jpny01

Who are you referring to? Yoon & Lay haven't been on Y Destiny yet.

Nice to hear from you! It feels like the author was trying to lend the story "'cred'" by including (extremely mild) critiques of BL, while adhering strictly to the formula. The only deviation was that the "villain" slot was held by a complex and interesting character who wasn't really a villain, but he doesn't seem to have been appreciated by the audience.

In fact, this adheres to an earlier version of the BL formula including the internalized homophobia and an obligatory straight couple.

That would be amazing.

I don't think that's what the problem is. Because they made all the actors rich, there are no stakes. So what if Gene or Sib never work again? They can just chose which one of their mansions to hang out it and frolic together all they want. That completely undermined the point about how actors are treated. REAL BL actors are not rich and they need the money, so they have no choice but to go along. Gene & Sib can just flip everyone off and live happily ever after.

And also, the central conflict made no sense. All Gene and Sib had to do was lie low and not be seen together in public for four months. There was zero reason to break up. There was also zero reason for Sib to not tell Gene who he was from the beginning - Gene would have been thrilled to reconnect with him, and who turns down a hot guy living in your apartment that wants you?

Finally, SIb had no personality. Can you tell me what he interests are? Hobbies? His only characteristic was wanting Gene. In fact, Gene had almost no personality except being grumpy, nervous, and having writer's block. That's because Gene is the author inserting herself into the story to give herself her fantasy boyfriend. Sib only exists for that reason.

It's a tribute to Up that he made such a shallow characterization compelling. Bruce did the same with Aoey, who could have been a cardboard-cutout villain, but instead gave him layers of depth.

I really like your ID - it makes me smile every time I see it. And I agree with you.

Oh, yay! It's about time that poor guy got himself a man! Thanks for letting me know.

Yes - I thought Bruce was totally amazing as Aoey, Up did as well as anyone could with a character that, well, didn't really have one, and the production quality was certainly very high. It's just that if the central conflict makes absolutely no sense, it takes you completely out of the story and you're just thinking, "um, why don't you just lie low and don't be seen in public for 4 months?"

I don't think you're supposed to be cheering on Tum's sister, but I was thinking she needed to slap a few more people.

But I still think Kao is a mannequin that can talk. Not that I don't like looking at him or anything, but he gave the term 2D new meaning. Although to be fair it was partly the writing. Since he only existed to serve as the author's fantasy bf, she didn't bother to give him any characteristics other than wanting the author.

Actually UWMA itself was "borrowing" from Romeo & Juliet - but R&J are so archetypical that you can't really call it copying, since half of all romance since has borrowed liberally from it.

But because it was the same actor as in UWMA, it's definitely a call-back to UWMA - they even made fun of it a little, but yes, I noticed the shirt too - good eye! I really liked that movie - I've seen it more than once.

Why are we in a discussion forum if not to discuss? I'm not sure what you're issue is, but I'm not upset, I'm just giving my critique. Where did I say I was "betrayed"?

The shows depart from the novels quite frequently and at times radically. And they should. Or they should stop adapting bad novels and write original screenplays. The visual medium is totally different and what may work on the page doesn't in live action.

But sometimes they part with the source material in bad ways too, like making Torfun a huge part of 1,000 Stars when in the book she died, he got her heart, no more thinking about her. Or Oxygen added that awful doctor/fujoshi storyline.

James is with Ait. It looks like Marco & Bas will have something going in the future. This is only part of the story - it continues in S2.

I see some Marco/Bas action in there...

This looks really good. I don't mind that the production isn't as slick as a high-budget producction - as long as the writing and acting are good. The scene where that one guy says "have you been watching too many BL series?" was really funny. And then the other guy admits he got the idea from a BL series.

I had to put almost all of it on 2x (if there was such a thing as 4x I would have done that). Bruce did a great job in the crying scene, but it started to feel sadistic it went on so long. I don't get why people think there's chemistry - for me there was zero - in fact it usually looked like Gene hated being touched by Sib. I think people feel it because Kao is very, very attractive.

Also, it's a little weird Gene was fantasizing about being in bed with 9-year old Sib when he's had sex with 20-year old Sib. Or maybe a lot weird.

If it wasn't clear that Gene was the writer inserting herself into the story so she could have her dream man, they ACTUALLY inserted the actual writer into the story as Gene. And then they even ended it with sterotypical fantasies, although they get points for doing Romeo & Juliet and having both of them die.

Try Cherry Magic and The Man Who Defied the World of BL. Both are much better than this. I really liked Life Love on the Line, but some people didn't. If the beginning draws you in, you'll like it, so I would give it a try.

Japanese BLs are generally more coherently written with tighter and more concise plots, and a little less full of tropes, oddly enough, since they invented all of them. There's a level of creativity lacking in Thai BLs, like Life Love how the boys meet because they're both imagining they'll die if they fall off the line painted on the street (in a funny way, not scary).

