etoks21

This.

hahahahaha...your "let's all be friends," 1950s pablum is the problem.

Please denote the "gay love" in this series.
Oh, would that be the love Arata felt for Ryu, the love that was rejected, after which the writer had the only clearly defined gay character jump off a bridge?
Would that be the love over which Ryu continued to shit on Arata AFTER he recovered, left the hospital, and disappeared from the narrative, as all good gay characters should do?

Oh, and would that also be, perhaps, the love of the only other possibly gay character, Johan, who inevitably came down with a terminal disease and was deposited in a wheelchair, acting out a hilariously amateurish performance of late-stage ALS?

Is that the gay, eternal, universal love you wrote of above?

You're clearly delusional.
Join your fellow, gay-baited delulu brethren below.

Johwan is attractive? You're into cheap Korean nose jobs? Really?

Well said...well, except for that last sentence. :)

It wasn't good at all.

Only a little? :)

You are full of shit.
And being "hostile" to "let's all be civil, now" bigot enablers like you is a point of pride.

Your BS reminds me of people here in the US describing Tr*mpism as just another way of seeing things, and nothing to argue about.
"Quieter and more restrained emotional approach," my ass. And Tr*mpism is just a louder, more energetic approach to the American way of life, right?

People like you are worse than the bigots, because you know better, but rationalize their bullshit anyway.

I removed the comment you're replying to because I consider your kind abhorrent. I don't wish to enable you with an extended response.

I copy/pasted my reply as a stand-alone comment up above.

Hey Band Boy!

Stay out of gay-themed projects until you grow some balls and are willing to play a gay role as, you know, GAY.

"Soul Mates" is retrograde, homophobic crap.
Considering that you brought forth "More Than Words," one of the best of the BL genre, you should be ashamed to have created SM.

Were you well-compensated by Netflix for your cowardice?

You and your bigot-enabling schtick are unworthy of a response.

It pisses me off that the multitude of bigot-enabling commenters below continue to pretend that this show somehow honored the gay love story that they pretend was in it, but that wasn't, by asserting that it did so through "a much more subtle and emotionally restrained approach...blah blah blah."

You know what? That is 1930s/1940s/1950s/even 1960s/70s talk, before the sexual and cultural and gay liberation movements that began to free us from the shackles of homophobic gay storytelling, which used secret handshakes, winks, nods, glances, "subtlety," and a hundred other tools to sublimate what was too dangerous to express openly.

Guess what? Those days are decades gone, and we are not going back into the shadows, no matter how hard loser prudes like those below try to push us there. Shame-based gay storytelling is obsolete. Try to catch up, cowards.

I understand that in far too many ways regarding gay issues, it is still 1955 in Japan, Korea, India, China, and much of the rest of Asia. But Taiwan and Thailand are catching up to 2026 fast, and many film/series makers in the aforementioned countries have defied the local, homophobic status quo to make great gay content openly. Why would any of us support the spineless makers of retrograde crap like Soul Mates? Why do the wimps below?

I haven't checked its ratings so far, but I hope Soul Mates bombs badly for NF and it never again utilizes the production company responsible for, as Taylor Swift sang in "Lavender Haze," "...this 1950s shit." Fuck that.

Why do gay-hating institutions like the PRC government, the Catholic Church, or American White Nationalists need to exert themselves to achieve their gay-hating goals when they've got people like the cowards below doing their work for them?

Yep, that'll do it. :)

I hate pain and have never been in a fight of any kind, but I'll notice lame boxing, fight scenes, sword fights, etc. in flicks/dramas every time.

Nitpicking rules.

I guess your comments haven't struck me as insignificant, then.

Something like lame boxing, which I noticed here too, will take me right out of a scene. I have the utmost respect for actors who either master a sport to portray it, or fake it well enough to make it appear they have mastered it.

I get accused of "nitpicking" too, because I have standards. Maybe you do too. :)

lol
Honestly, I have no memory of this show, and my rating page indicates I dropped the damn thing, and then started watching again a year later, finding it not as bad.

So, basically, I don't know how to answer your reply. :D

"Not up for the job." I see what you did there. :)

Ah, you must see it!
Let me know what you think.

How nice to run into a fellow admirer of "My Love Mixup." We may be the only two who like it. :) It's on my post-2020 faves list.

I Told Sunset About You is a stunner, but it and its sequel, I Promised You the Moon, are rare gems among post-2020 Thai BLs.

That's a tough one, because every country I'm thinking of has also released a lot of turds, Thailand being the worst.

I would say Taiwan/Korea.
Korea especially, has put out lots of duds, but also some real gems.
Taiwan, though not prolific, may be the most consistent in producing BLs worth watching.

If you're interested, here are two lists of my fave BLs, divided into "classic" and post-2020 categories:
https://mydramalist.com/list/1MpvbkP4
https://mydramalist.com/list/3rWQjk74

As much as I dislike current Thai BLs, it was the clear breakthrough standard-bearer in the early years of BL and there are many classics I love.

"The more I think about it, the more the narrative seems totally weird."

I agree with this. I finished watching, and as it replays in my annoyed mind, more and more lame flubs/mistakes/oddnesses come to mind. Like the story becoming all about the artsy female friend, her baby, and everyone who wanted to help her raise the kid. Who cares? That would be fine as a subplot, but it was turned into the focus. The final cut was by committee, and that's almost always a disaster.

This.

You know, that's such a lame and repetitious canard thrown out by weirdos like you who despise clearly defined gay characters. Asserting that those of us with discernment, who aren't homophobic, are simply desperate for some random kissing, is hogwash. A kiss in this show, the way it's written, would be bizarre.

"Underneath emotions" are great/wonderful/awesome as tools to BUILD a plot and characters toward something. But when, after SIX HOURS of storytelling, we are still only getting "underneath emotions" there is something wrong, a cowardice/reluctance to allow a gay romance to flower and OPEN up.

And why would that be? It would be, because the director/actors/ producers have decided they are unwilling to portray a clearly gay storyline. The history of rewrites/reshoots/delays regarding SM is telling. It was released a full year behind schedule and was chopped up in the meantime.

I can't find anything specific online, of course, because studios cover up shit like this, but casting a reluctant Korean "idol" to play a gay character is a sure-fire way for that character to end up gay-but-not-really-gay in the final product. I've seen that particular weirdness play out and ruin dramas/BLs 473 times before.

Ok Taec Yeon and his obvious rhinoplasty should have been kept far away from this show. Cast him in something with a girl opposite him, where he's willing to commit. The JP actor was the superior performer, and my guess is he wasn't worried about playing gay.

Yeah, plus it's really poorly written with loose plot threads everywhere, disappearing characters, and strange, inconsistent character behaviors.
Also, in the latter half, it becomes all about the female, childhood friend and her baby. Like...OK, a little of that is fine and the actress if very good, but...who cares? The details of that are like from a different show.