any_anka

Ahh, for a moment my hopes were up, but it's not available in my region :/

Am I the only one in love with the final scene of ep4?

Everything about it is just so perfect! The lighting, what they did with sound (and the lack of thereof) AND the soundtrack that starts playing just at the right moment!
The entirety of it is just so delicious simply in terms of cinematography.

And then there is of course the reveal of what Kotoha "left" for Megumi, which is both unexpected and sensual (with that sensuality being even more heightened by all the rain around them, but that might be a "me thing" ;)).

Ahhh... I rewatched it multiple times, it's just so good!

Her accent sounded too Mainland China, so they dubbed her because otherwise the teacher would've sounded too non-Taiwanese.
btw They didn't dub Sheng Wang - I guess - because his character is stated to have lived in Shanghai for years and his accent is even commented upon by the school principal in the first ep, so it makes more sense for him too sound different.
P.S. Both actors (SW and the teacher) are from Mainland China and don't have Taiwanese accents.

I read a spoiler somewhere about the events in the novel, so my mind sort of filled in the blanks, but I would've preferred the drama was a bit more clear about it... Especially that "I can't do this" part. Thanks for giving it more context!

As for Hagiwara being so attached and devastated, the way I saw it (just with what the drama showed us) was that after a year of being rejected by his girlfriend, he finally felt accepted by someone (and not "dirty") which had a huge effect on him. Another thing about these two is that they communicate a lot and are open with each other, contrary to how they both are with Kaori and Fujisawa, which of course would make bonding easier.

I'm wondering if there is some cultural aspect we're not grasping there or it was a simple mistranslation. If I remember correctly, the longer version of what she said was that she was ok with making out, kissing etc. but the moment he goes "masculine", it would turn her off.

Maybe the masculine here simply stands for his sex desire, as men usually (I said usually, don't come for me ppl in the comments, ok? ;)) have higher libidos...

I never got the feeling that she was a lesbian. Just a girl who got too comfortable in a relationship where she's not fulfilling her partner's needs.

Agreed, I feel the exact the same way about his somewhat indifferent demeanour. This plus what the FenrirCiel wrote about him repressing his feelings for so long for Fujisawa's case, it become his "default mode" in a way.

I don't really like Kaori's character since the very beginning of the drama (and the feeling just kept getting reinforced with everything we learnt about her), but let's try to be a bit objective, shall we 😋
The stuff she broke was a thank-you-gift she received from a guy with whom - she just found out - her boyfriend cheated on her. She had all the right to break it, throw it away, run it with a car etc. as far as I'm concerned 😋
That moment when she broke it was probably the scene when she felt most relatable to me in the entire show. Cause hell no would I want to keep that dirty thing from a guy who's been romancing my boyfriend and had the never to even make me take care of his feet and then send this fake gift - would be how I'd probably feel ;)

I am 100 percent against cheating, no excuses, no moral relativism (I can understand the complexity of an individual situation, but as much as I can sympathise with someone's circumstances, the act of cheating alone is still cheating and it.is.wrong).

But damn, what do I do? I enjoy this drama! 😋

I like the pacing, I like the nuanced approach to human emotion, I like the writing, the acting and the chemistry between the leads. Besides, you can understand cheating is wrong, but still see the struggle the MLs are going through. Just like I can dislike their respective partners, but still think they shouldn't be cheated on (well, I mean, I don't think Fujisawa is really going to be cheated on anyway, so let's just limit this to Kaori).

I'm not sure what makes you so upset... but let me ask you a question: Do you only watch movies and shows that portray exemplary, textbook-like behaviours? So you can't enjoy works like, say... Godfather, Fight Club, The Vampire Diaries, The L World?
I think we can enjoy this drama without detriment to our moral compass or however you wanna call it.

There are plenty of really problematic works that romanticise (reeeaaaly romanticise) things like rape etc., but this one really doesn't feel like one of them. It's too nuanced in its portrayal.
There is also a difference between portraying a phenomenon and romanticising it...

Also, I'm not really sure what anti-lesbianism or fetishizing has to do with the issue of cheating. I also don't think I've seen anyone saying anything about lesbians being disgusting in the comments section (granted, I haven't read all the comments).

GagaOOLaLa.

He also leaves those little snappy remarks, that are too subtle to actually consider a direct attack, but they still undermine Sei's actions. Like commenting that what he was talking about with Hagiwara via email was stupid etc.
While on its own it's just a benign statement and nothing particularly bad abt it, but when you put it all together, it really creates this highly suffocating, toxic image of Fujisawa as someone who wound himself around Sei and doesn't let him enjoy anything in his life (be it meeting friends, attending parties, watching tv, have sex etc.).
I'm really curious what is his deal and how much of it comes from his feeling of insecurity and how much of it is something else.

Well... it's complicated 😋

It's true as in it's not only the audiences who speculate about it, but it's the director himself and even one of the main actors who talked about the possibility of s2.

It's so-so on the likelihood scale in my personal opinion, considering that:
+ We were told in October - if I remember correctly - that the decision would be made in the next 5 months (and some of us have been waiting since then...)
+ We were expecting to get some info in December (the date of the FM in Macau).
+ Then we were told there'd be some info at the beginning of January (crickets).
+ And now we are getting close to the unofficial "deadline" for any news (counting since October), but there are none so far...

I will warn you about the sort-of-an-open-ending (with a what looks like a rather small possibility for a second season) and not much happening in terms of physical intimacy.
The relationship development is extremely natural, though and the actors can make up for anything you might find is lacking.

