Lord, I just took a first, real look at Matsuda Ryo's headshot above. What a stunner! It's amazing how a pair of glasses can disguise good looks. Tazuru Shogo is a looker too, especially his natural, dark hair. To me, few Asians look their best with blonde dye jobs. However, I think this is the first time I've seen the eyebrows bleached to match the hair. Interesting.
"I SAW IT. IT WAS QUITE THE SIGHT..." lololololololol...love it.
What an interesting, unexpected little flick.
Lots of people here using the words "cute," "sweet," and "adorable," but the word that kept coming to my mind throughout the watch was..."tender."
There was far too much angst and subtle stress going on for me to feel the story was cute, sweet, or adorable. Of course, THEY, the characters and their shy, bumbling interactions were "cute"...I suppose. But the level of suppressed feels, hesitancy, second-guessing, worry, and speculation underlying the way they interacted kept me tied up in knots most of the time...in a good, angsty movie-watch kind of way. I'm a masochist that way: I love gut-wrenching stress in my romances. :D
When it culminates in this kind of release/resolution, it feels so great to breathe again. :)
Both characters were characters I hadn't seen in gay film OR BL before. Both felt like real people, not "types." It always works better for me when the guys are interestingly handsome but not super-model-idol pretty. The little guy surprised me with that hot little body. :P I fell in love with him when he wore the plaid pants.
Something about the look/feel/vibe of the movie had me checking the year of release. It has a 2000s feel to me.
OK, so great, little surprise! Thank you to my dear MDL friend who rec'd this to me today. I had not heard of it. I hope to see more of both actors.
8.5/10
On edit: One thing that rang false to me was the little guy as a smoker. What did that add to the character or the story? And although the mechanics of his smoking (which are so often poorly done, making it obvious the actor does not smoke IRL) were fine, he simply didn't seem to me like someone who smokes. Plus, he smoked inside the building at work, and I don't think that's a thing among office workers anywhere in the industrialized world at this point. Maybe a minor thing, but I kept wondering what the cigs added to the character? Yeah, we got the "I like you just as you are...cig stink and all" line toward the end, but that could have been accomplished with any one of many other types of personal habits.
RUN, do not walk, AWAY from this abomination and go re-watch the original Love Sick! This is one of those "who the hell thought this was necessary and why?" kind of remakes. The original has heart, charm, innocence, heat, everything you could want. The first episode of this thing is terrible, and has all the usual Thai quirks that have made almost everything out of that country in the last three years unwatchable for me:
Artificial, looooooooooooooong pauses between lines of character dialogue. Stiff, unnatural, Junior High level acting. Horrible direction. Overly melodramatic music cues and goofy noises to cue every feeling we're supposed to have and underline each lame joke so we'll know it's supposed to be funny. Horribly stereotypical, stock Trans women, in this case a pair of twin housemaids or...something. Their characterizations are shameful, mocking, and wildly overplayed. Thai Trans women are not just average Trans women, they are caricatures of male drag queens, complete with idiot-level, supposedly "feminine" behavior that not only degrades Trans women as clowns, but cis women too. Why can't a Trans female Thai character just be a...female? The leads are awkward, amateur, and sloooooow. Phun is especially not believable as who we're to think he is. When Phun was first shown in the opening scene on the beach ramp, I thought it was Noh's mom or some other woman...wtf? One episode is more than enough to know this is yet another tragedy falling off the Thai BL Assembly Line...only more a disaster than most in comparison to the classic original.
I wish you could rate episode by episode. Then, once entire episode has aired it would unlock entire series rating…
Agreed! However, I discovered just today that there already IS a way to rate episode by episode: At top of the page, just under the title, click on "Episode Guide." That takes you to a page where each ep that has aired is listed next to a thumbnail photo. Click on the photo. Next page gives you the option to rate the individual episode.
All of which means there is NO rational explanation for why the OVERALL rating option is available before the show has completed airing. But be warned, the ratings per episode, which are used by VERY few members, are even more insane than the normally inflated overall rating.
Here we have 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, etc. lol I'm surprised there isn't an option to rate them 11+/10.
MDL is in some ways a creepy place. Why is the per-episode rating hidden away, but the overall rating option is available at the top of the page from the first episode onward? It would be easy as pie to place the per-episode option there too, but MDL chooses to hide it behind several clicks. Why?
