solipsism5

I should have shopped around. That's definitely a better deal. I bought it on Amazon because I'm ridiculous, but I got tired of searching, lol.

According to the novel, and some parts of the series, Uea is just attractive to everyone. He's also probably unintentionally seeking out people that are abusive because he feels that is what he deserves. That's just psychology, not from anything that is apparent in the series. The abusive type probably can sense his kindness, and can test him out in a conversation. They can pick up on cues like how he might not fight back when they say some disparaging remark. There are many body cues [body language] to pick up on as well. Predators are semi-experts on this, and this is not Uea's fault, necessarily. It's something people have to learn, and who was there to teach Uea these things - he had few friends and there are no classes on how to avoid sexual predators. He is slow to pick up on experience, though. He had many relationships according to the novel. "He changed relationships as often as people change their oil in their car"[quoting the novel, here].

I bought it on Amazon. Really a good book and I don't read BL's

The most intense part of the novel occurs when Uea suspects King is going to leave him for the woman that King’s mom has set up for him. King’s father has a business partner whose daughter would be an ideal match, but King is never interested in her, and the girl has similar feelings about the whole arrangement. King doesn’t really communicate this well and Uea, who is constantly being harassed at work by Krit suddenly breaks down and gets into a fight with King over this. King stops talking to Uea so he can calm down and talk to him him more rationally, and so the two don’t speak to each other for ten days. Uea also hears that King was going on a second date with the girl his mom had arranged for him, and feels that he’s lost King. King is only going on the second date because his mom was incredibly insistent, but his only intent was to tell the girl he would never be interested in going forward with the marriage. Uea, though, has fallen into a depression because King hasn’t been talking to him, and is certain that he is going to leave him. This is the situation that Uea most wanted to avoid, and produces one of the best lines in the novel: Uea begins to loathe love [I’m going to have to steal that one day, lol].

While all this is going on Uea gets a call from his sister and she tells him his boss, Krit, is visiting their home. Uea is infuriated when he hears this because he realizes Krit has been going into his personnel file to find his former address. He goes to his mom's home to confront Krit, and when he gets there he tells him to leave immediately. His mother tells him to calm down and also says that Krit would be a great catch because he seems so wealthy [apparent from the fancy car he drove in]. Uea is angered by this and asks her why she cares about that when she hates that he’s a fag. She tells him it’s because Krit can help provide money for the family. Uea just breaks down hearing this and asks if all she cares about is using him to get money at which points she starts to get angry, in turn, because he’s started yelling at her. His step father comes out hearing all the commotion and tells them to talk more calmly. Uea is incensed seeing him and tells him to shut up, and the mom tells him to stop talking so impudently to his father. Uea is even more enraged and says that he never thought of him as his father and asks her why she never protected him when his stepfather molested him. Several of the neighbors hear all the shouting and are starting to listen in on the conversation. Uea asks her if she ever cared about him and asks her why she hates him so much. She finally loses it and says “Yeah, I hate you. You and your father.” She says she regrets that he was ever born, and that her life wouldn’t have been so rough if she hadn’t given birth to him. She also tells him he grew up to be a fag and she has nothing to be proud of with him. Uea is crushed hearing all this and asks her if she didn’t intend to love him, why didn’t she have an abortion, and why did she ever let him be born. He leaves in a daze telling her that “this mistake”, meaning him, would no longer interfere with her life. This was really an incredible scene and you can see clearly what delusion Uea had clung to for years, because he was afraid to confront this stark reality of his mother’s brutality.

Later on Uea decides to resign from his job, and he decides to live with his aunt in Lampang if she will let him – he hasn’t seen her since he was young. He sends a message to King telling him he wants to stop being FWB. Uea has already written his resignation letter and lets Jade deliver it. King hears about this and later sees the message from Uea. King is very distraught and explains everything behind their relationship to Jade who can’t believe what he’s hearing. BTW Jade’s character is really oblivious to these kind of things, and that’s very consistent in his characterization – he’s even oblivious to Mai’s obvious feelings for him. He begs Jade to tell him where Uea is since he won’t talk to him anymore. Eventually King does find out where Uea is and that his kind aunt has taken him in. King makes up with Uea and explains everything about his status with the girl from before. He also apologizes profusely for the argument they had and for not talking to him for that week. King also tells him that he doesn’t have to worry about work. The whole staff protested to their boss about Krit’s behavior and Krit was transferred out. King also asks that if Uea would allow him to now become his boyfriend. Uea after a lot of hesitation finally consents to this. This was a really touching part of the novel, where he overcomes his fear of being rejected, and makes the first tentative move to achieving the first real love of his life.

I’ll leave this summary up to this point. There is still more to the novel after this, but this summary is already too long. I think this is really a fantastic story, and people should be aware that this series might really be worth their while. They really aren’t veering too far from the main story, even if they could work on a lot of the details.

