etoks21

SLOW X WEIRD X BORING = LAME

I can appreciate the slow unfolding of an intriguing story if it's building toward something, but this is grinding its gears and going nowhere.

A ghost cannot disappear into thin air while acting sinister, and also sit out in the sunshine, eating lunch with friends and acting like a sorority girl. I don't think she's a ghost at all; the writers/director are just throwing weirdness in so it will seem like something, anything is happening. I was hoping Ryo HAD jumped off the roof, just so there would be an interesting event taking place.

And what's up with the unlocked roof door again, and no fencing up there? How many Japanese and Korean kids have to jump off their high school roofs for this particular school to get the message?

Why is that dumb girl, who saw Ryo mooning over Hikaro as he slept, deluding herself she has a chance? Why do Japanese high school kids make the "hmmm..." sound so often? It's subbed as "yeah," "yes," "OK," whatever, but it's really just "hmmm..."

The base problem, of course, is that the MLs are Jpop idols in the same boy band, and there's not a chance in hell their characters' fictional relationship is going to go gay and they'll be exploring each others' esophagus with their tongues. Which is, of course, why there is no dramatic tension here at all. We know the guys won't go gay cause they're idols, thus their characters won't go all-out gay either.

I have two hate-watches going right now, which is rare for me. I usually drop shows this annoying. So I guess the angst of disliking what I'm seeing somehow works for me. :)

I could even see Kaname/Sakae before Soga/Sakae. Kaname is a hoot, and a unique characterization.

To me, it's a casting problem. Chemistry cannot be "written" to exist between actors. It is either there or it isn't, and in this show it very much isn't, but the director went psycho and cast the Soga guy anyway. That, or he's his nephew or sleeping with him or something, am I right? :D

Because it's awful.

Thank god. Though I've no doubt there will be some miracle next week that saves their fake relationship.

If my browser allowed access to emojis, I would place several vomit-faces here in response to your comment.

Episode 9: Absurd.

All this for some f**king kitchen utensils? lol
That they would split over that is at least realistic in that their relationship isn't worth a fork or a knife anyway.
Soga is supposedly valued by his company, which already has a large branch office in Osaka where he is working. There is no reason in the world such a company would not arrange to keep a valuable employee and allow them to work from Osaka.
I mean, I'm glad this is happening, because they have no chemistry and every scene of supposed romantic ecstasy is painfully forced, but the story is insulting.
Funny how it's just gotten progressively worse, ep by ep.
Time for Mizuki to show back up, and bring some passion to this finale! Sakae will snap out of his masochistic desire to force a relationship with Soga, and all will end well
It was stupid that the ex-wife came from Tokyo to tell Soga what could easily have been conveyed on the phone. Writers wanted a face-to-face, dramatic situation but, due to bad dialogue and boring acting, there was none.
The entire, forced, cutesie, "making a long-distance work" montage was embarrassing.
When they kissed, I vomited a little in my throat.

Oh well, just one more episode of this to go, then I can say sayanara to this thing. I'm enjoying the hate-watch though.

lol An example of the terrible writing from which this series suffers.

Senior project? C-

and in 12 years the Senpai has made no serious attempt to contact the person he is all of a sudden trying to seduce while claiming to still love. Give me a break.

The assistant IS still pining for him, which IS his personal problem, but it's indicative of Senpai's sadistic nature that he keeps him around constantly wanting him, even though he knows it has to be causing the guy pain, because having him around slobbering over him feeds Senpais ego.

I don't really disagree with the rest of what you wrote. There ARE two sides to every story, or even three or four sides, but as we've seen, anyone hearing that Senpai is a player has reason to believe that's true, because he IS a player.

I like that he's an asshole because that makes for a deliciously transgressive story, but he is still an asshole. just look at how he manipulated Miyata into ending up at his place, drunk.

Oh good, then you'll be dropping the drama and I won't have to read your inane babblings, which include you writing about how you're above responding to people like me but then you respond to people like me in depth anyway. lol

I am so wounded and destroyed by your desperate, misdirection insults that I have no idea how I will go on living without your recognition and feedback. However, since you're dropping the series, I won't see any more comments from you here anyway, so that's good.

So you actually believe there aren't lots of films in which murderers get away with murder? I guess you've not seen many Korean crime thrillers. lol Normal people don't look to BLs and other dramas for their moral guidance. You might consider being like them.

Great thriller, much more so than usual for a Korean of the genre, because the friendship angle is so dominant and strong. I don't know what the hell some of the neg comments below are about, because I found the acting and the plot, except for a couple of facets I may just not have understood correctly, to be excellent.

Ju Ji Hoon is tremendous in this. His cry of despair/anguish/sorrow in one pivotal scene quite literally pulled the tears from my eye ducts; it felt that visceral.

Highly recommended. 9/10

wtf?