Why does MDL refuse to publish any front-page articles regarding gay or BL content? I can't get an answer from the mods, so they're perfectly aware and are doing it on purpose. Why?
Why does MDL provide the overall rating option from episode 1 forward, but claims it uses other factors such as number of viewers, number of drops, and other ephemeral BS to arrive at the final rating. Why not simply the average of members' ratings? Weird and...creepy.
"So many people below had the same opinion as me that I must conclude that this show would not have an 8.5 rating…
LOL This I/you, myself/yourself/, me/you thing is killing me with chortles.
Sorry...I was taught to hate myself(yourself)/think poorly of myself/yourself from the age of around 3 onward, so it's ingrained. I do it FAR less than I used to. But, given that I(you) am now 400 times that age, I(you)have accepted my(your) self-esteem will always need conscious shoring up. But that's OK; I(you) have methods of doing that on a daily basis.
Truly though, that comparison was much more intended as a compliment to you(me) than a put-down to me (you).
"So many people below had the same opinion as me that I must conclude that this show would not have an 8.5 rating…
Wow, beautifully written. Anyone who compares your far more erudite style to my lame ranting and concludes we're the same person is clearly not intelligent. Or is doing so only out of desperation. lol
"So many people below had the same opinion as me that I must conclude that this show would not have an 8.5 rating…
"...ur trying to push this agenda where u want all shows and movies to be full of sex scenes and show men kissing all the time..."
This is hilariously stupid in three ways: 1.The percentage of BLs that contain true, extended "sex scenes" are few and far between, and a lot of those are Thai, in which teenagers pretend to be grown men and act out poorly choreographed, unconvincing acts of sex. I don't watch Thai BLs for the most part. There goes your delusion that all I want are "sex scenes." Give me a break. I have real actual humans in my life and lots of online porn for when I want to see or engage in sexual activities.
2. If all men did was "kiss all the time..." any show would be extremely boring. Why do you dislike male-male kissing though? Your comments here reveal your sad but real, internalized homophobia. Work on that with a therapist, not on the pages of MDL please.
3. I love that you believe br85 and I are the same person. It is unfailingly entertaining to read your nonsensical rants about that. I think that at this point, you know we're not the same person, but are unwilling to acknowledge it because you've invested so much energy in pushing that silliness.
You are a shining example of one of the absurdly childish mindsets which infest this site : More than one person disagrees with you,therefore you choose to believe they are the same entity so as to denigrate and cut your opposition in half.
Maybe its just for this page I think I have seen gaga on other pages before 🤔
Hi there! I can confirm the suspicions/conslusions drawn by Nauriya. I feel the same and it started pissing me off after I realized I had been here almost two years and had NEVER seen an article on the MDL regarding ANY BL or gay-themed content or actors.
I wrote admins THREE times, inquiring as to whether this was an official policy, and if so, then why the hell was it? NO ANSWER all three times, which means the real answer is they do it deliberately.
I then went googling to see if I could determine who owns and runs MDL. NOTHING. Please try, maybe you'll have better luck.
Of course, it's upsetting and outrageous, but here is how I look at it: As much as the MDL commentariat can be annoying in a host of ways, and now, in addition to that, I know it is run and managed via homophobic policies, there are many aspects of this crazy place that I appreciate a great deal and have been unable to find elsewhere:
Ability to maintain a Plan to Watch list, Completed list, see and read about upcoming and already-aired shows I would have otherwise never known about, rate shows and argue with Puritanical LGs in comment sections, which is a good outlet. :D
I have discovered many, many excellent gay-themed Asian films through this site. Those films have enriched my life immensely, and through friends like you,, JollyGolly , and Maggi, my knowledge of HOW to watch films and series and thus, get much more out of them, has increased dramatically. I notice all kinds of aspects of films I missed before I found this place, and my powers of perception regarding live-action fiction will continue to grow as long as I hang around.
There is no person in my real life I can talk to about gay films and BLs the way I do with you guys and other numerous sane commenters. It's not that I haven't tried, or that they're all bigots, it's that especially BL, goes WAAAY over their heads. I get blank eyes and no response when I try discussing BLs with friends or family. Many gay folks don't get BLs either. BL is not only gay, it is a very specific KIND of gay that deeply moves those of us who "get it" when they're good. The majority of people, gay or straight, who don't get it, likely think we're crazy.
