I'm halfway through it and I've enjoyed it tremendously so far. If I were to complain about anything, I don't necessarily like when it goes into slow motion during certain scenes (supposedly for a bigger impact, I assume?). I find it unnecessary. However, everything else is chef's kiss. The story, the dialogues, the acting - I am more than satisfied at this point. I already both laughed and cried multiple times. I hope the drama keeps this momentum in its second half.
The L in LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian meaning women so this comment is kinda funny to me.
Just because someone is ok with a BL without sex scenes doesn't mean they dislike them... I see this misconception pop up all the time.
I, for one, think two best BL dramas of this year were Love in the Big City and The On1y One - the first has some sex scenes (while, granted, not very graphic) and The On1y One didn't even have a proper kiss between characters. I enjoyed both.
I only dislike those dramas when the creators are clearly using NC scenes to lure the audiences and have no story to back it up (there's a lot of such stuff going on recently in the BL genre). That's when the "sex scenes" become a "problem" for me. If I wanted to watch soft porn, I'd go and watch it. When I watch a drama, I expect at least an attempt at a decent storytelling.
I wrote a couple of lengthy comments about Balloon's Landing earlier, so I don't wanna repeat myself like a broken record or appear as someone who loves to just blabla on a loop, so I will try to say it shortly: there should be a space for stories that focus on developing, unfulfilled romance as well (straight, queer, whichever). One of the characters in Balloon's Landing is suicidal and I'd find it super weird if he was in the mood for romancing immediately. Could they give us an actual date and a kiss at the fireworks? Maybe, but then the whole thing would feel less... tragic? For the lack of a better word.
Both lesbian women and bisexual women can be cis women per terminology. Plenty of straight women love those more explicit BLs, as well, btw.
UPDATES:- They did not release any behind the scenes these few weeks because they wanted to save it for the fan…
" it was disappointing that they found out the venue does not have a screen/projector lately." - 😐 I don't want to go into a rant, and it's lovely that they released the new footage on social media and thank you so much for letting us know! It's just... what kind of a venue that holds public events doesn't even have a projector or a screen? What's the deal with organizing this FM, it's one blunder after another...
Thanks for sharing this with us.In addition to his charisma that always enchants me, and his great acting talent,…
I guess more people fell for Jiang Tian's character, because of the change he underwent throughout the series. I feel that generally characters that go from villain through a redemption arch, from a tsundere to someone who openly cares, from someone who was quiet and reserved to someone smiling, enjoying school activities and openly showing his feelings etc. are usually more loved by the wider audience.
And I understand that, I myself am not an exception. One of my forever favourite fictional characters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone is familiar with the show) was an example of this sort of character development.
Hence, I believe, JT has more "fans" (and, thus, Benjamin as an extension of his character, might have a bit more fans as well). That is not to undermine his performance or acting skill, he was amazing as Jiang Tian - I just wanna be clear :)
/P.S. Having said all of the above, Sheng Wang would be my favourite character in The On1y One, if I really had to pick one./
We talked about it before already, but I feel like Sheng Wang is often misunderstood or taken for less deep than he really is. Just seen as this pouty cutie, which couldn't be further from the truth (I mean, he is that, but so much more). However, because his character doesn't provide this type of huge obvious contrast, that deeper element is more nuanced and sometimes goes unnoticed (or at least that's what I'm thinking).
As for LDQ having more works, but less IG followers. That's true. But it is also true that those of his works that gathered more international attention before Mou Mou, weren't the ones that featured him as a main cast. Only for Love or Wonder of Love have Dylan Wang, Bai Lu, Xiu Kai who are all super famous names when it comes to cdramas industry as leads. I kinda suspect that their fans are mostly watching for them and focusing on them.
For a lot of people, The On1y One was an introduction to an actor Liu Dong Qin. In that regard, him and Benjamin are pretty much on similar ground, even if Dong Qin has way more experience in acting.
To end this lengthy comment, I'd just say that personally I think LDQ is criminally underrated and by now, at this point, should be casted way more often in main roles.
Please, whenever you can, share more facts about him♥️
This small info is actually from his livestream he did some time ago on Meet48. I came across this bit of the stream translated and thought it was really interesting. Wanted to share it back then, but then forgot 😋
In that same bit he also said that the pool scene was pretty much improvised by him and Benjamin (cute~~).
Just some trivia that maybe not everybody got a chance to read about:
Did you guys know that what Sheng Wang says in the scene when him and Jiang Tian take an evening walk and talk about the moon (right before Sheng Wang sees the teachers kissing) was written by Dong Qin himself?
