#i don't even LIKE when kdramas have more than one season

[xiaochiyo]

nobody talks about how hard it is when your comfort kdrama only has 12 episodes and you kinda don't want to rewatch it because you fear you'll end up getting fed up of it.... so a business proposal's director and screenwriters if you guys are reading this post rn i'm just going to let you know: i'm down for a season 2, 3 or 4, even! whatever! i want as much shin hari and kang taemoo as one can get idc idc

#i don't even LIKE when kdramas have more than one season #this drama has me on my knees #a business proposal #shin hari #kang taemoo #business proposal

[kdramaxoxo]

Sorry if you've been asked this a million times, but who are your favorite couples from the last couple years?

Congratulations Anon! This ask is AMAZING and I've never been asked it before! Shocking right?? :P

My favorite K-Drama Couples 2023- Spring 2024

NOTE: I tried to include 2022 but my list got too long :)

Moving (Bong-Seok & Hee-Soo, Joo-Won & Hye-Won & Doo-Shik & Mi-Hyun): It's very obvious by this list how much I love this drama and how many blorbo-from-my-shows it created for me. And I know I'm only reviewing couples, but I was blown away by this drama. I don't even LIKE superhero shows, but I made an exception for this one and I'm so glad I did. If you like character development and plays on good vs. evil, I highly rec this! Bong-Seok and Hee-Soo are one of my favorite couples EVER and I loved the softness and epic romance of Joo-Won & Hye-Won. (And we all know that scene at the rainy window with Bong-Seok and Hee-Soo). These couples are really EVERYTHING.

Tale of the Nine Tailed: 1938 (Lee-rang & Yeo-Hee): This is the only time I've ever watched a season two and liked it better than season one. It's probably because it featured my favorite tragic half fox Lee Rang and gave him a love line with a mermaid. The two are SO sweet together---SOB!

Tell me That You Love Me (Mo-Eun & Jin-Woo): Wow. Maybe one of the softest couples I've ever seen in existence. Just watching them together was like a warm blanket in front of a cozy fireplace. I didn't like the ending choice which is a shame, but the drama was super well done and I still think people should watch it. There is also a very cute high school couple too!

The Eighth Sense (Jae-Won & Ji Hyun): not to be dramatic (just kidding!) this is the best bl kdrama I've ever seen. Literally this is it! I don't even want to tell you about the couple because I want you to just watch it! I'm dying for the writer to make another one because we need more queer media like this one!

Crash Course In Romance (Haeng-Seon & Chi-Yeol): Give me a noona romance featuring a man who has not felt warmth in 1000 years (ok not literally but this dude needs to have a warm meal made by an amazing lady!) This drama fell apart at the end (this seems to be a theme this year) but the couple makes it worth watching.

King The Land (Gu-Won & Sa-Rang): If you're looking for a low stakes, totally fluffy, rom com with TONS of chemistry (featuring MY BIAS!), King the Land is for you. Amazing skinship, kisses and just like a really fun duo to watch. Plot? Not so much but there are a billion good moments-- just look at the tags: They are full of cuteness.

Love After Divorce Season 4 (Benita & Jerome): Listen, I know I'm cheating by putting a reality tv show on this list but if you're in the mood for one, I highly recommend this season (it's on Netflix). Benita and Jerome will steal your heart and they are still together! I'm rooting for them. <3

See you in my 19th Life (Ji-Eum & Seo-Ha, Da-Hoon & Cho-Won): My bias Shin Hye Sun kills it in this drama featuring past life romance. Honestly it's not fair because this drama is totally my vibe so I'm obviously going to love the mains. But when a drama gives you more than one love line and they are both interesting and lovely?? Chef's Kiss!

Dr. Slump (Jeong-Woo & Ha-Neul): This drama TOTALLY fell apart at the end and left us all very disappointed, but that's not because our leads weren't a perfect couple! They bonded over mental illness and even took their meds together. Communication: check. Comfort/Healing: check. Chemistry: check!

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (Yun-Woo & Tae-Ha). You probably don't know this but I've been following Bae In Hyuk's career since we was in silly little web dramas. Seeing him as a lead is really wild! To be fair, he's not nearly the actor that Lee Se Young is, but do we care about that when there's a time slip romance drama featuring a historical lady who's been thrown into the future and has to fake marry someone who looks just like her de*d husband for reasons??

Thank you so much for this ask - it was super fun!! Maybe I should do 2022 next?? :D

#kdrama #i love a list #king the land #kdrama recommendations #crash course in romance #tale of the nine tailed #ask #kdrama couple #the story of park's marriage contract #dr. slump

[mgsapphire]

A tragedy is not romantic

Ok, I've been watching Dr. Romantic 3 and since last week, I've been meaning to comment on it. First of all, I know most kdrama discourse has moved over to tiktok during my absence. But I need to say this. And for a drama to make me regain my passion for meta essays is awesome.

I absolutely love Ahn Hyo Seop performance in this season. It's been literally a year since a performance moved me so much. I spent days still feeling the chills whenever I remembered the episodes of disaster relief.

Having said that, I want to emphasize on this week's episodes. Some people think the main issue is the jealousy Seo Woo Jin seems to have against Kang Dong Joo. But, in my opinion, these episodes are not aimed at settling the fan war about who the better doctor is, but at master Kim's realization that both of his brightest students are flawed, because they've pursued his teachings this far.

Seo Woo Jin literally can't imagine resting because it means, for him, that he's wasting time not saving lives. His hand is not worth the same as the lives being lost. Doctor Seo has proved time and time again that his main problem is that he fails to put himself first. This has been persistent since we first met him. He is reckless in his pursuit of saving lives.

On the other hand, Kang Dong Joo, ever since we first met him, has pursued recognition. Because that's the way he thinks he can save the most lives. This is not a flaw on itself, but in this episode we saw how he has trouble asking for help. He could have called Master Kim at any moment, but feared that he would fail in Master Kim's eyes, even though Master Kim himself said he could reach for help at any moment.

Doctor Seo and Doctor Kang have always been meant to resemble each other, because they are meant to pursuit resemblance to Master Kim. Neither is better than the other, because when Master Kim walked into that Trauma Room, he did not see Doctor Kang as more brilliant, or Doctor Seo as more determined.

What he saw was his best students, and specifically doctor Seo who sees him as a father figure, break themselves in the pursuit of medicine. He saw doctor Kang unable to ask for help when he most needed it, and doctor Seo unable to rest when he most needed it.

Medicine is meant to be romantic, and while self-sacrifice is romantic, it can easily turn into a tragedy. The older student broke his own expectations, and the younger one put his tools at risk, because they so desperately wanted to be like their idol.

Like doctor Kang said, only Master Kim can be Master Kim. They don't need to resemble him, they need to become doctors with their own set of ideals, who know their own limits. Master Kim has come to the realization that he may have pushed them too far without realizing. That yes, they are brilliant, but oh, so human.

