Honglou Meng

Thank you! :)

Thank you so much! It was lovely to wake up to this. :)

I completely understand the appeal of certain shows when you're down. And I can see the appeal of TMS at that point too. I quite liked most of it. My first ever proper BL was KinnPorsche, and I saw it in the middle of a very bad period, and so, I became excessively fond of it. But if I were to see it now, I'd give it 6/10 at best.

I haven't enjoyed any of the shows done by this writer/director. They all have some potential -- but her artistic pretensions ruin them. I really liked the first half of Where Your Eyes Linger, but the last two episodes, replete with time jump and that pathetic non-kiss, was an absolute mess. I still cannot tell you what Blueming was about -- the original is supposed to be funny, this was not. It was a joyless, charmless concoction, with very little on its mind, and only the saving grace of a good kiss. I must confess, I loathed TMS2. It nearly made me quit BL forever. There is a tendency among BL audience to romanticise gay men's pain in the name of "angst", and get off on it, and it deeply upsets me. (I know you're not such a person, of course.) TMS2 is the prime example. Suffering can be real, and an organic part of a story. Here, it existed only in order to keep the characters apart, and to torture them, so that they can be brought together in the end for the audience. Otherwise, I struggle to explain the rapid reconciliation in the last episode. Sigh. Since then, I deeply distrust anything this person puts out, and have refused to watch Taekwondo as a result.

I haven't been watching much of late due to an acute family crisis. But hoping to in the new year! How about you? Should I add anything to my list?

Lol. Which last line? And why? Colour me curious.

Now I'm curious. What did you think of TMS2?

Oh, poor you! This is why I don't do "challenges" -- though watching this, by itself, is the definition of a challenge. To call Taishin autistic is to insult people with autism -- who are often extremely intelligent. Taishin's just so dense that even light would bend around him. The whole show can be summarised as:

"I am a thick weirdo who followed you to your university because you gave me a pat on my head when my cat died."
"Sure, Jan."
"Eh?"
"You're an idiot."
"Eh?"
"Shall we walk?"
"Eh?"
"Shall we talk?"
"Eh?"
"Shall we kiss?"
"Eh?"
"Shall we be boyfriends?"
"Eh?"
"Should I even give a fuck anymore?"
"What's a fuck?"

Sigh.

❤️

Lol. Hell, I'll take a bad actor over a dead-fish look alike. At least it'll feel new!

Well, please report back to me with your Bingo scores! I'd be very curious!

Haha, very good! You win the internet today.

On HoS: please do, and then tell me whether I have done the show adequate justice in the review!

Guess what? I just achieved Bingo! On Ep. 5!

You'll definitely get there with Kieta Hatsukoi. Is Minato Shouji set in part in a school? I got bored after a few episodes and dropped it. And only JBL would say "no choice but to kiss" in the title, and still manage to not include a meaningful kiss. :)

You present an intriguing proposition. But the problem is, I'm not sure about the power dynamics of being a corrupt senpai, not least because the MDL church-mob will probably dox me to death.

However, if I get anywhere near this universe, I'll be buying Maya a one-way ticket to the Falkland Islands, and initiating a three way with Kouhei and Taichi. We'll have Domino's on speed-dial, which is all the food-porn we get, and if we look at each other without kissing, it's because it's a kink. No suki here, only koi, and we won't be coy about it. Throuple Endgame, and we'll flaunt it. And yes, I'll resort to every trick in the book! I don't know that it will be kakkoii, but it will be very umai for me. :) But I do love the idea of driving rifts... Hmmm. Maybe when I get bored with these two? (Which, mind you, by Ep. 4 or 5 of this series, I already was.)

Okay, I better stop now before a pearl-clutcher comes and accuses me of being vile.

You should absolutely watch House of Stars. I loved it!

Haha. Noeul was such a good sub. Bless his bottom heart.

Yeah, JBL insists on this insane fidelity to source material, which sets more store by appearance than talent, and reproduction than coherence. No sign of it changing anytime soon, alas!

Yes! I love a good bodice-ripper, unironically, but this is more along the lines of Jack the Ripper let loose on the original. It's not as if Japan cannot do heat. Mood Indigo, for instance. Why recreate this show if you're not even going to cast actors who want to make out? Urgh.

You have my permission and my blessing. Just report back to us/me which BL you have applied it to, and at which episode (if ever) you reach Bingo! I have a feeling I'm going to get there in the next episode for this one.

A sequel? Please make me deaf so that I don't have to hear about it! :)

I can live with this review -- or any of my reviews -- not being popular, *except* the one I wrote for House of Stars. It is the one I enjoyed writing the most... and the show is a camp masterpiece.

Ah, bless! It is only in Thai BLs that you can be buggered left, right, and centre, and still have not a strand of your hair fall out of place, nor your lipstick smudged. When my husband and I have sex, I insist he take off his contact lenses, so that he doesn't accidentally discover that I exist. So...

Yes, I don't generally support all the social media hysteria around "queer baiting". But Cherry Magic is genuine queer baiting. And Korean homophobia is on a whole other level...

On Kiss cubed, I only saw the BL ones. If I could have found the whole series, I would have. But, what can I say? BL fandom is just more organised!

Awww... I'm glad to make you laugh by tearing apart a show you loved! :) But then, I have been known to enjoy sights of crocodiles eating babies.

EDIT: I think I'm one of the few people who really didn't care for this show, because this remains my least popular review!

Hahaha. If you reach that level of pallor, be careful. Korea would lap you up! Perhaps we ought to be greatful. At least blood-letting is no longer considered sexy...