2024 Watch List pt2
Mr Unlucky has no choice but to kiss - Very, very cute and silly without being slapstick. This gets a bit lost in its own soup and after about episode 4 it drags some. Also just a bizarre and somewhat anticlimactic ending. The leads are lovely though and they do work well together. 3/5 (22/2/24)
What did you eat yesterday S1 - Just perfect. Watching Shiro & Kenji grow together over the episodes is a treat. This is as warm and tender as it is brilliantly observed and funny. A true must watch. 5/5 (24/2/24)
The Sign - This just got lost in itself. It had moments of absolute perfection but there were, for me, too many threads it didn’t tie up. Personally I liked this show the most in its procedural show parts and less in its fantasy elements, where I feel it had the most work to do. This isn’t one I’ll rewatch but I did enjoy the journey. 3/5 (25/2/24)
If it’s with you - Lovely is the best word for this. Just a little warm hug of a thing. A sweet story of first love. 4/5 (26/2/24)
I became the main role of a BL drama - Very soft and silly. Not much happens but the leads are lovely and fun to watch. Would kind of love a spin off about the managers if I’m honest. Zero complaints. Just a cute, easy, quick watch. 3/5 (27/2/24)
Kabe Koji - Very enjoyable. Absolutely loved the manga come to life concept of this one. It was super fun to look at. Personally, I think this could have done with maybe 1 or 2 more episodes. Neither character felt as explored as I would have liked. A nice watch nonetheless :) 3/5 (27/2/24)
The Man who defies the world of BL s1 & 2 - This is so unbelievably funny and well observed. Atsuhiro is a master at comedic faces and they never feel slapstick or overdone. Loved every silly second. 4/5 (28/2/24)
Candy Colour Paradox - This isn’t the best acted thing and the chemistry is only so-so it also really starts to drag in places. (Inserting Izuka Kenta into a multiple episode arc was a choice because he’s incredible and it only serves to highlight the so-so of the leads.) Having said all these things it still has a charm and I still enjoyed watching it. Just perhaps not one I’ll be itching to rewatch or suggest to friends. 3/5 (28/2/24)
Perfect Propose - A sweet six episode watch that’s really all about being human. Kai has to realise that being part of peoples lives is both terrifying but necessary and Hiro must learn to value the role he plays in the world. Just a gorgeous little watch. 4/5 (1/3/24)
Kei x Yaku - Is this a BL? Not really? It’s more like gay romance is heavily inferred but here is a messed up, lovely little found family so enjoy that. This is so much fun and I can’t rec it highly enough. Very much just tune in and have fun. 4/5 (1/3/24)
Cherry Magic - Zero notes. Absolute perfection. TayNew supremacy. 5/5 (2/3/24)
My Personal Weatherman - Just bored me honestly. It’s not bad but it’s not as good as some make it out to be. I think if I’d watched this before the novelist I might have liked it more? Not something I’ll reach for again. 3/5 (3/3/24)
My Beautiful Man s1&2 - This is very Japanese and, on paper, should not have worked for me at all. In practice tho? I loved this. I understand the reasons this is controversial but I also think if you go into this without any of the disk horse you’ll just see it for what it is; a love story between two broken boys with piss poor communication skills and self esteem issues. 4/5 (5/3/24)
My Beautiful Man Eternal - This movie is the third part of the beautiful man series. I genuinely think you could skip s2 and go straight in for this. It delivers what I would have wanted, but was impossible to give in four episodes, from s2. We see Hira and Kiyoi’s growth as individuals and also together and we finish with them as equals, with Kiyoi speaking to his king Hira. Beautifully shot, excellently acted. Will watch again. 5/5 (6/3/24)
23 notes
·
View notes
I have Not been doing what I should have been doing this week, which is Not Great. BUT. I have been feeling the urge to watch BL again, so I been flittering around streaming services and binging some and dropping others. Here's the list of the 18, in the order I watched them, with brief thoughts on each. My rating (out of 10) are in [blue]. Feel free to ask me to say more about any of them!
