#actor siwon

[mysilentmemory]

I CANNOT HANDLE THIS SWEET SHY BOY

ᶦᵠᵘᶜʳʳʳ

[crazyfanofmasskpopculture]

Choi Siwon and Lee Sunbin for "allure" Korea

[jaejoongs-nipple-piercing]

[crazyfanofmassculture]

Heechul sent a coffee van for Siwon!

[bb-donghae]

Siwon and Donghae were nominated for Best New Actor at the Korea Drama Awards 2023 😭

[respectthepetty]

as a major fan of your Thai BL list, I shall now ask about your Korean BLs! 🤩

I think I can actually trust you 😌😌

Anon Two, thanks for tag-teaming this with the previous Anon, so y'all could squeeze another list out of me. To recap, I've already given y'all:

Top GMMTV Actors

Top GMMTV Pairs

Top Five Taiwanese BLs

Top Ten Thai BLs

So what's one more? @lachikapercebe also asked for this list, but requested only my top five; however, since I already started the list without a specific target number from Anon Two, and Korea gives some of the best confessions in the genre mixed with color coding, I can't reduce the list now. It's too late for me to trim it. I am attached to each pick. They are my children, and I can't desert them, so . . .

Top Ten Korean BLs

Rising Star - Love Tractor

I don't trust Korean BLs. A majority are too short, so either the beginning is confusing or the ending is flat, but unless Love Tractor completely fumbles the second half (which it could because . . . Korea), this will be a yearly top and even possibly an overall top for its country and all BLs. It's that good to me. It's hitting all the normal K-drama notes while being oh-so-very-gay. And as a rural queer, it pleases my soul to see country life presented in such a kind and beautiful way.

#10 - Roommates of Poongduck 304

Mr. Petty Peter Jae Yoon independently earned a spot on this list. Ho Joon was a jerk and a true nemesis when the show began, but Jae Yoon started effing up Ho Joon's home life the more Ho Joon kept messing up his work life, so it was a beautiful tit-for-tat the first few episodes; then, Ho Joon lost focus and wanted a consensual workplace relationship. His father appreciating his new attitude and rejection of his ladies' man ways was a delight to witness since we all knew it was due to him falling in love with a man. And oh boy did he fall in love. That entire conversation of Jae Yoon saying it's impossible for two men to fall in love, only for Ho Joon to respond that it was impossible for him NOT to fall in love with Jae Yoon is a top tier confession for me.

#9 - Blueming

I have issues with Blueming solely due to its ending because I was just as pissed as Siwon was at Daun. Maybe even more so. All was going well; then, the end of episode nine pulled a Thai episode eleven, and DAUN TOLD HIS MOM TO PICK THE FILM! I understand men in love do dumb shit, but that was a bold choice, and a very, very, VERY wrong one. As the youths say, "that was not the move." However, the cinematography was delicious like their silhouettes with that bewitching blue backdrop and their first kiss was realistic. Pretty kisses are cool and all, but the awkwardness of desperately wanting someone yet not knowing how to physically perform is true to many people's experiences and should be spotlighted more.

#8 - Choco Milk Shake

I only trust two entities with poly: Thai director Jojo, and Korea's Strongberry, so the fact that Strongberry did not give me poly when it was so clearly laid out is the reason this show isn't in the top three. It had a supernatural plot, great characters who were all well cast, and a happy ending, so WHY NOT POLY? I don't care if the rest of the world is ready or not. I'M READY! We are getting a second season, so if I if get a kiss AND a vocal acknowledgement of Milk and Choco's love for each other when their love for Jung Woo was well established in season one, this will cement its place in my heart and on this list forever.

#7 - Light on Me

Sixteen episodes with most running about thirty minutes?! A love triangle where I could root for both love interests?! A straight boy who earned his spot at the queer table?! Light on Me had it all and then some! Looking at my various lists, it's clear I am not fond of high school dramas, yet I was seated twice a week to see how our neurodivergent baby boy, Tae Kyung, fared that week in his adventure through social norms and annoyances, like trying to help a fellow peer by giving him back the dildo he dropped in the hallway, but getting yelled at instead. I was not Team Shin Woo until that cellphone confession, and then all I could see was Shin Woo. I'm telling y'all, Korea understands how to confess its unwavering love. Gets me every time!

#6 - The New Employee

As the BL fandom continues to evolve and expand, we will get more BLs geared toward adults and workplace dramas, but hopefully, they take the approach that The New Employee (and Thailand's Step by Step) did and make the work environment part of the drama. Working adults, sadly, spend a majority of their time at work, so finding love at one's job seems reasonable, but if anyone has experienced coworkers breaking up, that shit can get rough, real quick. So having to navigate a relationship with someone you work with, especially someone of a higher authority position, ON TOP OF being queer can be stressful, and is something I want more BLs to explore. There are levels to being out, and for most queers, being out at the job is not a possibility, but finding love anywhere is always a possibility, particularly for our late 20-something virgins.

#5 - Semantic Error

The fact that this came out in 2022 is beyond my understanding only because it seems like I have appreciated it for at least five years. This has become a comfort watch when it first started as a "nothing else is on" watch. I have never cared so much about honorifics in my life as I did watching the slow transition of Sang Woo’s emotional walls crumbling under Jae Young’s affection through language. As much as I hated the idea of forced collaboration (aka group projects), seeing the way Jae Young squirmed his way into Sang Woo’s every waking thought and had him seeing red to the point that Sang Woo was saving screenshots of Jae Young’s Instagram posts was a delight and one of the major reasons I keep returning to it. But the layered confession about Sang Woo finding Jae Young, a man, attractive which lead to Jae Young's countdown kiss is, once again, the reason Korean BLs win in the confession department.

#4 - The Eighth Sense

I'm still really bothered by some of the discourse that came out of this show about how it was better than everything else ever because the comments were reductive about the BL genre, yet some of the comments resonated with elements I loved about the series, mainly its look at mental health and trauma. It was a beautiful show, but the message it carried throughout about depression being isolating and taking the light out of people's lives hit me in a way that if this was the Thai list, I would have left it off because it felt like a personal attack. Wanting someone to save you from yourself, but terrified to drag them down with you was not the plot I wanted, but was the story a lot of us needed to see. We also needed to witness someone actively going to therapy. Let's continue this trend!

