jpny01

I'm OK with slow progression or I wouldn't watch any BL, LOL - I can't think of any BLs were the progression is NOT slow - and I do enjoy this series - my only point is that the weekly crises were starting to seem very similar. Slow is good, but static & repetitive is not.

The writer of this story chose to have the pair get together unusually early in this story, and that means that the way it moves has to be different than if that happened later - it's a cheap ploy if you keep having one character doubt they're actually together every episode, and it's also lazy, as there are many other potential problems to exploit. If a kitten jumps up on the table and steals your sausage, it's adorable. The 10th time he does it you want to tie him in a sack and throw him in the river.

Contrast that with 30sai made Dotei dato Mahotsukai ni Narerurashii where there was more variety in the crises (note that the English title is very short, as if they don't think we have the patience for a much longer [and much funnier] title), while still keeping the characters within character. That's why this ep felt fresher to me as the "crisis" was complicated by the intern's homophobia, which in turn led to movement in the relationship between Aoki and Ida.

Personally I like this series better - the latter series didn't really take advantage of the mind-reading schtik like the manga did, although that was a given as a lot of that wasn't exactly G-rated. But that's another point - the source material for most BLs is generally less G-rated than the live-action version, which add an edge that helps take the edge off the slow development.

But as a final point, the success of adapting anything to a different medium is just that - adaptation. The marketing reasons for the structure of the manga are irrelevant to a live action series - what doesn't work should be changed - that's even more true of adaptations from novels.

I think you're right. They're also doing something that's already been made twice - and it's a story written over 20 years ago (I think maybe that explains the casual violence, which is less acceptable today), so they really needed to hit it out of the park or do something new with the material. We're apparently not even getting any BL.

I meant it's really, really saved by directing and acting. The plot is not very interesting, although you make a good point that the dialog is sharp, so the scriptwriting is good too. It's my favorite that I can remember so far this year. Even the minor characters are well-acted - I thought Jimmy as Wai hit a home run this last ep.

Because it's GMMTV, I'm cringing in expectation of a great series being ruined by Ep 11 - I'm half expecting an evil ex-GF to drop out of the sky and ruin everthing but hopefully it will just be the parents, which obstacle th plot actually HAS set up adequately.

For the 2022 series, The Eclipse looks good and I'm intrigued by Be My Favorite and Vice Versa. I have zero interest in Star and Sky and My Class President, and the rest I'm neutral on - I like Earth a lot, but I want to see him in different pairings, not the same one three times.

It's all getting really formulaic at this point. I really wish people would write original screenplays instead of adapting mediocre novels - screenplays written with a visual medium in mind always seem to turn out better, like ITSAY. I will say that it's encouraging that they're using a lot of experienced actors for 2022 - that's a nice change. Hopefully Bad Buddy reinforces the wisdom of going that route.

Agreed, but it's a whole lot more inappropriate for him to be making homphobic slurs toward a student he knows is gay - his personal questions seemed mild in comparison. If he were working in an offsite tutoring center neither would be acceptable - maybe it's a slightly worse at school because it's a State institution.

Just out of curiosity, why does a total stranger's having a different opinion than yours ruin your enjoyment? And are you sure it ruins the enjoyment of people other than you (you said "ruin it for others")? I personally like to hear other people's opinions, especially when they're different than mine - if I only listen to people who feel exactly the way I do about everything than I learn nothing and become self-absorbed and narcissistic. Butthat's just me.

Also, which do you think is more "hateful": criticizing a piece of light entertainment like J100 did, or launching a personal attack on an actual human being like you did? It's been a while since I took an ethics or debate course, but I seem to remember that attacking people instead of their arguments is both ineffective and wrong.

And if you don't want to hear opinions that are different than yours, why are you frequenting a discussion forum? I could say "If you don't like it, don't read it and try not to ruin it for others." But I would never say that because it would be immature of me.

I completely agree with you - if you don't view BL through a BL lens, you really can't enjoy the genre. My sole real issue here is that the show was starting to feel like it was in a rut. The homophobic intern helped mix it up a little, and that was a nice way of helping Aoki get over at least some of his issues. I'm hoping that we don't hit the reset button yet again next episode and watch him hime have same set of OTT reactions to the same things.

Usually my issue in BL is not the fantasy element - it's the failure of characters to act like people. If I accept the premise that Aoki has the level of romantic development you'd expect in a 5 year old, I still want him to act like a real 16 year old dealing with those insecurities, rather than having him run in circles for 8 episodes. Likewise, I'm perfectly fine with one of the characters being deceased (this is the case quite often), but the live one at least needs to act like a real person dealing with that situation.

I don't think there's a big problem with this series - it was just becoming a bit less enjoyable to watch - I've had enough of Aoki's OTT insecurity about whether or not Ida likes him. That's been milked to death. Let's move on to OTT insecurities about being in the relationship now.

It's true, the two of them are more delicious than the desserts - which adds another irritant, that everyone in the series treats Singto like God's gift to lust even when he's standing right next to Lee & Pluem. On top of that, Punn is made out to be creepy, unlike Weir's strange (primary) schoolgirl flirting with straight men who have already said they're not interested, and, incidentally, who he works with. If Weir were straight and doing that with women, what would everyone be saying? At least Punn stops when women tell him to.

