the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Personal Thoughts on AO3 Tag Limit

I still hate the fact AO3 imposed a tag limit. In the past, I deleted some of my works, and I don’t know if any of them ever had over 75 or not, but it’s not really about that. I view the tag limit as a form of censorship, especially now that the ability to block and mute authors is a built-in feature. If an author does what that one to-be-unnamed author did, everyone could easily get them off their screens via the mute button.

I doubt AO3 will ever hold a vote on whether the tag limit should be abolished or, at least, upped, but I wish they would. Even knowing there’s a possibility the vote might not go my way, I’d still appreciate a chance to have the opportunity of trying to change it.

#ao3 #ao3 tags

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Private Lessons (2020)

Sometimes, I like age-gap stories, and sometimes, I don’t.

This is one of the instances where I do.

One of the things I like about this one is: Neither character is predatory. They just like each other. I don’t know whether them starting a relationship when they’re still teacher and student is strictly ethical or not, but neither crosses any big lines in my opinion.

Open to the professor, Yeong Il, waking up student, Jae Hyun. Jae Hyun has not turned any poetry assignment, and he’s fine with receiving an F. However, he quickly makes it clear, “I’ll come to your class no matter what.”

Yeong II wants to know why Jae Hyun is clinging to the class, and Jae Hyun counters Yeong II is clinging to him.

The thing is, Yeong II isn’t. He might already be attracted to Jae Hyun, it’s not exactly clear, but throughout everything, he is operating under: Student needs help, I will help, and in return, student will utilise help to turn in appropriate work.

So, Yeong II decides to give remedial help to Jae Hyun, and Jae Hyun is down for this, except, he wants to meet outside of school. During this, it’s also established Yeong II has no cellphone.

Yeong II suggests a place they can meet, and Jae Hyun readily agrees.

There’s a mini-montage of them meeting, and then, Jae Hyun gives Yeong II a cellphone.

I don’t think any subversion was intended, but with groomers often using electronic gifts in order to further their predation, this is interesting to me. Jae Hyun may or may not have a job, but he doesn’t the money to spend on a smartphone. Yet, he seems serious about buying Yeong II a smartphone when he does have the money, and I read his reaction after saying this as him realising he’d maybe just revealed certain things that he’s not quite ready to, and so, he tried to flip things back by saying Yeong II, the older of the two, should be giving him a gift.

He doesn’t want anything material, however. Yeong II might be buying the beverages they’ve been seen drinking, but that’s not a particularly big deal.

The cellphone is so that he and Yeong II can be better connected. All he wants is assurance, if he calls, his call will be answered.

I don’t know how cell plans work in South Korea, but this college student who, again, may not even have a job, has gotten a phone for a professor. I’m not sure such a thing could be presented without extremely weird overtones in more western countries.

And I’m not sure what I think about Yeong II accepting it.

After this, in a different meeting, Jae Hyun has once again fallen asleep, and Yeong II either realises or fully accepts he has feelings for him here.

Later, in the dusky sunset, Yeong II waxes lyrical about poetry. Props to the actor for selling the character’s love and commitment to this particular form of art/literature. I definitely think he’s the type of professor who made the right career choice for himself.

Yeong II is basking in the moment of sharing his love for poetry, and looking at him, Jae Hyun is just basking in the moment. It’s like the meme of someone staring at something whilst a person stares at them.

In this case, Yeong II notices, but questioning whether he has something on his face, he’s probably genuinely misinterpreting the stare.

Then, there’s a moment, and he does realise it’s happening, but he isn’t going to kiss his student here. Instead, he says it’s time to go, and Jae Hyun would rather keep sitting in the sunset with him. “Stay with me. The night view is so wonderful.”

Or the sight of his professor in the moonlight. Semantics, really.

Later, Yeong II writes poetry to express his feelings.

Look, I was the kid my classmates prayed wouldn’t get prodded by the teacher to speak during English and literature classes, because, I could and would make my disdain for both poetry and Shakespeare (minus Much Ado About Nothing) along with my alternate views on Jane Austen’s work known. As far as I know, no one ever had a crush on me, but if they did, they did the right thing by never trying to give me a love poem, because, even though I was not a cruel kid, I likely would have badly mishandled such a gift.

TL/DR version: I will not be analysing the poems in any way aside from noting they’re love poems.

During this, Jae Hyun calls, and he comments on Yeong II not sleeping.

I’ve had people wake me up by calling, and I don’t know how exactly I sound, but they’ve always known I was sleeping. I can believe Jae Hyun can tell Yeon II wasn’t sleeping based on how he answered/sounded when he did so.

What I don’t get is: Jae Hyun called when he thought Yeong II should be sleeping. So, either, he was expecting Yeong II to not be woken up by the phone, or he did intend to wake him up despite the fact he thinks Yeon II should be sleeping.

Am I missing something?

Jae Hyun wants to talk about the fact they’re apparently not meeting after school anymore, and he talks about how nice the experience was for him.

Meanwhile, Yeong II probably can’t/doesn’t know how to mute his phone so that he can beat his head against the desk, and I do have genuine sympathy for him here. He was doing what a good teacher would do, and in the process, he found himself confronted with feelings for another adult, but that adult was not only fairly younger but also his student.

He just didn’t want to give an F to a student who had potential but refused to utilise it, and now, he’s fallen hard.

Jae Hyun teases about how he might still not turn his poem in, and Yeong II is all, don’t even joke about that, you will turn it in.

Next scene, he’s semi-frantically going through the turned in papers to see if Jae Hyun’s is there. It is, and further, it’s a love poem. It’s a confession.

The first is obvious even to someone like me, but I’m not sure if he realises the second or not.

Leaving, he sees Jae Hyun outside with a friend, but before he can make his presence known, he hears them discussing him. At his friend’s questioning of all the time spent with Yeong II, Jae Hyun claims all the time spent with the professor is just to get a good grade, and he makes a bet he can get an A.

During the night, puppy Jae Hyun is excited about the view, and he asks why Yeon II called him.

I’m wondering if Yeong II actually texted him instead.

Giving the phone back, Yeong II says Jae Hyun is getting an A+, and also, goodbye forever.

I don’t think Yeong II would give the grade if he didn’t think Jae Hyun deserved it, but there’s definitely an element of, here, I’m giving you what you want, you don’t need to keep doing this. Giving the phone back furthers this. It was a true gift. Jae Hyun never even teased he should get a higher grade in exchange for it, but it’s tainted now.

So, Yeong II is giving it back. You got what you wanted, I know the truth of why you gave this to me, and knowing the truth, I’d rather not have it. I’ll give you what you want for my own reasons, but I won’t let myself be used a second time.

Of course, Jae Hyun is confused and suddenly hurt.

It always gets me when another character asks a variation of, “Did I do something wrong?” I almost always feel bad for them, but also- in an actual romantic relationship or friendship, if a person’s reaction to you doing something wrong is to just abruptly end things, then, maybe, you’re better off without them.

Followed by this, though, is if his poem upset Yeong II, and I definitely feel for Jae Hyun here. Whether good or not, he was fine with getting an F in a class where the main draw was just getting to be around this one person (while other people were around, too). Then, he got to spend time with his crush outside of class. He wrote what I’m assuming is a semi-decent poem, again, I don’t think Yeong II would give such a high grade if it weren’t deserved, and this poem was also him not quite shooting his shot but definitely putting his heart out there in case Yeong II happened to decide to pick it up.

And now, it’s like, why couldn’t you have just given me the F and let me continue to silently pine in a sea of people? Why’d you have to insist on me putting myself out there just for you to not like what you see, not like me, when I do?

It could have all ended here, but maybe hoping for some sort of closure, maybe just wanting to make sure everything was fully severed and they both knew it, or maybe just not being the type to leave things half-done, Yeong II says, “It’s such a small college.” He reveals how he heard the conversation.