How was it toxic before Hyun Tae's mother's little scheme backfired on her and everyone else?

those ratings come out of god knows where on MDL. I think any rando can have an effect on the rating. They're all over the place here.

omg...lol. This is not a fucking church. Yes, that one scene strongly suggested the "relationship," whatever it is, is one-sided and more in her head than in reality. And for reasons having nothing to do with what we've seen so far, you've got him "cheating" on her already. You can't wait to get to the self-righteous outrage I mentioned above.

So, since you've already fantasized that he's going to cheat and that cheating "crosses a line" for you because you're so holy you can't even bear to watch actors pretend to cheat in a drama, I guess we can assume you've already dropped this show, as well you should.

MDLers like you ARE entertaining though. Do shows featuring murder and other crimes from kidnapping to embezzlement "glorify" those acts or simply acknowledge them as existing in reality? Or is it only romantic and sexual improprieties that upset you? Why is that? Do you think having an affair is worse than murdering someone?

I have watched countless films featuring murders, and have yet to kill anyone...go figure. Are your morals anchored so loosely that you're afraid if you see some infidelity here you might go fuck around behind your partner's back? lol

Again, you're shrieking about plot devices that haven't happened, and insulting other commenters ("maybe that's the kind of drama YOU enjoy...") over something that hasn't happened, after one episode.

I'm going to go ahead an suggest you will NOT drop this drama, even if the dude cheats on the girl AND the guy, and that you are all worked up about an imaginary character choice, because that is exactly what you are HOPING to see. Just go ahead and admit it, and enjoy the grey-area ride.

Also, I don't buy for a second you "appreciate morally grey characters." What you appreciate is the opportunity to screech from your church pulpit about the sexual sins you enjoy watching, which lets you have it both ways. You're titillated by the transgressive behavior and you get feelings in your secret places from waxing self-righteous in response. It's a double-whammy thrill-ride for you!!! :D

Just admit it, get on board, and let your freak-flag fly, baby.

Your simplistic, childish outburst here, all predicated on "cheating" that has occurred only in your head, is bizarre and also, hilarious. You are definitely an MDL Little Girl, regardless of your gender identity.

What are you talking about? When did that happen?

Besides, it's already clear he's not into her. I think her being his "girlfriend" is more in her head than in reality.

Also, if he really did cheat on her with the arrogant Senpai, wouldn't that make for an engrossing and fascinating plot development, rich with opportunities to feel self-righteous and outraged? If all characters ever did were right and proper things, dramas would be boring af.

I still say, if Iwanaga knows he "wants Miyata and will stop at nothing to get it," then where has he been for 12 years, other than boffing his now-assistant, and a lot of other people I'm sure?

I'm inclined, at this very early point in the story, to suspect Miyata did not turn up on that day for some reason having to do with information he received, accurate or not, indicating Iwanaga was not sincere in his affections and was playing him. Remember, during this first episode, we heard Miyata accuse him of that very thing at Iwanaga's apartment (where he had foolishly allowed himself to be manipulated into ending up in a drunken state) and at the restaurant, where he said something to the effect that Iwanaga liked to toy with people and their emotions, referring specifically to the assistant (but also to himself).

I think Miyata was told or saw or heard something way back then that led him to believe that's exactly what Iwanaga was doing to him. And from what we saw in this information-rich first episode, I would be inclined to think the same. I mean, look, why is Iwanaga keeping a former lover who clearly still pines for him around as an "assistant?" My spidey-senses tell me it's because he like toying with people and a fun way to do that is to keep someone in a constant state of frustrated desire toward him that stokes his ego?

And maybe you're a presumptuous twit.

What matters, actually, is how the actors LOOK onscreen, not their real age in the real world. A 20 year old actor who LOOKS 14 can play a 14 year old character, but wouldn't make sense as a 20 year old. This is not hard to understand. There are no cards on the screen saying "This actor is actually 25 but please pretend the character is 40, despite how they look."

I see what YOUR problem is; it's your inability to comprehend that what we see and hear on screen is ALL that matters, not what's in someone's bio.

Your whole comment is giving weirdo vibes. Or presumptuous twit vibes, perhaps both.

The old man comment had NOTHING to do with Senpai's "behavior." They were discussing his accomplishments and how he LOOKED on the cover of the magazine. Maybe you just haven't watched enough of anything to get the meaning of dialogue as written.

I've watched dozens of Jdramas. Did you know that each one is a different, separate show from the others?

The real-life age of an actor doesn't matter. What matters is how old the actor APPEARS to be. I stand by what I said: The 21-year-old looks younger than the 17-year-old.
A two-year age gap is not enough for the younger character to be snarking on the older's age in an editorial meeting.
You're right, they were calling him "Senpai" in high school, which is an upperclassman. I looked up one definition that equated "Senpai/Sensei" but that is incorrect.

I repeat, the emphasis on age difference from the 30-year-old is a bit of a stretch if "Senpai" is just two years older. In the editorial meeting, Akhiro said Senpai looked good "for his age." Bro, he's two years older than you...?

Whatever. It seems to be a good show.