#i used to watch more jdramas

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Cherry Magic S1

For anyone who doesn't know the premise of this series, it is about developing touch telepathy from 30 years of virginity. Believe it or not, at least in live action, it is a much more sincere, kind and lovely show than that premise might lead you to believe

"It's not a very useful power, and it's hell while commuting on the train." Anime Adachi is a bit more sombre than I expected. Grumpy little man

Interesting that the anime actually immediately confirms bisexuality for Adachi in a way that the live action only implies

"This is my colleague, Kurosawa. He's handsome, good at his job, friendly to gloomy plebs like me." Ah, the original Colleague Adachi Thinks About Such A Normal Amount

"You better have a crap personality." HAHAHAHA Adachi, please

"He's so close. He's so cute. I love him so much." I do love the visual representation of Kurosawa's thoughts going a mile a minute

"I thought I gained magic powers, but what if I imagined all of it?" I've said this so many times before, but it is INCREDIBLE that Adachi was fully willing to believe that he had magical telepathy until he learned his coworker had a crush on him and he was like, 'Unrealistic. Blocked.'

I gotta say, the flirting is so far not as cute in the anime as in the live action. Timing, perhaps? Tone? Not sure

"Maybe, I'll have you thank me with your body next time." This is an INSANE way to ask your colleague to dinner, Kurosawa!!!!

I do appreciate the consistency in Kurosawa only having nice thoughts. Also the pajama fantasies continue to be funny

"His place is dripping with popular guy vibes." At least in this version, Adachi says this about Kurosawa's bachelor apartment with FOUR houseplants instead of one. That's growth!

[Thinking about Kurosawa with this shirt half-open] "Would this have been simpler if one of us were a woman?" As a fellow bisexual Adachi: No, probably not

"Kurosawa likes me, right? So why didn't he make a move?" [Blushes, thinking about Kurosawa leaning over him] "That makes it sound like I was hoping he'd try something." Oh, Adachi, you're in it now

The way they both can't sleep through the night because they're too nervous thinking about each other is very sweet

"Try to get along, boys," said the director, as he set them up on a little thank-you barbecue date

"This is actually kinda fun. Kurosawa seems to be having fun too. This is pretty fun." Adachi is having such a good time the barbecue date he had to say it in three different ways

Adachi feeling guilty about wanting to leave things as they are... kind, sweet man

"It's not like I can reciprocate Kurosawa's feelings," said Adachi, like he doesn't compliment Kurosawa in every other thought and mentally flashback to him with his shirt unbuttoned

"It sounds like he's being nice to you. Why not use it to your advantage?" "What? I can't do that." Tsuge has absolutely NONE of the moral reservations that Adachi has about imposing on Kurosawa's kindness

"This is why you're unpopular. Too earnest, too awkward, too dense," Anime Tsuge handsome, but a hater

Also Tsuge, babygirl, your only other friend is your cat. WHO ARE YOU CALLING UNPOPULAR

Also, I looove Udon the cat sleeping in the bookcase. Babyyyyy

"Instead of worrying about what you should do, maybe you should think about how you feel about him." That's actually really solid advice. Good job, Tsuge!

"I bet he'd be really nice if we dated." HAHAHA it didn't take Adachi long to start fantasizing himself!!

Fujisaki first spotted!! I can't wait for more of her as well

"At first, I wondered why I had to get such a stupid power. This is the first time I've been glad to have it." I LOOOOVE that the first time Adachi sees an advantage in having his powers is for him to rescue Kurosawa from work trouble. It is so sweet!

Lmaoooo the gendered alcohol is so funny. Why are men only allowed to drink beer and women only allowed to drink wine

Kurosawa giving a Adachi forehead kiss while mentally saying "Sorry," for them being roped into the King's Game dare also gets me in the heart every time

"I'm sorry, Adachi, for falling in love with you." KUROSAWAAAAA

Adachi clarifying that he doesn't mind that Kurosawa kissed him is perhaps the flirtiest thing he's done yet

"For the first time, I want to get to know him better," said Adachi, while Kurosawa swerved into him ready for Kiss #2

"What were you two doing?" "Nothing!" HAHAHAHA I take it back, the flirting is fun. Also this is just as, if not more suspicious, than standing 1cm apart:

"I think I might've gotten ahead of myself." Realistic Rooftop Romance Re-Evaluation

"I was glad to hear he didn't dislike me, but I rushed things. I don't want to bother him, so I'll act normal at the office." Kurosawa is sooooo attuned to Adachi's needs

Every time they show them from behind I keep being distracted by what an ass Kurosawa has. Baby got back!

Also also also. The Yaoi Hands proportions of it all hahahah. On one hand, Kurosawa is also very tall in the JDrama. On the other, Adachi wasn't this short or slight of frame in it

"I hope it ends soon," said Adachi, only a little bit talking about karaoke, and otherwise mostly thinking of the women flirting with Kurosawa:

"It's Rokkaku, the recent graduate!" I also love Rokkaku. He's Valentina, an ally. Also the IRE in Adachi's voice

"You're surprisingly considerate, Ando-san." "It's Adachi." HAHAHA I now understand why the ire

Wild that Rokkaku's main characteristic is being a playboy. I guess everybody needs a trope

"Frustrated the words that came to mind were 'what a handsome face.'" I LOVE the text interjections about what the characters are thinking. A new angle only the anime could provide. Also LOL Adachi

"It'd be hilarious if someone so handsome were tone-deaf. I really want to hear." Shockingly mischievous of Adachi hahaha

LMAO, EVERY VERSION OF KUROSAWA IS CURSED WITH BEING HANDSOME AND TALENTED AND LIKED BY EVERYONE:

"Why would someone so handsome sit next to me?" Because he loves you, stupid

"If someone like [Fujisaki] liked me... No, nothing that convenient would ever happen." I think it would be too much to ask to have TWO of your coworkers in love with you

It's interesting to see how the JDrama really tried to ground them in every day work tasks but instead the anime (and presumably the source material) has the Punks Bother Fujisaki all as part of a Karaoke Confrontation. They have such a busy post-work social life!

"D-do you think you could stop?" You tell 'em, Adachi!

"I had no idea I was so narrow-minded," thought Kurosawa, like jealousy wasn't a normal human emotion that we all feel sometimes

"Until now, I thought Kurosawa was perfect and always composed. But he actually isn't. He worries and gets anxious too... Just like me." Hot Coworkers: They're Just Like Us

Also Adachi working himself up into getting annoyed at Kurosawa for being perfect and then liking him more because he ISN'T perfect is really a 'Congratulations, you played yourself' moment

Awwwww I love them sneaking off to get ice cream, very cute

Ah, the sauna adventure that made it into the Thai adaptation but not the JDrama. Let the embarrassment commence!