#3 - Our Dating Sim

"Have you been well . . . without me?" - Put this on my tombstone because I died and came back to life from this utterance alone. Episode four was already killing me, but once Eddy snapped and allowed all his emotions to spill out in front of Ian, the show came for all my past lives and future ones too. Deceased. I wrote this about the show while it was airing, but no other show has done the leave-him-because-I-love-him plot as well as Our Dating Sim. This show nailed it then made a billboard to boast about it because it was perfection. Ian's reasons for leaving were valid, but the show really shined by allowing Eddy to voice his anger at being ghosted for seven years by his best friend and someone he loved. It even touched on the trust issues that stem from someone saying he loves you only to abandon you. Just know I have NOT been well since this ended.

#2 - To My Star 1 & 2

The first season was almost perfect. The cat/dog energy, the "If it's hard for you, I'll come to you" confession, and the budding kink of Ji Woo kissing a tiny bloody wound on Seo Joon all served in a quick nine episodes gave me everything I needed, so I thought this would be my #1 the second season two was announced, but understand the sequel hurt me. The foundation was great: everyone came back, it had more episodes, the episodes were longer, and the conflict always existed in the first series, so a last-minute twist wasn’t invented. Yet, every single episode hurt. Much like I Told Sunset About You, it was realistic to the point that I expected it to end with pain. If season two was its own show and not a sequel to one of my favorites, it would have ranked higher because it was beautiful, but knowing the magic the first series possessed, and having to be a bystander to all the angst for EVERY EPISODE WITH NO RELIEF was tough. But, somehow, here I am secretly hoping we get blessed with a third series. That’s the power of the Star.

#1 - Long Time No See

Small flex - I've been involved with an international queer film festival for over a decade. I've seen easily over 1,000 pieces of queer media including feature films, short films, and documentaries through the screening process, which only adds to my always growing personal watched list. Long Time No See was one of those films. It didn't make it into the festival because I think it was already available on a streaming platform (maybe?), but it was a top for me then, and it's still a top for me now. Is it a BL? Not really. Is it a show? No, it's more like a two-part movie. So why am I allowing it to reign at the top of this list? BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING! In 2017, we were still getting the bury your gays trope shoved down our throats, so a film about two assassins getting a happy ending was a miracle. I read comments from some who did not like the portrayal of "toxic love" but were probably fine with Mr. and Mrs. Smith beating each other with cooking utensils for all the world's children to see, so God forbid, the queers do anything like want to kill AND fuck each other. Niña, Pinta, and Santa María, LET THE GAYS DO CRIMES TOO! Oh, and it's Strongberry, so because of this film - In Strongberry I trust.

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

OK, top 5 for each thing: Cringe fave bands from your childhood, high school era, and now, top 5 kpop groups, and top 5 genres of music!

Oh god, really exposing my bad music taste huh??

** General default disclaimer that you need these days, I do not or did not know anyone's political affiliations, positions of various social causes, or in the Kpop answer, any huge homophobia/assault scandals brewing at the time I listened to them. I tend to wholly ignore artists/actors personal lives and just enjoy the work they put out**

And also, bullet points, because they're in no particular order.

Cringe Fav Bands From Childhood

Play

A*Teens

Jump 5 (before their music became all religious)

Dream Street

Michelle Branch

High School Era Fav Bands

Only 4 real fans, got into Linkin Park when I was in college, and high school era was when iPods first came out. Bands kind of lost hold in favor of individual songs.

Breaking Benjamin

Evanescence

Josh Groban

Good Charlotte

Now Fav Bands

Kind of the same issue with songs being more of a thing than whole bands but...

Seventeen

High Kings

Josh Groban

Hayley Westenra

Breaking Benjamin is having a resurgence on my Playlist

Top 5 Kpop Groups

** Including ones I used to listen to but no longer do, because I really don't follow Kpop much. The fans are too toxic**

Seventeen

Super Junior (Stopped when Siwon went public with his rampant homophobia and never listened again)

FT Island (stopped before Burning Sun Scandal)

KARA

IU

Top 5 Genres of Music

Rock

Alt Rock

Pop

Musical Soundtracks

Whatever you'd call Josh Groban and Hayley Westenra's genre

Absolute hard pass to anything country. I LOATHE country music.

[monrohakay]

I would love to see hear more about your headcannon about nico

Have a good day

Oh my goodness, I could go on forever about him and what I imagine his backstory to be. I’m so sorry for how long this will be, but you’ve unleashed a can of worms and I thank you for that! So here we go!

It started with me being convinced that if Nico and Kai ever met, they would have a rivalry going on and Levi and Amelia would find it adorable yet slightly annoying cuz they get along so well. And Levi would tell Nico not to annoy his mentor’s partner, but Amelia would just laugh.

We don’t know much about where Nico’s from or his family, except that he’s not out to them even thou he was out to people in his daily life and they can be really critical. So I imagine he grew up in a traditional Korean Italian home (cuz Alex Landi is Korean Italian, and I have person experience with homophobic Italian family members so I’m projecting). He’s a middle child with two brothers. He gives off competitive energy that comes with having siblings, and kinda seems like he’s used to being overlooked and fighting for attention, like a middle child.

His older brother (I’m going to refer to him as Siwon since that’s who I imagine his actor to be) is something his parents deem successful, I’m thinking a lawyer cuz I want Nico to have a totally different career path then him. He was an honours student, always top of his class. He has a beautiful wife (who he met in highschool), a son and a daughter on the way. His life is perfect in his parents eyes. He’s maybe two or three years older than Nico. Nico always felt like he was in his brother’s shadow, but he respected and looked up to him. I feel like their parents would constantly be comparing the two, like “Siwon was valedictorian, are you going to be?” and “Nico was nominated for homecoming king, are you nominated for prom king?”

His younger brother (referred to as Rowoon for the same reason as his older brother) is five or six years younger, and he’s spoiled by their parents. While they’re critical of the older two, the youngest is their pride and joy and they don’t mind him doing whatever he wants because the other two are successful enough. Rowoon loves Nico and idolizes him in almost the same way that Nico did with his older brother. But Nico is much kinder and receptive to it, and he’s always supportive to Rowoon. I think Rowoon would have much more natural talent and smarts, so he doesn’t have to work as hard as the other two and he has a lot less pressure. While the other two were expected to have a 98-100% average in everything, Rowoon’s sitting at like 95% and their parents are still proud of him.