My poor, next-oldest brother, an extremely straight, kind -hearted and gay-friendly sort, probably thinks my BL love is symptomatic of past mental health issues. lol Seriously. He pretended to listen when I first found BL and was gushing about it 24/7 but then I had to consider the significance of the fact that his only participation in these one-sided BL "discussions " consisted of "uh-huh..." and that only after I asked if he was listening. So I finally gave up and keep my BL world to myself and online.
Actually I have an in-law with whom I no longer engage in any way because at one point she informed me that she was "embarrassed for me" regarding my "obsession with young Korean "boys" (note the implied same-sex pedohpilia) as expressed on FB. This was regarding Korean gay movies, BL, and ONE, particular Kpop mega-idol who was an other-worldly talent, one in a billion, until his devastating suicide. He was 27 fucking years old, hardly a boy. But that insulting, dense, conventional, ignorant, close-minded, Xenophobic attitude moved her to denigrate me to that extent.
I told her to take her judgemental stupidity and shove it, blocked her on FB and have never engaged with her since. It's been almost three years now. Seeing as she is the wife of the very brother mentioned above, this rift is very apparent within the family. But until I get an unsolicited apology, she can fuck herself. I don't need people like that in my life any more than I need others who are at least open about their ignorance and gay hate. But she fancies herself a progressive person.
I haven't thought or spoken about her or our falling out in many months; this is cathartic. :D
All of which to say, please don't leave MDL. It's how you and I connected. Since you are a non-paying member, your departure will not effect its bottom line in the slightest. And given the size of the membership, no one will know you've left anyway.
Stick around with Maggi, JollyGolly, and me. Let's eat this place alive from the inside-out.
Yeah, it's like buying a Victorian terrace in London, and opening the door for the first time, only to find out…
lol Help me out, please: I know lots of MDLers use the FF button through shows they're impatient with but...how do you determine when to stop and watch? How do you know you're not missing key lines of dialogue even if a scene is otherwise dull?
My feeling is that if a show is so boring I start fast-forwarding, then it's bad enough to drop; and any show bad enough to drop gets a 1/10 from me. Perhaps that breaks my "you can't rate it til you've seen it rule...may have to rethink that. A lot of times however, I drop shows-especially Thai shows-that are being massively up-rated by fangirls, so I see the 1/10s as a bit of pushback. :D
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
oh...i was unaware of that. Thanks. It's telling though, that they hide that option away like that. Even more reason to not allow "overall" ratings until the show has completed its run.
Yeah, it's like buying a Victorian terrace in London, and opening the door for the first time, only to find out…
hahaha...I love your wonderfully creative writing. Thanks for the laughs.
Xi introduced the other guy as his "partner," which could mean his business partner, and the interactions between the two of them have been opaque; I can't figure out whether they are romantically/sexually a couple, or just business partners. I say this because, for instance, when Xi's "partner" met the female teacher, he acted intrigued and interested in her, even giving a lingering, thoughtful gaze to her back as she walked away. Immediately after, the camera was in closeup and he acted as though he was interested in her.
Then the whole "rainbow" mug thing, and the flirting between them, followed by Xi showing up in that room and more apparent, furtive glances and interaction between them...wtf? Is Xi's partner bi? Who knows? These episodes are too dragged out, but if they flushed out that side-plot, maybe it would overall be more compelling. As you wrote elsewhere, this show could be half as long if they tightened up the script. I'd say more like 3/4 as long because I actually enjoy some of the show's leisurely pace. But more and more I find myself fidgeting.
I never speed up the video. That's just against my morals as a consumer of live-action fiction. I'm either all-in or I'm out. :D
The step-bros thing is no less absurd because it's ubiquitous. It happens over and over in Thai BLs too.
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
"What I like, I like..."
I guess that doesn't apply to me, or at least it doesn't apply until I've seen a series or movie in its ENTIRETY. It never occurred to me to rate a series during its run until I saw that hundreds of people were doing this and realized the "overall" rating is nearly meaningless because of this netizen-like behavior. For certain types here, it's not enough to be enthralled by a series, they have to take the next step and attempt to artificially control its rating so it might get a second season, get more viewers, or just for the thrill of feeling powerful on the Internet.
