rocketturtle4

[rocketturtle4]

I stand by my emotionally-guarded husband!

Because Hagiwara knows it's just an act.

And we love him regardless.

[rocketturtle4]

All the heartache for Sei in Hagiwara's eyes

[rocketturtle4]

Sei and Hagiwara both hurt on their hands and the other noticing it

[rocketturtle4]

All Apologies

As soon as Hagiwara got to the diner, Hagiwara immediately apologized to Kairo for cheating; however, she did not acknowledge the apology. Instead, she immediately began questioning why Hagiwara slept with Sei, a man, while she smiled.

She did not apologizes until after she acknowledged that Hagiwara never blamed her for their relationship falling apart or was disrespectful to her.

Which prompted Hagiwara to apologize again.

Fujisawa did not apologize until the next day and he stated he didn't mean to hurt Sei.

And after that, Sei apologized and responded that he knew Fujisawa didn't mean to hurt him, which also happened during the toe incident.

But every time Hagiwara apologizes to Sei,

Sei reassures him it's okay and not his fault.

But Hagiwara also does the same for Sei.

Which is why Hagiwara and Fujisawa are good together.

Kairo doesn't take accountability for her part in the relationship dissolving, which left Hagiwara always taking the blame. He thought he was being too selfish and making her uncomfortable. And instead of Kairo talking to Hagiwara, she ran off and mailed him back his phone, but when Hagiwara wanted to speak to Sei, he met him.

Fujisawa is so used to Sei excusing his behavior, that it becomes Sei's automatic response to all the harm Fujisawa does to him, so when Sei explained to Fujisawa about the affair, Fujisawa resorted to violence, but when Sei tried to goad Hagiwara the same way, Hagiwara quickly apologized.

Hagiwara and Sei are so used to thinking they are the problem and excusing their partner's behavior that they started believing they are bad people, but even though they know what they did was wrong, they also won't let the other person think it was solely his fault.

In their relationships, they were constantly left with all the blame, but in this affair, they share the burden, and they share the guilt. They never allow the other to feel like he, alone, is to blame. They never let the other feel like the bad guy. They reassure each other, and they apologize immediately.

They are equals.

[rocketturtle4]

So when I make a post about characters it is about the characters and never the actors, okay? Never the actors. When I talk about the love story in the show of the characters it is not about the actors, who are real people living real lives. It is about the characters in the fictional show who are not real.

So if you're try to make it about being delulu over the actors instead I ask you make your own damn posts about them instead of trying to pull me into it because, no, I don't think your faves are dating each other secretly I just hope they're good friends and enjoy working together.

[rocketturtle4]

Our Youth, Absolute Perfection. 

I am gone in PhD land, but Our Youth was such perfection that I decided to return in brief to express even a fraction of the wonder I felt watching this show. 

From the outset I was thinking we might be getting a Twenty-Five Twenty-One style, start in the sad future, look back at the once joyful past type show (which for the record, I did not watch because I avoid sad endings), but I was hopeful! And as we progressed towards the future I became more hopeful that we’d spend some time in the future, and that that future might not be dark. 

And I was fully rewarded in every way. 

I don’t think I have ever felt so perfectly made whole by the ending of a show. We fully unpacked the causes of the separation, Haruki’s choice was only meant to last till he successfully got into University. Jin held him close the moment he knew he was allowed. 

But we didn't make light of the abandonment, or it's cause.

Even separated, they clung to the memory of each other

Haruki’s film

Jin’s story

I was worried a bit, in ep 10, that we might be going full role reversal and having Jin’s life collapse when Haruki left (with the smoking as the first indicator) but the show didn’t do that to us. He was still a good student, a good friend, he continued on as he always had. Emptier, lonelier, but not broken. 

The atmosphere of this show knew it’s platform and so much of that separation was show don’t tell. 

There were big and small things too, we were shown Haruki’s growth and desire for more so clearly in his smile, and his certain stride and his confident voice, but did anyone else almost hear Jin say “I miss the taste of his kisses” everytime he picked up a cigarette? Or was that just me?

As they were drawn closer and closer back together in ep 10 I was on the edge of my seat, now? Now? NOW? And then yes! NOW 

I could talk about nearly every scene in episode 10, and literally every scene in ep 11 because every single one was full of emotion so loud it took my breath away. Happy, sad, loving, lonely, so melancholic and yet so hopeful.