Nico was raised with traditional catholic Italian and Korean views being shoved at him. So when he starts realizing he might like boys, it’s not exactly something he can come out and say or act on while he’s living with his parents. He probably wanted to go into sports, (likely baseball or soccer, but we’ll go with baseball cuz of his job with the mariners) rather then law or med school. He played baseball in highschool, getting scholarships to play for a few varsity teams. Only for his parents to push him to go to law school like Siwon, which he reluctantly agrees, figuring he can go in to sports law.

While Nico is in his last year of highschool, early on in the year, he meets this boy who he has a crush on. And they start seeing each other in secret. Until one night Siwon catches them, probably the cliche making out in Nico’s room when his brother barges in and freaks out. He kicks the boy out and tells Nico he needs to stop seeing him. Nico says he will as long as his brother doesn’t tell their parents and Siwon agrees, saying their parents can never find out. But having Siwon react in such a negative way ruins the image Nico had of him. So he decides he doesn’t want to go to law school, he wants to persue baseball mostly in defiance.

His parents hate that idea, and really push for him to still go to law school. He ignores them and does start to persue baseball in his undergrad, taking one of the scholar ships he was offered. He’s incredibly talented so while they aren’t happy, his parents still support him as long as he continues to be one of the best players on his team and maintains his high grades.

In his first year he gets an injury, something that requires surgery to fix. But the surgery goes wrong, and his career in baseball is over before it could ever really start. Despite pushing himself with physio and working as hard as he can to get back to being able to play, it’s just not possible in the time frame he would need for professional sports. He takes it incredibly hard, and while Rowoon is his major support system, his parents and Siwon treat it like a failure. So Nico decides to go to med school, to become an orthopaedic surgeon and make sure no one else has to go through what he did. His parents are ecstatic about the change, and it’s the first time he feels like they’re actually proud of him.

He quickly catches up, becoming top of his classes. He thrives in university, coming out to his friends and he’s genuinely happy.

But he still feels like he has to hide who he is when he’s at home and he hates it. He never has a boyfriend for long, because then he’d have to deal with bringing them home and coming out. It never mattered cuz he hadn’t met anyone he wanted to be with long term. But it’s still a massive part of his identity that he’s hiding from his parents and Rowoon, still scared they’d react in the same way his Siwon did. And while he would probably come out to his parents and risk it, he doesn’t want to loose Rowoon or put him at odds with their parents, especially while he’s still living with them.

So years later when he meets Levi, he doesn’t want to have to hide who he is in the only place he can be open. He’s hypocritical because he thinks Levi doesn’t have as much to loose as Nico and he sees it as wasted opportunity. And Nico doesn’t want to be that highschool boy his brother kicked out of his room all those years ago. He doesn’t want Levi to be ashamed of him like Nico was of that boy, and he doesn’t want the memories of being ashamed of himself and who he was to come back while Levi discovers his own sexuality.

Nico’s never had someone he cares that much about, never wanted to actually bring someone home to meet his parents or his brothers. But then he falls hard for Levi and suddenly it’s turning serious and he doesn’t know what to do about it. So he’s awkward and hypocritical and a pretty terrible boyfriend at times, but he is trying.

Then he accidentally kills a patient. And Siwon is showing up to make sure legally he doesn’t get in trouble. His parents find out through Siwon, and they seem disappointed which only adds to his pain. And Levi being overbearing while Siwon is in town doesn’t help, because he doesn’t want his brother to find out he has a serious relationship with a man. He’s also not good with emotions, or people seeing him when he’s emotional, which is why he pulls away so much.

And then the pandemic happens and he really misses Levi. He knows he’s not emotionally ready to commit to anyone yet, and they aren’t really good for each other at the time. But he figures if he can have Levi in any way he’s going to take it, cuz the world is a mess and he needs some kind of happiness. When Levi basically gives him the ultimatum of serious relationship or nothing, he chooses serious relationship. Because he doesn’t want to loose Levi, and it’s a huge wake up call that he really does care about someone in a way he never had before.

I think Levi pushing Nico away after he opened up to Levi hurt, really bad. Cuz Nico had never let himself be that vulnerable with another person, and he didn’t know how to cope with that. So he gave Levi the space that he wanted when he went through a similar experience. Not really realizing that Levi needed him to be there and to fight for them, until Levi told him. But even though he’s come so far and started to unravel his closed off, emotionless persona adopted by someone who’s parents didn’t let them be a child, Nico knows he can’t give Levi what he wants, not when he’s still dealing with his own internalized homophobia and inability to be honest with himself and his family. He thinks Levi deserves someone who is ready to be all in, and even though he thought he could be, that’s not him, not yet.

Nico saying his default is numb is really telling that he can’t process his feelings right away, he suppresses them. Which would make sense if he’s grown up with critical parents that expect him to be perfect all the time. He wouldn’t know how to deal with failure or rejection, because he’s never had the luxury of doing any of those things. Even loosing his ability to play baseball professionally wouldn’t have been a failure to him, because it led him to being a surgeon which his parents were much happier about. And I think that reflects in his relationships too, that when there’s any kind of conflict he just shuts down, he goes numb. He either gets overly agreeable or he pulls away from the situation entirely. And I think he started to realize that it’s not a healthy coping mechanism after his talk with Levi in the elevator.

So he jumps at the opportunity to leave and work for the Mariners. It’s a dream job, it’s one of the reason he decided to go to med school in the first place, and it gives him and Levi space to figure themselves out. It lets Levi experience different relationships and find himself, while Nico learns to deal with his emotions and not suppress them. But while he’s there, he finds out he hates it. He doesn’t like having to tell these athletes that their careers are over, he doesn’t like feeling like he failed him when there was nothing he could do. It reminds him of when he was going through the exact same thing. Even if his success rate is the highest it’s ever been, he still doesn’t think he’s good enough. Saving fifty patients doesn’t mean anything if there’s even one he can’t.

