jpny01

The reason I say that is that after all the staring, the main couple never got together, and in fact had a violent break up, which is an achievement if you're not together. Meanwhile, the straight couple sailed smoothly into a relationship. If you market something as a BL story, then one expects BL. The scenes from this week's ep featured a cute head-on-the-shoulder moment for Aek & Aue. But, it was actually just an ad and didn't feature in the story. That's more or less the definition of queer-baiting, isn't it? And if you have a "BL" series, but the only people who get together are straight, what is the message that's sending? Especially when sexual assault is involved in the gay story - Aue wasn't getting what he wanted so he decided to take it by force - that's a dangerous representation that reinforces the homophobic idea that gays are predatory.

There's nothing wrong with making us wait for the couple to get together -that's a standard writing tactic in any genre and increases the satisfaction when it does happen. But after all that slow pacing, for it to build up to a huge and physically violent falling out is too much. The way this was written, I don't really want them to get together - the're obviously poorly suited to each other - at the least the timing is wrong for them.

Haha, I can't read.

Yes, she's adorable - this should be a note to Thai BL that you can have wonderful female characters and it makes the series better. Or, you can have evil petty vengeful shrews which is misogynist and just annoys everyone. For some reason they always go with the latter.

Hey, the use of the movement from Tchaikovski's 6th Symphony in the play is significant - I'll put it in the Recent Discussions section

I'm more of an Ida person, but I can see what you see in him. I want to shake Hashimoto, but I want to hug Ida. Initially.

This is the same ol' BL story we've seen a million times with smal variations, but the execution is excellent. I wish BL would branch out a little, like one of them being an alien or something, instead of the inevitable school boys, one with messy hair, the other neat, with the same girl in every one - it's like an army of clones escaped from somewhere or something. Cherry Magic was a shock to me becaue the characters were in their 30s. I thought people in BLs were euthanized when they graduate from college. Although I have to say the drag Cindarella angle is both uber-cute and funny.

Anyway, I still enjoy this because it's so well done - I appreciate that Japan rarely has horrible and evil characters with petty motives. I also like that the humor is clever and situational and not slapstick. This is sweet and a good antidote to the bleak facade that is our lives.

As I was saying above, the one thing that was a little odd with otherwise really well-thought out interaction overall, was that nobody had any questions at all about what it was like to be an actual god! You'd think if you had one living in your guest room that you'd be tad curious. Instead they were more anxious to have him dress more causally. But there is always an element of fantasy in BL, so I guess we learn to go with the flow.

It's because Aue is such a formidable person that it takes three to take him down. His endless sulking is so draining that they need to operate as a tag team to get close enough to him to strike without falling into comas.

There's a saying that you lose your story 3 times. To the director, the producer, and the editor. The only way to get a story to be how you want is to produce it yourself. Which lead to LBC2 and TT2. So maybe sometimes it's better if it's not just one person's vision - and remember what happened when the writer put her foot down for KinnPorche... most of the novels are full of noncon and other things BL audiences don't much care for, too.

But I still agree with you - if you're going to make a totally different story, then why base it on anything in the first place? It's not like this is a famous novel that you can get marketing mileage out of.

Thank you! I liked that people had resaonable discussions about interpersonal issues instead of sulking somewhere while sappy ballades played to long flashback sequences of great times spent together. The series got torpedoed a bit by COVID, but they did their best to finish it, and it was a good effort. I don't necessarily need there to be no characters behaving badly, but it's nice to see them behave like people, and there can't be enough praise for having a strong and non-spiteful-evil female character. She wasn't treated well, but she understood why and was mature enough to talk it out and move on.

Nobody is asking for sex scenes. I could just as well say, "Why don't you do yourself a favor and go watch children's cartoons if you're so put off by physical love?" (that's a comically exaggerated parallel, but that's what it feels like when people reduce objections to bad writing to being a desire for sex.) The problem everyone has is the story makes no sense, is full of unnecessary drama and characters, and isn't focusing on the main relationship of the story or even the cooking theme - it's just a mess of soap opera tropes. I'm waiting for Aek's evil twin to show up. Actually maybe that explains his sudden asshole behavior - he's tied up somewhere and that's actually his evil twin!

