Does it contain any unnecessary romance? I only want to watch if there's not..
Well, there is some romance but most definitely it is not the focus of the story.
If you're asking because you want a riveting, morally grey story set in a distopian reality with charismatic characters, that sometimes do questionable things, then this drama is for you ;)
But if you're asking because you've seen The Devil Judge promoted as this super hot bromance that should be a BL, then... I honestly don't think it delivers in this regard. Male leads have great chemistry, but the eponymous judge has great chemistry with pretty much everybody 😋 You can cherry pick certain scenes to make them look like there is something there, but being half-way through the series I can tell you that any sort of BL angle is more in the heads of some viewers who want to see them than on screen ;)
Still, it's a great show though. I'd definitely recommend it!
Sei's behavior and his mannerisms are exactly like a victim of control and abuse. He seems so zoned out. Not even…
He's not stuck in victim mentality, though? Sei never even once referred to himself as a victim or to Fujisawa as his abuser or blamed Fujisawa for example for the lack of social life (which he obviously had before his parents' death and Fujisawa taking control of him). Quite the contrary, in fact... BTW Do you guys remember how vehemently he was washing hid hands after pleasuring himself, as if he committed some sort of ultimate transgression against Fujisawa? (To whom he feels indebted for taking care of him after his parents' death.)
Unless we understand victim mentality completely differently... Cause for me it's when somebody *makes* a victim out of themselves, expects special treatment from others and constantly uses his status of being wronged/oppressed to get things, while blaming it for not getting them at the same time.
Sei is not stuck in victim mentality, if anything he is traumatised and conditioned to certain behaviours through his abuser (Fujisawa).
"Suddenly became a villain"?? What?? That man has been gaslighting, controlling, acting stand-offish, isolating,…
Let me just add that ofc someone can be forced or pressured verbally into doing something, but there is a difference between saying:
"Will you do this with me? If you don't wanna, how abt we do it differently then?"
and saying: "If you don't do this, I will move out" or "If you don't do this, I don't wanna be friends with you anymore" (ultimatum) or even guilt tripping someone to do sth, e.g. "I never ask you for anything, I always adjust to all your rigid lifestyle choices. Can't you give me this ONE thing I want from you? Is it that too much of me to ask for?".
Sei never confronted Fujisawa in any of these way, he simply stated rather matter-of-factly what he'd want to happen between them.
Once again, considering how close these two are, I really don't think there was anything forceful or pressuring about it.
"Suddenly became a villain"?? What?? That man has been gaslighting, controlling, acting stand-offish, isolating,…
Aside from pressing the finger (which honestly escaped my attention when I watched it, I only later saw ppl bring it up), Fujisawa:
- Acts judgmental each time Sei mentions sth he did outside of their situantionship or his work "uhh, I thought you didn't like doing this like that", "huh? what did you talk about? that's so silly" etc. I'm aware that they don't sound particularly mean, but considering the guy barely talks, half of what he says is passive aggressive when he actually opens his mouth
- He has isolated Sei from his friends, which was alluded to when Sei met his university friend, the guy clearly tried to contact Sei through Fujisawa (who at that time was already managing Sei's life, being his "spokesman") and Fujisawa never passed the message judging from Sei's reaction
- everything at the place they live is according to Fujisawa's liking, from the lack of TV, to the colour of towels; now, that one is not necessarily so red-flaggy, as Sei doesn't really protest, but certainly points to the type of personality Fuji has (controlling, needs to have everything according to his liking, tons of rules set etc.)
Also, I don't think asking someone to have sex is forcing, c'mon... This entire comment section keeps pointing out how characters don't communicate, but the moment one of them says what they want it's considered forcing? He proposed Fujisawa, got rejected, tried to work out a compromise (maybe I could watch or you could watch kinda thing), it didn't work out. Got bashed by Fujisawa and that was it. They live together and have a close relationship (albeit a weird one), it's not like Sei went out and started harassing people in the street or his coworkers with the same request.
Am I the only one in love with the final scene of ep4?
Everything about it is just so perfect! The lighting, what they did with sound (and the lack of thereof) AND the soundtrack that starts playing just at the right moment! The entirety of it is just so delicious simply in terms of cinematography.
