Maggi64

I was surprised to see parental strife and financial hardship portrayed in a K-BL, given how fluffy most are. Yoo Jae's bickering parents were also portrayed realistically -- and in one, quick scene at that. Moreover, the following scene of the boys texting conveyed how Han Joon provides Yoo Jae solace from this domestic strife (eg, HJ asked YJ, "Is the atmosphere at home stiff again?" and then offered to meet him in the playground to get away from it). Such solace from a friend is an excellent basis for a budding romance.

All this was established in the first 10 min of ep 1; while ep 2 was equally promising. If it continues on this trajectory, it will be a solid show. However, I shan't speak too soon, because I've seen so many shows fall apart midway. But, hey, here's hoping!

Tane had the best line in the episode with: "Yutaka, I finished making poop! Come look!"

Yes, you are right. Thank you!

At first, I had thought it was a case of Souta speaking of himself in the third person because I hear this often in Japanese dialogue. But then I replayed it and the subs said, "Kasuga (ie, the colleague), "had a strange dream. And the other party was Mahiro." At any rate, I am going to go ahead and assume the subs were mistaken in writing Kasuga. As for DUY, hell, who knows what that means, right? lol

Thai BL's have massive marketing machines behind them. This not only boosts the number of viewers, but also means they have marketing companies with tech for bots to enter high ratings on various websites. Of course, the Japanese also market their shows; it's just that they don't do so internationally, and MDL is an international site. Meanwhile, Thai BL's not only market heavily overseas, but even provide subs for other countries (all the J-BL's are fan subbed).

Oh, and I have 2 questions. First, what did Mr. Naked mean when he said to himself, "DUY"? Second, was it a mistranslation when Mr. Naked said his colleague Kasuga had dreamt of kissing Mahiro, and what he'd actually said was that he, himself, had dreamt it? Because Mahiro replied, "Don't dream that!" as if reprimanding Mr. Naked for having done so.

I enjoyed the prior 5 eps, but this was the ep where some real heat finally transpired between the two. Up until now I was merely watching cuz I liked Mr. Naked's personality but, otherwise, was not feeling any sexual frisson between the two. This ep not only created such a frisson, but did so remarkably fast.

And it wasn't the sleepy-time, snuck kiss at the start of the ep that did it. Nay, it was final scene with the quietly voiced, hesitant way they were feeling each other out in that convo about future meals, getting married, having kids, etc, while sneaking quick glances at each other and, just as quickly, growing flustered and averting their glance.

Yep. I am so here for Mr. Naked. It's not merely that I adore those long, lean physiques on men, but I also enjoy his character. He has an enormously appealing screen presence and conveys warmth, charm and humor. Indeed, were it not for his appealing screen presence, I wouldn't be that attracted. For instance, if I'd only seen a still photo of his face I'd think, "Ok, he's alright looking, but nothing special." However, when I see that same face -- and naked body! -- together with his personality, well, that's a different thing entirely.

Do you have a link for this with Eng Subs? I cannot find it anywhere.

This is a film that manages to be erotic, perverse, stylish, violent and romantic all at once. Those are pretty hard qualities to round up in one film, but the director, Eiji UchidaI, somehow did it seamlessly.

I have watched it thrice and found something new each time. Rather, I understood the relationship between the 2 lovers better with each viewing. Because when they fall in love it is so subtle that one can easily miss it. But there is a point wherein each man slips over to the other side, and realizes that he is in love with the other. It's a perverse kind of love, but it's love just the same.

It's billed as a "Boys Love" movie in some quarters, but don't be fooled, because it's much more substantial than the average BL fluff. There are compelling ideas about domination and submission, and what causes a subversion of power when we see a shift in roles between the two people involved in this tricky game. Eiji UchidaI is a respected director for a reason (eg, his 2017 film, "Love and Other Cults," also featuring Suga Kenta, was well received by even critics in the West), and although he's not working with a big budget here, he's pulled off a hell of a film.

After all, he's given us a quickly paced plot that's original and even, at turns, utterly unexpected. He's brought in an ace cinematographer to create a stylish, polished aesthetic. He's rounded up a cast wherein even the supporting actors give excellent performances. And, finally, he's evoked a compelling theme on domination and submission (especially as it plays out in romance). In all, "Double Mints" is a highly worthy watch.

