any_anka

A show featuring a scene of rape/possible rape *does not* equal romanticising it.

There are some BL series that indeed romanticise rape, but I saw no romanticising of what Johnny did to Akin in here. Even the way the scene is filmed doesn't make it look romantic or hot or exciting in any way or form. If anything, what's happening is made to look scary and disturbing (unless someone can't look beyond the actor's good looks, but I do believe most people *can*).

The problem is not dramas featuring these topics, it becomes problematic when they are romanticised. Which is often the case for many BL stories, I won't disagree with you on that, but Top Form is not really doing it... does it? Johnny so far seems to be totally portrayed more like a villain of the story than a possible 2nd love interest for Akin. Thus -> no romanticising of rape.

(Unless you refer to Jun's behaviour in earlier episodes and that non-consensual kiss at the hospital... In that case... I have nothing, honestly. You either decide to overlook for the sake of enjoying the romance or you just don't watch after that scene, I guess. I can understand both takes tbh)

Agree. That's exactly how I understand Akin's behaviour as well. When he leaves in the morning and arrives at his place, he's trying to remember what the hell actually happened, being like "think, think", so yeah, his brain is not directing him towards "I was assaulted" but towards "did I just sleep with that guy?!".

It's also a reason why he lies to Jin about what he did last night and why once Jun confronts him, Akin doesn't really react as someone certain of his innocence in this situation and why eventually he leaves the car (because he feels he has no standing/arguments/right to actually convince Jin nothing happened).

I appreciate the sentiment and your passion for this drama, but as far as I understand, this form is simply a request for them to broadcast an existing show, not to actually produce and film it. So, e.g. if you wanted to see some show on Netflix that's not available on their platform or in your region, you can use the form to get their attention and possibly - I suppose if the interest is high enough - influence them to try get a license to air it or sth of that sort.

EVEN if there was a way to reach Netflix and pitch an idea to them to film a s2 of The On1y One, they'd have to actually buy the rights from the current Chinese company that has them and still did not officially gave up on season 2 (not just the author of the book).

I suppose it's theoretically not *entirely* impossible (after all, Netflix DID have an adaptation of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem, which also had its 2023 Chinese drama adaptation). However, that Netflix show was just a totally Western take on the book, with Western cast and changes to the story... I don't really see Netflix picking up Mou Mou and keeping the same actors, director etc. I think this would be too much of a hassle for them to even bother. Besides, Liu Cixin's books were already globally popular beforehand and Mou Mou is more of a niche title, known only to danmei lovers or this drama fans...

Of course all of the above is just my opinion and it's a lot of theorising based on what I heard or understood to be the case. Maybe I'm totally wrong about everything I said, but personally I don't really see much hope for that idea to work...

It's not the best and as mentioned below, there's some lazy writing and some ridiculous developments. But at the same time, this drama maintains a very fluffy, cute feel that just makes a person feel comfortable when they watch it. Contrary to some BL disasters made in Taiwan recently, this one seems to have a certain charm despite not being flawless.

I'm actually enjoying it so far.

If they could've just reached the part where Wang and Tian kiss during the English camp, I think I'd be more than satisfied.
But no point fantasizing about it now, huh.

I wasn't even dying to see much of the "good things", I just wanted them to get a more proper closure. The ending was open enough, but the insert of Tian's childhood memory was an actual cliff-hanger (as in, what was that? what happened? how did it affect him etc.) In hindsight, it was completely unnecessary. Just as unnecessary were the inserts of redundant love-triangle between teachers and that jarring kidnapping scene. Aside from those, I honestly have no complaints. This is still the best-acted, and one of the best-written and directed BLs that I have watched (even if the premise is basic).

Great comment and analysis of his emotional turmoil and complicated position. I find this drama surprisingly thought-provoking, like e.g. that Akin's statement that he's been always acting/performing and it's nice to see someone giving it a lot of thought :)

Yep, I have exactly the same understanding/interpretation of Akin's behaviour. The only time one could argue there was some animosity was at the very beginning in ep 1 when Akin saw a newcomer in the industry and was evaluating him in his mind (with all the 7/10, 5/10, dropping to as low as 4 to later Jin regaining his standing as mid 5/10 😂), but that was solely based on professional skills and even then I'm not sure if I'd ever consider it "hate" (hence I keep using inverted comas).

I'd even go as far as theorize that Akin was intrigued by Jin and considered him handsome from the moment he laid his eyes on him :)

The script was written, but that was pretty much the only certain thing...
I think the company who's the rights holder is now gradually releasing the script online, but I'm not sure as I honestly stopped following the whole issue 😋

To your point about the spectacle, I wholeheartedly agree! I would've preferred to just get a straight-up official statement that they dropped the series instead of everything happening right now. People are confused, no one knows anything... it's a huge mess.

I mean... I get where you're coming from. He was hyping up the s2 quite strongly :P But to be fair, he never *declared there will be* a second season ;)

Besides, I kinda can't be mad at him, his artistry is one of the biggest reasons why this drama captivated so many (including me).

Actually, for me the storytelling and generally the narration flow is more pleasant and natural than most Thai BLs I attempted to watch.

