jpny01

Wow, your review uintentionally managed to prove the point that the show has failed to do with the flurry of attacks from toxic fandom to your review. I'd be saddened, but the total lack of a sense of irony in the attacks is actually kind of hilarious.

I couldn't agree with you more - the show touched on a few themes in the first ep and then never went anywhere near them again and has presented a thoroughly conventional BL, bur more dull than usual.

Wow, if you were looking for a way to demonstrate toxic fandom, you've accomplished it. Have you even read the review? The reviewer's point is that the show only superficially touched on important themes and then went nowwhere wit them. What does that have to do with sexual stuff or rape? I've read it twice and found nothing that even suggests what you've written. I think you owe the reviewer an apology.

Has it occurred to you that the standard BL formula exploits and fetishizes m/m relationships to titilate women and ignores the pain, suffering and sacrifice that we endure for just being who we are? (Disclosure - I'm a gay man - I accidentally registered as female and can't change it.)

And you compound this by attacking sexuality, as if we shouldn't be allowed to show it, only pure non-physical love that you find unthreatening, as if my sexuality isn't an important part of who I am - which is apparently something that disgusts you as you brought it up despite the total lack of mention of the subject by the author, who was critiquing poor character development and shallowness of thematic material, not lack of sex.

The reviewer's point is that the themes you mention are given only lip-service and not really explored, and that's been borne out by the total absence of any of them in the last three episodes as the series as devolved into a standard BL that does many of the things it purported to critique. I thought Aey was pretending to like Sib to further his career, which was clever and interesting, but no, he really likes Sib, etc.

I'm just wondering if you still feel this way - I was excited when this started becasue I thought it would be a satire that explores the issues you mention - but then it just turned into a very conventional BL, and not a very interesting one e.g. it turns our Aey is not pretending to like Sib, he really does.

Just as an aside, the pornography-inspired intimate scenes in BL? I take it you don't watch pornography (not a criticism) because I think the intimate scenes are inspired by 19th c romance novels or 1950s films, with one or two exceptions like Tharntype. If you get lips touching in the last sceen of the last episode that passes for risque. I don't think BL is really about sexual relationships - it's more about "bromantic exclusivity."

If there's an issue to explore, it's the exploitation and fetishization of male/male relationships, which in real life exist in an oppressive context that is often not cute, but painful and requires great personal sacrifice and a struggle for equal rights and acceptance.

I'm so relieved to read this - I thought maybe I'd fallen into an alternate reality where I saw everything differently than everyone else. This not only seems like a conventional BL, but Gene seems to me to be a self-indulgent insertion of the writer into the BL as some sort of fantasy-fulfillment. There's the barest lip-service to themes like fan toxicity, but then it just returns to the same formula (although I have to admit the product placements are very meta and funny), with the same artificial seme/uke dynamic, all the same plot devices, without saying anything new about them or offering any critique. I just watched ep 4 and and it was a dull slog, so I think it was my last.

I was thinking Gene is going to have a heart attack when he uncovers it - that is not a cute dragon face, it's a scary dragon face.

I feel like I'm watching a different show than everyone else. Maybe I'm watching the cut verson and all the good scenes are in the full version? I don't see any chemistry between the leads, I don't like Gene at all, and I don't really understand what the premise of this is - it feels a little like a BL writer inserting herself into the story.

I thought it was going to be a satire, but other than the hilarious produt placements, there doesn't seem to be much. I'm glad they didn't do the standard vomit and forget everything that happened trope for drunk characters, altough they weren't able to pass on a pooping scene, which for some reason is a BL requirement.

This isn't bad or anything, but it's not makng me smile or anxious for the next episode, but everyone else seems to think it's one of the best BLs ever. To me it's "meh". The quality is high, for sure. Maybe it's the glacial pace of the plot. IDK. I think maybe it's just how unappealing a person Gene is to me.

Funny, I can't stand Gene - I actually loathe him. I have no idea why someone like Sib would be into a rude grump with no appealing qualities. How is Sib sleazy? He could easily have taken advantage of Gene and he wasn't even tempted to.

Daily Motion has it.

Que is a tough one to like, although I think the actor has done a good job. You don't quite hate him, but he's too stupid and weak to really like. He should have been able to take courage from Tae's example.