Maybe I'll watch for the hotness, but I gave up on this ep - who gets that violent because a man stopped boxing? He has time to stalk Krathing but somehow hasn't heard about his injury, which occurred in a very public match?

I've always had a thing for Pluem, even in My Dear Loser, which I suffered through hoping something would happen (it didn't).

It's not actively awful, it's just completely lifeless. It might be possible to enjoy watching it if it were awful like So Much In Love, but this is just dull.

My patience was defitiely exhausted this ep. I was waiiting to see if adding Best to the cast helped, but it didn't. I think I'm getting burned out on BL, or at least Thai BL. Bad Buddy is working for me, but other than that,there's not much to look forward to.

I'm starting to find Thai BL unwatchable. The only one on right now that I can sit through is Bad Buddy, and even there "only" excellent acting and directing is saving it for me. The writing of all Thai BL so pedestrian and unskiilled that I don't know what people are thinking when they choose scripts - there are millions of talented writers in the world - can't they find one? Of all the upcoming GMM series, maybe The Eclipse is interesting? Certainly not Don't Say No to 1,000 Stars (or as they call it, Star and Sky).

The Philippines is hit and miss - they range from very high high to very low low, with Japan taking the prize for me for consistent quality, and Vietnam gets an honorable mention for intelligent humor. I won't watch a Chinese series censored down from BL to bromance - I'll wait until Xi dies and someone reasonable removes the ban.

Korea started off strong with WYEL and has been sliding since, HK has almost nothing (although it's all quite good), and Taiwan has come up with some great stuff, but seems to be taking a BL vacation - I hope they come back soon.

I might be in a bad mood or something. Fortunately I saved the latest ep of Kieta Hatsukoi for just such an emergency.

Totally agree - bad miscasting. Singto would have been better in any of the other roles. He'd probably be best as the owner. Although he was looking pretty good in Ep 3 with normal hair and a sexy open shirt. But still not gay conqueror territory.

I don't think the slap is OK, TBH, but it's not worse than Weir's extremely inappopriate sexual come-ons. He does it constantly, including to the boss, who has made it clear he's not interested. In the case of the slap, it was at least an honest reaction to someone carelessly hurting someone Punn cares about - in Weir's case he's doing something abusive that he knows is abusive in a calculating way. You're right that Pooh is an adult, but he clearly has some developmental disadvantage, so there is a moral differentce between toying with him vs. someone who can handle it.

For me a 7 is way too high - I find this profoundly unfunny. I guess there's ab audience for slapstick humor, but it's not for me.

I'm dropping this - it's just too unpleaseant to watch. This latest thing with the boxer coming in and punching everyone is just OTT. All the humor is infantile and slapstick, and there's a lot of serious miscasting. I have to take so many breaks watching this to get through it that I should just take the hint that it's not for me. TBH, I think this is the worst thing airing, and that's saying something.

The joke to me seems to be that Punn isn't the slightest bit creepy, but all the people calling him that are. Weir is easily the most creepy, but because everyone is gaga over Singto, they don't seem to have a problem with his creepiness, and Krathing is weirdly sleeping in a bakery instead of just asking for permission or help. The bakery would be shut down by the health department if they found out - it's not cool.

I agree about the scooby gang - it's a bit silly. Not to mention everyone encouraging a woman to actively pursue a gay man, which is more or less sexual harassment, not to mention homophobic.

I disagree - I think Weir needed to be slapped a lot more. Leading on someone sweet and innocent like Pooh is like child molestation. Punn and Pooh are family, and Weir promised Punn his creepy gay conquerorness would not be an issue in the workplace, so Weir most definitely does owe Punn an explanation as to their "status". This is the workplace, not some social encounter - Punn is responsible and liable for anything that happens. Weir deserved to be fired, so he should consider himself lucky. A light slap on the face is technically assault - you don't actually have to touch someone to be guilty of assault (in common law - I'm not sure about Thai law), but it's not like he have him an injuring punch.

I suppose you're right. Also, the current generation seems to "get things going" much, much later than mine. I hit that age in the 1980s, when it was totally unacceptable to be gay, and I still got more action than this, with boys way more repressed (including myself), in a culture where boys aren't allowed to touch. Not to mention girls - I had a girlfriend, and I did way more with her and I wasn't even interested. At all.

But really, I don't so much mean the lack of experience as the childish way Aoki has of dealing with any awkwardness, like when Ida pulled his hand away. A tortured inner monologue would have been fine, but his bizarre outburst is even less mature in a Japanese context than it would be most other places. Even then, I get that it's comedy, it's just that we're on Ep 8 and there's no progression - I'd like a character arc and not just running in circles at full speed.

I agree on both your conclusions, although I really liked Neo's storyline in FUTS. I don't dislike Phuwin, but I didn't feel much chemistry between the two. Maybe this time it will work better, and it's always nice to see Chimon.

I've been absolutely loving this series, but this ep I got really tired of the primary school antics. IF the idea of holding hands is that terrifying, then they're too young to date. Maybe things have changed, but we went way, way beyond that in primary school and it's a little ridiculous in a high school student. Maybe it's made worse because they actors are adults.

They said he's a college student intern, not a TA, but I'm not sure how either would be creepy. They weren't talking about anything beyond 3rd grade level. This way saves them the expense of having to get another location to shoot at. Also, the TA is so gorgeous if he wanted to talk about detailed analysis of poop I'd be on board. If he weren't a bigot like that.