Maggi64

Yes, Night Flight is over a decade old. But the other K-BL's I mentioned are only one or two years old and the characters are horribly homophobic. I suppose it's always the parents, however, who are homophobic in these shows, while the younger generation is not depicted this way. In short, maybe it's a generational thing in Korea and I should just interpret it this way.

Wow, this link is perfect! It explained everything to me. Thank you! I just wondered about it because people in Korea eat ramen so often that it struck me as odd for an invitation to eat ramen to be a come-on.

That's so odd considering it's a country where everybody eats ramen constantly. But hey, if that's what the phrase means, then I shall get it when watching Korean movies and shows from now on.

Thank you, that explains a lot. Because I am genuinely confused by how there is casual acceptance of gays in some K-BLs, while there is horrid homophobia in other K-BL's.

WHAT IS THE TRUE ATTITUTDE TOWARD GAYS IN KOREA?

Jae Won very casually told a shopkeeper that he was with a boyfriend, not a girlfriend. I wonder if it is realistic to be this open about homosexuality in Korea. I mean, I compare this to a contemporary Korean movie like "Night Flight" where a character was beaten and sodomized by homophobes for being gay. Then there was the mother in "Cherry Blossoms After Winter" who was so horrified seeing her son kiss a boy that she literally shook. Then there is the father in "Where Your Eyes Linger" who ships his kid off to England when he discovers the kid is in love with a boy.

When I look at all these K-BL's portraying abject homophobia, I get confused by the other K-BL's that make it look like being gay is casually accepted by Korean society (eg, Semantic Error and Bluemfield made it seem that way). I cannot figure out which portrayal is realistic about how Korean society treats gays. If there are any Korean viewers reading this post, please comment and enlighten me.

I just re-watched ep 4 where Ji Hyun asks Jae Won to eat ramen with him, and Jae Won laughs and asks, "Do you even know what that means?" In "Color Rush" a character has the same sort of humorous response when his crush asks him to eat ramen with him. I read somewhere after watching that this question is a come-on. Does anyone know anything about this? Because eating ramen is so common in Korea that it seems odd that asking somebody to eat ramen with you to be a come-on.

Wait, you mean you "aint reading" my comment because it's too long? I don't understand what you mean here.

I get your feeling that it's been overrated, especially since we have so many more episodes to go and there may be flaws in upcoming episodes. I get the sense this will happen since I found ep 1 and 2 to be very well done, but then discovered a major flaw in ep 3 where the lead was ghosting his beloved, but suddenly did a 180 flip without any explanation or development. I'm not sure if the problem was directing or editing, but it indicated a certain sloppiness behind the scenes. I hope we don't see more of this, but there's also a 50/50 chance that we will, which is why I won't give the show a rating until it's completely finished.

In all fairness, nobody's opinion is "wrong," because opinions are, by definition, subjective. It would be wiser to say that you disagree with the person's opinion. I also disagree because I think this is one of the better BL's this year. But if this commenter had other ideas than me, I'd be open to discussion. I'm just saying that we should not slam people for having different opinions on MDL because it tends to shut down the possibility of interesting discussions. :)

Wait, I did not see a scene with blood. But standing on a bridge alone is not really indicative of anything except that a character just happens to be alone. I mean, two people are not together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so why not have a scene of someone alone? It does not say anything about the plot. But I grant you that a scene with blood means something. I have to re-watch to see that.

I didn't see any spoilers in the video. It's a music video with mostly scenes we've already had. So it's safe for people worried about spoilers. Music videos of movies are meant to be promotions to get people who have not seen a movie to come and watch it, so producers might include teasers, but not flat out spoilers.

That comment was NOT a spoiler. I mean, of course he's real. So how could that person's asking about a silly social media rumor about the show be a "spoiler"? You seem to be one of those viewers who's obsessed with everything about a show being, somehow, a spoiler. You are one of those people who thinks that even if someone says a show is a "tragedy" they are giving a spoiler when, in fact, "tragedy" is simply its genre category. If you cannot handle even the slightest comment about a show without freaking out about it's being a "spoiler" then do not read comments.