In the anime tiddy debate, Cherry Magic says: Men DO have nipples

"I know Adachi isn't interested in my body, though." Give him a second, he'll get there, Kurosawa

"I like Adachi, and I've fantasized about him, but I've only ever dated women before." Honestly I have never really given Kurosawa's sexuality much thought, he just seemed like he was pretty settled in his feelings regardless

"[Adachi's stomach] probably feels really nice. No, it definitely does." "'Steam conducts excessively strong thoughts.'" CRAZY WORLD-BUILDING. Tell me more

Kurosawa's tragic backstory being that he's too handsome is still the funniest explanation for inner turmoil I've ever seen. Sweet angel, I want to study you:

"Adachi. He doesn't know how how to brush off people like that because he lacks tact." Kurosawa said: I like them tactless and tense!

Kurosawa falling in love with Adachi because he sees him as an individual with flaws is sooooooooooooooo. They are the blueprint for Park Bench Romance:

"I never thought I'd experience what feels like a first love at my age." <3 We love finding yourself in your 30s

Also I have also said this many times but: I love love love that Kurosawa's feelings far predate the powers. The powers give Adachi some confidence to reach out to Kurosawa, but they are NOT what brought on the feelings

"If I said it felt like magic, would Adachi laugh at me?" Only out of extreme nervousness that you can also read minds

So engrossed was I in the love story of Adachi and Kurosawa, I didn't even think about the fact there's really been no Tsuge B-plot in these first three episodes.

Udon the Cat may in fact be my favourite side character. I hope Tsuge gets to read HER mind

"I thought he was a just a shut-in, but he's a good guy after all." Hey now, Party Boy Minato, you can be a shut-in AND a good person

Tsuge feels SOOOO normal through the lens of anime LOL. This show can never match the energy of "what emotion does this image make you feel" "lust"

"Would you like to like to come again some time? Udon seems to miss you." OKAY TSUGE, SMOOTH

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT. This is the slightly off-putting vibe I expect from Tsuge:

"In fact, [Kurosawa] completely overshadowed me." "And yet you seemed to have enjoyed it." Hee hee, I love how Kurosawa brings out a more sociable side to Adachi

"Damn it. I always end up thinking about Kurosawa's face." Adachi starts to admit that Kurosawa perhaps is a colleague thinks about more than a normal amount

"Of course he's got an ex or two. I should've known. [Gasp] Why am I so shocked by that? I don't understand." Adachi experiences romantic jealousy for the first time

HAHAHA not Adachi reliving all his romantic traumas after seeing Kurosawa talk to one pretty girl. Connect the dots, my love

LOOOOL it's funny how in the JDrama they had Adachi get sick at work and THEN Kurosawa takes him home (reasonable), as opposed to the anime where he just shows up out of nowhere on Adachi's sick day (much less reasonable, how do u know where he even lives).

"It means they'll be your first, right? I think that would make [who you end up dating] really happy." [Silently] If it were me, I'd be really happy. KUROSAWAAAAAA, I love how what Adachi sees as a flaw, Kurosawa sees as something to love

"It makes me feel like I wouldn't mind experiencing all my firsts with him." Adachi recognizing his feelings <3333333

I thought Adachi might actually kiss him until the interruption

HAHAHAHAH NOT KUROSAWA'S SISTER FOISTING HIM UPON ADACHI AS AN INVOLUNTARY ROOMMATE:

SCREAM KUROSAWA HAVING TWO INNER KUROSAWAS FIGHTING BETWEEN REASON AND DESIRE? I guess that's more realistic than him never thinking lustful thoughts

"No wait, Adachi's getting over a cold. I shouldn't be getting happy over this. But we're so close." [Quiet laugh] I'm amazed none of that ever shows on his face. Adachi is SOOO endeared by Kurosawa's thoughts

Adachi blushing through their train chat is adorable as hell

HAHAHA I also never tire of Adachi inviting Rokkaku to ALSO stay with him to avoid the romantic consequences of his situationship

[Internally, in a sea of mental flames] "You're not ready to try to win over Adachi with food." The energy of this was SO threatening I genuinely had to look up if Kurosawa was ALSO the VA for Sukuna from JJK. He isn't!

"He's such an idiot. He can't eat spicy food, but he will for my sake." The prophecy of the spicy true love chocolate returns <3

"It won't kill him." HAHAHAHA not Kurosawa making the spicy food challenge lustful in his mind and Adachi abandoning his plan to help as punishment for his spicy thoughts

[Rokkaku, internally] "I still dream about it sometimes. Aw, man. I'm still not over it. That's so lame." [Adachi, aloud] "Why not?" "What?" "You got good enough to compete in a tournament, right? Why not dance sometimes?" I absolutely love when Adachi uses what he learns to comfort people. That is what makes him so loveable. Not that he can know what others are thinking, but the desire and ability to help them with that knowledge

"I thought he was just some shallow playboy, but he seems kinda cute to me now." Bold move to call your coworker cute in front of your situationship

"What were you going to say last night before my sister showed up?" Kurosawa said: I will hold my silence on our romantic tension no longer!!

NOT Rokakku and Kurosawa experiencing the "there was only one futon" trope LMAO I love a romantic trope turned comedic

OH NOOOOOO not Fujisaki fetishizing for her coworkers. I miss when she was their ace homie being a confidante for their office romance

"Maybe it's not that I fell in love with Kurosawa, but I'm just happy that somebody likes me." This is a valid question for Adachi to ask himself

"I love you. Not as a colleague or friend." Kurosawa said: While we're defining our feelings, I have some to share

Extremely fair of Adachi to need to ask himself if his romantic interest in Kurosawa is about Kurosawa's feelings or his own

"I don't know much about her personality, but she's earnest." Maybe it's good for you to know less about Fujisaki, Adachi

Adachi only hearing the first half of every thought Fujisaki has is killing me. If you're GOING to eavesdrop, eavesdrop fully!!

"Does she really have feelings for me?" No, she doesn't, she just wants Kurosawa to rail you

"Dating him would probably be a pain." While true, not dating him won't unbisexualize you, Adachi

Awwww, I kind of like that Adachi doesn't know Fujisaki doesn't like him, because it means even when presented with other romantic options, he chooses Kurosawa

[Internally] "It would probably be easier to remain coworkers. But, I... No one's been able to touch Kurosawa's heart before... and I want to know more. Kurosawa said he'd treasure all of me, and now I want to treasure him too." ADACHI GOT THERE EVENTUALLY

"Me too. I'm in love with you too." YEAHHHHHHHH ADACHI!

"But perhaps I became a wizard in order to touch Kurosawa's heart." I will never tire of this line. He touched Kurosawa's heart much before this, but to be grateful to a power you once spurned because it opened the door to you deepening your relationship. To believe the universe has brought you together. It's such a nice way to reflect on falling in love:

HAHAHAHAH them both having the realization about the PDA at the same time

I LOVE THE REASON VS. INSTINCT ARGUMENTS IN KUROSAWA'S BRAIN, AND HOW REASON EVENTUALLY GIVES UP. ALSO LMAOOOO @ ADACHI APPEALING TO REASON KUROSAWA IN HIS MIND AS IF HE IS NOT EQUALLY CAPABLE OF ENDING THE HUG:

Hahahahaha Adachi shoving Kurosawa away at the speed of light so they don't get caught canoodling by Colleague Asahina

"People who engage in office romances are crazy," said Adachi, tits deep in office romance

"Damn it, stop thinking about him." Adachi's brain has left the building and now lives in Kurosawa Town

Adachi feels guilty about feelings Fujisaki doesn't even have

"For some reason, these two have been spending a lot of time together recently." Oh, I cannot wait for Detective Rokkaku to try and piece this one together

"Kurosawa-san and Adachi-san are... working together to use a carrot-and-stick method to help me improve! They must really love me!" HAHAHAHA gets me every time. Rokkaku at their wedding: I can't believe you're going to mentor me together for the rest of your lives <3

Also the fact that Rokkaku's inner monologue has Adachi's name correct implies that he messes it up on purpose. Incredible!

