Eliot_Rulez

dark, disturbing, disgusting, but beautiful

Such a story makes speechless. It's a story of two man who suffered a lot, especially one character has a deep trauma because he was sold as a child to a sick man who sold him out to other sick people who sexually abused him. It's a story of two people changing each other and heal each other, first in baby steps but later their bond grows strong.

I can't describe what feelings go through you when watching this, It's the whole bandwidth from disturbing, disgusting, aghast, angst to beautiful when you see both getting closer together. Due to the theme it's not a fluffy, funny show, you normally expect a BL to be. This is not really a BL but a drama where two man happend to be gay and finaly love each other.

When you can stormach such heavy stuff, this is a must see. If you are too sensitive seeing abusive scenes, you may watch with friends and help each other process the episodes one by one, If you are suffering from depression or other mental problems, you should not watch it at all. It was extremly brave for the team to take on such heavy non mass compatible material. The actors did an incredible job, cinematography is top notch and we get an intro which does not spoil the whole series which is so common in many series. My respect goes out to all involved in this project delivering such a unique show.

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Not a typical BL, coming of age and discovering yourself

While many of us not understanding japanese have gripes with some of the subtitles, the second negative was the wig. It was a distraction in the whole series. It's not such projects are done overnight, so after casting they could have told him to grow his hair and use extensions.

The third negative is the ending for one of the characters, keeping in the closet, being at least gay and denying himself to be truly happy but getting married for the "family".

The ending for Mishima could be closer to the manga where you see him living with Fujimoto together as a happy couple.

Other than that, the team removed some of the harshest scenes from the manga and tuned it down for normal viewers in contrast to "Happy of the End" which was raw. Other than that, the story was very close to the manga, the acting and cinematography was really good.

Mishima grows after enduring mental and sexual abuse, also with help of his understanding mother. The change of Fujimoto from bully to lover was also nicely done.

Overall a depiction of the harsh reality in a rural area in the 1990ties which is still common nowadways where especially boys who do not conform to expectations of society are still bullied without reason and due to bad parenting. There should be licence to be a parent imho, because it's a lot harder than driving a car.

When you find a service which offers good subtitles, you should watch it, but don't expect a BL, because it's a gay series which is a trend I wholeheartedly approve of.

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Something different, but not thought out all the way...

When the Director of "Not Me" is doing a new series with OffGun, it is not the normal stuff we expect from a BL. I can't even call this a BL, there is nothing fluffy in it, so I would categorize it more as a gay story. We have a red flag named Koh who uses humans as tools to get all what he desires but without achieving happyness at all. We have Jira, who is also more a red flag than not, while he is not bad per se, he is very self-centered. Then we have Pheem which is also a red flag, not because he is bad, because he let Koh control him and he has to clean up all the shit Koh is leaving in his wake for more money. The only positive persons are Mawin (or should it be Marvin, I never know with Thai nick names) Pheem's friend and Ing, not only a close friend to Jira but also his curator and confidant. There is also the "Burnout Bar" which had a nice atmosphere but is not that prominent and only plays a "role" in the beginning and the ending...

One of the questions the show is asking if AI is doing any good for humanity, but it does not answer the question. AI can do good for humanity, I'm sure of, but it can also be very bad for humanity and it's going this direction more visible. Voice-actors for Netflix in Germany are on strike because Netflix demanded to use their voices for AI which would cost them their jobs. AI can't create art, as AI does not understand language most of the time. Because language is not only about the spoken words, it's also about the intention of how you say something. An AI will never grasp that. So the meaning can be something completely different compared to the sentence alone. Social Networks are flooded with AI art (pictures, music even paintings), AI messages and so on and that can't be good for anyone. But the show does not have a discourse in depth. Maybe that's something the viewer should think about.

