How do they know to drop it unless they at least watch Ep 1? This is Ep 1 and people watched it like normal viewers.…
Maggi, it seems I liked this first episode a lot more than you, but don't waste your time on commenters like the above. They expect nothing but gently-falling pink snowflakes in comment sections of shows they're getting moist over. Anything less than that apparently dries them up.
I love how people are complaining that some are "ruining it for them" because we've voiced criticisms, as if this…
Maggi, this is something I have seen here on MDL 154 times, at least. My take: Many of these viewers are about 11 years old, or think at that level, and they think they have a right to gush and coo and ooh and aah endlessly, and if anyone expresses something less than pink fluff and rainbows it is a personal affront to their enjoyment of the show.
When I like a series or enjoy a movie I don't give a rat's ass if someone else dislikes it, and often those criticisms reveal facts of the show I hadn't noticed yet and deepen my understanding of what's going on.
Think of BL-MDL as a K-Pop Girl/Boy Fan site and it explains everything.
Akira is a tsundere character. This is a Japanese manga adaptation where Akira is tsundere and Shintaro is a "puppy"-like…
I hope they don't keep the explanation for Minato's fear of love and sex as "WELL, HE IS A TSUNDRE CHARACTER, AND THAT'S WHAT THEY DO," which is totally lame and uncreative. I want to know WHY he acts that way, and I think we've had some hints in this first episode that there are pretty heavy reasons why Minato is so freaked-out by physical expressions of affection and desire. To have the reason be "THAT'S THE WAY HE IS 'CAUSE THIS IS BASED ON A MANGA" is beyond lame and into the realm of useless and absurd.
I guess I'm the only one, but I found this first episode delightful and promising. Here's why:
OF COURSE Minato is STILL acting all stand-offish and remote, that's who he is. But I got the definite feeling from this episode that there are some dark reasons WHY he finds it so appalling to hear or speak words of affection, let alone (HORROR) make physical contact. At first I thought how stupid it would be to suggest two gay guys haven't done the deed after three months of dating. But the way this is playing out, and the fact that it was openly acknowledged that this lack of boinking is a fact, it actually seems plausible, even probable given who Minato is. This lack of reciprocity in expressing affection and sexual desire between Minato and Shin is going to come to a head and we'll find out what the problem is. And I bet it will be something pretty traumatic from the past.
Minato's OTT reactions to Shin's advances, and Shin or anybody else mentioning love or sex or whatever between them are absolutely gut-crunchingly hilarious to me. He is so genuine in acting aghast and appalled that people are thinking such things, and his physical responses to that are slapstick comedy at its best.
Love that Shin first gave Minato a nice, new broom as a birthday present and that Minato would have been fine with that. They are both, at heart, sweet kind young men. Physically, it's a little hard to accept Minato as 29 years old, but somehow through his characterization I think he gets that across. And I LOVE the 11-year age difference, but that the younger one is the aggressor in love and (hopefully someday) sex, as it's usually the other way around.
So...this first episode gives me great hope for this season. However, I recall feeling exactly this way after the first couple episodes of S1 and then it petered out and I had to force myself to finish it. Frankly, I was amazed it got a second season at all.
Finally, Kusakawa Takuya is a beautiful man.
Oh, but Minato's creepy Undertaker ex-boyfriend's continued presence in this season is a downer for me. I see NO reason why Minato would EVER have been attracted to him, let alone that he still is, which is what the show wants us to believe. Shun is also an Undertaker-type. It would have been more realistic to have the two of them running a funeral home in this little seaside town. Then, during the season it gradually comes to light they are blood-sucking vampires. Perhaps Minato is still under the Undertaker-Vampire's spell and that's why he acts so weird.
First and foremost, we need to get air-conditioning installed in Minato's Laundromat.
Secondly, both Minato and Shin got hotter in the past year, and that's not an easy thing to accomplish, seeing as how handsome they both already were. But Minato seems to have put on a tiny bit of weight, especially in the face which makes him look more manly and less emaciated. Shin is his adorable, tall, sexy self with a year added on.
