Daisuke

Brilliant movie, hard hitting in all senses of the word, life in Korean schools in the 1970s makes English public schools of the time (though probably not the pre WW2 ones) look tame (e.g. I don't think in UK they used boys' heads as a billiard ball), with survival of the fittest apparently the guiding principle. There was a danger this would all seem over the top, but the movie felt very believable. I suppose there had to be "love interest" in it to give a reason for some of the testosterone expended in male rivalry. Thankfully it didn't dominate and the way it ended for the lead actor and his crush was again well done and believable. This may only appeal to those who like male coming-of-age and action type movies and can tolerate a fair amount of violent action. But of its type it's first rate.

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Really enjoyed this, the story is basically formulaic but given original development and neat twists (e.g. the comic smoking thread which actually reflected the characters nicely and so was part of the story, not just casual) and I found the acting and the interplay very effective and touching. The support roles at the workplace were good too. The workplace seemed casual beyond belief - is it really like that in Japanese offices? - but all part of the fantasy no doubt. The end part was a bit rushed but who cares, it was a happy ending - and convincing, not just contrived.

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Stunning historical drama brilliantly acted and with outstanding production values and direction. Not an easy watch, harrowing and gut-wrenching as the drama reaches its culmination (sensitive viewers be warned) but it was understandable in context as reflecting the passions of the characters involved. Violence just a scintilla too far at some points otherwise for me albeit understandable in the context of the whole film. As. Re-watch value 10 as its importance as a movie justifies this, but you will need to be in the mood to take it if you are actually to re-watch!

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美しい彼〜嘘!

this drama has some good aspects but I do not change my earlier critique。 a lot of the acting in the first half school episodes ーI assume reflecting the script ーwas superficial and unpleasant in the cliched way so many Japanese school dramas focus on bullying。as for the relationship of Kiyoi and Hira、 for five and half episodes out of 6 I see a disturbing narcissistー codependent relationship fuelled by Hira's obsessive love attraction which - as Proust shows so well - really derives its strength from projection of a fantasy image on the loved object。 then we are asked to believe in the last half of the final episode that this was all a misunderstanding and the flame of love was buried but now lights up after years 〜but！ Kiyoi is still putting down Hira and this is somehow the basis of a lasting relationship when anyone with self-respect would walk away ：if it does lead to some kind of relationship then it is a twisted one。 the ending has some appeal and it is nice if you can view it as somehow a happy ending、 but being honest this is simply not reconcilable with what is depicted in the previous five and half episodes。 I do not criticise the main leads who made the best of a ridiculous script。

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Not for faint hearted

for me this drama has two main strengths： first it is an excellent portrayal of a dysfunctional family with one parent obsessed with achieving reflected glory for himself through his sons and the other too helplessly neurotic to function in the family at all、and Lee Jung Ha gives a truly great and sensitive performance showing the impact of this on him as the victim of his parents bullying and fighting back for victims of school bullying。secondly it has very good fight sequences although clearly often losing touch with reality and the constant violence does become too much at times。 the storyline and above all the end is reasonable。lots of interesting metaphorical touches and ironies at the end like the broken cassette getting repaired and the so called sane being shown as the really insane and vice versa、 it's the "sane" insane parent producing the broken child now labelled "delinquent"、 and I assume what is the juvenile detention prison not rehabilitating but reinforcing violence as power with the teacher leading the way： all well considered touches 、and at 8 episodes the show gets its message over without stringing it out with aimless repetition like many K dramas。 enjoyable in its way though、as often when I planned to watch a good drama again, so here when I get to the end there seems nothing more to see or say 。excellent job〜良く出来ましたね〜

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Beautiful story of enduring GL

For me the main virtue of this short GL Chinese movie is that it actually contains openly gay scenes 🏳️‍🌈 maybe just escaping the Chinese homophobic censorship〜 the story is nothing unusual of its genre except possibly the green blood❇️　 and the mermaids of the title seem different from humans only by this and their possibly more ethereal makeup and clothing〜〜 but indisputably the best part of the movie is the end： brilliant original unexpected moving and beautiful with the music overpowering me with emotion 💕🔆
(♡ᵉ̷͈ัॢωᵉ̷͈ัॢ )‧₊°♡

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Really liked this. I like magic, supernatural and special effects although the political background story is unoriginal. In the middle it seemed to have too much "slapstick" comedy interfering with the plot but became more interesting when they allowed the story to develop. Yes there were many plot holes and as usual with these sageuk stories dragged out the ending over three episodes and it is giving nothing away to say everything ended all sweetness and light except for the big villain, however you have to go with the flow I think and just enjoy it as escapist drama if you like this kind of drama. I thought the chemistry of the characters was good and I was especially impressed U-Know acted well and looked good. One I enjoyed and looked forward to watching every evening but would not re-watch after knowing the story.