This is just another knock of reality that Master Kim keeps receiving ever since Woo Jin injured his hand. His teachings are not dangerous, we can see how other doctors have coped better with them. It's just that these two particular students are stubborn and think in extremes, they want to be the best doctors they know they can be, but are pushing themselves to the edge without taking a break.

A teacher is meant to nurture those gentle and fragile sides as well, and Master Kim is trying his best, but the foundations for their mentalities started way before he instilled gentleness in them.

#dr romantic 3 #doctor romantic 3 #dr romantic #ahn hyungseob #ahn hyo seop #ahn hyoseop #kdrama #korean actor #seo woo jin #master kim #kim sabu #kang dong joo #korean dramas #korean #med drama

[byeol-ssi]

𝗜 𝗚𝗼𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿!

SYNOPSIS. Kim Dokja was an average office worker who deliberately maintained a low profile to enjoy his sole interest of reading his favorite web novels in peace.

After accepting an unexpected promotion, his quiet world is shaken even further when he's forced to take a newly-hired employee under his wing—you.

Whether Dokja likes it or not, both of you are stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.

✦ kim dokja x gn!reader | omniscient reader's viewpoint

✦ tags: sunbae!dokja, hubae!reader, modern au, office romcom au, co-workers to lovers, slow burn, mutual pining, no one dies :D except for my own will to live, (to be updated as we go)

BULLETIN BOARD.

DISCLAIMER: i have ZERO experience working in the corporate field. all my references rely purely on research and the various office romcom manhwas/mangas/kdramas that i've consumed, so please be kind.

Seonbaenim / Sunbaenim (선배님) — directly translates as "senior" and refers to people who have more experience in work, school, or etc. Whether the person is older than you or not, if they started earlier than you did, you should call them sunbae.

Hoobae / Hubae (후배) — directly translates as "junior" and refers to people to people with less experience than you in school or work.

SEASON ONE.

WARNINGS. chapter titles will be cringe — please don't be deterred. 🙏

This Wasn't Included in the Job Description

to be updated.

AUTHOR'S NOTES. this is part two of the 1k celebration surprise! i know reader-insert fics with manhwa characters aren't the most common, but hopefully, there is one reader out there who is looking for a story like this. ♡

i would be very grateful if you could spare me some love and feedback for this project. thank you, truly!

TAGLIST -> @tofuthoma @sleepydang @tellerluna-stories @azucarian @dimayeon @d10nsaint @the-pan-liquid

✦ simply send me an ask/reply to this post to be added!

#omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader x reader #orv x reader #kim dokja x reader #kim dokja #kim dokja x you #✦ main scenario. #manhwa x reader #manhwa x you

[lurkingshan]

If you could rant about one thing in BL, what would it be? (This could be either a complaint or a soapbox)

Thank you for the invitation to climb on my soapbox, I love it up here. Something that’s been on my mind recently is bl second seasons, so I will take this opportunity to talk about why I both anticipate and dread them in equal measure, and what makes for a strong second season in a romance narrative. I would apologize for this being so long but it's you, Emperor of the Long Post, so I don't even feel bad.

First of all, let me just say that part of the reason I love Asian dramas in the first place is because they don’t have multiple seasons. Unlike American TV, you don’t have to invest literal years in a show only to have it blow up in your face when it (nearly always) goes off the rails for one reason or another. The vast majority of Asian dramas are one and done–they tell a complete story in one limited run, and afterwards you just get to move on to the next story. As a result they tend to have a higher hit rate because they’re not trying to stretch their story beyond its limits to keep it going and going, and even when they fail you only spent a few days or weeks on it so it doesn’t feel like you wasted a lot of time. There are a few exceptions of course (lately kdramas on Netflix have started splitting into two “seasons” that are really just one standard kdrama episode count split in two and airing a few months apart–high key annoying IMO), but by and large that’s how it goes. 

So the bl genre’s propensity for second seasons already goes a bit against the grain of what I love about dramas, and add to that the very nature of bls—they are romances, which typically end at the point that the romantic conflict has been addressed and the characters decide to stay together. So in general, I am primed to be suspicious of second seasons in this genre. Many second seasons are clearly driven by capitalism more than anything else–the pairing is popular and so the production company is looking to cash in while their commodity is hot, and whether or not they actually have any more story to tell is a secondary concern. So my first questions when approaching a second season is why was this made and what is it trying to accomplish? 

I think there are a few buckets here:

Continuing the narrative season 2s: These are the shows where the story was not complete at the end of season 1, and season 2 is actually necessary to provide some resolution. Love Sick 2 and Make it Right 2 are prime examples; those narratives were incomplete after the first season and season 2 finished them. What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 also falls in this category but for a different reason: it’s a slice of life show and the narrative never really ends. They could make 10 seasons of that show and it would make perfect sense (not that I am begging or anything).

Cash grab season 2s: These are the ones with little or no real narrative purpose. They’re more like long specials, and their purpose is primarily to provide additional fluff for the audience while they sell products (including the actors, they are also products here). Cutie Pie 2 You, Still 2gether, TharnType 2 are all good examples of this. Now I am not saying these shows are inherently worthless–they gave Aof the reins for 2SG, for instance, and he managed to make something of it and even repair some damage from the first season–but they are definitely inessential. 

What happens after the HEA season 2s: My favorite kind, these are the ones that move into the next phase of the romance, once the characters have decided to be together, and take a look at what their relationship would actually be like. Their purpose is to deepen the relationship and character development and examine the types of conflicts that would naturally come up between the two personalities. Gameboys 2, I Promised You the Moon, Minato’s Laundromat 2, SOTUS: S, Together With Me: The Next Chapter, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all fall under this category. Some of these are more successful than others, which I will unpack below. 

Something like Our Skyy and Our Skyy 2 runs the gamut between these three types, with each installment fitting into different categories. The Eclipse OS2 is a great example of category 3, whereas My School President OS2 is more of a category 2, and you could make a case that SOTUS OS is really a category 1, since it puts a nice cap on the narrative of that whole series.

So, with that said, what I actually want to talk about is category 3, because these are the shows I am most interested in and where the decisions made in the writing are most crucial. Because this type of second season has real potential to either strengthen or damage the couple and how we see their relationship. The best second seasons of this type build on the established characteristics of the characters and take us through some natural conflicts that would arise as they continue their relationship. For instance, in Gameboys 2 we see Cairo and Gavreel spend prolonged time together in person for the first time after maintaining a long distance relationship and work through what physical intimacy looks like for them as well as how they intend to keep their relationship strong despite distance. I Promised You the Moon, SOTUS: S, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all build on their characters’ well-established flaws from the first season to explore how that would manifest in conflict as these relationships continue and offer plausible scenarios for how the couples might make it through those issues (and it ain’t always pretty!). All of these are very successful second seasons, because they build naturally from what came before and directly address the doubts we had when those shows first ended about whether the couple can actually make it long-term.