Wow, thank you so much for this reply. Because I had never heard of the Westermarck Hypothesis before, but I just researched it and it's utterly fascinating.

I put this on my PTW list but cannot find it anywhere with Eng Subs. Do you have a link?

For those wanting a movie about a woman visiting and falling in love with a death row prisoner, see Korea's 2006, "Maundy Thursday." It is both realistic and well made. Highly recommended.

I cracked up when you said the female lead was, "The world's fastest wallpaper hanger." Those scenes of her flowered wallpaper in the Visitors' Room were so idiotic that I laughed when I saw the first one, then began to groan (and fast-forward), as they piled up. But , thank you, because I got a good laugh once again just now at your comment. No way would prison officials have allowed that.

I have visited fellow NA members in prison and know that her sexy little dresses also would've been verboten. Visitors must cover their skin from neck to feet. Moreover, the clothes must be loose so as to hide any outlines of one's ass, thighs or breasts. I was turned away the first time cuz the neckline of my top revealed my clavicle. Just my clavicle, not even my cleavage! Thereon I wore men's x-large tees and super baggy jeans with sneakers. No jewelry or makeup, and my hair in a ponytail. And this was an American prison in liberal NJ. So imagine how strict they are in Korea!

Ultimately, the storyline with the woman was so implausible that it lost me. However, I found the relationship with the inmates to be realistic. I even rather liked how the movie portrayed the gay longings of the younger inmate for Chang Chen. I have seen so many Korean gangster movies with prison settings that utterly ignore gay sex with inmates, that I found it refreshing for a Korean movie to finally acknowledge what truly goes on between young men there. Oh, and I also kept watching to see Chang Chen.

He was in "Happy Together" in 1997. He was in this one in 2007. And he was in "Mr. Long" in 2017. So all his big roles were 10 years apart. Meaning, we got to see him at 20, 30 and 40. I must say, he was hot as hell at every age.

The case in England was more about the sibs being allowed to legally marry, than about procreating. There was a BBC movie about it and it portrayed the man as already having a couple of kids with his first wife, so he didn't want more kids anyway. They portrayed his sis as not giving a shit about getting her tubes tied either. They really just wanted to get married and live their lives as a normal couple.

So when the judge ruled in their favor to allow the marriage, he essentially gave them everything they wanted. The movie was made in the 90's about a precedent setting case from the 80's. I don't know if any other cases have occurred since then, but I imagine so.

What I really wonder, though, is if this has or ever will happen in the USA. I doubt it, but I'll have to google.

That's a good point about Yori. He should've been more worried about the 2 classmates having the potential to expose him and his sister (even if accidentally). And as you said elsewhere, he sure as hell should've been worried about kissing his sister at school in the science lab.

Yes, no cyclops, lol. But there would be a strong possibility for other, invisible disorders carried in the blood, as I'd mentioned in my comment above.

I know of a case in England where the courts allowed 2 sibs who'd never met until they were adults (each divorced parent raised each kid separately), to get married provided they did not procreate. I was fine with that.

As for fictional cases of incest, I was also fine with the relationship of the brothers in the movie "From Beginning to End." But remember, the brothers in that movie sure as hell kept it secret cuz they knew how society would pillory them, despite them being 2 males who were unable to procreate. In other words, even with no procreative issue at hand, they knew that others in the real world would not react as blithely as the classmates in this Japanese movie did.

I also liked Yano. He was portrayed as one of those people who stood above things and observed philosophically, rather than judgmentally. And yes, it was admirable that he did not attack and/or expose the twins' incest. Nevertheless, I wanted to see him react in a way indicating that he at least understood what sibling incest means in the world we live in. Because it's a massive issue.

I liked the girl classmate less, but she at least reacted a tad negatively to the discovery of incest. However, it was only to say that incest would make each of the twins "worried." Umm, I'd say more than merely worried. It would make them utter social pariahs. As minors, it would also have them dragged from their family and into the quagmire of Social Services. As adults, they'd be arrested. Whatever the personal ethics of Yano and the girl classmate, they surely knew these facts and, hence, would've reacted more strongly when they discovered their crushes were engaging in incest. In short, their reactions to the incest did not ring true to me.

