#Mood Indigo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

absolutebl · 5 months

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Hey. Ty very much for your posts. As a woman in my 30s I got hypnotised by the beauty of the novelists and was wondering if you had similar high heat intense recommendations (also watched the samurai one "taboo"), bi or mlm with older leads and non fluffy storylines.. Moody atmospheric and venomous is my weak spot

Moody, atmospheric & venomous BL

Like, the Novelist? really?

AKA Pornographer movie series AKA The Novelist, Mood Indigo, Pornographer Playback (Japan 2018-2020) - emotional manipulation, cheating, obsession, seduction, May/December, kink, touch of necrophilia, explicit.

Okay I got one right off the bat: seek ye....

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese

AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - obsession, cheating, breakup, reunion, then break up again, explicit, mature characters.

Now let me think about some more:

high heat

intense

non fluffy

older leads

The last one is a doozy, so I'm not gonna use it as a qualifier. BL is most, well, about "boys" not men.

Some others that might work for you but don't meet all your criteria:

Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan 2020 Netflix) - this movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it.

Innocent (Taiwan 2021 GaGa) - mental health, childhood trauma, actually kinda sweet.

The Eighth Sense (Korea 2023 Viki - This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a KBL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled but it's really damn good.

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan 2023 Gaga) - Basically: boys who fell in love in college end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don't realize they're in love. They're hot, young, in love, and total idiots.

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Thai 2023 grey or YT) - IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, elegant and classy… from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, it gets hot more that explicit, but it does have sharp edges.

Tokyo in April is AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan 2023 Viki) - Two young men with a shared tragic past reunite and fall in love all over again, but the past will not stop hunting them. It’s Japan in full on soft focus which means it gets emo, abusive, and chewy. These two characters are giving parts of their souls away in a desperate attempt to shape themselves to the expectations they have of each other it's heavy and cutting.

Moonlight Chicken (Thai 2023) - I enjoyed this complicated little show, even though it’s spectacularly messy gay with lots of shrapnel and authentic pain. EarthMix turn in their most compelling performance to date.

Bed Friend (Thai 2023 IQIYI) - Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS). NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth.

Big Dragon (Thai 2022 Gaga) - This is a decent execution of true enemies to lovers, these two spy on and bully each other, exploring darker themes and self worth issues. The way the leads transition between anger, resentment, titillation, and flirting (and the way, with kinksters, this can all be the same thing) is really well done. A pairing that proved itself to be a lot more sophisticated than I expected with excellent chemistry, but something went askew around plot, directing, and ending. Still if you're in it for the sexy, go to, they did.

My Beautiful Man AKA Utsukushii Kare (Japan 2021 Gaga - One of the most Japanese BLs to release in the last decade, as weird and as messed up as any 2000′s yaoi: emo af and hella warped, entirely true to itself with no attempt made to modify its POV for modern sensibilities or current BL fandom. It used seriously old school problematic and kinky tropes, like whipping boy, for a truly uncompromising piece that also manages to hit up themes of communication, consent, and self acceptance. It’s a wonderful BL but uniquely dirty and harsh, in the best possible way - Japanese cinema, uncompromising.

End of the World With You

Junjou: Pure Heart

The Egoist

No thoughts on those three, not my thing.

You also might consider some of the stuff on this list:

Hope that gives you some options!

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thecasualfkfan · 20 days

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#ossan's Love #my beautiful man #cherry magic japan #my love mix up #kieta hatsukoi #old fashion cupcake #my personal weatherman #minato shouji coin laundry #the novelist #pornographer #mood indigo #given anime #given #life: senjou no bokura #his movie #utsukushii kare #cherry magic #japanese bl #. polls

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bengiyo · 3 months

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An Apology to Ossan's Love and The Novelist

I'm writing this post today as a formal apology to both Ossan's Love and The Novelist for avoiding them in 2018-2019 due to general negative fandom takes about them. Both shows are great, and I should have watched them six years ago.

I recently watched the Pornographer series thanks to @lurkingshan burning some of her coupons to make me properly engage with the series. In that series I found one of the most compelling expressions of internalized homophobia I’ve ever seen. Rio was not only cut off from being sexual with other people, but he felt like he couldn’t even be a proper man.

Later, in Mood Indigo, we got to see the messed-up way Rio became an erotic novelist but also finally seemed to connect with an important part of himself. He also found a mentor who, despite his proclivities, became an important paternal figure to Rio.

Finally, in Playback, Rio finally faced his own insecurities and accepted that Haruhiko loves him and reciprocated it. At every stage of this story, they are able to communicate so much of their story through the sex that’s happening. We’re applauding depictions of sex happening in the genre now that this series was doing half a decade ago.

I decided to give Ossan’s Love a second try when I saw @isaksbestpillow getting so excited about the second season and providing context for the original show. With Ossan’s Love, I understand why people might have bounced off this series right away. A lot of folks don’t enjoy the way the Japanese do comedy, Haruta is intentionally unlikeable at the beginning, and I’ve seen concerns about the boss either being a predator or that his feelings would be treated as a joke.

Thankfully, I tend to enjoy Japanese comedy and found the show hilarious! I was laughing out loud almost every single episode because of multiple characters, but most especially Yoshida Kotaro as the boss. This show generated so much of its comedy from the core characterization of each character, so every joke landed so smoothly for me.

Something I really liked about this show was that it never said we were wrong for disliking Haruta for being a mess and a slob. He cannot take care of himself, and he barely gets better at it before the end of the show. I like that Maki breaking up with him didn’t make him suddenly straighten up his ways about this and become a fully-functioning housekeeper, but he did get better about doing some chores even as the chief started taking care of him. Haruta isn’t the easiest character to like on the domestic front, but he is good at his job and he is a kind character. I like that you have to figure out why these guys like the mess that is Haruta, because I like the audience has to think about what in men that gay people find attractive. Is that a rosy-eyed read? Yes. I don’t are.

As for the boss, he never uses his position over Haruta, and they’re also in sales. It’s not as egregious to me as it would feel in other positions. I also like that his attraction to Haruta isn’t a joke, but the fact that he’s older and maybe isn’t speaking the language of the youth is very funny. He’s an extremely endearing character and I love Kurosawa Musashi.

So, this is my apology to both of these shows for letting negative fan opinions stop me from facing these shows properly. Both of them were great. I’m currently working through the Ossan’s Love: In the Sky season to get to the movie and new show.

#Ben writes #ossan's love #the novelist #pornographer #mood indigo #japanese bl #bl series

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respectthepetty · 6 months

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I know you've been getting a bunch of asks about your favourite qls, but I'm specifically curious about what your favourite *chaotic* qls are.

Off the top of my head, some chaotic qls I enjoyed were Chains of Heart (THE GLOVE DISCOURSE, THE SUBTITLES, etc) and Big Dragon (asshole4asshole? no. clown4clown), while also enjoying the way that the shows were shot.

@kayatoasted, I'm re-reading this ask to make sure I don't answer it with my favorite *trashy* qls, like Hit Bite Love and Together With Me.

