I mean, say what you will about the yaoi from 20 years ago with its clearly defined ukes who were always passive…
I find Souta to be a very hot versatile dude. F**k this uke/seme bs. Kondo Shori is the only reason I've continued to watch this show. He has a powerful, very sexual onscreen charisma that obviously escapes you, but it sure doesn't escape me.
I am really enjoying this series, the first Thai BL since Moonlight Chicken that I didn't drop during the first episode. At first, I found Krist's character annoying, but he's somehow grown on me to the point I'm getting a nice kick out of watching him be a goofball nerd mess.
And Fluke is perfect in this part. He's hot and knows it, even jokes about how everyone's after him, but he manages to show us Pisaeng's inner kindness, genuineness, and good-heartedness. I especially admire his desire to stop pretending to be friends with people he doesn't like, and with good reason.
So thanks, GMMTV, for surprising me with this one, which is far above your usual level, and also for Pisaeng's tight black pants. :D
As for the rest of this series, this final episode was beautiful, dealing with an extremely emotional and delicate issue: The power of fear to overwhelm a lot of people's desire for meaningful human relationships. This is a real thing. I know by experience and with good reason. Watching Yukata make a conscious CHOICE to ACCEPT the fact that pain will come as a fair price to pay for life-long joy in having loved and shared life with others. This was made ever more lovely by Minoru's dad's loving, assertive intervention on behalf of Yukata and his son's obvious affection for each other, putting aside prejudices he was undoubtedly raised with to enable their happiness. His action on their behalf moved me deeply.
To me, there were lots of problems with the rest of the story/plotting/writing leading up to this but I cared enough about the characters directly involved, and TANE!, to hang in there. This final episode made everything square for me.
Why Japan? I was afraid, based on the title, this would be Thai-style fluff, but I enjoyed the first two episodes,…
I like profanity. It bears a useful earthiness. And if you consider "ass" a profanity, I suggest you stay indoors more. If you don't, you're likely to hear much worse. As far as the overused "ad-hominem" thing, to me what a person writes, says or does reveals a great deal about them as a person. I'm guessing that must be why you referred to me as having a "feeble, bitter brain" which after all, sounds a lot like an ad-hominem. Perhaps work on self-awareness while you write.
Why Japan? I was afraid, based on the title, this would be Thai-style fluff, but I enjoyed the first two episodes,…
You write well. Too bad the great writing is in service of a huge boatload of ass-backward assumptions about what I meant by "pretending." Had you considered the very specific context surrounding my use of the word, you might not have just made as much of an ass of yourself as you just did with your crusading comment. Are you ready to get off your verbose high-horse and read as I clarify my use of the word, or would you rather remain up there so you can continue to feel offended and self-righteous?
I used the word "pretend" in the same sentence in which I referred to the emerging use of "idols" as actors in KBLs and what that means for the K-Pop audience who production companies hope will follow their idols to watch the BLs they are featured in. Those little girls don't want to see convincing, realistic, deeply-felt portrayals of gay or bi characters discovering/experiencing the first or second or third pangs of love. The actors aren't fully committed to BEING the characters they're assigned, they're play-acting and it shows. The girls don't want to suspend disbelief or make any of the other usual psychological adjustments required to successfully absorb a BL story as "real." They want to get off on watching mostly marginal acting from idols as they "pretend" (badly) to be gay for each other for a bit so they can squeal and touch themselves in response. The appeal is in their belief they are watching one or two of their beloved straight (not) idols pretend to be gay for each other for 20 minutes a week, not in immersing themselves in a gay love story.
Had you bothered to read other comments of mine above you'd know I have a lot of stage acting experience, decades worth. So don't presume to lecture me on theatre theory 101. "Pretending" was a reference to the bad acting and the assumption by the K-pop audience that they're watching straight boys pretending to be gay. The truth is, of course, that in most cases they are watching gay idols pretending to be gay boys in love. Get it? If not, save your response. You're likely too tightly wrapped around your precious presumptions and full of yourself to absorb my meaning anyway.