I was thrilled by the film "The Love of Siam" (almost all the first BLs I watched and loved when I found this genre were Thai; now I rarely watch anything out of that country), and then the last 15 minutes happened. It went from a possible 10 to a 3/10 or something like that and a spot on my Worst 30 BLs list because of that homophobic, cheap-ass ending that destroyed everything before it. This is the type of change in opinion I think very view young MDLers would have the ability to make. Because they loved the film to that point, there's probably nothing in the ending that could effect their overall opinion of it.
This behavior comes from the same basic source as the insane, negative swarming that occurs online when Koreans decide that a show or actor has grossly offended them and needs to be destroyed. They do the same thing to shows on MDL that don't meet their Puritanical standards for sexual content, or if a character behaves in a way of which they disapprove. Murders or violence or kidnapping are all fine, but let there be a "dub-con" scene and the page will be inundated with 1/10 ratings, regardless of the overall quality of production and storytelling.
I suppose to a large degree this is generational: younger people are far more likely to feel a need to cancel a show or entertainer because they want to directly have an effect on it. Whereas, I see myself as an observer, they consider themselves participants and direct "influencers." Annoying.
I am also babbling on, but lastly, this issue has taken me to a place where, at least in the case of dramas as opposed to movies, which I watch more than dramas, a low MDL rating indicates to me the show may well be excellent, and a high rating spells danger. lol I first noticed this specifically with Bad Buddy, a juvenile mess that has a high MDL rating and whose comments are liberally strewn with declarations that it is a "masterpiece." hahaha That word has no meaning on MDL.
Hey thanks for your kind words regarding my comment/reviews. I'm glad you get something out of them.
I feel you, man. I picked this up from somewhere.Rating a show while it is airing comes with distinct advantages…
It's BS. At the least, MDL could make it possible to rate each episode only after it airs. The only rating choice now specifically labels your rating "OVERALL," not "episodes thus far" or "episodes to date." Then, they could show an AVERAGE rating of the eps that people have actually SEEN, as opposed to, you know, fantasized about.
I just finished watching The Time of Fever. The first five and a half episodes indicated a show I would have rated 9.5/10 had it continued at that quality, but it went to shit in the last episode and a half. How many people are going to go back and down-rate after something like that? I hadn't rated it yet because I hadn't, you know, SEEN all of it yet, so I ended up at 5/10.
Plus, if you read about ratings on MDL, it specifically says the show rating is arrived at via some obscure formula combining actual rating, number of viewers, how many dropped it, blah blah blah. So who knows what any of these ratings really mean?
The site is great in so many ways, but there are a number of ways in which it is strangely opaque and not what it seems to be. What is the reason a rating can't simply be the average rating of the people who have watched it start to finish and rated it? Who knows, but yeah, I'm sure it has to do with marketing/advertising/$$$$.
1 
1 
What an interesting, unexpected little flick.
Lots of people here using the words "cute," "sweet," and "adorable," but the word that kept coming to my mind throughout the watch was..."tender."
There was far too much angst and subtle stress going on for me to feel the story was cute, sweet, or adorable. Of course, THEY, the characters and their shy, bumbling interactions were "cute"...I suppose. But the level of suppressed feels, hesitancy, second-guessing, worry, and speculation underlying the way they interacted kept me tied up in knots most of the time...in a good, angsty movie-watch kind of way. I'm a masochist that way: I love gut-wrenching stress in my romances. :D
When it culminates in this kind of release/resolution, it feels so great to breathe again. :)
Both characters were characters I hadn't seen in gay film OR BL before. Both felt like real people, not "types." It always works better for me when the guys are interestingly handsome but not super-model-idol pretty. The little guy surprised me with that hot little body. :P I fell in love with him when he wore the plaid pants.
Something about the look/feel/vibe of the movie had me checking the year of release. It has a 2000s feel to me.
OK, so great, little surprise! Thank you to my dear MDL friend who rec'd this to me today. I had not heard of it. I hope to see more of both actors.
