solipsism5

I'm glad you liked it. I didn't want to sound too harsh there. It's still a fun show for me. Like some others have said, I wish they would have dropped more episodes every week.

I think it's pretty terrible. Being a gay person I feel doing that to someone for an extended time is just appalling. I think she shouldn't have forgiven him so easily. Why also wait 2 years to go seek him out? I'm sure she could have guessed he went to his home town pretty easily. Just sloppy writing all around. I say just delete it and we will all be happier. We already knew he had big flaws - this is just redundant and poorly written. It also wasted a whole episode that could have been used to move the relationship we all are interested in, between Shin and Minato, forward. Were you entertained this episode? I wasn't, to be honest.

One other thing, - the ex-girlfriend added nothing to the series. She's not even a rival for Shin which would have added drama even if it's a tired old trope. It would have been an improvement to delete her from the screenplay entirely. It just would have been better having Minato escaping his feelings from Sakuma working at the sweatshop so you could sympathize with him rather than hating him for being a creep who faked a relationship with a girl. It's a really slimy thing to do and really diminishes Minato's character, and he also leaves her without any explanation.

I like this drama, especially Shin, who continues to pursue Minato with a remarkable sincerity. Minato is still a muddy character to me, and he always has some new complication. He can't get over his dowdy old teacher, supposedly, and it seems he had a fake relationship with a woman at his former job. Maybe it's all related because Minato constantly runs from his feelings, I guess? Now he worked at a black company which in Japan is something akin to a sweatshop, but perhaps even worse. A black company usually humiliates its workers till they become totally subservient, and usually require massive unpaid overtime. In a place like this you can die due to overwork [Japanese call this karoshi], but the girlfriend just seems kind of blithe about still working there, and seems to have a happy-go-lucky attitude. And why did the black company turn around to become a "dark grey" company? I just want one line explaining that, like there was some investigation of some incident at his old company that caused them to turn around. I'm really not that fussy, but this drama seems so sloppy for a Japanese production. As someone else said below, when they talk about the architect Gaudi and just show pictures of Frank Gehry instead, and the inside of the wrong Guggenheim, I'm just wondering about how they are able to handle a complex character like Minato - my guess is that they are not, and his character is just made kind of ad hoc, with no attempt to unify his different character traits. I could be wrong about this, so don't start attacking me. I just find all the inattention to detail distracting.

I really love this couple and don't mind Kaneda's shyness at all. Having been around Japanese people this is not unusual behavior. They don't engage in PDA's, and have this sort of super gentle kindness while interacting with people they have an attraction for, sometimes leading to a kind of awkwardness. I feel it shows a sort of love full of affection rather than lust. I think they wrote the character of Kaneda with that in mind.

I agree the writing is not the best, including the unrealistic lack of communication for over a year. Perhaps Kaneda invited Yanase in at the spur of the moment and forgot to put away his calendar, and shrine offering, so I don't think that is as bad a mistake as the unexplained year long inability to text or call each other. It's still a very touching story for me, with a sweet, gentle couple that have some nice chemistry.

Thank you for the feedback, but I will also politely disagree. I'm not saying it should be a medical drama to explain his mind-frame, but it certainly is not believable that he doesn't understand basic facts about who he is in love with. This seems like just a fig-leaf explanation to create drama. The first point I made about how they carelessly make love in the laundromat, also shows a certain sloppiness, and probably is depictive of how they are sloppy in describing Minato's mental state. I don't want to go any further with this, but I am happy we have kept this a civil discussion. I am enjoying the drama overall, and am willing to wait for further elaborations/explanations regarding these issues we've been discussing.

That sounds plausible enough but this is simply not explained well enough for the viewer. What is his trauma? Maybe have a few minutes where this is explained like at a therapy session, or during some inner monologue. Why does it last for 10 years? That's a real debilitating psychological problem that prevents him from having any love life and should have been treated. It still doesn't explain, also, why he doesn't know whether he is in love with Shin, or Sakuma. I had a similar situation happen to myself, and I realized after a couple of years I was no longer in love with the person I had a crush on. Minato's psychological situation is just too muddy for me to accept. I definitely knew I was in love with a new person I started a relationship with. These things are just obvious. You would have to be suffering from some severe form of trauma for this not to be the case. I work in the mental health field so I just don't know of anything like that except a severe form of PTSD that initiates severe and very persistent delusional events. If he has PTSD I want to see these symptoms: paranoia, hypervigilence, interrupted sleep along with emotional numbing, affective constriction, detachment, estrangement from others, and derealization. The Japanese are usually good with details so I find the lack of any here to be too difficult to accept.

I like this show but there are a lot of distractions that make it difficult for me to really get into it. I don’t know why these guys are constantly making out in the laundromat when anyone could walk in on them at any moment. They probably can also be seen from outside easily enough, as well. This is Minato’s sole source of income, and he doesn’t need to jeopardize it by fooling around like a young teenager.

