Why is it so gay and cliche?
Okay, so this drama has some extremely good elements, and then they just completely fail on others.
First the good:
- Character design: not all were great, but Naoki was really well written and portrayed by the actor — easiest the best performance. Yukino was also great, the best written character by far. But the list stops there. Also, for acting/casting in general, I think all actors did well. I also suspect they all knew how to play instruments, it looked like it, at least. Another great thing, is how they created characters that represent minorities. So, a female drummer in a rock band? Not the usual pick. A seductive female singer who’s actually not that bad of a person? Great. A dude who is fangirling (might be a slight overstatement)? That’s what I dream about. What I think is a gay character in a place you wouldn’t expect one? Funny (not in a bad way) and great.
- Music: no one’s surprised there. I’m willing to bet quite the sum that 99% of the reviews are praising the music. It’s not the great music they make it out to be in the drama, because that’s not how music works, but we’ll get back to that. But rather it’s a type of music almost anyone can like, which is well done if you can achieve that since a film production would never want to push parts of the audience away if it can avoid it.
- Cinematography: so many times watching this, did I find myself just staring at the beautiful composition and interesting filming techniques. They did a lot of stuff I can’t say I’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s not the highlight of the drama, that’s made clear. It’s spice, if you will, to flavorblast the drama, nothing more. The colors were really well tended to, and costume design too. All the characters had such unique styles that worked together yet still separated them. You could show me an outfit from the drama, without the person who wore it, and I could tell you whom it belonged to, even without remembering from the drama.
Now the bad (buckle up, this is going to be long):
- So goddamn gay: these writers don’t know how to make friendships seem genuine without making them gay. There’s so much physical contact — which can be good, don’t get me wrong — but when two guys are staring into each other’s souls while holding hands, I can’t help but wonder if they’re gay at least a little bit. They also say so many things that would be cringe or cliche even for a romantic interest to say. And I’m not talking about one or two male characters here, no, I'm talking about the all of the main male characters.
- Cliches: the things they say, do and apparently feel are all so cliche. The stare into each other’s eyes, they lean in close to look out the window, the character who was closed off but now has opened his heart, I could go on.
- That’s not how music works: I must admit: I don’t know much about music, but I know a lot about many other art forms. And from what I know, that’s not how music works. It’s not like everyone agrees that someone is just amazing and a god, because it all comes down to preference. Of course, you can tell when someone’s good, but to call them a god and think that everyone knows them (including fans who doesn’t know much about music) is ridiculous. Tell me, when you were first introduced to Picasso, did you go “oh my god, what a masterpiece. This artist is a god!”? ‘Cause I sure as hell did not.
Also, that with your “own sound” and stuff, I don’t believe it. Might be true, but I’m just not buying. Sure, people playing their instruments probably sound different to others on that same instrument, but I think it still comes down to preference, not a sound from inside you that determines how you play.
- Reveals and pacing: first off, this drama loves to give you something to wonder about the literal minute before it happens. Imagine a crime drama, and they’re about to reveal the killer, but right before they do, they give you (the viewer) an obvious clue as to who it was. So, you just think “oh, it must be them!” and then right after you think that, they reveal it to you. It gives you nothing to hold on to while watching, because the adrenaline (which makes you excited and wanting to know what will happen next and if you’re right about your guess) runs out the moment it’s revealed.
Secondly, they also love to hide things from you, and then after the reveal, they start showing the hints/signs of this being the case. So, as an example, let’s say someone’s sisters, but the drama hides it from you, but then you find out, and now they’re suddenly calling each other “sister” when they never did so before. You had no chance of guessing earlier, because nothing about them could’ve suggested to you that they were related. And now, after you know, they’re suddenly drowning you in signs that simply weren’t there before? Cheap.
- Character design: yes, it’s back. Just now I praised Naoki’s character for being well written, but he isn’t really that well written, a lot about him doesn’t make sense, and he constantly walks the line between fun genius and a baby who can’t take care of himself. Besides, the whole show revolves around him, but he doesn’t really care for anyone else. Sure, he says it’s because he was locked away or something, but it’s still possible to acknowledge that someone is in the room with you. Every character just wants to take care of him so badly “oh, it’s a pleasure to take care of him, that’s enough reward for me”. Like, seriously? If he was a baby I would understand, but it’s a grown ass man you’re talking about here, much less your boss/leader.
The villain character here is also just sloppily done. He doesn’t really make sense, he is so little impactful I actually groaned whenever he came onscreen, and he just did nothing for the plot — everything he did was behind the scenes, we never saw him actually doing the things, we just heard about the things he did.
I’d recommend this drama to people who like drama, music (rock or pop) and who can appreciate cinematography and visuals. I can’t imagine anyone truly loving this, but there’s probably someone who fits those criteria.