Where this type of second season goes really wrong is when the writing violates character or the established patterns of the relationship in order to create conflict. In Together With Me: The Next Chapter, the show uses cheating as a plot device, having Korn cheat on Knock in a one-off hookup with a shitty villain character, and to add insult to injury, they juxtaposed it against Knock finally coming out in a poor attempt at dramatic irony. The reason this sucked was not just because it hurt our feelings; it sucked because that behavior was contra everything we knew about Korn, his devotion to Knock, and his well-established patience with Knock’s internalized homophobia. Now, don’t get it twisted: I do not believe cheating is an inherently bad plot device. It was actually used very well in I Promised You the Moon, a decision I will defend to the death (in fact, you can tune in to the conversation pod in a couple weeks to hear me do just that!). But its use in TWM:TNC did not make sense for the characters, and thus rather than deepening their relationship development, it irreparably harmed it. 

Another way a second season of this type can go wrong is when the writing is not committed to the narrative or leans too hard on first season nostalgia rather than dealing with the current iteration of the characters. Minato’s Laundromat 2 just did both of these things, which was especially frustrating because for nine weeks it was on track to be a very successful version of this type.The show started out tracking the painstaking and slow process of Minato dealing with his internalized homophobia and becoming a decent partner to Shin, but for reasons I can only speculate about, the show balked in the final act, backing away from finishing its narrative in favor of an amnesia plot and several episodes of first season nostalgia bait, ending with a happy resolution that felt wholly unearned and thus deeply unsatisfying. This was especially infuriating because the show got us invested in the growth arc before failing to complete it.  

So what is my point here? Second seasons can be very worthwhile, but only if there is a clear vision for what the story wants to explore about the relationship that is rooted in what we already know about the characters. There are rumors about other second seasons coming our way from shows like Big Dragon, Blueming, and The Eighth Sense, some of which have more potential to add to the original story than others (T8S is particularly primed for a solid second season IMO, because it left so much character development and natural conflict for the next stage of the relationship on the table). But regardless of where they decide to go with the plot of these additional seasons, the thing that will be most crucial is whether they keep fidelity to who the characters are and how their relationships work. That is how you successfully build from an origin romance in a way that feels meaningful and worthwhile.

#bl genre #second seasons #long post #shan answers

[rocketturtle4]

Rules: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

Tagged by @sorry-bonebag and @shouldiusemyname TY very much tag games are so fun! (sorry it's taken me a while to get too!)

I read "comfort shows" and my brain stalled out. Like define comfort? Am I sick? Am I sad and in need of cheering up? Am I angry? Am I hurt? Am I tired? Am i overtired? Am I emotional? What negative emotional state am in dang it??

I started this list thinking there wouldnt be many BL or wider Asian shows but then I remembered prior to this year I almost never watched TV...so it's Asian focused after all! (I went no books allowed or it would have been 3/4 books lol)

Added later: I remembered anime and I have no idea what to do because it's gonna sweep the list...okay, 1 anime per category.

Also I tend to be a CHRONIC rewatcher (Or rereader) even when not in need of comfort so the sheer amount of New content I have consumed this year boggles my mind and is definitely a break from tradition so I am not quite sure yet how much of it is going to stay with me...

But anyway I am using some categories to help

First up: Comfort when I'm sick/run down/tired:

Being sick tends to leave me too tired to read and very much desiring not to use my brain more than necessary so, Shows that gives me the warm fuzzies:

1. Ascendence of A Bookworm - Just sneaking past two others who jostle for the top spot, this is my favourite anime of all time and is absolutely peak comfort, it's given me three beautiful seasons so far and I continue to sit in quite hope for more

2. SOTUS S I am dying to rewatch this series, the emotional resonance I felt to Arthit's journey all the way through is still possibly the most connected I have felt to any character ever and this soft story of growing love and finding your place in teh world with someone by your side is absolutely peak comfort for me.

3. Sing My Crush or more broadly many Korean BL. Most Korean BL is absolutely my comfort zone, it's soft, warm and fuzzy, it's the shows I watch right before bed to send me off to good dreams. Korean BL is definitely comfort for me, and while Sing My Crush isn't my favourite Korean BL, it's definitely my most comforting so far.

Second: Comfort when I'm sad/hurt/down:

E.g. cheer me up shows:

4. Doctor Who, my favourite tv show of all time remains my favourite cheer me up show. Early to mid of any season to keep crying to a minimum.

5. Avatar the Last Airbender, I don't even think this one needs am explanation.

6. Tonhon Chonlatee (and many other Thai BL) I find a lot of Thai BL pretty funny and I found TC utterly hilarious, I definitely plan to use rewatching this one as a pick me up in the future

7. Crash course in Romance, What's a list without some Kdrama! I am still dying to expand my watchlist with Kdrama's but I have to get through all the BL on it first lol...I'm about to reach 100 BL, maybe I'll make a post about it

(also the anime for this cat is: No Game No Life, so bonus show)

Third: Get me out of my own head

E.g. shows that make me feel a lot (some of the above shows also fit this criteria lol)

8. The Eclipse My equal favourite Thai show (along with SOTUS S) and another one where I felt crazy resonance with a main character. In this case the emotional tone is more intense for me, though It's still definitely comfort!

9. The Irregular at Magic Highschool A.K.A Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (and various spin offs). The third anime of my top three trifecta and one that also has fed me multiple seasons. This one is such fun but also pretty intense so I love it for a myriad of reasons.

10. Goblin the Great and Lonely God, My favourite Kdrama so far, just beating out crash course in the rankings. Even writing the name leaves me dying to go back and watch it all again.

ahhh @plantsarepeopletoo and @thegalwhorants tag me in your answers since you've already been tagged I'll add...

@sparklyeyedhimbo @visualtaehyun @callipigio and @slayerkitty sorry if you've already done it, and either way no pressure to play!

#tag game #rturts is wondering #I literally thought about this for three days why was it so hard

[alloveydovey]

Dramas I watched this past month!

Overprotected Kahoko (jdrama) 8

I'm on a quest to find good jdramas because when they're bad, they're crazy bad, but when they're good, they become instant comfort. The vibes in this one are 100% there. Overprotected by her mother, a 22-year-old meets her complete opposite, and in the midst of falling in love, she decides she wants to become a real adult… all this around her messy (yet charming) relatives. It was a small cute, and heartwarming family drama. I don’t really have much to say other than that I love Kahoko, she’s the cutest.

Queen of the Ring (kdrama) 7?

FL puts on a ring that has the ability to make her crush see her as a beautiful girl. I watched this one because I loved Kim Seul Gi in Splash Splash Love and Ahn Hyo Seop was enough excuse to check it out. I kinda hated it but enjoyed it at the same time? It makes me mad to see how they judged everything by looks (especially both ML and FL) but let’s be honest, It was realistic. It was a bit hard to believe, though, because I didn’t think the FL was ugly at all. What didn’t convince me about this one was that most of the love story happens while she’s wearing the ring and so it kinda ruins it for me.

