Ruby

Oh yeah, I totally agree. Most BLs with the highest ratings usually have concerning and disturbing themes. One of the most toxic BLs that comes to my mind as a first thought is TharnType. Though I didn't watch the series I've heard enough not to watch it ever. I was kinda harsh in my initial comment. She does have a point, tho I just think she could've worded it better. The BL industry has a serious problem with the fetishizing of gay people, especially by straight women. Even the actors aren't safe from fetishizers, they're constantly forced to do fan service, a lot of fans ship the actors who play the love interests in a series which is an incredibly toxic and intrusive attitude coming from the supposed fans. KinnPorsche is infamous for its drama between the actors and the writers. People should stop treating the BL industry as some sort of a game. Btw, I know that Boys' Love is a genre that emerged in Asia and is used for Asian gay movies, series, manga, etc. I only commented because some other people also get confused about the term. That's why I can understand why Alice Oseman doesn't want her work to be associated with BLs because most well-known BLs are filled with toxicity and red flags and they aren't works that depict genuine same-sex relationships. Especially some of the older BLs are incredibly unhinged. I haven't seen any Vietnamese and Burmese BLs, I'd appreciate it if you have any recommendations.

Agreed. From the start we see Sarawat pining after Tine and flirt with him continously. And there are many sexual innuendos like the condom bouquet you mentioned and if there's gonna be sexual implications they should give us something. Btw I'm not talking about sex, I don't like to see explicit sex scenes in dramas either, if I wanted to see I'd go watch porn instead. But this is a romance series, most people watch it to see the romance unfold. It's true that you don't need to have sexual intercourse to be in love with someone but after they get together Wat decides to do the bare minimum. There should be cute date scenes or something in romance dramas, otherwise what's the point of a romance series? Might as well just base the series' premise on an intense friendship between the leads like a bromance. Sarawat is obviously neither ace nor aro as we can see in the fake flirting scenes where he's serious about his advances towards Tine, but after a certain point everything he does becomes so out of character for him which means lazy writing. I still gave a score of 7 overall because it's the first drama that got me hooked to Thai BLs so it kinda has a special place for me but it is what it is. Like I said I'm totally on board with the absence of sex scenes but when we take Wat's character into consideration there ought to be more emotional and romantic scenes. We're talking about a character who basically fell in love with Tine at first sight and searched for him for a long time, only met him by chance and worked hard to make Tine fall in love with him. Instead, after they got together we got a boring relationship in which felt like Wat was done with the relationship. Not to forget that these guys are college students, not a middle-aged couple. They became too boring for a couple who's in college.

Those people should watch Cherry Magic (JP version). There's barely any skinship in the drama except for a few hugs, one kiss attempt, occasional hand touching and finally a kiss we don't get to see. But still Cherry Magic has one of the best couples in the BL world imo and you can actually see their love, especially Kurosawa's. Maybe it's not fair to compare Machida Keita to these actors since he's a more experienced actor but still there are ways to show love without excessive skinship. An actor should be good at showing that especially in Asia where romance dramas/series are really popular.

which is really weird thinking that he had a crush on Tine for a long time and basically fell in love with him at first sight. It's lazy writing because it's so out of character for Sarawat. Knowing how much he pined after Tine, Wat should've been the best boyfriend to exist. My boy Tine got robbed lol

Well, I haven't started this one yet but I saw some comments, both on this page and YouTube shorts, etc. where some people were angry that a 30-year-old woman is having fun instead of settling and popping out kids. (There's a similar comment above) It piqued my interest. Some people legit think that women expire when they hit 30 so a drama like this where a 30-year-old woman having the time of her life is a no-no for them lol Like I said I haven't watched this yet but I usually like dramas where the main leads aren't childish and impressionable teens and/or young adults. I mean, as women we don't stop existing when we become 30 years of age, so what's wrong with searching for love? There's already a huge stigma when it comes to women aging. I mean I'm 26 years old now and I noticed that I'm having a hard time watching high school romance dramas. I don't hate them but they don't resonate with me anymore. I suppose it's because I've way past that age range. Plot-wise I'd prefer dramas similar to this one.

