This drama doesn't age well

There are great dramas that are ten years old, and then there are some that have not aged well. The themes and messages here - especially for women - are spent and should be retired immediately. I am SO OVER the tired, cliched, and frankly unhelpful trope of the cold, mean, and bordering on abusive ML, as well as a FL who basically spends the whole drama getting berated, shamed, and publicly humiliated by the ML. Not to mention being called "stupid", "not pretty", "dumb", and "only cute sometimes" by multiple family members throughout the drama - including the ML. Also, and this might be the worst for me, (slight spoiler), we get to witness a few other women make moves on the ML in front of the FL, and the ML did nothing, or next to nothing, to try to stop them, and on multiple occasions played along. (Slight spoiler: this could have been excused at the beginning of the drama, but most certainly not toward the end, where it became seriously inappropriate.)

Much of the problem was also that not only did we hate the ML for being so nasty so often towards the FL, but the writernims did her not one single favor and made her about as ditsy, clumsy, clueless, and ridiculous as any character I've ever seen. There were no explanations given for why the FL was so "stupid" - but I imagine she had an undiagnosed learning disability, and it affected the way she learned and acted.
Everything she could possibly screw up, she did, everything she could drop, she dropped, everything she could be blamed for (even if it wasn't remotely her fault,) she got blamed for it, any situation could be turned into an opportunity to publicly humiliate her because of her actions, etc. She spoke like a baby for much of the drama, and at one point the sound of her voice actually started making me angry. It was like the viewers were being asked by the writers to join in the hate-fest for the FL because they just made it too easy. (That's not the actor's fault, necessarily, it's how she was directed and how the character was written.) These were not likable characters, in my opinion. And believe me, I tried.

There was also precious little overt kindness shown to the FL by the ML, and we didn't get much affection until the very end. (Again, slight spoiler: a very big life transition, which is supposed to be joyous, instead was permeated with coldness, and meanness, and even dread - it frankly ruined the whole thing for me.)

The cautionary tale here is that for 99.75% of the drama the FL had no life of her own, no ambition outside of orbiting around the ML like a planet, (that was even explicitly referenced), no capacity to exist outside of, or away from the ML, and no way to change his often-hateful behavior towards her. She was so insecure that she resorted to openly stalking the ML and exhibiting behavior that the viewers were expected to accept as cute and funny and romantic from her, but not from the SML or the SFL. It was a ludicrous way that women were treated in dramas, even just ten years ago, and I am so glad that we see less and less of this trope at present. It's just too damaging. To quite Kimmy Schmidt: "Females are strong as hell" and our media is starting to reflect that more, thankfully.

One positive thing I can say about the drama, is that it portrayed perseverance well...well, mostly well. I did not love that the FL was rewarded for her behavior during the years she had a one-sided obsession but I really did love her explanation of her nickname: Noah's Snail. Many of us have felt that way, and I did love that. But that was honestly the only thing.

Leia Mais

This is a drama that I rewatch often. Suzuki Jin, with his beautiful caramel-colored skin and doe-eyes, is like a precious little puppy and I was particularly drawn to the significant vulnerability that he portrayed in every episode. This drama ultimately shows that LOVE, no matter the ages of the characters, wins in the end.

And I love so much about this. Japanese dramas often get right to the point and sometimes that's a refreshing change of pace from an endless slow burn.

The music is haunting and lends itself perfectly to the background. (I wish I could find what the one song is!)
The acting is flawless. This was my first Suzuki Jin drama and I went right out searching for others of his to watch. He's got quite a talent at only 24 years old (at this writing, and between 20-21 when this drama came out!)

So free your mind from often-rigid societal expectations and enjoy this celebration of love between two unlikely people who simply found what they needed in the other person.

Leia Mais

So much to love here

I thought I would never like a K-BL as much as Semantic Error, but The Eighth Sense has moved in and completely taken over. What a beautiful and sumptuous and emotional ride...like surfing. Lots of falls and false starts, but when you finally get to stand up on the board and see the water curl around you, it's magical and like it's meant to be.

The eighth sense, as others have mentioned here, is interoception - the sense that starts deep inside a human being, the sensations that are both natural and learned. Some sensations we're born knowing how to attend to, and some we need to learn how to recognize.

This should mark not only a new era of K-BL but a new era of filmmaking and storytelling.

Leia Mais

Beautiful from beginning to end

This is pure sweetness and love. The film explores themes of abandonment, failure, trust, and, ultimately, love and self-acceptance. The acting was first-rate, there wasn't a false note entire film. The music was unexpected, but somehow perfect too. The writing was understated and soft, and yet carried emotional weight. The leads reminded me of the characters from the film version Life-Love on the Line, my other favorite LGBTQ+ film from Japan. These are important stories to tell, and yet, this film doesn't make them exceptional - they're just human. Which is even better.