And then Rowoon finishes his undergraduate and moves out of their parents house. He goes to visit Nico and they have a long talk about what Rowoon wants to do with his career. He decided a long time ago that he wanted to follow in Nico’s footsteps and go in to medicine. And while he’s visiting, he sees that Nico’s background is still a photo of him and Levi, so Rowoon asks if that’s Nico’s boyfriend. And Nico is shocked because he didn’t know Rowoon knew. They have a heart to heart, and Nico realizes he doesn’t have to hide who he is anymore. Even if his parents aren’t happy with him, he has his little brother’s love and support, which is all that’s ever really mattered to him anyway. And even if he isn’t perfect, there are still people who will love him.

So he leaves his job and goes back to Grey-Sloan, mostly because he preferred it, but also with the hope that he and Levi can at least be friends again. He wins Levi back, and finally introduces him to Rowoon. And to show Levi he really has changed, that he really is committed to their relationship, he invites Levi to his parent’s for Christmas dinner. It goes over horribly, his dad almost kicks them out and only relents to letting them stay when his mother says they can at least finish dinner, as it’s the holidays. It’s worth it to see the look of horror on Siwon’s face when he says Levi is his boyfriend, and the look of admiration Rowoon gives him when he holds Levi’s hand as they say goodbye.

I think Nico coming back this next season will be him saying I was just trying to give you space, but I always loved you and I will always be here for you when you’re ready. It’s kind of a repeat of the last time they got back together, but I’m hoping it’ll stick this time and they can have their happy ending. If nothing else, I just want them to keep his personality somewhat consistent.

I’ll finish with my Kai vs Nico thing that started it all! We never learn where he went to school, or how old he is. We can guess he’s early 30’s when he’s first introduced (I’m assuming he was on track with the norm, so when he’s introduced, he’s in his fellowship and he’d be 30-31). What we know about Kai (thanks to my best friend who has an incredible memory) is they went to John Hopkins a few years after Amelia. E.R. is only a year older then Alex, which I’m taking to mean their characters are a year apart as well. So we’ll say Nico is 31 when he’s introduced, meaning Kai would be 32.

While they wouldn’t have much overlap if Nico went to med school at John Hopkins while Kai was going for their phd, they could have very well done their undergrad at the same university and that’s where I think the rivalry would have started.

Kai is smart as hell, and I have no doubt they would be top of their classes. I think depending on the class it would go back and forth, but I really do think Kai would be beat Nico more often and he would hate that. It’s a healthy rivalry, there’s no actual animosity. I see them both as fun and sarcastic people, so I think they’d have amazing banter. And someone like Kai being smarter then Nico wouldn’t bother him as much, because they just have this aura that makes them impossible to hate? Even thou Nico is really frustrated that someone scored higher on a test, he wouldn’t really be too hard on himself if it’s Kai that beat him.

Because I can see him being really upset with himself the first time it happens, and he swears it will never happen again. So he pushes himself even harder for the next test and he does beat Kai. And then Kai would give the most relaxed non-reaction, would probably even congratulate him, and Nico wouldn’t know how to process that. He’s be so used to Siwon taking any loss so poorly, that someone being almost happy for him beating them is too foreign for him to comprehend. It would be the first step to Nico relaxing a little bit on his perfect persona, and allowing himself to slip. Which sets him up for when we meet him in the show, he’s a lot more chill and easy going, but still guarded.

This is so long omg, I’ll start to wrap it up!

Flash forward to Nico and Levi dating, and Kai and Amelia dating (no they never broke up in my head, they’re happy and will be for the rest of their lives, it’s fine. But even if they did, they found their way back to each other like Nico and Levi). Every time Kai comes to visit Amelia, they bicker with Nico. And no one knows it’s light hearted except the two of them. It would stress Levi out, thinking Nico was fighting with his mentor’s partner. I like the idea of Levi going in to general surgery, so while Amelia isn’t wouldn’t be the head of his department, she will always be a mentor figure to him and someone he respects.

Flash forward again, Rowoon does follow in Nico’s footsteps and comes to Grey-Sloan for his internship. He starts off thinking he’ll go in to ortho like his brother but quickly finds he gravitates more towards neuro. And then Kai comes to work on a project with Amelia, and they pick Rowoon to help them out. And he loves the research aspect of their project. He starts looking into it more and more. And ultimately decides, with the help of Kai, to switch into neuroscience rather then complete his surgical internship.

Nico is of course devastated that his little brother chose to work with Kai over him. But he’s a good older brother and supports everything Rowoon does, even if it means listening to him talk about how amazing Kai and the research they’re doing is for hours.

That’s all I got. Thank you anon for asking about his backstory and thanks to anyone who read this far! I would love to hear your thoughts on his backstory too, or any general greys thoughts you might have!

[furiousfinnstan]

god ✋😭

also here's the full livestream:

[crazyfanofmasskpopculture]

Siwon-shi is so adorable

[gizkasparadise]

thoughts as i watch the last ep of devil's plan. spoilers up to the last ep below (havent watched the final game yet!):

i wasnt into orbit's whole thing from the get-go and at the end...i am still not into orbit's whole thing. didnt like how dong joo got eliminated because of his bad play, either

siwon and seokjin writing their own kdrama ending, bless lol. actors going to act. alexa, play something by gummy @ their reunion

seungkwan seems like such a sweetheart and i really felt for him during that pokergame. you know he knew how to solve it but the time pressure got to him

related: SEVEN FUCKING HOURS OF DOING MATH EQUATIONS?! kill me i'd go all in on round 2 just to be free that would emotionally break me

lol i loved kyungrim's energy in that pokermatch. just. nah. see you guys~

i didnt hate joon bin as much as everyone else :'D. he had a brand and that's what he was there for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ him crying at kyungrim's elimination was a good moment of authenticity from him and it made me v sad

IM SO BUMMED that the games where yeonwoo wouldve dominated HAPPEND AFTER HER ELIMINATION i think she was the one contestant where she was just abysmally unlucky vs. a bad player

what in the haunted house dystopian hell @ that secret game in the dungeon??

also LOL at seokjin just angling the tea kettle after yeonwoo and seungkwan had so much angst over pouring the water

[puppy-phum]

Thai BL Favorites List Tag Game

thanks for the tag vi @feralmuskyscentedhoepran​ ♥ tho i still hate you for forcing me to choose between my children smh 