Jitenshaya-san no Takahashi-kun (jdrama) ?

Kinda good girl x bad boy trope? Except the bad boy isn't really a bad boy, he just looks like one.

I can’t really rate by number because it was too short and, to be honest, I got what I expected. Soft and simple. He fixes bikes and fixes her, they later begin to hang out and get closer. No serious drama, just two people starting a relationship.

Touch Your Heart (kdrama) 7.5

A rom-com drama with Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na’s amazing chemistry from Goblin sounds so good on paper. I feel like I should have watched this one right after I watched Goblin, but I never did.

Even though the chemistry between them was still there and strong, the show and both characters felt a bit stiff? They could have used them a lot better but were given a kind of meh storyline that bored me a little too much by episode 12. Still, they had their moments, and… it’s them 🥹 it’s impossible not to like (despite everything else).

D.P. Season 1 (kdrama) 10

I’ve been putting it off because, even though I knew it was going to be good, in drama world, I go to romance lol.

I 100% watched this because of Jung Hae In (and I was low-key curious about Koo Kyo Hwan after watching him in that episode of Attorney Woo.) Neither of them disappointed. In fact, they gave more than what I was expecting. Their dynamic and acting was impeccable. I really have nothing to say about this one because, yeah, it's a 10/10.

W: Two Worlds (kdrama) 8.5

Nothing beats a 2016 kdrama lol. I started obsessed with this one (even though I remember never adding it to my watchlist because I thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea, silly me). The storyline was extremely entertaining, although all in all, I'm not 100% sure it made sense.

I literally feel like I've lived so much watching it. I was on episode seven, and so many things had happened that I had no idea how they would continue it, and yet things KEPT HAPPENING, and plots kept getting twisted. Perhaps that's the reason why I binged the 12 eps of the drama, but it took me a while to finish the three last episodes. At some point, things started to lose sense, and I couldn't understand what was really going on, which resulted in me getting bored. All in all, it was a worth-it drama though. The romance was 11/10 (kept me on my knees) and the soundtrack 10/10 (old dramas have such bangers man)

Perfect Marriage Revenge (kdrama) 7.5/8

I usually don't like watching these types of drama because sinister family members who do shit just to hurt the leads make my blood boil. Like there's no way someone is THAT evil. I did enjoy this one, though. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but I really liked the love story, the ML's family, and the evil people getting what they deserve.

#kdrama #jdrama #cdrama #overprotected kahoko #queen of the ring #jitenshaya-san no takahashi-kun #touch your heart #w two worlds #perfect marriage revenge #dovey watches

[mermaidsirennikita]

I’m too afraid that a Wallflower adaptation would be absolutely butchered in an attempt to appeal to non romance fans/puritans pushing for sexless media…

I think several issues would corrupt that show, tbh. Those you mentioned, for sure. Imo, The Wallflowers does a superb job of balancing the standalone nature of a good romance and an ongoing plot. You can read them on their own, but (imo) they are MUCH better when read in sequence, especially Winter coming off of Autumn. But if you adapted them somewhat faithfully, they'd all work in a mini-like way.

But of course, I think people would feel the need to have these dumb subplots to make it less romantic. We'd get some bullshit about Westcliff and Simon doing a business thing, Lillian starting her own company, Daisy going out to be proto-Louisa May Alcott/Eloise Bridgerton. I'm sure we'd see Evie getting abused by her family/sexually harassed by her cousin onscreen, because we super need that.

And I think there would be this need to connect things more than necssary. The books do some of it, right? Like, Westcliff and Lillian do get foreshadowed a ton in Summer, and I do think you have this through-line of their life because Lisa LOVES Westcliff, and the series basically ends with their firstborn coming into the world... Until Christmas, which would theoretically be a great finale/special, where you do see more of Evie and Sebastian because Lisa realized by then where the money shot was for fans lol.

But like. I can just SEE them seeding Evie and Sebastian way more than is necessary to create a continuance, and part of what makes their romance so good is that it is so out of nowhere for both of them. I think Sebastian alludes to seeing her in passing at one point, but he was like "whatever" because she was SUCH a Wallflower.

And I do think they wouldn't do the sex justice. Frankly, I don't really think Hollywood is currently casting a lot of men with leading man potential...? Or like, sex appeal? A lot of them read very boyish. I think a Wallflowers show would ideally be diversely cast, I'm not married to like, a blond white guy playing St. Vincent, but I don't even see where anyone is really getting a lot of actors that could pull off the brusque masculinity of Westcliff or the ridiculous sex appeal of St. V.

I mean, it can be done. Before it went downhill and everyone started fucking with everyone's hair, Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe were super well cast for Outlander. (David Barry was toooo.) Interview with the Vampire has not one, but TWO super hot and talented men in the lead. It can be done. But then you've got Bton, where they lucked the FUCK out with casting Rege for the first season, they lucked out again because while Jonathan Bailey is ultimately "a random white guy" visually, he's charismatic, very talented, and had great chemistry with Simone Ashley... and benefited from a first season that for all its flaws was way more enjoyable to watch and set the second season up for success, I'm sorry. Every other leading man on that show is "another random white guy". Put the dudes they have lined up against a Sam Heughan, a Jacob Anderson, a Sam Reid--both in terms of having a Distinct Look and Vibe and talent, it just doesn't compare. Mainstream American casting directors currently are not tapping into the type of mindset that like... the people casting Kdramas are. Or, on a good day, the people casting telenovelas and daytime soaps. The well is DRY. Girls? They can still find talented, charismatic girls. But I feel like, in part because there's such a need to make everything wholesome and it's easier to sell a hot grown ass actress as wholesome and sexy versus a hot grown ass actor.

So. Yeah. I don't know. I just don't think it would be done super well, lol.

Also, they'd completely bastardize the St. V plot in Autumn. That just wouldn't be done today. No fucking way. He'd like, shove Lillian off her horse or something lmao. IF that. There would be no kidnapping. Certainly no threats.

And I'm sorry, but that kinda ruins the whooole thing.

#romance novel blogging

[inkofamethyst]

April 6, 2024

ROCKESTRAL.

That's my favorite music style ever (right now), it's called ~rockestral~. Coined (maybe?) by the Video Game Orchestra.

daylist: yearning cottagecore saturday night (musicals, broadway, bard, pining, songwriting, folksy) [heavy on the yearning sheesh (this might've been one of few that I didn't fully enjoy)]

I refuse to be a runner girl BUT with warmer weather and longer days, I might start hitting up the gym/fitness classes. Because there's no reason why my mid-twenties heart should be thumping hard when I run across a small street. That's simply not healthy. I'm gonna find me an anime (actually my photo-friend rec'd a kdrama and I might try it?) and only watch it when I'm on a treadmill or something.

I told my turquoise-friend that the middle-schooler inside me is a little bored. I'm not really as heavily "involved" as I used to be. Granted, I've more responsibilities these days. I have to cook for myself. Harder some weeks than others.

