#Michieda Shunsuke

[gabrielokun]

[usertoxicyaoi]

MICHIEDA SHUNSUKE x YOON JEONG HAN. For Men's Non No Magazine (2024).

[waitmyturtles]

The timing is IMPECCABLE 🤣

[xinyuehui]

My hair's natural 💁🏼‍♂️

Mars: Zero no Kakumei · 2024

[allovelyhappily]

Ida & Aoki, Now

[shirtlessjohnnysidols]

Michieda Shunsuke

Myojo 2024年 10月号

[easterndelights]

今夜、世界からこの恋が消えても Even if This Love Disappears from the World Tonight (2022) dir. Miki Takahiro

[randomblog-things]

i just rewatched kieta hatsukoi and they are so similar in this scene omg,,

[moonlightsdream]

FILMS IN 2023: → Even if This Love Disappears From the World Tonight (2022) — dir. Miki Takahiro

[michi-naniwa]

Happy White Day - 2024.03.14

[svt-interactions]

[gabrielokun]

[usertoxicyaoi]

MICCHIMEME WILL ALWAYS HIT DIFFERENT!

[waitmyturtles]

Some very smart people yesterday (@isaksbestpillow and @nieves-de-sugui) wrote about yesterday's announcements of GMMTV adapting Japanese stories like Ossan's Love and Kieta Hatsukoi/My Love Mix-Up. I haven't seen Ossan's Love yet (and I WILL watch it, once I'm done with the OGMMTVC, because that's my due diligence/completionist side talking, ha).

Generally speaking, there's excitement and/or confused discontent about why Thailand is increasing its adaptations of well-known Japanese manga and dorama properties -- particularly about My Love Mix-Up.

Other very smart people, like Dr. Thomas Baudinette, a BL scholar, have written about what exactly fans *should* be comparing when these shows come out -- that the Thai live-action dramas are most often based on Thai literary adaptations of the original Japanese manga series that provided the material for the Japanese live-action doramas.

Au Kornprom, the director of the upcoming GMMTV Thai version of My Love Mix-Up, and Fourth Nattawat and Gemini Norawit, the lead actors of the Thai drama adaption, clarified these points as well.

I think all entities involved are aware of the confused discontent about what's happening here, and I want to unwind on it for one hot second -- because I myself am still relatively new to the Thai BL fandom, but my entrée to all of this was from Japanese BL doramas a few years ago.

Check the Kieta Hatsukoi tag on Tumblr, and we see all manner of different opinions about how the Thai adaptation will stand up to the Japanese live-action dorama original with Michieda Shunsuke and Meguro Ren. Same on Twitter. Michi and Meguro brought an incredibly distinct, controlled, comedic, and empathic perspective to Aoki's queer revelation, and Ida's inquisitive demi identity.

I deeply appreciate Dr. Baudinette, Au, Fourth, and Gem for clarifying where GMMTV is coming from with this adaptation -- that this adaptation stems from the Thai adaptation of the original KH manga.

But I wanna offer a thought, again as someone new to the Thai BL fandom. BLs across Asia make up only a TINY slice of the massive amount of dramas that Asia have to offer. For those of us that stay close to Asian queer content: many of us have seen a LOT of shows over many countries. And we can't help but to compare shows! That's comparative media literacy for you. If the stories are similar, if the stories stem from the same original source -- well, we can't help but compare.

I want to also say that Japan and Thailand are going to have different - maybe VASTLY different -- ways of managing elements of the KH story, such as Aoki/Atom's queer revelation, and Ida/Kongthap's demi identity. Japan and Thailand are different countries -- OF COURSE they are going to have different socio-national lenses on these identify factors.

What got me in my heart when I watched Kieta Hatsukoi last year was the EMPATHY, the skilled and pointed empathy in which Michi and Meguro played their Aoki and Ida. Japan and Thailand are just DIFFERENT when it comes to kissing, love, and sex. It won't be fair to compare their international lenses to each other as holding up to each other in art.

But what I don't want to do is invalidate the broader fandom's experience of how we saw Michi, Meguro, and the Japanese BL world from interpreting these incredible characteristics that made the Japanese version of Kieta Hatsukoi such a deep show to watch. Was it cute? Was it fluffy? I'd actually argue: NO. It was communicated in a uniquely Japanese way. (I can't find it, but there's a TikTok of a group of Americans dancing to what they think is a Japanese fluffy pop song -- when the lyrics are actually about suicide. Cultural competency is always important for all of us to keep in mind as we watch Asian shows from country to country.)

And I also want to point out, speaking for myself, as I continue to burrow my way into the Japanese, Korean, and Thai BL fandoms -- that, once upon a time, there were WAY FEWER Asian queer shows to watch. So if you were looking for queer shows from Asia? You were LIKELY watching shows from ALL the Asian countries producing BLs. Thus the massive fandom overlap from people who HAVE seen the Japanese Kieta Hatsukoi/My Love Mix-Up, TO the people who WILL see GMMTV's version.

I absolutely heed and RESPECT where Au and Dr. Baudinette are coming from in specifying from where the GMMTV adaptation will come from.

But in regards to comparative perspectives on what Japan has produced, and what Thailand WILL produce? I truly don't think we can avoid the comparisons. I don't. I do very much wish for a broader, smarter, more intellectual comparative media dialectic between Japan and Thailand. But sometimes, us fans just wanna squee and TALK about our beloved shows. I squeed at the Japanese version of Kieta Hatsukoi because that show communicated complicated factors of queer identity with comedy and empathy. That's a particularly Japanese tack on producing BL art.

Because the BL fandom has had only a set amount of shows year over year, of course, many fans who WILL watch GMMTV's version of My Love Mix-Up WILL have watched the Japanese dorama version. Because, because! As I said before, the amount of queer media from Asia has always been smaller than het material.

Au Kornprom is a HERO to me. He's given me Bad Buddy, he's given me Theory of Love, he's given me A Tale of Thousand Stars, Moonlight Chicken, Still 2gether, all shows I fucking LOVE and LIVE WITH, I'd SLEEP WITH THESE SHOWS like a Nong Nao doll if I could.

There is no one, expect for Aof Noppharnach, that I trust more with this adaptation.

But I did just want to say my piece about the validity of comparisons and comparative media literacy here. Because there's no avoiding comparing the two dramas -- there isn't. Because Kieta Hatsukoi was so, SO good, and we do very much indeed hope that the key elements of that story are honored.

If they're not? Then we will learn, through the GMMTV version, what Au and his Thai team honor in the story, and our perspectives will be broadened. I recognize that the GMMTV team may value different elements. But I also respect the feeling of nostalgia for KH, and what we loved about that show, and how Japan communicates the elements that that nation values, too. We just can't help but compare, and my biggest wishes are that:

1) Fans watch the Japanese version of Kieta Hatsukoi before the premiere of the GMMTV, to understand where us on the comparative sides will be coming from, and

2) That Au, Fourth, and Gem slay in their usual way, because no matter what, we will still love and appreciate them for being THEM.

My fingers are BIG crossed, and my hopes are BIG up. This is just a great opportunity for those of us who are curious to take a respectful moment to compare Japanese and Thai drama art together, and to have a lot of fun doing it.

(Tagging some people that I've either been reading or talking to about this: @bengiyo, @lurkingshan, @taikanyohou if you're interested!)

[miazon]

Michieda Shunsuke. Josei Seven. 24.2/1

Does anyone love his new blonde hair? I think he looks great in it!

[xinyuehui]

⸺ He was the only one willing to pull me out of the rubbish.