SpikedBoba

Weien and Xuan Zhi are the most perfect pairing. The casting directors behind HIStory are always so great at finding the pairs with the best chemistry together, even if you watch Weien and Xuan Zhi outside the series you can tell how comfortable and at ease they are with each other. Hao Ting and Xi gu kill me every episode! This is honestly one of the best BL released this year. There's so much about it that deals with real emotion and situations, and the portrayal by all the actors is ace. Watching it every week has been such a treat, definitely the series I most look forward to when it comes to updates.

The couples I'm most excited for right now are Bon/Duen and Ram/King. I think this will be a fun series, ever since I read the synopsis I was hoping we'd actually get it, so I'm happy it's really happening. Does anyone know if the novel has been translated?

Another great episode, I'm going to be devastated when this is over. What am I going to look forward to every Wednesday?

Agreed.

That makes sense, I get it. Personally I watch for the development and human aspects of the love story. Them falling in love is the whole point to me. I'm also a sucker for the right chemistry. I'm a big reader and my genre of choice is romantic fiction as well because I love the love story. I'm not sure why we're talking about this though lol The point I was making, was basically what @anchoremore wrote below, people aren't watching it for the storyline, they're watching it to ship the actors. It's less about the story as a whole and the quality of the production/acting which is unfortunate.

If you dropped it last week then you can't be talking about what I'm referring to. And it wasn't one scene. I'm sorry if it wasn't to your taste, that's unfortunate. Though my point stands that there's been a massive shift in reception, it's a trend that I've notice happening fairly frequently on here. It happened with Trapped, LBC, Crossing the Line and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens with UWMA. As soon as the plot develops, but coincidentally it usually happens right around when the main leads get together, there seems to be an interesting shift in perspective.

Every time the mom walks in I'm like "damn it!" LOL

I could see that. I think in a lot of ways what Hao Ting needs is a steadying influence or a "rock", which is what Xi Gu is for him. He has a sporadic, uncontrolled energy that gets him in trouble even though everyone that knows him praises his good character. In some ways I think they both can be passive/dominant which I've been noticing and enjoying about HIStory leads. It's a more realistic scenario that makes for enjoyable, complex characters.

Calling it right now. By the end of the series people are going to be on here praising it like happened with Make Our Days Count once the steamy scenes started up *massive eyeroll* every well-acted, carefully developed and interesting storyline gets complaints before the show has even had a chance to establish itself. I can at the very least appreciate the thought that went into who was portraying the characters, the acting has been great.

She's one of my favorites too lol she's hilarious. I think it's more people have a problem with female characters that aren't crazy, unbelievably silly/airheaded or evil in BL.

I stan Pete's dad. So far he's been the best thing about that whole relationship this series lol but seriously I get Kao's scared but I'm honestly kind of annoyed by the way he's been acting. He's not even giving his mom a chance and she's given no indication that she would be against their relationship. It bothers me a lot when there's contrived drama in a series that makes no sense other than that you know the writer was trying to come up with some kind of "believable" angst and couldn't think of anything original. It could also be that technically this story isn't supposed to center around Pete and Kao so it feels unnecessarily drawn out. From what I heard the whole novel centers around Sun and Mork, so it would make sense that the writers had to find some kind of story to give Pete and Kao screen time. I've enjoyed Tay's acting though, I felt the same when I watched him in 3 Will Be Free, the more I see of him the more I'm impressed. He's making the best of what he's been given for sure lol I can't wait until we get more into SunMork, who were the whole reason I was excited about this series to begin with (I really felt Pete/Kao could have ended with the last season, I would have been happy with a few fluff scenes here and there from them in between Sun/Mork lol). I'm enjoying where that's going so far any way haha

I agree the storyline for me is completely different. I think it's hilarious that people hate this simply for being loyal to Maki, when Maki wasn't even the original love interest for Haruta. Anyway, people are missing out if they're a fan of the first season and aren't at least giving it a chance. I actually really like the production this season as well. I'm excited to see how the story develops because right now I'm really enjoying Haruta and Naruse's dynamic.

Me!!!

Right! I loved that part too. I was so surprised by it, and I loved that they wrote the story like that.

Also Xi Gu fighting for their relationship almost had me in tears, I wasn't expecting it and I loved that development so much.

Goddamn that kiss between Hao Ting and Xi Gu was out of this world! Their chemistry is insane. I swear every time Xi Gu looks at him, he has stars in his eyes. I'll add my other favorite part to a spoiler. The fact that we're barely on episode 6 (or 11/12) gives me heart palpitations. I have a feeling we're in for so much angst before we get our deserved happy ending! I love them together so much. They're officially up there with my favorite couples of all time.

Well at the end of the day unless the people who make the series decide to sub the series, it's really up to the subbers. In the case of With Love, if that subber hadn't decided to take on subbing the series we wouldn't have subs at all, which is the case now. If people don't want to respect the hard work that goes into subbing something, then the subbers have the right to stop if that's what they feel like doing. The creative content doesn't belong to them, but the translations are their work. People can decide to support their work or not, that's entirely up to them, but when you don't support their work this is usually what happens. So at the end of the day it doesn't benefit viewers in any way not to support the source of the subs because once the source is gone, so are the subs and you're left not being able to watch the show subbed. I get the frustration when it's uploaded on sites that are more difficult to access, but there are reasons they do that and it's usually because people are stealing their subs.

Um...I don't think Japan make any more or less BL than many other countries, excluding those like China which ban it. There's a lot of variety in Japanese BL and that's a positive thing. I did read your comment, it just didn't seem very well informed or make a lot of sense. It's ok if it's not to your taste. Like I said this type of comedy just isn't your thing, no big deal.

This type of comedy is popular and common in Japan, not just dealing with portrayals of gay men but just in general. It might just not be the style for you. Though I would say, you'd be surprised how heartwarming some of these series can be, for example, Ore no Sukato, Doko Itta? the same style of humor but like with this series they intersperse some really lovely and serious topics.

I say this every week, but there's so much to love about this. I leave off every episode feeling like I need another one! One isn't enough! I love that the pace of Hao Ting and Xi Gu's "relationship" is natural. Hao Ting is really courting Xi Gu, and you can tell every time they're together Xi Gu falls a little further and comes out of his shell a little more. I also love Hao Ting's family, they're hilarious and cute. I love the way they handled Hao Ting's ex, I was positive they were going to make her vindictive so it was a pleasant surprise that didn't happen (so far). I can't wait for Xi Gu to finally give Hao Ting the confession he wants lol right now everything about this is heartwarming and lovely. I'm 'meh' about the second couple, their story just isn't for me but I already can't wait to re-watch this whole series purely based on Xi Gu and Hao Ting.