And then there is of course the reveal of what Kotoha "left" for Megumi, which is both unexpected and sensual (with that sensuality being even more heightened by all the rain around them, but that might be a "me thing" ;)).
Ahhh... I rewatched it multiple times, it's just so good!
random question but does anyone know why the female teacher is overdubbed during the whole series? it just really…
Her accent sounded too Mainland China, so they dubbed her because otherwise the teacher would've sounded too non-Taiwanese. btw They didn't dub Sheng Wang - I guess - because his character is stated to have lived in Shanghai for years and his accent is even commented upon by the school principal in the first ep, so it makes more sense for him too sound different. P.S. Both actors (SW and the teacher) are from Mainland China and don't have Taiwanese accents.
For those who are a little confused by the sex scene and the events after, it's because in the novel the events…
I read a spoiler somewhere about the events in the novel, so my mind sort of filled in the blanks, but I would've preferred the drama was a bit more clear about it... Especially that "I can't do this" part. Thanks for giving it more context!
As for Hagiwara being so attached and devastated, the way I saw it (just with what the drama showed us) was that after a year of being rejected by his girlfriend, he finally felt accepted by someone (and not "dirty") which had a huge effect on him. Another thing about these two is that they communicate a lot and are open with each other, contrary to how they both are with Kaori and Fujisawa, which of course would make bonding easier.
Alright, I don't understand Kaori at all now.When she said that she felt uncomfortable when Kazuaki should his…
I'm wondering if there is some cultural aspect we're not grasping there or it was a simple mistranslation. If I remember correctly, the longer version of what she said was that she was ok with making out, kissing etc. but the moment he goes "masculine", it would turn her off.
Maybe the masculine here simply stands for his sex desire, as men usually (I said usually, don't come for me ppl in the comments, ok? ;)) have higher libidos...
I never got the feeling that she was a lesbian. Just a girl who got too comfortable in a relationship where she's not fulfilling her partner's needs.
I think Nakarai is trying to detach himself from his own feelings, trying to stay behind the glass wall, so to…
Agreed, I feel the exact the same way about his somewhat indifferent demeanour. This plus what the FenrirCiel wrote about him repressing his feelings for so long for Fujisawa's case, it become his "default mode" in a way.
Hagiwara should have broke up with Kaori before he took that shower. Then he could have seen which direction Sei…
I don't really like Kaori's character since the very beginning of the drama (and the feeling just kept getting reinforced with everything we learnt about her), but let's try to be a bit objective, shall we 😋 The stuff she broke was a thank-you-gift she received from a guy with whom - she just found out - her boyfriend cheated on her. She had all the right to break it, throw it away, run it with a car etc. as far as I'm concerned 😋 That moment when she broke it was probably the scene when she felt most relatable to me in the entire show. Cause hell no would I want to keep that dirty thing from a guy who's been romancing my boyfriend and had the never to even make me take care of his feet and then send this fake gift - would be how I'd probably feel ;)
I am 100 percent against cheating, no excuses, no moral relativism (I can understand the complexity of an individual situation, but as much as I can sympathise with someone's circumstances, the act of cheating alone is still cheating and it.is.wrong).
But damn, what do I do? I enjoy this drama! 😋
I like the pacing, I like the nuanced approach to human emotion, I like the writing, the acting and the chemistry between the leads. Besides, you can understand cheating is wrong, but still see the struggle the MLs are going through. Just like I can dislike their respective partners, but still think they shouldn't be cheated on (well, I mean, I don't think Fujisawa is really going to be cheated on anyway, so let's just limit this to Kaori).
I'm not sure what makes you so upset... but let me ask you a question: Do you only watch movies and shows that portray exemplary, textbook-like behaviours? So you can't enjoy works like, say... Godfather, Fight Club, The Vampire Diaries, The L World? I think we can enjoy this drama without detriment to our moral compass or however you wanna call it.
There are plenty of really problematic works that romanticise (reeeaaaly romanticise) things like rape etc., but this one really doesn't feel like one of them. It's too nuanced in its portrayal. There is also a difference between portraying a phenomenon and romanticising it...
Also, I'm not really sure what anti-lesbianism or fetishizing has to do with the issue of cheating. I also don't think I've seen anyone saying anything about lesbians being disgusting in the comments section (granted, I haven't read all the comments).