HGKJHGKJHGKJHG Tsuge just ordering deliveries to see his deliveryman every day without once questioning himself on what motivates him to do so

You know, I'm so used to calling him Flashy Minato (or in the case of the anime, Party Boy Minato), I did not remember that Tsuge doesn't know what the fuck Minato's name is:

LOL, Tsuge considering buying a How-To Book for romance. Valid! He needs the help

"Worrying you're wasting your time, anxiety about the future, doubting your own abilities, and fear of being an outcast are all feelings I know well. However, you don't rue want to give up yet, do you?" "How do you know that?" "You wouldn't practice until your shoes were falling apart if you actually want to stop." Wow, Tsuge can be emotionally AND physically observant! Good for him

"I knew I'd lost my mind when I realized I wanted to buy him all the shoes he wanted." That's love, Tsuge

Adachi and Tsuge having meltdowns at the same time in different places is true friendship

"His voice is scary hot. His face is distractingly handsome, but not being able to see it makes me nervous, too." I love Adachi's Loverboy era

HAHAHAHA did they Eren Jaegerize Adachi's date outfit for just a second? I feel like they did. They were like 'we're releasing at the same time, gotta get our jokes in while we can'

Adachi worrying that Kurosawa is out of his league and Kurosawa immediately unintentionally comforting him by thinking of how cute he is and how he loves that their hoodies match. GOD

KUROSAWA MAKING A SONG ABOUT THEIR DATE IS SO MUCH FUNNIER THAN HIM MAKING A POEM. GREATEST 10 SECONDS OF ANIME I'VE EVER SEEN THAT WAS SO UNEXPECTED:

"The lyrics are insane, but he sings them so well." This is the man you have chosen to love, Adachi <3

Adachi doesn't need to mind read, Kurosawa wears his heart on his sleeve and his thoughts on his face

"When a man gives someone clothes, it's because he wants to undress them." Bold take, shopkeeper, tell me more!

THEM CONTINUING THE KUROSAWA SONG AS THE DATE SOUNDTRACK HAHAHAH

Adachi shocked that on his and Kurosawa's date people can perceive that they are on a date

"A walk, like I said. In the sky, that is." Insane way to ask someone to join you on helicopter ride, Kurosawa????

[Kurosawa, aloud] "I wanted to talk privately." [Adachi, internally] "That's not the problem, here! What is this, a trendy Showa-era drama? This isn't something 30-year-old men should be doing! To be honest, helicopters scare me, and I can't hear what he's saying because it's so dang loud!" REAL LMAO. Except for the 30-year-old men thing, what's the problem with an adult man taking a helicopter ride?

"I really like your smile." The helicopter pilot also on the same radio channel hearing what Kurosawa is saying into his headset 👁👄👁

Hahahahaha I see how they translated this into an amusement park ride in the JDrama. Much more grounded, same result of Adachi not being able to stomach the date activity

"Next time, I need to tell Kurosawa how I feel." Maybe I don't watch enough romance anime, but I feel like Adachi is the only anime protagonist I've ever seen to realize the solution to dealing with your relationship problems is communicating your feelings

NOT KUROSAWA SO UPSET HE MESSED UP THE DATE THAT HE'S DISINTEGRATING TO ASH AT WORK

I looooove Adachi taking Kurosawa to read manga they both like and to a dinner spot where he's comfortable so they can relax with each other. He is so good at acting on his feelings

"There's no point in going on a date unless you have fun, too." [Soft gasp] It's kind of heartbreaking that Adachi has to TELL Kurosawa explicitly that his feelings matter. Baby boy, how have you been living?

"It doesn't matter others think or if I know what I'm doing or not. I just want to have fun with you." ADACHIIIIII

I truly do love the visual representations of Kurosawa's thoughts:

[Kurosawa, internally] "'The moon is beautiful tonight.' I wonder if Adachi's familiar with the romantic meaning of that statement." [Adachi, aloud] "I know that one." The Psychic Boyfriend Ball begins to drop

"I'll be 262 days older than him. For some reason, that excites me." "What, why?" Hahahah Adachi's aware that his boyfriend is a little weird

"There's no way he can dance. He's not that kind of guy." I hope this leads into a High School Musical-esque I Don't Dance Number

It DID lead to a (brief) dance interlude, and now Tsuge has twisted his ankle HA

I do actually like the Minato/Tsuge better in the anime. Maybe it's that their age difference feels less apparent (or rather, Tsuge specifically looked older than 30 to me in the JDrama) or something about the smiles and nice animation:

"I don't know much about dancing, but I thought your dancing was beautiful." Awww that's sweet, Tsuge

"When he takes off his glasses, he's actually kind of hot." HAHAHA, what is this, a 90s teen movie Minato?

I'm really curious what the hell Adachi and Kurosawa's company actually does. They were a stationery company in the JDrama, but now they are doing customer panels for exercise equipment? Are they broadly like a consulting/consumer data collection firm?

"I guess normies have normie friends." I haven't really talked about this but every so often Adachi thinks something vaguely spiteful about 'normies.' Is this just because he likes manga/is an otaku? Seems a bit of an extreme divide? I have friends who like anime and friend who do not

Also. Kurosawa likes manga ALSO. What is your normie definition, Adachi? Handsome guys? People with relationship experience?

[Internally] "'He's our top salesman and my boyfriend. 'I could never say that." Being in an office romance is tough

Distracted by the fact Adachi AND Kurosawa's ties change colour for their close-up. Animation error or colourblindness error?

"So that's the odd man who's in love with Adachi." That's right. I hope that one day this is his contact name in Tsuge's phone

"I can't help it. Love has made a fool out of me, too." "Love?! Wait, were we just having a conversation?" (Subtitle: Wizards can communicate telepathically.) HAHAHAHA what a way for Adachi to find out

"Be more confident in yourself. You're nice and actually pretty good-looking." Pot-kettle, Adachi!

"I've never seen Adachi smile like that when he's with me." He is distracted by your hotness and many thoughts, Kurosawa, both of which make him nervous and embarrassed but also very happy

I do absolutely understand why Kurosawa would be worried about their relationship given both Tsuge and Adachi staring at each other (talking telepathically) and the overheard mention of love

"I've been reading your thoughts the whole time. Since before you told me how you felt, like how you think I'm cute, how you love me, how my stomach looks like a shiratama, or how you bought pajamas that would look good on me." HAHAH Adachi, while it's good you're being honest, I don't know if you should be THIS specific

Also I can't believe they're having this whole conversation in an office supply closet!