8.5/10
On edit: One thing that rang false to me was the little guy as a smoker. What did that add to the character or the story? And although the mechanics of his smoking (which are so often poorly done, making it obvious the actor does not smoke IRL) were fine, he simply didn't seem to me like someone who smokes. Plus, he smoked inside the building at work, and I don't think that's a thing among office workers anywhere in the industrialized world at this point. Maybe a minor thing, but I kept wondering what the cigs added to the character? Yeah, we got the "I like you just as you are...cig stink and all" line toward the end, but that could have been accomplished with any one of many other types of personal habits.
This is one of those "who the hell thought this was necessary and why?" kind of remakes. The original has heart, charm, innocence, heat, everything you could want. The first episode of this thing is terrible, and has all the usual Thai quirks that have made almost everything out of that country in the last three years unwatchable for me:
Artificial, looooooooooooooong pauses between lines of character dialogue.
Stiff, unnatural, Junior High level acting.
Horrible direction.
Overly melodramatic music cues and goofy noises to cue every feeling we're supposed to have and underline each lame joke so we'll know it's supposed to be funny.
Horribly stereotypical, stock Trans women, in this case a pair of twin housemaids or...something. Their characterizations are shameful, mocking, and wildly overplayed. Thai Trans women are not just average Trans women, they are caricatures of male drag queens, complete with idiot-level, supposedly "feminine" behavior that not only degrades Trans women as clowns, but cis women too.
Why can't a Trans female Thai character just be a...female?
The leads are awkward, amateur, and sloooooow. Phun is especially not believable as who we're to think he is.
When Phun was first shown in the opening scene on the beach ramp, I thought it was Noh's mom or some other woman...wtf?
One episode is more than enough to know this is yet another tragedy falling off the Thai BL Assembly Line...only more a disaster than most in comparison to the classic original.
Original Love Sick, which is actually GOOD:
https://mydramalist.com/10872-love-sick-the-series
Sequel, almost as good as the first:
https://mydramalist.com/13253-love-sick-the-series-season-2
Go here to watch the BL-cut of the original, without all the straight nonsense that was part of it:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4kRZu3J8kA4f2LO-MH9zPiel1H7un0v
This link includes ALL BL-cut eps of both seasons. Season 2 is cut into half-hour segments. I have no idea why.
As for Love Sick 2024: Dropped
1/10
At top of the page, just under the title, click on "Episode Guide."
That takes you to a page where each ep that has aired is listed next to a thumbnail photo.
Click on the photo.
Next page gives you the option to rate the individual episode.
All of which means there is NO rational explanation for why the OVERALL rating option is available before the show has completed airing. But be warned, the ratings per episode, which are used by VERY few members, are even more insane than the normally inflated overall rating.
Here we have 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, etc. lol I'm surprised there isn't an option to rate them 11+/10.
MDL is in some ways a creepy place. Why is the per-episode rating hidden away, but the overall rating option is available at the top of the page from the first episode onward? It would be easy as pie to place the per-episode option there too, but MDL chooses to hide it behind several clicks. Why?
Why does MDL refuse to publish any front-page articles regarding gay or BL content? I can't get an answer from the mods, so they're perfectly aware and are doing it on purpose. Why?
Why does MDL provide the overall rating option from episode 1 forward, but claims it uses other factors such as number of viewers, number of drops, and other ephemeral BS to arrive at the final rating. Why not simply the average of members' ratings? Weird and...creepy.
Sorry...I was taught to hate myself(yourself)/think poorly of myself/yourself from the age of around 3 onward, so it's ingrained. I do it FAR less than I used to. But, given that I(you) am now 400 times that age, I(you)have accepted my(your) self-esteem will always need conscious shoring up. But that's OK; I(you) have methods of doing that on a daily basis.
Truly though, that comparison was much more intended as a compliment to you(me) than a put-down to me (you).
This is hilariously stupid in three ways:
1.The percentage of BLs that contain true, extended "sex scenes" are few and far between, and a lot of those are Thai, in which teenagers pretend to be grown men and act out poorly choreographed, unconvincing acts of sex. I don't watch Thai BLs for the most part. There goes your delusion that all I want are "sex scenes." Give me a break. I have real actual humans in my life and lots of online porn for when I want to see or engage in sexual activities.
2. If all men did was "kiss all the time..." any show would be extremely boring. Why do you dislike male-male kissing though? Your comments here reveal your sad but real, internalized homophobia. Work on that with a therapist, not on the pages of MDL please.