(most of these shows are ones i’ve watched quite recently. i also tried choosing different shows and making this diverse but well, i have my brainrot so. excuse me.) 

favourite bl: vice versa

i know i am very biased when it comes to this but i don’t care. vice versa was the perfect show for me. it’s silly and fun and absolutely bonkers at times. but it’s also sweet and gentle and comforting and so full of meaning i don’t know where to begin. i know it has its flaws but despite them, all i feel is warm while watching it ♥

favourite pairing: patpran

despite failing to separate all the actor/fandom drama from this show and now always feeling this bitter sadness bc of it while watching bb, pat and pran remain one of my forever favourite bl couples. they are perfect in many ways and watching their story filled me with love and joy. i am happy someone like pran has someone like pat to stay beside him. i am happy someone like pat has someone like pran to adore. i am simply happy to know these two fools are together, forever ♥

most underrated actor: sea tawinan

i think both vice versa and 55:15 have shown us how good this boy is at acting. he’s brilliant and will come far once gmm lets him out of the basement. really hoping 2024 gives a lot of new projects for sea so he can test his wings some more. 

favourite character: nuengdiao in never let me go

i know some ppl hated on nuengdiao for acting like he did. and i’m not saying i wasn’t frustrated at times bc of how bratty or impulsive he is, but i also understand why. first of all, he’s horribly young. and secondly, he’s so afraid of love for what it can do. it’s the dilemma in him: to want love so desperately but to fear it bc it can cause pain. watching him overcome this fear and to gain confidence in himself throughout the show filled me with pride. in some sense, he is me, i am him, and we grew up together like this ♥

favourite side character: kan in the eclipse

for what it’s worth, i truly loved the eclipse for its characters. the show might have disappointed me, but it left me with a collection of characters and dynamics i absolutely adore. kan is one of them, probably the most important one. his journey to self acceptance felt personal to me. his pain was my own and his happiness felt ours to share. 

favourite scene: liming with uncle jim

i know this isn’t really a scene related to a bl plot aka this is not a scene between a bl couple. but this one scene is so, so important to me. throughout moonlight chicken, i could relate to liming’s pain a lot. he was struggling to be an independent person while living in the world of adults. he was struggling in a society treating him and others around him as someone different, someone less worthy. he was struggling with his feelings towards his mother who left him but claimed to love him. and he had horrible fights with uncle jim, but then he says it’s easy for him to know he loves him. it’s simple as that. and sometimes i wish it was as simple. maybe one day it will be. maybe one day the love will not feel like a burden. 

favourite line: 

“Something that doesn’t bother me could be someone else’s huge burden. About pain... It’s an absolute thing for a person. It’s not something you can compare. If I feel pain, then it’s pain.” – something i try to tell ppl around me who are struggling and are scared to seek help. something i try to tell myself when i feel like my feelings don’t matter bc someone else has bigger problems. 

“I don’t get why you like me.” – cha siwon is one of those characters i relate to a lot and this question absolutely broke me. i feel it in my soul. it’s something i asked my ex once back when we were still together. what would be the reason for anyone to feel like that about me?

both these lines are from blueming. i cannot choose between them. watching that show is like looking into my own head and that’s why i love many of the lines and dialogues in it. 

most anticipated bl and why: last twilight

everyone and their mother probably knows how insane i am about this show. it’s just so perfect, in so many ways. the setting is interesting, the story seems angsty af while also being extremely gentle, it’s directed by p’aof, it’s jimmysea. it was made for me. i am both overjoyed and terrified to know it will air this year. 

healthiest relationship in a bl: puentalay

listen. i know some ppl keep giving shit to puen for being “manipulative” which absolutely baffles me. but i won’t even try to understand. for me, the relationship between puen and talay is one of the most mature ones i’ve seen in a bl. idk if it’s how the characters are written or if it’s, at least partly, jimmysea’s influence. but either way, there’s this aura of absolute understanding and acceptance in them. their healthiness peaked in their our skyy 2 eps, and the scene where they talk about their love and how it will change as they go on in life is my evidence of this. i want this type of love. i want the love to remain, out of mutual choice. not as something that restricts you but as something that allows you to begin. 

most toxic relationship in a bl: tharntype

i will not talk about this show or pairing but every day i question why i watched any of this and hope i hadn’t, i remain traumatized  

guilty pleasure series: 2moons2

one of my very first bl loves, mostly bc of mingkit played by joong and nine. in some sense, this was my first touch to the world of bl actors too as i followed these two for a while. and now that i see joong again, i always return to this series in my mind. sometimes i go to watch the mingkit focused episode all over again, only to cry at the softness of it once more ♥

bonus! most underrated series: sky in your heart

i still do not understand why this series never gained as much popularity as its sister show did. i think the story was sweet and meaningful, and despite it being similar to the story of 1000 stars, it had its own charm. fah and prince were, comparatively, a very mature couple and their relationship developed accordingly. i wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending and i would’ve loved to see them give prince a bit more as a character, but overall, this show meant a lot to me. it had the same message in it as the vv our skyy 2 eps: love is a place where you can return to by the end of the day, without any demands or conditions. 

thank you for reading this if you did and sorry for taking so much space on your dash :’D i never tire of talking about some of these shows. there would be a lot of other ones to talk about too. but well, maybe next time. 

tagging: @dimpledpran​ @leonpob​ @wanderlust-in-my-soul​ @patspran​ @oswlld​ @namchyoon​ @gabrielokun​ @stormyoceans​ @seanwhites​ @nanons​ @seatawinans​ ♥ no pressure!