"You reallize how I felt because of that, right? Then, I'm glad." Kurosawa takes the Psychic Boyfriend news better than anyone could expect

"Does that mean the more you touch me, the more you know how I feel?" Kurosawa said: I have already figured out the positive for this situation!! He's not top salesman for nothing

I cannot believe we are macking in the office supply closet. New Office Romance Achievement Unlocked

Good for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JDrama Kurodachi Elevator Kiss Found Dead on Scene; No Witnesses

[Mentally, to Adachi] "I'll show you all your good qualities." Kurosawa has immediately found multiple benefits to having a telepathic boyfriend

I do like that Tsuge's mind-reading is now starting to come up in a different way as well with him finding out why Rokkaku and Minato are avoiding each other. I hope like Adachi, he gets the chance to help them through it

"Where have you been? I already started cleaning up!" Macking in the office supply closet

"Maybe they're just friends now, but he's more likely to get along with someone who isn't almost eight years older than him! I needn't help rivals." HAHAHAHA once again Tsuge proves his moral compass is a little more floppy than Adachi's

"We can still make friends as adults, but college friends you can speak frankly with are hard to come by. Both for you and him." Awww Tsuge, you couldn't help but help

"I feel safe around him, like he's my dad." BRUTAL review for Tsuge who was worried about being a 30-year-old with this 23-year-old Minato

"We'll be sending a few veteran employees to the new branch in Nagasaki." Awwww, not the Nagasaki Long Distance Relationship

HAHAHAHA Adachi getting jealous because Kurosawa as better at using Adachi's magic power situation than him

"I can't imagine leaving Kurosawa." It's tough having to choose between your career growth and your boyfriend!

Maybe I'm just Canadian and used to being in a huge country, but I think he and Kurosawa should just fly to see each other. Like yes maybe it's 10 hours by train but it's a two hour flight and some of the flights cost less than Adachi's jacket purchase on their date!

"I get anxious when I can't see his face, because he's good at pretending to be perfect." AWWWW that's so sweet, wanting his powers because he wants to understand Kurosawa

Honestly although it's ultimately Adachi's decision whether he denies the transfer or not, I appreciate that Kurosawa wants Adachi to 1) not miss out on this opportunity for him and 2) be willing to discuss it with him instead of handling what involves a relationship decision all by himself

"Unlike you, I don't know what you're thinking unless you tell me." Extremely valid, Kurosawa, this must feel very one-sided

ALSO: I LOVE THAT EVERY VERSION OF CHERRY MAGIC IS ABOUT LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE

"Without an audience, writing is meaningless nonsense." Disagree Tsuge, you can write for the joy of writing

I do enjoy Tsuge and Minato's chat about their respective passions

"He can't read your mind, unlike us." "You're right." Adachi had to hear it twice for it to stick

"Even if I can read Kurosawa's mind, I'll never get anywhere unless I tell him how I truly feel." YEAHHHHH ADACHI

"I figured this was God telling me to give up." Wow, Minato, bleak

Minato and Tsuge's story is sooo much more well-developed in the anime, going to the focus group together, repairing Minato's relationship with Rokkaku, Tsuge helping him get to his audition, no ex-boyfriend, the push-and-pull of Minato's dance dream vs. the office job opportunity

"Why are you so nice to me?" He looooooves you

"Because... I have ulterior motives." HAHAHA wild way to start telling someone you love them

HAHAHAHA is Minato MIA because he's trapped into an idol no-dating contract?

"Even if we're dating, I have no right to dictate Adachi's choices." That's a healthy perspective, Kurosawa. You get an opinion, not a vote

A letter is a nice way to communicate. Good advice Tsuge!

"But there's one thing I hope you believe. I love you so much that being away from you makes me anxious." Adachi, you romantic bastard

Awwww Tsuge unable to write about Minato because he cares about him too much (it's such a "If I loved you less, I'd be able to talk about it more," moment AHH)

"I wasn't sure how I felt about it, so I couldn't text you." Actually an incredibly reasonable reaction from Minato

"I resolved my feelings by writing books about the people I fell for." I think this makes a lot of sense for Tsuge. Also. NEW TSUGE LORE UNLOCKED!

Also also. Tsuge: Actually all of my protagonists are self-insert OCs

"No story compares to the real you. Minato. I'm in love with you." TSUGE, you're good at this!! 10/10 confession

"Oh, come on, can't you figure it out?! You're a romance novelist?!" HAHAHA they left out the 'baka' in the translation. Also I love Minato just like, implying repeatedly that he loves Tsuge rather than saying it aloud

I can't imagine what it was like for someone who read the manga and whose favourite couple was Minatsuge having to watch the JDrama first, because the energy here is LEAGUES different. My god, this is romantic. Giggling and kicking my feet:

"Your eyelashes are really long, Kurosawa. I thought you were handsome since I started working here, but I'm amazed that I find you even more handsome now. It's cool that you don't let on how much reasearch you do, or how hard you work for your job. I've never heard you speak poorly of anyone either. Also, even though you're normally calm, your thoughts are so excited. I thought you were a perfect person, but surprisingly your expressions show on your face, and you have a narrow-minded and jealous streak. And sometimes when you're trying hard to act cool, you end up looking lame instead. I think it's cute." Adachi sharing every single thing he likes about Kurosawa, even things Kurosawa doesn't like about himself. THIS IS SO SWEET

Adachi kissing Kurosawa because he can't express how he feels in words alone <3

[ProZD voice] Oh, they fuckin'

"We finally did it! I could hear his thoughts the whole time." OH MY GODDDDDD I've had this thought before, I can't believe Adachi is confirming it

"I thought I became a wizard because I was still a virgin when I turned 30, but... was I wrong? Is my definition of virginity wrong?" HAHAHA not Kurosawa making coffee in the background while Adachi has a crisis over the logistics of Virginity Magic

"It wasn't your magic power that first touched my heart. It was your words." YEAH IT WAS <333333333333

"But now, if I ever get anxious, I'll use my words. I know we can touch and be touched to confirm how the other feels. That's it. I finally figured it out. It's because I felt like I'd be okay with you even without my power. That must be why I lost my power!" The way that Adachi orients the rules of the universe around his feelings for Kurosawa is the most romantic thing in the world

"When I'm around you, I'm incapable of being perfect. But for some reason, I don't hate that version of myself." Kurosawa learning to love his imperfections through Adachi!!!

"I think I'd go crazy if I fell anymore in love with you." [Seriously] We can't have you acting any crazier." HAHAHA ADACHI. Honestly fair, Kurosawa's got a lot going on mentally

I do love Adachi going for the transfer <3 He really has such a growth in his interests and capacity at work

HAHAHAHA Tsuge accidentally finding out Adachi lost his Virginity Magic by accident, because he hasn't yet (clearly this version of Minato isn't so fuck forward LMAO)

I really do love Kurosawa and Adachi navigating their long-distance and trying to trust that if there's something to know, the other one will tell them

"There are things that can't be conveyed with words. But some things have to be conveyed with words." <3 COMMUNICATION

"Why are you here? I was on my way Nagasaki." HAHAH I predicted this for the movie (that they'd both try to visit each other at the same time), they didn't lean into the trope though. But I was right, after a fashion!