Don't apologize because nothing about your comment was a spoiler . I mean, of course he's real. So how could your asking about a silly social media rumor about a show be a "spoiler"? The person who accused you of giving a spoiler is one of those idiots who's obsessed with everything about a show being, somehow, a spoiler. They think that even if you label a show a "tragedy" you are giving a spoiler when, in fact, "tragedy" is simply its genre category. If we apologize to these fools we enable them. So don't apologize, because you did nothing wrong.

Actually, I thought that was kind of cute. I mean, there is a reason he got chubby in the first place, right? lol.

Yes, Honda is a good actor. I never said he was bad. It's just that I am a big fan of Suzuki and, thus, I always think he's stealing scenes, lol.

I am also a big fan of Japanese cinema. I don't merely watch Japanese BL's, but all Japanese films. I recently discovered a wonderful Japanese Film that's on many lists for The 100 Best Japanese Films. It's called "Fish Story." If you've never seen it, check it out. It's very unusual, quirky, charming and loads of fun! I also love "Teichii's Country" with Suda Masaki (it stars loads of hot guys!). Since you're into Japanese Cinema, you should check out both films.

lol, don't apologize for ranting, I feel the same way. I don't mind seeing cute idols in BL's either, but as you said, it often feels like they're just in them now because they realized that BL's are super popular and it's an easy way to break into acting as opposed to just being singers/dancers.

The problem is that they don't bother to learn to act first. I get the feeling that they don't even bother to take acting classes or to get acting coaches. I mean, you can't just jump into acting by reading a script and then saying your lines on the set. But that's how it feels with so many of these idols in BL's. Also, one has to have an inborn natural talent for acting, which the idols in "Semantic Error" and "My Beautiful Man," for example, both have. But the idol "Unintentional Error" has no natural talent for acting at all. And it really weakens this show.

Thank you , that really helps. The fact that he had a bullying brother who treated him like shit because he was adopted makes total sense now. As I said, I wanted a spoiler for this show, because knowing this helps me make sense of these earlier scenes which, otherwise, were striking me as odd. But the character's being such an introvert makes more sense now. Thanks.

Well, Suzuki did the work on that kissing scene in Jack O'Frost because he is, in general, just a better actor. I'm not saying Honda is a bad actor, just that Suzuki is so terrific. He probably helped Honda with that kissing scene in Jack O'Frost during rehearsals, which is why it worked. But in this show both male actors are uncomfortable and it seems neither helped the other get comfortable during rehearsals, so the kissing scenes are a disaster.

Also, you said you never see passionate kissing in Japanese entertainment. But I've seen a lot of it. In fact, if you want to see straight guys who commit to passionate gay kissing scenes in Japanese BL's, then watch "The Pornographer" and "The End of the World With You." Wowza, did these actors ever commit to their gay roles. The actors were fearless!

The problem with this show is not the content as many people say (eg, the cheating and the throuple), but the writing. The script has a character watch a video where a wife says her gay husband killed himself. At that EXACT same moment of watching this video she runs out to find her husband who is, yes, about to kill himself. Golly, what a coincidence! The writer could've at least let a day or two pass between the wife watching that video and her running out the door to save her husband.

As it stands, the timing is absurd and makes it hard to suspend disbelief and accept that the events onscreen are real. It pulled me out of the story as much as the dead fish kisses did. But what really pulled me out of the story was how the wife has no anger about the cheating and, to the contrary, went through a process of accepting and inviting the boyfriend to live with them, well, overnight. Literally overnight. One day she's upset, but the next day she watches a video, then hears her husband saying he wants to die and -- voila! -- that very night she's inviting her husband's boyfriend to live with them. All these plot points that defy belief are the result of a badly written script.

I watched the 5 eps that Gaga had released so far, but won't be tuning in again. The writer has simply asked the viewer to suspend too much disbelief to accept these unrealistic plot points.

But even if Suzuki was the one to initiate the kiss in Jack O'Frost, Honda at least reciprocated by opening his mouth to accept the kiss. In this show, his mouth is closed because the other guy's is too. They both have clamped closed lips. So I assumed the problem was the guy playing the husband. But maybe the problem is that both of them are uncomfortable with male-on-male kissing but that in Jack O'Frost, at least one person in the pair (Suzuki), was comfortable with it and this made the kissing scene work.