The finale: We all could say, they should not have got together in the end - but of course it's GMMTV and they always want an happy end. But I watched the finale two times and it's not that happy anyways. maybe you did not get the subtle hints... it begins with the flowers in Koh's home which are a similar to the painting... you missed that Pheem let Jira go.... and he is the first to have a redemption arc... so he changed in the end not going even more bitter than he was, but he is now more balanced with a new job and a new goal. Koh can't escape Jira that's why he slept 277 times infront of Jira's house (taking Ing's advice of being close to him but not crossing the line) and Jira can't paint without his muse even if his muse is not a human which he really likes, but as he said his heart refuses to have any other inspiration. And when they come together it's their desire and lust speaking out of them - they are dependent on each other, regaradless of all their flaws because both work only if they have each other. When Jira asks "Can we work out?", Koh says "I don't know" - so it does make sense for me. They still have their baggage to carry. Koh did not get his humanity he has lost due to his past and Jira is still as uncompromising as ever. And because we have only 10 episodes we don't see their future. Koh's home mirrors Jira painting with all the flowers.

What impresses most of this show is the very good acting of all the cast. Off went on diet to be as skinny as possible and it shows and because they are veteran actors they all can bring their character to life and you still don't like them in the end. I have more symphaties with Pheem then with the couple. But that is also something not often seen especially in thai productions. Camera, lighting, music were all perfect.

Because this is something different, something not seen often in thai productions, I rate it that high. Yes, they could have made the couple be seperated for all eternity, but overall it does make sense how it played out. The show had his flaws and flow, it's artsy, it kept me interested and it was mature without any cringe or childish parts. The best of all, the actors showed us what they can do after the last two shows which I did not like at all :)

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again cuteness overload...

That was a nice conclusion, but I'm a bit pissed they said two episodes and not two half episodes...

Also the steamy hot scene was in the first half and the second half lacked that. So while it was nice to watch the pacing was reversed. They should have done the serious talk first and then the hot steamy scene last.

So I feel they tuned it down and after the "first" episode I would have expected more. But overall this is a small disappointment but the overall vibe and seriousness was a highlight. It gave the whole special more meaning compared to so many other specials which only serve as fanservice.

Overall it's not perfect, so it gets some deduction, but compared to most special episodes this is a very good one.

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No bullshit BL...

I don't know if we can describe this mini-series as BL. It's more in the realm of a queer mini series. Besides that, MDL says it has only three episodes and say's the second part is a side-story - which it's not! It is a continuation of this series.

A young man has a breakup because his girl friend just tells him, he's "bad" in bed and does all the things wrong. She recommands that he should take lessons. He made a post somewhere to search for a tutor and he found one. But he does not know that his tutor is also male - that's the story in this three episodes.

This is not fluff, this is not a love story (not yet, anyways), but the teacher does just teach. This is a really unique concept to take all the bullshit of any BL out and just make it about learning how to respond to your sex partner, how to make him hot and how to do "stuff".

While this mini-series has not much story (yet), the actors are really naked, no BL make-out under the blanket or just the foreplay. It's also about penetration and how to do it right and you may think it's p0rn but it's not. I find this concept refreshing and something completly different to nearly every other show. The next three episodes will get more story and I can only hope they will continue the story because the story itself has potential. And I bet some people could learn from it!

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dreadful and frustrating, but brilliant!

When many people say BLs are fiction, that is not entirely correct. The premise of the show of a sexless marriage is a common problem in Japan. The latest study in 2024 found that 48.3% of married couples are sexless, which is nearly double as many as in most other countires. If one of the partners "don't won't the hassle" and the other do need it, it puts a lot of strain on the mental health. This show depicts this reality brilliantly and I felt how dreadful that must be. I also felt heavy and frustrated as Hagiwara with his girlfriend. Kaori does not like to be intimate with him any more.

On the other side we have another sexless gay couple which are a couple for the wrong reasons. I'm not happy with the finale explaining Fujisawa reasons for his behaviour - it does not explain the refusal to be intimate. Guilt is always a bad motivator to be in a relationsship. Of course Sei is not innocent in this too. He let Fujisawa isolate him, he did not force the issue much much earlier and wasted years with a love which could never fulfil him.