"When I finish the job in Nagasaki and return to Tokyo, I want to live with you!" Adachi moving the forward as a couple by clearly sharing his desires. That's growth, baybeeeee

WHAT DID I SAY? MASTERS OF PARK BENCH ROMANCE:

I LOOOOOVE HOW AT THE END OF ALL OF CHERRY MAGIC MEDIA THEY GO 'YEAH, THEY GET MARRIED. LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE. MARRIAGE 4 ALL JAPAN!!' I wish I could kiss all of the people who made Cherry Magic on the mouth. It is such a gorgeous, kind show that deserves every good thing that has ever been said about it. Both the JDrama and anime have carved their own places in my heart:

[storge]

It's been… 15 years? It's been that long, huh.

Halation Love (2023) 1.01

[cubedmango]

romances w food as a love language >>>>>>>>>>

[01432853]

hi there! i was just wondering about where you’re able to watch yugure ni, te wo tsunagu from? i’ve been looking for a link but can’t seem to find one :( thank you so much!

hey lovely, so to watch i download the raw from here and download the eng subs from the subber of this drama ecotvsubs. i use vcl player, you just have to to go to option add subs and choose the file to sync, done.

but i just read the subber is gonna put hardsubbed versions now too on the website, so you can just watch it here at this site.

[saffron-words]

Introduction and UtsuKare Translations Master Post

Some of you might recognize me as that Russian translator of Utsukushii Kare books from Wattpad. I decided to revive my tumblr to compile all the links and explanations here for those of you, MBM fans, who can't wait for official English releases of the books.

I could never keep a blog, so for now here I'll just tell how it all came about, and you can find links to all my MBM translations at the end (feel free to just skip the wall of text). So a couple of years ago I finally bowed down and decided to read Utsukushii Kare series in Japanese for language practice, even though I found the summary unappealing and I'm generally suspicious of overhyped media (as far as BL novels go, these books seemed to be The most hyped-up series in Japan). Much to my surprise, I loved it so much it was hard to move on. And while I waited for a chance to buy book 3 and Interlude, I gobbled up everything else related to the series that I could. The manga was only just starting, I didn't like dramaCDs (but I'm in the minority), and the drama somehow revived my love for watching Jdramas, even though I thought that this part of my fandom life has been over for years. When the second season started airing, I made a new friend in the Russian-speaking parts of the Internet who was even more obsessed with MBM than I am, and we fangirled to our hearts' content. At some point I promised her to translate the big sex scene from the end of book 3 as a gift for all the talks. I did, and since back then there was nothing for book 3 in any European language, as far as I know, I decided to post it online and give a link to English-speaking UtsuKare fans too. And since Wattpad doesn't allow copying text, and the browser translator feature from Google Translate was really inadequate, I also put up a link to the translation made with Deepl. As far as machine translators go, it is noticeably more comprehensible, and I didn't have the time (or skills to do the book justice, really) to translate it to English myself. Anyway, after this excerpt I thought I could manage one more important scene from book 3, then one more, and then I finally gave up and started translating it properly from the beginning. I also started correcting mistranslations in Deepl-versions that I kept doing for English readers, so some parts of the book are now much more readable than others. Now the third book is done and I started to work on book 2, Nikurashii Kare. I also translated several stories from Interlude and plan to do at least one more, but that is put on the backburner for now since I want to do as much of the book 2 as I can before book 4 in the main series comes out. Yes, we're getting a new Hira and Kiyoi book! This year too, probably. And unless it completely disappoints me or something terrible happens IRL, I plan to translate it as well.

So here are the links to everything I've translated from My Beautiful Man book series:

Book 3 "Nayamashii Kare" which continues the story past the movie (completed). The text is in Russian, but there are links to decent machine translations to English at the beginning of each part (I've also run through most of them and corrected the mistranslations). Or you can use the in-browser translation feature, but the results would be less readable.

Book 2 "Nikurashii Kare" which was technically turned into season 2 of the drama and the movie, but the script has deviated so much from the book, at times it's like a completely different story (in progress; about 1/4 of the book will be done with the next update which I plan on posting soon). I don't make Deepl translations for this since the official English release will be out in a couple of months.

Stories from other books in the series. The first part is a short scene from Nikurashii Kare, and the rest are stand-alone stories from Interlude. One of them had also been translated to English by Mauli before, but I didn't use her version when working on mine. The rest of the stories have never been translated by anyone else, as far as I know. These, too, have links to Deepl-versions at the beginning.

Disclaimer: my Japanese is not yet really on a level good enough to translate fiction, and there are bound to be mistranslations even if you read the original Russian versions. But I'm cross-checking myself on everything to try and keep those mistakes to minor things. I also know how to translate so I made sure that the text flows well, doesn't feel choppy and retains the same vibe that I get from reading the original.

[valfeathers]

YOUR JDRAMA L POST !!!!! jumps up and down i love love love the jdrama it speaks to me so good and your art style for him was so perfect…. do you have a post about your thoughts on the jdrama as a whole or !.!.!.!! also . i was not really a lawlight shipper for the animanga …. but oh man the drama lawlight…… it got me so good

JDRAMA TIME!! (tysm btw !!!!)

ramblings below the cut as usual (also spoilers? go watch the jdrama i double dog dare you)

ok so i watched the jdrama with my sibling after seeing a shitpost about the casting and i lost my MIND. i hadn't really seen any major spoilers beforehand so i basically experienced it all in real time and boy i loved it.

i know it def took some liberties with its story but that's part of why i liked it so much, i eat up aus and different interpretations or whatever so i really didn't mind the minor changes. my only qualm is that watari's bitchass outlives L smh who decided that /lh

above all i love the way they characterized light so much. they let him be stupid!! thank god!! he yelled at ryuk in a lecture hall full of students!! he finger-gunned!! he walked into a door!! he felt much more flawed and even i found myself relating to him at times! they really added to his relationship with soichiro which i loved. their arc had me gripping my heart in agony but that's normal for me when i think of soichiro for too long so like,,

jdrama light quickly became my favourite light because of this. i could think about him forever and i just might!

the only word i can use to describe jdrama L is 'babygirl'. the way they characterised him was so fun and different,, and lord if episode 8 didn't break me. suddenly i'm 12 years old again and grieving this man. and the way light reacted to his death?? the way the scene played out?? it was absolutely gut wrenching. i had to take a walk.

and while we're talking about gut wrenching, can i just say that L & soichiro are such an underrated duo?? i didn't expect to lose my mind over L saying that he thought of soichiro like a father but here i am, still not recovered completely,

and i'll just cut this off by saying that making mello a fucking PUPPET was certainly a choice.