Okay so I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and like,,,,, okay look. GOD I wish I was ignorant to Glover's fetish bc I would LOVE to celebrate the first? only? one of few? major television shows with an interracial couple where neither of the individuals are white. Unfortunately,,, that.. "appendage" exchange in episode three was just far more uncomfortable than it was funny. ASIDE FROM THAT, the show really started picking up at e5 and progressively got more fun. I think it was interesting how they tried to balance the slice-of-life romance with the spy stuff (it didn't always work, but I applaud the attempt). It dragged a tonnn in the first half of the season. That ending though... mm.

Progress on the hunger games cyoa: I've finished most of the basic game "loop" event functions (the ambush event is admittedly pretty basic, but balancing it is proving to be a tough task, so simplicity will have to do for now). Need to finish endgame then add supplementary functions ("saving" the game, skill challenges, random environment selection (some of these have been handwritten)). After cleanup, I might be able to work on the secret/alternate ending. But I'd have to add in a mercy/ally function first which will DEF shake the script up.

I met with my project "advisor" and they were... well honestly they were speechless at seeing how much I'd had done.

I'm not a doodler. Fine art isn't my thing. Tried it, wasn't for me. Which makes the fact that I have Hadestown-inspired doodles in my epigenetics notes even funnier. A red carnation, a red flower that doesn't look anything like a carnation, a dropping floor, an open door... That show changed my brain chemistry in ways I may never recover from.

Today I'm thankful that one of my favorite artists is coming to my city this summer!!!!! It'll be my first (non instrumental) concert which is pretty cool! I don't really know what the etiquette is like, how long shows typically are, what I should even wear... (a little annoyed because I had the website up when they were first released because I was curious but I didn't have my card on me so I ended up having to buy resale for over twice the original price, but now I know, buy tickets early (my music taste is not so niche that these things won't sell out)) But! should be fun!

[seidooreiki]

--- SPOILER ALERT OF THE FIRST RESPONDERS SEASON 2 EPISODE 3 ---

I want to be diligent and put screencaps in this post but when I think about it again, I don't think I can so here we go.

Dojin's sudden death is such a big plot twist that I never think will happen-- now I'm kind of mad, I will prefer the cheesy and useless love triangle rather than his tragic death.

But at the same time, I'm kind of impressed.

I do think the script writer has planned it from the first season. It isn't the big plot twist just for the sake of it, but Dojin is destinied to die (for the sake of the plot). It left a big impact, it made me love and hate the script writer for doing it to me.

What you can say? I love angst. It hurts so good. It destroyed me in the worst way possible, I hate it but I love it.

I do love how the director directed this drama. The episode 3 is so... darn painful but very beautiful done, even though I'm reluctant to admit it.

Dojin's death is tragic, but at least, not stupid.

It is very Dojin like.

A noble death, kind of.

I cried my eyes off for the entire episode. It was unfolded in a neat way. In a memorable way.

And here, in the first season, I thought Doujin will get into the trope of nice guy second male lead who will get a heartbreak but find a new love in the second season. I thought for sure Sol will choose Detective Jin, because his trope as the loner and suicidal bad boy MC is too fatal. But, I never thought their love triangle will end in this way.

Not with how Dojin confessed his love in the 'afterlife'. Not with how Detective Jin, secretly, took away the ring from Dojin's finger and put it on Sol, because he just knows.

Not with how after Sol woke up from her comatose state, the first thing Detective Jin did was telling her about Dojin's death. Not with how Detective Jin accompanied her to Dojin's grave because she missed the funeral.

It is like how Dojin knows how Sol has a soft spot for Detective Jin, but Dojin never acted childish about it. Instead, he respects her feeling, and focusing at how he can win her heart without slandering Detective Jin. Detective Jin also knows how Dojin loves her and how Sol regards Dojin as an important person.

The triangle love turned tragic but wholesome, it was so far away from a cliche and toxic triangle love story in most kdrama.

Heck, in alternate story, I won't mind for them to be in a polyamory relationship because those three are wholesome together.

And beside the tragic love triangle.

I'm saddened of how Detective Jin missed his chance to have a good friendship with Dojin. Well, their friendship has improved a lot, but not enough, for me. Detective Jin is so broken and he functions solely on negative feelings, it was almost hard to see. The ones who noticed it the most are Sol and Dojin.

Sol is healing him with her kindness and love,

And Dojin is giving him a strange but understanding friendship, where Dojin can perfectly follow Detective Jin's crazy thought.

For someone as broken as Detective Jin, I can tell how Dojin's death broke something inside Detective Jin more. He didn't show it because he can't show it unless the case is solved. But Detective Jin was very shaken up.

And it was sad.

He is an inch away to have a better friendship with Dojin, in the first and second episodes, they become quite close.

The episode 3 is such a wild ride because it is shown how everyone suffered with Dojin's death. He is an amazing person and he left a big impact for so many people.

The coroner who has a crush to Dojin.

I cried so hard when she cried.

I felt her. She maintained her professionalism to the end and finally shed tears when no one watching. Similar with the comannder of the fire fighter.

The episode 2 is about how people are worrying about Sol, so Dojin's death flew under their radar, well, our radar. It was beautifully planned by the director and the script writer. I'm upset but impressed.

Still, now that Dojin isn't there with them, this drama won't ever be the same. Now instead of trio, it only become duo... and more romantic (but also very painful)? I don't know honestly.

And here I hope the drama will end with Detective Jin healing with Sol's help and Dojin become his best friend that he doesn't know he needed.

I don't think I can ever rewatch this drama again because then I will cry everytime I see Dojin on screen.

He is one of the best second male lead I have ever seen. His death broke my heart to pieces.

And even though it will be hard to watch this drama to the end, probably I will still will. Because I know Dojin will still appear in flash back or hallucination later. But only for this second season.

If this drama continues into more seasons like the rumors said, I don't think I can watch more of this. Especially if Dojin's role is replaced by someone else, I can't bear to see it.

This is such an underrated drama, but I think not everyone can stomach how the second male lead died before the season 2 reach the climax so yeah...

Maybe I will write a fanfic about this drama, about Dojin, later. But now, I need to heal because Dojin's death give me such a trauma now.

F*ck u with love, script writer

#the first responders #kdrama #korean drama #the second season killed me in the worst way possible #spoiler alert #major character death #just a ramble #because it is my favorite character that died #I love but hate how they died

[gillianthecat]

Bees in my head, there are so many bees in my head today 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Anyway, I watched the first two episodes of Unintentional Love Story. Which I quite liked! And I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. It's humorous and tropey but still with depth. I love the sunshine boy (I can't remember anyone's name yet) and how he is both genuinely sunshiny, and simultaneously using that charm out of desperation. The actor is bring wonderful nuance to the role. I'm less sure about the ceramicist, there's an awkwardness to him that I can't tell if it's the character or the actor, but I'm willing to wait and see. And I quite like the character, so even if his actor isn't up to the level of the other one, i don't think it will ruin the show for me.

