Maggi64

Well, I've noticed that the content described online and by critics as LGBT is often more realistic, or political, or grittier, etc. The characters have genuine problems beyond the realm of romance, and the depictions of homophobia are more stark. For instance, "Night Flight" shared all those qualities and critics call that an LGBT film. The stuff people describe as a BL is, generally speaking, fluffier. That's why I don't think of this as BL. It's actually the antithesis of fluff, lol.

I would watch this even if the love story were not the focus. I think it's doing a terrific job portraying how shitty life is for the poor, parentless and disenfranchised. It's unlike any other BL I've ever seen in this regard, since most BL's are fluffy bits of fantasy. Indeed, I don't even regard it as a BL, but more in the LGBT category.

Exactly. But I don't even regard it as a BL anymore. It's far too realistic for a BL (I gave 6 reasons why in my comment above). I see it more as an LGBT story, which is how critics describe other realistic gay love stories, such as "Night Flight," and "Brokeback Mountain."

THINGS NOT IN ANY OTHER BL:

1) Both leads are NEET (Not Employed, in Education or Training)

2) Both leads have engaged in prostitution

3) Characters who are hungry and homeless (ep 2 even showed a guy living in a box)

4) Violence so graphic I had to cover my eyes (ie, the man tied to the moving truck).

5) A lead getting punched in the face for being gay. Other BL's unrealistically portray Asians as either cool about gayness from the get-go, or coming around by the end. Chihiro's brother is decidedly not going to "come around by the end."

6) A love confession so bleak that the lead actually finds fault with the other for falling in love. "It's your fault I want to live," Haoran says as a proxy for, "I love you." In other words, Haoran wanted to stay numb and not care if he died anytime, but by loving Chihiro he now wants to live. Yet Haoran isn't sure if he should dare to want this, so he chastises Chihiro.

That's one brutal love confession, and sure as hell not like any I've seen in a BL before. This show is utterly unique (and terrific), just based on that alone.

Oh, and I laughed out loud at your line about how bloated the ep had become: "I came away from the ninth episode convinced that the writers had forgotten to take their Dulcolax. " Perfect!

I haven't seen the newest eps yet, but I am not surprised to hear it's falling apart. After all, the premise was not too inspired to begin with. It was just more typical BL step brother nonsense.

The whole show relied on the two actors to have chemistry and to put in good performances. Both of those things were fulfilled, but I also felt that plot-wise, it had nowhere left to go after the boys became friends and decided to live together. From what I am hearing by your comment, that's what happened. In other words, the plot had nowhere to go after this, so they used ep 9 as filler.

I'll keep watching, but only because I've already invested time in eps 1 to 8. Otherwise, I fear I shall be just as disappointed as you are.

LOL, I loved this review. I dropped the show after 2 eps. I liked that cute boy from the History franchise, but even his innate charm could not save this stinker. Moreover, I cannot abide that awful Asian pop music. I'd rather listen to New Kids on the Block than any Asian boy band. So when I had to endure over 5 minutes of that "music" in ep 2 I simply had to shut it down.

BTW, I see Jpny01 is here. I had mentioned him to you as one of the small group of smart people in MDL, so it's fitting that you 2 found each other on your own.

LOL. I cringe at how often a BL character gets drunk off one beer or two beers. Booze is always used as a plot device to, as you said, erase the character's memory. Or to get them into a vulnerable position. We saw the kid in "The On1y One" get drunk off one beer -- one! He also got sick and had a hangover. Again, from one beer!

The fact that so many unrealistic scenarios flight right by the BL fandom speaks to how little life experience these young girls have. Our fellow MDL commenter, etoks, calls them "LG's" -- as in, "Little Girls."

As for the top/bottom fetish in the BL fandom, I am a hetero female and find this preoccupation with sexual position to be tedious. It's proof positive that the LG's regard these characters as a straight guy and girl, with the only difference being that a cute boy plays the girls role. You could plug a female actress into the role of the "bottom" in 90% of these shows and the plot/character would not change at all. Why? Well, because the "bottom" was written as a woman from the start.

I am loving Happy of the End because neither of those leads evokes cliched features of top or bottom. The sexual position is depicted as simply that: A Sexual Position. In most BL's however, it is used to depict the characters personality and, yes, their true gender (ie, the top is the man and the bottom is the woman). The woman who write and read BL's place inordinate importance on what is simply a preference for one position over another.