When you have the main couple break up before they even get together, it feels like they're avoiding same-sex romance that's in the source material, in favor of silly drama, and therefore feels like it's both queer-baiting and homophobic.

No - he didn't behave like that. This was all inserted to generate drama. I'm sure the writer is as disappointed as anyone else.

Everyone: I'm still clicking on this series to register a watch or two - I want to support a show that's trying something different, even if I have no desire to watch it - I would encourage everyone to do the same if you're dropping it. Whatever you want to say about it, at least it's not full of people in blue shorts or about Engineers!

Hmm. I'm not seeing the Check Out scene the same way - I'm not sure how it could be any more consensual than that - if nobody initiates sex, it will never happen, and they both drank an identical amount, and were dancing prior to sitting down and making out, and then were talking normally, so I don't see any impairment. Nine even asked Daonuea if he was OK twice.

Watching the J&J scene, it looks wholly consensual too - however, in this case, Jill was perfectly clear that he was not interested in a one-night stand, so Jack seduced him on false pretenses, not to mention what turned out to be the case later. I don't think that qualifies as assault, but it does make him a colossal asshole. That why I don't have any interest in a sequel and gave this a low rating - this situation is irredeemable due to the "twist", and all of it was so sudden and totally without setup that it made no narrative sense an was just a cheap trick.

For me, motives count. Nine is obviously really into Daonuea. Jack is obviously really into Jill, too, but due to the circumstances, he's still a scumbag, unless the guy at the door has a different definition of the word he used than I do.

Thanks - I couldn't find it before but I'll go check it out. I agree with you about the risks of alchohol, but I think these are not teens, and remember that half of sexual assaults don't involve alchohol - so every case has to be looked at individually. In adult life, I'd bet most sexual assaults don't involve alcohol However, I agree that there's a concern if Jill said "no" unless there's a specifically mitigating context. If someone says "no", the other person should obtain clarification, especially if he's twice the size like that.

Some studies show that the perpetrator is more often than the victim the one who's been drinking heavily, which is interesting. In BL, it's always the uke who is drunk, which I think is homophobic. A man can't be seen to be seeking to be penetrated, so he has to be forced or to do it under the influence. That's why BLs often depict rape or assault as less objectionable than being a hungry bottom. Women in Asian dramas are often treated the same way.

It depends on who Ninghei is - if it's Zee, it seems like he might feel as if he's being oppressed by being forced to marry a... really cute guy? Such a hardship. Although I'd rather marry Max.

The ending was a real disappointment. Jack's change in behavior was to abrupt and the reasons for it not set up in the story at all, and the final 10 seconds were illogical. Why would Jack have told the person on the phone to come get him and then lie about who it was, if Jill was going to have to answer the door? He would have just left and been picked up elsewhere, but then we wouldn't have had the cliffhanger that the writer wanted.

Also, cliffhangers suck, unless you've already made the sequel or can guarantee it will be made. Unfortunately, I have no interest in the resolution - this is not a couple that should be together. Jack is a dick, and Jill is too immature, insecure, and pathetic & clingy.

The production quality was high throughout the series, though.

What is Ep 0? Is that a typo? There was nothing even the slight bit dubcon in this series, unless I missed someting, Having a drink does NOT mean you can't consent. Being non-responsively blasted does. They were having sex while ascending a staircase. If you can find me a black-out drunk who can do that, let me know.

I wouldn't say it was a personality transplant so much as reality intruding to burst a bubble. It made sense, but it was so totally unprepared that it might has well have been a personality transplant. I'm disappointed - this series has some good qualities but was really let down by the ending, And the misunderstanding of what the word "vegan" means.

Aek called V-Phob, and went to V-phob's place because he's hot, and wouldn't you? But seriously, he was probably too embarrassed to face his roommate and didn't want to go there.

I was getting, um heated in that scene with the three of them. I would do just about anything to see that happen. But it won't. Once on pair have kissed, the Victorian Era returns and nothing else can ever happen.

Right, but that still means he needs to get a visa, get all his shots, get a plane ticket, pack, get his life in order, etc. in 1 week (!)