My major complaint with this film is not the topic of incest. Of course not, because the tags, synopsis and even the title itself all cued me into the fact that this was the topic. Hence, watching it and then complaining about the incest would be illogical. Besides, that topic was handled delicately. No, my problem was that so many wildly implausible plot points were included.

To begin, the parents had 2 kids of the opposite sex, aged 17-18 (thus, each with the raging hormones commensurate with that age), sleeping, dressing, undressing and cohabitating in the SAME bedroom. No sane parent on earth would do this unless they were abjectly impoverished and had a tiny house with no extra rooms. However, this was an upper middle class family with 2 successful, working parents, so there was no sane reason for the teenage brother and sister to share the same bedroom. In the absence of a sane reason, it struck me as a contrived situation simply there to move along plot points more easily. This was so obvious that it made it difficult for me to suspend disbelief and get into the movie.

It was also utterly unrealistic that 2 of the schoolmates knew the boy twin was romantically in love with his sister when he behaved as cold as ice to his sister in order to hide that precise fact. We even hear the male schoolmate saying to the girl twin, “Your brother is cold to you, isn’t he?” Nevertheless, we next hear this boy classmate, just as a female schoolmate, saying to the boy twin, "You like your sister don't you?" Now, the verb “to like” in Japanese (sukido), actually means “to love.” So just how did those schoolmates know the boy twin was in love with his sister?

No, the coldness was not some kind of a clue, because many sibs are cold to each other for reasons beyond hiding incest. How, then, did the classmates know? Answer: in the real world they would not have. They were only mind-readers in this film because it presented a convenience for the screenwriter to, again, move along plot points for when these 2 schoolmates catch the twins in the act later on.

Worse still, when the 2 schoolmates do discover the twins are engaged in incest, they are bizarrely casual about it. In fact, the boy classmate has a crush on the girl twin and, as such, he's more concerned about the boy twin being a rival than about the incest. Likewise, the girl classmate has a crush on the boy twin, and she's also more concerned about the girl twin being a rival than the incest.

Ok, consider that I just said "incest." Incest! I am not a prude about such things (else I would not have watched the film to begin with), but incest is one of The Greatest Taboos Known to Man in virtually every civilization on earth, going as far back as when history was first recorded . It's even taboo for cousins, let alone siblings, and the intermarriage of cousins in Royal Families is why hemophilia grew rampant in pre 19th Century Royal Families. Hence, it's absolutely bonkers unrealistic to propose that these 2 classmates are not freaked the fuck out by discovering that their crushes are engaged in incest. Sure, it serves the screenwriter's purposes for the story, but it certainly does not serve to pull the viewer in because we all know that this is sheer horseshit.

I was only 15 minutes into the movie when the shared bedroom and mind-reading friends were all established, making me aware of the screenwriter behind the scenes writing this movie from the get-go, and it got worse as it went on. Again, it's impossible to suspend disbelief and accept characters and plot as real when one can see the Wizard Behind the Curtain pushing all the buttons that make the characters and plot move as they do. Characters and plot should move forward based on reasons organic to real life, as well as organic to personal contexts within the story (eg, when 2 teenage sibs are portrayed in an upper middle class family context, there would be a large enough house for separate bedrooms for them). Many in the comments below mentioned how the boy twin was an asshole. Maybe so. But by the time he began being an asshole, I had long ceased to be invested in this movie based on all the implausibilities, so I simply did not care.

For viewers who are able to let all this go, I will say that the movie was mildly ok. The performances of the leads, as well as the supporting cast, were all strong. Moreover, the topic of incest was handled with care, rather than exploiting it for cheap sexual titillation. I assure you, there was nothing cheap in how the sexual attraction between the siblings was treated here. Indeed, it was more about the intense emotional bond between them as twins, than about sex. As far as that goes, I've seen/read other stories about the overly intense symbiosis between twins even when they were the same gender (eg, David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers"). The relationship between twins seems to appeal to certain storytellers. If this sort of narrative appeals to you then, yes, you may like this film. Alas, I did not.

Ah, ok, that explains a lot. I was wondering how a manga could be popular with an incest plot point. But according to your explanation, it's not technically incest. Thanks.