Leia Mais

This is the story we need

You need to watch Seven Days: Monday-Thursday first, and then Friday-Sunday. I hope that they put the two together sometime because it should be watched as a longer movie. I'll be referring to both movies as just one in this review.

This is not your typical BL story, and that's good. What this is, instead, is an exquisitely and breathtakingly beautiful story about two young men in high school who, almost accidentally, realize a love that they didn't know existed or was even possible. There isn't any fanservice here, thank goodness, only phenomenal - and age-appropriate! - writing and acting. They actually act and speak like high school boys and their shyness, embarrassment, and halting actions were all backed up by their inner thoughts, which the audience was thankfully privy to. We got to listen in on their doubts and lack of self-confidence even when their outer appearance was the opposite. I had never seen either main lead before and my goodness, they both delivered 100%. Also, the OST was the perfect accompaniment to the story, and it was shot really well, from lighting to the filming angles.
But the importance of this story lies well past how well-done it was. It lies in the fact that two people, who happen to be the same gender, find a love in each other. Yes, most of us have seen BL stories before, and many of us have seen a lot of BL before. And reams of type have been dedicated to the more problematic aspects of BLs, like the lack of consent too often portrayed as normal, the often-toxic nature of the relationships, again portrayed as not only normal, but expected in these relationships, and the ways BLs cater to the female gaze, making that more important than the other stories of LGBTQ+ men and women that deserve to be told. So we need more stories like this (and maybe less problematic BL!)
The beloved LGBTQ+ folks in my life experience the same kinds of fears and hurts as straight folks do in relationships and many of them want to get married and have a family and live a stable, settled life with their love. And they deserve that chance. Hopefully stories like these Seven Days films, Life-Love on the Line, and others, will help change public opinion enough in Japan to help pass marriage equality laws and normalize LOVE. Because that's what it is. #lovewins.

Leia Mais

Breathtakingly beautiful and honestly almost perfect

This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen, and I don't say that lightly. I loved the show, but this film gives us more breathing room and time to spend getting to know the characters - to see how time changes them and their relationship.
This isn't your typical BL stuffed with fanservice, and in fact I would argue that this isn't BL at all. Instead it's a gorgeously filmed, exquisitely written, and flawlessly acted film that celebrates the existence and resilience of LGBTQ+ folks, which caused me to ugly-cry at more than one place in the film. The characters aren't caricatures - they're written to be real people who are meant to be together and who fight to be together - sometimes fighting themselves and their preconceived notions of what "normal" is.

Leia Mais

So much to like here - like a giant ice cream cone

This drama was like a giant ice cream cone that you needed to eat really fast or else it might melt all over your clothes and just be sticky. But first things first, I loved it. Like a lot. I haven't been this obsessed with trashy makjang goodness like this since Maid's Revenge (and this one gave me even more of it.) It was so unrealistic in parts, so over the top, so....well, makjang, that it defied reality at times, but it didn't matter because the actors almost fully sold it.
Namely Fan Zhi Xin, the main male lead, he absolutely frickin' killed it here. 100% sold his character, 100% showed up in his character's skin, and I was here for every minute of it.
He's a star in the making, and I will watch just about anything he's in going forward.

There was so much to like (and dislike) about this drama.
Spoilers ahead!!!

What I (really) liked:
-Now THAT is how you kiss your onscreen partner. Everyone else needs to take a few lessons.
-The reminder that revenge doesn't always go as planned. Sometimes we don't get the revenge we wanted, and sometimes it still all goes to shit even with all of our preparation.
-Tang Lin's redemption - I didn't see it coming and it was a pleasant surprise (also I even felt kind of sorry for her at the engagement ceremony)
-I actually appreciate when a character finally owns up to all the loss, when a character acts like one might actually act in real life if they've violently lost almost every member of their family. I'm not saying that being catatonic after multiple losses is normal behavior, but it sometimes is, and even if it isn't outward behavior, often the inner life after such losses mimics this.
Sometimes you just have to have characters who are so shattered by their circumstances and their experiences that they're rendered speechless for a little while. I feel like characters are often SO resilient and tough that nothing seems to bother them and that multiple traumas don't ever catch up to them...and that's just often not very realistic. So when a super angsty drama comes along and allows characters to FEEL things, (even too much at times), it might actually help us to feel things too.
-I loved the plot twists all the way through.
-The OST was great!

