Guys, what's going on? Why's this so freaking popular?! I haven't watched a Chinese drama since Revenged Love, but I've been seeing this EVERYWHERE. I've lowkey abandoned dramas fully and went back to my anime and reading phase, so I need y'all to give me reasons to watch this and get me out of my drama slump!!
I just finished episode 8, and am about to watch episode 9, but can I just say that I think the current Top 8 are just not it???
Sangwon, Leo, and Anxin are really good in my opinion, but the others... I've been engaging with this season's contents for months now, but the rest of the current top 8 haven't stuck out to me at all. In my opinion, to debut, you have to be talented, of course, but you also need to be memorable. I really don't know if it's just me, but none of the others have done anything for me to say, "Oh yeah, he definitely deserves to be in the top 8."
If I had to choose my favorites for now, they would probably consist of: Sangwon, Leo, Anxin, Xinlong, Junmin, Yunseo, and Zihao, with Hengyu, Yechan, and Zhongxin as my maybes. (And I'll admit that I just really want Sangwon and Leo to debut together because I was a huge Trainee A fan, but I still think they're both really good, even if I exclude their past.)
And while I'm at it, am I the only one who isn't really feeling connected to any trainees this season? Last season, I couldn't pick my favorites at all because there were so many extremely talented trainees, and even if the skills of the others weren't sensational, they were really fun to watch. This season, however, I'm struggling to form my top 8 because nobody except the ones I mentioned is talented and interesting enough to debut.
Please tell me I'm not being too nitpicky and that someone else feels the same. PLEASE.
I just finished episode 4, and all I have to say so far is that this is the next level of messed up.
Sure, season 1 wasn't great either, in terms of many factors, but it's still a survival show, and those will unfortunately always be rigged, unfair, evil edited, and so on. But this... It's just leaving me baffled over and over. I don't even wanna go into detail, but the unfair treatment towards the Chinese trainees is literally INSANE. A post on Reddit summarized everything nicely, so if you're interested, please take a look at it. (https://www.reddit.com/r/BoysPlanet/comments/1m9r67g/everything_that_went_wrong_with_boys_ii_planet/)
And before anyone comes at me with the usual "Why are you still watching then if you're just gonna talk badly about it?"... It's simple, really. Although I find it extremely unsatisfying and hard to watch, I'm curious as to where it's going and how they're planning to execute it without making the blatantly unfair treatment even more obvious than it already is. Plus, there are many talented trainees whose performances I'm enjoying and want to see more of. (Needless to say, the unfair treatment doesn't only apply to the C-Group, but it's what I've been noticing the most in the 4 episodes I've seen so far. From the major differences in dorm quality and uniform quality to the smaller ones, such as the amount of snacks in the snack room. Sure, the snacks aren't that big of an issue, but once you see it, you can't unsee it.)
I've also seen on various social media that there is pretty obvious xenophobia in the upcoming episodes (upcoming for me at least)... Like the thing with shaming C-trainees for not being able to speak perfect Korean or something along those lines? I guess it doesn't get better, huh...
Do we have to watch in this sequence? Like are all these series in continuous or related?
Nope, they are all individual stories! I also don't recall any characters from one part appearing in another, so yeah... But I can say that the best ones are definitely both parts of HIStory3 (Trapped, Make Our Days Count) and HIStory2 Crossing the Line. That's my recommendation if you wanna start with the good ones!
I have nothing else to say other than that they destroyed every single expectation I had. I literally held my breath the whole time because of how intimate that felt. Just wow...
If both of them and the agencies denied it, why is your title still "are REPORTEDLY in a relationship"??? Your "articles" have been pissing me off for so long... It's crazy to me how people who write editorials (me included) and actually do something on their own in a creative and fun way are ignored while people who copy-paste unconfirmed gossip from Korean websites get all the spotlight💀
OffGun and Dew in a mature BL series?! With the same director from Not Me??? THIS IS LIKE ALL MY PRAYERS JUST GOT ANSWERED I ACTUALLY CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING
I'm going to be completely honest I skip over 90% of the "spicy" scenes, I usually watch it on 2.0x speed or skip…
I agree with absolutely everything you said! About the spicy scenes, I find it really interesting that you skip them and it's refreshing to see someone like that. I just feel like most people these days watch BLs primarily for the spicy scenes which makes me so sad as a queer person myself. Watching out community be nothing more than a fetish for many straight women is NOT it...
Yeah, this version is missing out on a lot. i mean, they literally put 3 whole 50 minute episodes into 1 30 minute episode... Did they honestly think it would turn out good knowing how popular the Thia version is and the expectations of the audience?
The spanking hurt me on a spiritual level... Why would they even put that in😭
How do yall watch this with a straight face... A spicy scene has never given me this much second-hand embarrassment 😭 I mean, Arashi licked Rei's lips like 3 times and he still didn't even open his mouth, talk about bland... I just don't see any chemistry and the acting is... something. Rei pisses me off even more than Rain did for some reason.
I don't know, I wanted to like it and had high expectations, but it simply turned out to be cringe-fest... Honestly, if I hadn't watched the Thai version and didn't know what pace it was supposed to go at, maybe I would've liked it. But having watched the Thai version, the J-version is just lacking everything.