Asuka...I love him. His shameless flirting with that stiff board of a boyfriend he's got is hilarious and endearing. If Shun continues to rebuff him, Asuka can certainly come by my place and I will welcome him with open arms.
Bummer. I am beyond disappointed. I was looking forward to this film and especially to seeing Miyazawa Hio in another role. "HIS: What Is Love?" is one of my favorite films.
It's the camera-work, the cinematography. That constantly moving, zooming-in, then out, then swirling camera view almost makes me motion-sick at times. The problem is the camera work constantly calls attention to itself because it is constantly moving, focusing in with tight close-ups that show only part of what is going on.
When it focused in and STAYED focused in on the back of a student's neck while dialogue among other actors was taking place I was like "wtf? What is it about the back of this guy's neck that's part of the story?" The answer is that there is nothing important about the neck, the camera person just wants to make themselves known, letting us know the story is just an excuse to show off silly, annoying camera techniques. It feels affected and artsy-fartsy to me. That constantly swirling camera proclaiming its presence in every scene, is making it impossible for me to engage in the STORY, which this is supposed to be all about, right? Instead, it is about how innovative and artsy the director's vision is. ugh.
Hard to believe no one else in comments here has even mentioned the camera work. Did no one else notice, even if you liked it? lol
Anyway, I'm putting this one aside for now. I would guess I will finish it someday but for now it's not for me.
This has to go down as one of the most badly written and directed BL dramas spewed out of Thailand in their latest…
Thanks for your brief but thorough review, JG. I almost always agree with your comments so I'm going to do myself a favor and not even start this one. Isn't it stunning how much $$$ is wasted putting together these horrible Thai productions with staples, a glue gun and duct tape? The vibe I get is that no one involved is even trying, beginning with the writers.
BTW, you write vividly and with a sense of humor I enjoy. Thanks for sharing your comments.
From reading a good number of comments, I'm going to assume this is just one more assembly line s**t-show from the Thailand BL factory and not even start it. Thank you to those below whose comments warned me off. I haven't enjoyed a Thai BL in many months. Badly written, acted and directed. It so often feels as though no one involved with the show is really trying to make something original and professional. Sad, seeing as Thailand started live-action BL as we no know it.
I feel cheated I didn't get to see Obachaan embrace him at the end.
A sweet, sentimental film with a good message but too predictable and a bit sappy for its own good. Nevertheless, I'm glad I saw it and would recommend it with the former in mind.
Hard to believe that masterful film was made for the paltry sum of what would today be about $165,000.00 U.S. Yet again we see that more important than ANYTHING else about a film is whether or not it has a warm, beating heart. Like Aumtumn Moon Cake's own heart, this one is made of pure gold.
Near-perfection. No, on second thought...perfection. 10/10
The current generation seemns to find all physical contact trangressive.Teens kissing is problemmatic only if…
I explained my thoughts on this matter very clearly. Think what you will. I don't care.
BTW, I know you're not interested in facts that might get in the way of your purity but, a "child" is defined as someone between the ages of birth and puberty. Most 13 year-olds have at least entered puberty and are thus no longer children. But you want to imply that a three year-old and a 13 year-old are the same, so you use the word "child" inaccurately to equate them. I don't play that game.
Let me try this (requires use of your brain so you might want to skip this): If I were out and about one evening and a handsome, charming young man came on to me, told me he was 18, appeared to BE 18, showed me a DL proving it, and we had a wild night of great sex, but in the morning I somehow discovered he had lied, the DL was fake, and he was 13 years old, would I lose sleep over it?
NO, I would not. I know you're hoping for guilt, shame, and trauma to follow but I don't care about that either.
The current generation seemns to find all physical contact trangressive.Teens kissing is problemmatic only if…
That's impossible to answer because I would have to be the exact same age, in the exact same profession, and in the exact same circumstances as he was at the time that happened. 2023 is a looooong way from 1970.