You want *chaotic* and they had to be beautifully shot, so although I love the chaos known as Love Mechanics and Dangerous Romance, both had beautiful shots but weren't consistently beautifully shot.

And I had to have enjoyed not only how it was shot but the show itself, so shows like Vice Versa and Only Friends are out.

No, you want my favorite beautifully shot *chaotic* qls that stayed chaotic which significantly reduces the list, but I can give it to you!

My Favorite Beautifully Shot Chaotic BLs

given in no particular order, and much like this subject, this list is chaos

Dee Hup House - Yes, the entire house

I'm not coming for Director Tee or Cinematography Jim. Their shows are beautiful and more adult. I have loved every single one of them. But the endings . . . ? The endings wobble in Step by Step, Something in My Room, Hidden Agenda, and I Feel You Linger in the Air. Yes, I'm including the last one because Tee & Co seem to pick long ass novels that should be multiple seasons, yet a lot of nothing gets shoved into each over-an-hour-long episode, which causes chaos. Even Lovely Writer, which I love the ending, had a moment with the dad's reveal that didn't have time to get fleshed out. Look at Step by Step. We had an entire baby happen in three episodes when the side couple fizzled. I will watch every show from this company and gush about it, but I know it's going to be beautiful chaos.

Big Dragon - Duh!

I'm not going to defend this show. Y'all already know I love this show. It was beautiful. It was chaotic. It was the moment. Period.

Chains of Heart - It's a given

You mentioned it in your ask with reasons why: It was beauty. It was grace. Then, it kicked us in the face. The plot itself was hard to grasp, but the subs only made it worse! Who was who? Why were there so many Men in Black? How did they all fit into the plot? Why would Din volunteer for an entire face transplant only to reappear, never tell Ken it was actually him, then disappear again?! And yet the cinematography was selling this wonderful vision to me each and every episode. I hated it there, and I need more of it immediately. WHERE IS MY SPECIAL EPISODE?!

Not Me - Think about it

We all need to be very honest with ourselves, and really reflect on the premise of this show. Todd put Black in the hospital, proceeds to call his twin, White, to act as him. White says yes even though he has absolutely no idea about Black's life, but he gets a big ass tattoo and his ass kicked multiple times by Sean (because he can't fight). While that is happening, we have Yok chasing around a rouge artist who is actually a cop named Dan who killed [spoilers] dad and Gram is apparently straight the entire time. Then, Papang is in it. Oh, and let's not forget being held hostage in a black van that protestors beat on until the kidnappers, just, let, them, go. Sure, Jan. And I didn't even mention Sean's leap across buildings! It was a good show. It's in my tops. I love it. The rainbow flag scene is embedded in my heart with the other beautifully shot protest scenes. But it was chaos! Let's hold space for that truth.

609 Bedtime Story - Messed up TWICE!

I enjoyed this show until I didn't, and that was when we got TWO endings, yet neither made sense. The colors in the show were immaculate. The plot though? Chaos. One character was traveling back in time and the other was traveling forward, but they weren't even in the same dimension. Then, the sister could not take a fucking hint and ruined the central love story by being a dramatic heterosexual. The point of the time travel was useless because one of the characters still died, but it didn't matter since that character was still alive in the other dimension and . . . MAKE IT MAKE SENSE, MARY!

Cupid's Last Wish - It was the mom for me!

EarthMix have gotten Director Aof twice, so maybe this is why this series, which isn't Aof, feels like chaos. It has such amazingly gorgeous outdoor shots, that I wonder if Thailand's Ministry of Tourism sponsored some part of this show. The series is a great advertisement for Thailand's beautiful landscape and cuisine, but then we have that plot. Body-swapping isn't the issue, at least not for me. The issue is the timeline. For a man who wanted to get out of his sister's body as quickly as possible, Win was doing the most to hold up the process. Oh, AND THE DAMN MOTHER! She was the true villain of the show, which got glossed over in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. I'll never get over that reveal even though the show wanted me to by the next scene. She really did that shit and kept it a whole ass secret until the very last damn moment. *looks into the distance at a baby cow* AHHHHHHH!

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner - In short

I'm going to quit picking on Thailand for two seconds to pick on Korea instead. Like all the others on this list, I like this show, and I've actually rewatched it a few times because I think it's pretty and it's so short. But there lies the problem - It's too short. The math was not mathing and the plot was not plotting. It skipped over information that was pivotal to the story. I still have no idea what that idol business was really about. From what the kind folks of Tumblr gathered, the idol was apparently supposed to get the guy in their past lives, but the other guy stole him and that's why he was crazy. How hard would that have been to explain to the audience? I did it in less than a sentence, but apparently the show spent its budget on lighting and not screenwriting or editing.

#1 - Mood Indigo - A masterpiece!

I wrote that these weren't ranked, yet here is number one in "My Favorite Beautifully Shot Chaotic BLs" list. The other shows on this list are child's play in comparison to the second installment that serves as the prequel in The Pornographer/The Novelist series. Regardless if it's a BL or not, leave it to Japan to offer me this deliciously beautiful chaos. Unlike all the other shows, the plot of this show is not what makes it chaotic, but . . . it is. It's not chaotic in the sense that it's disorganized or doesn't make sense. It makes perfect sense, and that's why it is chaos. It's supposed to be.

One character is depressed and has no fucks to give, so if something stirs an emotion in him, he does it without question (including giving the other character a bj in front of the older man who demanded it for another novel). Then, we have the other character who should be the more logical of the two, but somehow he is worse. I. Love. It. Everything that happens in this series makes everything we saw in the first season click into place including why these two toxic assholes are 1) toxic, 2) assholes, and 3) STILL FRIENDS!

God, they're awful.

I love them.

#beautiful and chaotic bls #this list is chaos #but it's my truth #the director who buys me dinner #609 bedtime story #cupid's last wish #mood indigo #chains of heart #not me #I wrote what I wrote!

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forkaround · 8 months

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This post is an extension to this post about what can be classified as a BL. I'd rec you read that post first.

I woke up in the morning with this in my notifs and I just....

Anyway, let's break it down:

Does a QL simple mean that the main characters are queer and you go in knowing that?

First of, in my post I say BL is where you know "Boys are kissing boys and girls are kissing girls." If there is no romance (thus the reference to kissing), the show becomes irrelevant to the conversation.

But to answer: What's wrong with that?

That makes literally *anything* centering queer people and queer love a QL

Great! It's QL.

I've seen this pointed out multiple times have these people wondered why they don't want to call something they think is good a QL? What is wrong with the title of QL?

and that imo is somewhat belittling of queer people's existence as in their presence in society as a a given is inherently 'genre'

Yeah, and Pride and Prejudice is a 'straight genre'

If that doesn't make sense, well, that sentence didn't make sense to me. Does making crime shows make the lives of cops and criminals in to a genre??? It's such an absurd statement. Or maybe I'm just sleepy....

this is very different from thinking QL is 'bad'--you'd never call anything with an expected straight romance in it 'romance' by default

Yeah! That's how it works! Romance is romance. Romance is a genre. It's literally the biggest genre there is. There is more romance written, published, made into animation or live action than literally any other genre by a huge margin.

