jarabaa

All in all, I tend to agree with you!

The series has ended now, and I myself ended up feeling very disappointed. You're right about the uneven nature of the plotting overall and the extra characters who materialised and seemed to lead us nowhere. Also, I guess I particularly like slow in the format of slow burn - but eventually you need to see the burn. The flames of m/m passion blazing - slowly, by all means - but at some point we needed to witness the reality of how crazy these two men are about each other. And we saw nothing of the kind. Sad ...

I am a ridiculous old man ... but I love this series SO much that I actually re-watch the episodes. I do that very, very rarely otherwise. Something can be excellent, enchanting, powerful etc - yet once is enough. But here I savour everything to such a degree that it's a delight to watch an episode over again - and again - till the next one airs.

I've had something close to this before - with "Light On Me", "GameBoys", "Tale of a Thousand Stars", "Cherry Magic", "Like in the Movies", "The Untamed", "HIStory 3: Trapped", "I Told Sunset About You", "Make Our Days Count" (without or with final episode, I find I can't decide). Those are my front runners. I've had a rich man-loving life, so for me, thank God, beautiful romantic stories of love between two guys harmonise with my real experiences, and therefore are not to be dismissed as unrealistic or as fluff. So I especially enjoy[ed] those series I just named. However, as a rule my pleasure didn't go as far as re-watching anything. As a rule. I've not yet re-watched a whole series, but I've gone back to certain scenes in many of these series. And now that I've actually listed them, I think there are some I might re-watch very soon...

After that list I have some Runners-Up That Left a Warm Glow: ... let's see - "Dark Blue Kiss", "Manner of Death", "Be Loved in House: I Do", "He's Coming to Me", "SOTUS" 1 and 2, "My Engineer", "Where Your Eyes Linger", "Until We Meet Again", "We Best Love" 1 and 2, "Still 2gether", "TharnType", "Fish Upon the Sky", "Pornographer", "Mood Indigo", "Advance Bravely", "Oxygen", "Quaranthings", "Senjou no Bokura", "NightTime" . Phew! What a library of pleasurable viewing. Stories of love between men that I never ever dreamt of, never imagined myself watching on any screen, when I was a young man.

But there is something about Kieta Hatsukoi that is uniquely engaging. I find that I like, am intensely fond of, the 4 main characters - and seemingly the other supporting characters around them too. It's as though Yes, thank you, I'd like to meet them again, observe them in action and interaction one more time, see everything I just saw all over again - right now. As (I think) the ever-present Taylin and Rumpus say: let's go!

But ... I only find ep 1 and 2 there. 3? But no ep 4. Nothing. No ep 5. I give up. Such a pity...

What's wrong with ... slow? Please, I'd like someone who (let us say) took a dim view of this series to explain to me why slow is bad. And, in view of the comments here, that means: Always bad. Irremediably bad. Bad in such an overwhelming way that all others aspects are obliterated. Please elaborate: why is slow ... evil, detestable, ... BAD? I admit it - I sort of like slow.

I'm a bit tired of shibboleths like "hater", "toxic", "cringy", "creepy" etc. However, I wish you were right: I wish the negative comments up and down this page really were the considered and perceptive "critique" to which you refer. But honestly - that's not the case. I find here an abundance of negative remarks which completely lack the sort of argumentation which you (and I!) value. That means that no real "development" is possible. At the end of the day, all I know is that lots of people ... well, seemed to dislike this series intensely. And it's not, to my mind, enough in the way of argument to tell us it was "slow". Fine, I say, it was slow. But is slow a bad thing? If so, why? Is fast-paced always desirable, a necessity in every series? Why? If these points had been "argued", we'd have had real critique, real development. But instead we have a lot of put-downs that sound like ... hate.

I do not have access to any of those media. And yet I've noticed the same thing, purely by noting the numerous positive comments on YouTube.

I had exactly the same recollections in my mind...

So true. Too much fighting. I can watch zillions of films and videos etc showing me men beating each other up. It's not what I look for in BL. Sorry. I come here to see men romancing each other. As you say - "PLLLLLEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEE". Hope that's the right spelling!

