Surprising secret? Only for Chiaki. We have the Superman/Clark Kent set up here with a wig and of course Chiaki does not recognize him. If only Chiaki seemed nice and lovable but in the first episode he is being a jerk to everyone and his obsession over AE is just creepy, he's scuttling around hunched over.... I am 15min in and I want to drop this: I don't like Chiaki. Not one little bit. I hope he gets better....
these comments are so negative T_T, if you don't like don't watch, no need to hate on the people who put time…
On the other hand, if everyone is treating everything positively, without criticism, without pointing the defaults and encouraging them to do better, they'll just keep on doing the same thing without realizing that what they are doing is not up to par? Wouldn't that be worse? Just look at the amount of BLs Thai producers have been churning out pandering to young adult women's tastes with NSFW scenes, hot bodies and no plot to speak of. How many of these BLs are memorable? Nobody is hating on anyone, just asking them to do better! For example... Would you consider me hating you if I pointed out that your syntax is non existent: I was taught that phrases start with a capital letter, yours don't. I do apologize if I am mistaken : it's been a long time since I finished school so maybe English grammar changed...!
I just started it and so far (ep 1) it is cute though full of tropes which I don't mind. The mother buying the girlfriend off and she accepts! That is not common! The main couple of actors look like a twin understudies of Ahn Hyo Seop and Park Eun Bin. Who doesn't like going to the hairdresser's and coming out with exactly the same hairstyle as when going in (same length, same everything) with everyone saying how much better you look now? And do women really wear stilettos to office in SK? On to ep.2 and they broke up but he came back as her boss and won't leave her in peace. Isn't this workplace harassment? It is supposed to be cute but...HE IS HER BOSS and usually there are consequences when you say NO to your boss.. So she either quits her job or lodge in a complaint of harassment because he does not stop when she asks him to. And then of course our FL had a horrible childhood with an abusive father. This whole K drama representation of parents is worrisome: they are rarely nice, they are either abusive, controlling or overambitious and the kids suffer. No wonder the birthrates in SK have hit rock bottom. Who in their right mind would want to bring the child into this cutthroat world...
I simply abhor the vertical format. And yet, I am watching this. Why? Because I wanted to see Han Se Jin in something else after Nobleman Ryu's Wedding where I found him just outstanding. Here, he is good but too cute and looking too soft...he is more of a comic relief character. Nothing wrong with that! And the FL? Looks like the twin sister of the actress from Goblin: same round face, same hairstyle....uncanny! So I had a lot of trouble concentrating on this drama....
I just scrolled down the comments and the drama is unanimously considered excellent: I could not find one bad comment in 200 first ones. So can someone explain the ratings? Teens not liking it because it lacked romance, flowing dresses and men with very long hair (i.e. c dramas)?
Losing weight for a role when you are as thin (too thin already!) as she is worrisome and extremely unhealthy. It also says a lot about Korean society and the beauty imperatives for everyone: all young stars, both male and female, look malnourished and even starved. The price to pay for fame? I hope it is worth it for their sake.... This is another toxic gossip article made to influence young people.
Zero chemistry in spite of the cutest man around (i.e. Ikeda Masashi) . He is gay but got rejected in high school so he forswore love (and sex: just see how a 29 yr old man scare-jumps when the other guy proposes a kiss).....dropped! I cannot stand victorian virgin stories! There are a lot of asian dramas about 30 year old virgin women. So why not virgin gay very goodlooking men?
Lovely article, as always, but.... Too many BLs on this list and not enough other j dramas which deserve just as much to be on it! For example: KissxKissxKiss, Double, Midnight Diner (only season 1), Parallel School Days, Nagatan To Aoto, Watashi wo Moratte and , probably the weirdest Japanese drama ever, Gudetama. And of course many more! It seems to me that only japanese BLs get exposure on MDL which is a shame (because J dramas are an incredible stream of originality equal to none!) but I guess that is what the loudest (I mean, the most active) users watch. And my favourite J drama on your list is Taikan Yaho! BTW... Alice In Borderland is not a quick watch: 3 seasons of long episodes. If that is a criteria for a quick watch than every japanese drama fits the bill.
I just watched the first episode but the clichés killed it for me and I was going to drop it, until... it was so interesting to read your review that I realized I may have not been watching it from the right point of view. This is a teen love story not an adult one!
Classic JBL set up: one small (and shy and soft) boy and one big (tall, strong, protective), one is afraid of water falling from the sky (and how right he is: one drop knocks out his contact lenses - I've been wearing contacts for over 30 years, never happened to me! I am not lucky at all!) but the other one swoops in like a knight in shining armour and helps him cross the courtyard....so much heteronormative victorian - in spirit only: they did not have contacts back then!;-) - clichés! I am loving this! More please!
