skaivri

I got your point. I was merely ranting my irritation at the nuances I've seen being repeated in BL over the 20 years since my first introduction to BL, so yeah i sounded off topic. Sorry.

I have watched Thai dramas for a long time and the Rape plot has always annoy the shit out if me. Like the hero would rape the heroin and she would forgive him later. I have always wondered about the logic behind such writing. Its not just thai dramas though i have seen this in english romance books as well and i always dump the drama/story after that. And when i began reading japanese yaoi...holy hell the amount of rape stories were enough to fill an ocean gulf. It was so annoying that i became super picky about what i read. I am also no fan of these bl series that use rape as plot device. The fact that they are written by women too...thats a bit mind boggling. I understand the cultural homophobia but its not like japan and thailand are china. I think if writers step up their games and humanize lgbt folks rather than help their society maintain the stigma, their main stream can someday adapt. Even we in the western hemisphere took our time getting lgbt on mainstream. And even then we still have plenty of homophobes around but we all got to start somewhere and who better than writers. Someday i would really like to see from asian countries believable life story/series, or good action/thriller, or goofy comedy, that centers on an lgbt couple, which doesnt include death, rape, ridicule...you know what we straight people are cattered to. The chinese really do have some of the best fantasy historical gay novels but damn those homophobes.

I dont follow social media so this is news to me. But why is there an anti Mew/Gulf group? Its just a tv show. I have never understood the obsession over made-up couples and fanservice since it's as fictional as a talking cat. Me, i obsess over an actor's talent. Its the person's art i'm interested in, not their personal life.

I've been into BL a long time. A veteran going back as far as the mangas Zetsuai and Fake. To see so many BL being made on TV and Movies nowadays is freaking awesome. However, with all the BL stuff I've seen, I've only been fascinated by so very few actors. Yes many are talented and handsome in their own ways, but I haven't particularly cared for a lot of them and most of the time I watch for the sake of just seeing what's new in the BL genre.

But this guy, Mew, since the moment I laid eyes on him in WTD, I was smitten by his presence. And really, WTD was crap. Not the series production, but I'm talking about the story. We can all agree to disagree if you're a fan of the WTD plot, but I personally believe the story to be crap. And the sequel was even worst because really, who cares about the main couple when Mew had already stolen the spotlight. Despite WTD being a plot-wreck though, Mew managed to entrance viewers with his talent, which says a lot about him. He is an enigma. Now I just wish to see him be cast in roles matching his age and maturity. I'd love to see him in more substantial story-lines. He's got too much to offer to be wasted in school-boys or cheating relationship plots. I hope this new year brings him more profound and diverse projects. Any production would be lucky to have him as their leading actor. And yes I'd like to see him play the villain too, I think he'd be so interesting to watch.

So on IMDB, the summary says this:

The story has been adapted from the classical novel of the same name, adapting the characters and events from the original story to life at the Red House in Taipei's Ximending area. The film avoids focusing on moral issues and in making any judgments. It displays an honest and natural depiction. It depicts gay life in Taipei and discovers a darker side to Taipei, as well as exploring despair, reincarnation and hope.


What I got was this:

WTF is this stupid crap. Whoever wrote that synop on IMDB clearly fails to mention how HORRIBLE the execution was. The story is adapted from a classical novel? Really, which part? Plot, What Plot? Characters? What Characters? The film avoids focusing on moral issues? Dude the film's camera avoids "Focus" period. Perhaps studio/producer/director, whoever shot this lazy horrible thing, "A darker side to Taipei", shouldn't really be taken that literally. The movie was shot so dark 80% of the time, I couldn't even tell one character from the other. I had to squint, and yeah that was me watching at the highest video-resolution. All I saw was nameless, lifeless naked torsos moving around.

Seriously, if anyone got the IMDB summary from watching this garbage, please let me know. I may have watched the wrong movie - though I highly doubted.

Overall: This film's editing is so horrible that 1star is way too kind for this crap. Zer0's the score here. My eyeballs hurt from trying to follow the dark moving jigsaw pictures. Please people, do yourself a favor and just go on to watch actual Gay Porn shot in good lighting. I guarantee actual Gay Porn avoids focusing on moral issues and in making judgments too and they make way more sense than this stupid film. :)

i get what you're saying but we can differ in that. also i said the drama was shallow, not loving robots. the plot wasnt very intetesting for me hence why i skipped thru. and yes humans are affected by our upbringing to believe, act and behave a certain way that differs from another human. but we arent so coded that we can't conciouslyand willingly alter our minds despite our predispositions. artificial intelligence on the other hand are built to serve a function for humans. the thought of AI becoming so sentient they can conciously change their own function makes really nice for fiction. in reality for such sentient being to even exist or have the ability to feel, there is always a genius human mind to create it. the notion of robots having free will to do anything other than their given function is something people like to romanticize about. but as i said to each their own. i have nothing against people who like stuff like this. i am aware this show is for entertainment. just sayin the plo isnt all that.

i know right. i hated when they add so much unnecessary context to side characters and their subplots. i have never been a big fan of subplots. i know i would definitely like a second season but with better storytelling and focus on the development of the main couple.