I also like that he's a ceramicist! I'm getting a little tired of so many of the creative/artist characters being chefs. (Although there have been some writers too.) Part of it is a me thing about my own issues, but also variety is nice! I loved the scene at the kiln—it gave us a glimpse of the ceramicist being more relaxed and himself, plus sunshine's heart pot! 😻

I literally knew nothing about this going in besides @heretherebedork's screenshots of that loom (which was indeed an amazing loom, even better than I expected), which always makes for an interesting time at the beginning as I figure out what the tone and direction of the story are going to be. The beginning felt quite rapid fire, getting the characters into place to set the story in motion, realism be damned, but I don't mind the contrivance of the premise. I love an ethical dilemma derailed by falling for someone.

This series somehow feels more leisurely and expansive than most Korean BL that I've seen? More like a Thai BL, or a bigger budget mainstream (het) Kdrama. I think a big part of that feeling is that we're getting TWO! whole couples (I'm assuming). And I love all four characters already. Two variations on enemies to lovers! And all four of them seem like compelling people. Even the older ceramicist seems interesting enough. I only hate the smarmy senior colleague.

I haven't even checked how many episodes there are, so maybe it is a short series after all, but so far it doesn't feel cramped and truncated. Thirty minutes seems to be about the dividing line between a full episode and a condensed one, and these fall just on the long enough side.

Anyways I may write more about what I love about these characters later, after I look up their names. This was actually supposed to be a really short post just to note that I watched it, but then I got carried away.

Because I meant to talk about the bees in my head and how I'm mentally jumping all over the place right now, and how my wildly fluctuating attention span led me to read a post about Death Note, and then decide I needed to go watch it. Which I did. And, shh, confession time: this is the very first anime I've ever intentionally watched. I've seen bits and pieces of stuff, and been in the room with my nephews as the watched Pokémon and Naruto, but I've never deliberately sought it out. Am I getting kicked off of Tumblr for this?

The post that got me looking was poking fun at people who talk about the age gap between the two shipped characters being problematic when it's least troubling thing about them, and I was like, hmm... I'm kinda intrigued. One Netflix renewal later (I needed it anyway to watch The Glory season two) and here I am.

I'm intrigued so far? I may or may not share my thoughts on it later, but I will probably watch more episodes.

#unintentional love story #death note #probably the only time those two tags will show up on the same post 🤣 #i don't know if this *reads* as more unhinged than my normal writings #but it *feels* more unhinged #normally i look up things like characters' names as i'm writing #but i just banged this one out in a frenzy #beeeeeees #sometimes my brain is weird #gillianthecat reacts to bl #adventures into anime #living with adhd #also sunshine is very pretty

[incandescentflower]

💭🔮🌄⏳️🙄😡

oh hey anon! ooh okay some more. thank you for sending these!

from the bl ask meme.

💭 what I find annoying is that often the more sexually explicit bls have messed up power dynamics or dub/noncon or coercion played as romance. you can be sex positive and not portray those dynamics. It makes me prefer ones that depict sex less because it doesn't go over lines for me. But people who care about consent should get to enjoy those kinds of stories too. I am really paying attention to only friends because I think whatever messed up dynamics are involved, the sex is consensual and the manipulation is not seen as romantic. And I love to see it.

🔮no no never second seasons, nev-er. I have not watched a second season of a bl ever that I felt like was a solid continuation and didn't taint the first season. Movies or bonus episodes like our skyy have been good. they don't seem to feel the need to blow everything up for drama. I am good with fic to continue stories I love, thanks.

🌄this is such a hard one - I'm not sure I have one favorite scene, but the one that comes to mind is pat and pran standing in front of their houses ready to go back home at the end of episode 11 of bad buddy, our song playing over them as the first time showing that the theme song was pran's song he was writing for pat all along. there was something about how all those threads came together there. and yeah, it's a cheat because it's part of a whole sequence that brings together what they've experienced together. I will never forget it and even now knowing what comes next, I cry every time I watch it.

⏳️longish episodes. Not full kdrama length of over an hour, but I do think the thai BL length is the perfect length for me. many of the jdrama ones still feel too short even. kbl is waayyy too short.

🙄 oh boy, I have unpopular opinions here. I usually keep these to myself because I don't feel like I need to yuck anyone's yum, but I did not enjoy until we meet again at all. And ultimately, I am not a fan of kinnporsche in terms of the main pairing dynamic. I loved the bonkers mob stuff (the finale for perth's character is so the stuff I love) so it does have an artificially higher rating on my list than it probably should.

😡 fighter in why R U or kinn in kinnporsche. they both play out the tropes I mentioned hating in my other post. again, look, ykinmk. I'm not going into tags to piss in anyone's cheerios, but it does really bother me that they are so romanticized by such a large group of people. and for the record, I didn't have any problem with vegas or pete (as characters) because the story acknowledged their fucked up ness. It's when the story shows some really twisted power dynamics, does not acknowledge them and plays it as the most romantic situation in the world that makes me go blech.

#asks #ask games #okay that was pretty cathartic #and also I watched the end of ep 11 of bbs to make sure I was remembering it correctly and cried like a baby again #so yeah this is straight up truth in this post #haha

[teenzalive]

26/06/2023

It's summer , for some people summer means fun and rest . They start going out more , they meet friends and hang out every now and then , every evening or every night . They start planning parties and events where they have fun and forget about everything that caused them problems . They forget how it feels to be stressed or anxious, tired or drained , some of them even forgets about boredom and how they should pass their free time . How could they think about these stressing stuff when they spend all days and nights with friends or family swimming in the beach or in private pools . For some lucky ones , summer means no more exams , but more time to change Bad habits and start exercising and doing sports . Most of us , waits for the summer as if it's freedom and peace after a long and tiring war or battle .

Isn't that nice and peaceful to think about ?

Well I wouldn't know . I wouldn't even understand those amazing feelings of happiness and comfort those people feel once they realize that finally "it's summer".

I belong to the people who hate summer . I'm someone who dislikes hot nights and sunny days . I'm someone who feels overwhelmed and anxious once i start feeling that summer hot breeze. You may ask why ? Everyone person loves summer and it's sunny days and beachy vibes .