And it’s subtle, but I really like how Jae Hyun takes all this in and reacts.

Insistent it’s not what Yeong II thinks, he’s nevertheless much less upset.

Getting up, he physically blocks Yeong II from leaving, and when Yeong II desperately begs to be left a little bit of dignity for himself by ordering, “Don’t be rude to an old man,” Jae Hyun gets a little irritated by the age gape being brought up.

“Who do you think you are,” Yeong II demands.

Here’s the answer:

“You want to quit your job?” He explains, if his friend knows something, like say, he has a massive crush on his professor, then, everyone else will soon know it. Going further, though, “Are you okay if my friends find out the truth? ‘Cause, I don’t care. If you’re fine, I can tell everybody that we’re in a relationship.”

Of course, uneasy, confused, a little frightened, Yeong II is all, We’re not.

They weren’t a few minutes ago.

I love this. The answer is Jae Hyun is Yeong II’s, and now that he knows his feelings are returned, he’s going to make Yeong II his. I’m fine with keeping things private until this won’t majorly disrupt your life, but knowing you feel the same, we’re now in a relationship. You do not get a say in the last part, only in the part whether other people are allowed to know or not at this point in time.

Naturally, though, Yeong II is a bit shell-shocked by all this, and exasperated but determined, Jae Hyun makes it clear he’ll be a guide when necessary. Whether he’s ever been in a relationship before or not, it’s intuitive for him to act on his feelings as opposed to more reserved, self-contained Yeong II.

There is one point where I wish the translation was clearer. He says Yeong II doesn’t know, “how to do to someone you love.”

Is it supposed to be what to do with someone you love? Is it supposed to be how to do someone, which, doesn’t have to be sexual but such phrasing usually does have such conations?

Moving on, he gets Yeong II to close his eyes, and he gives simple peck to the lips.

And when, after reopening his eyes, Yeong II doesn’t run away or insist this is a mistake, they share a proper kiss.

When they walk off together, Yeong II lets Jae Hyun take his hand, and Jae Hyun asks if he can sleep over at Yeong II’s house tonight. Heh.

One thing I found interesting is the film is almost entirely from Yeong II’s POV, but Jae Hyun’s feelings are much clearer, to the audience, at least, than Yeong II’s. It’s obvious fairly early that Jae Hyun has a big crush, but it’s not until about half-way in or later that it’s shown Yeong II requites these feelings.

#private lessons strongberry

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Love For Love's Sake Ep 4

This episode gave me whiplash.

Cha Joo Wan did a great job with Yeo Woon, but I don’t get how Yeo Woon went to depressed kid who’s basically “?” towards Myung Ha to being an adorable lovesick puppy towards him. Also, wasn’t it established he had to wear his old shoes during this race, or did I misunderstand something?

In the same vein, in ep 3, Myung Ha yelled for Yeo Woon to run. Unless it wasn’t translated, he didn’t here.

I really felt bad for Sang Won. And I’m hoping someone will do a meta or something about how subby he is. I like exploring BDSM dynamics in fanfic, but I’m not qualified to write about them in metas.

Sang Won might be a spoiled asshole, but he is trying to do better. He genuinely likes Myung Ha, and he is mostly going about it in the right way. I’m not trashing anyone who likes the Yeo Woon/Myung Ha ship, because, ship and let ship is something I instinctually adopted when I first discovered internet fandom. To bring up a controversial fandom, I used to be big Ronmione shipper, but I never agreed with calling Harmony shippers delusional.

Part of why I ship Sang Won/Myung Ha, though, is Sang Won just liked Myung Ha for being Myun Ha. Yeo Woon was a depressed kid mourning his grandmother, and Myung Ha has been a nice and supportive, if puzzling and abrupt, fixture in his life. Sang Won might not particularly like his own ‘friends’, but he does have people he can easily hang out with. There are people who, maybe not for the right reasons, would instantly agree to date him if he asked.

Myung Ha is basically the only person Yeo Woon can really see at the moment. I have no doubt he could find a girlfriend or boyfriend if he expanded a little effort, but he’s not even willing to expand effort to find friends at this point, which I understand. I’ve been there. The point is, Myun Ha is all, hey, I’m here, I’ll buy you ice-cream and shoes, I’m a connection to your dead grandma, you don’t have do or be anything to impress me, and there’s nothing truly objectionable about me.

For a friend, this is great. I just don’t think it’s at a point where romance between two such people is a particularly good idea.

To Myung Ha’s credit, though, he is trying to helping Yeo Woon expand his social circle.

Onto something else that I don’t think I fall into the fandom with: I don’t like it when response to homophobia is nonconsensual kissing. I did not like or agree with Myun Ha doing that.

I swear I’m not one of those puritans who thinks violence is fine but anything sexuality-related is mature and taboo. In most cases, I’d rather see a kissing or sex scene than a fight one. However, in this instance, it being fiction, I cheered on Sang Won punching the bullying after declaring himself gay.

In real life, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I condone it, but I can definitely sympathise and understand with people punching homophobes and Nazis. Forcing a kiss, however, is sexual assault, and no matter how horrible, no person ever deserves that.

Also, damn, Sang Won is brave. Credit to Oh Min Su, even knowing it was a scene, if people suddenly surrounded me like that, I would instinctively flinch and hunch into myself. Defiant Sang Won might have legitimate masochist tendencies, but this wasn’t about that. This was him showing who he truly was without any shame despite knowing there would be painful repercussions.

It’s sad no one important was there to see it, but then, even with his feelings toward Myung Ha, this was about him, not anyone else. Showing who one is when no one who will appreciate it is around is a truly scary thing.

So, it seems the author friend was semi-openly, at least, preparing for doing this to Myung Ha. The fact Myung Ha didn’t have a lot more questions about answering those questions could be a result of things not being shown at the moment; maybe the author friend did give him a plausible reason that wasn’t I’m going to put you in a virtual world for reasons.

But the fact he isn’t questioning things now is weird. Either he’s now realising his friend lied to him, or he knows what exactly is going on but is hiding it from the audience. If the former, why not more of some kind of reaction?

For all this episode was whiplash-inducing, at least, there was the continued adorableness of Myung Ha and his teddy bear Kyung Hoon.   

#love for love's sake

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Love for Love's Sake EP1

I’ve only watched episodes 1-3 so far.

Given the opening scene, I’m worried Yeo Woon is actively suicidal.

Tae Mayung Ha adapts really quickly to this how possibly being in a virtual world thing. I always have trouble with premises such as these, because, I know if too much time is spent on the main character struggling, it’ll turn viewers off, but I also know someone like me would not last long at all if I suddenly found myself in a different world or what have you. I would question my sanity hardcore, and assuming I decided I was still sane, I would likely kill myself in the process of trying to reverse what had happened.

Did his author friend do this to him?

It’s interesting how I haven’t seen anything online about how a 29-year-old is actively pursuing an 18-year-old. Granted, virtual world (possibly), he’s in a 19-year-old body (possibly), and even in the real world, I don’t think there are any countries where a 29-year-old being with an 18-year-old is illegal, nor do I think it should be illegal, either. But also, if an 18-year-old loved one of mine was with or being pursued by a 29-year-old, I would not have good feelings towards this 29-year-old.

This said, it being fiction, I’m not counting myself as hypocritical for the fact I’m shipping Sang Won with Mayung Ha.

Sang Won reminds me so much of Jang Jaeyoung from Semantic Error.

And unfortunately, it seems I’m the only one shipping these two right now.

I don’t dislike Yeo Woon, but I honestly don’t understand why everyone is cooing over him, either. I feel bad for him. I do think people aren’t taking his grandmother’s death into consideration at all and that he should be given time, and possibly, counselling, to actually mourn her. But other than feeling sympathy for him, I don’t see what makes him so appealable to both the audience and Mayung ha

Back to Mayung Ha waking up in the classroom, the teacher’s reaction was milder than I expected, and in this circumstance, sending him to stand in the hall was likely best for Mayung Ha, but a good teacher would actually be trying to find out what caused such a bizarre reaction in a student.