Your comment is a great example of how often talented, practiced writing is used in service of willfully-ignorant presumptions and wildly off-base conclusions. lol Though there is a masturbatory element to your writing too...as you write you're also busy getting off on your own powers of the keyboard. And since that vibe clearly shows itself, I guess you're writing isn't all that good after all.
Noooooo...I could SWEAR I've seen the shorter one before but he's not the actor I thought he was so perhaps he just resembles him. I found them to both be excellent. Thanks for the answer though.
Gosh, how did I not know of this short until now? It is tremendously excellent. What now is beginning to feel like a high-quality, old-school KBL, before Thai-style fluff and boy band idols (with the exception of Semantic Error) came along to start mucking things up.
The acting/direction is outstanding in its subtlety and attention to tiny details that convey huge things. That look over the shoulder toward us at the very end was the perfect ending.
Pretty bad, but the guys are cute in a very non-pretty boy, non-Bangkok runway model sort of way, which is refreshing. The plot is basically everyone walking in on everyone else making out multiple times, but the most awkward thing about "Awkward Love" is the acting. lol
That said, the girl will lose out in love but at least, of the three, she has the best mustache.
Why Japan? I was afraid, based on the title, this would be Thai-style fluff, but I enjoyed the first two episodes,…
I think the answer is pretty simple: Even though "plenty" of straight Kdramas may have awkward kisses, most of them don't. Plus, gay people and those who care about us are so starved for realistic, unashamed portrayals of gay lives and loves that it feels like a cheap betrayal when a story about a gay couple climaxes in a mannequin-kiss.
Of course, I speak only for myself, and I'm American so the concept of a freaking "mannequin kiss" or "dead-fish kiss" was unknown to me when I discovered BLs about three years ago. I can't remember which I watched first, SOTUS or Love Sick, but when the first weird mannequin kiss in SOTUS occurred, and the camera went to long shot and began swirling around behind and above and below and whatever-anything to NOT show them direct-on-I was like "wtf is THIS?!" lol Truly, I was kind of freaked out. lol I think Love Sick kind of cut to fade at kissing moments. But having NEVER seen anything as awkward and obviously contrived as that first mannequin kiss in any U.S. film or series, gay or straight, it was quite an eye-opening experience. I didn't think much of SOTUS anyway, but I recall that that scene soured me on the series for good. I didn't yet know this was a common BL thing.
You might be interested in Restart After Come Back Home if you're looking for a Japanese countryside bl then!…
Promise I'm not stalking you. :) Wanted to drop in after seeing this comment to second the motion on Restart After Come Back Home. It is one my top 30 gay-themed films list. It's also a case of a small town being represented by both the good AND the bad aspects of that sort of environment, rather than everyone being portrayed as delightfully, if quirkily, good and wholesome and loving.
Why Japan? I was afraid, based on the title, this would be Thai-style fluff, but I enjoyed the first two episodes,…
Pretty much agree with your first paragraph. I don't mean to say smooching is the end-all, be-all of a BL, just that there is no reason in 2023 that great production, great acting/direction/writing, and realistic portrayals of gay intimacy have to be mutually-exclusive, as if having one means you can't have one or both of the others. It's ridiculous, yet way too many BL fans buy into that and thus settle for less with most series than they should.
What puts me off about the no-kissing thing is that it's incredibly, nakedly homophobic as a directoral tactic when you're entire story is about GAY people. When cameras swirl away at the moment of a smooch and the actors lean in like mannequins, stiff as a board, it doesn't just put me off, it pisses me off. This is not something you see in straight romances. If you're going to make a gay story to make money, then show a gay story or f**k off.
I do NOT watch BLs for smooching alone, otherwise I would be plastered to every god-awful BL out of Thailand and I watch almost none of them. Hate them, in general. The so-called "NC" scenes, as so many MDLers call them, are usually laughable anyway.