Romance can and is often combined with other genres. Doesn't change that it is a romance.

you'd call it whatever genre it is; when you meet a series of fitting tropes you'd call it a rom-com

What does rom stand for again?

Romance is often used with other genres, from action to horror to contemporary to fantasy to sci-fi.

This I think primarily comes from people not knowing how genres work. It's not a Boolean (as one would say in computer science). It's not a True/False thing where if it's action it can't be romance. If it's romance it can't be political.

As they say: It contains multitides.

shouldn't queer stories be afforded the same discretion?

Moonlight Chicken, Kinnporsche, Old Fashion Cupcake, Bad Buddy, Love in the Air, Not Me, 180 Degrees, GAP the series, HIStory 3: Trapped, About Youth, Mood Indigo, Cherry Magic, I could go on. You don't have to go anywhere else for it. BL already has it all.

So I'll ask again: Why do you feel that 'BL' is a bad word?

Other people have wrote about this with better sources and much deeper understanding so I'll try my best to convey it here:

As I understand the situation, something got lost in translation when yaoi travelled from Japan to the US and people started understanding yaoi to be a 'dirty' genre, that did not depict honest queerness despite it being made up of majorly queer people. It became the genre that was 'for straight women by straight women'. If you look at US the same phenomenon can be observed when people talk, or at least talked, about slash fiction. Mix in some cultural context and yaoi goes from a fun escapist genre to the bane of queer existence genre. Fiction is enjoyed differently in different parts of the world. Nothing wrong with that. Hell, nothing unique or special with that statement either. It's a fact of life. If Shakespeare can't be universal, as many like to claim, we should not expect the same of anything else.

And let's never forget how westerners think their version of queerness is the only real version. I've had personal experience with this and I can say: People need to open their minds and understand that not everything is from their perspective. When I encounter any American thing in a show or book, I simply slide past it because I'm not American. I've never been to America. It doesn't change the story itself, so why bother, what would be the point. If people applied that approach instead of analyzing every detail and expecting it to fit your world view then we would all be happier.

(It turned sappy at the end there. I'm sleepy.)

#Moonlight Chicken #Kinnporsche #Old Fashion Cupcake #Bad Buddy #Love in the Air #Not Me #180 Degrees #GAP the series #HIStory 3: Trapped #About Youth #Mood Indigo #Cherry Magic #manner of death #long post #only friends #wedding plan #laws of attraction

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wen-kexing-apologist · 4 months

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Kakeru and Yamato

Mitsuru and Koichi

Haruhiko and Rio

Ooo, I like these options!

Kakeru and Yamato

Kakeru and Yamato are fantastic, they love each other so deeply and it was really fun for me to watch them work through their feelings for each other as they progressed from friends to lovers. There are so many different structural set ups I love in romance stories. I love the freaks, I loved the fucked up people, I loved the contradictory characters, the happySads, etc. But something that I look for when I’m watching these shows is friendship. Sure these characters love each other, sure they want to fuck each other, but do they like each other? Do they have fun together? I think for me to really lean in to a relationship in a show, they have to sell me their connection either through their affection, their devotion, or both. Teh and Oh will almost certainly break up and get back together about four more times before things get sorted, but I believe there isn’t really anyone else for them. Their connection is magnetic. Pat and Pran have fun, they compete in everything, they wrestle, the goof off. Kakeru and Yamato were friends first. So while I am much more of a happy for now kind of person, I at the very least believe they will make it quite some time together because they like each other and they love each other.

I appreciate greatly when a couple is able to communicate, and so while I wish they hadn’t gotten interrupted quite so many times throughout the show, I did enjoy the fact that they were constantly attempting to talk to one another openly and honestly about what was going on. I love Yamato backtracking when he thinks he’s made Kakeru uncomfortable, and Kakeru immediately telling him that isn’t the case. I love every iteration of the quiet, reserved boy whose emotions don’t usually cross his face gets some time alone with the loud, bubbly boy whose emotions can never quite be contained and their tension just starts melting away. I love seeing Yamato smile when he’s with Kakeru.

Also shout out to these boys for one of the best kisses of the year. Thank you, Yamato for finally kissing your boyfriend, interruptions be damned.

Mitsuru and Koichi

Perhaps the most important thing to me about Eternal Yesterday is how intensely it solidifies the love between Mitsuru and Koichi. Koichi always walked closest to the street, because he knew their walk was dangerous and he didn’t want Mitsuru to be the one to get hurt. Koichi died far too soon because he was protecting his boyfriend. And Koichi lived again because the love they had for each other brought them back. Koichi withheld his own peace, his own rest, to be there for Mitsuru until he could come to terms with Koichi’s death. Mitsuru loved Koichi so much, Koichi was able to take form once again, Mitsuru loved Koichi so much he almost willed him back to life. He loved Koichi back in to his body, he loved Koichi back in to warmth. Koichi was sunshine, and Koichi was tired, and Koichi was slowly fading from the memories of everyone else around him. But Mitsuru held on. Mitsuru held on for dear life. He held on so tightly for so long. And Koichi let him. Because Koichi knew how loved he was. Because Koichi loves Mitchan just as much.

I know some people think the ending of Eternal Yesterday is tragic. But I don’t think it is. I think it is melancholy, but I also think it is beautiful. Five years later and Mitsuru has not gotten over Koichi’s death. And that’s okay. Because I do believe he’s made some sort of peace. Who knows if he will ever love someone as much as he loved Koichi ever again, but how beautiful for him to know for certain how much Koichi loved him in return.

Haruhiko and Rio

At risk of you taking away all of my electronics until I can exert some modicum of self-control, I think I need to rewatch The Pornographer series. You’d think for a relationship that started out with as many lies and manipulations as it did, that they’d have a less healthy/mature relationship, but alas. I think they are genuinely good together, and I did really enjoy watching their relationship progress. I don’t know why the scene where Haruhiko finally catches on that he is re-writing Rio’s previously published novels stands out to me so much as The Scene between them. Maybe I think it is a really good indicator of their base personalities, and the way they will function together. Rio may be trying shit, but Haruhiko is studious, he does pay attention, and he will eventually catch on to the bullshit Rio is pulling and call him on it.

Despite the fact that I do think Haruhiko and Rio work well and I’m happy where we leave things with this series. I don’t think Haruhiko and Rio’s relationship stuck with me as much as Rio and Kido’s did, mostly cause we have so few shows that actually dedicate as much time and energy in to showing an old relationship that didn’t work as we do here. Usually we get a shitty ex, occasionally we get a lovers to friends scenario. Rarely, extremely rarely do we get an entire prequel series that explores an old relationship and provide so much rich context for who they are as people, how they got to where they are in life, and why a different relationship will work where theirs failed.