So, Mayung Ha finds Yeo Woon, and it was smart convincing Yeo Woon that he was close to Yeo Woon’s grandmother. All the same, there are more plausible answers to the question of missing her funeral than, oh, sorry, I was so late that I didn’t even make it.  

Speaking of grandmothers, I no longer take cultural or generational differences into consideration when it comes to abuse. Mayung Ha’s grandmother is a horrible person. Parents from 1950s movies and Thailand BL series and so on who lay their hands on their children are terrible people.

Onto non-horrible people, I love that Kyung Hoon is basically Mayung Ha’s teddy bear. It’s not scary to see when he physically stops Kyung Hoon, and in later episodes, he’ll openly cuddle him multiple times.

Speaking of adorable, bedsharing!

I do find it interesting how Asian shows tend to make much less of a big deal about two boys/men sharing a bed when there’s no romantic relationship in play. Which they should. I’m going to squee over most instances of bed-sharing regardless of whether it’s parents co-sleeping with kids, a couple, or just two or more friends, but I don’t find it commentary-worthy in and of itself when two male characters who aren’t in a romantic relationship end up sharing a bed.

I know Yeo Woon and Mayung Ha will almost certainly end up together, but couldn’t it just be a case of Mayung Ha helping this depressed kid be happy and maybe Mayung Ha ending up with Sang Won?

I’m not sure this new format is doing much better at helping me present my thoughts in a coherent fashion, but I’m going to try it a few more times.

#love for love's sake

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Cherry Magic Ep 6 (Thailand)

Nice of the rest of the boat to just patiently wait for this private conversation to be finished.

I’m not sure if this was a translation error or not. Achi saying he’s always known Karan’s feelings is incorrect from a character standpoint, but him saying he already knew would be accurate.

Respect when someone says they don’t drink, jerkass.

I do feel genuinely bad for Karan, just like I did for Kurosawa. Both were prepared to be very professional, and both were not only treated horribly inappropriately with it arguably verging into sexual assault territory, especially in Karan’s case, both were penalised for their, actually, relatively mild reactions to being treated so badly.

I did like how this version handled Karan taking a metaphorical bullet for Achi.

Part of me is always going to love how unique the Japanese version is with Adachi really not registering Kurosawa on any significant level until the telepathy came into play, but I do like how these flashbacks set up the present dynamics between the two. Achi never got to know Karan on a deeply personal level back then, but he saw how thorough Karan was, he recognised the kindness Karan extended to him, and unlike in the Japanese version, he truly gained a genuine respect for Karan as a person, whereas, Adachi just had a basic respect for Kurosawa as another human being.

Also, the memory pen thing was sweet and adorable, but it’s a shame Karan went along with it instead of being a little braver and approaching Achi when sober and in a better emotional place. He could have offered the pen back, thanked him, and made an overture of friendship.

What is Achi, the pen warden?

Poor Karan can’t get up the nerve to ask Achi to see a concert with him, but he’s so gone that he’ll take something given to him in a quasi-scolding manner as a cherished gift.

Jinta has a point. I’m not really fond of the romcom trope of a relationship expert suddenly needing to find a partner, but it’s valid to want someone’s credentials before deciding whether or not to spend money on the material they produce.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Jinta and Min end up like that meme, Jinta: You’re flirting with me? Min: Have been for some time, thanks for finally noticing, also, I think I might need to talk to your bestie about his coworker if him being friends with you is any indication on his ability to receive signals.

Achi piecing together all Karan has quietly been doing for him for years was neat.

It’s also nice his reaction is wanting to make sure Karan is okay, feeling sympathy for what Karan has been going through, rather than it being framed as him missing being taken care of.

In an earlier episode, he was worried he was just using Karan due to liking being taken care of, but whether he realised he’s realised it or not, he knows now this isn’t the case.

Did Karan have Achi temporarily blocked, or was his phone turned off?

Oh, for frell’s sake. Pai could have just told Achi the information. She really doesn’t have any right to be so irritated about Rock inviting himself when she’s invited herself to what is clearly something private between her two coworkers.

That being said, her being, look, here’s my phone, ID, and the proper amount of money, so, even if I’m technically still stealing, I’m hoping you’ll allow it, hop on, Achi, I can and will drive this, was awesome.  

Why was Rock the one driving the motorbike instead of the actual driver? Or did Rock just find a nearby motorbike and go hey, I’ll take you to my awesome coworker who might have technically stolen your bike but I’m definitely driving?

I kind of imagine Karan hearing that Pai took Achi on a maybe stolen bike, they ran out of gas, and then, Achi ran in the hot Thailand weather and just immediately going, okay, Achi, we can have whatever type of relationship you want as long as it will ensure you never, ever get into a situation like that again.

I notice Pai rode side-saddle with Rock. I couldn’t actually see how she was sitting with Achi. Please, tell me she didn’t drive sitting side-saddle.

Damn, how far away was the airport? It was afternoon when Achi started running, dusky when Pai and Rock talked, and outright dark when he finally arrived.

Achi’s thought of receiving magic due to something higher favouring Karan is interesting, in-character, and exasperating. I’m not saying he might not be proven right later on, but it’s just as likely someone/something higher took a shine to him and realised the only way he’d get a person who utterly adores him and will always try to treat him right is if something drastic gave him the push to see said person was standing right in front of him, desperate to do just that.

#cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Cherry Magic Episode 5 (Thailand)

Edited to correct character names.

Trying a new format:

Admittedly, I should have realised, of course, Karan would offer to go to a hotel/stay somewhere else. I’m still, however, utterly annoyed with the lack of any real reaction towards someone just kicking a family member out of said person’s own place.

I’m sure this is a cultural thing, but Karan attributing Achi’s success to the emotionally and verbally abusive aunt rubbed me the wrong way. It was nice of Karan to defend Achi, but if it were me, I’d hope I’d be like, friend, look, I have to say that I find the way that person talked to you to be bad, and if you ever need help, if you ever find yourself in a dangerous or just bad situation with them, I will try my best to help you.

I’m curious what exactly Karan’s POV was towards being given the souvenir. Obviously, he was happy, but: He was thinking about how much he wanted a keepsake, and then, appros of nothing, Achi is offering this sweet gift. I think I’d be worried about accidentally broadcasting my desires if that happened to me.

I preferred the Japanese version of Kurosawa sitting vigil over Adachi, but I don’t have any objections to this version. It does make me roll my eyes, though, at Karan’s lying about having a comfortable sleep when dude, you and Achi both know you slept basically sitting upright next to his bed.

Or actually, if he had been sitting fully upright, that might have been more comfortable.

Moving on, further proof the boss is something and playing matchmaker.

Achi’s telepathy seems to be causing him more trouble than Adachi’s ever did. He and Karan were forgoing a genuine connection pretty easily, and then, because of fantasies Karan never would have expected to happen or tried to make happen, Achi got understandably spooked. I don’t blame him. If I found out someone undeniably had a crush on me, I’d probably handle it worse than Achi, to be honest.

It’s interesting how Rock is being given a more direct role than Rokkaku was. Rokkaku was just sort of a comic relief character. There were moments of mild jealousy from Kurosawa, but on the whole, both Kurosawa and Adachi liked and sort of looked out for Rokkaku.

On this note, I really liked the expansion of Rock and Min’s story here. I’m hoping Rock being all, person has a problem with my friend being gay? Person will regret this, will happen in the show. My favourite Rokkaku contribution to the Japanese version was him trying to gain enough liquid courage to attack Tsuge (not Minato, as I originally wrote) in a restaurant, where two of his coworkers, one of whom is Tsuge’s best friend and one of whom is known for being a physical badass, were with him all because this, from his POV, homophobic jerk was A. homophobic towards his friend, and B. broke his friend’s heart only in part due to the homophobia.