I have a lot of stage acting experience but zero film experience so you are much more knowledgeable about the elements you mentioned above. I found both leads here appealing and after 40 minutes I'm not willing to throw in the towel. Actually I find the good ol' boy downright hot in a primal sort of way. He's not a pretty boy, which is refreshing. I find the mom amusing. There's already a lot of cliches and tropes, but given the name, that's what i expected. Two comments below this one is a post I left earlier this evening if you're interested in what I do or do not like about LT.
May write more tomorrow but for now I'll close by saying "Semantic Error" is one of my fave K-BLs, and "A Shoulder To Lean On" one of my least. Blueming is my preferred K-BL by a mile. Good acting, writing, direction, creative-even stylish-production, music, I was all in. LT is no Blueming. I'm curious to see if you have any "favorites" lists on your profile.
yeah ima have to try this one again after most of the episodes have aired and there are some clips of the good…
Why Japan? I was afraid, based on the title, this would be Thai-style fluff, but I enjoyed the first two episodes, for what they are. There are a number of j-bl movies and series I like but too many of them seem awfully afraid of gay, you know, kissing. I do fear more and more Korean BLs, as we see more and more of them, are going to be doing "fluff" just like Thailand, as if we don't get enough of that crap in five new Thai shows per week already. I was perusing up-coming K-BL descriptions today and one stars multiple members of yet ANOTHER K-Pop boy band. The K-Pop agencies have figured out lots of little girls like to watch cute little boys PRETENDING to be in love and no sex allowed, please. Yuck.
This is surprisingly charming. The series title had me on cutesy-alert. Nothing worse than OTT Thai-style BL fluffiness.
Love the creative, against-type casting. The 27 year-old looks 15 and the 20 year-old looks 35. The older has handsome/delicate features and the younger has handsome/strong features. He's a great example of just my type of Korean hottie: Not runway-pretty, but possessed of a sexual energy you can feel in the air. Even so, once YC said he was 20 I was able to believe it. He doesn't seem like a 30 year-old actor cast in a high school role as we see too often in Korean movies and series. Likewise, the actor is playing YS as sufficiently mature that I buy him as 27 even if he does look younger.
YC's mom is a stitch. lol
Love that YC is the first one picking up on that certain "feeling." :) Also thankful we're getting 40 minutes per week, not just 20. Had that been the case I was going to hold off and binge it. But I'm already enjoying this show so I won't be able to do that now.
Notes: "Love Tractor." Sounds like something you might name your favorite sex toy. Hilarious they actually went there at the beginning in regard to the stereotype of Koreans eating dogs. lol Yes, YC is sweet in contrast to his stature, but at this point he's' coming off as a bit intellectually disabled. Which could be interesting, but I don't think that's what they're going for here. I hope we see at least a few of the many DOWN sides of living in a tiny, rural community, as opposed to everything and everyone being kind, generous, and endlessly giving as we're clearly meant to believe. I grew up in a small town. Everyone thinks they know everyone's business, gossip is rampant and so is judgmentalism. I've always found people in large cities to be more welcoming than in small communities.
I'm biased because Love Tractor is one of my all time favorite webtoons and the art that made it so special for…
It's always a good idea to not compare an adaptation to its source material, nor expect them to be identical in any way. Not doing that saves me a lot of frustration. Think of them as two completely unrelated works. I know that's not entirely possible to do, but thinking that way helps.
Why would you not mark it as a spoiler even if you’re not sure. And to caps it. What’s wrong with you ?
"Childish" and "immature" are also forms of "name-calling." And if "jerk" rocks your world you need to get out more.
Consider that your refusal to admit a mistake and correct it with one click of the "spoiler" button is more than a little bit childish and immature as well.
"Stranger that I do not know" is a repetitive statement. Strangers are by definition people that we do not know. :)
1 
1 
Kondo Shori is the only reason I've continued to watch this show. He has a powerful, very sexual onscreen charisma that obviously escapes you, but it sure doesn't escape me.
