Meari21

They say this is Shogun meets Squid Game but I disagree. It's Harakiri meets Battle Royale.

It's up!

He and Namping look so awkward together. Besides, he has the potential to be a bankable leading man so I hope he doesn't get stuck doing BL.

😄😄😄

Nah, I’ve always disliked this kind of character in BLs ever since I started watching yaoi anime. They might as well be girls with them acting all motherly and damsels in distress that need to be protected. It’s like they just took a rom-com trope and changed the gender of the female protagonist to make it BL.

I actually found this interesting and I did like the story and cultural aspects. Better than most Thai BLs I’ve seen in terms of plot. But I agree that it’s overlong. There’s too much fluff in just one episode. Although I like the actors, their acting could use some work. I also didn’t like Khem acting more and more feminine as the series progressed. They basically turned him into a girl but he was more masculine in the beginning. It has always been a pet peeve of mine when watching BLs because it makes me feel like I’m watching a hetero romance when the other guy looks and acts like a girl. That’s why I liked the second couple more. I enjoyed this drama mainly because of Jet and Charn.

This is a surprisingly nice little drama. I watched it in just one night. Very bingeable. The girl has that Horikita Maki vibe but with the comedic timing of an Ayase Haruka. And Leo is gorgeous as a woman. lol

Cross-players like to cross-dress their favorite male/female anime characters as a hobby. I also have a female friend who dresses, talks, and acts like a guy but is totally straight. You would think she's a butch but she's not. I have also known men in the beauty industry (mostly stylists and makeup artists) who appear to be gay, they wear makeup, and act feminine but have wives and children and are not into men at all. And there's a famous celebrity in my country who is a transgender woman but is not interested in men. They are happily married with their wife. I guess that's what they call non-binary or gender fluid? I'm not very knowledgeable about the terminologies used so pardon me if I got it wrong.

Yes. They know they might get censored if they do that. The bromance CP hints in these dramas also help promote them though. I do remember Neo and Yan An being asked to princess carry each other in one of their promotional stints for Fangs of Fortune. And Neo and Jiarui had to take turns pushing each other on a swing. I thought that was hilarious. 😆 Those were clearly meant to appeal to the BL crowd. Good thing they were presented in a wholesome way that they didn’t get reprimanded for that.

There is no real BL in China though. Even Word of Honor wasn’t. It was marketed as bromance but it was more obvious than others and that’s why to this day I wonder how they escaped the proverbial censorship axe. The bromance CPs they do is to appeal to that specific market. Gong Jun did rise to fame for doing “BL” dramas so his fans are largely from that particular audience. And these CPs are common among bromance themed dramas like The Blood of Youth and Dashing Youth even though they also have romance in them. Dashing Youth for example paired Neo with He Yu and also with Zhi Guang. The Blood of Youth also paired Hong Yi with Xue Yi. It’s just for promotional purposes.

They all know what they’re doing. They know that there’s a market for BL or at least hints of it even in China. They’re definitely one of the “pairings” in this drama. At least the “bromance” in this is not as blatantly obvious as in Word of Honor. 😆

If only BL dramas aren’t banned in China. A girl can dream. 😄

Thank you for your answers. Now I’m excited to check this out. 😊

So how is this new drama of my boy Cheng Yi? I recently cancelled my iQIYI subscription, but if this is better than The Journey of Legend, then I will renew my subscription. lol

I think a character chart would be better. I just started this and even though I like the fight scenes, I have trouble keeping up with the many characters being introduced. I think I will need time to adjust. I still remember some of the characters from the Dark River assassins because they also appeared in Dashing Youth, which I watched more recently than Blood of Youth, but there are too many characters appearing all at once in this. 😆

These two have a long history together and those of us who watched The Blood of Youth already know what will happen to them. Tbh, I'm glad they chose to highlight the bromance between these two, they do have the chemistry. I don't think Gong Jun has ever thrived in a romance drama but I thought he was great in "bromance" dramas.

I did like him in Weak Hero. He played that role to a tee. And once again he proved that he’s worthy of attention. He did such a great job in Good News! 👏

Most Japanese actors have that vibe, tbh. The older actors are especially more "macho". lol

This is typical in J-dramas, though. The romance is often subtle because the Japanese themselves aren’t very expressive of their emotions. But you do see Sosuke’s growing fondness for Hana from the moment they decided to “practice” together. The fact that she’s the only one he could touch without recoiling is a huge deal. He probably couldn’t stop thinking about that fact and her. And every time he needed emotional support, she was there. Not to mention he greatly admired her talent. Wouldn’t you fall for a woman like that? As for her, he was the only one she could truly be herself. Whenever he was around, she felt more at ease. Plus he saved her life more than once. He also proved to her that he was compassionate and generous and not like what she originally thought. You end up falling for someone that makes you feel at home and safe, and brings out the best in you. My only beef with this drama is the unsatisfactory second couple’s storyline. It wasn’t as fleshed out as I had hoped. I don’t even know how they started “dating” or what really happened between them. And how they got back together in the end was even more disappointing. J-dramas are typically 10 episodes long so this was definitely rushed. But I guess because of budget constraints, they had to cut it down. J-dramas don’t usually have big budgets unlike K-dramas and it’s apparent in their production quality. But this has one of the best productions I’ve seen in a J-drama. They even filmed in Bali, Indonesia. I’m guessing there’s supposed to be at least one more episode because they skipped the matcha in the rainbow palette. The ending is also typical of a J-drama. I’m glad they actually made it clear that it’s a happy ending. I thought it was going to end with just them meeting in the competition and that’s it. 😆

Not yet. It depends on how the series does. If it doesn’t get enough streams then they might not do it.