Part of the comedy of the Japanese version was Rokkaku just utterly failing to realise there was anything at all between Adachi and Kurosawa. Rock has definitely pinged Karan treats Achi differently than others.

What could have, and should have, really, been a cute domestic moment of Achi and Karan talking about Achi’s concern for a shared coworker was ruined by the fact Karan was seeing what he thought was Achi falling for Rock right in front of his non-salad food salad.

Credit to the show, I do think, if Achi was in a relationship with someone, Karan would be, okay, I’ll find a way to live with this heartbreak, but if he were ever invited to Achi’s house for anything, he’d only come if he had to, and it wouldn’t matter if he had to find an internet cafe or something, there’d be no way he’d be staying the night.

Which is why I’m not sure what to feel about him getting so emotional about Achi and Jinta. Because, outside of his POV, taking the scene in isolation, it came across as him getting angry at two men sitting together and them hurriedly defending themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if people were wondering if Achi might be gay/in a same-sex relationship and that Karan had a problem with the not-straight part.

Jinta’s stalking wasn’t as bad as I feared, at least, and while I’m still not actively shipping them, I do like how Jinta and Min’s relationship is being developed so much more in comparison to Minato/Tsuge.   

It was well-done how popular Karan was standing all alone on the outside and watching the office loner happily be in the mix of everything. Unlike Achi wishing he could be Karan, however, Karan was just wishing he could be with Achi in a way none of the others could.

Initially, I thought it would have been a smarter choice to have Karan refuse to go, Achi chase after him, and then, have him announce his feelings, but someone else pointed out he was likely operating under: I can’t keep this in, I like you, and now, your boat is leaving, bye!

I might do a rundown of past episodes in this format, too.

#cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Episode 4 (Cherry Magic Thailand)

I liked how this version handled the unhappy higher-up better than the Japanese version where he was grunting and outright refusing to speak, but on the other hand, is really Dujdao’s job to make sweets when a higher-up comes in? I could understand if she’d been selected to pick up some sweets, but her making them?

Anyway, I also liked how Jinta and Min really did just happen to run into each other rather than Jinta being a stalker. That other delivery guy, though, was rude. For all I’m not invested, I did think the scene of Jinta standing up for Min and their conversation while sitting together was nice.

However, I preferred the Japanese version of Adachi’s jealousy. He saw what he thought was Kurosawa’s ex-girlfriend, and assuming they’d get back together, he got so jealous and confused, he became physically sick.

Here, Achi thought this was Karan’s present girlfriend. So, if this was true, either Karan has been heavily crushing on someone else while dating, or he just got this girlfriend very recently. Either way, Achi doesn’t have any thoughts about this? The former says some unflattering things about Karan, and the latter, while possibly more understandable (I like this person, but I have no chance, and so, I’m going to see if I can develop new feelings for another person), is still something I’d expect more thought on.

In Adachi’s case, his thoughts aren’t verbalised, but I can imagine it being something like: Sure, he likes me, but he liked her first, and maybe, spending the night together will rekindle old feelings, especially since, whatever his feelings for me, we are just coworkers.

It actually would have been interesting to explore more of: I know he likes me, but he has this girlfriend, and well, I can’t really say anything due to the telepathy and it possibly not even being my place regardless of how I know, but assuming this is long-term, it’s not good he’s so privately invested in someone else when in a serious relationship. Especially when this someone is me.

Fujisaki and Pai are two extremely different characters. I like both, but I do miss having an explicitly aroace character. And I’m really not fond of a potential Pai/Rock romance. I’m even less there for Pai doing things like screaming and running away due to shipping two coworkers, but you know what, show? I’m probably never going to mention Rock running away again, so, good for that, I guess?

There are phones that can unsend texts? Is that real? Are these phones available outside of Thailand? Are they expensive? I’m going to have to do some searching.

Also, I liked the moment where Karan worried about doing something funny in front of Achi, Achi couldn’t help but smile wider, and Karan was all silently, ‘I totally did, didn’t I?’ It was a nicely subtly moment New and Tay both pulled off.

I have questions about the timeline. Achi sent/unsent the text, Karan went through this whole adventure to get to Achi, and then, he showed up in what seemed to be, at most, thirty minutes later. Huh? Also, Karan doesn’t keep a spare?

One thing I have an issue with is: Even though they aren’t malicious, Karan seems to lie a lot. Kurosawa really didn’t lie much.

And I really didn’t like the sister bit. On the Japanese version, it was still rude, but it was kinda realistic for Adachi and Kurosawa to go along with: stay at Adachi’s place for 1 night while he’s sick, and it didn’t make her into a horrible, entitled person.

Her taking over her brother’s condo, that it’s established he bought, indefinitely, and getting a coworker of his to let him stay- No.

If a person is desperate for a place to stay, and really, I don’t think it was that, more she just didn’t want her mother to find out due to annoying lecturing that would ensue, they can sleep on a couch/futon, follow any reasonable house rules, and be grateful, not force someone else out of their literal home.

I’m not happy it looks like Jinta is going to go down the stalking route later on.

#cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Episode 3 Cherry Magic (Thailand)

Slightly edited.

One difference I like is how, in the Japanese version, Rokkaku was most attached to Kurosawa, and he started to admire Adachi once Kurosawa and Adachi started spending actual time together. Here, Rock has adopted Achi as his mentor right away.

However, there are times a show can have an episode (take Buckle Up from Scandal) or way aspects of a character are handled (like certain things involving Tara Graeme from Teen Wolf) or just a despisable character (Marc Antony from Rome, as one example) that I just can’t get over. I will be ranting about them years later on the internet.

Unfortunately, I think Rock running away at the suggestion Achi and Karan might be lovers last episode will be one of those things for this show. Someone pointed out it was likely him being heartbroken over his own failed relationship, and this does make sense, but I do think the show should have been clearer if this is what it was going for.

Maybe, the show will show something I really like about Rock that will ease this. For Rokkaku, I was relatively neutral about him until he was all, homophobe hurt my friend? Homophobe will regret it.

It was kind of funny how Rock was, hey, there a reason Achi is getting juice when everyone else is getting water?, but then, I remembered the running away, and I’m not sure Rock won’t show actual homophobia in later episodes.

Moving on, I’ve never experienced what Karan has, but I do feel sympathy for him. I can imagine that would suck, you find something, you like it, but then, everyone makes a big deal about how something that you’re just doing for fun should be something you should devote serious time and effort to. If you give it up, you give up something that was once fun, and people could express disapproval and/or disappointment over you depriving others of your talent, but if you don’t give it up, what was once joyful could cause resentment and, possibly, burn-out.

It’s always cool when Papang Phromphiriya Thongputtaruk pops up. He and Jan Ployshompoo Supasap both did awesome during their scene together.

Seeing Pai tell off her emotionally, borderline verbally, abusive ex off was awesome, and I’m glad she got to enjoy her bacon. Her offering to share with his new girlfriend was really sweet, but as someone who doesn’t like bacon, I’m just saying it might not have been fear of being scolded that had the new girlfriend decline. Emotionally abusive people target different parts of different people. It could have just been the new girlfriend doesn’t like bacon.

I loved the look on Achi’s face when he realised Karan was all, okay, semi-naked in a tub next to my crush, I will think religious thoughts now. And keep my eyes closed as much as possible. Religious thoughts.

It was sweet of the boss, Dujdao, to be concerned about Pai and to get a trustworthy male coworker to go with her.

There’s absolutely no indication of this, but I kind of imagine Karan sobering up a bit (originally, I wrote finding out, but upon rewatching the scene, he was there :headsmack:) and being all, ‘With all due respect, ma’am: What the f*ck. Yeah, I’m tracking them down before one or both of them get hurt.’

Not because he thinks either of them is weak, but because, as shown, they are vulnerable to physical attacks, and Achi, at least, has a tendency to inadvertently find himself in situations.