And on top of that I think I am just so much more intrigued by Rio’s life and psyche as an individual than I am to his actual relationship with Haruhiko, though to be fair so much of that psyche does inform how they interact. Rio’s just a fucking freak who faked an arm injury so he could guilt trip a hot boy in to hanging out with him, and I had a lot of fun watching him try Haruhiko 2: Electric Boogaloo on another boy, since it seemed to work out so well the last time.

Send Me a Ship and I’ll Share My Thoughts

#ask game #send me a ship #kakeru x yamato #i can't reach you #kimi ni wa todokanai #mitsuru x koichi #mitchan x koichi #eternal yesterday #eien no kinou #haruhiko x rio #the novelist #mood indigo #the pornographer #the pornographer: playback #the pornographer: spring life

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harurio · 2 months

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takezai terunosuke and yoshida munehiro in one three-minute shot, episode 5 of mood indigo, 2019.

#cannot stress enough that this is all one very long shot. one.#context is mustache was sleeping with glasses while simultaneously using glasses to switch careers so he (mustache) could marry a woman #and this is glasses finally going off on him. as he very much deserves. scumbag #i didn't even notice this was one shot until i thought about why it had me holding my breath the whole time. and would you look at that!#it's like the equal and opposite of the old fashion cupcake confession lmao #this whole franchise is full of long long takes and i love it i eat it up #mood indigo #indigo no kibun #kijima rio #kido shirou #takezai terunosuke #yoshida munehiro #miki koichiro #mood indigo spoilers #i guess #japanese bl #kijima rio my beloved #japanese bl my beloved #i love loving things lol

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dramalets · 4 months

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2024 Watch List pt1

Here we go again!

To sir, with love - This is a lakorn so it's appropriately dramatic. The mothers are absolutely foul and do an awful lot of scheming and yelling. Jam/Film are intensely watchable and make wet fish kisses look terribly romantic. Tongtong Kitsakorn as Yang was a revelation. I'm sad he's pm just a lakorn actor/pop star because he is so watchable. I loved that, though they were evil and insane, the mothers all felt fleshed out and realised. You understood why they were yikes. 3½/5 (2/1/23)

A Boss & a Babe - I quit this at episode 2 and then decided to go back to it. I don’t regret doing so. This isn’t top tier but it’s also not shit tier. Cher, the very dictionary definition of toxic positivity, and Gun, an autism coded cat man, enter into an extremely quick romance (like seriously, it’s taken hard worn lesbians longer to say I love you) the catch being they’re intern and company boss. Honestly in another drama that would have been the the huge hiccup of the series, keeping them apart, but it’s consistently shown to be more of an issue for others that it is for them. This is very low conflict, mostly romcom fluff with two weirdly intense, barely explored side stories for support characters. I didn’t loath Force in this and would actually like him to be given more roles where he’s just a soft simp and not a boring sarcastic one. Book does some good comedy work here. 3/5 (4/1/23)

The day I loved you - I know this won’t work for everyone. It’s a bittersweet ten episode love story between a boy with ASL and the ‘rebel’ exchange student at his school. Pinoy BL, for me, either really hits or really misses and this hit. It does use a questionable model of disability, namely the inspiration model, but I cant nit pick too much when this is only ten 15/20 minute episodes. I enjoyed it a lot, you may also if you’re okay with a bittersweet ending vs an out and out happy one. 3½/5 (12/1/24)

VIP Only - Well this was adorable. Slow as molasses and just as sweet. This probably won’t be for everyone, very slow and not much happens other than character growth and a love story, but it worked for me. The edit is horrendous in places and I do wish Taiwan did longer episodes, but those are my only gripes. 3½/5 (19/1/24)

I cannot reach you - I don’t really watch Jbl. There are just styles and tropes that I don’t enjoy watching that Japan uses a lot of. It’s a taste thing more than it is anything else. So keep that in mind. This is full of a lot of the things I don’t like; over action, randomly running everywhere, sudden non-con. But it’s also endearingly sweet and very well acted, so I did find myself enjoying it. I don’t think this’ll awaken a desire to watch lots of Jbl but it has made me consider some others. 3/5 (20/1/24)

Last Twilight - I had a lot of fun with this. The dialogue and acting were all top notch and, as ever with Aof productions, it was stunning to look at. It weaves the story of two broken people healing one another very well with Jimmy & Sea doing beautiful work as Mhok & Day. I think this came a little unstuck at points in the end. I liked most of the romance movie style ending but I remain a little unsure about Day’s ending. Still, this is a show that I enjoyed every week and will have no issues rewatching. 4/5 (26/1/24)

Old Fashion Cupcake - I’m working on trying out more JBL to get a feel for what I do and don’t like. This? This I like. We don’t have enough stories about older people anyway and this does it well. Togawa’s slow courting of Nozue through shared experiences and casual intimacy is delicious to watch. 4/5 (4/2/24)

Pit Babe - I love when I show wholly knows what it is and doesn’t try and be anything but that. This knew it was a big ol’ fanfic and leaned wholeheartedly into that. Whether it was the breeding program subplot or the consistently dumb toothpaste and sausage ppl it handled them both with equal aplomb. It’s also worth noting that was largely really well acted too! Pavel, Nut & Sailub particularly impressed me but there was nobody bad. 4/5 (9/2/24)

Our Dining Table - My journey into JBL continues and this was the best one yet. Soft pining between two sad boy leads with a gorgeous found family story woven in. The treacle slow courting between these two won’t be for everyone but it was wholly for me. 5/5 (17/2/24)

Cooking Crush - The edit on this was criminally bad at points, sometimes I truly felt I’d skipped a part and I hadn’t at all, but it still served up a good little story. If you’re visiting this for the romance it’s not really that, the story is in the friends and their lives more than it is in Ten & Prem’s romance. I loved the comedy in this, it hit those notes well and was never over the top. (Lots of puns that I expect are super good if you speak Thai.) Nobody is bad in this, everyone delivers, but OffGun are as watchable as they always are and the few kisses they do have are perfect. 3/5 (18/2/24)

The Novelist - When I say I don’t love JBL it’s usually because the tropes are just too tropey for my tastes. Apparently I’m a lying liar who lies because this is extremely Japanese and I loved every moody second of it. Kijima is a sad, lonely, messed up man who doesn’t think he’s deserving of anything good and it’s wildly compelling to watch. 4/5 (18/2/24)

Mood Indigo - Fucked up 4 Fucked up. Two broken, sad, lonely men mess up repeatedly, and erotically, that’s it that’s the show and I ate it up with a spoon. Deeply flawed assholes being toxic together, when it’s well written and well acted, is so disgustingly watchable to me and this certainly was. 5/5 (18/2/24)

The Novelist: Playback - Continues where The Novelist ends. I watched the clean version of this, it was what was available to me, and was still deeply entertained. So if you think people watch this series for the heat then you’re incorrect. This is another instalment of Kijima Rio being a horribly broken fuck up of a man. I loved it. 4/5 (21/2/24)

Tokyo in April is… - I love a good destined to be together trope when it’s done well and this is done beautifully. Kazuma and Ren fall in love as teenagers and are separated before finding one another again as adults. The pacing on this is a little rough, I get what they were doing with the sub-plot but it felt mildly unneeded and time would have been better given to exploring our leads generally or even Ren’s painful family issues. This is still a lovely drama that I wholly recommend. 4/5 (21/2/24)

#jen rambles #to sir with love #a boss and a babe #the day I loved you #VIP only #I cannot reach you #last twilight #old fashion cupcake #pit babe #our dining table #cooking crush #The Novelist #Mood Indigo #playback #tokyo in april is...