3. I love that you believe br85 and I are the same person. It is unfailingly entertaining to read your nonsensical rants about that. I think that at this point, you know we're not the same person, but are unwilling to acknowledge it because you've invested so much energy in pushing that silliness.
You are a shining example of one of the absurdly childish mindsets which infest this site : More than one person disagrees with you,therefore you choose to believe they are the same entity so as to denigrate and cut your opposition in half.
You're 14, right?
I wrote admins THREE times, inquiring as to whether this was an official policy, and if so, then why the hell was it? NO ANSWER all three times, which means the real answer is they do it deliberately.
I then went googling to see if I could determine who owns and runs MDL. NOTHING. Please try, maybe you'll have better luck.
Of course, it's upsetting and outrageous, but here is how I look at it: As much as the MDL commentariat can be annoying in a host of ways, and now, in addition to that, I know it is run and managed via homophobic policies, there are many aspects of this crazy place that I appreciate a great deal and have been unable to find elsewhere:
Ability to maintain a Plan to Watch list, Completed list, see and read about upcoming and already-aired shows I would have otherwise never known about, rate shows and argue with Puritanical LGs in comment sections, which is a good outlet. :D
I have discovered many, many excellent gay-themed Asian films through this site. Those films have enriched my life immensely, and through friends like you,, JollyGolly , and Maggi, my knowledge of HOW to watch films and series and thus, get much more out of them, has increased dramatically. I notice all kinds of aspects of films I missed before I found this place, and my powers of perception regarding live-action fiction will continue to grow as long as I hang around.
There is no person in my real life I can talk to about gay films and BLs the way I do with you guys and other numerous sane commenters. It's not that I haven't tried, or that they're all bigots, it's that especially BL, goes WAAAY over their heads. I get blank eyes and no response when I try discussing BLs with friends or family. Many gay folks don't get BLs either. BL is not only gay, it is a very specific KIND of gay that deeply moves those of us who "get it" when they're good. The majority of people, gay or straight, who don't get it, likely think we're crazy.
My poor, next-oldest brother, an extremely straight, kind -hearted and gay-friendly sort, probably thinks my BL love is symptomatic of past mental health issues. lol Seriously. He pretended to listen when I first found BL and was gushing about it 24/7 but then I had to consider the significance of the fact that his only participation in these one-sided BL "discussions " consisted of "uh-huh..." and that only after I asked if he was listening. So I finally gave up and keep my BL world to myself and online.
Actually I have an in-law with whom I no longer engage in any way because at one point she informed me that she was "embarrassed for me" regarding my "obsession with young Korean "boys" (note the implied same-sex pedohpilia) as expressed on FB. This was regarding Korean gay movies, BL, and ONE, particular Kpop mega-idol who was an other-worldly talent, one in a billion, until his devastating suicide. He was 27 fucking years old, hardly a boy. But that insulting, dense, conventional, ignorant, close-minded, Xenophobic attitude moved her to denigrate me to that extent.
I told her to take her judgemental stupidity and shove it, blocked her on FB and have never engaged with her since. It's been almost three years now. Seeing as she is the wife of the very brother mentioned above, this rift is very apparent within the family. But until I get an unsolicited apology, she can fuck herself. I don't need people like that in my life any more than I need others who are at least open about their ignorance and gay hate. But she fancies herself a progressive person.
I haven't thought or spoken about her or our falling out in many months; this is cathartic. :D
All of which to say, please don't leave MDL. It's how you and I connected. Since you are a non-paying member, your departure will not effect its bottom line in the slightest. And given the size of the membership, no one will know you've left anyway.
Stick around with Maggi, JollyGolly, and me. Let's eat this place alive from the inside-out.
Help me out, please: I know lots of MDLers use the FF button through shows they're impatient with but...how do you determine when to stop and watch? How do you know you're not missing key lines of dialogue even if a scene is otherwise dull?
