etoks21

Well-said.

I'm here for shirtless Toki, to be honest. That caramel-lemon skin and handsome/adorable face causes me to have inappropriate thoughts. Well...inappropriate for prudish MDL, that is.
This plot has become soap opera-ish, which is too bad. It's lost its zaniness to some degree. Toki's manic hilarity feels a bit forced now.

Too many tropes/cliches too:
Poor student works two jobs to pay hospital bills. (Japan has had mandatory, universal healthcare as a human right and governmental responsibility written into its constitution SINCE 1961. The healthcare bills of a student and parent in this character's situation and income would be one hundred percent covered by the government, with NO restrictions to care. In other words, all the Japanese film/drama plots involving desperate people borrowing from the Yakuza to pay hospital bills are complete bullshit. Having such plots show up over and over in shows is insulting and stupid. There are a lot of other possible plots that could explain why a high school student needs to work two part-time jobs. Korean films/dramas also utilize this trope to a ridiculous degree, but the cliche is based on absolutely nothing. Korea has universal health care, ranked first among OECD nations for patient satisfaction, and second for efficiency. Honestly, I have no idea why Japanese and Korean screenwriters continue to use this absurdly inaccurate trope. Destitute people paying hospital bills out of pocket is NOT a thing in either country.)
Former flame shows up out of nowhere just as leads begin to connect.
Character overhears something distressing and immediately becomes "sick" to the point of fainting. (BTW, he's a new teacher but never does any work that I can see.)

On and on...oh, and can we talk about the hottie in glasses going to the NBA? lol Seriously? He dribbles and shoots well for a BL character, but he's not Michael Jordan material.

Overall, this feels stiff to me now, whereas early on it felt wild and hilarious.

Also don't buy for a second that Toki the wildly impulsive, full-of-human-energy young buck, would be a coy, flustered, chaste, blushing virgin when shirtless in front of the man he loves.

Also don't buy those two characters would so easily, and without sexual frustration, enter into an "I will wait for you, bro" relationship, sealed with a fist-bump rather than a passionate kiss. This is a problem with many "fluffy" BLs that seek to minimize or even erase the passionate sexual urges of teenage boys.

Guys that age have semen leaking out of their eyeballs and ear canals, all they think about most of the time is sex, they get boners for absolutely no reason. I know this because I was a guy that age. "Fluffers," such as what this show has sadly become, pretend that is not the case and brush it aside. and in doing so deflate a ton of possible dramatic tension, while pushing the tale into the realm of cotton candy cloud BLs, which are annoying af.

Before all the prudes here jump me, I'll say it for you: "IF YOU WANT TO WATCH PORN, GO TO PORNHUB!!!! No, I'm not looking for graphic sexual content including genitalia and spewing body fluids, I'm looking for some reality, which would intensify the story.

If Toki is going to agree to wait for the teacher, why not show that it is a struggle for both of them, physically and emotionally, at least? Dealing with those sexual frustrations in such a situation would be great fodder for comedy AND drama both. In this case, the arrangement was agreed upon so dispassionately that it seems the attraction between them is lukewarm and thus easy to brush aside.

I'll keep watching, because all the characters are cute/hot, and there are moments of humor and pathos among the fluff, but this is not nearly as good as it could have been.

Cute comment.

Same as with the hot guy in glasses in "Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun." He's dazzlingly handsome with a stunning smile, and I knew first instant I saw him that was the case. A pair of black-framed glasses does not fool me.

Get to a meeting. Your ability to accurately perceive reality is off again.

Stop digging your hole deeper. She posted her stupid comment on this thread about LSK'S SUICIDE because she thinks her idiocy applies to the topic, which is LSK'S SUICIDE.

This is not a thread beneath a random story about alcoholism/addiction and bike-riding as the solution to both problems.

The commenter is off-base and so are you.

Is it your opinion that viewers of dramas and films should make only "nice" comments regarding shows and actors they don't care for? If so, you are mistaken. That is a very juvenile perspective.