Pit Babe (2 eps) [7]
Fun, enjoyed the tropiness of it, intrigued by Jeff/Alan, whatever secrets Charlie and Jeff are keeping, and that drifting competition which was hella sexy. I like my omegaverse fics "non traditional" so i appreciated that the first BL out there was alpha/alpha. I wasn't engaged enough to keep going, but would like eventually to pick it up again. One of the few shows I'm not filtering the tag for, so I'm enjoying other people's reactions and gifs.
My Personal Weatherman (finished) [8]
I wanted to love it more than I did, many aspects were wonderful, but the leads never felt like real characters to me, just seme/uke tropes fulfilling their roles. Actors very pretty though. I have a bunch of notes I may finish and post eventually.
Laws of Attraction (finished) [9]
10% of it was terrible, 10% was completely nonsensical (instagram live-ing your date while on the lam? really??), 10% was mediocre, 50% was good, and 20% was sublime. Film was phenomenal as the complicated lawyer with his thousands of smiles, and I now have a crush on him. I started watching a het lakorn for him afterwards (Lucky Star, free on Viki, very soap opera, he and his costar are great). I loved grandma and the batshit ex. I've already forgotten parts of the plot. Wish it could have been higher heat, the restrictions kinda fucked with Charn and Tinn's chemistry in the second half, after they got together, but Film made it work with his coy blushing maiden routine. And their chemistry pre-dating was fire. Second leads were cute and I do love me a pining bodyguard, but sadly the actors were kinda eh.
I Became the Main Role of a BL (1 ep) [9]
I am very excited about this, doing so many things well, balancing slapstick and humanity, all the little details are great. I like how the "real world" is still tropey and absurd but also noticibku more grounded than the "drama" world. I'm invested in the managers' stories. I have hopes for its sexiness, given how Aoyagi was touching Akufuji's arm in their rehearsal. Love love love Akufuji stanning.
Double Mints (finished) [5]
um. I didn't hate it. I didn't like it exactly, but there were some poignant moments. My first actually dark BL (I know Pornographer is classified as dark, but it didn't feel that way to me). Possibly there's some profundity in it, but it didn't grab me enough that I want to spend the time thinking about it. Also many plot things that didn't make sense to me. Perhaps just translation issues? Unlike the next on my list, this wasn't porn, it was a violent yakuza story. Not actually very explicit given that it's supposed to be high heat, with the significant exception of a rape scene.
The Shortest Distance is Round (Noir) (finished) [5]
I mean this is literally softcore porn with a weird dark plot around it. I think most of the actors are actual porn actors; I know the lead is. I could have thoughts on the story, but I feel like I'd need to know more about Japanese cinema to say anything meaningful. Just saying, the sexual harassment at the beginning is the tamest bit. Also a hilarious misdirect with the dead fish sleep kiss (at least for me who was going in blind). Some of the sex was hilarious (goat boy!) some of it was creepy and rapey, and some was genuinely hot.
Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss (3.5 eps) [7.5]
Fun and fluffy, like the premise, the seme character has charm, but soon lost interest in that level of slapstick and tropiness. May eventually finish.
Love Stage Japan 2018 (half an ep or so) [6]
Liked it more than the Thai version, which I saw a few episodes of. The set up makes more sense. Soon lost interest in that slapstick style. Wouldn't avoid it, but no current urge to return.
Utsukushii Kare 2 (My Beautiful Man 2) (finished) [9]
I love them so much! As the middle section, it didn't work as well on its own as season one (a hothouse masterpiece) or the movie (their blossoming), but it was an important bridge in their journey.
Utsukushii Kare Eternal (My Beautiful Man Eternal) (finished) [10]
So amazing. I wasn't sure that they could make a good ending of this story but they knocked it out of the park. Managed the tricky balancing act of having Hira and Koyoi grow up and learn to have a healthy relationship while still remaining their kinky weird selves. Echoed season one in so many beautiful and meaningful ways. I may eventually write more about it.