My feeling is that if a show is so boring I start fast-forwarding, then it's bad enough to drop; and any show bad enough to drop gets a 1/10 from me. Perhaps that breaks my "you can't rate it til you've seen it rule...may have to rethink that. A lot of times however, I drop shows-especially Thai shows-that are being massively up-rated by fangirls, so I see the 1/10s as a bit of pushback. :D
Xi introduced the other guy as his "partner," which could mean his business partner, and the interactions between the two of them have been opaque; I can't figure out whether they are romantically/sexually a couple, or just business partners. I say this because, for instance, when Xi's "partner" met the female teacher, he acted intrigued and interested in her, even giving a lingering, thoughtful gaze to her back as she walked away. Immediately after, the camera was in closeup and he acted as though he was interested in her.
Then the whole "rainbow" mug thing, and the flirting between them, followed by Xi showing up in that room and more apparent, furtive glances and interaction between them...wtf? Is Xi's partner bi? Who knows? These episodes are too dragged out, but if they flushed out that side-plot, maybe it would overall be more compelling. As you wrote elsewhere, this show could be half as long if they tightened up the script. I'd say more like 3/4 as long because I actually enjoy some of the show's leisurely pace. But more and more I find myself fidgeting.
I never speed up the video. That's just against my morals as a consumer of live-action fiction. I'm either all-in or I'm out. :D
The step-bros thing is no less absurd because it's ubiquitous. It happens over and over in Thai BLs too.
I guess that doesn't apply to me, or at least it doesn't apply until I've seen a series or movie in its ENTIRETY. It never occurred to me to rate a series during its run until I saw that hundreds of people were doing this and realized the "overall" rating is nearly meaningless because of this netizen-like behavior. For certain types here, it's not enough to be enthralled by a series, they have to take the next step and attempt to artificially control its rating so it might get a second season, get more viewers, or just for the thrill of feeling powerful on the Internet.
I was thrilled by the film "The Love of Siam" (almost all the first BLs I watched and loved when I found this genre were Thai; now I rarely watch anything out of that country), and then the last 15 minutes happened. It went from a possible 10 to a 3/10 or something like that and a spot on my Worst 30 BLs list because of that homophobic, cheap-ass ending that destroyed everything before it. This is the type of change in opinion I think very view young MDLers would have the ability to make. Because they loved the film to that point, there's probably nothing in the ending that could effect their overall opinion of it.
This behavior comes from the same basic source as the insane, negative swarming that occurs online when Koreans decide that a show or actor has grossly offended them and needs to be destroyed. They do the same thing to shows on MDL that don't meet their Puritanical standards for sexual content, or if a character behaves in a way of which they disapprove. Murders or violence or kidnapping are all fine, but let there be a "dub-con" scene and the page will be inundated with 1/10 ratings, regardless of the overall quality of production and storytelling.
I suppose to a large degree this is generational: younger people are far more likely to feel a need to cancel a show or entertainer because they want to directly have an effect on it. Whereas, I see myself as an observer, they consider themselves participants and direct "influencers." Annoying.
I am also babbling on, but lastly, this issue has taken me to a place where, at least in the case of dramas as opposed to movies, which I watch more than dramas, a low MDL rating indicates to me the show may well be excellent, and a high rating spells danger. lol I first noticed this specifically with Bad Buddy, a juvenile mess that has a high MDL rating and whose comments are liberally strewn with declarations that it is a "masterpiece." hahaha That word has no meaning on MDL.
Hey thanks for your kind words regarding my comment/reviews. I'm glad you get something out of them.
At the least, MDL could make it possible to rate each episode only after it airs. The only rating choice now specifically labels your rating "OVERALL," not "episodes thus far" or "episodes to date." Then, they could show an AVERAGE rating of the eps that people have actually SEEN, as opposed to, you know, fantasized about.
I just finished watching The Time of Fever. The first five and a half episodes indicated a show I would have rated 9.5/10 had it continued at that quality, but it went to shit in the last episode and a half. How many people are going to go back and down-rate after something like that? I hadn't rated it yet because I hadn't, you know, SEEN all of it yet, so I ended up at 5/10.
Plus, if you read about ratings on MDL, it specifically says the show rating is arrived at via some obscure formula combining actual rating, number of viewers, how many dropped it, blah blah blah. So who knows what any of these ratings really mean?
The site is great in so many ways, but there are a number of ways in which it is strangely opaque and not what it seems to be. What is the reason a rating can't simply be the average rating of the people who have watched it start to finish and rated it? Who knows, but yeah, I'm sure it has to do with marketing/advertising/$$$$.