Have you watched The On1y One? To me that's an actual quality Taiwanese BL drama, if you appreciate good acting and cinematography.

Well... it's bad. Just genuinely bad.

The acting is lacklustre (it's not HIStory 5 type of bad, but nevertheless it's not up to nowadays standard set by other Taiwanese productions, even the ones that I didn't particularly enjoy), the development of romance and the behaviour of the main CP have no natural flow and feels weirdly disjointed (I don't know if they try to do push-and-pull thingy, but it feels almost as if the human guy had memory problems, and not due to being drugged, allowing for sweet kisses out of nowhere to later on being all cold about the robot's advances), the drama with being kicked out of home feels forced (not saying it can't happen, but the writing is so bad every event feels super random), the elements of the setting that seemed cheesy, but at least potentially entertaining have been suddenly dropped (the whole thing with glasses being on/off and the behaviour changes - why even introduce such a ridiculous setting, when you don't utilize its comical/sensual (?) potential at all?), the chemistry between main guys is weak...
I don't even know if I wanna continue listing all the disadvantages, because I already feel like bullying the weak, as this drama has almost nothing going on for it (unless you count the muscles on those dudes).

I thought it would be camp. I like camp. I loved another Taiwanese drama You Are Mine, I liked Japanese BLs like Ossan's Love and Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss. I am not against over the top plots, but those titles had a story to tell. Here... I'm not really sure what the creators tried to achieve.

Anti-Reset is not even close to my favourite BL, but Eternal Butler makes it look like an absolute masterpiece by comparison. And frankly speaking, those moments when Ever 9 appear on screen are possibly the best scenes out of the entire show :|

I saw some people like the second couple. I guess they're ok? I don't feel much about them, because they barely get any screen time.

There is an attempt at talking about some childhood trauma etc. It's very dramatic and dark and I personally don't see it fitting into the whole vibe of this show, but as the show is not over yet and I haven't seen what they plan to do with it, I will reserve my judgement on that one. I'm not sure if I will continue on watching to be able to properly judge it, though.

The cast for this looks fantastic! And after just seeing the trailer, I'm feeling this might become my favourite of Jasper Liu yet, as he seems to be leaning more into his comical side.

Big expectations, as Taiwanese Netflix dramas almost never fall below a certain standard and this one looks really promising.

It does... Sadly Taiwanese dramas are so difficult to access and watch for international audience. Aside from BLs and a few Netflix dramas (those are usually really good, though!), their availability is pretty scarce, unfortunately :(

Yesss. Hell to the yes to that final sentence of yours. I don't know why some comments seem to try going into all sorts of mental gymnastics to make it seem like sex outside of a relationship is not really cheating and whatnot in an attempt to... I don't know... I suppose make themselves feel less "guilty" or sth for enjoying this story 😋
Is it really necessary?

No, cheating is cheating. The individual circumstances might be different, just as people's personal threshold, but *unless agreed upon differently by the two people involved in that relationship*, sex outside of a relationship IS considered cheating pretty much in every case. Just because a person is sexually repressed or unhappy doesn't change it. Just like breaking the speed limit because sb was late to an important meeting doesn't change the fact that they were still speeding. We might understand their reasons, but it's still speeding.

Watching this drama, as an audience we surely can sympathize with both male leads, understand their struggle etc. I, for one, find both of their characters really likable and am genuinely cheering for them to get together. I also personally don't find their respective partners (are Fujisawa and Sei even together, though?) likable at all, with Kaori being extremely selfish (at least from what we know about her) and Fujisawa just being plain creepy at this point, with all the red flags dropped throughout the story (isolating Sei from friends, not relying their msgs to him, creating a suffocating atmosphere at home by constantly shaming Sei - not just for being interested in sex, but even with comments like "what where you talking about? that's so stupid...", being vaguely affectionate and then immediately moving away and so on).
Still... saying that "oh, it's not really cheating because one is withholding sex from the other" etc. opens the door to also saying tons of other relative stuff like "it's not really cheating if it's just a one night stand", "it's not really cheating if it's with a bro", "it's not really cheating if I felt lonely and neglected", "it's not really cheating if I was tipsy" and tons of other ridiculous excuses.

How about we all just admit that we enjoy a drama with a possible cheating plot and simply let ourselves enjoy a well-written, well-acted, well-paced story :)

(btw so far it's still just possible cheating, we don't even know if they end up in bed together before or after breaking up with their partners - or maybe in Sei's case there's no breakup needed really? :P)

For many people sex is not just about releasing sexual tension and being sweaty and "disgusting", but a way to be intimate with another person and to feel accepted and wanted by them... When their partner loses interest in sex, it's not just about not being able to release the tension, but also the feeling of "am I not desirable for them" etc.

Don't get me wrong, I actually believe people can build a romantic relationship without sex, but invalidating the feelings of those for whom it's an important component of a relationship and talking abt how it's disgusting doesn't seem fair to me.

Having a possessive friend like that is honestly a scary experience... But I don't think it's the case here. I rewatched ep 1 and there is this scene when Kazuaki comes back home to Sei being already in bed, he sits on his bed and touches his cheek with his palm in this affectionate manner - it didn't look as sth bros would do (and I'm trying to take into account cultural differences whenever I see things like this in dramas, but Japanese are not the most touchy-feely folks, as far as I know 😋).

It's either I'm too stupid while watching dramas (possible), we understand being able to tell where the story goes completely differently, or you're watching too much formulaic fiction (which btw, doesn't have to be bad, if a formula is executed nicely) ;)