Beanie level: Loan shark with a heart of gold

Akaso Eiji (赤楚 衛二) who plays Adachi Kiyoshi–the other half of my current favourite OTP on the drama 30sai made Dotei dato Mahotsukai ni Narerurashii (2020)

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    Wait, BL/Yaoi?

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      Yes…and no. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a BL because so far it doesn’t have many of the tropes associated with it, and the ones that it does have, it’s used a bit differently. I’d prefer to call it a Japanese gay/queer drama–and a really good one at that. It’s still early days though.

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        P.S. Akaso Eiji’s acting is sooo good here.

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          I’ll give it a try! Where do you normally watch J-dramas? I don’t think I’ve ever watched one before. Are there any legit sites?

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Machida Keita (町田啟太) who plays Kurosawa Yuichi on 30sai made Dotei dato Mahotsukai ni Narerurashii (2020)–one half of my current favourite OTP.

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There are two kinds of second male leads: the ones you hopelessly root for, and the one you wish would just go away. DDSSLLS’s SML is the latter.

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    True. He needs to back off. Rara already said she’s uncomfortable with him.

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    Comment was deleted

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This is probably one of the better “I wish I knew this before I started learning Korean” videos I’ve seen.

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    I appreciate that she mentioned that living in another country does not mean that you will become fluent in the language of that country. My parents moved to the United States and made a conscious effort to speak in English and listen to English language programs.

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      Indeed. And the example she gave blew my mind–but at the same time, I’ve known of similar cases. For a language learner like me, it’s a reminder of the extra effort one needs to make and the pitfalls one may not have realized that are as big as they are that one needs to avoid if learning the language is one’s goal. Something your parents seem to have understood.

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And now I know.

If this video is anything to go by, Minji might just be a good resource for Korean learners. Her explanation here seems pretty dang in depth with a lot of interesting examples.

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I’m actually surprised about how non-dismissive of queer life some recent crossdressing themed C-Dramas have been. They actually acknowledge that queer people exist in a way that many other dramas haven’t.

Although, to be fair, Xie Bei Ming would love it if his rival Su Chi was a queer man.

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    Queerness was actually quite normal in Ancient China times, irl, especially among the learned (people associated it with being creative)—so people who studied the arts and/or humanities….. I’m more surprised that this passed the censorship 🤔🤔🤔

    …. And then we have “The Wolf”, where it’s been 86 million years and it’s still not going on air yet 😒😒

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      I need to looking into this more.

      The Heiress actually cited Emperor Ai and Dong Xian, which I was also very surprised by.

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        Another good example would be the eunuchs of the Forbidden City a.k.a. Forbidden Palace of Ancient China…. Many believed (and it may even be biologically true, I dunno, I’ve forgotten all about Bio 30 lol) that because the eunuchs of the Forbidden City were brought into palace as young boys (not even men), that when they were castrated (to prevent them from forming sexual and intimate relationships with the harem—but it still happened, and many of the harem were killed, i.e. executed, in secret because of it—it messed with these boys hormonally, so they eventually become queer 🤷🏻‍♀️

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        There’s also this:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu%27er_Shen

        This is why the use of bunnies in “The Untamed” is pretty significant

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    Oooh which drama is this?

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This looks like one of those dramas that might be so fucking amazing, or so fucking bad. And hella subjective.

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When (many) bad dramas happen to good actors. The story of an avid C-Drama viewer. 😫

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@13infamyss inspired me. This is based up until ep 19. Will likely revise this later on or at the end. If there are changes after ep 19, please don’t comment on that here. Avoiding spoilers.



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    I’m loving the show right now. Also even I’m praying that Ziqui and Jian Jian remain platonic

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    😛😛😛😛😛 There’s to hoping my ship sails!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

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      Well, at least there is a chance. A 0.005% chance. But it’s still there.

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        😆😆😆😆😆 Writer-nim just needs to give more screentime to my cashier girl 😭

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    Omg I was rooting for the cashier too!

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      @13infamyss You have a fellow shipper.

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      LMAO Ayan! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m glad it wasn’t just me! I just want Zi Qiu out of this messy cobweb that I’m shipping him with the cashier! Well, Too bad I won’t know the progress between my OTP anymore as said my goodbye to this show already😆

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I don\’t know if my drama watching heart can handle having two amazingly well written shows at the same time–Go Ahead and Stranger 2. (I\’m giving the latter the benefit of the doubt).

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Question. Eggs. Firm yolk or runny yolk?