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allthefujoshiunite · 8 months

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Have you ever thought about red flag uke? Sure, it's easy to find red flag seme, but the uke.... Do you have any BL recs about red flag uke?

Also, can I ask BL recs that kinda remind you of Bokuto x Akashi from Haikyuu? Where one is oblivious, loveable, straight forward person and the other is quite, serious but always looking after the other?

Sorry for this random ask, thanks if you want to answer.....

Hi! It really is easier to find red flag seme (makes sense since the word means “to attack” or “to be on the offence”) but the way authors/ artists depict uke characters have been changing as well ~ I currently don’t have access to my computer, so I’ll just list the titles I have in mind and update if I have any additions next week (ish). Enjoy!

Research is serious business, you guys.

What people consider a “red flag” differs to be honest, some people draw the line at cheating while others may or may not excuse murder depending on the situation. Some want the character to be sweet to their partner but be toxic otherwise, while others want the relationship itself to be toxic. I don’t know which case you feel drawn to, so I’ll be going with my gut (again) lol

Checkmate (Tan): He’s manipulative! He’s petty! Everything you need in a toxic uke, Soohyun has it. And interestingly, Eunsung is not exactly put off by it. I was asked whether I know another title like Checkmate and I honestly don’t. I have reviewed it in the past (now the main story is completed and side stories are being released) so if you want more info, I suggest you check it out.

Wonna Do It? (Cho Sangduck): Another title I mentioned in the answe I linked above. Can be found in Lezhin’s library. This is a very short, unhinged story that I need continuation of immediately!

Liveta (muzi): I have briefly read this one and liked it, you might want to check it out on Lezhin.

Mad Place (Junah): Tbh I was very enthusiastic going into this series and read 30+ chapters but my interest fizzled out. The uke in this title is scheming something (I didn’t stick around long enough to find out) and you can consider him a tad manipulative. There’s crime and investigation and you might find it more intriguing than me! On Lezhin.

Pornographer + Pornographer Playback + Mood Indigo (Maki Marukido): All three are in Manga Planet’s (Futekiya) library. The main character Kijima is an author, and while Pornographer (Playback is the continuation) focuses on him and Haruhiko, Mood Indigo is Kijima becoming an author and his relationship with his editor. I suggest you read Pornographer first and then read Mood Indigo for better context! Kijima will frustrate you to the max skcjdnjc.

A Lotus Flower In the Mud (Tamekou): This is not just a red flag uke but a red flag all over fkfnfj. Be mindful of the tags before you go in!

The King of Home Cooking (Lee Hyun-joo): The uke in this is one of the most frustrating characters I’ve ever read, he’s so unlikable and remains that way until the very end and that’s kinda why I like this series xD It has a very interesting theme as well, highly suggested! Can be read on Tappytoon.

A s for titles similar to BokuAka. I have a previous list that would kind of fit what you’re looking for (except the first and the last one). Here’s another list with puppy seme x cool(-ish) uke types.

That’s all I have for now! Hope you like the recommendations.

#allthefujoshiunite answers #bl manga #yaoi recommendation #yaoi manhwa #bl recommendation #yaoi manga #checkmate #a lotus flower in the mud #wonna do it #pornographer #mood indigo #the king of home cooking #liveta #mad place #red flag uke

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nonsubstantial · 21 days

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MARCH 2024 DIARY POST

I'm keeping up the habit of writing a monthly post to catalogue all the things I've been obsessed with in 2024. At the end of the year, I want to be able to look back and remember what was making me happy all year long! If you are reading this, I hope you will enjoy hearing about these things or checking them out too! First, a chaotic collage of those things!

VIDEO GAME: As you may already know, Splatoon is probably my favorite video game franchise of all time. I really cannot overstate how important it is to me. Naturally, I was highly anticipating its new singleplayer DLC, titled Side Order, but when it finally came out at the end of February, my elbow was fractured in a way that made it painful for me to play. So, I had to wait until about a week into March for my elbow to heal a little. Then, I spent about 10 hours obsessively playing it, and I loved pretty much every second of it. It featured by far the most difficult levels ever seen in a Splatoon game, which was a treat to me as a player who was disappointed by the rather simplistic story mode of the base game. Splatoon 3: Side Order took the form of a roguelite battle tower, similar to Salmon Run but with new enemies, unique (and sometimes puzzling) stages, and customizable weapon builds. Even players who find it a bit too challenging at first can eventually mod the difficulty to an extent that (hopefully) makes it doable. The story was nothing crazy, but the gameplay and visuals were so unbelievably good that I honestly wished I could erase it all from my mind and play it again from the start. Just yay 💕, I love Splatoon so much.

TWITCH STREAM FAN EDIT: If you don't already know who Jerma is, he is a prolific video game streamer that I became a big fan of a few years ago. His unique humor has consistently impressed and appealed to me, and his fan community has proven itself to be both creative enough and motivated enough to persistently churn out edited “best of” versions of his streams. For better or for worse, Jerma announced his retirement from streaming last year, leaving his eager fans with nothing but his earlier content to dredge for, well… content. One such fan edit that was released this year, post-retirement, was a massive compilation of all his Nancy Drew playthroughs (save for one). This edit in particular was one that I found overwhelmingly funny and good, and it inspired an ongoing fanfic that I’m still currently working on writing. Oddly enough, watching this caused a domino effect that got me back into writing in general and has given me the surge of confidence and inspiration that I needed to keep working on creating the fiction that has lived inside in my head for years. I really hope this feeling never dies. You can watch the stream that inspired me, linked here!

MUSICAL ARTIST: Peach Kelli Pop is probably tied (with a few other artists) for the title of my favorite band of all time. Their entire discography is only about 2 hours long, but they were still my most listened to artist for several years in a row. It’s due to the consistency of the vibe across all of her work: upbeat and positive while still delivering a profound emotional impact. I've been able to just listen her entire catalog of music over and over and over again on shuffle. I might describe it as DIY rock, or feminist punk, and if you haven't heard it before, Gentle Leader is probably the best album to start with. Listen here!

MUSICAL ARTIST: After listening to nothing except Peach Kelli Pop for about a week straight, I started to look into similar bands that I hadn't already checked out and found one that really caught my interest. That's how I was introduced to Tacocat! Their band name is both a palindrome and euphemism, and their album Lost Time was love at first listen. They have cozy lyrics about aliens, birth control, and creating your own values, and their music has left me in a good mood every time I've thrown it on. You can listen to the first song that I heard, linked here!

