labcat

I actually only meant to say that I find Tin's character is better written in LBC2 so far. Overall (as of Ep 2), the writing in LBC2 doesn't match up to LBC1.

I personally don't think the story is all that muddled though it can be a little confusing at first.

What I have understood from a YouTuber is that the story would have continued from LBC1 if Saint had been able to take part in LBC2. Apparently in the original book, Pete plays an important part in the continuation of the TinCan story from LBC1, so it is hard to continue from LBC1 without Saint. The writer then made a drastic (not necessarily wise) decision to restart the TinCan story.

I'm also thinking that it's extra confusing for international viewers (like me) because the publicity material (including the writer's clarifications) before the show started is largely in Thai, and we are less likely have seen the publicity material that would prepare us for what is happening even if it has been translated. I wish the production team had realized that someone plunging into Ep 1 without any preparation of how things have changed is going to be confused.

I'm not too sure if I want the Kengkla and Techno story developed further though. In LBC1, Techno was raped but made to think that he was the rapist (unless the writer has decided to change this too), but in LBC2, he briefly mentions enjoying the experience. That's just wrong.

I'm still ok with it if the story is more or less the same as Season 1 but the timing is shifted, and then the same story continues. I may not like it so much if the story is changed too much from Season 1.

Some people have said that they are disappointed after a long wait, but I think the long wait could be a factor for deciding to reboot TinCan. After so long, it's hard to decide whether to (1) just continue as though everyone knows the story, (2) use a lot of footage from Season 1 to recap, which might bore audiences who have more recently watched Season 1, (3) reshoot a lot of Season 1 scenes with the Season 1 timeline (which can be rather pointless) or (4) reboot the story and shift the entire story to the timeline after Season 1.

There is a strong indication, though, that what we love about TinCan in Season 1 are likely to happen, up to the point when Can tells Tin he doesn't like him. That's the only reason I can imagine for the opening scene in Season 2. It's almost like it has been put in to reassure us that the TinCan story we love is essentially the same, but the timing is shifted.

I like this Tin better. The personality is the same, but the writing is better so far.

The story has been rebooted. Imagine that the Ae/Pete story in Season 1 still stands and is continued somewhat in Season 2 while the Tin/Can story in Season 1 is now supposed to be ignored.

I think it's Because of You.

https://kisskh.at/54451-because-of-you

lol, the toothpaste! I'd actually forgotten a large part of the story until you mentioned the toothpaste. So maybe the toothpaste was something they did some justice to.

Thanks for commenting, Silente 08. Indeed, the idealization of high school or teenager years at the end was simplistic. It would have been really fine if had not been the type of series that cared much about critiquing the education system and what teens go through.

Yeah, I wouldn't say character development is awful. Pete's father is fairly consistent, and his mother is actually an interesting character. If only the time used for the fluff at the end had been spent on showing the change in her character better. I also didn't really get the change in June's mother, who seemed so creepy at first (June's sister, May, was more convincingly portrayed though).

That's sad. We hardly (if ever) get a good BL series that goes much beyond the usual campus setting, and I love it. I would love a Season 2 on WinTeam, but there''s something special about UWMA.

Were the fans complaining about flashbacks to the past lives or flashbacks of scenes that have already been shown?

I think the flashbacks to the past lives were generally good, never revealing too much to be uninteresting. But I guess people who watch more for BL are likely to prefer more focus on Dean and Pharm. But for me, the Dean/Pharm relationship already makes for really good BL, but the inclusion of Korn and In takes the series to a whole new level.

Exactly. I've no issues with sex scenes, but sometimes they can affect the whole mood. It all depends on the story.

Sotus will always be amongst the best BLs for me despite the lack of sex scenes. In fact, I can't imagine what it would be like if Arthit and Kongpop were to have sex scenes like in TharnType. On the other hand, TharnType would be very strange without some sex scenes. Then there's Why R U which has hot sex scenes which I'm not convinced do that much for the story (though I'm not complaining that they are there).

Unless the director, cinematographer and cast can all pull it off, it might be better without the sex scenes.

Wow, the Sarawat and Tine in the series so far are much better. Tine looks different in the series compared to this trailer. Much cuter.

That would totally make the ending worse than the infamous ending of Make Our Days Count. I have nothing against sad endings, but stories that are already 95% geared towards happy endings cant convincingly turn sad.