[feuqueerfire]

Bloodhounds Live Blogging

I've mostly been watching non-BL kdramas from 2019-2022, so I thought I'd give something recent a try! The whole series dropped yesterday and it's apparently action filmed + good bromance, so this'll be my weekend binge for now

Ep 1 (Jun 10)

Dec 2020

I can't remember having watched many boxing shows/movies before, maybe the Shark: The Movie with Wi Hajoon but I can't even remember if that was boxing or something else

oh yeah fuck I was so focused on the other aspects of the show, I forgot that the main characters have debt apparently agh it's so

ew Suju Siwon

damn, this loan shark really lending them 100 billion won for this hotel, that's wild

the loanshark mans has a scar on his face that he hides with makeup

boxer name: Kim Gunwoo (more like Geonwoo tbh)

oh lol that win was Hong Woojin's imagination? and then he calls Geonwoo a name and gets knocked down as his plan backfires pls

fun Woojin vs Geonwoo fight

ohhh I checked MDL and the main duo is Geonwoo and Woojin?

heh Geonwoo is so endearing with his calm and no-nonsense, serious answers

plsss the way their dynamic is switching when we figure out Geonwoo is 2 years younger than Woojin and then changing again when Geonwoo served the marines earlier? or higher status in some way. a sunbae

pls earnest, honest Geonwoo keeps falling for Woojin's lies every 3 minutes T.T

ahhh these loanshark fuckers going around offering to every store owner - anyway, I know Geonwoo's mother missed reading something in the fine print bc it was mentioned on a reddit on-air thread commend

oh? who's the woman with the tazer and the man who was "a fake" being chased?

ah, so this old man does interest-free loans and tazer girl works for him

these loan shark fuckers are sooooo >:(((( die die die

ohhh that scar on their face is like a gang tattoo?

I love how earnest Geonwoo is while still being serious and a bit naive and optimistic and just cute :> Though he's gonna have to change now that he's been pulled into such violence.

Ep 2 (Jun 11)

these loanshark fucks

D: Woojin trying to get a loan for Geonwoo T.T plsss

oh they have to work as bloodhounds? meaning they're also gonna be loanshark types? - oh they left but why's the title bloodhounds then, will they have to come back?

ohh Woojin taking the disrespect at the beginning of the meeting but being intimidating and giving a same slap back at the end ah

is this an Apple ad lol

ah so that's how Geonwoo and the woman's story connect - the guy who she's chasing is getting loans using homeless people and giving the money to Smile Capital glasses guy

Dream On Capital guy - is he familiar to us or no?

ohh is Chairman Bang the dude with the wheelchair? or is that Mr. Choi? anyway, are they gonna be the bodyguards that the man was looking for?

ah sucks so bad that when searching for loans, they keep being offered loan collector positions

ah security job

so indeed the man is Mr Choi

dang, interesting that Geonwoo is telling his mother he got all the money and how because I feel like a different character would hide it and pay it off in secret. he might've done the same thing if he was working as a debt collector or something instead of security though

Siwon's character from earlier who is apparently a well-connect chaebol with his cop cousin + the loan shark hm what's gonna happen - what's up with getting the loan shark drunk lol

ohh I don't remember this loanshark man calling himself Chairman Bang but I guess he did so in ep 1? so he's masquerading. also I wonder if Mr. Choi himself is just Chairman Bang lol like only Mr. Choi knows who Chairman Bang is + he looks around 60 which is supposed to be his age

ah Siwon's character's name is Beom

plssss Woojin lying in front of Mr. Choi, he has become an actor

damn, another interview step

broooooo just insane amounts of money but also don't pull it all out

ah, they have found the common enemy (Smile Capital)

ofc Geonwoo wouldn't be able to stay still while an old homeless man is beaten up

Ep 3 (Jun 11)

cruel or heatless or cold woman vs upstanding empathetic man ah - although I wish I liked her acting better? the character doesn't feel natural for her idk

plss their excitement at getting rehired T.T

her calling them oppa surprised e fr

Mr. Choi definitely knows the Chairman Bang poser who has the cut on the side of his face - oh mans name is Kim Myeong-gil

ah trio friends now

ohh the loan sharks investing in that hotel are gonna make illegal gambling take place in the casino at the top of the hotel -> send evidence to police -> hotel in ruins -> loan sharks will take over hotel

damn they're beating up Siwon's character just to scare him or what? oh nvm Smile Capital ppl here

damn I wasn't expecting such brutal torture scenes

and now blackmail material by making him strip down?

oh, seems like some of the people in Smile Capital (including CEO) actually worked for Mr. Choi back when he was a loan shark

goddamn so that's how Kim Myeong-gil got the scar on his face and Mr. Choi became disabled

just straight-up bars of gold lol

Myeong-gil is being real or tricking Beom with this trust and sweet talk about him being his donsaeng?

goddamn this crowd of people

I saw a gif where Geonwoo was waiting for some operation to be successful on Woojin or something, will that be due to this fight?

Ep 4 (Jun 11)

oh nooo he's going to Geonwoo's mother

wait, who is this who's stopping them from taking the mother? someone Mr. Choi called right but like who?

oh actually the boss called this man who went to where the fight happened but who was the one who rescued the mother?

oh sashimi knife - that sushi restaurant from before - he's the one who saved Geonwoo's mom

ah the 5 knifers - when those 2 talked about avenging their boys, they mean the 3 knifers the Kim Myeon-gil managed to kill - Lee Du-yeong and Hwang Yang-jung

they ate all the fucking rolled omelets without leaving any for the others? die fuckers

who's spying on the trio going to transfer money? it's probably the smile capital driver dude but somehow it also looks a bit like the knife to me oof

oh noooo yeah it's the driver dude and he got her while the big Beom dude is going to the duo

ah fuck they're sending so many people to capture the trio

damn bruh not a car chase but fucking car crashes

no Geonwoo don't get outtttttt

beat them with bars of gold lesgo lmao

pls their slow jogging with the gold bags T.T

Ep 5 (Jun 11)

okay at least they dropped the gold bag and several boxes bc indeed their lives are worth more + they got most of the money

the big plans of Myeong-gil and his men vs Mr. Choi and his knifers are fun, moreso than the trio because the trio often involves just fighting and some bickering whereas the big players have planning and intrigue and history

ah Mr. Choi offering him an out

lol the knifers and trio convo is so cute and endearing

lol yknow I did think that Hyunju and the biker knifer looked kinda similar so for them to also say it was like lol

wait, why'd Beom just fuck up those people? why mad?

he declined his wife's call? bro are you gonna fucking die? we first saw him while he was in bed with his wife too so

oh he for real slayed Junmin's throat - ngl I didn't fully get what their next step was, like, did they kill him just because he was the one going around intimidating people and stuff?