Well to be fair, Rei and Fuma are freshmen so they're probably like 19/20 while Arashi and Kai have already graduated…
Hmm I'm not sure. I was thinking of my country (Croatia) because most high schools last 4/5 years and then you start college at 19/20. I for example will graduate high school at 19 and probably start college at almost 20 so you know.
It might be different in Japan though, I don't really know. I'm curious though, what country are you from that freshman can be as young as 17? For me, 17-year-olds are like 3rd year of high school hahahaha
are these boys meant to be playing 17 year olds ? the actor playing Kai looks at least 30.
Well to be fair, Rei and Fuma are freshmen so they're probably like 19/20 while Arashi and Kai have already graduated (not sure if they've graduated or if they're seniors) so they should be around 25 I guess...
But to be honest, this cast is just not it, especially the 2nd couple as you said. It's making me miss FortPeat... It's even cringier than the Thai version and so hard to watch... I also have no idea how they will fit everything into 10 short episodes, but okay😭
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I've lowkey abandoned dramas fully and went back to my anime and reading phase, so I need y'all to give me reasons to watch this and get me out of my drama slump!!
Sangwon, Leo, and Anxin are really good in my opinion, but the others... I've been engaging with this season's contents for months now, but the rest of the current top 8 haven't stuck out to me at all. In my opinion, to debut, you have to be talented, of course, but you also need to be memorable. I really don't know if it's just me, but none of the others have done anything for me to say, "Oh yeah, he definitely deserves to be in the top 8."
If I had to choose my favorites for now, they would probably consist of:
Sangwon, Leo, Anxin, Xinlong, Junmin, Yunseo, and Zihao, with Hengyu, Yechan, and Zhongxin as my maybes.
(And I'll admit that I just really want Sangwon and Leo to debut together because I was a huge Trainee A fan, but I still think they're both really good, even if I exclude their past.)
And while I'm at it, am I the only one who isn't really feeling connected to any trainees this season? Last season, I couldn't pick my favorites at all because there were so many extremely talented trainees, and even if the skills of the others weren't sensational, they were really fun to watch. This season, however, I'm struggling to form my top 8 because nobody except the ones I mentioned is talented and interesting enough to debut.
Please tell me I'm not being too nitpicky and that someone else feels the same. PLEASE.
Sure, season 1 wasn't great either, in terms of many factors, but it's still a survival show, and those will unfortunately always be rigged, unfair, evil edited, and so on. But this... It's just leaving me baffled over and over. I don't even wanna go into detail, but the unfair treatment towards the Chinese trainees is literally INSANE. A post on Reddit summarized everything nicely, so if you're interested, please take a look at it. (https://www.reddit.com/r/BoysPlanet/comments/1m9r67g/everything_that_went_wrong_with_boys_ii_planet/)
And before anyone comes at me with the usual "Why are you still watching then if you're just gonna talk badly about it?"... It's simple, really. Although I find it extremely unsatisfying and hard to watch, I'm curious as to where it's going and how they're planning to execute it without making the blatantly unfair treatment even more obvious than it already is. Plus, there are many talented trainees whose performances I'm enjoying and want to see more of.
(Needless to say, the unfair treatment doesn't only apply to the C-Group, but it's what I've been noticing the most in the 4 episodes I've seen so far. From the major differences in dorm quality and uniform quality to the smaller ones, such as the amount of snacks in the snack room. Sure, the snacks aren't that big of an issue, but once you see it, you can't unsee it.)
I've also seen on various social media that there is pretty obvious xenophobia in the upcoming episodes (upcoming for me at least)... Like the thing with shaming C-trainees for not being able to speak perfect Korean or something along those lines? I guess it doesn't get better, huh...
But I can say that the best ones are definitely both parts of HIStory3 (Trapped, Make Our Days Count) and HIStory2 Crossing the Line. That's my recommendation if you wanna start with the good ones!
Your "articles" have been pissing me off for so long... It's crazy to me how people who write editorials (me included) and actually do something on their own in a creative and fun way are ignored while people who copy-paste unconfirmed gossip from Korean websites get all the spotlight💀
About the spicy scenes, I find it really interesting that you skip them and it's refreshing to see someone like that. I just feel like most people these days watch BLs primarily for the spicy scenes which makes me so sad as a queer person myself. Watching out community be nothing more than a fetish for many straight women is NOT it...
Yeah, this version is missing out on a lot. i mean, they literally put 3 whole 50 minute episodes into 1 30 minute episode... Did they honestly think it would turn out good knowing how popular the Thia version is and the expectations of the audience?
The spanking hurt me on a spiritual level... Why would they even put that in😭
I don't know, I wanted to like it and had high expectations, but it simply turned out to be cringe-fest...
Honestly, if I hadn't watched the Thai version and didn't know what pace it was supposed to go at, maybe I would've liked it. But having watched the Thai version, the J-version is just lacking everything.
It might be different in Japan though, I don't really know. I'm curious though, what country are you from that freshman can be as young as 17? For me, 17-year-olds are like 3rd year of high school hahahaha
But to be honest, this cast is just not it, especially the 2nd couple as you said. It's making me miss FortPeat... It's even cringier than the Thai version and so hard to watch... I also have no idea how they will fit everything into 10 short episodes, but okay😭