medusalith-amaquelin

[medusalith-amaquelin]

I love how Boys Be Brave did the reveal of Giseob finding out that he likes Jinwoo.

As mentioned in previous episode, Giseob knows when someone likes him just by looking at their face & eyes. Like when he saw it in Jinwoo's.

So when he saw what his face & eyes looked like when he was looking at Jinwoo and realised it, his lips and voice trembled and my eyes welled up too

🥺

#boys be brave #all four actors are so so amazing with the emotional beat #this team probably has one of the best actors in kbl so far #고백을 못하고

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Gray Shelter (2024) Intro

#gray shelter #회색기류 #the intro is already giving me all the feels that i don't know if im ready or not yet #the acting so far for the two episodes is amazing #both of them did such a great job #jang wooyoung #lee jaebin #especially jang wooyoung #his eyes conveyed so much sadness

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ROBIN FURUYA as Takashi Iwanaga Love is Better the Second Time Around (2024) │01x06

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #robin furuya #furuya robin #takashi iwanaga #iwanaga takashi

[medusalith-amaquelin]

It's the last episode 🥹

All in all, for me it was a great end to the story. Miyata has always been a very strong willed character in this series and I love his determination until the end ❤️

I know it will be impossible but I would love to see Robin & Makoto work together again 😭

P/s. Robin has shot his way up on my 'favourite actor with amazing face' list. He is on the top 3 lol I mean look at that face!!!!

#koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #love is better the second time around #robin furuya #takashi iwanaga #surprisingly who we thought was the villain is actually not the villain lol #which tbh i didn't expect

[medusalith-amaquelin]

I badly want to start Unknown The Series!!! But I know I can't and not the type to wait for weekly episodes. I am waiting for it to finish and start binging! But! But! I want to watch it so bad 🙃 How many weeks/episodes left do I have to wait?

#unknown the series

[medusalith-amaquelin]

ROBIN FURUYA as Takashi Iwanaga Love is Better the Second Time Around (2024) │01x05

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #robin furuya #takashi iwanaga

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Well well... Strap in your seat belt, there's a lot of info to take in in EP5. Everything is revealed in this one. Iwanaga x Miyata dating era let's go! The villain of the story reveals himself but damn! He just punch through into Miyata & Iwanaga space like nobody's business. Some of my favourite things in this episode is Miyata's getting jealous 😏 and I think this is the first time I see Iwanaga's angry face.

I can't believe there's only one episode left!!!

Spoiler

Kyosuke: Him, he grew up beautifully delicious. Should I have a taste?

Iwanaga: Kyosuke, do you actually want to see me get angry?

Kyosuke: You're scary.

*Translated from 🇯🇵 > 🇰🇷 > ENG

#koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #love is better the second time around #robin furuya #takashi iwanaga #iwanaga x miyata

[medusalith-amaquelin]

ROBIN FURUYA as Takashi Iwanaga Love is Better the Second Time Around (2024) │01x04

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #robin furuya #takashi iwanaga

[medusalith-amaquelin]

One of the things I like about this short series, their EXPRESSIONS. Robin & Makoto is so so AMAZING with it!!

When they look at each other - these actors are so great at expressing a lot of things without any lines.

Example - In this clip, behind Miyata's "Ah, I should stop drinking" I can feel that actually he is screaming (I am going crazy because of you) on the inside 😂

#koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #love is better the second time around #robin furuya #makoto hasegawa

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Just watched ep 4 of love is better the second time around and oh boy!! You guys aren't ready for it! Miyata is truly deeply heads over heels for his senpai! Drunk Miyata is everything!! Their conversation and confessions by that river! Mature JBL is truly the cream of the crop!!!!

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto

[medusalith-amaquelin]

ROBIN FURUYA as Takashi Iwanaga Love is Better the Second Time Around (2024) │01x03

#robin furuya #furuya robin #takashi iwanaga #iwanaga takashi #love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Well well well, this is truly a show for grown folks. An incomplete list of things I loved from episode 2 of Love is Better the Second Time Around:

Kiss replay, thank you show!