I suppose maybe the impression of this sort of choppy-ness and your confusion come from the fact that the story is intertwined with the scenes from the dramas they're filming. There the dialogues sometimes parallel their actual interactions outside of filming, sometimes they also improvise... I guess that could be a bit confusing? Cause one might be wondering "ok, is that a fake dialogue from the drama or their real feelings now" and why are we in ancient China fighting with each other when we were just having an awkward moment doing an Insta stream ;)

As for Akin appearing to hate Jin and then suddenly being lovely-dovey... Erm... not really? If there was a time he actually "hated" Jin, it may be as early as in episode 1. Since then you get to see a guy who is kinda struggling with/in denial about his own attraction, just doesn't wanna admit it.
What makes things (and Akin's feelings) more complicated is the fact that two of them are actual rivals career-wise, at the same time the producers/managers/fans are pushing the idea of a ship on them etc.
But hate Jin? Nah, not at all, he was already getting rather enthralled with him before finally realising he wants him at the end of ep 4 (e.g. the scene when he watched Jin talk about him on a TV talk show and got so into it, he ended up following him on IG - and then following all his posts, mind you ;>).

I'm not familiar with the manga and anime, but just on the basis of the drama: a superstar working his butt off, top of his game as an actor and a mentor to newbies in the industry doesn't appear particularly weak to me. Just saying ;)
Also, just relationship-wise, him initiating a kiss on Jin in ep 4 also shows a level of proactive behaviour, not necessarily that submissive either :>

I am not someone who watches a lot of Thai BLs. When I decide to, they're usually a miss for me for multiple reasons that I don't really wanna get into here because I intend to keep this comment on a positive note ;)
However, I am happy that I decided to check this one out. Four episodes in and I am actually genuinely enjoying myself. In a big part it's due to the acting, especially Boom's portrayal. Because I'm not that familiar with Thai industry, I've never seen him in anything else, but the man can act, can he not?! Both surprised and impressed.

(Smart is also doing a pretty decent job, btw)

So this is it folks, I guess we can stop hoping for season 2 😋

While technically it was not officially cancelled, I really doubt we'll ever get it (and even if we do, I don't know how much of a mess that season 2 could be, considering how messy everything else has been since the conclusion of s1).

Since Patrick Liu seems to be out of the picture already and there seems to be no guarantee that the actors wouldn't change, that pretty much excludes the things that I loved abt this series, which was acting and directing. The premise of the story was nothing special (another version of stepbrothers plot - though they're not really stepbrothers 😋), what was special was how it was portrayed and both the actors and the director played a vital part in it. Well, I suppose maybe something could be salvaged, if the writers were kept the same (those in charge of eps 3 and 5, not episode 9 though - if they're not the same person, that is ;))

Anyway, I guess it's time to officially give up. I waited months for some news and was willing to wait a year, two years for a continuation. Now I officially lost interest.

Personally, I was actually quite pleased with the way the show handled the whole idea of this misunderstanding. I realized from the moment Jin was rubbing his nose and then jumping away with his chair from Kin that he has a cold and expected that this misunderstanding would push Kin to realize his feelings for the boy (with the help of Kin's own imagination and overinterpretation😋. I was happy it wasn't like explicitly in your face. I am tired of shows nowadays spelling out everything to the audience - either by narrating everything happening in the dialogues or by constant flashbacks to what happened 5 minutes ago - so I was happy with the execution here.

Episode 5.
I just feel like the writing was so smooth and there was plenty of imagery to kinda prepare you for sth big to happen. Like the ep started with them talking abt Bernoulli’s Principle and during the duration of it, you'd have these random gusts of wind just happen here and there that kinda foreshadowed sth will happen, but was also a direct reference to that Bernoulli's Principle the show decided to use.
The entire thing was so well-executed, it was lovely!

I'm on ep 7. My gosh, this is just soooooooo frigging good.

It might be a work of fiction, but it's still written by a Japanese person, based on a Japanese novel and set in Japan ;)

And I'll only add that this "cultural trait" is even mirrored in Japanese language, which I'm sure people who ever tried to study it, would agree with me on how indirect it is and how many "noise words" and sentences there are that allows a person to make a sound, but say pretty much nothing ;)

And it's not even that much about being introverted, as it is about being, well, I guess you could call it polite. Concepts of reading the atmosphere or putting the group before yourself etc. are quite strong in Japanese culture.

So it's really not so surprising that characters in a Japanese drama (that are regular people, not some fantastical anime characters ;)) might have problems communicating about what is rather sensitive topics.

Finally, even story-wise, all characters have reasons to NOT talk. Because, let's be real, it's not that easy for a considerate guy to outwardly tell his gf he needs sex and intimacy from her, when she keeps rejecting him (cause wouldn't that be considered pressuring her)? The girl is avoiding the confrontation on purpose because she want to be with him, but is dreading sex with him, so she keeps running away, too. Fujisawa has a secret he keeps from Sei, so ofc he wouldn't want to have honest open conversations either.

Sei and Hagiwara are actually quite good when it comes to communicating with each other, btw.

Which is why they grow so close. The only problem is that Sei is too much conditioned by his toxic relationship with Fujisawa, so he pushes Hagiwara away initially. When he gets closure, he goes after Hagiwara and confesses, so... basically, I don't have a problem with their communication at all ;) Hagiwara was also very direct about his feelings for Sei. And when Sei told him to leave him alone, he simply respected his wishes (as he respected Kaori's wishes before - all in character) :)