[ceoandslutler]

have you heard kuro dubbed in any language other than english? or in any other asian language other than korean or chinese? well i found a persian one and it's so fucking bad that it's hilarious.

(also stay tuned to find out why the persian dub of kuroshitsuji being so bad has directly to do with anti-shipping sentiment and puritanism)

i would like to politely invite anyone who's ethnically from/lives in/speaks the language of a country with an ultraconservative government to contribute to this post if they know a dub of kuro (fandub or licenced by a company) in their language to contribute to this post (agree or disagree that policing media causes a drop in its quality and accessibility in other countries) but let's keep it civil. if you are not from a country like this but have something to say, feel free to add anything on, the conversation is open to all :)

so i just heard the homemade persian dub of kuro's first ep made by some young people who sound like they're in uni (probs 18-23 yr olds), tears have been flowing from my eyes for the past 20 mins

(link under the cut)

to save time, go watch the bits i linked below or just laugh at the whole thing (full link) but don't blame these kids for being awful at this or just skip to the end of the post. as i said, there is a reason this dub is so bad and no official dub exists and it has to do with... anti subculture?!?*

but first, the funny stuff

ciel's voice is awful but just listen to the goofy dub laugh seb's va did at the start I'M FUCKING SOBBING (00:15-00:35), and also not ciel's va MOANING after the op song (2:35) ??? i REPEAT the woman who VA'd ciel was fucking MOANING, the YAWN was the worst part, dub team shotacons???

also SHEEL FANTOMHAYO?? THE KID'S NAME WAS DUBBED AS SHEEL FANTOMHAYO. (refer to 6:30 in the video linked)

now this isn't because we lack a 's' in our language (my alias is literally a persian name meaning shadow aka ✦sayé✦), we've just transliterated it as shiyel, but SHEEL???

the other guy calls him fantomhayo too (8:25) and the fantomhayo condition strikes again with sebastian's va talking about the fantomhayo hospitality at 12:40 ish in the video.

this is particularly bizarre because we do have a V in persian, please guys, use it!

please note: i have nothing but good things to say about finny's va... the way the va says "sebaastiyaan!" (12:43) is so cute <3

at 13:00, we get this golden crumb "meyrin... oh meyrin" from this college aged dude doing sebastian (who is SO lost) then he proceeded to say in persian "i beg you, ON MY LIFE, just pour the fucking wine in the glass and walk away" save me from the bad dub, ono daisuke, save me...

the furnace scene is just gold (18:50 onward is comical, the scream at the end... priceless), these people deserve an award, im tempted to do subs on this whole video because the translation is so wrong yet absolutely too hilarious to leave untranslated. also, i like how you can hear other people talking in the background constantly, they didn't even bother finding a quiet room 😭😭

finally i translated some of the best comments under the vid (everyone fuckin hated it 😭)

..tldr: irani/persian speaking netizens are brutal. but also, it shows that persian speakers are used to quality dubbing, otherwise this wouldn't be so offensive. if we were used to badly done dubs, the comments wouldn't look like this. many famous kdramas and jdramas and indian/turkish films have been dubbed. animated movies e.g. disney films and most commonly 70-80s anime have huge followings in iran and were dubbed extraordinarily well. in fact, in iran, many of our own films are dubbed especially if the original footage did not capture the audio well enough/the director was unhappy with the actor's delivery and it's usually hard to tell if this has happened because it's done very well. shockingly, dub is more popular than sub. so why does kuro not have an official dub? why is the fandub so bad???

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING

*IMPORTANT: an anime like this is not allowed to be legally dubbed by studios in iran because iran is under an islamic theocracy (the islamic republic) and all media that promotes devil worshipping and blasphemy is banned, homosexuality is too (anyone can tell kuro has homoerotic undertones, the homophobic heads of media would never let this queer gothic romance through). oh and trans people are "allowed" on TV but only if they're not vulgar/explicit (not even then, half the time) & grelle would not make it into the anime AT ALL. even if we ignore all the devil worshipping and queerness, sex is banned too (as well as lewd appearances of women), so season 1/2 & boc would never make it. oh and alcohol, bom would never make it. oh and also, women's empowerment is banned too so boa would never make it. when will it end? will someday everything be banned? sure looks like it. but isn't this what anti shippers want? i mean kuro IS problematic media, it never condemns people for having sex or partaking in drinks, not even murder is condemned.

moving on, the subtitled version of the episodes are very well done for what they are but it's still not good, you won't understand what's going on properly. meanings are lost. a dub is much more accessible to those who can't read subs and generally a necessary option. people NEED dubs. don't get me wrong, the iranian fansub team are dedicated however subs are much easier for fans to do than dubbing. as you heard, kuro's persian fandub was frankly terrible. these kids didn't even know how to pronounce ciel's name and it's NOT because of the language barrier, my theory is that because the internet access is so limited, they had to figure out how to pronounce ciel's name purely from the japanese original or another lang dub and had no access to the eng dub. as you can see, they are not able to follow the mouth movements either (don't have editing software); i assume the internet restrictions targeted streaming platforms w the dub on it (because the government wants to CONTROL what media people consume) so they had to figure everything out from japanese or another language, (they probably used another fandub to translate since the ed seems to credit the eng vas while they can never be heard in the bg) which is not easy. unfortunately english is taught in schools around the world not japanese so the dubbers' translation was quite honestly terrible- after all, they had no official script to base their translation off. BUT if a professional dubbing studio (e.g. iran's glory entertainment) got their hands on kuro, it'd probably be dubbed very well. if mehrdad raissi, CEO of glory, was on for seb's role, it would be glorious (pun intended). if he did flynn rider well, he can do sebs well too. but that studio often has their shows played on state televisions and the last thing they want is to get blacklisted and arrested for dubbing the gay demon butler anime. please do not take this fandub as representing all persian-language dubs. and remember, kuro itself is banned for being problematic media in counties like iran... no sebaciel needed (although anyone can definitely see the gay undertones to the story from a cover alone).

if you want to ban people from shipping things or making fan works that are problematic... soon you'll have to get rid of problematic media in general. and already, antis sound like the media people in charge under a dictatorship. "violence is okay, murder is okay but s-sex?!? women in scandalous clothing!!! oh good heavens..!" this is the kind of mindset which leads people down the rabbit hole of "this is problematic!! let's ban it!!!" until there's nothing left, a slippery slope. imagine this was the english dub of kuro. imagine it was banned in western countries and a team of young'uns had to gang up and make their own dub using only the japanese raws. imagine problematic media like kuro wasn't picked up the west because it's "shota" and that's bad. we'd be stuck looking at the same sanitised stuff and if we wanted to watch kuro, our options would be trash dubs (no offense) like this one. pretty scary to think this could be the state of the english dub if puritanism was as bad here as it is in countries like iran. policing media and deciding what creators should or shouldn't create will take you to the side of theocratic dictatorships and you will fall into alt right puritan lunacy, fanpoll are about as woke as a dictatorship, remember that.

don't sound like this:

NEVER sound like this.

it is clear that conditional freedom is no freedom at all. there should be zero criteria to the media we want to create, no religion or purity culture to it. just be media literate. let nobody control what you want to create or consume! (or you'll end up in a world where the media that is deemed "problematic" is maintained but only through underground circles, losing quality and accessibility day by day, until these channels are shut down too and only a sanitised husk of options for media consumption remain)

[shijiujun]

Final Thoughts on KDTM + Finale

Where do I even begin?! Honestly this show was filled with a number of plotholes but as long as you're not watching for logic but stupid men in love it's 100% fine XD Like there's really so much to love about the mafia fam dynamic, and this one gave me so many surprises!!

