ShortCircuit

Well, they did stick the landing. So glad - I was afraid it would not raise up to the level of the previous ones, but it totally fits the atmosphere and the story. The only thing that doesn't raise up to expectations is the music (it definitely reprises some of the already known themes of the RK saga, but the OVA's music was way better. I guess they couldn't just borrow some of Taku Iwasaki's themes. Ko-to-wa-ri would have been perfect again, IMHO. "Broken Heart of Gold" fits the movie, though I didn't quite like it as much as I did the other songs One OK Rock did for RK.)

Using the opening of the first RK movie was pretty good too. I didn't quite expect so much blood - though it's there in the manga, I don't know what I was waiting for, LOL. It just hits differently when it's on screen.

Bows to the whole production teams for the 5 RK movies - this has been quite a ride, and a great one. One of my favourite mangas set to the big screen, and IMHO the best manga-to-live action movie transition ever/done so far.

I like them both for different reasons - and find them both flawed in the end.

L&R is going perfect throughout all the series, with SiFeng becoming the ultimate sacrificial lamb each and every time (but I like a suffering hero, so what can I say?...), but flops the ending arc sadly (IMHO). I could have done with a better ending myself. The last episode goes a long way into redeeming it (LOL) but not soon enough. The music is great and the snake is my favourite side-kick, but that last arc... Sigh.

AoL on the other hand suffers from a most perfect ML and a totally clueless FL for most of its run. That's why RunYu saves most of the plot with his slow falling into villain territory, at least he's not cookie-cut good and has some back story. But of course true love must win and it all twists and turns into a HEA that I wasn't even expecting with much interest by then TBH. I know people watched it for the romance between the grape and the phoenix, but I watched for the drama of the water dragon, so there's that...

The music was perfect in both dramas, and Love Like Coloured Glass is on my playlist even now.

I came off them with an interest in Luo YunXi and Chen Yu so I call that a win in both cases :D

You forget BHS knows who DHS is. His serial killer mentor always talked to him about DHS and how he's not really amenable despite his mental issues and it's pretty obvious BHS is kind of stuck into being a replacement son/apprentice for DHS's dad just because DHS wouldn't follow through with what his father wanted.

IMHO, bringing him home to bury was keeping the ultimate trophy for BHS - DHS was always going to be missing for the rest of the world and BHS would be the only one to know how he actually ended up.

For me, it was more the actual coincidence of having DHS fall in front of BHS's car, JUST AS BHS was going to recover the re-found Jung Mi Sook - but LOL, I can suspend disbelief a whole lot for this series :D

It's mostly a happy ending - nobody who shouldn't die dies, and nobody who shouldn't live, lives. But there's a change in the main relationship that could be said to not be completely HEA. It worked for me, it might not work for all people.

Be aware this is not just a thriller, it's a melo-thriller, that means there will be some melo elements throughout.

RE: BHS's black eyes, who do you mean, the actor or the character?

BHS is played by two people, both MLs, Lee Joon Gi as a swap-in for him while BHS is in a coma, then Kim Ji Hoon as the original and then after waking up from the coma BHS. They both have black eyes, LOL (and they're both quite handsome, to boot.) But yeah, Kim Ji Hoon/original BHS (the one with the long hair) looks to have really black eyes in pictures.

I highly recommend watching the Tsuiokuhen OVA (Trust & Betrayal), basically it should be the same story told in The Beginning.

The animation is top-notch, much, MUCH better than the TV series or the other OVA that shall not be mentioned - except one shouldn't watch it - the music is perfection itself and well, there's a lot of heartbreak.

But so worth it - I think it's my favourite part of everything Rurouni Kenshin, including the manga, the anime, the live-action movies and the OVAs.

If you haven't watched The Beginning - I know I haven't... - you could choose to watch it after the movie, to give it a chance to awe you, LOL, particularly as you like Takeru Sato as RK (he embodies RK better than anyone I could have ever imagined.) But don't miss out on it - it's a masterpiece.

PS They'd better stick the landing on Tsuiokuhen, I was screaming like a fangirl seeing the pony-tail on Kenshin - and then the pieces of it they chose to show basically spoil the whole movie, LOL. But I won't complain, as long as it's at least as good as the OVA. Keeping fingers crossed.

Did anybody watch it? (it's supposed to come on Netflix at the end of the month, but it's been released for weeks in Japan.) Does it do the OVA justice?

how on Earth do you make Jinchuu Arc and NOT include the most epic panel of the manga in it?!! I kept waiting for the chained sword scene and it never came T_T

I guess the manga has all the time in the world to make sense and Jinchuu Arc spans a lot of chapters, but I don't remember Seta Sojiro in it - am I remembering wrong?! I need to do a re-read.

Overall, not bad. It doesn't get to the level of the very first movie for me, but that one was the introduction to the charas and kept it all human-levels possible. The following movies took the manga/anime to heart and boosted everything to a whole 'nother level.