I didn't call her names or attack her in her personal life. My comment was well within the bounds of discussion on a site like MDL.

Have you ever seen one real tear from this actress when she's pretending to cry? You can pretend that's not a problem and that she's "amazing!" but in reality she is not.

If you get to say she "delivers well" as a singer and actress, I get to say she stinks at the same, although in her case it's only the acting I find to be a problem. She's a fine singer.

I'm not boycotting Korean movies/drama yet, but the commenter above has a point about the very specific part of Korean culture relating to celebrities/entertainers/actors/fans/public/Netizens/judgment and condemnation/shame/media/law enforcement, etc.

You are absolutely correct that no culture does not have "issues." But the poisonous attitude of Korean fandom and public that they own celebrities, even in their private lives, and rush to judgement and condemnation long before the facts are in, has led to DOZENS of celebrity suicides over the last 20 years. This is not normal.

Just in the last eight months we lost K-Pop idol Moonbin and actor Lee Sung Kyuk, both huge stars in their fields, to suicide. There were two other industry suicides of less-well-known figures during the same time.

Since MDL is built around Asian movies/drama/music, including the massive output from Korea (and the vast majority of my favorite movies are Korean), it is entirely appropriate to focus on the horrendous Korean problem of celebrity suicide here. I don't like losing my favorite entertainers to rope nooses and charcoal briquets, over and over again.

And the fact that so many Korean entertainers go that route, far out of proportion to what goes on in other Asian countries and the West, makes it clear there is a HUGE problem.

Yes, every country has "issues," but they don't have THIS issue.

So please stop downplaying this problem as if it's overblown. It's not

Spoken like a true Korean Netizen. Who tf are you to pass judgement and pronounce what you think are appropriate sentences as punishment? I'd bet you've helped drive a few celebs to suicide.

Excellent, very different-from-the-usual Korean thriller!

Naturally, underrated here on MDL.

Highly recommended.

9.5/10

Half and hour in...meh, I don't care.

Dropping.

4/10

Meh. Could have been a fascinating story, but execution sucks, and there's quite a bit of scenery-chewing, especially from the ML and the wife. A lot of Japanese actresses seem to believe the way to evoke heightened emotion is to shriek, scream and cry at ever louder volume and higher pitches...and then shake your body all over and stamp your feet.

I guess they all go to the same acting academy. That academy should be shut down.

I dropped it with seven minutes to go, because even though I knew I was meant to ever-greater amazement and shock at the end, I just kind of didn't care. The ML's fake lip-twitches and licking were hilariously bad.

5/10

Odd comment. I've been breathing just fine, and feel quite relaxed too. Thanks for your faux concern, though.

But now I'm wondering, are you OK?

Me, who has seen My Mister and the movie Broker, reiterating "lousy actress."

Some of the worst fake crying I have ever seen. She screws her face up and makes noises, but never a tear to be seen.

I pretty much agree with everything in your comment but have a question about this: "No doubt that the brothel has some rich powerful men visiting it to satify their sexual urges, chaebols, atheletes, even k celebs, which is indeed disgusting..."

Could you explain HOW it is "disgusting?" I ask that because first of all, brothels have been around for thousands of years and aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They are a business like any other, and if the women involved are free agents not being coerced in some fashion into being sex workers, why does what they do "disgust" you?

I'd guess many single men pay for the brothel's services. Who are they hurting? I'm sure many married men do the same. How is it anyone else's business, and how is it inherently "disgusting?" There are plenty of married women who are GLAD their husbands go to brothels so that they don't have to service them at home.

The childish, naive belief, prominent on MDL, that ALL marriages are love-based gardens of joy and delight, is not the case and never has been. Lots of marriages fizzle out into arrangements of convenience in which the parties no longer love each other but don't hate each other either, and thus see no reason to divorce. Brothels fill a need in such cases.

And if a married man really is sleeping with sex workers behind his wife's back, it remains no one else's business. He will be found out soon enough without the assistance of Netizens or KBS. Many people STAY married even after an adulterous affair comes to light, for a host of reasons that are nobody else's business either.