After a wrongly sent email Hagiwara & Sei kept in contact per mail and discuss their lives even in sexual matters. As it must happen, they did not know they were co-workers. For reasons they discover that by chance and have a laugh. After another refusal of Kaori Hagiwara felt so deep in a hole, he contacts Sei and they meet and they have one of the most sensual scenes in a BL. I don't mean the touching and kissing, I mean the feelings they convey... I felt how they urge for the touch, to be close, to be one.

Of course their sexual affair did not get unnoticed from Kaori and both of them got in a chaotic situation. While Kaori did scrutinze Hagiwara's phone, Fujisawa went into a jealous rage, raping Sei which was not shown directly but he had the marks afterwards. Sei seems to think it was a deserved punishment which sounds insane for most viewers and left me speechless. While Kaori does not seem to be a bad person per se, she is not able to communicate her desires and problems with her partner. Kaori's talk with Hagiwara ended with the expected breakup because she is unable to comprehend what she has done and how Hagiwara felt. Sadly Sei also pushes Hagiwara away.

At least there is happy end and I'm not happy that we did not get another episode.

Cinematography, direction were on point, the cast acted their roles to perfection, making this drama very special. If you think, they all should have communicated better, don't forget, Japan is different from most countries. Feelings are kept hidden more, problems are often ignored especially in relationships and due to the work mentality - which is insane for every other country - they often don't have time to do so.

This is for sure a show to binge-watch and I can't tell you how highly I recommand you to do so!

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raw, emotional and with a cliffhanger....

While some episodes where not as interesting as others and had some "logic holes", the outstanding feature of this show are the characters and the actors playing them. Even the action scenes were, for a thai BL, quite good (in contrast to Jack & Joker). It's rare for any thai BLs to leave "badies on the field" after the final episode, something we have not seen yet. But the bitter pill we also have to swallow is an open end, which means they are gearing for a season 2.

This show is not for everyone. While there is eye candy and sensual scenes, this show is mostly raw and brutal. That begins in the prison with all the abuse you may associate with it and ends in the finale which is one action sequences after another ending in a blood bath. Also the thai/korean co-production did not feel akward compared to other shows, even when the K-Dad was not really Korean at all, but we will forgive that.

Overall it was something fresh for a thai BL, something different and something not seen yet and for that courage alone we should praise this show. Of course, it was not perfect, the storyline could have been better, but some twist were also well thought out and not as predicable compared to many other shows.

So, if you can stomach the raw and brutal scenes or don't like the overly fluffy stuff, it's a show worth watching.

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Why do non-BLs always have to be sad and tragic?

This is not a BL, it's a queer series. It's slices of live spanning over around 8 years or so. The beginning is a bit strange because there are too many coincidences in the first episode. And of course while we know they are gay, there is no explicit scene about confessing and of course no kissing at all. I don't need any nc-scenes at all, but their relationsship is not defined. We can asume they are together because they love each other but it would not have hurt to give as at least one fluffy moment.

On the other hand this slices of life are mostly a series of negatives. For me it was very emotional because every negative stroke of fate just happens. Ryo gets confessed to but he can't handle it. The confessor get outed and jumps (we do not know from how high), but survives, Ryo runs away to Germany of all places and gets nearly killed in a church were another gay persons throws molowtov-cocktails at the altar and is saved by a man who just before listenes to his guilt-confession.

And the list goes on... Is there a happy end? Kind of, but not really. Of course there are also happy moments but anything happy will be destroyed by a tragic event. Is it really necessary to make queer series where everything is tragic? Do we get only stupid, crappy BLs for happyness? I don't mind if there are tragic elements in a story, but this was too much.

I can't fault the actors, they did their best, but watching this series is very taxing. I can only fault the script & direction. I wish we get realistic gay stories which do not end always badly, or where at least the good and bad balance each other out. So, I'm a bit disappointed that they choose not do so. It's very emotional and I needed some tissues. I can't even say it was "bad". Yes the script had it's flaws, the story-arc is not what I wished for, some scenes are too slow for my taste, but it was done mostly in a good way. If you crave for something tragic, this series is for you, if you want something happy, this is definitively not for you.

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strong start, rushed end...