He was a closeted doctor, working in a small town, married with children and so was of course fighting his own demons, desires, and angst. No human under that kind of stress and frustration, is made of stone when confronted with a physically mature young man (I went through puberty early and had my full height and was fully developed sexually by the time I was 12, as were my two older brothers) laid out before him with his pants down for a physical. I just don't presume to judge him for that because I know the way the closet twists and distorts one's judgement and perspective. He was kind, gentle, and would have stopped in a heartbeat if I'd made any sign of resistance...I didn't. He deserves compassion.
Thinking this through again, perhaps a good way to summarize my feelings is that I simply don't find it necessary to judge/condemn this man. I actually have positive feelings about what happened and about him as a person. The experience was never repeated and I never saw him again. It's not like he stalked me afterward. It's an otherworldly few moments in time that I never looked back on with regret or stress. I'm glad it happened.
What pisses me off are people, many of them on this thread, who want people like me to feel shame, guilt, trauma, distress, etc. over what happened. Seems to me it's a very GOOD thing that the 13 year-old young man I was did NOT and does not have those feelings.
I haven't seen the series yet, so I don't know if it was just a drug-related issue. But in the manga, it happens…
LOTS of the usual suspects believed Amber Heard's every word the moment she spoke until the end of the trial. "Nobody" believed her? I must strongly disagree.
I’ve read the manga it’s based on and that’s not why Kazuma cried. Don’t read if you don’t want to know.He…
I felt the need to explain because you seemed to conflate a Manga and an adaptation as the same thing. Because one thing happened for THIS reason in a Manga does not mean it happened for the SAME reason in the adaptation, as you flatly stated to be the case.
1 
1 
When I like a series or enjoy a movie I don't give a rat's ass if someone else dislikes it, and often those criticisms reveal facts of the show I hadn't noticed yet and deepen my understanding of what's going on.
Think of BL-MDL as a K-Pop Girl/Boy Fan site and it explains everything.
OF COURSE Minato is STILL acting all stand-offish and remote, that's who he is. But I got the definite feeling from this episode that there are some dark reasons WHY he finds it so appalling to hear or speak words of affection, let alone (HORROR) make physical contact. At first I thought how stupid it would be to suggest two gay guys haven't done the deed after three months of dating. But the way this is playing out, and the fact that it was openly acknowledged that this lack of boinking is a fact, it actually seems plausible, even probable given who Minato is. This lack of reciprocity in expressing affection and sexual desire between Minato and Shin is going to come to a head and we'll find out what the problem is. And I bet it will be something pretty traumatic from the past.
Minato's OTT reactions to Shin's advances, and Shin or anybody else mentioning love or sex or whatever between them are absolutely gut-crunchingly hilarious to me. He is so genuine in acting aghast and appalled that people are thinking such things, and his physical responses to that are slapstick comedy at its best.
Love that Shin first gave Minato a nice, new broom as a birthday present and that Minato would have been fine with that. They are both, at heart, sweet kind young men. Physically, it's a little hard to accept Minato as 29 years old, but somehow through his characterization I think he gets that across. And I LOVE the 11-year age difference, but that the younger one is the aggressor in love and (hopefully someday) sex, as it's usually the other way around.
So...this first episode gives me great hope for this season. However, I recall feeling exactly this way after the first couple episodes of S1 and then it petered out and I had to force myself to finish it. Frankly, I was amazed it got a second season at all.
Finally, Kusakawa Takuya is a beautiful man.
Oh, but Minato's creepy Undertaker ex-boyfriend's continued presence in this season is a downer for me. I see NO reason why Minato would EVER have been attracted to him, let alone that he still is, which is what the show wants us to believe. Shun is also an Undertaker-type. It would have been more realistic to have the two of them running a funeral home in this little seaside town. Then, during the season it gradually comes to light they are blood-sucking vampires. Perhaps Minato is still under the Undertaker-Vampire's spell and that's why he acts so weird.
First and foremost, we need to get air-conditioning installed in Minato's Laundromat.
Secondly, both Minato and Shin got hotter in the past year, and that's not an easy thing to accomplish, seeing as how handsome they both already were. But Minato seems to have put on a tiny bit of weight, especially in the face which makes him look more manly and less emaciated. Shin is his adorable, tall, sexy self with a year added on.