oh so they're killing Junmin and capturing Im Jangdo driver mans? I remember they said something about getting them to point to dead bodies or something

omg torture scenes D: sanding someone's thing and then using saltwater

Mr Choi got Jangdo to talk

are phones trackable or not? they're keeping Jangdo's phone but can they be found out through that

oh damn Jangdo also saying Myeong-gil and In-Beom are like brothers, they've saved each other's lives before

Ep 6 (Jun 11)

Today's plan was to actually watch eps 2-5 but people say the show is soooo good until ep 6 and it's one of the better eps before ep 7-8 seem different (?), so I think I'll just watch this one too

damn they're using Siwon's dumbass character to track the knifers

D: boil body, grind them up and pour them into the ocean that's so disgusting

who's seung-duk

the way the knifers know of myeong-gil's preliminary plans with the casino but still don't know the extent of how terrible it is

Mr Choi is making vacation plans? dreams of going to Italy? bruh he's not gonna make it out alive, is he

not this happy times where everybody's chatting and drinking and feeling good, we're boutta see serious shit go down huh?

as expected, he's also gonna be a dad, ah my guy i can forsee your death so clearly

okay this young kid isn't Hyunju, right? because the story doesn't fit with her history

oh nvm it is indeed Hyunju

huh? Geonwoo's mother didn't take Mr. Choi's loans though, so

teary-eyed grateful Geonwoo ahh

pls Mr. Choi keeps having parallels with youth like learning what flex is from Hyunju and thanking Geonwoo for teaching him what youth is

ah fuck they've got Mr. Choi's address, it's starting. bro people are drunk and shit now, right?

oh wait they're found the biker knifer Duhyeong's address actually? is that where they tortured Jangdo?

naurrr this Dayoung and his wife scene T.T

let's go knife throwing

damn so fucking bloody

ah rip Duyeong having to sell out the other knifer

bro wtf do you mean someone might have seen the car? take a diff mean of transport then let's go public transit where they can't just pick you off

ah fuck sushi restaurant

oh noooo his apprentice is fucking dead in the room

this sense of foreboding is so

noooooooo Myeong-gil killed Duyeong and his wife after he got the info? D: nooo. I was like dang, it would've been good if Duyeong called Yungjung to warn him but alas he is dead

another hand-to-hand knife fight

ah fuck I can't believe Yungjung is also gonna dye so soon before the fight even reaches Mr. Choi

the knifers didn't get to avenge their 3 brother knifers T.T this is actually so fucking sad man

it's interesting that this whole show is so focused on the fight scenes and intensity but in this episode, we focus so much on the softness of everybody together and the leadup fights and deaths are also so quiet and mostly solitary, this is so fucked

like bruh Woojin's just chilling and having breakfast

these scenarios remind me so much of my recurring childhood nightmare of home invasion by gunda (thugs) and having to figure out how to escape and then being chased while you attempt ah fuck

ah at least Mr. Choi has overcome the hesitancy to shoot though the fact that his safe and everything is wide open is a lot

okay I know he doesn't die because there's some surgery thing later on that's at least successful or something

ah fuck this Beom motherfucker

it's actually crazy that these evil people are straight up just defeating them 75% in like not just "oh they're being cornered but will easily win" but like people are fucking dead like straight up the experienced, big players from this side are just gone

as is the money and the house is aflame

bro fuck Hyunju and Geonwoo coming home to see all this

oh my god I did not expect to get teary-eyed at Geonwoo begging to donate one more bag of blood for Woojin

Fave Ep of the show and just genuinely suchhhh a good episode in general. The humanity and serenity of it drove me to madness.

Ep 7 (Jun 12)

I watched less than 3 minutes of this during lunch and then went to take a little nap and now I'll finish this ep and then go to sleep. I'm just a sleepy guy

and she's gone, the result of Kim Sae Ron's DUI

ah, time-skipped to a healed Woojin

the young girl assigning who's gonna take the top bunk after taking a look at them is so T.T funny

fuckass Junmin lives but the knifers and Mr. Choi are dead how is that fairrrrrrr

I'd be more empathetic toward this man's heartbreak at Mr. Choi's death if he wasn't sleezy toward the woman earlier like yeah fucker, get scammed

I'd be more empathetic toward this character if it wasn't played by fuckass Siwon

won't yall get alcohol poisoning

idk if I'm supposed to be suspecting people of double-crossing or not like people give up info when interrogated but what if it's like Minbeom's brother in law is actually working for Myeong-gil or something, y'know?

Myeong-gil could just use data but sure yep, wifi

did he actually delete some instances of the video or no?

damn, they really did manage to destroy the hard drive just like that? would there not be backups?

are we supposed to know who Myeong-gil called at the end at the serious crimes division? somebody surprising?

I know what people mean by it's a different tone because this is less action-based and more like the shows I usually watch with the planning and secretly attacking rather than fights.

Ep 8 (Jun 13)

bruh ofc the first cop that the brother-in-law would tell about getting the list of victims would be in Myeong-gil's palm

oh fuck they found the place Mr. Choi's friend lived where Geonwoo and Woojin also lived for a bit?

fucking dark ass fight, can't see shit

bruh bad cop good a good view

oh my god they got the whole detective trio?

bro so the 2 male cops survived and my poor girl just straight up got ran over and died rip

oh i see she's in a coma

so we just won't know how they caught the sell-out cop? or we're just supposed to assume they got some info from the fish farm lol

why the fuck did you yell Myeong-gil's name, are you dumb

and then also dropped the knife? you dumb?

and Woojin had also dropped the taser? fr?

you're literally trying to just fuck up the man who killed and ruined hundreds and thousands of people, fuck your "I've become a bloodhound" i need you to straight up kill Myeong-gil or call the cops right now at least tf

well at least keep a couple gold bars for yourself too because you're the poor people who are supposed to be helped too btw lol

siwon playing a fuckass sympathetic kind character is so agh ew also why give him all the money to improve their company image or whatever agh rich ppl like why would you trust a cocky chaebol kid?

well at least they do get 2 gold bars = 1B won = ~1M USD each

Overall:

Good enough, especially the heart of episode 6 but not something I'll be thinking about at all. The characters didn't resonate a whole lot, this focused a lot on just fighting scenes (more than like strategizing, being clever, etc, which is usually what I'm a fan of), the defeat of the villains wasn't really satisfying at all - especially with how cruel episode 6 went down. Also, I don’t ship Geonwoo and Woojin, sadly.