SONG: It's Don’t Rain On My Parade, by Barbra Streisand!! I still haven't watched the musical that this song is from, but the drag queen Plasma mentioned it on RuPaul Season 16, which is how I ended up hearing it. This song gets an individual mention because I was absolutely blown away by this one individual track! It's brilliant and catchy right out of the gate, "Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter! Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade!" It's from 1964, but its recording sounds crystal clear and it channels its intended emotions perfectly. I felt compelled to listen to it over and over again, because it really is just so cheerful and artistically inspiring. I feel like it's a perfect piece of music. Listen here!

SONG: I have to give another song an individual mention! It's Mood Indigo, by Nina Simone!! I’ve been a big fan of Nina Simone for years now, but more often than not, I've stuck to my favorite album, Pastel Blues. I did branch out and listen to this song a few times in the past, but it only recently dawned on me just how perfect it is. Wikipedia says that it was recorded in 1964, about the same time as Don’t Rain On My Parade, and while it's technically a cover of an old Duke Ellington song, Nina Simone’s version has a totally unique vibe, evident from the first few bars. Its lyrics are meant to be cathartic, as they discuss suicidal ideation, while the drums, bass, and piano create a beautiful and upbeat swing melody that perfectly juxtaposes and rebuts the content of Nina’s vocals. It's menacing, catchy, uplifting, and truly perfect! I now believe it to be a landmark in Nina Simone’s career, and the whole of music history in general. Listen here!

MUSICAL ARTIST: Okay, one last music rec, I swear!! I was really feeling the vibes this month (but mostly just listening to bands that I already know and love). Along with Peach Kelli Pop, another one of my favorite bands is King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Ever since 2017 (aka, the year of the gizz) they have probably reigned supreme as my #1 most listened to band. They just have so much music, with so much variation, that I can usually find at least one of their songs that appeals to me. Since the start of this year, I've been collecting and organizing a playlist of my favorite songs by them, titled 31 Days Of Gizz. Not for any particular reason, but just because I find it fun to make lists! At the last minute, I decided that I would organize the songs, specifically in the way that I would play them if I were introducing someone new to the band. So, if you haven’t heard their music before, maybe it’s time I introduced you? But no pressure, I just like their songs and I made my playlist just for me! I'm linking to it on spotify, HERE, if you’re interested! (forgot to put this one on the collage, lol)

VIDEO GAME: Right before the month ended, I bought the new fantasy tactics game, Unicorn Overlord, and I am fucking in love. I’ve been a longtime fan of the fantasy tactics genre, so as soon as this game started making waves, I begrudgingly accepted that I HAD to play it. I really don’t have a lot of time in between trying to take care of things at home and working on my writing, as I mentioned before, but I briefly dropped all my other hobbies and managed to fit about 10 hours of gameplay in before the month ended. I really wish I had time to obsess over it, because I feel like it is a masterpiece, even if the rumors about there being gay content ended up being a disappointing exaggeration (the game was developed by Vanillaware, but was published by homophobic giants ATLUS and SEGA, so I’m not surprised). Despite the story being pretty much dog shit though, I believe the gameplay is damn near perfect, and even revolutionary within its genre. I’ll probably be sinking all my game time into it until the new Elden Ring DLC drops. If you’re a person who also likes fantasy tactics, then I highly recommend playing it (I got it for the Nintendo Switch, where it seems to run perfectly).

(that’s it. It is now APRIL!! There might be some repeats this next month, or I'll leave them out... we'll see. Hope you have a good day! ♡)

#personal #2024 reviews #2024 #march #splatoon #jerma #peach kelli pop #tacocat #don't rain on my parade #mood indigo #king gizzard #unicorn overlord

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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CW: MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS FOR THE MOVIE “THE PORNOGRAPHER: PLAYBACK.” LONG POST!

I feel like there’s been something humming in the wind lately around the franchise of The Novelist/The Pornographer. We’ve seen a cameo by the incomparable Izuka Kenta in Candy Color Paradox, Yoshida Munehiro is about to cameo in The End of the World, With You, and The Novelist’s Twitter account has been buzzing with news about new DVDs and theater showings of the last installment of the franchise, The Pornographer: Playback. Miki Koichiro, the screenwriter and director of the franchise, has TWO shows out at the moment, the aforementioned TEOTWWY, as well the sessy-sessy Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu, the three seasons of which I am dying to watch as soon as there’s a solidly bad season of QL sometime in the future (which seems like will never happen in my lifetime, bless all these amazing QLs for coming out every season!). Couple all of this with recent reviews of the OG Novelist and Mood Indigo series by the fabulous @gillianthecat (here) and @respectthepetty (here), and I was happily reminded of good times of watching all of these parts way way back when I first discovered QL/BL in 2019/20.

When the amazing @lurkingshan commented on a stray thoughts post by @bengiyo that she had seen The Pornographer: Playback, I was VERY intrigued. With HUGE thanks and big ups to @lurkingshan, I watched it over the weekend, and here are my thoughts! I’m going to put up a break to keep y’all from getting spoiled if you want to avoid it.

First off, let’s make sure we know what all the installments are, and that we’ve watched what we’ve needed to get to the movie. We have:

1) 2018 -- The Novelist: the original meeting between student Kuzumi Haruhiko and adult author Kijima Rio

2) 2019 -- Mood Indigo: a prequel depicting the sexual engagements between Kijima Rio and his classmate, Kido Shirou

3) 2021 -- The Pornographer: Spring Life: a very short vignette set 2 1/2 years after Kuzumi and Kijima first met. They’re now in a long-distance relationship, and Kuzumi visits Kijima in the countryside at Kijima’s sister’s house, where he’s living as he continues to write.

(The first three works are all available on Viki.)

So I was BEYOND THRILLED to get to watch the movie and see all of this wrap up. If most of y’all only watched up to Mood Indigo, you saw Kijima re-meet with Kuzumi. Kuzumi, at that time, was just becoming a successful employee in the advertising business.

Spring Life hints that things are still going well for Kuzumi, and that he was looking forward to spending a summer break with his long-distance boyfriend. Most notably, the piece ends with Kuzumi jumping from honorifics, by asking Kijima if he (Kuzumi) could call Kijima “Rio-san,” which we know indicates intimacy. Kijima’s like, whatever you’d like, and the smile on Kuzumi’s face takes up the whole screen, it seems.

So then we finally get to The Pornographer: Playback, which begins during the same summer break. Continuing with the theme and mood that I like to call melosexual (the music alone of this franchise is SO INTENSE, let alone the heaty sex scenes), the guys head to a love hotel and do their thang. At the end of the night, as they’re getting dressed, Kijima finds a business card in Kuzumi’s wallet for a hostess club that Kuzumi is forced to go to with work colleagues.

Without divulging a tremendous amount more about the plot at this moment, the movie is basically structured around the push-and-pull of Kijima’s inability to move authentically closer to people -- not just Kuzumi, but also his sister, who Kijima disappoints repeatedly by backing out of family events.