This show played with the future and the past on a few different occasions, teasing forward and then pulling back to flesh out the how and the when. To me it was meant to be hopeful, we will get there the show kept saying we can make it.

Ep11 really reinforced this so well it brought me to tears. 

We aren’t there yet, but trust, and one day we will be. 

That felt like the message of the show to me more than anything else

No matter how dark our reality 

Keep walking

Keep trying

Keep loving

And the future will come

This show wasn’t about the future that is still to come, the future that will coming, the future that is here already in a lot of ways in Thailand

It was about the past

About Our Youth

About holding on and walking forward 

Out of the dark

And, one day, into the light. 

10/10 Everyone should watch this.

[rocketturtle4]

The "I wanted to really kiss you" kiss from Love Sick the series (2024) for @placetneplacet

[rocketturtle4]

Love Sick 2024 - Episode 10.

So, we’re together?

[rocketturtle4]

Phun and Noh romantic moments (EP 12)

[rocketturtle4]

[rocketturtle4]

*Phum , Tan and Q sitting in jail together*

Phum: So who should we call? because I can't call Peem he will kill me.

Tan: I would call Fang, but I feel safer in jail.

Phum: Let's call Toey, he is sweetie, he'll probably be more worried than angry.

Q, who has angered Toey before, shaking: please don't.

[rocketturtle4]

lesbian energy so strong it sends any man nearby flying

[rocketturtle4]

I've been enjoying reading folks' theories about whether Vee is Vad; @lurkingshan has laid down bets that they are the same person, while @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle made a great case for why they shouldn't be, @italianpersonwithashippersheart gave an explanation as to who she could be instead (a test), and @happypotato48 made clear he'd be mad if they are. @heretherebedork noted that it's likely Vee is Vad but even if this girl is the reincarnation of Vad, she's still not the same person. @babyangelsky made the point that whether or not they're the same person, what's important is San making the choice; but also it's likely this girl was sent by the villain who is likely not dead yet.

Gonna add my own clown theory to the mix: I think everyone is right (I remain on brand at all times). Vee is Vad because San prayed to a goddess and got his soul tied to theirs and the way the magic has been functioning, we would need another explanation if they weren't. But, at the same time, Vee is not Vad because people are not the same just because of reincarnation; They are no longer the same person. And it was important for San to fall in love with Vee for Vee; even though it was the magic/fate that brought them into one another's paths, San still had to choose to open his heart to him. I also think it's important for him to choose Vee over the memory of Vad. So I think this Vad doppleganger is a kind of test, though possibly from a mortal source (I like Leah's theory above that it was the villain who sent her and I thought the same when I watched the episode; having Anastasia vibes of someone being primed with info to pass as a lost relative lol). I am going to go a little more wild on the dreams to say I think the dreams are just his own imagination and insecurities and uncertainties. He thought he was sure, but then he wasn't. That's why it's important for San to make the decision to love Vee not because he thinks he's Vad, but because he loves him enough to be willing to be with him even if he isn't Vad.

As long as San wrestles with that question, I will honestly be happy no matter whether Vee is Vad or not. Because the point is, it doesn't matter.

[rocketturtle4]

Century of Love

Fujoshi goddess ships Manic Pixie Dream Boy and a 120 year old grumpy man. Threatens grandpa with a horrible death if he sinks her ship

[rocketturtle4]

I couldn't have summed it up better myself

[rocketturtle4]

We Are Episodes 13-16: The gentlest of landings

As if I didn't love this show enough already, it gives me a 'Love Score' joke right at the end to seal the deal. I hope GMMTV directors continue to insert that song into every possible series until the end of time.

As the saying goes: the real We Are was the friends we (and they!) made along the way. Watching this gaggle of silly boys grow into a bigger gaggle of silly boys over the past 16 weeks was surprisingly satisfying and entirely enjoyable. The final four eps are really just a fluff victory lap, but it feels so sweet.

The pillars of the show for me right to the end were the platonic bonds within and amongst the friend group: Q and Peem's friendship, the core 5, Phum and Fang's brotherly relationship, the slow enmeshing of the disparate groups into a mammoth whole, and the way everybody silently agreed that Toey was theirs and spoiled him to death. Without the platonic love surrounding the romances, this show is cute enough but simply doesn't hold up.