Yes, there are many hints that Fujisawa is extremely manipulative and controlling over Sei if you look carefully.…
He also leaves those little snappy remarks, that are too subtle to actually consider a direct attack, but they still undermine Sei's actions. Like commenting that what he was talking about with Hagiwara via email was stupid etc. While on its own it's just a benign statement and nothing particularly bad abt it, but when you put it all together, it really creates this highly suffocating, toxic image of Fujisawa as someone who wound himself around Sei and doesn't let him enjoy anything in his life (be it meeting friends, attending parties, watching tv, have sex etc.). I'm really curious what is his deal and how much of it comes from his feeling of insecurity and how much of it is something else.
Is it true that there can be a season 2? Or they are just making my hopes high?? Imma cry if there won't be any…
Well... it's complicated 😋
It's true as in it's not only the audiences who speculate about it, but it's the director himself and even one of the main actors who talked about the possibility of s2.
It's so-so on the likelihood scale in my personal opinion, considering that: + We were told in October - if I remember correctly - that the decision would be made in the next 5 months (and some of us have been waiting since then...) + We were expecting to get some info in December (the date of the FM in Macau). + Then we were told there'd be some info at the beginning of January (crickets). + And now we are getting close to the unofficial "deadline" for any news (counting since October), but there are none so far...
Have you watched The On1y One? To me that's an actual quality Taiwanese BL drama, if you appreciate good acting…
I will warn you about the sort-of-an-open-ending (with a what looks like a rather small possibility for a second season) and not much happening in terms of physical intimacy. The relationship development is extremely natural, though and the actors can make up for anything you might find is lacking.
The acting is lacklustre (it's not HIStory 5 type of bad, but nevertheless it's not up to nowadays standard set by other Taiwanese productions, even the ones that I didn't particularly enjoy), the development of romance and the behaviour of the main CP have no natural flow and feels weirdly disjointed (I don't know if they try to do push-and-pull thingy, but it feels almost as if the human guy had memory problems, and not due to being drugged, allowing for sweet kisses out of nowhere to later on being all cold about the robot's advances), the drama with being kicked out of home feels forced (not saying it can't happen, but the writing is so bad every event feels super random), the elements of the setting that seemed cheesy, but at least potentially entertaining have been suddenly dropped (the whole thing with glasses being on/off and the behaviour changes - why even introduce such a ridiculous setting, when you don't utilize its comical/sensual (?) potential at all?), the chemistry between main guys is weak... I don't even know if I wanna continue listing all the disadvantages, because I already feel like bullying the weak, as this drama has almost nothing going on for it (unless you count the muscles on those dudes).
I thought it would be camp. I like camp. I loved another Taiwanese drama You Are Mine, I liked Japanese BLs like Ossan's Love and Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss. I am not against over the top plots, but those titles had a story to tell. Here... I'm not really sure what the creators tried to achieve.
Anti-Reset is not even close to my favourite BL, but Eternal Butler makes it look like an absolute masterpiece by comparison. And frankly speaking, those moments when Ever 9 appear on screen are possibly the best scenes out of the entire show :|
I saw some people like the second couple. I guess they're ok? I don't feel much about them, because they barely get any screen time.
There is an attempt at talking about some childhood trauma etc. It's very dramatic and dark and I personally don't see it fitting into the whole vibe of this show, but as the show is not over yet and I haven't seen what they plan to do with it, I will reserve my judgement on that one. I'm not sure if I will continue on watching to be able to properly judge it, though.
The cast for this looks fantastic! And after just seeing the trailer, I'm feeling this might become my favourite of Jasper Liu yet, as he seems to be leaning more into his comical side.
Big expectations, as Taiwanese Netflix dramas almost never fall below a certain standard and this one looks really promising.
1 
But I wasn't able to find it neither on Spotify nor on YouTube. I guess not released yet (?)
If you're asking because you want a riveting, morally grey story set in a distopian reality with charismatic characters, that sometimes do questionable things, then this drama is for you ;)
But if you're asking because you've seen The Devil Judge promoted as this super hot bromance that should be a BL, then... I honestly don't think it delivers in this regard. Male leads have great chemistry, but the eponymous judge has great chemistry with pretty much everybody 😋 You can cherry pick certain scenes to make them look like there is something there, but being half-way through the series I can tell you that any sort of BL angle is more in the heads of some viewers who want to see them than on screen ;)
Still, it's a great show though. I'd definitely recommend it!