I love dramas with the theme of 'love yourself' because I have a negative image of my body too and I liked this one. I only wished it had more episodes because the romance felt so rushed and fast-paced. Then again, it doesn't have plot where you can stretch it to many episodes but still a little more depth between the characters would be better. And my only complaint about the drama would be how cartoonishly evil Yuri was. A high school student being that nasty feels weird. High schoolers can be pretty mean and vile but still, it comes across as unbelievable. There are cases of severe bullying in real life but most high schoolers wouldn't go to these lengths. Yuri still bullies Manaha even though Manaha saved her from getting a permanent scar or even a more serious injury, Yuri still despises Manaha because she has a very superficial view of beauty. And the way she refers to herself in third person is so annoying lol

Well, there's an article called "'I feel very sorry and guilty': Leaked messages criticising KinnPorsche co-stars land Thai actor Build in controversy again" on Asiaone where there's a summary of his scandals. I don't know if it's allowed to share links on MDL so I'm just gonna leave the article name here. Apart from the allegations of abuse and cheating, apparently he also made some racist, homophobic and misogynistic remarks on his social media and private chats. He also called Jackson Wang "ugly" lmao He later apologized for many of his remarks but his private chats are one hell of a ride, filled with weird comments. But most translations are off, so I can't understand the whole context as I don't speak Thai and the English translations don't do it justice. I don't know much about his scandals but his comments indeed look weird af. He apparently talked sh*t about his coworkers and also said some weird stuff too regarding r*pe, jokes I think, but like I said the content isn't very clear. Also, from the look of his comments, it looks like he was kinda homophobic towards Bible. Some of his fans tried to defend him saying that the texts were fake but apparently Build has apologized about those texts so he inadvertently acknowledged them. That's all I know about this mess.

This was soo cute :)

I liked this one. However, I couldn't help but feel like the romance was underwhelming. It would be better if the romance aspect wasn't included. It felt so rushed. I don't mind love triangles but this drama didn't have one. Like, the CEO didn't even know what he wanted. He pined after her for two episodes or something and then gave up lol Contrary to what most people think, I didn't feel like there was chemistry between the leads. Suzuki Airi was so cute though. It was also nice to touch upon the overworking culture in Japan without overdoing it. Her leaving the company because it was too comfortable was a weird way of thinking though. At least she could've gained some experience in a nice company that treats its employees like human beings and then opened her own company. I know that the CEO himself was young when he opened his company but it isn't that realistic. Lastly, the airport confession scenes must be outlawed. Literally. It's such a boring cliché I can't even begin to describe it.

You're welcome :)

Well, there are some articles regarding season 2 where it says Disney+ gave green light to the second season of Gannibal and many other sources say that the second season will drop in an unspecified time in 2024. I found an interview of Yagira Yuya in Variety where he talks about second season. I think it's legit.

She was soo cute as Botan in Yu Yu Hakusko.

The creator of the comic Heartstopper, Alice Oseman, said some things about Asian BLs in 2017. I'm quoting her whole comment "No explicit sex in this comic, the characters are teenagers so it's just not appropriate, and even if they weren't, I'd have no interest in drawing that. I wouldn't describe this comic as 'Yaoi' or even 'BL' - they're genres of comic that tend to fetishise and eroticise queer men in a really bad way. This comic is just a romance between two boys and a coming-of-age story." This comment of hers rubbed the BL and Yaoi community in the wrong way and understandably so. She basically called people who watch/read BL and Yaoi creeps who fetishize gay men. One reason why people got so angry was her holier-than-thou attitude. She compared a whole industry that encompasses many countries (Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, maybe we can even count the Chinese "bromances") and only her story. She disregarded the whole industry because they were fetishizing gay men, apparently, and her comic was way better because it was "pure" and had no intentions of fetishizing queer people. She only says comic but I'm including dramas and animes too because most of them are based on comics and web novels. I agree that some older BLs might be problematic but newer BLs are actually pretty good. For me, most BLs are better and more fun to watch when compared to Heartstopper, not that I didn't like it, it was good but it wasn't that good. This is an old comment of hers but as far as I know, she didn't elaborate on it which seems like she still thinks that way. Maybe her thoughts have changed but I don't think so. Of course, it's her opinion at the end of the day and we don't have any right to impose anything on her but the way she disregarded and disrespected the whole industry and the people who put their backbones into this industry and the BL and Yaoi community as well was very off-putting for some people. One of my favorite dramas is Cherry Magic and it doesn't even have one kissing scene between the main couple but it's one of the most wholesome dramas I've ever watched. It's still my comfort drama to watch when I'm feeling down and sad. I want to dive into the BL manga world too. I usually only watch the dramas but I feel like I'm missing so much by not reading the mangas . Sorry for the long reply :D I have more things to say about this issue but I won't drag out any longer.