Yes, there's certainly something about In's relentless pursuit that was shown. I just wished there had been more to show how their love got so deep. With Dean/Pharm, it's much clearer that although what first drew them to each other was the connection from their past lives, they really loved each other in the present lives with their different persoalities. I guess the writers paid more attention to Dean/Pharm.

Thanks for the encouraging remarks, FreshKicks!

Thanks for the link!

The actors were really good. Yu Xigu's character seems especially hard to nail. But the actor gives off melancholic vibes even in the character's happiest moments, conveying his vulnerability really well, which makes me really want to see him with a happy ending. (I think it's the acting because the lookalike character in the final episode immediately seems like a different person, causing some viewers to suspect that the character has lost his memory at first.)

The ending reminds me of the Chinese film, Irresistible Love, in which the original bad ending has one of the characters dying in an accident too. (Apparently there are accusations of plagiarism from some other BL work though I see it more as a cliche.) If only MODC had an alternative happy ending like Irresistible Love....

Thanks, Aussie Guy!

I think you don't have an obligation to enjoy a show just because it happens to have messages you agree with at an intellectual level! It's like how I don't enjoy watching superhero movies and I can't change it even if I happen to find the messages they send out agreeable.

At the same time, you may enjoy many aspects of BL even if you find some instances of BL to be problematic in their portrayal of certain groups of people. I really enjoy Sotus for the love between the main characters even if I find the idea of two apparently straight men falling in love with each other without even questioning their heterosexuality (it seems) rather incredulous.

I think you are right that the audience base is now wider--BL subplots are introduced to shows like Kiss: The Series and even people who aren't particularly interested in BL may enjoy the stories unless they happen to be really homophobic. And the audiences aren't blind to prejudices in these shows. But BL will be enjoyable to fans even without some silly prejudices. I'm watching Until We Meet Again, and it has avoided the straight-guy BL couples and exaggerated effeminate stereotypes so far.

Lol, I can understand how you feel as a fan of conventional BL. It would be wonderful if the conventional BL had such positive messages too--it's not impossible to have unquestionably male/male gay couples that please BL fans while being positive about the rest of the people in the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

It's just that a lot of Thai BL have a tendency to feature protagonists who insist they aren't gay but just happen to be in love with another man. Tthat's is fine, if it's true, but sometimes I feel like the message is that being a "straight" man who falls in love with another man is somehow superior to being a gay man who falls in love with another man. I think this has changed since the days of Love Sick and SOTUS (two "straight" men fall in love with each other) as nowadays there seems to be more main couples with at least one self-professedly gay man (Pete in Love by Chance, Tharn in TharnType, Korn in Together with Me). In fact, we are also getting couples made up of two gay men like in He's Coming to Me, which is a really nice BL too.

Unfortunately, it's still common to see effeminate characters who exist to be denigrated for comic effect--it's almost as if it's fine to be gay as long as one conforms to certain expectations of masculinity. This makes me wonder if the media companies are just cynically going after the fujoshi and gay dollar without seriously giving a hoot about LGBTQ people in real life.

It's a debatable how much BL there is. Tangmo falls in love with Love when Love is in male form. At the end of the series, she doesn't transform back into a female because she uses her wish to save Tangmo instead. But she says she would try to win the tournament the following year and get her wish to transform back into a girl, and Tangmo indicates that he will love Love whether she is in male or female form. (She is at first hesitant to accept his love because she thinks he would not be able to accept it if she transforms into a girl.)

I would say the series is not BL for BL purists who just want to see male/male romance. However, the good news is that the message of the story isn't at all heteronormative like the drama where a guy falls in love with a girl dressed as a guy.

In fact, Love's transformation and her desire to transform back into a female is a metaphor for the experiences of transgender individuals. Transgender individuals' anxieties and need for acceptance are apparent in a scene where male-Love feels nervous about revealing to her mother that "he" is actually her daughter, and her mother says that she would accept her child regardless of the physical body. (I also think of the scenes where male-Love's friends are able to accept her after discovering that their so-called male buddy identifies as female and wants to become female.) To me, Love's persistence in wanting to transform back to a female isn't for the sake of making the Love/Tangmo couple a heterosexual couple but to illustrate what people with gender dysphoria undergo: being trapped in a body that differs from one's gender identity. I'm actually surprised that the makers of the series have managed to pull off such positive messages.

In short, this series is actually different from dramas where a guy falls in love with girl dressed as a boy (where the idea is basically "Phew! No one's gay or anything"). If this is your concern, you don't really have to worry about it.