Perfect acting, much better than most Taiwan BLs I've seen - none of that awkward whatever, they were super into it, and it's no wonder too since Hsu Kai is a long-time actor and Jiang Dian is a talented boy who already has an award for a role under his belt, and it SHOWED?!

They've got the childhood friends growing up together plot, the student x teacher, the on-the-road saving thing, all the smexy plots, and they're really not shy to show just how much they desire each other, but it didn't feel like the smexy scenes were THE point which is such a feat considering how many there were LMAO, they've got the old man yaoi, the EVERYTHING

DRAMA >>>> NOVEL so much like the drama filled up so many holes and even then we could probably have used another 10 episodes - novel really left out everyone else but Bai Zongyi and Fan Zherui

Every frickin like trope I liked was there, there was a bit of whump toooooo and like?!?!!? All the usually cringy stuff was great too in this one ;-; (like ahem couple cushions my god)

I AM JUST A LITTLE SAD WE DIDN't GET the part about Fan Jiang Ruichen and his boyfriend (?? maybe 7th uncle ahem??)

Very happy there was like no real amnesia and I have to say everything closed up from start to end more or less, even the last minute knifing :DDD

They really gave every CP enough screen time and I love that they were so damn extra to put every single other BL drama actor in, I'm just sad we didn't get FRICKIN CHRIS JAKE but it's okay we take what we get, because this show is proof that all our Taiwan BL couples live happily ever after okay?!!! EVEN BUY SALT CP they live in other jdramas and whatever else not JUST ARGH not this one and MODC in actuality

AI DIIIIII MY LOVE the most thoughtful, most feral, most sweet and loyal and devoted MEOW MEOW

SO MANY GOOD LINES from the drama <3 The humour was super on point as well and the slightly sad parts too <3

I WILL BE CRYING MYSELF TO SLEEP FOR FOUR WEEKS GOING COLD TURKEY FROM THIS SHOW

[usertoxicyaoi]

Hi Faiza, I was wondering if you had an easier way of watching smells like green spirit pls 😭💖

hiiii my love!!! rn its difficult. i'm torrenting the raw files from here (the place i usually get jdrama downloads from) and using fansubs that are srt files from here to watch the show! its such a shame this hasnt been picked up yet by platforms for international release, and i hope it does, bc this really isnt a typical "bl", its not focussed on romance, but more on mishima and kirino's friendship as they deal with their queerness in a rural homophobic countryside town in japan!

[tm-trx]

currents.32[2024]

selections from my week in media [4-10 august 2024]

[dropping]

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans - I watched four episodes, took a break, then watched ep five to see if I liked it better. And got annoyed all over again at the setup so it's getting taken off the list. I'm disappointed, because I like all the actors and was looking forward to the show, but I think Oab is the only character I like.

[listening]

[watching]

4 Minutes, ep 3 - I'd love to screencap this show for a heading some week, but it's shot so dark I can barely see it while watching, let alone find a beauty shot. Other than that, I still have no complaints. I have theories though. Many.

The Double {finished: 4.5 stars} - I really really loved this cdrama. I spaced it out and made it last over a few weeks so I could savor it. But then that last episode happened. :/ Hence, the half star. But other than that I loved it. Angsty AF, just how I like dramas. And all the actors were so good, wow. Excellent all around.

Fuujinshi {finished: 5 stars} - Rewatched and loved it more possibly. Scratched the urban fantasy itch perfectly.

Love is Better the Second Time Around {finished: 5 stars} - Finally dipped into my jdrama watchlist hoard and it was the highlight of my week. They are always so short, but so good. Loved seeing Aloha again too.

Monster Next Door, ep 1-3 - I am delighted and relieved. The masks and big head costume in the trailer made me nervous, but I adore how they're being used. No phobias triggered here. \o/ The communication between God and Diew is amazing and I love how they are utlizing the balconies. Such a cool visual too.

previous Currents posts

.

[sunshine-and-christmas-caryls]

Hi, so you do not have to publish your respond or answer at all 😉 But beside Five x Lila and Brienne x Jaime what other pairings do you ship? Much love 💜

Hi! 👋🏻

I don’t mind answering- the main thing I use tumblr for is appreciating and talking about ships that I love so it’s not an issue to answer this by any means :)

I haven’t watched a ton of new shows lately, mostly rewatching older favorites or watching new-to-me-but-not-new-this-year foreign tv shows. But I will put a few below (I liked the main couple in the foreign shows) and some of my older ships after that! 😊

Foreign TV shows (I don’t often find a lot of fanfic/ fan art for foreign TV shows comparatively but I loved these series):

-Love Between Fairy and Devil (cdrama)

-The Manny (Mexican TV show)

-Hidden Love (cdrama)

-Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (kdrama)

-Ever Night (cdrama)

-Love, Now (Taiwan drama)

-Tale of the Nine-Tailed (kdrama)

-Happiness (kdrama)

-Mischievous Kiss (jdrama)

-Boys Over Flowers (kdrama, but I like Ji Hoo/ Jan Di instead of the main couple of Joon Pyo/ Jan Di)

And several others, but those are the ones I remember at the moment.

Main ships from American and/ or western shows and movies (though I probably like others from the same franchise too):

-Marvel: Steve/ Peggy and Clint/ Natasha are my main ships. I really enjoy Bucky/ Sam too, but I haven’t ventured to them quite as much.

-Barney/ Robin from How I Met Your Mother

-Penelope and Colin from Bridgerton. Really liked Kate/ Anthony too.

-Carol/Daryl from The Walking Dead followed by Rick/ Michonne (admittedly I slowly lost interest in the series after Glenn died, & I think I mainly stopped watching after Carl died. But I love the ship still)

-Tony/ Ziva from NCIS

-Deeks/ Kensi from NCIS LA

-Rollins/ Carisi from SVU followed by Benson/ Barbara. (All 3 of which, NCIS/ NCIS LA/ SVU, I didn’t finish or don’t really keep up with regularly)

-Harry/ Hermione from Harry Potter

-Penny/ Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory (I probably stopped watching regularly after season 5 though)

-Chloe/ Oliver from Smallville

-Enola/ Tewksbury from Enola Holmes TV show

-Uncas/ Alice from Last of the Mohicans movie

-Casey/ Kevin from Split & Glass (they’re one of my more problematic ships, TBH)

Cartoons/ Anime/ Comics:

-Starfire/ Robin from 2003 Teen Titans cartoon & the 1980s comics & live action tv show, also known as Dick/ Kory followed by Beast Boy/ Raven (or Garfield/ Rachel)

-Bruce/ Selina (pretty much any Batman universe I’ve seen)

-Naruto/ Hinata from Naruto. Shikamaru and Temari are a secondary fav for me.