Speaking of the romances, the only thing left to 'resolve' in these last eps, insofar as it required resolution, was the Chain/Pun romantic arc. This thing between them has been bubbling along in the background for the entire show, as Chain slowly got bolder and bolder about expressing his feelings, and Pun seemed more and more determined to never express his. Mans literally went 'I do not see it.' When Chain's frustrations finally boiled over and he just came out with it, Pun at least didn't let the shock hold him back. Nor the hooting, hollering onlookers🤣. And yunno what, I totally agree. These two waited long enough.

I was discussing with @ginnymoonbeam the real-time nostalgia feeling of this show, and this final block of eps really put an exclamation point on that with a lot of little vignettes and montages of the couples cementing their relationships emotionally and physically, and the whole gang just having a fucking blast travelling and hanging out together. It never really matters to them what they're doing, it could be absolutely nothing, as long as they're doing it together. You can see this footage playing on a mental loop for these boys ten, twenty, fifty years from now as they reminisce about these halcyon university days having a great time with their friends and their lovers.

To wrap up, I went on and on about enjoying how this show tackled courtship, so I wanted to categorise our couples on that along with my final couple scores!

Q and Toey (interrupted courtship): 3/4 hearts

Ah the second chance romance, truly an all-time classic trope. The key to this trope is always unpacking the feels about what happened before, what's happened since, and what's happening now, and I think the show made a decent fist of covering all three of those. Also, I gotta praise Satang here. Of all the actors, he was asked to play furthest away from himself, and he really finely balanced the Toey character I thought. This character is basically twelve types of aegyo in a sack and he made it cute rather than annoying, to the point where I totally understood why the rest of these boys were ready to do anything to see him happy.

Phum and Peem (long courtship: 3.5/4 hearts

Enemies to lovers, my old friend. The only couple without a history, who really had to get to know each other, and the continued contact their servant 'deal' drove gave them the opportunity to do just that. These two probably had the most satisfying traditional romance arc of the four couples, and I think Pond and Phuwin and the chemistry they've built worked great for these characters.

Tan and Fang (delayed courtship): 4/4 hearts

Phum and Peem might have been the most traditionally narratively satisfying, but Tan and Fang gave me the most emotional satisfaction of all the couples. They were the romantic heart of this show for me, and Tan especially held the centre, as the person who put his entire focus on loving out loud, giving his friends an example to look to. I've said it before but Tan telling his friends his and Fang's story is really the fulcrum this show rests on. Aou is the MVP of this show to me, for bringing this character to vivid, lovable life.

Pun and Chain (what is a 'courtship?'): 3/4 hearts

Absolutely totally unhinged. They'll probably get married the day after Chain's confession. It's the way everybody knew it but them. True idiot4idiot representation.

Farewell my good boys! I hope we get a reunion special!

[rocketturtle4]

Tagged by @visualtaehyun, Hi Bella!! Thanks for the tag, I swear I am only a ghost like 95% of the time 😂

Rules: Create a poll with five of your all time favorite onscreen kisses, setting any standard for qualification you choose. Then tag more friends to join in!

Tagging uhhhh, @ranchthoughts, @shouldiusemyname @plantsarepeopletoo @thegalwhorants (cause I figure your curious, I've seen yours!) @grapejuicegay @slayerkitty waves at the people I barely interact with cause the second year of my PhD is much busier than the first

So kisses aren't my thing a lot of the time, not cause I don't like them! Just cause I often don't quite get the emotional resonance a lot of the time. (I managed to watch 65 BL before finding out there was a difference between dead fish kisses and other kisses... and many of the BL I'd seen fell on the dead fish end lol). If this was hugs, I'd have been a puddle of indecision, but with kisses it was hard picking 5 I actually remembered that strongly, especially since I didn't want to double pick from Bellas... But there are some for sure!

So here we go, 5 kisses that stand out in my brain (BL only)

La Pluie

Always the first kiss that springs to mind when I think of my favourites.

Gif by @liyazaki

2. Venus in the Sky

This one was honestly more about the confession (2nd favourite confession of all time) than the kiss, but Venus finally taking matters into his own hands was excellent

By me with the help of google cause this show was chronically underwatched

3. Kiseki: dear to me

4. I Feel You Linger In The Air rain kiss

Gif by @uppoompat

5. We Are - honestly, many of the kisses for this one sprung to mind, especially the Fang and Tan one. I also seriously considered Pheem and Phum's second kiss, but my favourite part about that was Phums dialogue not the kiss itself, and I was trying to stick to one's where the kisses themselves got me.

Gif by @taeminie