Compared to the trailer, this series is a big dud. I dropped the series midway through episode 8, and ended up giving the episodes I watched an overall rating of 6 on MDL.
Maybe it's a better series, in the end, for certain viewers, but it's definitely NOT what I was interested in watching.
The entire series should be a total of 102 minutes-- 51 mini episodes at 2 minutes each. The episode that is posted online at 50:42 minutes long has to be just part 1 of 2.
Because the character was more interesting and his acting was better too. I don’t know what happened to him…
"I don’t know what happened to him here, but he’s acting very strangely, almost like he’s a completely different actor. Maybe he’s having a hard time with such a character."
Gennosuke, as an actor, is similar to the Thai actors Pond Ponlawit Ketprapakorn and Tay Tawan Vihokratana, in that he transforms into a completely different person when portraying different characters. He doesn't attempt to retain a core personality that viewers feel connected to and, therefore, return to watch over and over again, regardless of the series. He commits to the truth of the character he's portraying. This is a sign of great skill in an actor, which is unusual in BLs, which tend to sell the actors instead of the stories. Gennosuke's a completely different person-- physical demeanor, manner of speaking, temperament-- in the vertical series Give a Reward When It Can Do ‘Wait.’ (2025). I have a feeling this mutability, ability to transform entirely, holds true in every role he portrays.
Oh, the frustration.... This is reminding me too much of my younger years, when I allowed longing for another to be the primary state I existed in-- hung up and stalled on the precipice, never falling into anything of substance. I would never willingly return to living life in that way, and because this series keeps dragging this void state of anticipation beyond where it's interesting and, instead, distills down into pure frustration, my interest is rapidly waning. In fact, I'm growing increasingly annoyed.
The continued cold kisses transforms all the supposed longing between Wataru and Chiharu into a pantomime. The actors are playing the parts of two characters who long for each other, and their acting is believable, but once they physically connect, the truth-- that they're two actors who don't feel that way about each other, at all, becomes evident. This makes suspension of disbelief impossible, and instead of watching Chiharu and Wataru muster up the courage to move forward, I'm watching Kazuto and Tomoya in the middle of an acting exercise.
Therefore, what's the point of continuing to balance on the precipice of longing with these characters? Yeah... decision made. Dropping what started off as a promising series. It began as a warm glow, but grew very cold. What a pity.
I arrived at minute 31:26 of the final episode of this series-- the moths to flame performance-- and my chest felt the entire weight of this series' beauty land inside like a mountain and tears spilled from my eyes. In that moment, my heart decided that regardless of how this series concluded, it had achieved a 10. Rarely have I encountered such impactful, exquisitely beautiful poetry in the forms of acting, writing, directing, cinematography and score.
An intense amount of love and the binding, yet liberating threads of karma, were interwoven throughout this masterpiece. So many lessons of how to love and to be loved. BRAVO.
To the entire team )creative and production) of A Winter Sun Wakes the Wind in Spring Hills' Dream, you've left us with an incredible gift. Thank you. 🙏
Lol. I love James McAvoy too. But how are they similar? 😅
His bone structure, facial expressions, and mannerisms. I can't unsee it. I study designs, so I tend to spot similarities/duplication of designs in unexpected places. To see James' doppelganger in an Asian actor is disconcerting.
Lovely series, so far. The actors are doing a wonderful job-- their emotional bond can be felt, and they're each playing their characters believably. The story also has heft. It's not light and fluffy, while somehow not being down in the doldrums.
For the BL viewers who mainly tune in to BLs to get their jollies off on NC and face eating kiss scenes between males, then those people need to stop wasting their own time and just go watch gay porn instead. In the end, they'll be far happier, the comment sections of most BL series would be less chaotic, and BL series ratings would be a more honest reflection of the quality of the writing, acting, and directing, and less a passive-aggressive punishment for not providing ranch loving viewers a chance to live vicariously through the actors actions.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate deep kisses and skinnemax level NC scenes, but only when the rest of the series takes itself seriously and isn't hiding poor writing & production, as well as weak cast chemistry behind the skirt tails of handsome men bumping and grinding.
I can barely focus on the story whenever the main lead, Kingston, who's portraying the undercover cop, is on screen. Not because he isn't good in his part, because he is, and not because the series, overall, isn't intriguing. It definitely is. It's because he's the splitting image of a young James McAvoy, except for his eye color. The resemblance is uncanny and hella distracting.
There are some bad series. There are some awful series. There are a few pointless series. Somehow, Knot found a way to be bad (in the acting department), awful (in directing, writing, and cinematography), and utterly pointless. They must have thought that NC scenes could elevate this pile of missteps into something passable. Well, they didn't (I forwarded through most of them as they were badly filmed and laughably acted, or worse, mechanical and boring).
I finally gave up after episode 6. I knew I was done when I couldn't have cared less if the main character was preggo.
The 7.9 rating is far too high. This is the first series I've rated very low, at 1.5-- and that's just for their efforts. No one deserves a 0, because at least they tried.
I truly like Boat and Oat. Will watch until the end. But the writing is boring. It's like a lakorn vibe. Will…
The few customers who have appeared were essentially NPCs-- there only to provide exposition, which is doubly awful, because none of it ended up mattering at all.