First the good:
- Character design: not all were great, but Naoki was really well written and portrayed by the actor — easiest the best performance. Yukino was also great, the best written character by far. But the list stops there. Also, for acting/casting in general, I think all actors did well. I also suspect they all knew how to play instruments, it looked like it, at least. Another great thing, is how they created characters that represent minorities. So, a female drummer in a rock band? Not the usual pick. A seductive female singer who’s actually not that bad of a person? Great. A dude who is fangirling (might be a slight overstatement)? That’s what I dream about. What I think is a gay character in a place you wouldn’t expect one? Funny (not in a bad way) and great.
- Music: no one’s surprised there. I’m willing to bet quite the sum that 99% of the reviews are praising the music. It’s not the great music they make it out to be in the drama, because that’s not how music works, but we’ll get back to that. But rather it’s a type of music almost anyone can like, which is well done if you can achieve that since a film production would never want to push parts of the audience away if it can avoid it.
- Cinematography: so many times watching this, did I find myself just staring at the beautiful composition and interesting filming techniques. They did a lot of stuff I can’t say I’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s not the highlight of the drama, that’s made clear. It’s spice, if you will, to flavorblast the drama, nothing more. The colors were really well tended to, and costume design too. All the characters had such unique styles that worked together yet still separated them. You could show me an outfit from the drama, without the person who wore it, and I could tell you whom it belonged to, even without remembering from the drama.
Now the bad (buckle up, this is going to be long):
- So goddamn gay: these writers don’t know how to make friendships seem genuine without making them gay. There’s so much physical contact — which can be good, don’t get me wrong — but when two guys are staring into each other’s souls while holding hands, I can’t help but wonder if they’re gay at least a little bit. They also say so many things that would be cringe or cliche even for a romantic interest to say. And I’m not talking about one or two male characters here, no, I'm talking about the all of the main male characters.
- Cliches: the things they say, do and apparently feel are all so cliche. The stare into each other’s eyes, they lean in close to look out the window, the character who was closed off but now has opened his heart, I could go on.
- That’s not how music works: I must admit: I don’t know much about music, but I know a lot about many other art forms. And from what I know, that’s not how music works. It’s not like everyone agrees that someone is just amazing and a god, because it all comes down to preference. Of course, you can tell when someone’s good, but to call them a god and think that everyone knows them (including fans who doesn’t know much about music) is ridiculous. Tell me, when you were first introduced to Picasso, did you go “oh my god, what a masterpiece. This artist is a god!”? ‘Cause I sure as hell did not.
Also, that with your “own sound” and stuff, I don’t believe it. Might be true, but I’m just not buying. Sure, people playing their instruments probably sound different to others on that same instrument, but I think it still comes down to preference, not a sound from inside you that determines how you play.
- Reveals and pacing: first off, this drama loves to give you something to wonder about the literal minute before it happens. Imagine a crime drama, and they’re about to reveal the killer, but right before they do, they give you (the viewer) an obvious clue as to who it was. So, you just think “oh, it must be them!” and then right after you think that, they reveal it to you. It gives you nothing to hold on to while watching, because the adrenaline (which makes you excited and wanting to know what will happen next and if you’re right about your guess) runs out the moment it’s revealed.
Secondly, they also love to hide things from you, and then after the reveal, they start showing the hints/signs of this being the case. So, as an example, let’s say someone’s sisters, but the drama hides it from you, but then you find out, and now they’re suddenly calling each other “sister” when they never did so before. You had no chance of guessing earlier, because nothing about them could’ve suggested to you that they were related. And now, after you know, they’re suddenly drowning you in signs that simply weren’t there before? Cheap.
- Character design: yes, it’s back. Just now I praised Naoki’s character for being well written, but he isn’t really that well written, a lot about him doesn’t make sense, and he constantly walks the line between fun genius and a baby who can’t take care of himself. Besides, the whole show revolves around him, but he doesn’t really care for anyone else. Sure, he says it’s because he was locked away or something, but it’s still possible to acknowledge that someone is in the room with you. Every character just wants to take care of him so badly “oh, it’s a pleasure to take care of him, that’s enough reward for me”. Like, seriously? If he was a baby I would understand, but it’s a grown ass man you’re talking about here, much less your boss/leader.
The villain character here is also just sloppily done. He doesn’t really make sense, he is so little impactful I actually groaned whenever he came onscreen, and he just did nothing for the plot — everything he did was behind the scenes, we never saw him actually doing the things, we just heard about the things he did.
I’d recommend this drama to people who like drama, music (rock or pop) and who can appreciate cinematography and visuals. I can’t imagine anyone truly loving this, but there’s probably someone who fits those criteria.
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