What I didn't like:
-the SFL - she was super annoying most of the time, not to mention clueless and needlessly chirpy and loud. I didn't see the point of her character for most of the drama and I hated the stupid love triangle she was in.
-I HATE DUBBING. I hate dubbing, I hate when they dub their voices....I hate it, full stop. So that's not just this drama, but almost all dubbing.
-iQiyi's subs - they are often straight up terrible and they never take my subbing suggestions. (lol). I'm grateful for a place to watch C-dramas I can't get elsewhere but come on with the bad subs so often.
-The excesses of this drama were mentioned before and will be mentioned again but when you realize what kind of drama it is, you should be aware of what's coming. And so I didn't even mind the villains here as much as I minded the SFL.

I'm off to find more Fan Zhi Xin dramas.

Leia Mais

Just not enough of a story for its premise

Just as I started watching this film, I made the mistake of reading a comment about how it looked like it was filmed like a U.S. young adult movie from the 90's, and the damage was done - I just couldn't unsee it from then on. At times it made me think I was watching "Reality Bites" from 1994 but with 21st century bells and whistles, like social media and access to fancy camera equipment. Young adult struggles are young adult struggles, no matter the era, and you never really know the people around you - that's the big takeaway from this movie.

The storytelling wasn't linear, and normally that's not a problem , but this film felt too disconnected to really grab hold of what it was supposed to be about. I would have liked to have seen more actual plot and less music video or scenes that were trying to be shocking and new (but just felt sad.) The rare moments where the flash and glitz all stopped and we could see real emotion were welcomed but not nearly plentiful enough. A huge crime was committed at the beginning of the film (no spoilers) but the lack of fall-out was truly far-fetched at times and added to the viewer wondering if we were just watching one long dream sequence.

One of the main characters said: "I believed without thinking too much" and I thought that was appropriate. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and one of the real lessons we all need to learn as we grow up. But I wanted much more from this film than I got.

Leia Mais

Brought me to tears so many times.

I loved this so much. I cried so many times throughout the film, some for sad scenes, but sometimes because it was so beautiful I didn't know what else to do. I'm not going to read any other reviews or comments here because I want to keep my experience of this movie all to myself. It left me with so much to think about. Really, really well-done.
The acting was first-rate. Taishi Nakagawa is a new favorite, and his softness under pain was powerful, but Marie Iitoyo brought her A-game to this one. For such young actors, they both exhibited such maturity and strength.

Leia Mais

This is how a plot-twist is done

This movie was brilliant and just deeply profound on many levels. There's a plot-twist that makes the whole thing swing around in the middle and go a completely different direction, and because the writing, direction, and acting were all absolutely first-rate, it all works. Is it all spelled out for everyone and tied up at the end in a neat little bow? No, because that's not how life works. This film has a lot to say about trauma, (inter-generational and one's own), fame, identity, art, shame, and hidden thoughts that we might not want to talk about out loud, but they end up emerging anyway. (If you've ever lost anyone to suicide, the very ending scene will make a lot of sense.)
Suda Masaki was flawless, as usual, and I was very pleasantly surprised by Nakajima Yuto.
I had no expectations going into this film, but it will go on my 'best of' list now. Really well done.

Leia Mais

We need more stories like this!!!

You need to watch Seven Days: Monday-Thursday first, and then Friday-Sunday. I hope that they put the two together sometime because it should be watched as a longer movie. I'll be referring to both movies as just one in this review.
This is not your typical BL story, and that's good. What this is, instead, is an exquisitely and breathtakingly beautiful story about two young men in high school who, almost accidentally, realize a love that they didn't know existed or was even possible. There isn't any fanservice here, thank goodness, only phenomenal - and age-appropriate! - writing and acting. They actually act and speak like high school boys and their shyness, embarrassment, and halting actions were all backed up by their inner thoughts, which the audience was thankfully privy to. We got to listen in on their doubts and lack of self-confidence even when their outer appearance was the opposite. I had never seen either main lead before and my goodness, they both delivered 100%. Also, the OST was the perfect accompaniment to the story, and it was shot really well, from lighting to the filming angles.
But the importance of this story lies well past how well-done it was. It lies in the fact that two people, who happen to be the same gender, find a love in each other. Yes, most of us have seen BL stories before, and many of us have seen a lot of BL before. And reams of type have been dedicated to the more problematic aspects of BLs, like the lack of consent too often portrayed as normal, the often-toxic nature of the relationships, again portrayed as not only normal, but expected in these relationships, and the ways BLs cater to the female gaze, making that more important than the other stories of LGBTQ+ men and women that deserve to be told. So we need more stories like this (and maybe less problematic BL!)
The beloved LGBTQ+ folks in my life experience the same kinds of fears and hurts as straight folks do in relationships and many of them want to get married and have a family and live a stable, settled life with their love. And they deserve that chance. Hopefully stories like these Seven Days films, Life-Love on the Line, and others, will help change public opinion enough in Japan to help pass marriage equality laws and normalize LOVE. Because that's what it is. #lovewins.

Leia Mais