Well , it's mostly because I have never felt happy at summer , summer was never my favorite season because that's the time of the year when I get to spend all the day for more than 2 months , with my family. It's that time of the year when I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around my mother . I have never known what it feels to be happy and comfortable for one whole day during summer holidays. I'm someone who spends every morning sleeping. I'm someone who spends all the night awake trying to feel alive since it's the only time where I would be by myself, surrounded by different thoughts and every time ,I realize that I spent every summer The same way . I never got to go out with my friends , I don't even go for a swim nor a walk on the beach

And I didn't get to party and have fun like everyone else around me . I spend all my time scrolling through different platforms because that's the only thing i can do without getting judged or yelled at and refused . I also spend my nights watching kdramas and movies hoping to feel alive for once . This became my routine during every single summer : sleep , eat,scroll and repeat. It's killing me . I feel drained even though I'm not spending any energy or making any effort . And i never felt alive during summer . sometimes i accept what's happening however I always come to realize, this is not what I want and this is definitely not how I want to live and remember my life in my teenage years . It's currently 3:18 am and my mind is still so loud , it never gets calm once the sky darkens . I'm always thinking and it's exhausting. I'M OVERWHELMED. And all my body muscles ache ... this is summer for people like me .

#life is strange #summer #depressing life #bored af #travel #homestuck

[gizkasparadise]

I'm trying to get into cdramas and lmfaoooo it's been a struggle getting over so many weird things like the dubbing and the fact that episodes don't actually feel narratively like episodes with an end a beginning and a lot of other things I've found a few that were fantastic, the story of ming lan was a masterpiece and story of yanxi palace was fantastic as well. But I've been trying to watch a few others and I'm so confused I know they cut things due to censorship but these dramas don't make sense lmao like I'm trying to watch the long ballad and the way I'm at ep 6 and so many things I'm like??????????? It's not a question of who's who but the fact that they're not presenting a clear narrative now I'm not someone who needs to be fed a story with a spoon but this seems like a writing/directing problem more than a complex storyline idk how to explain it exactly but it happened with other dramas as well where it feels like I'm watching half a show where I skipped scenes or episodes by mistake except I didn't ???? Is this a common thing with cdramas bc I've been watching asian dramas and american shows since I was a kid and I've seen a loooot of them and there have been some good and some bad but this is a new experience where it feels like it's not a question of whether it's good or not we haven't even gotten to that yet, it needs to make a lick of sense first for me to be able to say that like akkdjdhfjf

as a western viewer, there was definitely a learning curve for me when getting into cdramas--particularly ones that are historical or xianxia. there's a couple reasons for that i think. one is that airing schedules work VERY differently with cdramas, where multiple eps drop in one day. in those situations, it's really like a group of eps = 1 days' worth of airing/1 narrative ep as we might see with kdramas or western shows (and why ends of eps can feel more like commercial breaks than actual endings/some eps end literally mid-scene). another is like you mentioned with censorship, which seems particularly egregious over the last handful of years re: cutting eps (some dramas have had THIRTY+ EPS worth of content cut in post-production, and to my knowledge there's now a cap of 40 eps per drama, which has recently lead to more eps getting cut as well as the "split season" longer dramas like love like the galaxy, immortal samsara, the blue whisper, etc.). i know a few plot devices (ex: reincarnation, time traveling i think?) and relationships (lgbt+) are also prone to being censored, which can hurt storytelling when they have to be worked around to pass censorship boards. Executive Meddling is unfortunately really strong in the post-production/editing process.

the other is just a lack of cultural knowledge on my part, which as i watch and follow other blogs ive slowly started learning. i think the long ballad is a tough cdrama for beginners since it's 1) an adaptation of a manhua, and is the case with most adaptations story elements get shortened, moved around, etc. (and i think the original manhua isnt even finished yet? which definitely can hurt the overall storytelling execution) and 2) very grounded in real historical events (like the xuanwu gate incident) that might be common knowledge to a chinese audience but not necessarily to an international one

that said, things like editing, cultural knowledge, etc. aren't unique to just cdrama. i imagine there's tons of western shows that make 0 sense on the international audience scale.

#asks! #cdrama

[maychild]

mini-reviews of bl dramas watched (part 7)

A MAN WHO DEFIES THE WORLD OF BL 2

here's my issue with this whole BL: it's.so.boring. like does anything happen?? NO. it's just mob and his internalized homophobia. (why does he not want to be in a relationship with a boy so much??? is it the phobia and stigma that comes with liking someone of the same sex?? LIKE WHAT IS THE REASON?? maybe i'm just not watching this show closely but fuck it; it shouldn't be watched closely.) also, YMMV and everything but there's no charm to it like in Cherry Magic or Old Fashion Cupcake. it's just mob and his No Homo all day everyday.

they are trying to cram character growth and romantic development into three very short eps and, imho, i don't think it works?? yes, it pokes fun at BL tropes, but i think that's the only good thing it does because i just don't care about these characters. well, that's not true, i do care about kikuchi and mob but then i'm inundated with all these minor characters that we're wasting time on when we could be focusing on kikuchi and mob. i just want the freakin' show to focus on them, but it doesn't and so i'm frustrated. maybe i just don't like self-referential shows?? this bl and I didn't vibe and that's okay but i feel like some people rate it more highly than it should be. (also, i don't remember what happened in either season, that's how much this bored me. well, i remember mob was in the hospital for some scenes but that's all...)

i do love the beauty and the beast-esque instrumental music and the opening/closing themes so very much tho. 6.5/10

CHERRY BLOSSOMS AFTER WINTER

so beautifully filmed and happy and fluffy. this isn't a drama that says a lot, or is deep in any way really, but taesung and haebom were adorable (there is a bit of Drama with the mother--the sole guardian/parent of these two boys--not approving of their relationship at first, but she comes around, and i do like that that part is realistic). a simple story told semi-realistically (there was no dreaded last minute break up, thank goodness, and it seemed to avoid most cliches found in kdramas).

the chemistry for these two is so-so for me; it wasn't necessarily bad, but i also didn't really buy into their relationship. here's my whole issue: besides a couple of almost steamy kisses, and romantic touching, this isn't a show that focuses a lot on the physical side of things. and that's okay! some loving, romantic relationships don't revolve around sex at all, and to each their own, but well, it just seemed to me that this show erred too much on the platonic side of things (the show really tried to tell me that these two weren't horny for each other at all, without explicitly also stating they were asexual, which i might've bought if they showed the two leads having any kinda conversation about sex, even while sleeping in the same bed, but they didn't so i didn't buy two college students being so very chaste in their relationship). 7.5/10

THE EIGHT SENSE

this was very beautiful in the story line and cinematography and everything, although the choppy camerawork grated on my nerves at times, and so did the jump cuts (i get that it was an experimental style of filming, but up to this point all KBLs have mostly been very polished pieces, except for certain parts of blueming as well, so it's jarring to see it in a piece that's been afforded a much longer run-time. also, for example, some scenes were quite noisy where i expected it to be super silent, so this felt very realistic in that regard, but again, so jarring). these are very, very minor quibbles in what was essentially a bl so beautiful and pure and amazing, tho.

the slow burn of it all was wonderful as was the chemistry between all the character. there was one drunk kiss between the leads that they never talk about again so the whole bl is them becoming friends AND then becoming lovers so i appreciated that while they both had a connection with each other right from their first meeting, it wasn't only about the lust between them, but about how these two different people came together when they needed each other the most and provided a safe harbor for each other. jaewon's therapist harped a lot on jihyun being jaewon's refuge and safe place but i think he was the same thing for jihyun and i think that's why they worked so well together considering they came from different backgrounds.