Still good.

Nobody brushed their hair for the duration of filming. And considering the glimpses from The Beginning, nor will they brush their hair in the other movie either LOL.

I liked Enishi - he's basically the same as in the manga. Aoshi's fight with Mumyoi was awesome, I guess he and the Oniwabanshu meant business LOL.

I am not really sure, as they only fixed on Saito taking the stance for Gatotsu and never on Kenshin's stances, but did Kenshin actually use Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki on Enishi in the final battle? It went so fast I am not certain what I saw.

The fights are epic but bordering on anime physics (which somehow doesn't really bother me) BUT...

Third season is the last season, big part of the story is the Yi City arc - and then the ending. There are some two or three teasers out already, it looks like they're going to have quite a few WangXian moments.

I thought he did quite like her, but she wasn't the one. But that was my impression. If he did lead her on while he felt nothing for her, that's even worse than what Jai did to him, IMHO.

No, it's more like they're a generic gay pair who just happen to have had their relationship established before the start of this series. The actors did their job very well, but the difference is extreme, IMHO. It could have been anyone playing this on-again, off-again pair of lovers going through college, not necessarily Teh and Oh.

ITSAY was an acquired taste for me, particularly in the first two episodes, because I found Billkin's facial expressions kind of strange. But then the magic happened and by the end of it, ITSAY became one of the best Thai BL dramas I've ever watched. (And I did watch the most mentioned on MDL, too, even if not all). But ITSAY did have something special - and IPYTM only has that it's a sequel to ITSAY and that wasn't quite enough for me, though I'm happy I got to see more content involving these two.

Jai manipulated Teh - not that it took all that much work.

But what about Airy? Who manipulated Teh into THAT relationship, if he was still heartbroken over Oh-Aew and still hoping to get together? And if he started a relationship with her for the sake of the TV series, then how is he any better than Jai?...

I mean, he had a role in Jai's play and fell for Jai. He went on to star in the series and had a relationship with Airy, his co-star.

Yes, he says he's only really loved Oh-Aew, but it feels like he's falling in love with each partner in a series or play, so far. Or if not partner, whoever happens to be the most major influence on his acting in that series/play.

IMHO, Oh-Aew is in for a world of hurt, if this pattern keeps repeating, and at this point, why wouldn't it? Oh-Aew took Teh back, even if - according to Teh, he'd loved him all along, even while in a relationship with his co-star - Teh can't seem to help himself. He'd take him back again even if this will happen again...

And Oh-Aew even said he couldn't TRUST Teh any more, therefore he couldn't even contemplate getting back together. But then they did. So there's that. A HEA slap-dashed onto a series that was going full-speed ahead toward a non-HEA ending....

He might have had more interests - he's definitely bisexual, considering we saw him in love or lust with Oh-Aew and Jai and then there's the already ex actress (the ex part came out of the left field, there was no tension between them in the make-up room, just that scene where Teh is saying sorry after talking with Oh-Aew and getting some pointers, LOL. So I guess that felt a bit pasted-on just because. )

I mean, he did struggle with his sexuality in the first part, and if he'd have stayed with Oh-Aew and then immediately moved on to a girl, he would fall in the gay-for-you case, but with Jai involved that's clearly not a clean option any more.

The IG pictures... maybe there's an after IPYTM, like there was after ITSAY and we get to see at least some explanation of that. I still hope he didn't delete them. Because if he did, this final episode will lose a lot of the fizz for me. If he really missed Oh-Aew, at least he should've kept their memories together.

Keeping fingers crossed for a bit of extra story.

They're going to leave it all to fate. And hope they don't grow out of each other.

TBH, with the time skips, it's almost palatable. But it still kind of lands with a thud. I know, they're back together and a bit more mature, and aware that life isn't perfect etc. Somehow it still feels like they're just going to repeat the cycle until one of them - probably Oh-Aew - gets exhausted and ends it once and for all.

Anyway, highlights:

- Toon's wedding and them having the instrumental Skyline theme playing - that's not fair, I got teary-eyed. I hope at least Toon gets his unconditional HEA.
- the final picture on IG, with Teh smiling broadly and Oh-Aew with his worried expression in the second plan. That's how the dynamics' going to be from now on, probably. Still unanswered - did Teh delete all the old IG pictures though?...

Overall, this wasn't up with ITSAY for me, mostly for the lack of a good OST, and maybe there's a problem with the editing too, I can't really say but it keeps bugging me a bit. Still, not a disappointment, though maybe a more linear plot would have felt better. I'm pleased with what we got, in the end.

So...