Kijima’s essentially paralyzed by fear and insecurity that he is a terrible person -- one that is not worthy of love. His sister is so overwhelmingly angry about it that she essentially kicks him out of the house, and blames their mother for never calling him out on his namby-pamby bullshit (at least, that’s in her eyes). At another point in the movie, he frustrates Kuzumi so much that Kuzumi walks out on the relationship and heads back to Tokyo, a surprising move for the otherwise always-devoted younger companion.

It takes a serious scolding by a hospitalized and flirtatious owner of a karaoke snack bar (you read that right) for Kijima to get his damn head back on straight and fight for his relationship with Kuzumi. (And, HILARIOUSLY, I was cackling -- in the process of this, Kijima has KIDO -- KIDO OF ALL PEOPLE -- call Kuzumi on Kijima’s behalf, to get Kuzumi to talk to Kijima to reconcile. KIJIMA used KIDO to call KUZUMI. Lord.)

Okay, so what I’m really getting at here is that the movie showed that the whole franchise was missing two KEY elements that the first three parts did not have: comedy and authentic emotional connection. There was actually a little comedy in this! Besides the whole Kido thing (which I’ll get back to in a minute), there were a couple of bumbling moments that were designed to elicit some lightness, mostly with the snack bar owner, a flighty gal with a lovely son who tries to hook up with takes Kijima under her wing.

About the other element: we FINALLY, FINALLY SAW KIJIMA SHOWING SOME EMOTION ABOUT SOMETHING. He really regretted letting things go to shit with Kuzumi. Kuzumi called Kijima out for wasting Kuzumi’s time to leave work in Tokyo and visit the countryside. Kuzumi felt like Kijima wasn’t taking him seriously, and was constantly pulling back. I mean -- Kijima was living away from Kuzumi.... for what, exactly? It’s not ever clearly explained. And Kuzumi got angry and left.

This is a great time to mention the excellent post by @emotionallychargedtowel on pursuer-distancer dyads, because the Kijima-Kuzumi push-and-pull in this movie perfectly defined this dyad dance. When Kuzumi got fed the fuck up and pulled way back -- Kijima finally stepped into his emotion and owned his desire to be with Kuzumi.

Honestly, in the first three installments of this franchise -- I felt like Kijima really didn’t talk too much. I felt like he was far more defined by his brooding, his letting the winds take him to where he was at any given moment, ragingly sexual and lonely all at once. He simmered -- he was flinty, defensive, and used his sexual energy to dominate and burn the emotional energy all around himself.

The movie showed a TOTALLY different side of him. To me, the movie showed that his relationship with Kuzumi, long distance as it was, HAD a softening impact on him -- even to the point that Kijima dropped everything he was up to in the countryside to head to Tokyo and fight for the relationship. Kijima needed to be rendered totally alone, one last time, to come to realize that the connection he had with Kuzumi was worth fighting for.

And, yes, in the process of it, he brought back Kido in the mix -- which was also seriously poignant.

REALLY SERIOUS SPOILER HERE, y’all, especially if you love/hate/gaaahh that awful devil, Kido!

. . . . . .

Kido asks Kijima if they could have ever had the same kind of relationship as Kijima is fighting for with Kuzumi! AAAAAHHHH! AND! AND! KIJIMA SAYS, no way. We’re too similar.

WHICH IS TOTALLY TRUE! They’re both self-indulgent, selfish assholes! I mean, after that insane sex scene in Mood Indigo, Kido just fucking LEFT -- he just LEFT, and GOT MARRIED, and HAD A KID, and was like, peace the fuck out, I can’t actually be my honest queer self with you, Kijima, because I think that’s actually abnormal (oh, Kido, you internally messed up piece of shit, AAAHHH).

Whereas, as beautifully analyzed in @respectthepetty‘s review, Kuzumi represents honesty and openness -- the kind of traits that Kijima doesn’t have, but is aspiring to, in order to be with Kuzumi. AAAHHH.

I was seriously like, WHOA, WHAT AM I WATCHING HERE, at that moment. AND, AND? At the end of that scene? Kido wishes Kijima good luck. And says: “You better keep Kuzumi-kun. He’s a valuable asset.” Of course, what a Kido thing to say -- that humans are assets, commodities. But -- he sends Kijima off with good wishes.

And then.

Kijima reunites with Kuzumi. He called Kuzumi by Kuzumi’s name, Haruhiko. AND -- holy shit, y’all, my mind was blown. He tells Kuzumi that he loves Kuzumi by saying ichiban aishiteru.

I tell you, I was FLOORED. All throughout the movie, I’m like, “dang, Kijima keeps talking and talking, and I just don’t remember him TALKING all that much before in the other three series.”

And then he DROPS the ichiban aishiteru! And I think BOTH me AND Kuzumi are BOTH LIKE, WHAT THE DAMN, DUDE!

I’ve spoiled a LOT, but I won’t say more after this, except to say the following:

The ending was one of the happiest, LOVELIEST endings of a drama/movie I’ve seen in QL. Oh. my. god. Talk about SATISFYING. EVERY. CHECKBOX. MARKED. Takezai Terunosuke and Izuka Kenta were MAGNIFICENT. I had SERIOUS tears. They got in everything -- they got the heat, they got in FAMILY, LOTS OF FAMILY, GORGEOUS shots, FEELINGS. ALL OF IT.

@bengiyo made an excellent point recently in one of his reviews of TEOTWWY that it seems like Japan lately has only been doing high heat in stories about death. It’s an accurate point: all of the pieces of The Novelist came out well before TEOTWWY and Eternal Yesterday, the two most recent shows about death that had heaty elements. I kind of wonder about something. I wonder if other directors and screenwriters are like.... The Novelist did it the best. We can’t mess with that standard.

Because -- Takezai’s and Izuka’s acting in those scenes is BEYOND EXCELLENT. It was NECESSARILY EXCELLENT to end this franchise on such a warm, happy, COMPLETE high note.

Now that I can look back on all four parts of the whole franchise, what Miki Koichiro did for us by way of Kijima was to show the whole-scale growth of a man vis à vis love. This guy, Kijima -- a brilliant writer who was influenced by a sexually provocative teacher, someone who was left inexplicably behind by a tormented, internally homophobic lover/benefactor -- felt he was deserving of nothing. And then he found his something in Kuzumi. He nearly destroyed the relationship, multiple times. And as he fell and slipped while climbing the hill of happiness, he was able to get a stronger and stronger grip each time he tried harder. And he was supported by people around him, including family and random friends, to give him lift.

This movie was a lot more straightforward than I had honestly expected. I 100% expected more of the melosexualness of the first three parts of the series. Instead, what I got was a WHOLESOME (I can’t believe I’m using that word, but it’s true!), complete, and uplifting story of a man finding his true happiness in his lover, his companion, his chosen family. All of it certainly laced with heat, for sure, but also very deep, very convincing love.

It was utterly fabulous. It might be too emotional, maybe too family-oriented for some who preferred the dark heat of the previous installments. But Playback, in my eyes, was a perfect closing note for a man who honestly deserved happiness after the work, and the SELF-CHANGE he put in, to get love in the first place. If you are a fan of this whole series, and can get your hands on the movie, I beg you to watch it, even just for one of the best happy endings you’ll ever see in QLs.