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So, we had some surprisingly good writing for a few episodes there of The Untamed and then EP 32 went and happened. I kept screaming at the screen, “why did you” and ”why didn\’t you just\” to many of the characters. And dramatic irony is very frustrating in situations like these. All just to advance the plot in a really stupid way. Argh.

Some of my questions:
[1] So why did sister go onto the battlefield? I mean, you can’t fight and there’s killing everywhere.
[2] Why did WWX go down to the battlefield first instead of trying to come up with a better way to either find his sister (from the good vantage point that he had), or stop/redirect the killing?
[3] Why didn’t anyone (like even a single person) realize that WWX wasn’t playing the flute while that tragedy happened?

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    1. Sister was in a state of deep grieving and was actually getting sick because of it. I don’t think she had the capacity to think straight.

    2. Dramatic effect for the drama…. Not sure how this scene was written in the novel, as I have yet you read it…. still 😅😅

    3. No one was really paying attention to him at that point. They were all being greedy asses, fighting each other (regardless if you were a goodie or a baddie, regardless of which sect you were from) to get to the Stygian Tiger Seal…

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      [1] I get it, but still…urgh! You would think the people taking care of her would have tried to stop her or something.
      [2] For the sake of dramatic effect is stupid. So, so, so stupid. And I would have sworn you read the novel at this point given your love for this drama. I mean, it’s not something I would do if I loved the drama and the material was there.
      [3] The greed and hypocrisy on display in this drama is infuriating. Sad part is, I can see a lot of it in real life.

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        1. Yea, it’s people of the Jin Clan—who, I would say are even more greedy and selfish than the evildoers of the Wen Clan— so her servants might’ve taken the first opportunity to leave/run away once they heard the battle break out

        2. This infuriated me… The ONE Wei Ying moment in the drama that was stupid stupid stupid, out of character (because he’s soooo much smarter than that, and just like you pointed out, he could’ve STAYED PUT to look down and tried to spot her first before heading down) and made me want to throw things

        3. Yup. And the pandemic is helping to show ppls real and true colours

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      The drama’s gone back to crap again. Ugh! Whyyyyy! It was going good.

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        It’s less angsty in the latter half, but people still didn’t use their brains very much to figure things out…. Blind trust and faith was thought to be better than common sense…. But at least the kiddos made things fun(ny) 😁😁😁

        I, evidently, love this drama, it’s cast, and characters very much, but I’ve never been one of the Beanies to say that it’s a PERFECT drama— I don’t think there is such a thing— and I’m not going to pretend as much nor ignore that it does have its flaws 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

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Please, please be as good if not better than the prequel. 제발!

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Easy to Overlook Dramas.

Chef Hua

The opening of this drama is really silly and I don’t know how or why I kept on watching, but I’m glad I did. This was a nice surprise.

+ Strong Female Lead (who didn’t take crap from the baddies)
+ Supportive Male Lead (who was always there to help, be a shoulder/ear. Respected and supported/fostered his wife’s goals/ambitions )
+ Strong Couple/Family (Better communication than most)
+ Business Growth Over Time. (Awesome to see how car she came)
+ Food Porn
– Annoying Mother-in-Law (Let’s just chalk it up to the times. You couldn’t have everything, right? Although, in all fairness, she could have been much much worse).
– FL was a little too good (Is there nothing she can’t do in the kitchen?).

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    This one is still fairly new, no?? 🤔🤔

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      Yup. Just finished being subbed.

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        Yea, because I’m subscribed to the official YouTube channel that releases it and I’m like, “Hold on a minute, but episodes are STILL being released for it 😅😅😅”

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    Thank you, @hades! I’m adding to my list! I’m already eyeballs deep in another c-drama (The Song of Glory) but I’ve been missing a good food-based show since the end of Grand Maison Tokyo, starring Kimura Takuya.

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    Okay, @hades—I started watching Chef Hua tonight but immediately ran into a problem. Was supposed to be “just one” episode but here I am 3 episodes later … and I still have work to do before my early morning meeting! The OTP is charming but the the knife skills killing me.

    It’s just the right bit of fluff to offset a heavy week! Thank you!

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      I’m happy you enjoying it–I hope that that’s still the case. Did you survive your early morning meeting? Are the knife skills killing you in a good way or bad way?

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        I did survive that meeting! 😜And the show’s knife skills are killing me in a good way. I also have to fight against dinnerware envy. (We can’t have nice things because my family hasn’t met a bowl that can’t be chipped.)