First of all, Uea has seen a psychiatrist and is taking meds. This is not shown in the series, of course, and would have greatly alleviated a lot of the concern for how this character seems to be oblivious to his own mental health. Uea doesn’t go to a therapist, but it seems like this is as far as BL’s go if you look at other series like The Eclipse, and Don’t Say No. So at least Uea has made some attempt and is also aware that he’s a little messed up. Uea also knows he’s fragile and that is why he doesn’t want to risk getting into relationships because he’s afraid of the depression that will ensue after a break-up. James is actually portraying this character very well. Uea also puts on a cold front with people because he is afraid of engaging with them for similar reasons and this makes people think he’s arrogant. I think James captures this really skillfully with his acting – King also assumed Uea was arrogant until he got to know him at work.

King is rather straightforward and he develops a relationship with Uea, at first, just for sex, but he later develops feelings for him in a very gradual and natural progression. Uea develops feelings for King in a similar way and those feelings accelerate every time King does something for Uea, like when he protects him from his ex. Uea has been savaged by many people in his life, especially by his mom and step-father, so when someone protects him, it really makes him very appreciative.

Now this novel is not incredible. It’s not Madame Bovary, but it’s written well. Unlike many BL’s the English is mostly good, and you can almost think it was written by someone from the West. All the character movitivations are really well done. There are no plot holes, and the pacing is excellent. I finished most of this novel in one day and it became very gripping. The most intense parts are those involving Krit, and Uea’s mom later on. If people are concerned about a host of abusers going after Uea, the reason to have each of the abusers in the story are laid out well, and so Uea is not just a punching bag that is supposed to entertain us while we watch him being traumatized. The step-father really was the worst because he was with Uea for at least 4 years, and was going after him the whole time while Uea was unable to leave. He finally gets away from him after going to university, but was in constant danger that whole time until his step-father got a job as a traveling salesman, leaving for months at a time. The reason Uea even tries to help his mom after she put him through all of this was because Uea was hoping his mom would show him at least some sign that she cared about him, even the tiniest bit. He was craving to be told that he mattered, and since he was an introvert with few friends, he really needed some validation because his feelings were so fragile. In the end he does confront her, but I’ll explain that in a further spoiler below.

I usually don’t read the novel to a BL, but the extreme nature of the abuse Uea takes in this series made me really interested in finding out some of the motivations of these characters. I said before that I found this to be the most abuse I’ve seen any character in a BL undergo, so I thought they had really made a mistake in even making this into a BL. I thought that if this is really to be a BL that is constantly going to explore the dark side of gay upbringing, relationships, etc. then it should sort of compensate for this by showing a higher level of communication between the mains than normal, and a lot of constructive confrontations with the villains to make up for the unsettling and disturbing aspects of the show. I think knowing more of what is going to happen in the future, and hearing some of the inner monologues of the characters in the novel actually makes this story very believable. I’ll describe this below – there will be a lot of spoilers here.

ok, later he pays for his sister's drawing class - still not worth it. Let little sis learn on her own, geez.

I'm reading the novel now, and so far the only reason he gives her money is that she wants to spend it on herself. That's just ridiculous to take that kind of abuse just so your abuser can have some extra spending cash. I thought it was more serious than that, like they were in some financial crisis. I'm only at the beginning of the novel so I'll see if there is anything else to this, but it seems like Uea is just a pushover and a glutton for punishment. I know in Asian cultures you have to respect your parent but, yikes!, not this much.

That’s what I was thinking - I’ve referred to LITA several times. Honestly, though, Uea’s character’s trauma is way beyond that, and it’s been going on since he was a very young child. This is just a rudiculous and new level of abuse introduced into a BL. Honestly, the writers have no idea what to do with it and they are trying to fit it into a traditional BL and it’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole. They need like continuous therapy for Uea to make this work or they need constant communication of his trauma with Uea’s friends, mixed with effective confrontations with the villains in lieu of that.

Yes, this can’t be that sad. No one’s going to die at least. But a breakup would be almost tragic- feeling in this case.

Uea is just so strict with the quota system. I think he really needs to move to a point system, and we should have rewards, and deductions included. Let's say 10 points equals one day. I think King talking about his arranged marriage is like -20 points, but cock-blocking evil boss = +20, so we're back on track. Not molesting Uea while he was drunk is just no points at all because that's just expected behavior, and Uea is right to not give him any extra points for that. Touching Jade inappropraitely is -5 points, and talking about their sex plans for the night in front of everyone is -5 also. I think this is a great new system, and Uea really needs it to keep King in check so he's not overwhelmed with sex. He could use all this extra time to see a therapist, so I think it's really going to work out. The worse King gets, the more therapy Uea could book, or if King really saves the day several times in the week, he could be banging every day. Some of you people out there could be doing this as well. You really shouldn't just be having wild unlimited sex every day of the week, and you can at least take something away from this series that seems to have very few lessons to give us.