As typical of a JBL we get an interesting premise, we get an serene atmosphere and quite a slow pacing. I just feel the end is rushed, another episode should have extended the end which was overly fast and breaks with the overall pace of the show. Especially they introduced the "Konno goes abroad" thing which is not in the original manga and which did not make much sense especially when they were limited on episodes anyways. To introduce drama is not always a good choice, this series could have done without it.

The cinematography was top notch, the actors did a good job, except with kissing. What's the point of close ups "kissing" when the lips are only touching for a "endless" time. Besides that, I have nothing to complain about. So overall a good BL which started much stronger (the first two episodes were just perfect) and gave us a weaker ending. The series is extremly short, only about 24 minutes per episode (except the finale which is about 30 minutes), so you can easily binge-watch this and have a better flow and not a week long suspense.

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Exceptional queer movie with realistic approach

Hi, I am late to the party, but I should write a review, because this is one of the exceptionell queer movies of 2024.
If you do expect a BL you will be disappointed, it's a queer movie and the romance of a BL is not the focus of this movie.

It's a story of gay man who struggles with the society he lives in and a girl who also had go through some hardships. They both meet at university and the grow closer together, overcome hardships together and accept each other for what they are. Both discover who they are and what they want.

Cinematography, direction, acting are also exceptionell.

This is one of the best queer movies ever made which does not focus on the gay aspect per se. It's part of the story but the main part is the development of a deep friendship between a gay man and a straight woman. Regardless if you are straight, bi, gay or inbetween or nothing of that, regardless which gender identity you have, it's a powerful story and a wonderful movie and you should watch it!

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That was disappointing...

First, there is a "dog" cafe without dogs... that's strange as hell.
There is ONE dog in the whole show.
All Koreans understand Thai for some reason without translation devices or so it seems.
The story was soooo slow going in the beginning and then the ending was rushed. What did they wait for? Most of the inbetweens scenes did not much for the love story. The "traitor" was still in the final shot - I only thought WTF? There was a chance for an emotional outbreak for what he did, but nothing happend.
The production value was high, but for such a subpar story it was wasted.
The chemistry between the two leads was ok-ish, I guess a language barrier is not so easy to overcome. They still lacked passion and longing for each other.
All in all I could have skipped it and not miss a thing.

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A fairy tale with a bit of confusion...

As usual the love-story started with a misunderstanding, which is of course nothing new. But how they went with it, was new for me... In the right circumstances a wish from a shooting star can become true. At least I did not expect going that way, because "He Xiangyong" wished to be forgotten. And that had massive consequences with his dad, friends and when he met his highschool sweet heart again. Only his childhood friend recognizes him and he fascilitates the second couple by kicking his friends butt, so to speak, something he could not manage in highschool himself.

The scenery is quite rural and is supporting the story. We got quite some nice scenery, especially the underwater footage in the finale. All the actors did a good job, especially the young versions of the MLs. The second couple had a dead fish kiss in the finale which makes me wonder, if they filmed the finale first, because of course the dumb intro did spoil the end - which I hate.

In the middle of the second half of the show, it gets a bit confusing, because "He Xiangyong" wakes up and something changed. First I thought it's not only his wish, but many wishes intersecting from people around him. But that's not the case, it's just confusing. But at least the God and his helper turn up to save the day. The background music is often offputting and makes no sense, especially when it has a comedic touch but the scene is serious or when a song is playing while a serious conversation is taking place. Of course I understand why they only went with one actor playing "He Xiangyong" and "Zhong Xiaoyou" but for me it would have been better if he really looked different for more immersion and that "Chen Haowei" fall for the second version because of his soul and character. At least it would have been more impactful. Also the "art" was left something to be desired, not good enough to be believable that "He" choosed this as his profession.

So overall a taiwanese production which was good and had some depth and a wonderful story also about two childhood friends. Compared to all the thai crap now airing, this was a refreshing story. Even with all the downsides I mentioned, it is still a good series.

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A story about loneliness and the struggles of everyday life...

Many viewers won't like this series much, because first it's not a BL, secondly there is no real drama but many heartwarming/heartbreaking moments in this story. It's a slice of life where two people drawn together, fight their past baggage and come together in the end.