Asuka...I love him. His shameless flirting with that stiff board of a boyfriend he's got is hilarious and endearing. If Shun continues to rebuff him, Asuka can certainly come by my place and I will welcome him with open arms.
I am beyond disappointed. I was looking forward to this film and especially to seeing Miyazawa Hio in another role. "HIS: What Is Love?" is one of my favorite films.
It's the camera-work, the cinematography. That constantly moving, zooming-in, then out, then swirling camera view almost makes me motion-sick at times. The problem is the camera work constantly calls attention to itself because it is constantly moving, focusing in with tight close-ups that show only part of what is going on.
When it focused in and STAYED focused in on the back of a student's neck while dialogue among other actors was taking place I was like "wtf? What is it about the back of this guy's neck that's part of the story?" The answer is that there is nothing important about the neck, the camera person just wants to make themselves known, letting us know the story is just an excuse to show off silly, annoying camera techniques. It feels affected and artsy-fartsy to me. That constantly swirling camera proclaiming its presence in every scene, is making it impossible for me to engage in the STORY, which this is supposed to be all about, right? Instead, it is about how innovative and artsy the director's vision is. ugh.
Hard to believe no one else in comments here has even mentioned the camera work. Did no one else notice, even if you liked it? lol
Anyway, I'm putting this one aside for now. I would guess I will finish it someday but for now it's not for me.
BTW, you write vividly and with a sense of humor I enjoy. Thanks for sharing your comments.
Thank you to those below whose comments warned me off.
I haven't enjoyed a Thai BL in many months. Badly written, acted and directed. It so often feels as though no one involved with the show is really trying to make something original and professional.
Sad, seeing as Thailand started live-action BL as we no know it.
This is the one of the dumbest plot concepts to ever exist.
Dropping after seven minutes.
Can't believe people watch this stuff.
This is the one of the dumbest plot concepts to ever exist.
Dropping after seven minutes.
Can't believe people watch this stuff.
This is the one of the dumbest plot concepts to ever exist.
Dropping after seven minutes.
Can't believe people watch this stuff.
A sweet, sentimental film with a good message but too predictable and a bit sappy for its own good. Nevertheless, I'm glad I saw it and would recommend it with the former in mind.
6.5/10
Near-perfection.
No, on second thought...perfection.
10/10
BRAVO
BTW, I know you're not interested in facts that might get in the way of your purity but, a "child" is defined as someone between the ages of birth and puberty. Most 13 year-olds have at least entered puberty and are thus no longer children. But you want to imply that a three year-old and a 13 year-old are the same, so you use the word "child" inaccurately to equate them. I don't play that game.
Let me try this (requires use of your brain so you might want to skip this): If I were out and about one evening and a handsome, charming young man came on to me, told me he was 18, appeared to BE 18, showed me a DL proving it, and we had a wild night of great sex, but in the morning I somehow discovered he had lied, the DL was fake, and he was 13 years old, would I lose sleep over it?
NO, I would not. I know you're hoping for guilt, shame, and trauma to follow but I don't care about that either.
He was a closeted doctor, working in a small town, married with children and so was of course fighting his own demons, desires, and angst. No human under that kind of stress and frustration, is made of stone when confronted with a physically mature young man (I went through puberty early and had my full height and was fully developed sexually by the time I was 12, as were my two older brothers) laid out before him with his pants down for a physical. I just don't presume to judge him for that because I know the way the closet twists and distorts one's judgement and perspective. He was kind, gentle, and would have stopped in a heartbeat if I'd made any sign of resistance...I didn't. He deserves compassion.
Thinking this through again, perhaps a good way to summarize my feelings is that I simply don't find it necessary to judge/condemn this man. I actually have positive feelings about what happened and about him as a person. The experience was never repeated and I never saw him again. It's not like he stalked me afterward. It's an otherworldly few moments in time that I never looked back on with regret or stress. I'm glad it happened.
What pisses me off are people, many of them on this thread, who want people like me to feel shame, guilt, trauma, distress, etc. over what happened. Seems to me it's a very GOOD thing that the 13 year-old young man I was did NOT and does not have those feelings.
If you don't get it, that's fine.