SaruwatariMayu

Alright ! Thank you for replying !

Is there any other way to watch this legally aside from iqiyi's vip option ?

Rewatched this again as a Valentine treat ❤️ Seeing it time and again, I still notice some subtle framing or microexpressions that make me fall in love as if it's the first time. This show will forever have a special place in my heart.

I'm gonna assume you're just a genuinely confused young person who has no idea how these things work and reply in good faith.

Platforms like gagaoolala either buy the licensing rights to a production once it's done or, like in this case, outright invest a huge amount in a project so it can be greenlit and available exclusively on their platform, at least for a contractual period of time. That's why it's called a gagaoolala exclusive : either the platform outright sought out to make the project by recruiting directors and staff, or they were the ones who invested in an already conceived project that didn't have enough funding to finish production.

So to answer your entitled question of "why isn't this content available free of charge to me because /I/ want it to be free, no matter how expensive it was to make" : because the series might not even been MADE without gaaoolala's investment.

So yes, when you dare complain that a project isn't free, you're complaining about series staff getting paid. And look, I don't know how expensive the subscription is in your country, but I can guarantee you it is still nothing compared to what these projects cost.

So as someone working in these creative industry, yes, I will tell you that your comment comes across as absolutely assholish. The fact that you're aggressively criticizing a business model you understand absolutely nothing about is my problem. Now get educated or stop trying to pretend like you know anything about it.

Or you could wait for the series to finish and pay only one month and bingewatch it instead of whining about people getting paid ? The entitlement to free content... I can guarantee you that no creative would want attention that comes from the likes of you.

You just made me want to watch this masterpiece again. I feel like I missed out on so much because I first discovered the drama through a Munjo video on yt and was expecting him from the very first minute. I didn't even realize it wasn't Lee Dongwook's voice in the wake up honey part ! Your analysis is incredible and well articulated. Kudos for making me love this drama even more than I already did.

Couldn't finish episode 1 because of all the awkward acting and weird pacing. It seemed like a good watch from all the rave reviews so maybe I was expecting too much, but unfortunately it did not deliver. It's a shame because the subject matter is such an important story to tell...

Gay men aren't women. Please don't make that kind of comparison, it's highly offensive.

Happy UtsuKare finale day to everyone !! It was short yet sweet and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice discussing the story with yall and now it is finally time for me to read the novels to satiate my obsession. See yall in two years if I don't die from kanji overload beforehand lmao



Also not a big fan of top / bottom discourse in general, but clearly everyone surprised here should be reading a bit more... winkwinkwink

Yeah I understand a little bit of the language so I tend to not pay attention to the subs unless the dialogue gets very heavy. The thing with languages like Japanese is also that everything is very vague and subtle and not spoken outright because of the culture, and people on the autistic spectrum (of which trouble understanding subtlety and double meanings is a major symptom) notoriously have issues figuring stuff out when out in society.
Hira might not be canonically autistic but he sure checks out in all the most overt symptoms so that's what I believe him to be, hence why it was so funny seeing his answer for me, as a former Stupid Dense autistic child looking back on my own experiences haha

I'd be curious to see how and if your outlook on Kiyoi changes once we get his pov next week, if you'd be so inclined.

I'm personally very fond of him because I can understand the mindset of being so viscerally afraid of being emotionally vulnerable you end up being a very agressive person, unable to be honest with yourself and with others. I think what makes this story fun is also what makes it lacking in the romance department - we spend much more screen time on the negative interactions between the leads than on the quiet moments of peace they have. It's obviously a set up for readers to understand and sympathize with Hira's pov - that Kiyoi is a unidimensional godly being, above him in everything and therefore cannot ever deign to look Hira's way - while the """plot twist""" is Kiyoi is as flawed and confused a human being as Hira, and is also trying to navigate (gay) love and the harsh reality of young adulthood as best as he can. His actions and behaviors are morally reprehensible but they reek of humanity.

This show imo is as much an exploration of how flawed young people can learn to better understand themselves and the world and people around them as they grow and experience things and get hurt and hurt each other, as it is about two people falling in love.

To be clear though I haven't read the novel nor listened to the drama CDs, so I'm as much in the dark as to what's to come that you are. But from what I've seen so far I truly believe that's the overall theme of the story.