Yeah... that is a very valid and down to earth point. I kinda assumed optimistically that since they were surveying about it, they might be more or less prepared, the venue might have necessary infrastructure etc.
But to your point, we don't really know if they have any experience... And now I'm thinking that them just even considering this option almost a month before the event doesn't really scream: well-prepared.
Plus, ofc, as you mentioned, the additional costs...
I'm hoping that maybe *if* the organizers did provide online streaming, then more people from different countries would be willing to pay for the tickets (I mean, I assume they'd be cheaper).
I just hope that *if* they decide to go through with it, they'll enable some more globally popular payment options like e.g. paypal.
I'm thinking if we get s2 I'm excited to see them in new outfits. Ofc they look good in the student uniform but…
At this point I so desperately want season 2,the entire crew can be wearing potato sacks and be using cardboard boxes as props as far as I'm concerned 😭
The leads of "See Your Love" is exactly how I imagined Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang after reading the book.
Well, I've only read bits of the book *after* watching the drama, so I had no prior image of how SW and JT should look like.
However, in my eyes Liu Dong Qin and Benjamin Tsang are perfect as Sheng Wand and Jiang Tian. I can't imagine anyone else. Appearance-wise, performance-wise etc. they're perfection as their respective characters.
Don't understand the complaints about the finale when it was the perfectly logical thematic closure to the story.…
Oh, people complain about the finale? I'm surprised, I thought it was very well executed...
In fact I really enjoyed how one could feel the story going a symbolic full circle, not just with them visiting their hometown, but also e.g. with how they were now waiting on a train together and boarding it together as well (as opposed to what happened in the past).
It all really gave off the feeling like the writers knew what they wanted to tell the audience and how they wanted to do it, from beginning to an end. That ending just felt so... complete. This drama to me really felt like a complete, well thought-out body of work. And I appreciated it a lot.
Just scrolling down in here you will notice the opinions about whether this is a BL, a bromance or yet something else are quite divided.
I'm not sure what do you mean by "is there someone between the guys who likes the other guy?". Do you mean like a triangle? No, there's no love triangle in here.
P.S. To me it's quite evident both men develop feelings for each other.
It's been a few days, do you know if there has been any progress in selling FM tickets?
Yeah, I feel you. I wanna vent, too. Even if, admittedly, I am not someone who really gets the allure of fan meetings. I'm definitely the type of audience who's perfectly fine just watching the actors on screen (or listening to singers sing etc.). I don't really need the whole para-social aspect to enjoy the artwork and someone's skill. If I like an actor, I will just hype them up, recommend them to others etc., but I never even feel like I'd have anything of value to tell them, so I feel no need to meet them 😋 Maybe I'm too old and too much of a buzz-kill for that 🙃
But still, I acknowledge FMs are a standard nowadays, especially in Asia, and seeing how so many entertainers have their own fan meets that are successful, it really sucks these two extremely talented actors who starred in this beautiful drama (that quality-wise really outdid most of everything else within the same genre) struggle to fill a venue. I mean, it's not like the capacity is 5 thousand people, it's 5 hundred... I don't know. It is super sad.
On the other hand, from what I hear, the organizers didn't really help the situation. From what I read, first international fans had problems acquiring tickets, the sales got paused, then the problem got fixed with a new platform for international fans, but the price is like 15% higher than if bought via Chinese platform. I read some people already got discouraged, even if they were planning on going originally...
The Marketing did a very good job of promoting Unrequited Love as BL. All the stills and trailers were hinting…
Maybe, just maybe, this was supposed to be a movie about an unfulfilled love between two men. The love that just started, but had no chance to really blossom yet? They make "straight movies" based on such premise all the time, I'm sure they do 🤨
And even if Balloon's Landing was a movie about unrequited love (which I actually disagree with), if that's the case - then why it's no longer a BL? Are gay characters allowed to be portrayed only in a certain way and in a certain context? So there's no way they could develop feelings for each other slowly or suffer from unrequited love?
This reminds me of this Japanese coming of age drama My Strawberry Film that had so many people complain on Viki how it wasn't a BL (to the point the genre was changed). The thing is, it actually featured a gay boy who's had a very serious crush on his best friend and was very aware of his feelings. He actually even confesses in the end. So the "gay experience" is there. But I guess it's no longer worthy of a BL label if it's one-sided? How to categorize such work then? It's not a bromance, if one person wants something more, or is it?
Not that I think Balloon's Landing is even a story of unrequited love. I've seen this mentioned in some other comment as well, so you're not alone in that assessment - maybe there is something to it. I just don't understand where it comes from - can you tell me who is supposed to be the one in love, then? And why do you think it's unrequited? Unfulfilled, sure, I can get behind that - but unrequited?