Rating: 6.5/10

[leia-organaa]

love is for suckers is so good. lovely and soft but still funny and warm, but it gives off the vibe that it’s going to have a bittersweet ending. reminds me of those lazy weekend afternoon tv shows decades ago, or those sad romance films we love to make over here, with a bit of nostalgia and nighttime melancholy thrown in.

gotta say that dahee is gorgeous and so relatable, and siwon is proving himself to be an underrated actor yet again. rooting for these two, but as someone from their generation who has seen stuff like this play out in real life, i think i better prepare myself for wherever this is headed.

[thatwizardofearthsea]

r/kvariety is backing up Seok Jin and Siwon and that isn't suprising. I really don't like or side with actors in these shows. Actors do act, that is their best skill to show off. In long term that is the goal and main profit to gain the most screen time and get popularity. SJ is eliminating the Go player was a quite jerk move and probably scripted like 90% of that show. They are told to be the ones solving that puzzle or whatever. I don't understand how those two are so victimized on Reddit

Though I also don't like ORBIT and can't stand the other Youtuber guy too. Dong Joo looks smart and kind but unfortunate to see she is siding with that group. Overall I only watch this show for the cinnamon roll kpop singer and that supportive ahjumma. Their personas are so sweet at least

[scarletmaster143]

Skip beat: a hilarious mess full of love, friendship and human connections

(please do not expect cohesion or structure)

Skip beat will always always have a very special place in my heart solely due to the fact that it is the funniest show I have ever watched. The manga is written in an absurd, exaggerated style and both the anime and the drama manage to capture its unique sense of humour excellently. Ivy's over the top acting, siwon's cool but baffled expressions, dong hae's haughty side eyes (so much eyeliner) managed to capture the characters of kyoki, ren and sho so beautifully. It will always be a great pity that we never got a season two for either. (also props to the actors who played Mr yashiro and lory in the drama, they have my heart)

Coming to the characters themselves-

Kyoko: my beautiful bold courageous child, who dreams of fairytales even when she's going through hell. Her journey is amazing and inspiring and I adore how she rejects love but gravitates to cute things. Her friendship with moko is heartwarming and so is her big sister-ship with Maria. She makes so many connections throughout the story and each connection is so precious, i love it. My fav arc for her has to be the natsu arc but i will go into each character in detail.

Rich lady- yes I'm including this in her list of roles even though she didn't really play this part. The anime rendition of this is my favourite episode to watch solely because of how beautiful she looks and how much grit she has. It is also the first of many instances we see where kyoko draws from her own life consciously to act out a role, her past with sho is so shaded by her devotion and his indifference it was amazing to see how she took something positive from that.

Promo clip angel- legitimately gasped when I saw her outfit in the anime, so fucking gorgeous and it was so funny how she couldn't stop crying when thinking of moko (ahhhh kyoko is so adorable) also in the drama when she is bickering with sho (or shang ig?) in this outfit, have a hate-love relationship with the prisoner song tho.

Mio- ah mio, has there ever been a more iconic character, the last one we see in the anime and drama mio is iconic to kyoko in-universe as well as in the real world. The masterful way she crafts the character to be a little twisted but still striving to do the right thing, how she takes ren's advice and completely flips that perception that people have of mio, and how much heart she puts into learning about mio is awe-inspiring. Kyoko looks so good during her entire time as mio and i legitimately forgot how long she plays the role for- so many things happen while they are still shooting dark moon. Mio also allows kyoko to showcase a little bit of her darker side with the spirits of grudge

Natsu- the most delightful and horrifying character natsu's arc is the epitome of a showbiz drama. Her being so determined to shed mio but completely unable to, the entire sequence where the director and his assistant (?) discuss how she carries herself so different from other people her age, HER GOING TO REN'S PLACE AND DEMANDING HE TRAINS HER LIKE A FEMALE MODEL, chef's kiss. I like that she kept mio's wickedness but amplified it in a way that was more true to life. I feel like natsu somewhat resembles sho in certain ways tho I'm not sure if that was intentional. All in all it is the first step in kyoko's journey beyond dark moon and it is executed really well .

Kuon- lowkey forgot about it but when kuu asks kyoko to act as his son, it gave me goosebumps. Knowing that kuu is kuon's father and that kyoko has actually met him the past was already exciting, but when she showed up in that American boy outfit, i was stunned. Her meeting with ren was so cool, yashiro being confused af, ren being like wtf and her panicking internally, such a chaotic arc, her relationship with teacher/father is so adorable, she really thinks of kuu as a mentor and it warms my heart, i really want to see more kuu-juliena/ren-kyoko interactions simply because of how much ren's parents adore kyoko individually, but yes kuon is very special to kyoko and it helped her get over he funk with mio and natsu

Setsu- if natsu is my favourite arc then setsu has to be my favourite character. Made up for no legitimate purpose except for the ✨romantic spice ✨ setsu is such a cool character and her dynamic with ren as cain is absolutely revolting but also so cuuttteee. I love her fashion, love her confidence, there is a bit of natsu to her but definitely more outcast-y. My girl is totally a Vivienne Westwood grunge queen and i cannot ever get the hotel-hickey scene out of my head, kyoko's acting grows leaps and bounds here as she works with ren who even falls prey to her, it is beautiful. (Love that she kicks sho just for laughs) I hope we find some way to meet setsu again since we see murasame make a reappearance, would love to see her act as setsu in front of beagle boy,

Momiji- we haven't seen a lot of momiji the character but i do adore a tragic love, the momiji arc was probably the best in displaying how much kyoko has grown and how her connections with other people have shaped her, she's more sure of herself largely because she knows she has reliable people backing her up and their loyalty is a direct result of her kindness/positive behaviour with them. Her faith in her own abilities is very encouraging to see and i find momiji surprisingly similar to mio in that she has to hide her real feelings due to circumstances out of her control, her devotion to shizumasa and her grudging respect for chidori just as she bleeds out perfectly tie up her arc and though she is tragic she is splendid. I like that they took the time to establish kyoko's current position before moving into the route arc which I feel is going to be long and tedious, morizumi was a pain and director kuresaki is so pathetic i love him