You analysis is spot on and superbly worded imo. Seeing the love and attention to details this show is bringing out of people brings me even more joy than the show itself haha

I don't think watching stuff just to pass time or not understanding Kiyoi is necessarily a bad thing, at the end of the day it is a fictional show that everyone is watching for their own entertainment. I just like understanding the themes of the fiction I enjoy, and to be honest I think many people watching this are teenagers themselves and therefore are a bit more likely to take things at face value, which again, not a bad thing, just a difference in mindset haha

Ironically I understand Hira's character much more than I do Kiyoi because he reminds me a lot of myself as a neurodivergent teen. Imo he sees people not as people but as concepts. There's him, and there's the proverbial "others". Everything goes through his own very limited & very strict worldview (of who he is, his place in society, etc) and any deviation from those rigid rules gets rationalized to avoid uncomfortable change. It's a very common coping mechanism to growing up in a world that is constantly making you aware of your difference and your otherness. What's paradoxal is that you yourself cannot fully grasp the world around you either, because you think you're simple and others are way too complicated for no good reason lmao

Which is many words to simply say that I relate to him hard & find it very fun to see how absolutely baby he is. I'm very fond of both characters and that is what's making this otherwise pretty standard story so thoroughly entertaining.

It is very fast paced unfortunately, and I definitely think it would've been beneficial to the show to have a longer runtime. I feel like many people missed Kiyoi's feelings developing because the senior year montage was so short compared to the bullying scenes, but it's also the premise of the story - that Hira is so stuck in his own self-hate that he doesn't notice anything positive that is happening to him. I'm still thoroughly enjoying the show though and am on my toes for ep5, and I also hope that it'll help people who have trouble understanding the story so far haha

I might, or might not, have watched the playground scene 9 times and wheezed every single one. The shin kick after that just put the nail in my lungs' coffin.

That wasn't the only hint. I haven't read the novel so I don't exactly know what will happen when we get Kiyoi's pov next week but I can guarantee you this is all a big ass misunderstanding because of Hira's lack of self-appreciation and idolisation / objectification of Kiyoi.

Kiyoi is a very guarded person who seems emotionally fragile and frightened of showing anyone any vulnerability, so he puts on a very detached and agressive front so no one gets close enough to hurt him. Idk if that stems from any trauma or if he just instinctively acted like that from a young age to protect himself, but he's terribly easy to read once you stop looking at him from Hira's pov.

He spent a majority of their senior year alone with Hira at his place. The bike scene was him voluntarily leaving all his "friends" behind to spend alone time with Hira. Hira is one of the if not the only person who knew about his dreams. He tentatively flirted with Hira during the hand kiss scene, but got scared / intimidated as Hira was about to kiss him so he deflected with the hand kiss. Then he deliberately got them alone on graduation day and not so subtly asked Hira to finally confess to him, and when he didn't he (the boy who is scared shitless of showing anyone his true feelings) took the first step and kissed him. Then he got overwhelmed again and ran away, but stopped in his track to tell Hira he'll see him again.

And despite all that, Hira decided all on his own that Kiyoi is a mighty king who could never possibly look his lowly way and never bothered to reach out to him to give him his new number. So Kiyoi got essentially ghosted by his crush after he finally mustered the courage to overtly show him his feelings lmao

Now are Kiyoi's actions good and healthy ? Certainly not. He has serious issues, but so does Hira. Which is why this show is so fun to watch. Character development is entertaining.

They're both drunk, it's very late at night and Kiyoi just realized that Hira might still have feelings for him and didn't ghost him on purpose after all. If you pay attention to the subtle emotions on Kiyoi's face during the whole playground scene it's very easy to know what his intentions were haha

POV : you're putting your best game face on to ask the first love you've never forgotten to sleep with you but he got an F in subtlety understanding. Absolute comedy gold I cannot stop wheezing.

First love is unforgettable, because it is proof that we lived. What a line.

The older lesbian relationship we all need in our lives. There is not a single line, not a single scene wasted. Watch this if you need 20 minutes of pure euphoria.

This is a horror movie. Every single horror movie code is in it, including the surnatural green lighting, the constant zooms on an increasingly more psychologically disturbed protagonist's eyes, the shrouded mysterious / dangerous figure at the start and so on and so forth.

To people who haven't watched it : you are going to be watching torture scenes, and heavily drawn out ones at that. If that's not something you know you can stomach, or ESPECIALLY if any kind of violence / sexual violence triggers you, DO NOT watch it. No piece of fictional media is ever a masterpiece enough to put you through heavy emotional anguish and panic attacks. None.
If you don't have triggers linked to the core themes but are still on the fence about watching it or not, I'd recommend proceeding with extreme caution, and never hesitate to stop watching if it feels like it's too much. Knowing your limits isn't shameful and disengaging from emotional distress is key to managing your boundaries.

To people wo watched it, if you've felt : confused, disturbed, disgusted or horrified, well congrats, you got the movie. That's the emotions it seeks to evoke in its viewers. Sexual horror serves similar purpose as gore does, though at its core this movie is about psychological horror first and foremost.

I personally loved its portrayal of descent into madness, as a huge psychological horror fan myself. I'd have thousands of words to write as I've already spent way too much time analyzing each key scene but since it errs into spoiler territory and I really want the first part of my comment to be available to everyone who might be taking it too lightly, I'll stop here for today.

Be responsible with your media consumption !!