Honglou Meng

Yeah, the hypocrisy of people who shout: "Don't be negative, you arsehole", never fails to amuse me.

Time was, you could even interact with a 'negative' comment, and either persuade them or be persuaded. I long for those.

What a nice message to wake up to! And yes, I have read that review too -- it's brilliant, isn't it? One of my favourites! It actually inspired another review I myself wrote:

https://kisskh.at/profile/sasameyuki1950/review/397876

In fact, as you might have noticed, apart from one or two shows, none of my reviews are serious. They're all meant to make people laugh, and when they do, I'm delighted. :)

You're so kind, oddsare, seeing the best in everything. The complete opposite of me: the cynic's cynic.

Lol. I didn't realise my dictionary had such predictive power. :) Your comment alone hits, what, four entries?

They really should hire me in Thai BL Land. I'd get to be around hot men too.

Don't forget, they get fever from a single drop of rain, and get drunk from a single drop of beer. Both require extensive towel baths with impeccable make-up, and not a strand of hair out of place, for improvement.

Band-aids are one thing. It's the orange q-tips gently grazing a painted-on wound that I can't get over.

Change of leadership and/or sponsorship, I imagine. The person who runs the front page clearly only wants to write about straight KDramas, and didn't even cover Love In The Big City when it was released -- so there's clearly something going on there.

Can I ask, how many of my dictionary entries came to pass? Did I predict them well?

MDL has, I've been told, a semi-official policy of not "promoting" LGBT content. Some say it has something to do with the (conservative) sponsors. Some say it has something to do with the administrators. I had once emailed everyone on the website myself, to no avail. Then, a former moderator told me that it was just pure, virulent homophobia, even though, after KDramas, BLs are the largest drivers of traffic to this website.

Your last paragraph: well said!

To write something is not to endorse it. To show something is not to agree with it. To watch something is not to be complicit.

Oh, thank you! :)

Absolutely. I can smell the Chlorox already.

This is so sweet. Thank you! ❤️

Here is a telling question I always ask myself. If the uke in question -- Suzume in this case -- were the lead in a straight drama, would people accept it? Would people still find it cute? I doubt it. In fact, such a thing does not exist. (There may be rare exceptions, but otherwise no.) Yet how often do ukes exist in BL who fall ill from a single drop of rain?

Also, isn't a straight person suppressing gay people's voices/opinions the definition of homophobia?

Again, very well said! What I find most baffling is that gay men like me are actually on women's side. We are saying, often, BL is extremely sexist. I make this serious point in an otherwise light-hearted review:

https://kisskh.at/profile/sasameyuki1950/review/432550

But look at the comments below.

I *love* BLs, but there are certain tropes that are no longer tolerable for me. They seem to me as homophobic as they are sexist -- and neither is necessary to put together a good show. (Gelboys comes to mind.) Is it so wrong to say this in an open forum without being pounced on like a puma?

Yes! I can't believe how many people think BL is feminist! I understand its origins in feminine desire to express sexuality differently, but if the aim was to avoid sexist or misogynist tropes, BL has failed at it spectacularly. And, in mostly pretending as if gay rights didn't happen, even in Japan, since the 60s, it has also failed at incorporating gay men's feelings into the equation. Fortunately, more of these conversations are happening, but it is a reminder of how far we have to go that it feels revolutionary when a character in a BL identifies as "gay", and when I read comments like above gate-keeping a genre from gay people, whose foundation is same-sex love.

It feels wrong to feel good about hating the same thing. But Bad Buddy is so universally praised that I'm glad I'm not alone. Now, if only I could find people who didn't like.... *thinking of a more popular show*.

Awww.... thank you so much! As long as you don't take the series too seriously, it is a lot of fun. And here and there, you find yourself genuinely caring about characters: but then along comes something to take you right out of it. :)

I really enjoyed this show, because I didn't take it at all seriously. But I'm glad to find another person who hated Bad Buddy. I thought I was so alone! Shakespeare would be turning in his grave.