etoks21

Episode 2 and the silly cat and mouse game is wearing thin, as many here predicted it would. I've already gone from finding Akira's panicked reactions to any reference to love or intimacy hilarious in ep. 1 to eye-rollingly irritating in ep. 2. So i'm assuming/hoping these dumbass writers and director don't REALLY plan to milk this dynamic for 12 episodes. That would be insane.

There remains zero hint as to WHY Akira is so absurdly, freaking horrified at the thought of expressing his love for Shin, which he has already admitted to himself is what he feels. Is it some kind of past trauma? Is it intense, internalized homophobia? Is it a self-destructive impulse to sabotage relationships when people get too close? There has to be SOMETHING interesting going on, or this will just become more boring by the week.

It also already feels as if Akira is just torturing Shin and frankly, it's cruel. My preference would be for Shin to get sick of being treated like an old tin can when he is in fact a rare, gold-embossed porcelain teacup, and leave Akira in the dust for a while as he goes his own way. I'd love to see Shin aggressively pursued by some character yet to be introduced who would openly treasure the living doll that Shin is. Let Akira get a load of what THAT feels like and then come chasing after Shin. THAT would be entertaining.

But, oh god, there's probably more of that horrid, Funeral Director ex-teacher crush to come, blah blah blah. I'll keep tuning in but if this doesn't pick up steam and go somewhere I may drop. As much as I enjoy drinking in the sight of Akira's beautiful features, I can do that with online photos.

Needs more members.

🤣

And the fact you find it "upsetting" they ARE using 14 year-old teen actors, not "kids," to pretend to have sex and to kiss, just as many 14 year-old straight actors do, there may be something amiss with YOUR values and relationship with reality. I think there's some homophobia going on here in comments such as yours.

They are ACTORS. They are PRETENDING. They are not REALLY having sex. They are the same age. This is perfectly legal and moral. I'm sorry if it didn't happen for you, but by 14 many, maybe most kids have kissed someone.

Grow up. Oh, and stop watching this show that offends you so deeply. BTW, what are you doing here in comments on the page of a show you find morally reprehensible and presumably have dropped? Or have you really dropped it?

If you came to watch an "adult" show, and you if you are an emotionally MATURE adult, you wouldn't be obsessing over your horror at witnessing two 14 year-old actors pretending to have sex, like many 14 year-old gay boys IRL do. You are the one who needs to grow up,

BTW, I'm older than dirt. How old are you?

I've seen plenty of Asian funerals in Asian movies in which immediate families were devastated, caterwauling and incapable of doing much other than nodding their heads. I've seen Asian funerals in Asian films in which family physically attacked people they didn't want to be there, usually because they, fairly or not, somehow blamed that person for the death of their loved one. And now I've seen an Asian funeral in an Asian movie where the mother of an only child who died suddenly out of the blue is just as calm and collected as can be.

I did some quick online research. Weeping at funerals in Japan is completely acceptable, especially by family. However, there is no expectation that this will happen, nor is any disrespect inferred by attendees if family or friends do Not cry.

So...to me, the demeanor of the mother was like everything else in the flick, a CHOICE made by the writers/director. If we can agree on that, then where we differ is that I would like to know WHY she is so calm and collected. She didn't even tear up. We never saw her weep at home afterward either. Her voice on the phone trembled when she called to tell the BF, that was it.

Which is fine, I'm not saying this character HAD to cry at the funeral of her only child. But this specific character did NOT cry. Why? What made her so stoic. I'm not implying that she didn't love her son because she didn't cry but to see her clear-eyed and calm was notable.

Even if she believes in the journey of the spirit into another life, or in Heaven, or something else, she is still facing the sudden absence of the child she has raised and lived with since he was born. To me, the way she acted would make sense at the funeral of an extremely elderly parent who she knew was near death and the passing was expected.

If she's holding it together so she can acknowledge guests properly and doesn't want to make a spectacle, fine. Then show me she's exhausted and red-eyed from crying all night leading up to the funeral.

I am not trying convince you I'm "right," Maggi. Just explaining why her lack of emotion struck me as odd, or at least without any clear indication as to its source.

Finally, I've lost both parents, a very close cousin, and several aunts to whom I was very close and whom I adored. I felt differently at each one of those services. Sometimes I wept, sometimes not. Everyone reacts differently depending on their relationship to the deceased, whether or not the death was expected, as well as the time and place of the service.
My high school best friend's 21 year-old brother was shot to death in a tavern robbery the fall semester of his Senior year at KU here in Lawrence. His brother Scott and I were high school seniors. Todd and Scott's mother, who was an extremely stoic person who always had it together, was not hysterical but she fought tears through the entire service and burial and she looked like hell because she'd been weeping off and on for four or five days by then.