Thx, I'll try that. BTW, I love your name "Ginger Ale" with Kiyoi! That's up there in my Top 5 fave BL's. The show was unique because Hira was such a weirdo, lol.

It's been ages since I've seen ULS and I forgot much of the plot. I will try to watch it again, but I was just so damned bored by the leads. I wish somebody would do a version with just outtakes of the 2 side characters.

Yep, I had a feeling that the reason for the breakup was to meld the prequel with the sequel. I'd have preferred a fresh, new show to forcing plot points in order to meld with a sequel. But either way, The Time of Fever was very good.

I dig that we both disliked ITSAY, but I dig it even more that you quoted Bleak House. I teach English and did my undergraduate and graduate degrees in English. My I ask if your background is in English literature as well?

I also noted that your review of that BL where the uke is sad about his parrot had referenced Waiting for Godot. You quoted the critic who'd famously said, "Nothing happens. Twice" and then said that in this BL, "Nothing happens. Ten times."

I freaking loved that! It perfectly captured how/why that BL was so bad. Also, who'd ever expect to see Beckett quoted anywhere near a BL forum? Rock on, my friend!

The Pornographer trilogy was pretty hot. But given a title like "The Pornographer," I suppose they had to go full throttle with sex scenes, lol.

I also thought that the breakup made no sense. In fact, I think the writers forced it so as to meld the prequel with the sequel, where the 2 guys are not together. The writers would've been wiser to just write a fresh, new BL with different characters. They felt like different characters anyway, so why not just go the full mile and make a new story?

Is there a way to watch Unintentional Love Story with outtakes of only these 2 guys' story? I have no patience scrolling through that whole show with Mr. Pottery + Mr. No Personality just to find the side characters. Not only were the leads dull, but the premise was absurd as well. A corporate CEO does not send a staff member out into the country to search for somebody who made, um, ceramic pots they like. If a writer cannot come up with a viable premise, then forgo it altogether and just make the show exclusively about the characters, as they did with The Time of Fever.

Did you just reference Lady Deadlock from the Dickens' novel Bleak House? I don't get the connection, but I love seeing a Dickens' reference anyway.

Oh, and I also disliked ITSAY. I did not like the kid with the big face. I thought he was rude and obnoxious. So you can add me to your list, making us 2 people who didn't like it.

Andrea, I didn't see your message. But after reading your comment here, I am absolutely going to watch this. I wouldn't have expected anything good to come from that silly BL about a pottery maker, but everyone seems to like this. I also recall liking the side couple better in that, so I am glad they got their own BL here. I am also glad it's a movie and I don't have to wait weeks for a lousy 18 minutes at a time.

That's a good point about a loud minority, because it's only people who feel strongly about something one way or another who make comments. Nevertheless, the comments did change a bit as the show progressed. I think most people still liked it, but they were not praising it like they did at the start. I don't know about other Asian sites but on this site an 8.5 is pretty high. I rarely see anything break a 9.

BTW, what other Asian sites are there?

I am relieved that other people also thought the show grew disappointing. It started off so good that I was praising it, but then it went nowhere. I thought it would take off once Kohei told Taichi that he loved him on the staircase. I didn't even care that it was a fish kiss because Taichi was not ready for a deep kiss at that point and would not have gone for a deep one in real life either.

I also had high hopes because the show held onto the romantic vibe for the next ep where Kohei said "be careful or you'll get kissed again" and Taichi said to himself, "I don't mind." I thought, there, this is going to progress into a mutual relationship that goes beyond the issue of deafness. Alas, they stuck with that wretched girl and took a detour that made her and the disability the focus. It's a shame because the 2 actors had terrific chemistry.

So many people below had the same opinion as me that I must conclude that this show would not have an 8.5 rating if MDL made people wait until a show ended to rate it. Because my rating started off high and then dropped 4 points by the end.

I actually refrain from getting involved in most of etoks fights here. I figure he's a grownup and can fight his own battles. It is also not my style to get into arguments. I come to MDL for fun, not for fights. I am also old and in my mid 50's whereas I'd read the demographics for MDL and it's largely girls from 15 to 25. It would be unseemly for someone my age to fight with people so young. Sure, young people can be intelligent and educated, but with less life experience they are also innocent. I don't want to put down young people who are innocent.

As for me "really" being a professor, I could show you my Facebook page where I have pix of my school and its students. It's not that hard to be an English professor, as it's more about the level of school where you teach. I don't teach at a top tier like Harvard, but at a 3rd tier school. It's nothing to brag about.