Miyata is very attracted to Iwanaga and fighting himself about it, both because he’s still stung from their high school misunderstandings and he’s trying to maintain his closet in the present. I’m glad the show made this clear.

Shiraishi you bitch!! I love this character, and how aware all three of these men are about the dynamic they’re in.

I would like to shake Miyata’s ex-girlfriend’s hand for the way she refused to let him open that ring box. She is not here to play the duped fiancé!

Miyata calling Iwanaga immediately after being rejected and asking him to take responsibility, so very telling even as he rejected his kiss.

Love getting the confirmation that Iwanaga only hooked up with Shiraishi in the first place because he reminded him of Miyata, and that he’s setting very clear boundaries with him now.

“Please stop posing.” LMAO Miyata has knives.

That entire final scene by the river was fantastic. So Iwanaga wanted Miyata to run away with him, but in his immaturity made a bet about it to cover his feelings. Miyata felt mocked. It all makes sense, and it explains why Miyata is making Iwanaga work for it despite obviously wanting to give in. He’s rejecting Iwanaga but in a way that makes it clear he wants to be pursued.

This show is fan-fucking-tastic.

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Love is Better the Second Time Around Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

Last week, we met our leads, Miyata and Iwanaga. Miyata and Iwanaga had some kind of relationship as teens in high school and seemed to part on mixed terms. Now they're both adults and have met through happenstance via work. Miyata seems to be suppressing his queerness, and Iwanaga seems determined to reconnect with Miyata. Miyata wanted to break off, saying he's committed to his girlfriend, but we left at them kissing in Iwanaga's apartment before Miyata ran away and admitted to himself that he still has feelings.

Yes, let's pick up from the kiss and get Iwanaga's perspective.

OMG he wanted to elope, and Miyata didn't show up. Incredible.

Iwanaga wasn't gonna let you go that easy, sir, especially not after that kiss.

Oh fuck yeah, Shiraishi! Drama convention says you won't succeed, but I love you for telling your rival to fuck off.

Oof, Shiraishi heard that. I hope he gets meaner.

I am howling! This botched proposal is one of the funniest things I've seen in weeks! I didn't want an adult woman who didn't deserve this, and I like her shutting this down.

Wow, he called Iwanaga and Iwanaga didn't let me down. He put that ring on Miyata.

I wonder if Miyata was referring to the office scene earlier or their time as kids with that comment about ridicule.

Iwanaga is the winner. Despite also being rejected, he ate the cake.

Wait, now I want dumplings.

Oho! Poor Shiraishi! The first time they hooked up Iwanaga was thinking about Miyata. He's been losing to this man for a decade!

Genuinely loved the desk as a barrier between Iwanaga and Shiraishi in that scene and the flashback.

"Please stop posing." I love this show.

Overlaying their conversation with this idyllic date footage is an excellent choice in a short show where the characters are stepping around their history. We don't know that history well enough to read into their facial expressions well, so balancing their voices and dialogue with the montage works really well for mood.

Deeply invested in Iwanaga admitting that he was a jerk when they were teens.

I really like Miyata's second rejection here. There's a sense that he got swept up by Iwanaga before and now that he's older he's doing what he can to avoid that swooning again.

Oh big choices next week!

I'm having so much fun with this show. This feels grown in a way a lot of the second chance stuff we've had has been missing. I've been wanting more adult-feeling BL, and the way all of the characters talk to each other in this show underlines their histories so well. I also just love how forward everyone is about intimacy. There's no shock about it.

#love is better the second time around #koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto/Love is Better the Second Time Around is giving me everything I want in a BL with adult leads. Mutual pining, extensive flirting, excessive rizz, annoyance at the rizz, jealous exes, bitchy comedy ("please stop posing" was screamingly funny), makeouts, trying to convince themselves that they can out-think their feelings, and based on the preview for next week, potentially having sex before they've sorted out or acknowledged their feelings?; I can't wait.