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Look at the blue sky

This is not just yaoi mystery stories, it it is the the romantic friendship of Sakaki and Tori, and the caring of Sakaki that rescues Tori and extends his feelings to care for people, especially those who are in trouble or different from other people, sensitive to life in special way, and feeling for beauty in ordinary nature around us. All in understated way. You have to notice at start the blue sky?azure?? egg of the title Sakaki plays with, stands I feel for beautiful delicate shell around and protecting our feelings. I feel the music adds to feeling of delicacy in this drama. You can call this "tearjerker". As it says, if you feel sad and alone, go outside and see the blue sky that connects us all. I wish all people could be so caring. OK, I am sentimental. Perfect. Yokatta!

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I must admit to finding this movie quite confusing, just as I thought I'd worked it out it seemed to take another turn. The link from beginning to development certainly requires patience before some understanding of what's going on begins to emerge. However I would tend to agree with the previous reviewer it's probably underrated and it has some quite complex layers of meaning that by the end have you puzzling but staying with you as you try to unravel them - perhaps that's the definition of a good movie. It's obviously not just a "gay" movie. It struck me as more representing in a story a psychological breakdown and struggle to make sense out of what had happened to him - someone trying to recover psychologically from a deep inner sense of loss of the "love of his life" - maybe an ideal image and since she disappeared that ideal image would never be tested by reality, so having an even more powerful hold in a way. So he seizes on coincidences of words etc and projects this image on to someone else who happens to be a schoolboy. Others may see it as having some spiritual explanation, like reincarnation - and certainly that's the more obvious explanation in a way, given the closing comments of the film. If you apply the title "bungee jumping" to what happens at the end and two people finding a real feeling of love for each other, regardless of the issue of sexuality, then it would seem to be a happy "gay" ending (what a rarity in Korean movies that is). If that's the case, I take it the bungee jumping is intended to be just that (and we do see the pulley). But then you wonder did the rope snap or did they jump off as there's these closing comments about meeting in another life and definitely giving the impression that you will keep coming back until you're in a "normal" hetero- relationship - which mixes up the whole meaning of the story again - or is that just meant to be taken as a laugh? really a statement that sexuality is of secondary importance? Well sometimes I do "overdetermine" the meaning of stories, admittedly, but this is not a straightforward story by any means. There's a fair bit of angst and sadness about two-thirds through. Putting aside the meaning, the "visual delights" would not entice me to watch again (that's apart from the fact the quality of film is pretty low on the only available subbed version I could find). It's dated, the "schoolboys" had certainly been held back about five years judging by their real ages or they must have extraordinarily well-developed physiques in Korea. But these are not really important given the impact of the story. Can't really give it a ten as there are too many loose ends capable of various interpretations which may be just because the director has failed to communicate well enough for analytical types like me to pick out the signals to what he intends. Well worth a re-watch in the future despite the discouraging film quality.

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This is a great drama judging from the first two episodes (which are the only ones I can find available). The settings are dated but none the worse for that, as the main drama works despite being 20 years old, as all good dramas transcend their period. The story is not original.But the main characters and actors are great, showing very well the attraction yet tension between two students of polar opposite, poor and advantaged, backgrounds within the local snobby elite high school - the pride and anger of the poor kid with a one-parent family, alcoholic father, determined to forge an identity without denying the reality of his background but pushing away friendship in the process; the bewilderment of the rich kid in rejecting the values of his father but also unable to cast off the burden due to lack of acceptance of his genuine search for friendship based on the person, not the social and material position. Main back music is the only negative from my viewpoint - an old British pop song dating I think from years before the series itself, not my style, too sentimental and gets on my nerves frankly and detracts from the drama which is definitely not sentimental but very realistic. I would re-watch the two episodes I've seen, but obviously this whole review is limited by unavailability of the remaining episodes. (I have to put all episodes seen or I apparently can't post the review!!) Would really like to see how this works out but the series is way back and there don't seem to be any other sources.