I don't understand. First you say that he has been in various BL series which are marked by "extreme variations and different storytelling" - I agree - but then you seem to suggest that "redundancy and repetitive formula" are somehow characteristic of BL plots. Which is it? Extreme variations and different storytelling - or redundancy and repetition? My own view is that I am not aware of excessive "redundancy" or "repetitive" formulas in the world of BL - as compared to ... what? As compared to stories about heterosexual men? Well, I grew up with stories about straight guys - those are the stories that continue to dominate the airwaves and the screen day and night around the world, in fact, and I have always found them very ... unvaried and repetitious. Meanwhile, the whole BL output is in fact tiny, a fragment of 1% of all filmed drama. And I find it rather varied! I think of "Manner of Death", "Tale of a Thousand Stars", "Cherry Magic", "GameBoys", "Light On Me", "He's Coming to Me", "YYY", "The Untamed", "Country Boy", "Mood Indigo" and "The Yearbook" - and that's 11 shows altogether - and I find a lot of variety there, extreme diversity in fact, huge variation, all kinds of different storytelling techniques - wow! And BL is such a small sector and so new. I don't feel bothered by redundancy or repetition. BL hasn't even existed long enough for these to be an issue.

Thank you a million times over. Though I so wish this beautiful series had wider exposure in the world.

Absolutely. 100% "light and refreshing". Charming in the extreme. I'm loving it. This is what I crave!

OMG. I knew absolutely nothing, zero, about Kieta Hatsukoi. Until I saw it mentioned in your message right here. Thank you so much. Now I'm watching it - and of course I'm enchanted. Every scene is beautiful. I can't say the same of "Bad Buddy". But I'm hoping for the best. As for KH, it already IS the best ...

Exactly. Very interesting point. And you picked up on it. It's revealed by only one thing she says, and it's not that explicit. I was wondering if we're supposed to draw the conclusion that she's asexual. If she is, she's the first asexual character I remember encountering in any BL series. But I think Adachi is also ... well, he's approaching 30, he's very handsome, and he's a virgin - and that seems to be in line with the way he is and what he wants (or doesn't want). Yes, he falls in love with Kurosawa, and at the end of the series he and Kurosawa make love, meaning he's no longer a virgin, but sexual expression does not seem as though it's a necessary dimension of personal fulfilment for Adachi either - it's just something beautiful and unexpected that happens with Kurosawa.

Sorry, I'm a bit puzzled by the somewhat excessive praise of these actors' virtuous characters. First of all, I am increasingly uncomfortable with the universal acceptance that actors are going to be "ashamed" to appear in a BL series - OK, maybe this means many BL series, not just one. But the assumption, at any rate, seems to be that all actors (just in Thailand? or everywhere in the world?) are 100% heterosexual he-men who can reasonably and naturally be expected to be uncomfortable playing gay characters, kissing other male actors etc. Therefore, according to this line of reasoning, if an actor does NOT express discomfort (or worse) and is even willing to appear in more than one BL series, he is therefore very noble, very broad-minded, very "honorable".

Secondly, what is acting all about? It's about acting, that is pretending, adopting another character, impersonating someone - it's about not being yourself. That's what actors do. Including heterosexual actors - it's no different for them. In no other sector of drama or acting do we routinely thank and congratulate actors for playing characters who in some key way are unlike themselves, different. It's their job! Most professional actors are very keen to play roles which are not at all identical to their own real-life personalities; they genuinely want to appear as very different characters on screen and stage. They do not wish to be congratulated on the honorable nature of their achievement. It's their profession to play different roles - they're not pleased to be told that they're honorable or noble because they repeatedly conquer some sort of supposed disgust they must be feeling when they're playing gay characters.

Third, there are in fact plenty of out gay and bi men who are actors - yes, even in Thailand. And ... they sometimes play straight characters. Indeed, all the time. It's their bread and butter. And nobody, absolutely nobody, congratulates them. Nobody praises them as noble, honorable or virtuous if they play several straight characters in a row. Nobody thinks playing a straight character is so different and challenging for a gay actor that he must experience discomfort or feel ashamed.

The suggestion here is that we commend Nanon's extraordinary courage in taking on a BL role after achieving success in numerous, er ... straight roles. Well, who knows? Suppose the noble, heroic Nanon is actually ... gay! Then he has been all the more noble and heroic in taking on all those straight roles which he must have found so challenging and disgusting to play. But of course, I have no doubt Nanon is totally straight, has had hundreds of girlfriends etc - and he has certainly had a lot of roles over several years and seems to be a full-time professional actor. So now, in difficult times, when roles of all kinds are in short supply, filming and production are repeatedly hampered by Covid, and the happy reality is that a few Thai BL series have proved very successful far beyond Thailand and definitely helped to boost certain Thai actors' visibility, Nanon has chosen to go for a role in a BL series. Good for him. But I don't find this career choice notably virtuous or distinctively "honorable". I hope it goes well and he learns new things as an actor.

