not know what what viewer they meant. Now I do!

Lastly, I think it's so odd for a movie not to mention a main character's cause of death that I wonder if it WAS mentioned in the Japanese dialogue, but that the translator simply skipped it. After all, those subs were pretty bad. They mistranslated Ryuto saying, "I need surgery" at one point when he clearly meant his mother so it should've been "She needs surgery." And it mistranslated one of Ryuto's clients saying, "I'm going!" during sex, when he clearly meant, "I'm coming."

With subs that bad, I am convinced the subber simply skipped a line of dialogue somewhere that had stated Ryuto's cause of death.

I had dropped it too. It's so unmemorable. But we just got another K-BL this month that was good -- Love Tractor. And the J-BL Stay By My Side is cute.

A Funny, Charming, and Altogether Delightful Little Movie
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The movie is about 5 men who'd been friends since they were little kids, and parted ways for 3 years after high school, only to reunite after one friend -- who'd joined the yakuza -- went on the run from his boss and needs help. The yakazu boss is played by Yoshida Kotaro (many will recognize him as the older man from Ossan's Love), who puts in a comically flamboyant performance while sporting a floral patterned suite, fedora hat, and cane.

Since none of the childhood friends, now in their early 20's, has any gainful employment or direction they all readily agree when one says, "Let's go back to being the idiots we were during the best times of our lives!" This effectively translates to: "Let's help our pal who's on the run because the yakuza thinks he stole 300 million yen by finding the thief who truly stole it." There are multiple plot points intertwined with this as it comes to light who truly did steal the money, as well as how and why they did it.

None of this, however, really matters. Because the actual point of this movie is to watch the gang of pals displaying their hilarious comradery as they try to outrun the bad guys. In other words, it's a bromance. Only instead of a bromance between 2 men, it's between 5 men. We see them backslapping as they trade the same jokes and insults they'd been trading since they were little kids.

For instance, one of them fell in love with a prostitute when he was 10 and asked her to marry him, causing his buddies to tease him for still wanting to honor his promise to her as an adult. Another has dreams which dictate the future so accurately that the other guys ask, "Wait, did you see such-and-such happen in your dream last night? No? Ok, then we'll be fine." Then, son of a bitch, they truly will be fine. It's a bit of silly, supernatural fun, among the movie's many such sparks of originality. There are also some tender scenes of them uplifting one another when feeling down, as well as some amusing scenes of them as children.

The cast was clearly having loads of fun playing their parts in such an agreeable, charming little romp. I could tell that their laughing in many scenes was not acting, but them genuinely cracking up at what they were doing in that particular scene. The feeling was infectious, meaning the viewer ends up smiling or laughing as well.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Asshole
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Sure, lots of writers are famous for being self destructive, substance abusing assholes (Ernest Hemingway, Hunter S. Thompson, and Norman Mailer, to name a few). But a biopic should not simply be a portrayal of an asshole writer doing lots of asshole things in cliched romantic ways as if to excuse his being, oh you know, an asshole. It should be somehow revelatory as to who he is as a complete, fully faceted human being. Even if he's unlikeable, we should still feel the authenticity of his humanity. This movie, however, has not given us a human being. It has given us a caricature.

And let's talk about the dialogue, which is god awful and packed with exposition. Characters continually have conversations that are exclusively designed to give us a cram-course in their backstories. The only thing worse is the dialogue delivering lectures about the exceptional nature of the Artiste (oh yea, make that a capitol A and spell it French, because that's how cliched it is). Naturally, it usually comes down to the Artiste's special license to be, yep, an asshole.

But I will give praise to the cinematographer. It was shot gorgeously.

So glad you figured it out! Once you watch the 1st ep, you'll see that it's the same plot and characters from Addicted.