        I actually love to cook but in recent years had found it stressful—juggling work, after-school activities, and cooking is not my idea of fun. One silver lining of having to work from home is that cooking has become a source of pleasure and is now a leisurely activity.

        I save Chef Hua for weekend watching. I’ll let you know how it inspires me to up my game in the kitchen!

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          I’m happy that you’re enjoying cooking again! Something similar happened to me because of COVID-19. #silverlinings

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Watching \”The Untamed\” (trying for like the 150th time). On ep 25. And wow. Everybody is an ass. I mean, 99% of these people are GIANT asses. And sister just abandoned her \”brother\” like that!? WTF!?

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    I agree, sort of 😅😅 ….
    Even Wei Ying was sort of a butt (towards Lan Zhan, who was the only sane one and not a butt) in this episode…. I’d say that the Sister’s decision to return with Madam Jin was her attempt to keep a civil (if not good) relationship with the Jin Clan for the sake of her brother, who’s now the head of the Yunmeng Clan, and also because Sister actually likes Jin Zi Xuan 🤢 and is just trying to be respectful towards his mother, Madam Jin

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You\’ve reached a really crappy episode (or 10) of your favourite drama. How do you prepare/approach?

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There was once a time when it took months for a C-Drama to get subbed–if you could find it in the first place. Oh how times have changed. I\’m now spoilt for choice.

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    Although, how many of them are good and don’t make me want to rip my hair out…that’s a different story.

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It’s the last day of Pride month, and I figured I’d post a few good gay and BL Asian dramas and movies that I’ve seen. I know when I first started watching Asian dramas, it was really hard to find anything good in the genre. Thankfully, a lot has changed in recent years. What have you watched? What would you recommend?

N.B.: this is not a “Top” list or anything and the shows aren’t listed in any particular order. Also, a few of the dramas on this list I wouldn’t classify as BLs, but queer/gay stories. Simply put, BL’s are often gay dramas written by women for women. They tend to romanticize and eroticize gay love stories for a mainly female audience.

[1] his – I Didn’t Think I Would Fall In Love. Queer drama. Japan.
A positive depiction of gay characters—a rare find in Asia. It’s rare that you’ll find a character like Nagisa who gives you insight into his experiences coming to terms with his sexuality.

[2] Long Time No See. Queer drama. South Korea.
An action drama that manages to have pretty good action and queer storytelling at the same time.

[3] HIStory2: Boundary Crossing Queer drama/BL. Taiwan.
This drama straddles a thin line between being a Queer drama and a BL. The BL elements are strong, but not for the typical negative reasons. The “sexy” is there, but the is also a slight bit of depth as well. The chemistry between the two leads is a rare sight in BL or dreamland.

[4] Mood Indigo. Queer Drama. Japan.
First thing’s first. This is a mature drama with an R rating. Now that that’s out of the way, this drama gives us an exploration of sexuality not often depicted in Asian Queer dramas.

[5] Where Your Eyes Linger BL. South Korea.
Oh, the angst. This drama is full of it and it’s quite believable.

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    Thanks for sharing, @hades

    I’ve said it before (when I completed it) and I’ll say it again:

    “Where Your Eyes Linger” was definitely not long enough and should have been a full 16 episodes, at the same time, one episode was so full it felt like a drama itself

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    Watching Where Your Eyes Linger right now. Honestly not the greatest, but it’s probably the best we’ll get in this genre (at least in the short term from Korea).

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      It really isn’t the greatest (those last two eps…sigh…). But it’s better than many BLs imo.

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        I agree. Unfortunately, this “genre” (I don’t know why it needs to be treated like a separate genre) tends to be very cliche, fan service-y, and directed towards a niche market. Ultimately, I think this has to do with the lingering discomfort with non-heterosexuality in East Asia.

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      Have you seen Long Time No See?

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    Thanks @hades. Always appreciate your critiques.

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    @hades—What’s the difference between a Queer drama and a BL?

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I keep getting annoyed that DB had, and I guess still has, an opportunity to recap a decent queer (LGBTQ+) Korean drama to coincide with Pride Month, but instead opted to go with Sweet Munchies.

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    What’s the show, if you don’t mind my asking?

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      It’s Where Your Eyes Linger. It’s not great, but it’s not a straight guy pretending to be a gay guy for his own benefit and all the other issues that come along with that.

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    @db-staff Can we possibly get even just a series review/Open Thread to discuss??

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