Finally, the world of standard, conventional straight parts isn't all that interesting, you know. I looked through the list of all those things Nanon has been in. He may well be ... very glad of a leading role in something as different as "Bad Buddy". I hope so. As for me, I'm getting sort of tired of all the fight scenes we've had in episode 1. THAT is the kind of truly boring material which all actors have to deal with in those innumerable "standard, conventional straight parts" which they have to play, and as a rule it's in blessedly short supply in BL, where we're allowed to to see guys kissing guys - rather than guys killing guys. But so far that's not the case here in BB.

So, like a few others here, notably solipsism5, rahab75 and vixenbynight72, I am enjoying this series and most definitely sticking with it - for all the good reasons those three contributors articulate below. I do feel an effort is being made in this series to reflect the lives of grown-up gay male characters, to say something about work and creativity, to depict a powerful love which is on the edge of tipping over into something rather obsessive, to show us the torment of ambivalence and uncertainty. And much else that's good.

But I hear the repeated criticisms advanced by people here who seem to be very disappointed by "Bite Me". And I feel no need to dismiss them as romantic fantasists in search of fluff or to tell them to stop watching if they don't like it. To the contrary, I hope they go on watching. Plus I think I hear two main lines of criticism: one addresses style, calling the series agonisingly slow and full of boring silences, and the other focuses on Aek, complaining that his behaviour is weirdly churlish and hostile, making him an increasingly disagreeable character. I think these are very valid lines of comment, however negative.

The more I study this series, the more I'd like to learn more about the training and background of director David Bigander, described on this site as "Swedish-Thai". ALL of the stylistic things that people hate (the seemingly slow dialogue and action, the laconic conversations, the long silences, the scenes of tortured people grappling with difficult emotions, the rather dark cinematic palette etc) are very characteristic of Swedish film and television material - for decades. VERY characteristic. They may not be typical of Thai BL, but they are at home in "Scandi noir", Bergman, etc. If the measured, subtle, rather quiet psychological approach which we seem to see in "Bite Me" is an expression of the director's Swedish-Thai identity, then I for one greatly look forward to more of this interesting fusion of styles and influences. Just an idea! (David Bigander, skulle du vilja kommentera min "teori"? David Bigander, would you like to comment on this ... "theory"?)

You know, I agree with you. And with solipsism5 and vixenbynight72. I ... think we are dealing with "complex and flawed characters" and "feasible motivations" delineated in the script. To be honest, I note that the director - new to "BL" - is half-Swedish, and I imagine he must have had some exposure to Sweden's cinematic and dramatic traditions (good grief, the whole world has been hooked on "Scandi noir" material for years now), and I honestly feel this is coming across in the (indeed) SLOWER action and dialogue, the camera shots, the use of silence, etc. I hope that's the case, David Bigander - I love it. Plus I love love LOVE the way you (rahab75) use "boggle" correctly as an intransitive verb!

I had a lot of fun watching it. Today, 28 October, out of the blue I suddenly found myself remembering Duean and Meen VERY fondly - and went back to rediscover some of their scenes - what a pleasure!

I entirely agree with you. But then you had to go and spoil it all by gratuitously telling people who have a different view to "please stop watching" and caricaturing them as insisting on a "straight up BL fantasy land". No, let them go on watching, for all the reasons that you so articulately outline. And if they find inconsistencies in the plotting which annoy them, well, that doesn't mean that they're demanding some sort of "BL fantasy land", straight up or otherwise; not at all.

Again and again and again, people who like a series tell others who are less enthusiastic "please stop watching". Why? The whole of this website is based on the exchange of critical views - meaning positive and negative, searching, analytical, observant etc efforts to comment on what we are ... watching. Sometimes I am put off by others' complaints, but I am not going to tell them to stop watching. Especially if, like you, I feel they should hang in there and keep on watching! And maybe some critics on this page have ideas as to how the plotting and writing could be improved, but I absolutely do not have the impression that they're calling for "fantasy land", In fact, their criticisms have some weight - and make me want to go on watching in hopes that certain things which come across as bewildering and incongruous will be explained and resolved in due course - which is what drama is all about,

I agree. I'm sticking with it,

Wow. He rather suddenly appears in a supporting role as a gorgeous, sexy chef (Viphob) in "Bite Me", and in real life he is a ... gorgeous, sexy chef - a.k.a. Chef Ping, one of Bangkok's leading hot (in every sense) young super-achiever geniuses in the kitchen.