Long Time No See (movie) (finished) [7]
I didn't recognize the title so o started it without knowing anything about genre or plot. I wanted to like this much more than I did. Theoretically I am into all the elements. But somehow it didn't work for me. It felt hollow, or rather like the outline of a movie rather than the movie itself. Nothing really felt real to me. Perhaps just my mood, perhaps because I didn't recognize the name and so went in to it completely lost and confused. And the sex scenes all felt a little off, a little fake to me. Like the actors were kinda uncomfortable with it. It was very low budget for its concept, and I think needed to either be full kdrama length (maybe 8 full episodes) of get somehow even artier about it to be an atmospheric film. Which it should have been, and all indicators pointed to it, but somehow wasn't. I think I needed to know the characters better to care about. Which may or may not have required learning more about them; there are characters I've felt deeply that I knew very little about, but somehow not with these two. Also I couldn't get the sister's deal. It felt like she was hinting she knew the assassin secrets? But also not. Anyways, the leads were very pretty. And the shot of them stumbling out of the final fight was moving. I may write more later.
Dom (a Strongberry short) (dnf) [4]
Only 13 minutes long and I couldn't finish it, even with 1.5x speed in parts. Experimental little short about anthropomorphized condom boxes, and there's some sort of human plot about a virgin and his cheating boyfriend that I lost track of. It's not bad, just not what I was in the mood for.
Bake Me Please (like 10 minutes of ep 1) [5.5]
When I was talking about not being into cooking themed shows this is the kind of show I mean. It already had a bunch of tropes that are not for me, particularly random normal people treated like celebrities, and people on tumblr seem frustrated with it so it didn't feel worth pursuing.
Ossan's Love (2018 Japan) (2 of 7 eps) [8]
Seems very well constructed to be exactly what they wanted it to be. My enjoyment of that sort of slapstick and yelling style show depend on my mood, and I lost interest, but want to return eventually because it's a foundational show.
Love Mate (less than 1 ep) [7]
Some appealing elements, but got annoyed at the employee's negging and pushiness. I guess I'm too particular about realism, but in what company would it be acceptable to turn a meeting about their product into a psychoanalytical critique of why your boss can't love. Also I es confused by the bosses dating strategy. He just regularly meets up with men 1 time for awkward meals that he seems to hate and then doesn't even have sex with them? Or were we supposed to infer the sex was just censored out? Not the biggest deals but both together indicated that this show was going to play loose with logic in a way that would irritate me. And the seme was being a pushy ass.
Naked Dining (Zenra Meshi) (finished) [8.5]
Loved it overall, though had flaws. Loveblogged it so many thoughts in the tags.
My Ride (4 out of 10 eps) [7]
See today's liveblogging for my thoughts. I like many aspects, but lost interest after four eps. Didn't catch me up enough to want to binge it. I think I'm in an actor centric mode, and unfortunately none of the actors are that good in it.
Every Moment That I Think of You (finished) [8.5]
Randomly found on Gaga, 2 very short episodes from China 2021. Very appealing leads, censored, high school romance/intense friendship, partially through the pandemic. Fit a year's worth of story into 28 minutes. Surprisingly solid, though made me want to see the full length uncensored version of their love story, same actors. Ending confused me. Subtitles of voiceover implied that was their last night together but didn't say what happened, but nothing and was shown. Perhaps just a bad translation? Very low budget (sound mixing was amateur) but did a lot with what they had. Chaotic adolescent boy camera work and editing style, always moving, which fit story very well. Recommend if ok with censored stories.
17 notes
·
View notes
managed to get some loose doodles in during D&D tonight, on a topic that’s been conceptually bouncing around my brain. Tumblr probably murdered the quality in the dashboard view hhghhhhh…
what if the creatures of Hunters Unlucky had Shelts (faunlike creatures) in the style of Wefrivain/Panamindorah?
First one’s a possible version of the Telshee, Keesha. Probably being a nosy nuisance on purpose to an offscreen Arcove. Long white hair on this species seems fitting, they’re sirens after all, as does the beard for someone who is the eldest waking Telshee. Big pupils for underwater eyesight, and a slightly greyer skintone like a seal’s. Clothes omitted because I can't think of any that wouldn't get in the way of swimming good, and it fits the mythical creature feel.
Second one’s a foraging Ferryshaft. Probably pretty thin and leggy fauns, even if a bit small. They’d make a weird faun that’d be hard for people to categorize, with their animal counterparts being omnivores that hunt and having the more wolfish tail. Braid for practicality, and loose simple clothes that allow for a good range of motion, and running. I started coloring him and then realized due to palette and clothing choices they accidentally look exactly like one of my own characters, so I just leaned into that. Their name is Virgil.
8 notes
·
View notes