Skibelo

Not sure if the links given below are still valid. I just found it at https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/4791160071651328

I completely agree. Not the usual Thai BL full of tropes and sound effects and fantasy, but a decent grown-up story with realistic characters and situations. Like the good Korean and Japanese ones, it seems to have been written by someone with a brain able to appeal to an audience other than teenage schoolgirls.

The English subtitles do convey most of the story, through a haze of mangled grammar, missing and misspelt words, and so on. Filipino series usually have much better English than this, but then, they also usually have much better direction, cinematographyt and sound. Luckily the superb acting shines through the incompetence.

I'm just as confused as you are. But the explanation for why Tiew didn't recognise Mork in the park at the beginning of the story is given by jpny01 in a spoiler comment added to his review.

More than year after release, the final episode still has no English subtitles. So there's really no point in watching any of it, is there?

"Restart" is perhaps the best of them all. I watched it four times. It's a 99m film. Watch on Bili or Gaga, which have 1080p resolution. Youtube has only a grainy version with low resolution. Getting back to Korean, I've just watched The Eighth Sense, which I thought at least as good as Unintentional Love Story (but golly, young Koreans drink a lot).

For a really good analysis of Donghee's psychology look for the review by labcat (29 Nov 2023).

The crux of the second couple's problem is Donghee's awful childhood, beaten by his father and finally rescued by Hotae's mother ("Auntie", but not a blood auntie, I think). She accepted that he was gay, but Donghee nonetheless worries that by becoming her son's lover he would be pushing her boundaries, or at least showing too little respect for her. Donghee, having had such a rough time being gay, is probably also, out of love for Hotae, wanting to spare him the hardships of life as a gay man. I'm guessing none of this is too clearly spelled out in order to leave room for a sequel. That scene in episode 9 where Auntie has brought Donghee something to eat and we have the flashback to the moment where Auntie took him in was particularly cryptic, so I think there is a lot to be told in a second series.

I agree with you completely about the attraction of an actual plot and a satisfying character arc. Korean BLs are good at this, as you say, but lately I've found Japanese BLs even better. Have you seen any of "Our Dining Table" (Bokura no Shokutaku), "My Personal Weatherman", or (the film) "Restart After Come Back Home"? I thought all of these beautifully crafted (and acted) stories.

When I go to this link I don't see any of the iQIYI links you mention. Are they still there? (I don't have a Twitter account, and wonder if that is the reason I can't see anything – maybe I have to have a Twitter account to see the contents of the post?). Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

...to the point of insanity. In episode 5 Won Young comes for his first lesson at the potter's wheel wearing a beautiful loose-fitting CREAM angora sweater! Maybe they're trying to show what a sweet and clueless child he is.

Thanks for your review, which as usual expresses all my own thoughts more coherently than I could myself. That simile about "stick[ing] two magnets together by the same pole" is inspired. One thing you didn't mention was the lavish wardrobe. Of course there are plenty of things in BL that require us to suspend disbelief, but Won Young, Don Hee and Ho Tae are all on the edge of poverty, and yet are never seen in the same clothes twice, and in fact seem to have wardrobes that would bankrupt a prince.
I might just quibble slightly with your "not as emotionally touching as I wished". Did you sit there stony-faced when Won Young collapsed weeping on his hands and knees after being repulsed by Tae Joon? I was in floods myself.

Try this link:
https://www.tumblr.com/notfreetoday/730371208573534208/the-importance-of-amae-in-my-personal-weatherman?source=share
This blog has a lot of other valuable commentary on My Personal Weatherman.

Many thanks! I've spent most of the day reading notfreetoday's excellent commentaries on this drama. His/her attention to translation accuracy is a godsend, exactly what the world of BL needs. If only there were more of it.

Thank you, very perceptive review and a welcome antidote to the uncomprehending reviews by confused snowflakes that I had to jump across to get to yours. People who enjoyed this series, and the things you say in your review, might like to also look at the review by Ariel, where there is a link to an article on Tumblr which provides a really interesting analysis of amae, one of the threads of Japanese psychology which is foreign to Western ways of thinking but is a driving force in this drama.

Thanks for a really interesting (and tantalising) review. I'd very much like to learn more about the aspects of Japanese culture that you mention in your first two paragraphs. Could you please post a link to that article on Tumblr that you mentioned? Thanks.

You've perfectly captured the lesson of this perfect drama: Yutaka and Minoru learn to "accept the past, not fear the future, and live in the present".

Brava. Good reply to Strawhat. (Though I liked the film more than you did.)

For anyone who's wondering, the actor who plays senpai Sagara Takahiro is Yusuke Hirose. This actor is missing from the cast list here because he is not yet known to kisskh. Can anyone tell me how this can be fixed?

Helpful review, thanks. Though I just spot-checked a few episodes and I think you're too kind to the acting: what I saw was awful. To add insult to injury, the English subtitles are more than usually incompetent for Thai BL, and that's saying something. Perhaps I just didn't happen on enough of Tae and Pluem.