I agree that the cliches in the story are really bad (and I especially hate the endless tobacco smoking and alcohol…
From what I hear specifically mainland China productions love to use dubbing with voice actors, and the aloof top guy was the case. The actor’s actual voice sounds more youthful, not deep enough as per the director’s vision.
There is maybe also an accent issue, but I can not hear it by ear as I do not know Mandarin to pick it up, if it is the case.
In fact, the production team has replaced voices of the most of main actors (not Zi Yu though as he was only ever taught the standard Beijing accent, despite living near to Wuxi).
I mostly AGREE with your critiques, though some of those might come from treating the BL genre as if it is a gay film genre, so they might be unfair.
The whole BL (a translation from Japanese shonen-ai) thing is a fantasy genre where everybody is all of a sudden gay or can be turned gay. And yes, it is a straight female fantasy for straight female audience from the very beginning.
So those cliche are simply to be accepted if you watch the genre. Similar to how sound in space is real in sci-fi films, however absurd it is.
The rules of the genre are so pervasive that I can hardly easily remember a realistic BL series where both main couples actually know they are gay or bi since at least their early teens, as it happens in reality, rather than depicting men being completely clueless about their desires and attractive men around in the beginning.
Most even depict men going out like for months without having fun with each other, which is absolutely ridiculous if you think of male physiology and needs for a second.
From the very first moment men see each other they know if they want to engage or not, and they want to engage immediately, they do not “discover” their desire some time later. There is nothing romantic about this physiological process. The romance comes later, not vice versa.
If you have stumbled upon BL dramas that not this nonsensical, I would be glad to see recommendations.
You clearly mentioned everything wrong with this drama. This novel is purely written out of a women's craze towards…
I agree that the cliches in the story are really bad (and I especially hate the endless tobacco smoking and alcohol abuse), but not sure what you mean by “bad” acting. To me, it looked good except for the doctor guy from the second couple. He was given a task to play a role of a traumatised person, but it has turned out to be so stiff that it looked cartoonish. But Tian and Zi Yu have played believably within their tasks, however cliche they are: a cool aloof top and a cute curveball.
Why all those series have horrible medical advice? You should never use push-ups as a remedy for headaches; it could even be dangerous. The milk does not help, either.
Not because he is not cute or not a good actor, but because he was chosen to play an office character, which requires him to wear a formal attire such as a costume, but his neck is a bit too short for this, and this is distracting.
11 years!!!! I'll watch it and update my review after, thanks :)
As it often happens, scenarists is the problem. In ANY proper film school they would be turned away with lazy thoughtless scenarios and said to rewrite them until they would come up with a solid, coherent world-building and story. But in the industry, everyone goes. This series is not bad, but still lots of potential for it to be truly great was lost.
I viewed it as a sad gay version of Steins;Gate anime.
I doubt that the authors were trying to make the “do not gay” point consciously, though, you are right, you can totally read this as that.
But then if you watch any real art-house film about gays, almost all of them show tragedy and despair, even though they were filmed by very liberal gay people in very liberal countries, not in China.
And the painter lad serially becoming suicidal right after he wants to confess was making me laugh. The car accidents is a tired cliche, and in this series it was made especially silly.
Still, the series has forces me to cry a lot at other points. It was really painful to watch. Not sure it is a healthy viewing for anyone struggling.
There is maybe also an accent issue, but I can not hear it by ear as I do not know Mandarin to pick it up, if it is the case.
In fact, the production team has replaced voices of the most of main actors (not Zi Yu though as he was only ever taught the standard Beijing accent, despite living near to Wuxi).
The whole BL (a translation from Japanese shonen-ai) thing is a fantasy genre where everybody is all of a sudden gay or can be turned gay. And yes, it is a straight female fantasy for straight female audience from the very beginning.
So those cliche are simply to be accepted if you watch the genre. Similar to how sound in space is real in sci-fi films, however absurd it is.
The rules of the genre are so pervasive that I can hardly easily remember a realistic BL series where both main couples actually know they are gay or bi since at least their early teens, as it happens in reality, rather than depicting men being completely clueless about their desires and attractive men around in the beginning.
Most even depict men going out like for months without having fun with each other, which is absolutely ridiculous if you think of male physiology and needs for a second.
From the very first moment men see each other they know if they want to engage or not, and they want to engage immediately, they do not “discover” their desire some time later. There is nothing romantic about this physiological process. The romance comes later, not vice versa.
If you have stumbled upon BL dramas that not this nonsensical, I would be glad to see recommendations.
Not because he is not cute or not a good actor, but because he was chosen to play an office character, which requires him to wear a formal attire such as a costume, but his neck is a bit too short for this, and this is distracting.
I doubt that the authors were trying to make the “do not gay” point consciously, though, you are right, you can totally read this as that.
But then if you watch any real art-house film about gays, almost all of them show tragedy and despair, even though they were filmed by very liberal gay people in very liberal countries, not in China.
And the painter lad serially becoming suicidal right after he wants to confess was making me laugh. The car accidents is a tired cliche, and in this series it was made especially silly.
Still, the series has forces me to cry a lot at other points. It was really painful to watch. Not sure it is a healthy viewing for anyone struggling.
This is not even a bromance, let alone anything remotely BL. Only watch it if you are into e-sport dramas, which it is.