I'm asking unironically and am genuinely curious.
Also, I just want to add that H2: Crossing the Line was released in 2018. Since then Fandy portrayed many different characters, from a boy with terminal leukemia in More than Blue to a criminal with a disturbing past in Copycat Killer (and doing a great job at both of these performances, may I add). But I guess he can't play a role in a movie next to another male protagonist without audience having *expectations* of them kissing etc. 🙄 Terrance Lau, on the other hand, is a brilliant actor with many awards under his belt. But I guess these facts were not good enough to promote the movie, huh.
Well, if that was truly the case, then the marketing team did this movie a disfavour because it got accused of (in my opinion undeservedly) queerbaiting etc. and review-bombed even here on MDL, where its rating was still around 5 some not long ago (it improved since the movie got released on Netflix and people actually started watching it).
Frankly, I fail to understand why would a Taiwanese movie even beat around the bush and sell a non BL as a BL, if they can just openly make a BL. I mean "Your Name Engraved Herein" was a commercial and critical success, wasn't it? Not to mention multiple BL dramas released in Taiwan every year plus other dramas that aren't even strictly BL that feature a gay or a lesbian couple, which are pretty common as well.
To me it really looks like the audience, for whatever reason, can't accept a movie about romantic love between two men, if it doesn't check the typical BL tropes boxes.
1 
I, for one, think two best BL dramas of this year were Love in the Big City and The On1y One - the first has some sex scenes (while, granted, not very graphic) and The On1y One didn't even have a proper kiss between characters. I enjoyed both.
I only dislike those dramas when the creators are clearly using NC scenes to lure the audiences and have no story to back it up (there's a lot of such stuff going on recently in the BL genre). That's when the "sex scenes" become a "problem" for me. If I wanted to watch soft porn, I'd go and watch it. When I watch a drama, I expect at least an attempt at a decent storytelling.
I wrote a couple of lengthy comments about Balloon's Landing earlier, so I don't wanna repeat myself like a broken record or appear as someone who loves to just blabla on a loop, so I will try to say it shortly: there should be a space for stories that focus on developing, unfulfilled romance as well (straight, queer, whichever). One of the characters in Balloon's Landing is suicidal and I'd find it super weird if he was in the mood for romancing immediately. Could they give us an actual date and a kiss at the fireworks? Maybe, but then the whole thing would feel less... tragic? For the lack of a better word.
Both lesbian women and bisexual women can be cis women per terminology.
Plenty of straight women love those more explicit BLs, as well, btw.
I don't want to go into a rant, and it's lovely that they released the new footage on social media and thank you so much for letting us know!
It's just... what kind of a venue that holds public events doesn't even have a projector or a screen?
What's the deal with organizing this FM, it's one blunder after another...
I was so surprised to see the pinned comment under Love Proverbs MV and find out it was Patrick Liu reaching out to fans even out there.
And I understand that, I myself am not an exception. One of my forever favourite fictional characters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone is familiar with the show) was an example of this sort of character development.
Hence, I believe, JT has more "fans" (and, thus, Benjamin as an extension of his character, might have a bit more fans as well). That is not to undermine his performance or acting skill, he was amazing as Jiang Tian - I just wanna be clear :)
/P.S. Having said all of the above, Sheng Wang would be my favourite character in The On1y One, if I really had to pick one./
We talked about it before already, but I feel like Sheng Wang is often misunderstood or taken for less deep than he really is. Just seen as this pouty cutie, which couldn't be further from the truth (I mean, he is that, but so much more). However, because his character doesn't provide this type of huge obvious contrast, that deeper element is more nuanced and sometimes goes unnoticed (or at least that's what I'm thinking).
As for LDQ having more works, but less IG followers. That's true. But it is also true that those of his works that gathered more international attention before Mou Mou, weren't the ones that featured him as a main cast. Only for Love or Wonder of Love have Dylan Wang, Bai Lu, Xiu Kai who are all super famous names when it comes to cdramas industry as leads. I kinda suspect that their fans are mostly watching for them and focusing on them.
For a lot of people, The On1y One was an introduction to an actor Liu Dong Qin. In that regard, him and Benjamin are pretty much on similar ground, even if Dong Qin has way more experience in acting.
To end this lengthy comment, I'd just say that personally I think LDQ is criminally underrated and by now, at this point, should be casted way more often in main roles.
In that same bit he also said that the pool scene was pretty much improvised by him and Benjamin (cute~~).