I've been out of the BL loop for over a year so I don't know what's been released. That's why I asked! Is this not supposed to be a romance? Or is it just secondary?
I was wondering if this was BL or not since it is not marked in the tags above. But when you open the tags, "gay relationship" is marked as a spoiler?!?!? Why? Is it still worth the watch?
Oh, is your blog still around? I'd love to read it! And yes, you are not alone! If you liked Mani-Pedi here, please…
I hope I am not too late to this party but can I get an invite to your blog too, please. I love Honglou Meng's reviews and Mani and Pedi are my favourites so I would love to read something similar. I need cheering up and while HM's reviews are by far the best, the only ones funny enough to make me laugh out loud, but I know them all by heart. I am in desperate need of a pick-me-up today!
Has Netflix (and the US standards) completely taken over K drama productions ? There have been over 500 articles about Netflix on this site in the past 5 years which comes to about 2 per week. I find (but that is only me!) that K-drama have lost their spark, their originality ever since American companies started producing them....
An editorial without images....that's a novelty! But a user written editorial is to be cherished: they are so few and so very far between....
So actually, what is going on with editorials by users? They get published when staff writers get tired of copy/pasting and google translating news's articles? Do they bring more traffic to the site, these insipid "news" articles?
Finally, someone in the industry has remembered Lee Sun-kyun. An incredible actor who was hounded and investigated…
I still cannot watch any of the dramas or films Lee Sun Kyun made: his death hit me harder than I thought. So tragic to see that the Korean society is so impossible to change, to evolve....nothing seems to make them think really hard and radically change: not the low birth rates, not the high suicide rates, not the 4B movement, nothing!
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I am 15min in and I want to drop this: I don't like Chiaki. Not one little bit. I hope he gets better....
Nobody is hating on anyone, just asking them to do better!
For example...
Would you consider me hating you if I pointed out that your syntax is non existent: I was taught that phrases start with a capital letter, yours don't. I do apologize if I am mistaken : it's been a long time since I finished school so maybe English grammar changed...!
The mother buying the girlfriend off and she accepts! That is not common!
The main couple of actors look like a twin understudies of Ahn Hyo Seop and Park Eun Bin.
Who doesn't like going to the hairdresser's and coming out with exactly the same hairstyle as when going in (same length, same everything) with everyone saying how much better you look now? And do women really wear stilettos to office in SK?
On to ep.2 and they broke up but he came back as her boss and won't leave her in peace. Isn't this workplace harassment? It is supposed to be cute but...HE IS HER BOSS and usually there are consequences when you say NO to your boss.. So she either quits her job or lodge in a complaint of harassment because he does not stop when she asks him to. And then of course our FL had a horrible childhood with an abusive father. This whole K drama representation of parents is worrisome: they are rarely nice, they are either abusive, controlling or overambitious and the kids suffer. No wonder the birthrates in SK have hit rock bottom. Who in their right mind would want to bring the child into this cutthroat world...
And the FL? Looks like the twin sister of the actress from Goblin: same round face, same hairstyle....uncanny! So I had a lot of trouble concentrating on this drama....
So can someone explain the ratings? Teens not liking it because it lacked romance, flowing dresses and men with very long hair (i.e. c dramas)?
It also says a lot about Korean society and the beauty imperatives for everyone: all young stars, both male and female, look malnourished and even starved. The price to pay for fame? I hope it is worth it for their sake....
This is another toxic gossip article made to influence young people.
Where is this site going to?
There are a lot of asian dramas about 30 year old virgin women. So why not virgin gay very goodlooking men?
Too many BLs on this list and not enough other j dramas which deserve just as much to be on it! For example: KissxKissxKiss, Double, Midnight Diner (only season 1), Parallel School Days, Nagatan To Aoto, Watashi wo Moratte and , probably the weirdest Japanese drama ever, Gudetama. And of course many more!
It seems to me that only japanese BLs get exposure on MDL which is a shame (because J dramas are an incredible stream of originality equal to none!) but I guess that is what the loudest (I mean, the most active) users watch. And my favourite J drama on your list is Taikan Yaho!
BTW...
Alice In Borderland is not a quick watch: 3 seasons of long episodes. If that is a criteria for a quick watch than every japanese drama fits the bill.
I am loving this! More please!
That's why I asked! Is this not supposed to be a romance? Or is it just secondary?
So actually, what is going on with editorials by users? They get published when staff writers get tired of copy/pasting and google translating news's articles? Do they bring more traffic to the site, these insipid "news" articles?