Are we sure Karan is actually a bad singer, or did he just decide to pretend to be one?

I could have missed something, but did Jinta’s place turn from an apartment to a house? Did he relocate from an apartment to a house?

I’m still not feeling the Jinta/Min subplot, but I didn’t particularly care for the Tsuge/Minato one either. At least, so far, Jinta hasn’t been as stalkerish as Tsuge was.

I’m looking forward to next episode.

#cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Disorganised Thoughts on Episode 2 Cherry Magic (Thailand)

I suspect the Japanese boss is playing matchmaker. I’ve always kind of had this theory Urabe was a trickster character, but I legitimately believe the Japanese boss is, if not a trickster, a benevolent supernatural figure. Achi didn’t hear his thoughts, is the main thing, though, there are things that, unless it was just done to lazily propel the narrative, strengthened this conclusion.

Rock running away at the suggestion of Achi and Karan being lovers was stupid. One thing I really liked about Rokkaku was, yeah, violence isn’t the answer, but his reaction to believing Tsuge was homophobic against his friend being, ‘Oh, you have a problem with my friend being gay? Well, I have a problem with all your blood staying in your body!’ was something I really liked about his character.

This was just cringeful. If the show wanted to make Rock uncomfortable with gayness or just awkward about the idea or even non-violently homophobic, I wouldn’t have objected to the choice, but him doing this is just so, so- ugh. On so many levels.

I’m not feeling the Jinta/Min romance. I will say, though, there are times Junior Panachai Sriariyarungruang reminds me of First Kanaphan Puitrakul.

I didn’t like the cat’s thoughts being read, and even though I liked some of Jinta’s talking to the cat and the cat sleeping on him, that cat is still panting way too much. When he picked it up, in a way that I don’t think cats are supposed to be picked up, and it was panting like that-

I’ve had cats and dogs. I’ve only ever seen one cat pant in real life, and this was during car rides to the vet. It was the result of unhappiness and stress, not heat and/or lack of water. With a dog, I could think that, maybe, the dog had just exercised or even just been outside where it was hot and needed some water, but Thailand needs to seriously do better with cats on shows.

One tiny bit of character continuity I liked was: Karan looked up reviews when picking out Achi’s cake, and here, he tried to show Achi reviews for a restaurant that he thought Achi might like.

Honestly, until this show, I never really gave much thought to Kurosawa actually buying pyjamas specifically for Adachi, despite them not even being friends and/or having any reason to believe Adachi would ever be a guest at his place. I guess I just managed to mostly miss that. I think I just assumed that it was a case of Kurosawa buying an extra pair of pyjamas in case he ever had a guest, which is a reasonable thing for a person to do, and then, being really happy with being able to provide them for Adachi and with how Adachi looked in them.   

Interestingly, I think the Thailand version is explicitly going for Achi being bisexual while the Japanese version could be argued to be more ambiguous about Adachi’s sexuality. Yet, during the party scenes, Adachi invoked them both being men when they were ordered to kiss, and Achi didn’t.

I preferred the Japan version of the rooftop, but I don’t have a problem with this version.

In the Japanese version, Kurosawa had a much stronger reaction to learning Adachi had never been kissed, and even though I do like how this version had made less of a deal about virginity so far, I really liked how sweet Kurosawa’s reaction of, ‘Oh, thank God, I didn’t take something so important and special as your first kiss from you,’ was along with him believing whoever Adachi did willingly give such a gift to would be so lucky.

I didn’t particularly like Karan’s question/statement of who’d want to kiss another guy, but it didn’t bother me.

One thing I liked about the Japanese version was: Kurosawa’s dialogue and the acting had me believe it him going, ‘Look, I know I’m almost certainly in love with a straight guy. Just explicitly say you’re straight, please, so that the part still clinging to the small hope I’m not actually doing that will die. I need this closure if I’m ever going to have a chance of moving on.’

Karan is not as teasing a character as Kurosawa is, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I actually think that’s a neat way to make the character distinctive in his own right, but I also think the show needs to be careful about giving him certain similar dialogue and actions to Kurosawa because of this.

Achi enjoying Karan’s attention, but then, feeling guilty about accepting the attention when he doesn’t (for now, at least) return Karan’s feelings is awesome of him. I genuinely felt bad for how he kept trying to subtly distance himself without hurting Karan, and in the process, he either ended up in situations that brought them even closer or where he accidentally hurting Karan more.

One difference between Achi and Adachi is: Adachi was desperate to get rid of his magic, and most of the time he used it, it was through accidental, on his part, contact. Achi, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be having much of a struggle with having magic, and several times, he’s deliberately made contact to activate his magic.

I’m looking forward to next episode.   

#cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Compare and Contrast Cherry Magic (Japan) and Ep 1 Cherry Magic (Thailand)

I hope Achi’s ‘clumsiness’, like Adachi’s, is largely phased out after the first episode.

I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to explain this properly, but one thing I found interesting is: Both Adachi and Achi are in a rut and resigned to it, but I think it bothers Achi more than it did Adachi. I don’t think Adachi really wanted more until he started to realise having more was actually maybe an option, whereas, Achi does want more, but he doesn’t believe having more is an option.

When it comes to Kurosawa and Karan, Karan being subtly burnt out was shown right away, whereas, Kurosawa’s loneliness and bouts of sadness along with the struggles he’s faced were gradually revealed.

On another note, Karan and Achi have much more of a relationship already. I don’t have a problem with this, but one thing I preferred about the Japanese version is: Adachi genuinely didn’t pay much attention at all to Kurosawa before he found out Kurosawa liked him. It was like, yeah, there’s Kurosawa, the popular office guy, and that was it. Even with him helping a drunk Kurosawa, I never got the impression that incident, in contrast to how life-changing it was to Kurosawa, made much of an impact on him. Yeah, I helped a drunk coworker once, it was nice to see even the popular can have down moments, I don’t really remember the specifics beyond this of that night.  

Here, Achi is a little jealous of Karan. He wants to be more like him. He holds Karan up as something he himself should be.  

Adachi, meanwhile, I think he would have liked to be more like Kurosawa, but he didn’t really dwell on this feeling, and he especially didn’t dwell on Kurosawa as a person until he started to learn, oh, this guy who’s everything I’m not, it turns out I have a really incomplete picture of who he really is and what he’s really like beyond what everyone, including me, has seen.

Sidenote, I don’t know if Karan is going to be a teasing character like Kurosawa or not. In the original, seeing sunshine-y Kurosawa teasing Adachi, and Adachi being all silently I really cannot deal with you right now was fun. Here, Karan’s suggestion they take the stairs had a genuine sweetness to it. It was like, okay, I have a solution that might help make you more comfortable, and bonus, it’d have me and you spending some time alone together.

I felt the quickly suppressed sadness and disappointment from him when Achi quickly rejected his offer. I’d say to Achi’s credit, Achi didn’t go, huh, taking the stairs would be good for me, but you don’t need to join me, bye, but I suspect it’s more that, like adult me (kid me loved stairs), Achi is not taking the stairs unless he actually needs to for some reason.  

When it comes to Adachi and Tsuge and Achi and Jinta, again, I’m not sure if I’m going to explain this properly or not, but: Until the movie, I never saw much enjoyment between Adachi and Tsuge, but this doesn’t mean I thought they had a bad friendship. They struck me as two people who had a strong emotional connection, and due to this, they’d meet for dinner or drinks occasionally just to keep up with one another so that, when one of them needed emotional support, it wasn’t weird to call or text at like 3 am or something.

Jinta and Adachi, on the other hand, seem more like conventional friends who genuinely enjoy one another’s company. Their food fight was adorable.

I’m not good at recognising most animal behaviour, but even I know that the way that cat was panting was not good, just like I knew Pobjer from Don’t Say No was not happy or interested in any of the actors handling her (assuming the cat actor was female like the character).