#koi wo suru nara nidome ga joto #love is better the second time around

[medusalith-amaquelin]

"It all starts with Luna's interest in astronomy. She wants to reopen the astronomy club. And to reopen it, it requires at least four members of the club. I try to recruit people. One day, I find out that this girl is interested in outer space too. So I try to pester and persuade her to join the club."

view benyapa as aylin and june wanwimol as luna in 23.5 (2024) special episode

#23.5 degrees #23.5 the series #view benyapa #june wanwimol #anyone knows where we can all of her hat #i am seriously asking #ready to fall victim to capitalism

[medusalith-amaquelin]

2024 BL Dramas Watchlist:

PERFECT PROPOSE dir. Horai Tadaaki

Someday, I'm going to marry you, Hiro.

#perfect propose

[medusalith-amaquelin]

Perfect Propose: A few final thoughts

There is a melancholy to this series because it’s about a romance but it’s also about breaking out of external and internal barriers holding you back from happiness. 

Hiro’s work situation was such an incredible representation of what it feels like to work in a workplace that is out to exploit every second of your time and never thank you for it. I really loved that the show is clear about how people enable their own exploitation in these environments, and how often people don’t leave because they need the idea that their life will be better when they finally do quit, and they’re afraid it isn’t true so they’d rather stay with the devil they know [it's me, I'm people].

I loved Kai finding his way to Hiro when he was at his lowest, and going from a guy who was afraid to ask for anything or make any kind of mark on Hiro’s life, to putting up a wind chime decoration and building a hydroponic vegetable system and asking Hiro to come home to him every night.

Kai’s arc wasn’t as strong or as detailed as Hiro’s, but it was important to the story. Kai has always recognized Hiro's kindness in asking for something from Kai rather than offering something to Kai--Kai has always felt useless but Hiro gave him purpose, as a kid and again as an adult. But Kai needed to learn to want things for himself, something Hiro noticed and encouraged him to do. And when Hiro misses their festival date and realized he’d let Kai down, he offers to make it up to him in two ways (committing to the tomato growing, which was a short-term but tangible commitment to Kai, and agreeing to share a bed), which helped bring them closer together and helped Kai get bolder, sending Hiro those images of the food he was missing to help him continue to want to be home.

Kai got to see Hiro more vulnerable, and feel more wanted, and then got the apology from the old restaurant owner’s son. But when he heard that his presence had held the restaurant owner back from moving in with his son, he took it the wrong way, and defaulted back to thinking he’s a burden who puts the people he loves at risk just by virtue of being there. [There was a kernel of truth in there about how Kai, in making Hiro’s life a little better, also was enabling him to stay longer in that awful job, but he couldn’t see how he was also giving Hiro a reason to quit it.]  

And at the end, when the typical Japanese Run For Your Love failed (which I really enjoyed), the words that got through to Kai were heartbreaking. Hiro doesn’t tell Kai he’s a good presence in his life; he’s already done that and he knows it wouldn’t get through anyway, because he knows Kai. Instead, he reminds Kai that Hiro’s life was already empty and meaningless, so Kai couldn’t possibly make it any worse. He made himself and a relationship with him feel safe. I have been sitting with this all day and it still makes me devastated every time I think about it for more than 30 seconds. Kai made home a place Hiro wanted to be enough that he could actually come home, and Hiro made home safe enough that Kai felt like he could stay there without being afraid he’d ruin it. 

Would I have wanted more of these two together? Absolutely, I could watch Hiro and Kai together for triple this runtime easy. But for me, this show used its time incredibly well and ends in the perfect place. I have enough with what we got to see exactly how they got from where we leave them to how we see them in the show opening credits.

Enough to know they’re going to be ok.

#perfect propose