It seems more direct, honest, and realistic to find sexual gratification with professional sex workers than with somebody else's wife, or to deceive some single woman into thinking one is not married when one is married, thus potentially wrecking TWO lives.

It is bizarre to me how so many Koreans look to public figures, from politicians to actors to K-Pop singers, for their moral guidance. Good god, go to the temple or church or library and figure that shit out on your own. Don't try to make some poor, dumb, horny actor into your private spiritual guide.

I agree. I also know that my level of appreciation and perspective on certain modes of live-action story-telling has grown/changed/altered in the three years since I discovered Asian cinema/drama. Thus, I now drop things I might have watched two years ago, and I love things I might have dropped in the same amount of time. In effect, I'm a different person with different perspectives and levels of taste and patience from three years ago.

It's been an illuminating ride. :D

I also dropped this drama about two years ago, halfway through the second episode. I don't recall why, but obviously it didn't grab my interest. I may give it another chance because I'm feeling sad about LSK, who I loved in several other things, but any show, drama or film, that can't give me anything to connect with during its first 90 minutes or so, is not well-made, at least to that point.

It's part of the director's job to peak the interest of his viewers. Why should anyone be expected to continue watching a show that seems dull after that much time? "Well, it's great later on," may be true, but it remains a major flaw that if one didn't read other commenters saying that, one would never know or suspect.

With movies, I don't hang in much over 30 minutes if I'm not engaged. Lord, that's one-quarter of the entire film!

There may be a lot of great things about this show, but its failure to capture the attention of many viewers during its first 3 or 4 hours is a huge flaw.

This guy is talented. "Next Sohee" is a great, moving film but I wasn't reduced to tears until his brief scene opposite the FL near the end. Excellent, restrained but evocative acting.

I hope to see much more of him soon.

GREAT film.

I am not a fan of Bae Doo Na, but her one-note, hang dog acting style is perfect for this role. The rest of the cast is superb, and the story is told with great power and finesse.

Must-watch stuff for anyone aware of, and concerned for, Korea's national suicide problem, the worst in the developed world. It is NOT only celebrities who succumb to an overwhelming culture built on shame, inhuman workplace pressures, and a lack of social support systems. The young and the elderly die by suicide in droves.

This film put into dramatic, live-action form much of what I already knew, but seeing it play out in real time is devastating.

Bravo to all.

9/10

To everyone in this thread who knows of and cares about the ongoing suicide crisis in Korea, not only among celebrities and entertainers, but the population as a whole, I urge you to take a couple of hours to watch the stunning and well made 2022 Korean film, "Next Sohee."

The suicide rate is highest among older kids/young adults and the elderly. "Next Sohee" tells a horrifying tale of two of the former. Please, do yourself a favor and watch.

NEXT SOHEE 2022
9/10
https://kisskh.at/717877-the-next-sohee
Watch: You can find it on all the usual sites.

It is SO right up the alley of what we've been thinking and talking about ever since Lee Sung Kyuk died by suicide. It touches indirectly on the K-Pop obsession Koreans teens grow up as part of, though that is not a prominent plot point. It is more about what leads to the sky-high suicide rate among the rest of the Koreans, who are NOT actors or idols. In this case, we're talking about high school kids but it's not a school bullying movie either.

I was riveted and tense almost the entire film and you know how much I like to be tense and stressed. :D It is a good film.

This is an instance in which Bae Doo Na's dull, one-note, acting style is perfect for the character she plays. I got over my annoyance with her presence in the film quickly, and she did a good job. All the other acting is excellent as well.

I haven't thought before about how telling it is that during 20 years of steadily escalating celebrity suicides, not a single Korean movie I know of has been made about an actor or K-Pop star who killed themselves...what does THAT tell you? Undoubtedly, the thinking is that such a film would make people "uncomfortable," and we can't have that in Korea.

Please report "redslushie" to admins like I did, with the above, revolting comments copied and pasted.