any_anka

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.

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...

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.

Have you watched The On1y One? To me that's an actual quality Taiwanese BL drama, if you appreciate good acting and cinematography.

Well... it's bad. Just genuinely bad.

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.

It does... Sadly Taiwanese dramas are so difficult to access and watch for international audience. Aside from BLs and a few Netflix dramas (those are usually really good, though!), their availability is pretty scarce, unfortunately :(

Yesss. Hell to the yes to that final sentence of yours. I don't know why some comments seem to try going into all sorts of mental gymnastics to make it seem like sex outside of a relationship is not really cheating and whatnot in an attempt to... I don't know... I suppose make themselves feel less "guilty" or sth for enjoying this story 😋
Is it really necessary?

No, cheating is cheating. The individual circumstances might be different, just as people's personal threshold, but *unless agreed upon differently by the two people involved in that relationship*, sex outside of a relationship IS considered cheating pretty much in every case. Just because a person is sexually repressed or unhappy doesn't change it. Just like breaking the speed limit because sb was late to an important meeting doesn't change the fact that they were still speeding. We might understand their reasons, but it's still speeding.

Watching this drama, as an audience we surely can sympathize with both male leads, understand their struggle etc. I, for one, find both of their characters really likable and am genuinely cheering for them to get together. I also personally don't find their respective partners (are Fujisawa and Sei even together, though?) likable at all, with Kaori being extremely selfish (at least from what we know about her) and Fujisawa just being plain creepy at this point, with all the red flags dropped throughout the story (isolating Sei from friends, not relying their msgs to him, creating a suffocating atmosphere at home by constantly shaming Sei - not just for being interested in sex, but even with comments like "what where you talking about? that's so stupid...", being vaguely affectionate and then immediately moving away and so on).
Still... saying that "oh, it's not really cheating because one is withholding sex from the other" etc. opens the door to also saying tons of other relative stuff like "it's not really cheating if it's just a one night stand", "it's not really cheating if it's with a bro", "it's not really cheating if I felt lonely and neglected", "it's not really cheating if I was tipsy" and tons of other ridiculous excuses.

How about we all just admit that we enjoy a drama with a possible cheating plot and simply let ourselves enjoy a well-written, well-acted, well-paced story :)

(btw so far it's still just possible cheating, we don't even know if they end up in bed together before or after breaking up with their partners - or maybe in Sei's case there's no breakup needed really? :P)

For many people sex is not just about releasing sexual tension and being sweaty and "disgusting", but a way to be intimate with another person and to feel accepted and wanted by them... When their partner loses interest in sex, it's not just about not being able to release the tension, but also the feeling of "am I not desirable for them" etc.

Don't get me wrong, I actually believe people can build a romantic relationship without sex, but invalidating the feelings of those for whom it's an important component of a relationship and talking abt how it's disgusting doesn't seem fair to me.

Having a possessive friend like that is honestly a scary experience... But I don't think it's the case here. I rewatched ep 1 and there is this scene when Kazuaki comes back home to Sei being already in bed, he sits on his bed and touches his cheek with his palm in this affectionate manner - it didn't look as sth bros would do (and I'm trying to take into account cultural differences whenever I see things like this in dramas, but Japanese are not the most touchy-feely folks, as far as I know 😋).

It's either I'm too stupid while watching dramas (possible), we understand being able to tell where the story goes completely differently, or you're watching too much formulaic fiction (which btw, doesn't have to be bad, if a formula is executed nicely) ;)

As others said, this is a popularity vote. And a popularity vote among young viewers for young artists, at that...

Still, for what is worth: Hiroyuki Sanada has my top vote.

Hmm... I've always had the impression Japanese like Taiwanese BL. I think We Best Love was really popular in Japan, for example (I guess one of the actors being Japanese could've contributed to it as well, but still ;))

I was actually surprised when I saw no attempt to promote The On1y One in Japan earlier, since even lower budget series like You Are Mine or Stand by My Side seemed to target that market to at least some extent.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for The On1y One's success in the Land of the Rising Sun! :)

Oh, and btw, I forgot to mention, the interviewer also talks with other creators and people behind The Unknown series as well. So if you liked that drama, you might find it even more interesting. I just focused on Patrick and Mou Mou bcs that's what interested me the most ;)

It's a really well-prepared material, from the point of view of people actually responsible for producing BL series in Taiwan. I recommend it :)

To be honest, I kinda internally partially gave up already... I'm still holding on to some remnants of hope, because there's not that much time left to the promised "deadline" for a decision.
So the way I'm thinking, it won't cost me much mentally to hold on a bit longer ;)

I saw that The On1y One will be airing in Japan soon... I don't know if this is a good sign or not, but for what is worth, at least the drama has not been completely forgotten.
I also pasted a comment below of a recently release interview with Patrick Liu, so... maybe they are trying to regain some momentum now?

There is a new interview with Patrick Liu about The On1y One available on YouTube with ENG sub, so if anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKmi-5f9-J0

I gave this show a 9/10 because it resonated with me on an emotional level. If I were to be more technical about it, I'd go a bit lower, but probably not below an 8. It's a good show. It's not flawless and the reviews with 10s for every aspect of it are - in my opinion - a bit too emotion-driven ;) Nevertheless, I don't think this is the case of fans of a genre/actor/ship or whatnot skewing the rating despite the bad quality of an actual drama.

The show touches upon some interesting themes, aside from the romance between two characters:
- domestic violence and how a teenage character copes with it in his own way
- loneliness
- neglectful parenthood/absent parents
- and even a bit of what I would call classism or elitism within society

It also has really beautiful cinematography. The acting... could be better, I'd say it's quite uneven. But it's not much below the standard of what most Japanese dramas have been delivering in the last 10 years or so. Plus, the actors are young and probably inexperienced so I give them a pass. They do have scenes were they come thru, too.

If you are not familiar with the genre and apprehensive of it being just fanservice for people fetishizing gay relationships - this show would be a good introduction to debunk such fears.

Oh, absolutely. Hira is driving the poor guy crazy. Pushing him away while thinking he's showing him due respect and whatnot.

And Kiyoi is actually a rather soft dude when it comes to liking someone.

It's not as questionable as some people are making it out to be, honestly. Especially compared to some toxic stuff you can find in bls.
It's just that the dynamics between two protagonists are not usual, with one idolizing the other for how beautiful he is, and the other one not knowing how to handle a weird affection like that (plus being a typical Japanese tsundere).
When I watched it back in the day, I felt the second guy was being a prick in initial episodes, but that's more of a drama misleading us than an actual issue.

Haruki's abuse and just in general the theme of parents not being there/neglecting their children and - finally - in Haruki's father's case, physically abusing them was a strong theme of this drama. Both boys didn't have good parental figures present in their lives.