#spoilers #the novelist #the pornographer #the novelist: playback #the novelist playback #the pornographer: playback #the pornographer playback #mood indigo #the novelist: spring life #the novelist spring life #the pornographer: spring life #the pornographer spring life #takezai terunosuke #izuka kenta #yoshida munehiro #miki koichiro

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grusinskayas · 1 year

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Mood Indigo | L'écume des jours (2013) dir. Michel Gondry

#mood indigo #l'écume des jours #audrey tautou #romain duris #michel gondry #dailyworldcinema #2013 #2010s #*

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bengiyo · 4 months

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I am requesting a ship twofer: Rio and Kido and Rio and Haruhiko

Ah yes, let's discuss The Novelist again.

Plainly: Rio and Haruhiko would not happen without Rio and Kido, but there's no way for Rio and Kido to work out. Kido is selfish and a coward, and Haruhiko is alarmingly devoted.

When you watch the Novelist for the first time you think Rio is some sort of mastermind, but he's not. He's just a fucked up gay man trolling a college kid because he was bored and lonely. We don't really understand why he is this way, but we know something is wrong with him, and we're certain Kido has something to do with it.

Then we go to Mood Indigo and realize that so much of what's wrong with Rio now is that Kido wouldn't let him remain repressed. Rio was clearly struggling before he ran into Kido again, but Kido brought him into the world of erotica and made him learn from a huge perv. Then Kido got way too horny about it and showed he knew a whole lot more about gay sex than I was expecting from him.

Kido is a mess. He thinks he wants to commit to Rio, but he values the appearance of normalcy so much. He's also selfish in that he always makes others feel like they're the reason he made some sort of big sacrifice. He lets Rio blow him so Rio can get a good job. He moves in with Rio to help with rent. He stays in erotica publishing to honor Rio. He's a liar! He let Rio blow him because he wanted to get his dick sucked. He continued living with Rio because he wasn't into the girl who wanted him to be a normie. He stayed in erotica because he likes it, but he likes making people feel beholden to him more than anything. I'm not a fan of this man! I was so glad when Rio went back to Haruhiko at the end of Mood Indigo.

One of the smartest things they did with this series was give these guys time. We got to see Haruhiko age out of school and take on the work of a salaryman even as Rio left the city to try to continue writing. I love Pornographer: Playback because so much of it revolves around Rio grappling with the fact that every time he looks back he finds Haruhiko right there even when Rio is being so mean.

I think I like Haruhiko because Rio woke something in him and Haruhiko loved it. It makes him happier. It seemed to give him purpose. Rio flounders constantly because being gay and smart makes him feel so different and separate from the world. Kido made him feel worse about it. He made Rio feel desirable, but then actively didn't choose him. He even has the nerve to get sad about it! Haruhiko, however, is so into Rio that he blew this man in a car because they hadn't seen each other in a while.

I really do love Rio and Haruhiko a lot, because every creative needs a devoted simp to ground them in reality. I hope Kido finds meaning and purpose in being a husband and a father, because he cannot be anything sustainable to Rio.

Send Me a Ship and I'll Share My Thoughts About Them

#answered #the novelist #pornographer #mood indigo #pornographer: playback #ask game

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respectthepetty · 1 year

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Since I was memorized by Izuka Kenta in Candy Color Paradox and @gillianthecat wrote a great recommendation for it, I decided to finally watch The Novelist and Mood Indigo, and, boy(s) oh boy(s), do I have thoughts:

Both sexual relationships began in very fucked up ways because Kijima gave Kido and Kuzumi exactly what they wanted by pushing a boundary they didn't think he was capable of crossing. Kijima tricked Kuzumi into his life but gave him an out. Kido manipulated Kijima into his life but refused to let him go.

While Kido was disgusted with Kijima and himself ("I hate myself when I'm with you"), Kuzumi was worried about Kijima ("There's something wrong with you"), and those two reactions dictated how each man interacted with Kijima.

Kido's relationship with Kijima was sexual solely because Kido wouldn't allow himself to feel anything beyond that. He was aggressive, domineering, and distant with Kijima, so he would never have to evaluate why he loved him.

Kuzumi's relationship with Kijima was intimate from the beginning because of the nature of their work arrangement. Unlike Kido, who was seen as some kind of life saver since he gave Kijima a job even though Kujima gave him a place to live, Kuzumi was introduced as merely an observer and temporary guest of Kijima's life, so the power dynamic that was prominent in Kijima's relationship with Kido didn't exist with Kuzumi. Kuzumi got to watch Kijima unscathed because he comfortably fit into Kijima's life rather than disrupted it like Kido.

Because Kido kept Kijima at a distance, their interactions were tangled with flirtatious comments and lust. There was always an underlying tension that could boil over, but they never reached deep enough to allow anything beyond the superficial and sexual.

Kijima tried to treat his relationship with Kuzumi like his relationship with Kido. Kuzumi wouldn't allow that behavior from Kijima. He didn't want his defense mechanisms. He didn't want Kijima's fake smiles and intrusive advances that masked raw emotions. Kuzumai didn't hide his feelings in hopes that his vulnerability would allow Kijima to feel safe enough to express his. He wanted to see Kijima for who he was, not for who he pretended to be.

Kido wanted to know he always had Kijima and became possessive and jealous when others made Kijima happy. Kuzumi admired Kijima and was pleased when Kijima experienced happiness with others.

The closer Kijima got, the more alert Kido became and stayed awake because he couldn't trust himself. Kuzumi easily fell asleep with Kijima by his side.

Kido stopped writing because he believed he could never achieve Kijima's level of technique and skill. Although Kido loved his job, he was willing to transfer because of societal expectations. Kido needed to be seen as successful, which is why he couldn't give into his attraction to Kijima. Being in a relationship with a man made him feel lesser. Kuzumi didn't know what he wanted to do for a career and was aimless. He openly purchased the pornographic books without caring about how it would be perceived. He had a successful career, but it didn't matter to him, and he even skipped a meeting.

Kido and Kijima began in the light with an audience, and Kido never allowed that to happen again, only interacting with Kijima in the dark and behind closed doors. Kuzumi and Kijama began in the dark, but Kuzumi had only shown Kijima light and openness since then.

Kido was never happy when he was with Kijima. Kuzumi was always happy with Kijima. Kido would never love Kijima openly because of his need to be seen as normal. Kuzumi wanted to love Kijima openly because it was the only space he really felt normal.

As Kido stated in the last scene, the flame in Kido's heart that flickers for Kijima will never be extinguished, but Kido has proven that he is willing to burn Kijima if he comes too close. Kuzumi's love started as a flame but is now a raging fire. It cannot be contained, it cannot be stopped, and even though it is terrifying, it is a force of beauty.

#The Novelist #Mood Indigo #Kijima x Kuzumi #Kijima x Kido #The Pornographer #The Pornographer - Spring Life #The Novelist - Spring Life #This is going in the “favorites” folder #I don't know why it took me so long to watch these #Thanks CCP for giving me Izuka Kenta

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