This said, like many of the takes I’ve read, I do love how the connection between Jinta and his love interest is being fleshed out via the cat. But since I was pretty meh on Tsuge/Minato, I might be on Jinta and this guy, too.

Sing Harit Cheewagaroon is an impressive actor. To date, my favourite role of his is Todd from Not Me, but I like him here as Rokkaku’s counterpart.

The fact Karan choose Achi’s cake but didn’t show up for the party is cute. Him spending a month researching in the hopes of finding a great cake, and then, being, me and him aren’t actually friends, and he’s somewhat shy/socially awkward, I want him to being completely comfortable and enjoy his birthday celebration, here, friends of Achi’s, here’s a cake, don’t mention it came from me, thanks- adorable.

I saw the perfect take that encapsuled what I felt about Achi being sent, on his birthday, to give cake to someone who wasn’t even part of the celebration. Namely, I was all, What? Seriously?

Followed by the realisation it could be his friends pinging Karan’s crush and lowkey shipping the two.

If so, aw.

One thing that kind of worked and kind of didn’t is: In the original, I wondered why Adachi didn’t get a cab. Here, he tried, and he probably could have eventually gotten one, but it was also clear he was unlikely to get one anytime soon.

In the original, I don’t want to say bullied, but Kurosawa was more okay, you’re staying with me tonight, and Adachi sort of ended up in front of the apartment mentally going, how exactly did I end up here?

Here, this vibe didn’t exactly happen.

Like many, I’m disappointed we may not get an aroace character, but I’m not surprised. It’s too bad. Fujisaki was an awesome character, and it was nice to see a sweet, somewhat playful, competent aroace character who clearly had genuine emotional connections with other people. She wasn’t cold or misanthropic or traumatised. She didn’t want or need a romantic relationship to be happy, ditto a sexual one, and her friendship with Adachi and Kurosawa was awesome. Recognising they’d be happy together, she helped them get there, and neither ever thought anything was wrong with her.

Adachi was willing to be her beard, if she wanted him to, and they both supported her following her career goals.

Finally, I’m likely in the minority here, but I did not like Karan’s smirk at the end. Since I know the original and probably wouldn’t believe the show would go a certain way even if I didn’t know the original, I can put my kneejerk reaction aside, but whatever exactly Tay Tawan Vihokratana was going for, and whatever so many people got that they liked, I went somewhere different upon seeing that expression.    

#cherry magic japan #cherry magic thailand

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Teen Wolf (2023) Movie Thoughts (Mostly Ranting)

Mainly, I'm disappointed.

First here are the things I'm neutral about/did like:

I honestly thought Liam was Stiles at first. It could just be me, but Sprayberry strongly resembles O'Brien, and Liam came across more like a mature, collected Stiles than a grown Liam in that first scene.

For all the issues I have with Derek's storyline, I did like both the writing and the acting presented dad!Derek. I liked the fact Derek is helping out law enforcement when there's fires being set around Beacon Hills.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much all I liked, and to be clear, mistaking Liam for Stiles is something I'm neutral about. I didn't particularly care one way or another about Liam in the movie, and I was fine with Stiles not being in the movie.

Liam's girlfriend is another thing I'm neutral about. I'm not going to hate on an actress for accepting a job when another actress was done dirty. I didn't dislike this new character, but I didn't see anything that made me interested in her, either.

Now onto what I didn't like.

For all I liked dad!Derek, it rubbed me the wrong way that there was no mention at all of Eli's mother. It seemed pretty clear to me that Eli was Derek's biological son, and so, this is not a case of single Derek adopting a kid, which, I'd be totally down for.

Look, was he married? Is he divorced? As much as I usually hate the trope of dead mothers, is she dead? Did he have a one-night stand, and she handed the baby over with explicit instructions to never contact her? Did he get involved with another horrible woman, and there's a court order stating that, if she comes within hundred feet of Beacon Hills before Eli is eighteen, she'll be arrested?

Moving on, I could unhappily accept complete lack of Corey, but Mason as a cop?

No.

Nope.

Uh-uh.

This is like if Lydia was a deputy.

Bear with the jumbled way I try to express this.

Sheriff Stilinski and Parrish are both intelligent men. In this universe, maybe, BLM doesn't even need to be a thing, because, the justice system is largely fair and about actually protecting people.

If so, then, the police would be essentially a blue-collar job, and I absolutely do not intend to demean honest, hard-working blue-collar workers.

Mason had an insanely high GPA, he genuinely loved science, was a bonafide bookworm, and there were hints he was from an upper-middle-class background.

If he decided on the justice system, he'd be a lawyer or some type of specialist, but I really doubt he'd decide on the justice system in the first place.

He wasn't particularly athletic, and while he wasn't one to naturally challenge authority, he wasn't one who would try to uphold authority, either. Yes, he wanted to help people, to protect them, but he was more, 'let's figure this out so that I can get back to kissing my boyfriend, working on my grades, and learning all this cool stuff about my friends,' than anything.

But moving on, I wish I could have liked the Ethan mention, but it's not great when a person goes to a dangerous place to put themselves in danger without telling their significant other, and it's even worse when they decide to do all this despite knowing that their significant other has big, big problems with them doing so.

Assuming Ryan Kelley or whoever that bare-bottom belonged to was okay with their naked bottom being shown and touched on TV, then, yay for equal opportunity fanservice, but ugh to Parrish/Malia.

Ugh to Malia apparently going by the surname Hale now.

I could have been on-board with Harris' return, but the movie had to frell that up.

I accepted a long time ago that Harris being Jackson's biological father wouldn't happen, but it's canon that Harris showed genuine concern, possibly even affection, for Jackson.

And of course, his motivation is that, like almost all the villains, whether correct in doing so or not, he blames Scott for his pain and suffering.

I wouldn't say Adam Fristoe was bad, he does seem to be a good actor, but aside from all my problems with Harris' role, I felt as if Fristoe was playing a way different character than Harris ever was.

Random, but when I first the line, "They call me Mister Tibbs," I thought, 'But the character is a detective.'

I had a similar thing when Peter referred to Deaton as 'Mister' Deaton. He is a licensed veterinary doctor.

The thing is, I honestly don't think this was a race thing with Deaton, but that's where my mind went.

Finally, onto Allison.

This had the potential to be great, but it wasn't.

Erica and Boyd were never brought up. So, everyone going on about how Allison wouldn't harm a fifteen-year-old boy- how old was Boyd when Chris himself said, paraphrased, 'Caught came awfully close to kill.'? Erica was sixteen when Allison shot an arrow at her whilst she was lying on the ground from another arrow shot.

Whether Allison ever truly felt bad for contributing to Erica's death or whether she was just horrified she became this person she recognised as immoral due to manipulation was, arguably, never made clear in the series.

That could have been explored. Has everything made her a coldly practical person who is determined never to cross certain moral lines and to follow this path of being a warrior, or is she a passionate, empathetic person who is trying to heal from the mistakes she wishes she could take back but knows she can't?

Chris had a line about how he'd kill to protect a fifteen-year-old boy, but whether he actually did hold a gun to Scott's head to get Allison to agree to stop seeing Scott or that was unreliable narration, he did do a lot of other things to make it clear that teenage shifters were lesser in his eyes.

And I'm still convinced, if he could have, he would have locked Lydia in his basement after her fugue state until she either died from a combination of starvation, dehydration, and possibly infection, or until she turned, whereupon he either would have killed her or secretly deposited her in Eichen's.

In the end, it was all about Scott/Allison, not about Allison rediscovering/reclaiming herself.

This is minor, but Scott not knowing what 'wistful' means was stupid. I didn't buy that.

That's all for now.

Fin.

#mtv teen wolf #long post

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Becoming Elizabeth Episode 1 Thoughts

I hate what this show has done with Catherine Parr so much. The actress is probably fine, I don't know if I've seen her anything else, but the characterisation- ugh. Even the best actress would never get me to accept such a characterisation.