I really love SJS since his I'm Sorry I love You days but I've never been fascinated with his projects. Not because he can't act but because the dramas/films he picks always seemed lacking and he tends to stick with the same stereotypical roles. Even, A Company Man, his big action film felt short. I haven't seen Battleship Island though. I'll check this one out but I hope it won't turn into another one of his so-called action-really-gearing-towards-melodrama genre. I notice SJS tend to stick to those, them melodramas. I hate those the most cuz they are the longest dragging type of Kdramas with unnecessary runaround.

High reviews up there and I gave it my all until episode 25 but after that I gave up and skipped to the last thirty minutes of the drama. Glad to see I didn't miss out on anything. To me this drama was a major drag and boring as hell, and total mock-up of self-indulging idealism. Rather than have her fall in love with a human, the creators of this show thought it'd be fantastic to make her fall in love with her own ideology of what love should be in her head so basically, she loves metal and computing codes. The whole drama is pretty shallow. Honestly, I didn't get why people cried while watching this. Then again to each their own, I'm probably the only one who saw it this way. This reminds me of the American movie "HER" where the man fell in love with the automated voice. Blah. Overall this was a 4 rating for me. But that's just me. The only good thing this drama did for me was introduce me to Seo Kang Joon.

I'm liking the tension and angst in this drama so far. I hope it won't disappoint later on.

You mentioned Cliches...the ones I dislike most are the gender-bender, and the one girl in all guy school, or the one girl every guy likes. Really this is done to ocean level in Asian dramas that you've got to wonder what those female writers have missed out or been depraved of in their youth (yes most of them are women writers). Then again I'm much older so I find it annoying. Thus if you're younger you may find those more entertaining.

As best drama goes yeah quality wise Kdrama produce better ones. But if 'Best' here can be use to describe something other than quality, let's say genre, then which every country promotes diversity in genre has the upper lead.

Kdrama sits at the top for the best thriller/action dramas. But Kdrama's other genres of rom-com, romance, melodrama, historical, it's all pretty much on par with all the other countries. It's the same.

I've watched alot of Thai dramas too and they mostly get on my nerves due to the conventional redundancy themes in them. However Thailand has something I haven't seen in most Asian countries and that's 'Series', aimed at Slice-of-Life genre. The Thai series are less archaic and more open to expression real issues in life. I someday wish to see the Korean Industry have something like it...or may be they do and I'm just not aware of.

I just finished watching. This film's main focus was about the mother's grievance and acceptance of her son's accident as well as the life he hid from her, and the decisions a human being makes regarding patience, tolerance and love. The BL part was just a sub-theme, at least that's the gist I got. Though a good outlined emotional film, it's not something I'd care to watch again. It's dreary and slow. Also didn't get the ending and I'm not a big fan of these left-up to interpretation endings. The movie itself really has to be great for me to consider liking such endings.

we share the same thought. I really can't stand the damn chinese ban. They have so many great BL novels that we will never get to see the light of. Sad. Truly.

It's a hit if you're a die-hard Anne T. and Yadech fan, and don't expect much. It's a flop if you want a less cliché drama with more substance. So really it depends on the kind of person you are.

This drama to me fell short. I don't really understand the 10 score review above because the action scenes really weren't that great. The beginning scene with the princess shooting at bad guys up the snow mountain had me roll my eyes at how bad it was shot and edited. I studied film and editing so sometimes it's hard for me to turn a blind eye. In the decades that I've watched Thai Lakorn, I've come to accept that the Thai Lakorn industry won't excel in action scenes. Every time i watch a lakorn action scene, i feel like I'm watching home made videos or infomercial (there is those hard core action lakorn but those never get english subs so not like I've seen any of those past the five minute preview on youtube, Kinda sad really that those better actions wont ever get translated). So really, Thai Lakorn like Likit Ruk should stick with just creating good complex drama and leave the action to their film industry instead. Although I will give that historical Lakorn do better in action scenes...don't know maybe because it's more hands on fighting than gun shooting? Could be a censorship thing too with these Lakorn, like how they blurr liquor, which really do their dramas no justice.

The plot here was meh. It's a forgetful drama and I say this having watched Anne T. 's version from the 90s too. At least that version had more substance. Funny that she remade her own drama but took that out. I get that this remake is supposed to be more upbeat and modern but to me, all I felt while watching to the end was that this version had a sort of grandeur to it that was all visual and no depth. The nice shots of Switzerland is about the only positive thing here. Other than that Anne T. and her pair of writer and director must have watched one too many Atomic Blonde movies.

I've waited for this drama but so far, I'm really not crazy about it. It actually bores me. I hope things pick up soon else I'll just skip to the last episodes later. I at least what to see the ending.

hong sisters? Not familiar but I will probably give this a try when I have more time. Don't hurt to check it out, thanks.

From an award winning novel huh. Well the plot does sound more like a Slice-of-Life than the typical Thai-Soap. It looks interesting. Will check it out.

haha. Glad to see someone remembers.

I don't keep up with this series/movies but you've gotta give it to Exile. This is like a haven of EXILE members. Love Keita Machida, Takanori Iwata and Hiroomi Tosaka!