etoks21

It's a censored BL like you see out of PRC, nothing more.

Don't listen to Berliner. She watched it with queer-colored glasses.

To claim this as a BL or gay romance, you have to really work to see and imagine things that are not presented on the screen. It's worse than a bromance. A real bromance is two straight guys who love each other platonically, not romantically. A censored BL is what this is, and it could have been made in Beijing. What is Taiwan releasing this crap?

Only if you squint your eyes and pretend.

Some kind of time-travel/ghost thing. Really stupid.

What's not happy about the ending?

Just watched this on NF. Major disappointment, even though I wasn't expecting much, given the comments here. We do get to see a lot of Fandy Fan's face, given to us as a gift from God, along with an extended scene where he is clad only in tight boxer shorts. Works for me. :)

This felt like a censored BL right out of Beijing, with high production values but stupid plotting, worthy of an assembly-line BL out of Bangkok. Something about letters traveling through time and ghosts or something...I don't care enough to figure it out. As for the "romance," which it very much isn't, we get a few BL vibes and longing glances, but it doesn't go anywhere.

Even worse, it includes every trope and cliche out of BL World, from scuffling that ends in a face-to-face exchange of fluttering eyelids, to a embarrassingly contrived car-on-pedestrian collision; you know, the kind where the soon-to-be-dead person hears the car and instead of running, STOPS in the middle of the crosswalk, arms/hands raised to shield his face, and waits for the f**king car to hit him. Naturally, the driver of the car lays on the horn but does not stop until the character lays squished on the pavement.

I have no idea why this was released as a feature film rather than a TV special or something like that, because that's what it feels like.

At least it had a happy ending, though by then I didn't care. I thought Fandy Fan would have come a lot further than this sort of thing by now.

Pretty lame. 5.5/10

Wow, welcome! Sorry to scare you. It was obviously a mistake. Enjoy MDL! And thanks again for pointing out my mistake.

lol You just couldn't WAIT to get on here and ask that in the thread, could you? hahaha You already sent me the same message under the list. I likely confused his name with that of an actual suicide victim.

Well, what he WAS doing on the list was being there, but he's no longer on the list because I removed his name thanks to your keen eye and courteous assistance.

Thank you!

Well, right now what he's doing is hanging out there.

But, I just checked and I see he is actually very much alive. Thanks for letting me know. I have no idea why his name ended up here. I probably confused his name with someone else's.

Thanks again.

Same with Kim Jung Hyun of SHINee, the greatest Korean pop/rock singer of all time. He sent an explicit, undeniably urgent, two-page suicide email to his friend Nine9, a fellow idol at SM Entertainment, TWO WEEKS before he killed himself.

Nine9 immediately shared the email with SM and his freaking mother and sister. NO ONE DID ANYTHING of consequence. He was left alone to go about his business. Korean laws in effect when Jonghyun died in 2017, make it possible to go to a judge on an emergency basis and have a loved one hospitalized, even if against their wishes. His stupid mother did not take that letter to a judge, who would have ordered him hospitalized in a second after reading it; she did nothing.

Perhaps the most tragic element of jonghyun's case is that people who have truly DECIDED to kill themselves do NOT send out detailed letters about it to friends ahead of time. Often, in fact, they achieve peace of mind, having made that difficult choice and knowing their pain is about to end.

Jonghyun's letter was a scream for help. He didn't want to die, at least not 100% yet. There had to have been a tiny thread of hope or that letter would not have been sent. I despise his mother, of course.

Ugh, I can't believe we're talking about another Korean artist killing themselves. It seems like yesterday that LSK checked out 11 months ago.

Most Koreans would rather be tortured to death than discuss mental illness/depression/anxiety.

"If it's suicide (Actually they don't said it is suicide they just said it is not murder) why are they still investigating. Normally when they found a suicide note they directly tell it but as far as I know, in this case they did not tell it is a suicide note at first and didn't specify the exact cause of death. "

Are you stupid or just another Korean in denial?