I hope not. I'm really praying not to have another tragedy in a BL like in Eternal Yesterday. I can only take 1 like that every three years or so, lol.

I'm glad King told the new manager to basically fuck off, and leave Uea alone. Uea just can't seem to say no on his own until someone is literally sitting on top of him. He can't say no to his mom no matter how disgusting she is on the phone with him. Maybe, just maybe, he needs to give money to his family, but if someone asks me like that I would just at least tell them, "Say that to me like that one more time, and you won't get a dime." And she would probably say it again, and then Uea should cut her off. Unless they're starving why should Uea bother with trash like that? His sis should just move out if she wants help from him, and he should tell her as much. This is all too much for Uea, though, because he just has no backbone. I wish he would develop one, even if I sympathize with him completely about all the trauma that he's experienced. You can tell he will be very polite to his new boss when King is not around, and will eventually have him sitting on top of him like every other sexual predator that he's dealt with in the past.

I'm predicting that Uea won't get any therapy in this series, so let's assume that King is his only savior. I just think that Uea won't be able to say no to anybody, and King will have to come in to save this damsel in distress every time something bad happens. This is just not an attractive storyline. This is a BL with a really dark cloud hanging over every episode, and it's not what I watch BL's for. Isn't everyone just tense watching this? I would rather have my weekly dose of bubbly, uplifting fluff. I still love NetJames, and think their acting and chemistry is really amazing. I just don't like the story. Since there is never going to be any therapist involved in this BL, I would at least like to see some more open communications between the mains about Uea's trauma, and that should happen like yesterday, and at the latest, 1 second into the next episode, and should be pretty continuous till the end of the series after that. Ok, that's probably not going to happen either, so I'm hoping at least for some crumbs of resolution to all these multiple psychological issues before the end of the series. I will enjoy what I can in the meanwhile, especially sexy King, and his tumultuous sultriness.

I know. It's not my kind either, but I'm going to finish it, because I can rarely stop myself. after getting started It's just a bad habit, lol.

I know. It's not my kind either, but I'm going to finish it, because I can rarely stop myself. after getting started It's just a bad habit, lol.

Honestly I believe Ritsu is in love with Fumiya, and still loves him despite seeing what he did. He is just in shock and is depressed that he has lost Fumiya in the past. I'm confident the end is one where he overcomes his sudden qualms about the relationship. The whole purpose of Fumiya's silence is to recreate the love that they lost, and if Ritsu reflects on it, if he has time to look at it over time, he will see that Fumiya's lies are really done out of love. All those moments in the resort and everywhere else were perhaps untrue, but they were done with heart and gentleness. If Fumiya had felt the way he did before, he would have left Ritsu and left him to recover on his own, or just help out as a friend during his convalescence. What is causing Ritsu so much pain is the charade that has been going on for days, and seemingly the act of a crazy person, and surely one with bad intent. Compounded with this is the harsh truth that Fumiya relates to him that recreates the trauma he had escaped with his amnesia. I think he's just running away from this pain, and this would be a very natural reaction. I think the acting here is just really exceptional, and the looks of desperation and sadness from Fumiya are really so telling and striking in their intensity. Ritsu's repressed rage, mixed with his sensitive depiction of being wounded by Fumiya is also done with adroit and effortless acting. I really feel every sentiment in this complex situation which depicts a fugue of different emotions is portrayed with virtually no difficulty. This series has a wonderful score that just pinpoints the emotions and settings very effectively, and knows when not to have any music playing at all so we can focus on the emotions of the moment. This is the best episode in a series that is really amongst the best BL's I've ever seen. It is artistic, deeply moving, and constantly entertaining.

You can see the mother yelling at her if you look at when she's introduced at the birthday party. The way the mom does it I would definitely feel like it happens often. It's almost impossible the mom is going to be nice to the daughter when she is so brutal to the son. She should get the hell out of there. Maybe the reason she calls Uea is she needs some help herself, but she didn't think how bad it was for him to come back, and she probably never knew about the father's assaulting Uea.

I agree. People are looking too hard for why this is bad. I don't think James is a bad actor, like many have said on here. Actually, he's doing a great job portraying a victim of trauma. I also think he shows a lot of natural looking affection towards Net, and I think their chemistry is really good. I only wish that the screenplay was a little less harsh with Uea - his character is just getting beaten up to an extent that is just too much for a BL, but I'm hoping he gets some healing before the end.

You will find in the later episodes that there is a story but this might not help, because it's a story of Uea being beaten to a pulp by everyone. I've never seen one BL character have so much trauma inflicted on him. It's more like there is too much of a story than the opposite.

I really don't think its Frank's acting that's bad. It's the direction and screenplay. I don't know how else you would play the lines he's been given. I hope they tone his character down in future episodes.