I also agree that because of a lot of things this series was all over the place in general but I still enjoyed it so much that it became one of my favorite BL series. The chemistry between Saint and Zee wasn't a joke. Saifah and Zon, too, was great as a couple. I love that Thai BLs don't shy away from showing real skinship. Although sometimes it upsets people like Alice Oseman.

For real tho J-dramas always get the least attention, it's a crime at this point :(

Definitely agree. I mean I get that the whole point of her character is that she's an extremely selfless person but it's ridiculous at this point. She's almost cartoonish. And I really don't like this characterization because it's absurd. Most women aren't like Yae, we have common sense. The ex was weird as hell and a normal person wouldn't enable her like that. If she can't see that Takumi loves her for real then it's better for her to leave. The ugliest and most annoying part is that she avoids Takumi because of the ex, a toxic person who stuck in the past following someone who doesn't love her back. If Takumi loved his ex he would be with her right now, not with Yae. She's such a weird and unbelievable character that it's making me so angry lol Thankfully Remi and Shindo were there to knock some sense into her but it's really annoying that it took two people to finally make her reflect on her behaviors.

Okay this show is getting way too ridiculous. Are Japanese women really like this? Because this isn't the first J-drama where I've seen a character like her. Girl it's not your problem that Takumi forgot his ex-girlfriend's birthday. It's not your problem that the ex is still hung up on him after all these years which is very unhealthy and toxic, you shouldn't even be taking her seriously right now yet you shun Takumi because of her? I can't with this drama. Have some respect for both him and yourself. The ex needs professional help to get over him but why are you literally feeding her delusions? You can't be that selfless and altruistic and still live a normal and enjoyable life. Get a hold of yourself. I'll finish the series but I'm definitely going to give it a low rating. It's 2023 for God's sake, writers need to create believable characters. I got so angry lol

The whole purpose and message of the story seem to have gone over your head.

High & Low is a whole franchise. I was interested in this movie because of the cast but I don't like to start things from the middle so I watched the whole series from the beginning. It's a shounen type of movie. There are lots of fighting and friendship. Because I grew up with shounen animes I loved this franchise. High & Low has an original cast and storyline, this one has new actors with a different storyline which takes place in the same universe. It's a spin-off like jalanharris5 wrote. The whole story revolves around a region called SWORD, most of the schools mentioned in the movie are in this area and they fight with each other to take control of it. In the original movies there are gangs instead of schools and the only school mentioned in the original is Oya. In these spin-offs, we only see the schools, not the gangs. You should watch the whole franchise if you're interested. The spin-offs don't have a complex and intriguing storyline, have a male-centered plot and they're mainly about fighting. I admit that the spin-offs are very unrealistic but it's also more fun. In real life these types of schools can't even exist, you can't help but say "what kind of a school is this". The bottom line is that these movies are fun to watch. And the reason they fight is because they like it. In the original storyline there weren't many high schoolers and the story was focused on the adult characters and it involved organized crime and many other serious topics so it made more sense. These spin-offs are more laid back and have an easier plot to follow. It's probably because the characters are high schoolers, instead of adding crime they went for a softer plot where teenagers love to fight but only slightly more than your average adolescent. And they also don't take fighting seriously at the same time. If you have finished the movie, at the end of it Tsukasa (the main character's blonde friend) is speaking casually to the silver-haired guy, Kohei, the same person who kidnapped and beat him to a pulp. They view fighting as a mere pastime. My only problem with the spin-offs is that for certain characters they could've found younger actors, some of the actors are way too old to play high schoolers. There are many actors who look like high schoolers in Japan lol Sorry for the long reply.

The female lead has a face that's prettier than most "skinny" women in the series so I don't know where they are going with this whole "ugly" thing. I guess in Japan fat is a synonym for ugly. I agree that her friend isn't even that pretty, she's petty, jealous, and lousy. In my opinion, Miyuki is prettier than her, and chubbiness doesn't make her less beautiful. Also, I hate the fact that Miyuki didn't slap her friend for the things she has done. But it's not surprising because in the majority of J-dramas female leads rarely take action when they're wronged. Even if I'm not conventionally attractive I'm not letting anyone, let alone my supposed "best friend" insult me by calling me ugly. I don't like this type of characterization, it makes women look unrealistically perfect.