It depicts the struggles especially in Japan where social pressure and expecations are a real burden. The last episode Azuma describes that best: "I feel like I've just been running in circles. I kept telling myself I'd take a real break when things settle down. But "settling down"... if you don't force yourself to take the time, it feels like it'll never happen."

We see the disconnect of families like Kuji and his brother, who takes the house Kuji is living in, not just because he inherited but despite his hate for his father. He does not really need that house but he kicks Kuji out of it regardless. Azumas mom is struggeling with loneliness because many eldery people left alone because their spouses already left and their children are struggeling themselves not investing the time to be there for them.

This is slow pacing, some may say boring, but life itself is not an action movie. It's running in circles and to break out of that circle is the real challenge both of them faces. And in the end, they manage to do it.

These are veteran actors not needing a queer role to stay relevant. Of course Takeda Kouhei is best known to us for his role in "Oldfashion Cupcake" while for Shibuya Kento it's his first stop at such an series as a main role (he was a guest in Ossans Love). Both did an amazing job and overall the cast was strong. Production quality and cinematography was on point with slow movements and great pictures to punctuate the actors characters and performance.

If you are tired of the 100th school BL this is something completely different, a mature look of two people struggeling and a sensitive composition of how two people can find to each other without the usual drama and silly scripts. I can't do no other as highly recommand you to watch this. But this is not for escapists, this is for people who want to improve their understanding.

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Humans are not black or white, they are shades of grey.

First I have to say I watched this because of the actor Matsumoto Leo who played the best side character in "I Cannot Reach You" in 2023. Also the two personalities on the poster intrigued me. But besides that, I went in blind.

This is a story which was needed to be told. I applaud the creators to have the gall in Japan to tell a story which is against the conforming nature of japanese people. It teaches the viewers that man do not need to be masculine and even if they have feminin traits, it does not mean they are all gay. The same goes for the girl, who is on the tomboyish side without the typical expierence doing makeup and dessing up. I won't spoil the rest of the story here, but it was not earth-shattering, but quite nice.

It's more on the light side, telling a story of discovery and exploration especially for the girl. The only downfall is the story about Hikarus parents, especially his father who does not approve of his cross-dressing. We can assume the mother was on his side always and his father came around in the finale but maybe in this case they should have shifted the story more so we could have seen the wedding with the parents... as with many BLs the kissing was again just dead fish kisses which annoys me in EVERY romance.

Overall an atypically japanese romance with atypical people which is worth the watch in my book!

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A demonstration how a series demolishes itself.

Too bad I woke up with a bad headache today and I could not watch anything. 12 hours later I'm fine enough to watch the conclusion of this pile of crap. This series is completely unbelievable. First of all the main couple was quite boring, their brake-up was extremely stupid and the series did nothing which was in the least interesting for them. And then they had a second couple - the only thing interesting in this show - and they killed it off. This was the ONLY thing keeping me on this show. I gave a rat's ass about the so called main couple - you can play it at 2x speed an you won't miss a thing. The second couple was the star of the show, the believable one, the guys who can act well. And then Mr. "President" died and they introduced a new "boss" but he had no impact at all. There was speculation it was all a fake death to reveal a conspiracy of the new boss but no - the scriptwriters had no imagination at all.

And the main couple - they got on my nerves so much especially when they talk about the past. Mr. good guy was "Oh, it was a misunderstanding? I'm glad we could clear that up." - WTF man? 10 years wasted because your lover did not trust you? I would have exploded, cursed him out for at least an hour - but I would never have chased him in the first place.

So my verdict is, this show is a waste of time. The second couple should have the show for themselves and the main couple should have gone in the trashcan where the script for them belongs too. I have no clue what you need to smoke or take to come up with such an outrageous storyline. And as I can see in some reviews, people are digging this bullshit. I can't understand that. If your lover does not trust you and does not talk to you, he is a waste of your time and not worth your effort. The quite high rating is only because of the second couple, even when the two children did lighten the mood a bit.

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