I would have thought Ryuto's mother had been weeping a lot too, though the Japanese hold their funerals almost immediately a day or two after the death. But nope.

OK, I rest my case. Quite a few things about this flick will just have to be some of the few things we disagree about overall in our Asian cinema adventures together.

You started this conversation when you chose to take offense where none was intended. Nobody would have known about your alleged depression except you if you hadn't made a dramatic announcement and complaint.

I like my basement with all the lights off.. Nice and cool.

Oh, about condoms...and again, perhaps this has to do with me being a gay man and observing the sex scenes from that perspective.
If, as a director, you are going to show sex scenes that are not explicit/porn but which leave nothing to the imagination as to what is going on, in sequence, from the first kiss to the climax, and your characters are using condoms, then you are going to HAVE to show that too. To me, it's silly to show lovely, well-acted simulated sex that looks entirely real but choose to leave out the condom part. Either they used them or they didn't, and there was never anything to indicate that they did.

This is especially true of the shower sex scene. Even gay men don't generally store condoms in their walk-in shower stall. Yet we see the characters go from scrubbing each other to kissing to fucking and cumming and there is no trip out to the bathroom cabinet or the bedroom to get a condom. So why would we assume they used one?

Finally, I have seen sex scenes with condoms in Asian films where it was well-staged and acted so that it did not seem like a condom-use PSA, which as you know, I loathe. As well-done as the Egoist sex scenes are, I see no way that condom use would credibly be excluded from our view if we were meant to infer it took place.

Hmmm...not for me.
After your reply above I realize that for me it failed as a romance AND as an exploration of coping with grief. oops.
The romance never felt whole to me. I was always suspicious Kosuke was up to something.
Kosuke had more screen time but Ryuto, as I've said, is the heart of the film and the most sympathetic character so when things went down as they did I was left with the half of the MC I cared less about.
Also felt the relationship development between Ryuto's mom and Kosuke was rushed.
Ryuto's mom's affect at his funeral and afterward was weird too. Why was she so unemotional? Her only child had just died without warning. She would have been devastated, but we see her cool as a cucumber. Kosuke's acting at the funeral was a highlight.
I don't dislike this film. I'll watch it again. But it could have been much better.

Thank you!

I agree with almost all of this except that I don't feel their relationship was fully developed/explained before BOOM it was no more. As a commenter above observed: it still felt transactional. And I'm annoyed at the lazy tropes used as major plot points here. I left you a long message about this flick where I expand on that.

Totally agree about the sex scenes. To me they were hot, stylish but also very realistic. Ditto that they were versatile with each other. You know I'm not a condom-Nazi, but it seemed odd that Ryuto apparently didn't bother using them with Kosuke given what his other job was.

Also, why did Ryuto stop being a personal trainer? We saw no other scene of him training any other "client," so the training didn't seem connected to his other line of work. Training would certainly beat washing dishes as a part-time job.

There's a lot to like here, but for me a lot to be disappointed in as well.

Glad I'm not the only one who was like wtf? about Ryota's demise. But good god, I've hit my head a lot harder than that numerous times and I'm still here. Even after your explanation, his death still feels like a lazy, Thailand-style, BL-trope more than it does something that feels authentic. I hear the writing team in a meeting: "OK, we need to kill off Ryota somehow...oh! I've got it, a head-bump early-on leads to an adored character dropping dead out-of-nowhere...hematoma, people!"

It brings to mind the absurd scene near the end of an otherwise very good BL, "Grey Rainbow," wherein half of the adorable MC drops dead after their wedding ceremony when they, their families and friends are all at peak levels of joy.

BL/Gay Flick cheap-shot city.

Could you please, briefly give me an idea of how you see Egoist and Dear Tenant as being of the "same genre?" I'm not saying they're not. It's that I also liked DT but it did not come to mind while watching Egoist. Plus, I recall some plot problems, in my view, with DT that put me off a little. Actually, same here, though for different reasons. THREE plot points were unimaginative tropes.

Ryohei actually convinced me that his affectations were in fact an authentic expression of who he is. I've known a lot of wealthy gay men in the arts who are far more performatively effeminate than Ryohei's character here.