From MANY different sources it is all over the Internet that it was suicide. An anonymous police report leaked this. He left a full, one-page suicide letter, for god's sake. Did he write the suicide letter and then trip over the living room footstool and accidentally break his neck? Good God. I'm guessing he made the appointment for lunch so that the friend would know something was up when he didn't show up where they planned to meet, and come looking for him. Which is kind of mean, if you think about it...

MANY families of people who die young, especially when they already know it's a suicide, decline an autopsy. What's the point? An autopsy includes cutting the body wide open and doing all kinds of other nasty things to it. Who wants to put the body of a loved one thru that, knowing already why they are dead?

The only "uncertainty" is in your head. Are you Korean?

Song Jae Rim just became #27 on my custom list of Korean artists who died by suicide. I'm sure there are many I'm unaware of. I haven't added a name since we lost Lee Sun Kyun eleven months ago. :( Sometimes I hate Korea.

My list: https://mydramalist.com/list/1drDvBV3

In the first episode, when Bad Boy was at the drinking faucet, poured water over his head, then turned toward Haruki, the sun glistening behind him and those water drops dripping off his lips/chin/cheekbones into diamonds as they fell, I wet myself. (In brand new sweats too!) Hats off to the director! I think we have to change his name to Beautiful Bad Boy.

Those cheekbones are like razor blades. Wow.

Beautifully stated, tangoecho (your name sounds like a war movie radio code) :)D Problem is, you used the word "sexy." omg Now a swarm of MDLer prudes will descend upon you. Sex or anything sexy is not allowed in the fluffy fantasies these people prefer.

I wondered about that too, if the JP stalker hadn't flown to Korea, which is really hardcore. Sad thing is, if he was being blackmailed with something so horrific that he would take his life over it, whatever it is is going to be revealed by the police investigation anyway. Perhaps he just didn't want to be around when that happens.

I have a strongly felt theory about what went down but I'll keep that to myself for now.

The way in the bromances are portrayed, which you describe well in your reply, is exactly why I don't watch them. As an audience member, I resent being treated like a child looking for clues to a puzzle that will never be completed on screen.

Regarding this show, a good MDL friend has watched all seven episodes available and reports that it gets better as it goes and that the romance is explicitly confirmed and demonstrated physically in the last three eps or so. I'm only halfway through episode #3, as I find the watch to be OK but not something I'm engrossed in to binge.

As for where Chinese homophobia comes from, it is more complicated than just the government "teaching" the populace that gayness is a horrible thing. China, as a culture and society, has been homophobic for centuries. It's built into the zeitgeist that homosexuality is an appalling deviance and must be discouraged/punished. The government takes that existing bias and encourages it. F**k them.

Yes, I'm hoping the aggressive statement from his agency will be backed up with aggressive ACTION. Words are cheap.

Thing is, if I really boycotted Korean product I would have almost nothing left to watch other than the few things Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand put out that I like.
The OTHER thing is that I watch almost all of it free through helpful Internet sites, so my boycott would be silly, as no one knows I watch anyway. I do have Netflix, which carries lots of Korean content.

That's a big part of the frustration: How can Korea have such a strong film/drama industry and yet not be taking strong, aggressive action to publicly address the problems you so eloquently listed in your comment?

I WAS pleased to see yesterday that FIVE people have been remandedby the cops for trial in the Lee Sun Kyun case, which took place nearly a year ago. The day after Christmas, I believe it was. Two of them, the women from the club, are charged specifically with blackmail. I hope they do some serious time in jail. It's funny but also sad that they met in prison while serving time for other convictions

Yes, I share that anxiety. I've been worried about Yoo Ah In for over a year now. If he were to take himself out over the drug charges and now the ridiculous one-year prison sentence, I would be horrified but not surprised. He is a spectacular talent. I thought he had already been dragged off to prison, but apparently, he is still out because he has appealed the sentence to another court with the premise that it is far too severe for the "crimes" committed, which harmed no one but himself.