Personally, I don't do celebrity crushes ;)
But I am quite impressed with him as an artist, for sure.
Did you guys know that what Sheng Wang says in the scene when him and Jiang Tian take an evening walk and talk about the moon (right before Sheng Wang sees the teachers kissing) was written by Dong Qin himself?
Just a cool fact :)
I liked how the participants of this project appreciated the work of Patrick and other cast members, aside from Dong Qin and Benjamin.
But to your point, we don't really know if they have any experience... And now I'm thinking that them just even considering this option almost a month before the event doesn't really scream: well-prepared.
Plus, ofc, as you mentioned, the additional costs...
I just hope that *if* they decide to go through with it, they'll enable some more globally popular payment options like e.g. paypal.
However, in my eyes Liu Dong Qin and Benjamin Tsang are perfect as Sheng Wand and Jiang Tian. I can't imagine anyone else. Appearance-wise, performance-wise etc. they're perfection as their respective characters.
In fact I really enjoyed how one could feel the story going a symbolic full circle, not just with them visiting their hometown, but also e.g. with how they were now waiting on a train together and boarding it together as well (as opposed to what happened in the past).
It all really gave off the feeling like the writers knew what they wanted to tell the audience and how they wanted to do it, from beginning to an end. That ending just felt so... complete. This drama to me really felt like a complete, well thought-out body of work. And I appreciated it a lot.
I'm not sure what do you mean by "is there someone between the guys who likes the other guy?". Do you mean like a triangle? No, there's no love triangle in here.
P.S. To me it's quite evident both men develop feelings for each other.
But still, I acknowledge FMs are a standard nowadays, especially in Asia, and seeing how so many entertainers have their own fan meets that are successful, it really sucks these two extremely talented actors who starred in this beautiful drama (that quality-wise really outdid most of everything else within the same genre) struggle to fill a venue. I mean, it's not like the capacity is 5 thousand people, it's 5 hundred... I don't know. It is super sad.
On the other hand, from what I hear, the organizers didn't really help the situation. From what I read, first international fans had problems acquiring tickets, the sales got paused, then the problem got fixed with a new platform for international fans, but the price is like 15% higher than if bought via Chinese platform. I read some people already got discouraged, even if they were planning on going originally...
And even if Balloon's Landing was a movie about unrequited love (which I actually disagree with), if that's the case - then why it's no longer a BL? Are gay characters allowed to be portrayed only in a certain way and in a certain context? So there's no way they could develop feelings for each other slowly or suffer from unrequited love?
This reminds me of this Japanese coming of age drama My Strawberry Film that had so many people complain on Viki how it wasn't a BL (to the point the genre was changed). The thing is, it actually featured a gay boy who's had a very serious crush on his best friend and was very aware of his feelings. He actually even confesses in the end. So the "gay experience" is there. But I guess it's no longer worthy of a BL label if it's one-sided? How to categorize such work then? It's not a bromance, if one person wants something more, or is it?
Not that I think Balloon's Landing is even a story of unrequited love. I've seen this mentioned in some other comment as well, so you're not alone in that assessment - maybe there is something to it. I just don't understand where it comes from - can you tell me who is supposed to be the one in love, then? And why do you think it's unrequited? Unfulfilled, sure, I can get behind that - but unrequited?
I'm asking unironically and am genuinely curious.
Also, I just want to add that H2: Crossing the Line was released in 2018. Since then Fandy portrayed many different characters, from a boy with terminal leukemia in More than Blue to a criminal with a disturbing past in Copycat Killer (and doing a great job at both of these performances, may I add). But I guess he can't play a role in a movie next to another male protagonist without audience having *expectations* of them kissing etc. 🙄 Terrance Lau, on the other hand, is a brilliant actor with many awards under his belt. But I guess these facts were not good enough to promote the movie, huh.
Well, if that was truly the case, then the marketing team did this movie a disfavour because it got accused of (in my opinion undeservedly) queerbaiting etc. and review-bombed even here on MDL, where its rating was still around 5 some not long ago (it improved since the movie got released on Netflix and people actually started watching it).
Frankly, I fail to understand why would a Taiwanese movie even beat around the bush and sell a non BL as a BL, if they can just openly make a BL. I mean "Your Name Engraved Herein" was a commercial and critical success, wasn't it? Not to mention multiple BL dramas released in Taiwan every year plus other dramas that aren't even strictly BL that feature a gay or a lesbian couple, which are pretty common as well.
To me it really looks like the audience, for whatever reason, can't accept a movie about romantic love between two men, if it doesn't check the typical BL tropes boxes.