BTW Do you guys remember how vehemently he was washing hid hands after pleasuring himself, as if he committed some sort of ultimate transgression against Fujisawa? (To whom he feels indebted for taking care of him after his parents' death.)
Unless we understand victim mentality completely differently... Cause for me it's when somebody *makes* a victim out of themselves, expects special treatment from others and constantly uses his status of being wronged/oppressed to get things, while blaming it for not getting them at the same time.
Sei is not stuck in victim mentality, if anything he is traumatised and conditioned to certain behaviours through his abuser (Fujisawa).
"Will you do this with me? If you don't wanna, how abt we do it differently then?"
and saying:
"If you don't do this, I will move out" or "If you don't do this, I don't wanna be friends with you anymore" (ultimatum) or even guilt tripping someone to do sth, e.g. "I never ask you for anything, I always adjust to all your rigid lifestyle choices. Can't you give me this ONE thing I want from you? Is it that too much of me to ask for?".
Sei never confronted Fujisawa in any of these way, he simply stated rather matter-of-factly what he'd want to happen between them.
Once again, considering how close these two are, I really don't think there was anything forceful or pressuring about it.
- Acts judgmental each time Sei mentions sth he did outside of their situantionship or his work "uhh, I thought you didn't like doing this like that", "huh? what did you talk about? that's so silly" etc. I'm aware that they don't sound particularly mean, but considering the guy barely talks, half of what he says is passive aggressive when he actually opens his mouth
- He has isolated Sei from his friends, which was alluded to when Sei met his university friend, the guy clearly tried to contact Sei through Fujisawa (who at that time was already managing Sei's life, being his "spokesman") and Fujisawa never passed the message judging from Sei's reaction
- everything at the place they live is according to Fujisawa's liking, from the lack of TV, to the colour of towels; now, that one is not necessarily so red-flaggy, as Sei doesn't really protest, but certainly points to the type of personality Fuji has (controlling, needs to have everything according to his liking, tons of rules set etc.)
Also, I don't think asking someone to have sex is forcing, c'mon... This entire comment section keeps pointing out how characters don't communicate, but the moment one of them says what they want it's considered forcing? He proposed Fujisawa, got rejected, tried to work out a compromise (maybe I could watch or you could watch kinda thing), it didn't work out. Got bashed by Fujisawa and that was it. They live together and have a close relationship (albeit a weird one), it's not like Sei went out and started harassing people in the street or his coworkers with the same request.
Everything about it is just so perfect! The lighting, what they did with sound (and the lack of thereof) AND the soundtrack that starts playing just at the right moment!
The entirety of it is just so delicious simply in terms of cinematography.
And then there is of course the reveal of what Kotoha "left" for Megumi, which is both unexpected and sensual (with that sensuality being even more heightened by all the rain around them, but that might be a "me thing" ;)).
Ahhh... I rewatched it multiple times, it's just so good!
btw They didn't dub Sheng Wang - I guess - because his character is stated to have lived in Shanghai for years and his accent is even commented upon by the school principal in the first ep, so it makes more sense for him too sound different.
P.S. Both actors (SW and the teacher) are from Mainland China and don't have Taiwanese accents.
As for Hagiwara being so attached and devastated, the way I saw it (just with what the drama showed us) was that after a year of being rejected by his girlfriend, he finally felt accepted by someone (and not "dirty") which had a huge effect on him. Another thing about these two is that they communicate a lot and are open with each other, contrary to how they both are with Kaori and Fujisawa, which of course would make bonding easier.
Maybe the masculine here simply stands for his sex desire, as men usually (I said usually, don't come for me ppl in the comments, ok? ;)) have higher libidos...
I never got the feeling that she was a lesbian. Just a girl who got too comfortable in a relationship where she's not fulfilling her partner's needs.