And Fluke is perfect in this part. He's hot and knows it, even jokes about how everyone's after him, but he manages to show us Pisaeng's inner kindness, genuineness, and good-heartedness. I especially admire his desire to stop pretending to be friends with people he doesn't like, and with good reason.
So thanks, GMMTV, for surprising me with this one, which is far above your usual level, and also for Pisaeng's tight black pants. :D
oooh, I guess you were "triggered," sweetie.
As for the rest of this series, this final episode was beautiful, dealing with an extremely emotional and delicate issue: The power of fear to overwhelm a lot of people's desire for meaningful human relationships. This is a real thing. I know by experience and with good reason. Watching Yukata make a conscious CHOICE to ACCEPT the fact that pain will come as a fair price to pay for life-long joy in having loved and shared life with others. This was made ever more lovely by Minoru's dad's loving, assertive intervention on behalf of Yukata and his son's obvious affection for each other, putting aside prejudices he was undoubtedly raised with to enable their happiness. His action on their behalf moved me deeply.
To me, there were lots of problems with the rest of the story/plotting/writing leading up to this but I cared enough about the characters directly involved, and TANE!, to hang in there. This final episode made everything square for me.
Well done.
8/10
As far as the overused "ad-hominem" thing, to me what a person writes, says or does reveals a great deal about them as a person. I'm guessing that must be why you referred to me as having a "feeble, bitter brain" which after all, sounds a lot like an ad-hominem.
Perhaps work on self-awareness while you write.
I used the word "pretend" in the same sentence in which I referred to the emerging use of "idols" as actors in KBLs and what that means for the K-Pop audience who production companies hope will follow their idols to watch the BLs they are featured in. Those little girls don't want to see convincing, realistic, deeply-felt portrayals of gay or bi characters discovering/experiencing the first or second or third pangs of love. The actors aren't fully committed to BEING the characters they're assigned, they're play-acting and it shows. The girls don't want to suspend disbelief or make any of the other usual psychological adjustments required to successfully absorb a BL story as "real." They want to get off on watching mostly marginal acting from idols as they "pretend" (badly) to be gay for each other for a bit so they can squeal and touch themselves in response. The appeal is in their belief they are watching one or two of their beloved straight (not) idols pretend to be gay for each other for 20 minutes a week, not in immersing themselves in a gay love story.
Had you bothered to read other comments of mine above you'd know I have a lot of stage acting experience, decades worth. So don't presume to lecture me on theatre theory 101. "Pretending" was a reference to the bad acting and the assumption by the K-pop audience that they're watching straight boys pretending to be gay. The truth is, of course, that in most cases they are watching gay idols pretending to be gay boys in love. Get it? If not, save your response. You're likely too tightly wrapped around your precious presumptions and full of yourself to absorb my meaning anyway.
Your comment is a great example of how often talented, practiced writing is used in service of willfully-ignorant presumptions and wildly off-base conclusions. lol Though there is a masturbatory element to your writing too...as you write you're also busy getting off on your own powers of the keyboard. And since that vibe clearly shows itself, I guess you're writing isn't all that good after all.
The acting/direction is outstanding in its subtlety and attention to tiny details that convey huge things. That look over the shoulder toward us at the very end was the perfect ending.
LOVE.
9.5/10
The plot is basically everyone walking in on everyone else making out multiple times, but the most awkward thing about "Awkward Love" is the acting. lol
That said, the girl will lose out in love but at least, of the three, she has the best mustache.
Of course, I speak only for myself, and I'm American so the concept of a freaking "mannequin kiss" or "dead-fish kiss" was unknown to me when I discovered BLs about three years ago. I can't remember which I watched first, SOTUS or Love Sick, but when the first weird mannequin kiss in SOTUS occurred, and the camera went to long shot and began swirling around behind and above and below and whatever-anything to NOT show them direct-on-I was like "wtf is THIS?!" lol Truly, I was kind of freaked out. lol I think Love Sick kind of cut to fade at kissing moments. But having NEVER seen anything as awkward and obviously contrived as that first mannequin kiss in any U.S. film or series, gay or straight, it was quite an eye-opening experience. I didn't think much of SOTUS anyway, but I recall that that scene soured me on the series for good. I didn't yet know this was a common BL thing.