Bad, bad, show.

Onto Elizabeth herself, I don't know if it's the writing or the actress, but I'm really not getting much of a sense of Elizabeth as a person. I adored the scene where she and Edward co-slept, and I was just pretty much meh most of the rest of the time she was on-screen.

I do like what the show's doing with Edward so far, the young actor is impressive, and as a huge Jane Grey/Edward shipper, I was there for the implication there might be something between them later on.

However, I'm probably not going to watch the rest of the season/series to find out.

I don't actually want to smack anyone, but if I ever come across the people who decided on this characterisation for Catherine Parr, I would side-eye them so hard and might not be able to stop myself from going, 'Really? Really? No, seriously, really?'

#becoming elizabeth the series

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Thoughts on Prapaisky in Lita Special

Unpopular opinion, but I didn't like how the jealousy/anger plotline was handled.

To be clear, Sky being jealous is fine.

I don't like the trope of a former non-monogamous person being 'redeemed'/just made better by entering a monogamous relationship with someone, and I usually don't like the trope of them feeling guilty for their past.

If a person who has a bunch of consensual sex with other people finds someone they want to be monogamous with, great.

But unless their past sexual encounters were due to them not being upfront about their intentions or, worse, outright lying, then, they shouldn't be judged.

Fort has great comedic chops, but after my instinctive laughing, I didn't find Pai jumping up, babbling, and begging Sky to please believe that he wasn't doing anything wrong, because, a woman was sitting at his table in a public restaurant funny.

Again, I don't have a problem with Sky being jealous, but either the fact Pai had a bunch of lovers in the past is a deal-breaker, or it's not. Pai didn't know the woman was waiting for a chance at ambushing Sky.

Yes, Sky has a right to Pai's body and heart, because, Pai has given himself to Sky.

I won't say Sky doesn't have the right to be angry, but I disagree that Pai did anything wrong in having consensual sex that it's been made clear he was always upfront about.

Now, I'm going with my idea that, between the racetrack and the first time in Pai's condo, Sky was given the opportunity to leave and decided, no, this asshole is going to be my next big mistake, but for anyone who isn't going with this and is viewing Pai as a sexually coercive person, I'm not going to try to change your mind about Pai not having a lot he absolutely should feel guilty about.

However, going with my idea, I don't like it when a devoted person agrees that they were wrong and their significant other is right when the latter gets angry about the fact the former once had consensual sex with someone other than them.

On to a not unpopular opinion, I loved the seaside conversation about marriage.

I have no clue how Fort feels/what he believes about the subject of same-sex marriage, but he was channeling during that scene. Sometimes, a performer will channel a belief or feeling, whether theirs or someone else's, into their performance, and whether he was channeling his own thoughts and feelings or someone else's, damn, did he make clear Pai is all for marriage equality, is convinced it will happen soon, and is completely ready for Sky to be his husband soon after this happens.

#lita the series #prapaisky #skyprapai

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Thoughts on GMMTV 2023

Unrelated, I'm going to change my icon on both this and my sideblog soon.

I wish Drake Laedeke and Jimmy Potiwihok had a series together. I'm still not over the lack of Waikorn from Bad Buddy. I haven't finished Vice Versa yet, but so far, I'm not really seeing much chemistry between Sea Anukoolprasert and Jimmy, though, Sea seems to be a good actor.

One thing I really focused on in the trailer for Last Twilight is Jimmy's character wearing a sign that said 'Guide Runner'. That's awesome. I'm curious if there are such a thing in real life.

And I'm still puzzled why Thai and Japanese series sometimes have things written in English. Sure, I'm always glad when I can read something for myself, but I don't think these signs where added just so English-speaking watchers could read them.

I'm so glad Offgun has another BL series, and it's nice to see both characters are all grown-up in this one, though, I don't object to the prevalence of university Thai BLs. I wish the midnight series would come out already.

It'll be interesting to see Perth Sukumpantanasan in a darker role. I never really saw Ae as a particularly rough character, though, he wasn't above throwing hands when necessary. But he had a line himself about how he wouldn't start anything but he'd damn well finish it.

Aside from the Bad Buddy special, I'm not sure whether I'll be watching Ohm Chittsawangdee's shows or not. From what I've read, Ohm wants darker roles, and I'm glad he's getting them. He is definitely talented enough to pull them off.

However, I think he's one of those performers that I only want to see in a certain type of role.

Matthew Goode is a great actor, but the thing is, whenever his character is supposed to be likeable, I'm all in. Whenever he's playing a jerk, he does a great job, but I just find myself not wanting to watch this character.

With no disrespect to Chris Hemsworth, I'm not sure if he's a good actor or not. Having not seen the first or fourth yet, my favourite Thor movie so far is Ragnarok, in what might be irony due to the fact that's the one Marvel movie I cannot pronounce, and I liked him for the few minutes he was in the first Star Trek reboot movie.

What I am sure of, though, is: Good actor or not, I just don't enjoy watching him when he's playing jerks, grim characters, and/or outright villains.

I am interested in seeing Ohm playing more restrained/quieter characters. As much as I enjoy him in bouncy/cheerful/outgoing roles, I was impressed with some of his subtle acting on Bad Buddy.

It's just, I don't think him playing a truly tortured character or an outright villainous one would vibe with me.

I'm glad First Puitrakul and Khao Ratanakitpaisan will be back together again. I loved them as Akk and Ayan. I do hope that, someday, Fluke Gawin will be paired with First again, however.

I know nothing about Book Plookphol and Force Srisang. I tried watching an episode of Enchanté, and it simply couldn't get me invested. Then, I read some spoilers, and I just don't think I'm ever going to be interested in that show. I hope everyone interested in those two actors will enjoy their new show.

It'd be great if the trailer for the Cherry Magic remake would drop already.

I have extremely mixed feelings about it. I love the original, and I'm usually not opposed to remakes. When it comes to the leads, until I see the trailer, I can't truly form an opinion; Tay Vihokratana and New Techa-apaikhun were fine in I'm Tee, Me Too, and aside from watching a little bit of Dark Blue Kiss, I haven't seen them in anything else.

I'm hoping I will like the Milk Vosbein and Love Limpatiyakorn series. I'm sort of a Inkpa shipper, but compared to Patpran, that couple wasn't as fully developed. I do think it's interesting how, based on the trailer, Milk is playing the less confident of the two while Love is playing the vibrant, outgoing one. In both Bad Buddy and Vice Versa, Milk's character has been the cheerful, social butterfly whilst Love's has been more introverted and almost mousy.

And these are my thoughts so far.

#gmmtv 2023 #long post

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Thoughts on Prapaisky in Episode 12

There was a time when I could never forgive a character who committed sexual assault. And then, it got to a point where I’d go, ‘If I apply this fix-it missing scene I’ve come up with, if I go with this person’s headcanon about how there was unseen consent given, if I just outright ignore this piece of canon, then, I can still like this character/this relationship.’

For all I’m anti-censorship, I do think there’s a disturbing amount of media and other forms of art that outright don’t seem to realise that what is being presented is sexual abuse. I guess, for me, that’s better than the ones that acknowledge what it is but says that it’s not that bad or that some people (or just characters) deserve it.

But anyway, I’ve written a missing scene where Sky isn’t impressed at all with Prapai but does decide, ‘you’ve made it clear I can walk away right now, but I’ve decided you’re gonna be my next big mistake, take me up to your room’, and so, now, I’m at peace with being a Prapaisky shipper.

One type of ship I don’t like is one where one or both parties play mind-games, but there are instances where a ship I like will have a sudden shift in power, and I’ll be all for it.

Fort and Peat knocked the diary scene out of the park.