I'm not a Christian, not raised Christian, so I don't have baggage either way. I have worked with many LGBT people…
You should see me at 51. 😄
At 40, I looked 25. At 51, I must still look far younger than my years, because men and women in their mid-20s still hit on me and their eyes almost pop out of their heads when I turn them down gently because I could easily be their mother and I'm not into robbing the cradle. Yes, the actors could have been made up to look older, but why bother when that's not the truth for everyone? Some of us have baby faces, and I didn't get my first gray hair until my 49th year.
As for finding issue with the portrayal of a possible suicide, in 1996, due to the inner cognitive dissonance some Christians (or those raise by Christians) suffer due to their homosexuality, I suppose you've lived the type of life that makes such an opinion possible, so I can't find fault; but, I am compelled to point out that life isn't as simple for everyone, even today.
Are you familiar with Tyler Clementi? Tyler was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from New York City's George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River on September 22, 2010, at the age of 18. Three days prior, without Clementi's knowledge, his roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view Clementi kissing another man and posted that video on Twitter. While Ty;er's father had accepted his son's sexual orientation, his mother, an evangelical protestant, had struggled, yet still didn't turn her back on her child. Even with this, just a video being released showing him kissing a man led to him jumping off of a bridge. That's a brutal level of self-rejection. And this was in 2010-- 14 years AFTER 1996, and in NYC region, one of the most progressive places one can live in the world.
I was able to locate Gennosuke's vertical series, Dangerously Sweet, in a stitched together format. I enjoyed…
I also found, Give a Reward When It Can Do ‘Wait.’ It's a sweet comedy and Gennosuke's personality is completely different, as he portrays a bit of a goofball.
Maybe it's a better series, in the end, for certain viewers, but it's definitely NOT what I was interested in watching.
Sky and Pakin weren't a couple in the series-- simply two characters who interacted. Note the cast list; they aren't listed together.
Secondly, dear, can you share what you did mean, if you're inclined to do so?
Gennosuke, as an actor, is similar to the Thai actors Pond Ponlawit Ketprapakorn and Tay Tawan Vihokratana, in that he transforms into a completely different person when portraying different characters. He doesn't attempt to retain a core personality that viewers feel connected to and, therefore, return to watch over and over again, regardless of the series. He commits to the truth of the character he's portraying. This is a sign of great skill in an actor, which is unusual in BLs, which tend to sell the actors instead of the stories. Gennosuke's a completely different person-- physical demeanor, manner of speaking, temperament-- in the vertical series Give a Reward When It Can Do ‘Wait.’ (2025). I have a feeling this mutability, ability to transform entirely, holds true in every role he portrays.
The continued cold kisses transforms all the supposed longing between Wataru and Chiharu into a pantomime. The actors are playing the parts of two characters who long for each other, and their acting is believable, but once they physically connect, the truth-- that they're two actors who don't feel that way about each other, at all, becomes evident. This makes suspension of disbelief impossible, and instead of watching Chiharu and Wataru muster up the courage to move forward, I'm watching Kazuto and Tomoya in the middle of an acting exercise.
Therefore, what's the point of continuing to balance on the precipice of longing with these characters? Yeah... decision made. Dropping what started off as a promising series. It began as a warm glow, but grew very cold. What a pity.
An intense amount of love and the binding, yet liberating threads of karma, were interwoven throughout this masterpiece. So many lessons of how to love and to be loved. BRAVO.
To the entire team )creative and production) of A Winter Sun Wakes the Wind in Spring Hills' Dream, you've left us with an incredible gift. Thank you. 🙏
For the BL viewers who mainly tune in to BLs to get their jollies off on NC and face eating kiss scenes between males, then those people need to stop wasting their own time and just go watch gay porn instead. In the end, they'll be far happier, the comment sections of most BL series would be less chaotic, and BL series ratings would be a more honest reflection of the quality of the writing, acting, and directing, and less a passive-aggressive punishment for not providing ranch loving viewers a chance to live vicariously through the actors actions.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate deep kisses and skinnemax level NC scenes, but only when the rest of the series takes itself seriously and isn't hiding poor writing & production, as well as weak cast chemistry behind the skirt tails of handsome men bumping and grinding.
I finally gave up after episode 6. I knew I was done when I couldn't have cared less if the main character was preggo.
The 7.9 rating is far too high. This is the first series I've rated very low, at 1.5-- and that's just for their efforts. No one deserves a 0, because at least they tried.
At 40, I looked 25. At 51, I must still look far younger than my years, because men and women in their mid-20s still hit on me and their eyes almost pop out of their heads when I turn them down gently because I could easily be their mother and I'm not into robbing the cradle. Yes, the actors could have been made up to look older, but why bother when that's not the truth for everyone? Some of us have baby faces, and I didn't get my first gray hair until my 49th year.
As for finding issue with the portrayal of a possible suicide, in 1996, due to the inner cognitive dissonance some Christians (or those raise by Christians) suffer due to their homosexuality, I suppose you've lived the type of life that makes such an opinion possible, so I can't find fault; but, I am compelled to point out that life isn't as simple for everyone, even today.
Are you familiar with Tyler Clementi? Tyler was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from New York City's George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River on September 22, 2010, at the age of 18. Three days prior, without Clementi's knowledge, his roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view Clementi kissing another man and posted that video on Twitter. While Ty;er's father had accepted his son's sexual orientation, his mother, an evangelical protestant, had struggled, yet still didn't turn her back on her child. Even with this, just a video being released showing him kissing a man led to him jumping off of a bridge. That's a brutal level of self-rejection. And this was in 2010-- 14 years AFTER 1996, and in NYC region, one of the most progressive places one can live in the world.