I don’t really believe that someone can not know that they are in love. Minato even keeps stating that he constantly thinks of Shin, so why doesn’t he know it? He should also not need to figure out whether he is in love with Grandma Sakuma – again, these are things that most human beings would know without having to delve so hard into it like Minato does. I knew when I was in love and when I wasn’t just like anyone else on this board would know.

Why is Minato so worried about the age gap? The age of consent in Japan is 13, the lowest in the developed world. I don't believe that there is any social stigma attached to people dating people that are a decade younger than themselves as Minato keeps saying [stating that he has to fight his morals in order to date Shin]. If this is such a problem why was he ok with dating Sakuma? Also Minato is not a pervert seeking only young men – it’s Shin that is going after him. This coy behavior on the part of Minato is wearing thin on my patience, and it's also not believable. He should take a lesson from the Jaapanese samurai that took on lovers as young as 14 [ok, not really recommending this, but you get my idea]. It’s just frustrating that there are so many distractions in a BL that has so many positives. I especially like Shin’s character, and how he pursues Minato so honestly and courageously. There’s such a nice contrast between him and the Victorian madame, Minato.

I can't get enough of this show. I wish they had a 100 episodes. I could watch Senpai and Kaneda having their sweet moments all day long. I don't even mind the distraction of Benji, because he'll just bring them closer together. Benji is an evil manipulator, and his character is a huge boulder thrown into the still waters of the Kaneda/Senpai relationship. But I think he will eventually sink to the bottom of the lake without having any long term effect.

That Ploy and Vee kissed in a public place - I should have mentioned that. It was even sillier for being done that way. They really took a lot of time to correct that. Ploy's being abused by Mon, and the build-up of Vee's sympathizing with her over the course of the whole episode finally led to that kiss, and, even then, it was forced upon him. It looks like someone really took the time to make this more believable, and most of us appreciate that.

I really don't mind the cliche's. You have to take every other part of the drama into consideration. I think Not Me was great for still attempting a lot of new things, including being set in the Law and Art faculties at the university. It felt like a real university and people were actually discussing ideas like the meaning of justice as related to monopolies and oligarchs in Thai society. Bad Buddy went into like an intense psychoanalysis of the main leads that was really unparalleled.

I think this drama is probably not original, but it at least doesn't get bogged down by phony miscommunication issues, repetitive scenes of abuse, etc. It is much more entertaining, as a whole, than most other BL's I've watched without being original.

This is a good remake of the original. I think it’s also way better than than the original novel. In the original book Vee does literally rape Mark and it wasn’t a “gentle” rape. Vee also comes back later to virtually rape Mark again. The novelist could provide no justification for this at all. In BL novels things are a lot more morally problematic than on TV. An interesting parallel is Japanese manga, light novels compared to Japanese BL dramas. Japanese cinema – even straight dramas – have very little physical intimacy, and nothing more than rated G content. The movies are a lot more sexual, though. The original TV series for Love Mechanics incorporated some elements of the original rape in the first few minutes, leaving people wondering how Mark ever falls in love with his rapist. I think this is the best version of the plot because Mark initiates the sex which makes it possible for the rest of the plot to be believable.

I understand the drunken sex is all stupid, because Mark supposedly forgets everything, but let’s just take that as a cliché found in virtually every BL. They improved the plot by not making Vee Mark’s rapist. The other clear instance where they improved the plot over the previous versions is the “farewell kiss” Vee gives Ploy. In the previous version Vee gives a kiss to Ploy voluntarily, kind of as a memento of their former love for each other. This is just a totally stupid thing to do, but in the new version Ploy forces herself on Vee, and we clearly see that Vee is rejecting her. Now bumbling Vee is consistent – he’s not a bad guy, he’s just kind of foolish.

The better acting in this series, improved cinematography, and multi-dimensional characterizations of the mains is what makes this series much more enjoyable. It’s also much better for being more serious, and having much better love-making scenes. It might use every trope in the book, but even great classics in literature use very old, cliché story-lines. Even Shakespeare reused old plots he never created. It’s really about the execution of the story, rather than the plot. We still have yet to see the same old BL storyline achieved to perfection – there is still ample room for growth. You could, for instance, make it all very artistic with beautiful use of language, and add a lot of symbolism, or make something avant-garde like a Godard-like Breathless version of a BL. The possibilities are endless even with the same old tired tropes and cliché story-lines.

It is more to the point that this is not firmly established and leaves his character rather nebulous. His whole character is just a mystery because it is not well drawn.

I really love this series because it’s what BL’s really should be, a simple love story without all the campiness, and endless unresolved miscommunications. Vee and Mark’s sweet moments are done so well, and their kissing is just wonderful, really passionate and realistic [and very fulfilling for me]. I don’t know what else to expect from a BL, except perhaps some great artistry like in ITSAY, but this is the best you can get from the mainstream Thai BL’s.

