andoR

I hope you don't take any offense because I absolutely don't mean it that way, but you probably shouldn't watch pure adult-centered romcoms from Asia (or at least Thailand and Japan) that don't rely on (heavy) drama in later episodes. This sneaking a peek trope is probably one of the most harmless ways of comedic expression they could go for, especially if the other person really doesn't have a problem with it... I mean, she could've just turned around, go away or curse/scream at her instead of saying "hey, don't do that" while she proceeds to undress and go bath with her. The whole drama is sprinkled with this kind of humor and leans even more into it the more they get familiar with each other. You know there's no malice behind it because it's a fictional story and everybody knows how it ends, so under these circumstances I really don't see any harm in that kind of presentation.

Because it's a comedic element in a romcom. Just like, for example, when characters always fall on each other's lips (which is totally overdone and cringe in my opinion) or when they sleep in one bed as far away from each other as possible, then end up in each other's arms the next morning and both recoil at the same time. It's a typical trope in a story like this that's been used for decades, especially in Asia.
Also, you can edit your comments instead of writing several one sentence ones, I usually edit comments at least 4 to 5 times throughout a series if I want to comment on it.

Because the majority of the Japanese entertainment industry doesn't care one bit about the international audience. But that's also why we don't get culturally watered down products that cater to that audience. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Japanese media to go mainstream all around the world (like the music does since a few years, finally), but not at the exchange of "westernizing" everything just to get good numbers on streaming services that don't give an f about any other culture than theirs, like manga and anime does a lot these days.

I was quite sure before watching Enemies With Benefits, but now I'm almost certain: Thailand is allergic to light-hearted stories with adult characters. Or at least Thai GL is.
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the best GLs of 2026, but the whiplash between the first 6 and last 3 eps almost sent me to the ER.

(I spoilered so I don't spam the comment section)
I know what you mean and you hit the nail right on the head of my issue I tried to get across. In my eyes they need to preserve the culture the original work is from, instead of adjusting everything to, in Netflix's case, US standards. It's the same with subtitles. For example, why do Netflix/Amazon subtitles say that new co-workers address each other on a first name basis 10 minutes after they meet, when they audibly don't do that and probably wouldn't do that in Japan even after 10 years of working together? I think they need to acknowledge that difference instead of changing everything to one worldwide standard and basically eradicating cultural differences from media they get their hands on. There were times when the original title was left intact and they gave it a subtitle instead to add context... but these days streaming services just change the original to a completely different meaning just so, in this case, English speaking viewers know what it's about without the need for a second glance to actually know what it's about. This is by the way, in my opinion, only the second worst part of western streaming services buying Japanese media, but I don't want to unnecessarily rant even more 😅

Thanks for the recommendation. Just saw a few days ago that it was already fully subbed. I was sceptical to watch another couple, especially from the Meiji era because I'm not the biggest fan of stories that are set completely pre-1945, but I'll watch it when I have time. It's on my list anyways and there aren't many since 2021 that are subbed and I'm particularly stoked about when it comes to the setting (only watched Okaeri Mone and Anpan since then).

Tora ni Tsubasa is allegedly really good, but it seems pretty tragic and sad, something I'm not really in the mood for the last few months. But I'm really looking forward to Kaze Kaoru, even though it's set in Meiji. I don't think I watched an Asadora with two female leads so far, except for Dandan which I don't really want to talk about ;)

I wholeheartedly agree. I thought Yell (and now Anpan) was ok, but the only other two married couple Asadora I remember off the top of my head watching (Gegege no Nyobo and Manpuku) are some of the worst Asadora I've seen, in my opinion. For me Gegege no Nyobo was just a disrespectful bum and a wife who's job was apologizing to everyone for the idiotic things her husband did while he sat on his butt and wasted the money they didn't have to survive and Manpuku's main characters were all the inventions the husband invented while both main humans took a backseat (the woman even more than the man because she actually did nothing but be a housewife). But I have to say I dropped Gegege no Nyobo after about 90 episodes or so because I couldn't take it anymore, so maybe I missed all the good arcs. I think even Tsubasa was better than those two and that's saying something.

I'm not from an English speaking country and granted, I never really gave much thought about it until I started watching more Japanese stuff 15 years ago, but I never saw an already English title changed to another English title for anything before Netflix came and did it with a lot of Japanese media that already had an English title. To go back to my example, with Brush Up Life they renamed the drama when they bought it 2 years after it already aired in Japan... I don't believe that anyone in Japan had anything to do with that.