The stuff she broke was a thank-you-gift she received from a guy with whom - she just found out - her boyfriend cheated on her. She had all the right to break it, throw it away, run it with a car etc. as far as I'm concerned 😋
That moment when she broke it was probably the scene when she felt most relatable to me in the entire show. Cause hell no would I want to keep that dirty thing from a guy who's been romancing my boyfriend and had the never to even make me take care of his feet and then send this fake gift - would be how I'd probably feel ;)
But damn, what do I do? I enjoy this drama! 😋
I like the pacing, I like the nuanced approach to human emotion, I like the writing, the acting and the chemistry between the leads. Besides, you can understand cheating is wrong, but still see the struggle the MLs are going through. Just like I can dislike their respective partners, but still think they shouldn't be cheated on (well, I mean, I don't think Fujisawa is really going to be cheated on anyway, so let's just limit this to Kaori).
I'm not sure what makes you so upset... but let me ask you a question: Do you only watch movies and shows that portray exemplary, textbook-like behaviours? So you can't enjoy works like, say... Godfather, Fight Club, The Vampire Diaries, The L World?
I think we can enjoy this drama without detriment to our moral compass or however you wanna call it.
There are plenty of really problematic works that romanticise (reeeaaaly romanticise) things like rape etc., but this one really doesn't feel like one of them. It's too nuanced in its portrayal.
There is also a difference between portraying a phenomenon and romanticising it...
Also, I'm not really sure what anti-lesbianism or fetishizing has to do with the issue of cheating. I also don't think I've seen anyone saying anything about lesbians being disgusting in the comments section (granted, I haven't read all the comments).
While on its own it's just a benign statement and nothing particularly bad abt it, but when you put it all together, it really creates this highly suffocating, toxic image of Fujisawa as someone who wound himself around Sei and doesn't let him enjoy anything in his life (be it meeting friends, attending parties, watching tv, have sex etc.).
I'm really curious what is his deal and how much of it comes from his feeling of insecurity and how much of it is something else.
It's true as in it's not only the audiences who speculate about it, but it's the director himself and even one of the main actors who talked about the possibility of s2.
It's so-so on the likelihood scale in my personal opinion, considering that:
+ We were told in October - if I remember correctly - that the decision would be made in the next 5 months (and some of us have been waiting since then...)
+ We were expecting to get some info in December (the date of the FM in Macau).
+ Then we were told there'd be some info at the beginning of January (crickets).
+ And now we are getting close to the unofficial "deadline" for any news (counting since October), but there are none so far...
The relationship development is extremely natural, though and the actors can make up for anything you might find is lacking.
The acting is lacklustre (it's not HIStory 5 type of bad, but nevertheless it's not up to nowadays standard set by other Taiwanese productions, even the ones that I didn't particularly enjoy), the development of romance and the behaviour of the main CP have no natural flow and feels weirdly disjointed (I don't know if they try to do push-and-pull thingy, but it feels almost as if the human guy had memory problems, and not due to being drugged, allowing for sweet kisses out of nowhere to later on being all cold about the robot's advances), the drama with being kicked out of home feels forced (not saying it can't happen, but the writing is so bad every event feels super random), the elements of the setting that seemed cheesy, but at least potentially entertaining have been suddenly dropped (the whole thing with glasses being on/off and the behaviour changes - why even introduce such a ridiculous setting, when you don't utilize its comical/sensual (?) potential at all?), the chemistry between main guys is weak...
I don't even know if I wanna continue listing all the disadvantages, because I already feel like bullying the weak, as this drama has almost nothing going on for it (unless you count the muscles on those dudes).
I thought it would be camp. I like camp. I loved another Taiwanese drama You Are Mine, I liked Japanese BLs like Ossan's Love and Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss. I am not against over the top plots, but those titles had a story to tell. Here... I'm not really sure what the creators tried to achieve.
Anti-Reset is not even close to my favourite BL, but Eternal Butler makes it look like an absolute masterpiece by comparison. And frankly speaking, those moments when Ever 9 appear on screen are possibly the best scenes out of the entire show :|
I saw some people like the second couple. I guess they're ok? I don't feel much about them, because they barely get any screen time.
There is an attempt at talking about some childhood trauma etc. It's very dramatic and dark and I personally don't see it fitting into the whole vibe of this show, but as the show is not over yet and I haven't seen what they plan to do with it, I will reserve my judgement on that one. I'm not sure if I will continue on watching to be able to properly judge it, though.
Big expectations, as Taiwanese Netflix dramas almost never fall below a certain standard and this one looks really promising.