The issue with Yeewah has been resolved and she is back to being a reasonable upper classmen looking out for her junior. The incident with Ploy is resolved in the same episode when in a normal BL we would probably be waiting to near the last minutes of the series for a dilemma this big to be settled. All three people in this love triangle have complex emotions that they are working through, and no one is truly a saint or villain. Mark is a little too harsh, Vee is a little too inconsiderate, Ploy is a little too needy, but these things are all common among young lovers. I love how Mark says he will never speak to Vee again, but Vee understands that means till next week, even if Mark doesn’t yet know it. This is all very realistic, and done very well. I hope this series continues in this vein. I think I’m enjoying everything about it.

This is clearly one of the top series of the year. The acting is just among the best, and the cinematography is excellent. I think the writing is usually very good, but sometimes falters, relying too heavily on the jealousy theme among other things. Nonetheless, the writing is much better than in the original Love Mechanics where Mark is jealous of Ploy because Vee gives her a “farewell” kiss. The only thing I didn’t like in this episode is when Barr suddenly gets jealous – that seemed a little silly, because his partner is just so staid and conservative it would be like a eunuch cheating on someone. It was really an unnecessary scene that should have been cut out. Yiwah’s meddling is also another weakness in the writing and more of a glaring problem. I don’t think Yiwah is supposed to be a half-psychotic busybody, but just a concerned upperclassman looking after the well-being of her junior – they just totally missed the mark there.

This series is rather special for me since Love Mechanics was one of the first series I’ve ever watched, and I’ve always admired War Wanarat. He’s actually a fantastic musician as well as an actor, and went to school for architecture. He’s brilliant on here as he is in every BL he’s been in, and Yin is doing a sensational job as well. The music score is just wonderful, and is incorporated into many scenes very effectively, creating a languorous, melancholy mood that seems to capture this love story [one that feels very nostalgic, and semi-tragic].

Even though this BL is set in a university, it has few of the drawbacks of the other Thai BL’s that are set there. This doesn’t have the totally artificial feeling of those other BL’s. I really like the more serious tone - we don’t have screeching ladyboys, and competing rival gangs fighting on campus like children fighting at recess. There seems to be a very sensitive depiction of young love and all the possible pitfalls that young lovers may encounter, with wonderful poignant scenes, intermixed with touching reconciliations. Really a wonderful BL that has a unique feel to it.

Wonderful comment above! It's sad that LGBTQ couples have to be treated like an inferior form of relationship, where abuse is more normalized. Why shouldn't sad, miserable gay people use masochism and sadism in their relationship? A FL would never have such emotional abuse depicted in a hetero drama without leaving her partner. No viewer would tolerate it and all the comments would have been against the series. This guy above is like obsessed with this show, and can't emotionally detach himself long enough to make one balanced comment. He thinks this is a masterpiece. If this was a hetero drama he would be able to see the weakness in the script - as a hetero drama it would never even get produced because of the terrible writing.

I was up at 3AM in the US responding to you, so I was a little out of it. I wanted to follow up on this because this is an important point. I find it critical to have some emotion and passion in art, and it is fundamental to our enjoyment of a good piece of music, drama etc. I just think there is a balance. As an example, I like classical music and a friend of mine played me a piece by a conductor that was technically perfect, but really lacked any emotion, and I told him it was just not good - I think we came to agree on this. On the other hand, if there are a ton of wrong notes, and the whole structure falls apart, even while played with the truest of emotions, we can't say that's a good performance either. I believe you really need both technical execution and emotional resonance to make a really good work of art, but as you say here, sometimes excellence in one area can at least compensate for the lack in the other. The only problem I have here, is that wasn't the case for me - I just didn't think anything could have made up for the bad writing, and I still say the ML's had some of the best chemistry I've ever seen in a BL.

Again, I hope everyone who did enjoy this BL can still enjoy it but there is nothing wrong with some honest criticism. I think people are a little too touchy on here. I've liked worse BL's than this, but they somehow worked for me, but this one just didn't make it (probably because it was too depressing). I can understand how others can like it on here. It's, overall, no big deal. And my long post was not indicative of a need to have people think the way I do, but more a need to clarify my way of thinking about the show, and hoping they learn to judge shows in a more systematic way.

I certainly did not say there is only one way to evaluate art. Art criticism is very complex. I just said you need to do it dispassionately, or as objectively as possible. In the end, we don’t know what the real definitions are - but we have a general idea. We could just devolve into thinking good art and bad art are about the same having no sense of standards.

Thank you! I’m just trying to clear up the confusion, but I knew it would still not get through to a lot of people.

Not at all. I pointed that out first because it showed the complete lack of research by the screenwriter by using an example that was more concrete and understandable. I was mostly discussing broad themes in the rest of this comment regarding character motivation and structuring which I would consider the opposite of nit-picking. But you are free to enjoy this show any way you want - I certainly don’t care about that.