the minor/supporting characters were also a delight to watch (esp. jihyun's group of friends contrasted with jaewon's friends who felt very fake and like they were only jaewon's "friends" bc his dad was super rich--excluding yoon won who was the best).

i did wish for more beautiful, tender, cute boyfriend moments (seriously the latter half of the show was so much angst topped with angst and i understand why, narratively it made sense for a character like jaewon who had so much trauma in his life he was trying to live through every day), but i also really loved what we got.

i would definitely love a second season or even the two leads appearing in another bl (i know korea doesn't do branded pairs/fan-service like other countries but it's also not entirely out of the realm of possibility). 9/10

OUR DATING SIM

i was initially hesitant to start this bc the summary made it seem so cringey and gave me secondhand embarrassment re: the rejection and then ep 2 clears everything up: IT WAS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDING. and then we enter the miscommunication era that lasts a whole seven years. sigh. it's a good thing i don't mind the miscommunication trope.

this was so cute and fluffy and adorable and overall we got a lot of the story told in flashbacks, which i like, when the flashbacks are utilized in a good way and they definitely are here. this is a combo of friends to lovers and high school romance combined with office romance and the tropes are delicious. lee wan does the chasing at first, then the miscommunication happens, and then shin gi tae does the chasing in their adult lives and i like when it switches up like that. the two actors' chemistry is very believable and it's easy to believe they are totally in love. the series was short of course, but, the upside of that was that it forced shin gi tae to be very straightforward and direct with his feelings; of course he was playing games for the first four or so eps because he was justifiably hurt by the abandonment of his best friend but once he leaves behind that hurt, there was no stopping him from pursuing lee wan. and lee wan also had to take some time to get used to the fact that shin gi tae liked him back, so it felt very realistic.

the pacing of this story was stellar too; nothing felt too rushed, there wasn't any filler, every scene moved the story along, and the conflict came from having to choose different paths, and miscommunication.

this was a kbl that didn't disappoint in any way (besides only being about eight eps and 15-18 minutes long). 9/10

PART 1/???, PART 2/???, PART 3/???, PART 4/???, PART 5/???,PART 6/???

#a man who defies the world of bl #season 2 #cherry blossoms after winter #the eight sense #our dating sim #japanese bl #japanese dramas #jdramas #kdramas #korean bl #korean dramas #asian dramas #asian bl #reviews

[iamacolor]

I might not be the only one to think this but I believe this show (eaw) would have been so much better if it had a second season or at least a few more episodes than what we'll end up with. If the writer(s) had more time to develop certain arcs or relationships, some parts of the show would make a lot more sense. I didn't get this sudden minwoo redemption arc. Where did it come from? What bothered me the most was nothing led to it. No clues, hints, nothing! It just kinda appeared out of nowhere. Plus, Minwoo should have remained a bad guy. I don't buy his sudden change :/ And tbh, I don't understand why so many writers (this goes for any show, not only dramas) want to give their villains backstories. Every once in a while, it doesn't hurt to have a character that's just mean, no explanation needed. I was disappointed when I saw that happen because the beginning of the show was so promising. Another thing that's been bothering me for quite some time now is Tae Su Mi's character and her arc (I have no better word sorry). Wish we had more time to dive deep into her world. When we had the flashbacks to her pregnancy/uni days, it was nice. But then, we get nothing. How are we supposed to be interested in her story/relationship with Youngwoo when we get crumbs? When she went to visit Youngwoo's father with that US job offer, I was curious. I wanted to see if the father would push his daughter to go to the US or if he would be too torn to do so. Instead, we get one question and then it gets swept under the rug. These last few episodes were kind of meh and I'm disappointed :(

hello anon! yes it's become clear that there is no way to resolve everything without rushing over things and that it's going to be done hastily and that it's already quite messy with the way the writer dragged some stuffs, especially the tae sumi plot which as of now is barely a plot we only got youngwoo telling her she was her daughter and tae sumi going to see her father but on youngwoo's side nothing new has happened and we've never even seen her think about it or talk about it to geurami or anything like that and as you pointed out even her father mentioned nothing - so if you stick to youngwoo's point of view tae sumi's story is a thing of the past and it has no consequences on her life which is insane since it's the plot with the highest stakes and ye sit'll come back next week but it should've been woven into the story more - and even if minwoo has a "deal" with tae sumi nothing significant has come off of it so we could just erase the tae sumi plot and it'd be basically the same show which is such an odd writing choice??). but at this point I feel like it's not so much that the show needs to be longer it's that the writer couldn't really handle all of her own elements and maybe because it's her first drama (and @ has made several posts over the last couple of weeks pointing out how probably because the writer is more used to writing movies rather than a story as long as a 16 episodes drama requires she struggles with filling her story all the way and pacing her character's actions and notably the balance between minwoo's vilain acts and tae sumi's impact) she's still following a fairly typical kdrama type of story and shape of plots etc but this doesn't really fit all the new narrative and directing choices that come with having a protagonist like youngwoo and it feels a bit like falling back on something comfortable that you know the audience already knows but that won't be seen as something to criticise ( I feel like she's just ticking boxes that I don't like and that make things worse but I'm not sure how a korean audience reacts to these types of plots and twists but I'm guessing they're just used to it and it's just how the genre goes). this is something that the producers, the writer, the team behind the show should've worked through differently and planned better since the beginning of the show so that we didn't need to wait until the last week for all of this to come out and so that I wouldn't have genuinely forgotten about the journalist investigating tae sumi or that the ceo was plotting against her until they showed them to us in the latest episode after not mentioning it for so long...

as for minwoo's "redemption" it doesn't even feel like a redemption to me it's just that he's suddenly nice to sooyeon and that he somehow doesn't mind that junho's seeing youngwoo (the fact that we're now seeing minwoo understand the pressure junho put on youngwoo better than junho himself... who thought this through) but other than that??? the scene of him raising volume on the TV when they spoke about tae sumi and youngwoo walked past just to get a reaction put of her clearly showed he has not given up on that so?? if they wanted him to have a roper redemption arc they should've started earlier or made him less of a "vilain" so that we wouldn't mind him so much or as you've said just let him be as he was lol. tbh if he wants to be nicer to some people ok maybe I don't need an explanation for that but you can't tell me sooyeon could genuinely like him just because of that

I didn't mind all of that too much until this week because then they messed up with junho and youngwoo in a way that just felt wrong based on what they built their relationship on and what we knew of them and because most of us were focused on the romance (because as we pointed out aside from the cases they handle each episode that was the only real continuous story lol) now all the flaws are becoming more obvious (and it's not too say it hasn't been a good show, it's just less innovative, balanced and well-planned that the first few weeks led us to believe)

#extraordinary attorney woo #anonymous #I've got mail