Random thoughts:

Prapai was barefoot, and Sky wasn’t. Prapai let himself into Sky’s room, possibly with a key Sky still wasn’t aware Prapai had even obtained, and yeah, that’s not great. But he did follow customs and remove his shoes, whereas, Sky was operating under, I’m going to quickly get my truly personal stuff out of this room that’s no longer mine. It wasn’t a home where custom dictated removal of shoes anymore to him.

Even though I was sort of expecting it, I had a little bit of a jump-scare when the other light came on, but Sky didn’t even notice. It was Prapai’s voice, not the room getting brighter, that got his attention.

This is going to come out jumbled, but: Prapai wasn’t cruel during the scene. I’m not disagreeing with anyone who’s pointing out the boundary-crossing and potential outright illegality of some of his actions, but he wasn’t cruel. Sky’s sobbing breakdown wasn’t due to cruelty being inflicted, though, I imagine he did feel that Prapai was being cruel.

What I find interesting, though, is Prapai did give Sky several chances to potentially retake control. Sky wasn’t weak, but he was too exposed, too caught up in all these bubbling emotions, to be able to fight anymore.

“Is this another one of your jokes? Is this the person who enjoys putting a player like me in my place? When you wrote in this notebook, were you acting, too? You knew I’d find the key and enter the room to read it, didn’t you? Even this notebook’s full of lies, too?”

And they both knew better. Sky would never willingly let someone read his diary. He didn’t expect Prapai to go to/get inside the apartment, and again, he might not have even known Prapai could get in by himself. Sky was as honest as he’s ever been in that diary, and the words read shows someone who isn’t trying to put some unimportant player in his place.

It’s not mocking, however, on Prapai’s part. It’s: Here’s the truth. Are you going to face up to it now that you really don’t have a choice, or are you going to bring yourself even lower by trying to convince me that the truth I’ve seen, the truth that contradicts your spun lies, isn’t real?

Convinced he’s finally lost everything, and he just wanted some control over how he lost it, because, he always expected he would, Sky does neither. He doesn’t have own up to it, but he doesn’t try to fight against the truth anymore, either.

And so, knowing this is going to break Sky further, Prapai says he doesn’t like Sky anymore. It’s not a punishment, but Sky deliberately made Prapai cry, and now, knowing Sky will wail, Prapai says this. Prapai is using the fact Sky is hurt to further drive home that the words Sky spoke were lies.

Then, making Sky meet his eyes, he gives truth for truth: “Because, I love you, Sky. I don’t just like you. I love you, Sky.”

Given all his issues, there’s a chance Sky might still doubt this, might still expect to eventually lose everything, but for now, he decides he’s going to believe his love is requited, he’s going to hope that he won’t lose everything. He wants to so badly.

When Prapai asks, “How do you feel about me?”, Sky is honest, and it still hurts so badly, but there’s that saying about your world ends, and then, life goes on.

Later, he’s calm, and cuddled together on the couch, he and Prapai are honest, no playful sarcasm, no false bravado, no teasing humour, no attempts at any sort of misdirection. Prapai might have tried avoiding it a few times, but he’s never been afraid of being vulnerable and has deliberately made himself so before. Now, even though he was pushed into the love confession, afterwards, Sky chooses to be completely vulnerable in turn for the first time with Prapai.

He only truly hesitates when it comes to the explicit details about his ex, and Prapai makes it clear, as long as Sky is honest about them and their relationship, as long as problems are addressed when they come up, Sky can still keep certain parts of himself and his past guarded until he feels more steady and secure.

And finally, it was great to see Leon. I’m hoping Just Say Yes really will come out, but I have a feeling it might have been cancelled.

#lita the series #prapaisky #skyprapai

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

Thoughts on Cavill's Superman and Pattinson's Batman

Back when Henry Cavill's first Superman movie came out, I posted my thoughts about it on ao3, and a commenter made it clear they disagreed with me. I politely responded, and soon, my work was not only taken down, but unlike now, no copy of it was sent to me.

I can't prove this commenter reported me, and I can't prove ao3 did me dirty in that instance (and several other instances where my work was deleted without a copy being sent to me), but since something like that is unlikely to happen on tumblr, here I am.

First, I'm not saying those involved in the Cavill and Robert Pattinson Superman and Batman movies are wrong, and maybe, that commenter thought I was saying I found something wrong with people who liked the things I had problems with in the first Cavill Superman movie.

I don't. As a writer of fanfiction, someone who enjoys a well-done reboot, and a consumer of media who firmly believes retellings are vital, my judgement of characterisation is usually limited to: Did those involved in this work keep their characterisation consistent? If the character is largely different from the person they started the work as, did how they got from there to here make sense?

I've seen things where the plot was terrible, but somehow, a character's evolution into who this character becomes at the end manages to work. They respond in-character to whatever the plot throws at them, and they change in accordance with certain aspects of their beginning characterisation.

On the other hand, I've seen plots that were interesting, but characterisation changed on the whim of the plot.

So, I don't have a problem with the fact the characterisation for Superman/Clark Kent and Batman/Bruce Wayne on these works are different from other works I preferred.

However, my lack of disagreement with the chosen characterisation aside, I don't like the characterisation choices made in regards to them. I did really like the take on Jonathon Kent; Kevin Costner did a great job at bringing an extremely parent who, all flaws aside, did unquestionably love his son to screen.

Part of my problem is: Cavill and Pattinson both have played cheerful, somewhat exuberant characters really well. In the beginning of The Tudors, Charles Brandon was an absolute cad of a man, but he was largely happy-go-lucky and irrelevantly fearless.

In Pattinson's case, for all his screentime was limited, he brought the Cedric Diggory I had in mind when reading the Goblet of Fire to life.

I really like Cavill's performance of Geralt on The Witcher, because, whatever Geralt is supposed to be like in the books and video games, I've only seen the show. The show made it clear from the beginning their Geralt is a broody, often prickly person who finds himself doing the often thankless job of helping people due to his innate protectiveness and goodness compelling him despite his resentment and hurt at how he's so often treated by others going, 'hey, you should just look out for you since no one else is gonna.'

My favourite Superman/Clark Kent is Dean Cain's. He's genuinely cheerful and almost always tries to see the best in people, but yet, true naïveté is rarely something he falls into. His confliction (what the frell, tumblr? Confliction is a recognised word) is rarely ever about, 'Should I try to be a hero? Should I involved with human affairs?,' and more, 'How do I stop this powerful person willing to play extremely dirty/handle this potentially cover-exposing situation without compromising my deep-set morals?'

I talked a little about Cavill's Superman killing of Zod in the aforementioned work I once posted, and the thing is, I do think it could have been really interesting to see the likes of Superman and Batman dealing with breaking what has been a long-established rule for their characters.

I just don't think the film made it truly necessary for Zod to be killed, and therefore, it went from, 'What if Superman had to make an incredibly dark, difficult choice that he's likely going to have to painfully carry for the rest of his life,' to, 'We're going to make it clear these movies and this version of the main character in them are dark and edgy now.'

As for Batman/Bruce Wayne, when it comes to him in his mansion, I don't have a problem with him being a moody, awkward mess. I don't have a problem with him being a cold, silent figure who sometimes flirts or outright crosses into brutality when on the streets behind his mask.

But to me, in public, Bruce Wayne is larger-than-life. He can be a cheerful, clueless himbo or a sarcastic jerk or someone who teeters between pleasant and something showing glimpses of the darker person inside, but he is not some easy-to-overlook, hiding wounded animal. On the streets, his suit is his armour, and in public, his flashy personality is.

Anyway, I'm going to end things here. Thanks to anyone who read all the way through.

#batman #superman

[the-somewhat-rambling-reviewer]

First Post

Hi, I’m The Somewhat Rambling Reviewer from AO3. I’m a multishipper interested in multiple fandoms who believes in muting and/or blocking content I find objectionable or just personally squicky. Any anon hate will either be deleted or saved but not published, and if hateful asks become a problem, I’ll turn all asks off indefinitely.

#first post