I can give you specific reasons. The writing was poor with the characters behaving in bizarre ways and making decisions that made no sense - why break up? Just lay low, or put it on hold for four months. Gene had no agency in the story - he was just the writer inserting herself into the story with her fantasy man - if the last episode didn't make it clear enough, they actually ended with sterotypical fantasies, then had the actual writer in the show to literally insert herself as Gene. It was also painfully predictable.

There were no stakes. Gene and Sib are filthy rich - if neither of them were ever able to work again, they would still live lives of luxury doing whatever they wanted. So why care about any of this?

The editing was not good, with scenes dragging on forever. Tum, Tiffy, and Mork served no purpose and could have been left out.

The show pretended to address issues in the BL world, but with such shallowness as to be meaningless, and then made the story so formulaic that it really just reinforced the nature of BL.

WTF was that? This series was just pretending to be a critique of the BL culture, but it was really just a reinforcement of it, and as if it wasn't plain enouogh that the writer was inserting herself into the story as Gene as a self-indulgent fantasy, they had her ACTUALLY show up to insert herself into the story as Gene, and just to make triply sure it's clear, the ending was all about sterotypical fantasies.

The writing in this was terrible. Aoey was the only person who acted like a real human being. A damaged and complicated human being, but at least a realistic person. Gene made no sense and had almost no agency in the story.

The story itself made no sense. Just tell everyone the incomplete truth. Gene and Sib are childhood frriends who are very close. That explains why people "misunderstood" their relationship. All the drama was ridiculous and artificial. Why lie and say it was because of Tum? Any fan or reported can easily uncover the childhood angle, and then they're caught lying again. So there was a lie to cover up the truth which would have solved the problem.

And why break up? It was pointless and just manufactured. Just lay low. Gene in Sib could just reach into their giant bags of money and install a door between their apartments. Or they could commute from one of their family estates where they could live in privacy.

What was the point of Mork? Or Tum and Tiffy? None of these added anything to the story and just chewed up time. They could have replaced all of their screentime with Tum in the changing room trying on shirts (sorry, I have a one-track mind when it comes to that body on that boy).

I was enjoying some aspects of this series, but the last two episodes killed it for me. If the acting weren't so good I would rate this with What the Duck? Up, Bruce, & Kenji were fantastic - everyone else was good but not great, and I thought Kao was especially flat, but all he had to do is look pretty and be the writer's fantasy man, so I guess mission accomplished. The guy who played Gene's dad (Nu) seems to dominate anything he's in - you may remember he was the program head/gardening fanatic in 1,000 Stars.

That's not villainous. If it is, Sib is worse because Gene said no to him way, way more times and he still went hard-court press. Inviting Gene to a bar and propositioning him isn't villainous, especially as he was drunk out of his mind, and sainy he drugged the drink was not nice, but nobody was hurt because he didn't do it. If he had really done it, that would be horrible.

In the instagram, he was trying to tow the party line - he said that all of them get along together, but he was being bombarded by hundreds of people and he lost it. When did he say Gene had stolen Sib from him? Other people on the livestream were saying that, but Aoey didn't.

Nobody likes Bruce or Aoey - people have even called him a bad actor, even though he's probably the best of all of them.

Aoey is being played as a complicated character, not a 2D villain, but audiences have slotted him in the villain role, and so he could spend all day rescuing puppies and people would still condemn him. "What a fake- he's just doing that to build sympathy!" "I'll bed he drowns the puppies just for fun!"

Oh, you meant general racism - that's a different subject. I was strictly talking about entertainment & media where everyone sprays themselves until they're orange so they don't look pale. There is a lot of hypocricy for sure - everyone imitates Black style and music, and Black stars and athletes are venerated, but nobody wants to live in the same neighborhood. Homophobia is alive too, but more subtle - everyone wants the gays around, as long as they're totally de-sexed, and not in management positions.

That's actually a great point - there was nothing offensive in this, a real rarity. No screeching ladyboys pawing at every half-attractive man, so misogyny, no "I'm not gay, I only like________". And since he's a ghost, no tripping falling catching staring until they turn gay, not even the tired seme/uke dynamic - just two guys. One of them is dead, but that's not particularly unusual in BL.

Actually, it's a little less a problem in the West, where we start out pale as f@#$. Tans are considered attractive, because rich people have time to be out in the sun. It used to be the opposite - poor people were out in the sun (farming), but now they spend all their time in cubicles.

But I've noticed in BL audiences everyone swoons over pale guys like Sarawat in 2gether. He does nothing for me. I don't know why everyone doesn't love perfect golden Asian coloration - it's so beautiful. Why does everyone want to look like pasty imperialist oppressors?