Another point in favor is the lack of tropes - the only one I've noticed was at the end of ep 1 when Tae was fastinging NIte's seatbelt and the ep freeze-framed with their faces too close together. But then at the beginning of Ep 2 Tae just fastened the belt and sat back with no super-long paise & stare. If this were the standard formula, there would be some manupulative goddess popping up to sabotage everything because Nite is her ex and she wants him back.

Also, Tae has tripped and fallen like 18 times, and not once did someone catch him leaving their faces too close together and they stare until the seme turns gay.

Which leads to my final point in favor: absolutely zero seme/uke dynamic. Just two guys, not a guy and a 19th c. 12-year old virgin girl with a boy (required to be younger and shorter than his OTL) dropped in her role.

I think you're probably right - Nite 1 did a decent job when he was falling in love with Tae - and it may just be that he has no acting experience so he needed some time to grow into the role. In any case, I'm more invested in Nite 1 than Nite 2, but as long as Tae is involved, I'm happy, and it's not like Nite 2 is a downgrade or anything.

It's kind of unavoidable - epecially shooting during COVID. Plus, they needed bright weather for all the beach scenes, so they may have had to wait for it.

2gether only worked before they got 2gether - the mildly antagonistic relationship worked, but the total lack of chemistry between them and the story going off the rails killed it. I enjoyed the first 6 eps, then I couldn't believe how bad the rest was.

His hair is longer, and all the earlier eps took place at night or on overcast days. It may just be the sunlight making him look lighter. In any case, I defintely don't mind the showing off his body thing. I was rewatching ep 1 and they were painting Que as the super-hot guy, and Bhu kept calliing Tae too skinny. I was thinking "Hunh? Are we all seeing the same thing, here?" That beauty mark kills me.

That was so damn cute! Who could say no to Win-win? And who wouldn't ask Loser?

This was so good! I'm not sure I understand comments about something not being well-developed. Yeah, it's a short. I thought they did a fantstic job giving us two realized characters in such a short period.

Although I'll join the chorus and say I would love to see this as a full series. :)

Of the three, the acting was probably weakest on this one, except for the little guy, who was great. I suspect this is rated so low because BL audiences are shocked that the boys are not sculped, perfect, and beautiful as is the norm - but in general the acting in this series was above average.

Why is everyone giving these such low ratings? They're so cute! Rain is a Freshman, so he's what, 14? Of course he's an idiot. It was pretty brave to confron Storm like that.

This is a disappointing misuse of fine actors. Kaleb isn't just decent or pretty good, he's extremely good - I really deeply feel his despair and depression. And we already knew Enzo is good, but the script he has to work with here - yikes. Plus, I know sound is hard to get right, but you can get it a little righter than this.

Anyway, it's all moot since it looks like they've stopped providing subtitles. I hope Kaleb can get a better job, because I'd love to see more of him.

OK, so this is unusual - this show gets worse every episode instead of better. I still don't know who Zander is or why I should care, but I haven't seen someone die of grief since 19th c opera.

It's too bad, because the leads had good chemistry, but we've strayed into rather excessive melodrama with rather excessively loud dramatic music over... what exactly? What is the theme here? If you love someone, confess your love and DIE. Or, don't confess your love even though it's clear you're into each other and leave town and become an alcoholic? Wouldn't it just be easier to have a conversation? Aren't these two people who have known each other their whole lives?

This hasn't moved since that hot dream sequence - it's centered on a separate character and his sidekick, who has now had more screen time and dialogue than either of the leads. I guess since there's only one episode left I might as well watch it, but someone needs to sit down with the production staff and have a conversation.

I totally get it. I think Nite I was directed to act flat, because a couple of time something has come through that's more than that.

I think Tae's "it" (which he definitely has) might be that he's naturally athletic (as opposed to gym-pumped) and the way he moves and behaves is effortlessly confident without being cocky, and he's super-polite and shy as well. Aslo in the kiss scene with Nite I, he violated the uke trope by grabbing Nite like he owned him and took what he wanted, which was unexpected and *fans self* hot. I think that's another thing - the characters aren't stuffed into little trope boxes and are individual and unique. There hasn't been a main character like Tae before, nor a female lead like Nam, and I really have no idea what will happen, which draws me in.

Even in the best BLs, like 1000 Stars, since I already know what will happen, I end up dreading the parts of the formula that are upcoming, like you know the mains are going to have a serious fight next episode because it's Ep 8, so I'm not looking forward to watching it. Here I'm not sure if Nite II is really Nite I, is a passing diversion, or is Tae's endgame. Or even none of the above.