What, no "The Legends" at all?! It was one of my first costume dramas, and sparked my love for Bai Lu (she's a great actress and too cute for words) and interest in Xu Kai, too :)

To anyone who hasn't watched it yet - it's a story about cultivation, prejudice and Zhao Yao's quest to become infamous, LOL, because the orthodox cultivation sects are made up of hypocrites. She accidentally dies and when she comes back, she starts her revenge, encountering just a few problems (in that she's slowly falling for the person who took over the sect that she never noticed much in her first life... or did she not? :D) There are plenty twists and turns, but the acting and music are good, the plot mainly makes sense (there are some speeded up parts in places) and I rooted for the MLs all the way.

I don't usually watch docs on how the magic is made :D It tends to break the immersion if I'm doing it while the series is airing - but I did watch some ITSAY docs after it was done, and I was really impressed with the general care everybody took with each scene.

Sadly, I might not look up IPYTM docs this time. Not because the actors aren't doing a great job - they are! - but somehow it doesn't reach that level of addictiveness for me that the first series did.

Music - and particularly BGM - is a huge draw for me in movies and series. I might hate the show but still remember the music. Or the show might be great, but the music would suck - well, that makes a huge difference for me. So IPYTM not having a memorable song/BGM works against it (for me). It still does have the sound effects to show off, though (like that tinnitus sound rising and suddenly stopping when the duet happens in Ep. 4).

So far, there aren't many Thai songs I remember well - Skyline from ITSAY, Getsunova's Fake Protagonist from Theory of Love (Skyline is the better song, IMHO, but both are memorable), and that's about it. I'd have loved to add another one to the list.

Maybe next time :D

I noticed it since the first episode - there's no special song to carry over the meanings, and the BGM is not outstanding. But they did remember not to overload emotional scenes with too many BGM, and to make good use of silence when it's needed. Actually, I really appreciate the use of sound effects in this.

But I miss another haunting song like "Skyline", and I mentioned that before, too. For some reason, it's still playing in my head whenever some romantic scene comes around :D

I'm not actually taking this in any manner personally. This is a drama, they are both characters I'm invested in but not actually obsessed with (and I've seen talk that some fans of ITSAY got abusive towards the actors and the production team, which I'm practically unable to understand, as I've never, myself, mixed up the characters and the actors - not just in this drama, but in everything I've watched. I mean, real people are real people, characters in a drama or movie are characters, there' no room for overlapping.) That doesn't prevent myself or other commenters here of seeing other PoVs from different people. That's just a general assumption that might be wrong, and IS definitely wrong in my case. But from MY PoV, Teh's ACTIONS (not justification thereof from people watching the drama) are not up for discussion. Obviously it's all subjective.

The reason I keep commenting here is that I actually like this drama, even if it's not probably on par with ITSAY. I have no problem with the direction it took, and the characters seem to have developed naturally, so it doesn't bug me at all to have them be unfaithful to each other.

But - and it's a big but - there is no excuse for the CHARACTER of Teh to be forgiven (or not so fast anyway) for something he actually did. You're presenting his side as if he really was a passionate acting genius, incapable of separating dramaland from reality (in their own dramaland, that is), when he's basically fallen into lust with someone else and completely forgot he even had a long-term partner. I can HYPOTHETICALLY imagine myself in Oh's place, and there's no room for turning back to the original relationship. Because the trust is gone. Teh might be an incredible actor, he might actually mature some and realize how he's hurt Oh, but he has the emotional quotient of a tomcat in heat in this particular setting, given he was completely ready to just go to Jai IF Jai had accepted him.

And that took place in the staircase below the room where his actual boyfriend was waiting for him. And it's followed by him actually singing longingly to Jai as if he were the last man on Earth, while standing right next to his actual boyfriend. That takes such a level of lack of awareness it's beyond whatever anyone can say to justify it.

And were I to place myself in Teh's shoes - finding someone who seems to share my likes and interests and is magnetic and intelligent and sexy etc... But at the same time I have a long-term boyfriend who keeps being around me and who even raised the issue of my new lust interest with me... The honest thing to do was to FIRST ask for some time off with Oh. If there's a problem in the relationship, if there's something lacking, if there's a new person of interest, Teh should first let go of the one who's expecting his loyalty and love. And he doesn't - he wants his cake and to eat it too, this is not about Oh being hard on him. Oh becomes an afterthought in Teh's lust for Jai.

And that's not easily forgivable.

It's not even the first time Teh rejected Oh, either, it took a few tries before they ended up together in ITSAY. How many times can one break someone's heart and still expect second chances? There's always a first, and a lot of times, there's a last chance. IMHO Teh squandered his last.

But we'll see in the last episode how they decide to end it. It's a story, so no matter how it ends, I'll be happy with whatever, as long as it makes sense and doesn't waste the first episodes' setting.

If this was real life though, even if they remained in love, I'd think they'd be better apart, as there are a bit too many signs of an abusive relationship going on (verbal and emotional abuse, of course.) Obviously the heart wants what the heart wants, but sometimes the mind should take over and make a decision instead.