etoks21

That's some delusional thinking there. :)

You're confusing cowardice with expert storytelling.

I'm all for ambiguity, emotional intimacy (where did you see this in a romantic sense in this show?), but "romantic coding" (lol) is necessary only in censored bromances. There is no such thing as a censored hetero-mance, is there? I wonder why that is...?

Don't attempt to lecture me on the art of writing fiction, screenplays, plays, or anything else for gay or straight or anyone else audiences. I assure you, I'm fully educated on those matters. When you have a SIX-HOUR screenplay that never gets past "romantic coding," (lol) subtext, unexpressed longings (that you imagine), subtle hints, charged glances, etc., what you have is writerly/directorial cowardice and subterfuge, not great art.

All the techniques/tools of writing you mention can be extremely useful as mechanisms to BUILD a story toward something. However, when, after six hours, you have used those tools over and over and over, and are still using them when the credits roll, you have failed the audience.

Well, except for the audience for Chinese censored bromances, and whatever this thing is, which would, it's clear, include you.

It used to amaze me the contortions MDLers like you would put themselves through to excuse this homophobic crap, but I've been around here a while now, and I know there's no bottom to the barrel. If you'd say you'd make these arguments for a straight romance that never got past the same level of nudge-nudge, wink-wink, you'd be lying.

But, you're lying to yourself already, so what's one more?

I just explained that, often being a context-based language, the English, "I love you," as it's used in the last 2 seconds, is romantic.
I also explained what a joke it is to claim that an expression of romantic love in the waning seconds establishes the pair as a couple in any meaningful sense
Either way, Ryu never says the same, so there you are again.

If it makes you feel superior somehow to imagine that aishiteru is deeper than I love you in context, I don't care. Have at it.

Oh, very delusional.
Very imaginary.

=The hockey player runs screaming from the confession of one of the only two gay characters in the show.
=When the gay guy puts himself in a coma over being rejected and humiliated, hockey player never goes to see him. Oh, wait, he stood outside the hospital room door once, didn't he? lol
=When gay guy comes out of his coma, hockey guy is distant and cold to him, a real asshole.
=Hockey guy never hugs, kisses, or expresses romantic affection for the Korean gay guy either, even when Korean guy leaves their little daddy/daddy/mommy setup, and expressing that might have made all the difference.
=Hockey guy never tells Korean guy he loves him romantically.

You seem to ASSUME characters are gay here...why?
Would you ever need to assume that a straight character was straight, or would you expect the screenplay to fill in that info for you?

You confuse "subtlety" with "nonexistent."
You seem to think saying "literally" proves something.

Friends love each other, too.
There is nothing in the series that clearly defines the hockey player's love as anything other than platonic.

Like I said, save it.

The Netflix subtitles read "I love you."
I just educated myself as to what ashiteru means.
In the context it's used in the series, "I love you" means the same.

Either way, dumping a deep, emotional, romantic confession of love in the last two seconds of a 21,600-second show means nothing, other than as an insult to the audience. I suppose it could also be seen as a punchline/joke.

It's amusing that someone who thinks this series is deeply romantic finds "I love you," used in a romantic context, to be "shallow."

Save it.
I know AI slop when I read it.

I meant do you work for netflix?

Thanks.
I think I've seen the last two and dropped them.
I'll check out the other three.

Ahhh...I will check out the director, and leave an abusive message about how shitty this show is. :D

Yep, I gave it a 1/10 here, too. I don't fuck around with this kind of trash anymore.

"They gave a few hints about Johan being gay, but I don't know any gay man who'd wait around for years for some guy to figure out his own thing (especially if he looked like Taecyeon)."
THIS!

Thank you for reassuring me there is at least one other non-delulu person on MDL.

Do you mind sharing where you read about the show, reshoots, etc? That would explain why the thing is such a mess in the end.
I am sick to death of Korean idols taking gay roles but not wanting to play gay.

It didn't work for me at all because it was pretending to be something it isn't willing to be out in the open. Also, the plot, aside from the lack of the GAY, is absurd, what with the nonstop coincidences and massive improbabilities.

I can't believe NF ran with this. Tons of openly gay plots and characters have appeared on netflix, what do they need with this censored bromance shit?

...and that was the end of that.
What did he mean by "the same?"
When did Ryu clearly indicate he was gay.
Be precise.

Holy shit, what a load of nonsense.

In your dreams. lol
In the series, one is straight, and the other one is dead.

Your AI-written BS is at least worth a chuckle.

Are you with Netflix?

Is there some reason it couldn't focus on all the above?

The romance is nonexistent and one of the MCs is not ever confirmed as gay, the other only obliquely.

With all the gay content available in 2026, why make excuses for this 1950s garbage?

It's a BS censored bromance ending.
How sad can it be?

The boxer is gay.
What makes you think the hockey player is gay?
What you see in your imagination doesn't count.

The delusional MDLers are out again.

It's not nitpicking to expect an actor/director to present a boxer character as believably a boxer.