I do agree the love story wasn't fleshed out before BOOM, it was over.

OK, HOW is it weird for 14 year-olds to kiss? In what way? Please be specific. This is the first time I think I've heard someone assert that adolescent or post-adolescent teens kissing each other is "weird" or wrong somehow, so I would like to understand your thinking on this.

This is not a 14 year-old kissing a 34 year-old. It's two teens consenting to kiss, which is as normal as it gets. Heck sometimes five year-olds get crushes and kiss. It's adorable, not weird.

I'm thinking you're Hi Def on good days. Your comments seem to come from a healthy perspective on your depression.

Another depression sufferer here, pretty much my entire life. From the content of your "poor me" comments here, seems it would be a good idea to talk to your shrink about trying some new meds. Or get a new shrink. Or both. Having depression is not your license to run around looking for things to pretend to be offended/hurt/triggered by, or maybe you want to be a professional depressed person and that's your thing. lol

Also, until you can handle it, stay off the Internet and in your basement where you can avoid, you know...LIFE.

KIDDING! I'm kidding! :D

Hi Geegee. Here we are again, almost alone on the page of a really fucked-up movie. Thing is, this time around I can honestly say I enjoyed the watch and have a lot of appreciation for the writer/director as well as all the actors. My tastes have definitely...changed in the two years since I tried to watch this first, and in the nearly three years since I discovered Asian cinema. And I have no desire to go back. lol

I agree about the older brother/actor. That guy had the toughest role in the movie. CONSTANTLY moving, jerking, vocalizing; and his portrayal felt completely authentic to me. I like that I never felt the characterization was demeaning or insulting to mentally disabled people. I actually felt his core sweetness/goodness and he did a lot of things that demonstrated his love for his brothers. So many little bits he did made me LOL.

I developed great empathy for all three brothers, despite some despicable actions by the two "normal" ones, especially regarding the retarded woman. Takes "caring for your brother" to a whole new level. I also found all three of them to be attractive, even the disabled guy. He had a devilishly handsome smile the few times we saw it.

So glad to see what became of that monstrous father. I would like to have learned what the disabled bro did with the dad's annoying little boyfriend. Any ideas?

This writer/director is some kind of genius. I'm going to try "Mother Is a Whore" next, which I tried to watch a couple years back but was so revolted by I dropped it about 25% of the way in. Who knows? I may love it now. :D

https://www.effedupmovies.com/father-is-a-dog-2010/

I guess I'm a sick fuck now. I really like this movie. You can watch at the link below this comment.

wtf? I am finding this show utterly charming.

To say the least, I am a fluff-hater. But if ever a fluffy show, as this appears to be to a large extent, is going to win my heart it just might be this one.

As always, if your leads have great chemistry and interesting, quirky, specific characterizations, a show can get away with a lot more than would otherwise be the case. Thing is, this seems to be, after two episodes at least, fluff WITH EDGES. Crispy fluff, perhaps, and that's why it's working.

Bu Xia is adorable, with those big puppy eyes and bumpy nose. He has charisma coming out his ears and an endearing likeability that makes me want to take care of him. Meanwhile Jiang Chi is pure, walking sex-on-a-stick with a hint of sneering arrogance that seems to be a facade concealing a soft-hearted sweetie, perhaps carrying some past baggage around.

So many little things that made me laugh out loud. BX's kiss to win the arm wrestling match. His eating broken chips off JC's chest and stomach as JC looks down with horror (and a hint of arousal? I half-expected the text book on his lap to be standing at full mast after the chip incident.

What's so great is BX does these things with apparent pure innocence. Neither the kiss nor the chips-eating seemed to be done in a deliberately sensual way, and yet those things WERE sensual...and JC feels that. This is some great, very fresh-feeling stuff. I find them delightful. I am even down with the ghost stuff, which would usually make my eyes roll out of their sockets. But the ghost thing is presented light-heartedly but is clearly going to be important. I don't know...it's a contrivance but I don't mind it.

The dorm room a mess and covered in Talismans, BX's shapely stick-legs in basketball tights, the wild variety of shameless goofy expressions he makes with his face, it all works for me. BX is the slapstick goofball but for some reason he's the one who turns me on, lol. Those tongue tricks of his could be put to good use.

This show leans heavily on the talents and quirks of its two leads for its heart, and that's a great thing. So many BLs, especially out of Thailand, feature cookie-cutter "types" instead of individual characters.

Very happy to have another seemingly good BL to watch along with Tokyo In April.

Bravo!