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This was an amazing drama. As I began watching I knew I was starting on another Korean historical marathon and wondered if I could make it to the end. It had all the usual good and bad characters, alternating between romantic episodes and action episodes. It had the - for me - usual high emotion and melodrama that seem characteristic of Korean drama. However for me it was a very original idea but certainly requires a big suspension of belief. It had so many different strands and developments I kept wondering how they would keep them going. In fact you could say rather like circus juggling. I sometimes find the tension too much to take. This drama I think divides into two main parts 〜〜the first half more the story about the real king and his double and the second more usual palace politics but with the crowned clown twist as to how he behaved in the role of king and with the palace intrigue. I must admit I needed a break half way [though partly because I am butterfly and watch so many other dramas] and I thought the romance was taking over too much from action and it was rather hard to believe a king would behave in that way. However I found the tension towards the end very hard to bear. I watched the last 3 episodes in one go and I must admit how the plot was worked out surprised me. It is giving nothing away to say that good triumphed and all the villains came to a "sticky end", but how it was done here was unusual and original to me compared with similar Korean dramas. The finale totally surprised me and then of course the romantic element then also became very moving. I think Koreans must be very emotional as all their dramas are so emotional and "weepy". It was however certainly very moving with a very handsome romantic hero and beautiful heroine. In the end very enjoyable and rewarding drama. I do not think I will watch again, knowing the story, but I think it still deserves a perfect score.

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Mixed up ”WHOOPARAMA”

mixed feelings about this one、 the parts were good but did not quite make sense as a whole。 it starts comedic and feel good then half way becomes a dark crazy violent whooparama that frankly I found difficult to endure、 then finally becomes a fluffy feel good again、 so they produce a drama one half about how tough the world is in reality and the other what we would all like it to be ideally and it ends on that note butー
-ーyou do not beat psychopathic bullies whether violent school bullies or boss bullies by beating them or getting the better of them and then trying to reason with them and not "finish them off"： giving another chance to bullies is likely to be your own last chance unless you put distance between you so this drama really needed to decide its message　if it wanted to end on a happy note we can all accept as fiction fine、 but then don't make us endure hours of nasty violence from an unremitting psychopathic bully [actually well-played as such] but、 if you want to carry the dark theme to its logical conclusion you need a realistic ending although you can still decide which side delivers the final punch

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Gay teenager in 1990s Japan

This is not the usual school drama or movie we see these days. Usual school issues actually play little part in it (apart from one. instance touching on bullying). It starts as a realistic film of confused adolescent emotions in mainly school setting into which we are gradually introduced to a dark side of gender identity, sexual violence (Aihara, a female student transferred after being raped) and repression but especially the struggle for identity of a gay teenager, Ito, worked around his feelings for a classmate(Yoshida) in a still non-accepting society in the 1990s (though unhappily not so much changed 30 years later) an object of scorn by other students and his father( who still thinks he can be medically "cured" ), the movie climaxes (no pun intended) in a surreal meeting of the three on a beach in which the conventional boundaries are crossed this is a nuanced movie where the dark erotic instincts, feelings, motivations swirling in the protagonists are brought to the surface slowly but finally only in the dark isolation of a nocturnal seashore (the grains of sand) and yet still remain unresolved as they return to their habitual lives very good exploration of these difficult issues and must have been ground-breaking in 1990s Japan 〜

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manga bender

enjoyable comedic drama but as it went on for me it became more than just this and was thought provoking too on nature of gender and also where reality and fantasy begin and end with manga passion transmuted into ”real life” 〜very touching and well thought out ending though slightly disappointing from one viewpoint acting good all round：I think Matsuzaka is in characteristic style here as accident prone "little guy" finding himself in compromising situation but ？maybe？ seems slightly ill at ease in same sex scenes here but Iura quite at ease and excellent🇯🇵

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Night Flight

wonderful moving film about gay love repressed in an oppressive society reflected in its schools 〜thoughtful and provocative with much darkness about how and why people behave to each other so cruelly especially to those considered "different" and the struggle to accept yourself being gay in this environment。the action is filmed against a background of arid broken gloomy urban landscapes well reflecting the cruelty and alienation in the fight for survival among the persecutors as much as those they persecute. there are only brief interludes of happiness or beauty along the way such as Yong Joo's and Gi Woong's trip to the coast。the title of the film Night Flight comes from an abandoned gay club （closed down because of prejudice it was too near to schools！） where Yong Joo and the only other student from a different school in the area secretly meet。 it is a dark film with much violence bitterness hatred but out of the darkness almost miraculously come fragile glimmerings of light, love and hope💛💛

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