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A Forced 1998: Why Twenty-Five Twenty-One Feels Too Modern and Engineered
The series presents itself as if it’s set in 1998, but it doesn’t feel that way at all. The clothing, hair, aesthetics, and surroundings , the way they are talking and acting, all feel very 2022. Nothing about it feels like 1998 in any real way.
Second, they neutralized almost any possibility of romantic feelings. There are hints here and there as the episodes progress, but it feels forced, as if they were trying to meet politically correct standards. It stands out to me as someone who has watched very old films from that period, which were completely different in those aspects. Even in the early 2000s, it wasn’t like this at all. Political correctness like that simply didn’t exist.
In practice, they also don’t have chemistry, and it feels very forced. I’d even say that at some point I started thinking the screenwriter may have actually intended to write a GL story, and maybe that would have been more convincing. Personally, I’m not really interested in that, and I don’t like the GL genre, but it definitely seems to be leaning in that direction. Maybe it’s intentional, a wink to Western audiences.
That said, there are some beautiful dialogues, for example when they’re in the fencing hall, and there is depth in the dialogue. It’s very possible that the script was one thing, but the direction turned into something else because of certain constraints.
Second, they neutralized almost any possibility of romantic feelings. There are hints here and there as the episodes progress, but it feels forced, as if they were trying to meet politically correct standards. It stands out to me as someone who has watched very old films from that period, which were completely different in those aspects. Even in the early 2000s, it wasn’t like this at all. Political correctness like that simply didn’t exist.
In practice, they also don’t have chemistry, and it feels very forced. I’d even say that at some point I started thinking the screenwriter may have actually intended to write a GL story, and maybe that would have been more convincing. Personally, I’m not really interested in that, and I don’t like the GL genre, but it definitely seems to be leaning in that direction. Maybe it’s intentional, a wink to Western audiences.
That said, there are some beautiful dialogues, for example when they’re in the fencing hall, and there is depth in the dialogue. It’s very possible that the script was one thing, but the direction turned into something else because of certain constraints.
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