As I said in another reply here: it's not about what it means, it's about renaming every (Japanese) medium, even if the name is already in English. Or simply translating a title and giving it a completely different name by doing so. To me it's just stupid and oftentimes disrespectful to the original author/writer because they probably had a thought behind it before the US company (in this case) goes and just renames it to something completely different.

Thanks for writing the review, you basically took the words out of my mouth.

The only thing I would have written differently is that I wouldn't have used Gegege no Nyobo as an example to compare... because I think that one was an absolute disaster ;)

The story kind of lost me when they got to the 60s. I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of it, but the last 40 to 50 episodes felt more like an autobiography written by someone who wanted to humblebrag. The hardships feel more like a minor inconvenience than them struggling to make ends meet. It all seems way too smooth and linear. I think they needed to bring the old 156 episode format back for this one to have a well enough payoff at the end.

It was kinda funny, in a cute but also cringey way. I don't particularly have a problem with that, but the more serious parts were totally superficial and they should've made it into a pure comedy instead. I also don't know if I like the whiplash I got from Belle's character throwing a tantrum like a 6 year old in one scene to getting intimate in the next. But aside from that their acting was pretty good and their chemistry was aswell, but the script and direction were pretty bad outside of the comedy.

Did they really make the last episode 5+ minutes shorter than the others? I haven't watched the drama yet (was waiting for it to end), but just from that it seems like their money ran out and they needed a quick ending. Well, by now Kongthup comes across more like these Youtube mini-series channels than an actual production company that produces stuff for TV anyways, so it wouldn't be really surprising.

Not through titles, but through localization of subtitles. Like ignoring the typical Japanese reserved nature and, for example, making it seem as if everybody is calling each other by first name on the first day in school/at work. Or like random people start talking about politics/some kind of agenda, even though that would probably never happen with Japanese people, etc. It's been a topic for years in anime, especially with streaming services like Netflix, Crunchyroll, Amazon, etc.

Thanks for the explanation but I was being sarcastic, sorry. I hate the fact that Netflix renames every single JDrama, even if it already has an English title. Like with Brush Up Life. As if it wasn't enough that they're eradicating every bit of Japanese culture out of a lot of JDrama and Anime subtitles.

We are basically one step away from carrying contracts around to confirm consent in written form, with signature and all. I see it the exact same way you do. It's not a "person kisses a random sleeping person" thing, it's a "they clearly like each other" thing. I really don't know how that's being lumped together all the time. I really miss the times we saw stuff in grey tones instead of the constant black and white thinking of social media today.

So, how does "Downtime" translate to "Plastic Beauty"? Excited for Matsuoka Mayu Netflix drama though.

So... does this have any structure at all? It's a bit like a 50s/60s b-movie, basically just random events happening one after another. And the sound overdub is the worst thing I've ever heard. The romantic scenes are like if an innocent adolescence GL (it really doesn't look like they know how to kiss in a romantic relationship) meets a cheap porn (constant lipsmacking and moaning/sighing). Their lips never match the audio and even the ambience, like footsteps for example, is way too loud in relation to what happens on screen. Makes it unwatchable for me, unfortunately. I could've overlooked the lack of structure and purpose, because the couple(s) and the overall drama was pretty cute... but not like this.

On my rewatch, I noticed that the characters of Kawi and Nene are really poorly written. Nene keeps saying "I want to destroy their happiness"... but it's apparent that there isn't a second in which any of them is happy, so what is Pam supposed to do? And Kawi tries to force a relationship with a person that's 100% clearly not into him and then cries and curses everyone when the other person doesn't feel the same. I can't really take these two characters seriously even for a second... which is a shame because if those two were actually well written this could've been one of the best Thai GLs so far. As it is, the only real obstacle was the old "parents want to own their child" trope, which is probably the most boring one there is by now in a GL.

One of my favorites of 2025. The only real critique I have is that Nao & Shiho are portrayed excessively pure, which is unfortunately basically a trademark in Japan when it comes to Yuri couples. They have these "super lovey-dovey scenes", but those look more like interactions between high school super-best friends that don't know yet if they like each other romantically or just as friends. But if that rather unimportant point is all the critique I could think of... I must have really enjoyed it. Another excellent work by Okada Yoshikazu.