Wanted to drop in after seeing this comment to second the motion on Restart After Come Back Home. It is one my top 30 gay-themed films list. It's also a case of a small town being represented by both the good AND the bad aspects of that sort of environment, rather than everyone being portrayed as delightfully, if quirkily, good and wholesome and loving.
What puts me off about the no-kissing thing is that it's incredibly, nakedly homophobic as a directoral tactic when you're entire story is about GAY people. When cameras swirl away at the moment of a smooch and the actors lean in like mannequins, stiff as a board, it doesn't just put me off, it pisses me off. This is not something you see in straight romances. If you're going to make a gay story to make money, then show a gay story or f**k off.
I do NOT watch BLs for smooching alone, otherwise I would be plastered to every god-awful BL out of Thailand and I watch almost none of them. Hate them, in general. The so-called "NC" scenes, as so many MDLers call them, are usually laughable anyway.
I have a lot of stage acting experience but zero film experience so you are much more knowledgeable about the elements you mentioned above. I found both leads here appealing and after 40 minutes I'm not willing to throw in the towel. Actually I find the good ol' boy downright hot in a primal sort of way. He's not a pretty boy, which is refreshing. I find the mom amusing. There's already a lot of cliches and tropes, but given the name, that's what i expected. Two comments below this one is a post I left earlier this evening if you're interested in what I do or do not like about LT.
May write more tomorrow but for now I'll close by saying "Semantic Error" is one of my fave K-BLs, and "A Shoulder To Lean On" one of my least. Blueming is my preferred K-BL by a mile. Good acting, writing, direction, creative-even stylish-production, music, I was all in. LT is no Blueming. I'm curious to see if you have any "favorites" lists on your profile.
I do fear more and more Korean BLs, as we see more and more of them, are going to be doing "fluff" just like Thailand, as if we don't get enough of that crap in five new Thai shows per week already.
I was perusing up-coming K-BL descriptions today and one stars multiple members of yet ANOTHER K-Pop boy band. The K-Pop agencies have figured out lots of little girls like to watch cute little boys PRETENDING to be in love and no sex allowed, please. Yuck.
Love the creative, against-type casting. The 27 year-old looks 15 and the 20 year-old looks 35. The older has handsome/delicate features and the younger has handsome/strong features. He's a great example of just my type of Korean hottie: Not runway-pretty, but possessed of a sexual energy you can feel in the air. Even so, once YC said he was 20 I was able to believe it. He doesn't seem like a 30 year-old actor cast in a high school role as we see too often in Korean movies and series. Likewise, the actor is playing YS as sufficiently mature that I buy him as 27 even if he does look younger.
YC's mom is a stitch. lol
Love that YC is the first one picking up on that certain "feeling." :) Also thankful we're getting 40 minutes per week, not just 20. Had that been the case I was going to hold off and binge it. But I'm already enjoying this show so I won't be able to do that now.
Notes:
"Love Tractor." Sounds like something you might name your favorite sex toy.
Hilarious they actually went there at the beginning in regard to the stereotype of Koreans eating dogs. lol
Yes, YC is sweet in contrast to his stature, but at this point he's' coming off as a bit intellectually disabled. Which could be interesting, but I don't think that's what they're going for here.
I hope we see at least a few of the many DOWN sides of living in a tiny, rural community, as opposed to everything and everyone being kind, generous, and endlessly giving as we're clearly meant to believe. I grew up in a small town. Everyone thinks they know everyone's business, gossip is rampant and so is judgmentalism. I've always found people in large cities to be more welcoming than in small communities.
And if "jerk" rocks your world you need to get out more.
Consider that your refusal to admit a mistake and correct it with one click of the "spoiler" button is more than a little bit childish and immature as well.
"Stranger that I do not know" is a repetitive statement. Strangers are by definition people that we do not know. :)