-Ichigo/Orihime from Bleach. I also like Renji/ Rukia.

-Toph/ Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender, but I prefer them as a post-original series couple. She’s too young for me to want them together during the show. Katara/ Aang.

Pretty much any of the studio Ghibli main characters, though there are still a few films I need to see…

Honorable mention to Lily/ Sebastian in the Love, Lies, & Hocus Pocus book series I’m currently reading…

There’s probably a ton of other ones (certainly there are more shows/ movies I love that I don’t necessarily have a ship for or that I just didn’t have a ship I went to fanfic for) but these were the ships I most remember from growing up and/or from reading fanfic/ fan art in the last 10 years or so…

What about you? What are some of your ships? I don’t suppose we have any other overlapping ships or shows, do we?

And much love right back at you! 🩵

[liaroflesbos]

finally revisiting Gintama after many years--it was also the first anime I ever watched. I was like, I wonder if the experience of this show changes now that I know more about Japanese culture/history and also have to pay rent, and have had hangovers.

the animation style feels so old school now, closer to 90s than modern animation

i really can see how much they cheap out on animation now in a way i didn't understand their meta commentary age 14

i do not think i fully understood the kagura consuming rice gag at age 14 because i don't think i knew what a rice cooker was so it didn't register when she pours the rice down her gullet straight out of the cooker

honestly if i really wanted context i should've given in and watched/read dragon ball before this rewatch

the localization is trying to translate stuff into american jokes rather than giving me full paragraphs of japanese context like the crunchyroll subs used to, which is sad but also means i'm having a fun time actually listening to the audio to hear what's said

specifically i watched the one with the old guy at the hospital who turns out to be looking for otose and they are clearly making a joke about some kind of jdrama protagonist with the lead doctor but idk what!! the translation has changed his name to "Gregory Homes" which is very funny but i wanna know which jdrama is being referenced

still respect for all the work to try to make the madao joke work in english

one translation thing that does bother me is that every time kondo talks to hijikata the sub has kondo calling him hijikata instead of what he actually says, which is toshi, a nickname of his first name. like why change that??? i get leaving out the nuances of gin-san and gin-chan, but like. it is revealing to their relationship and it is very understandable even in english.

i actually think the biggest change is that it means so much more to me that gin-chan basically adopts two kids, and then they begin emulate and mimic him... like to go from a wild beast to a dad, but in the way we kind of quietly understand both aspects of the transformation, both gin as former wild beast and present as a dad over time...

[alloveydovey]

Ok, random thoughts on dramas I finished watching this month (some of which I've been dragging out since July).

Meet Yourself (cdrama) 10 ⭐️

It's the first cdrama I've seen that I felt was well-acted and felt genuine. Perhaps because the ML has a personality and isn't simply some stone-cold dude and the FL (who I was obsessed with) is mature and insightful.

It’s very light and yet deeply meaningful. Yes, it could be a little draggy at times (could have been shorter), but I can't really complain because I didn't want it to end. You really find yourself falling in love with the entire town, as well as most secondary characters.

A Time Called You (kdrama) 8

It was really emotional, but I lost interest in episode 9 and wanted it to end. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t fully understand what was going on or because, although I like time travel plots, this one was just too twisty for me to get.

King The Land (kdrama) 8/8.5?

People complaining because it had no plot— what do you mean? The plot was ✨love✨

I mean yeah, I get it, though, because I started it in August and finished it in October (I got low-key bored on episode 11). The .5 is only because Yoona and Jun Ho’s chemistry was insanely good, like the kind of chemistry where you feel like you're intruding on them or something.

My Lovely Liar (kdrama) 7.5

This one was all over my fyp on tiktok, and I'm not sure why everyone was so into it.

I initially started to watch it because of Kim So Hyun. The first eight episodes were okay. I wasn't particularly intrigued by the mystery of who the killer of the ML’s girlfriend was, but it was enough to keep me going. But, later on, I just wasn't into it at aaall. The ML and FL were cute, but i didn’t feel any spark between them :\

Here We Meet Again (cdrama) 8

Another cdrama with good acting 🙌🏽 lol I swear I’m not bashing Chinese dramas, it's just I watched some questionable ones. I wasn’t that much into the whole work thing but, let's be honest, I only saw this one because FL and ML were the cutest and had an insane chemistry.

Why I Dress Up for Love (jdrama) 9

Workaholic social media girl moves into a house with four roommates and ends up having a situationship with one of them.

This is my fourth jdrama (Only Just Married, The Fallen High School Girl and The Crippled Teacher, and A Girl and Three Sweethearts), and it is without a doubt the best one and most likely a future all-time favourite. The obstacles the characters experienced were not too deep, but enough to soften you, and the chemistry was excellent. It was simple, natural and cute. An overall feel good 👌🏽

Destined With You (kdrama) 8.5/9 still not sure lol

Okay, I’ll be honest, this probably doesn’t deserve a 9. That whole extra point is for Rowoon's face and Bo Ah's cuteness.

I feel like the writers of this one got down and began pulling out pieces of paper from a bag full of common clichés that are currently used in dramas. Past lives lovers? Check. Sort of enemies to lovers? Check. Rich ML x Poor orphan FL? Check (although a little twist with the mom being the cutest mother ever) Mean ex girlfriend who can’t get over ML? Check. A culprit dressed all in black who is after the FL? Check. I don’t know what else but I’m sure there’s more… and it should have been boring but somehow they made it work?!?! And I was so into it?!? The comedy was comeding, the chemistry was chemistring, the Samsung phones were samsunging (?), Subway was there, music was banging? Magic was entertaining, even the angsty moments were hitting.

Like yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it was Rowoon and his perfect face or maybe this was a really entertaining and romantic watch. Anyway, a 9.

[incandescentflower]

I finally watched the jdrama Eye Love You with Chae Jong Hyeop. It was an interesting watch for quite a few reasons, especially as a Cherry Magic fan.

It's an office romance with the lead having mind-reading ability with Omoinotake doing the theme song. The bright colors, the lack of "bad guys," conflict arising basically from everyone caring too much, side characters that are honest, true and lovable and mythology that is hand wavy, but full of heart (although this one could have been a tad bit better lamp-shaded IMO)

Sound familiar?

It's a Japanese drama with a popular Korean drama lead where they indulge and revel in the cultural differences in ways that are silly - like the female lead learning about what noona meant through coworkers kdrama watching and mistakenly thinking he was thinking of her in that way (which he wasn't) and hysterical - like him immediately asking her what her first name is and calling her by it when they first meet outside of the office context and then when finding out she is the CEO continuing to be his charming, familiar self and making her have an emotional meltdown over it because she both was completely embarrassed by it, but also loved everything about how open and disarming he is. (And I did too). I love that she is interested in him from the start because he is the first person she's met since she's gotten her abilities that she actually can't understand his thoughts (he thinks in Korean).

Chae Jong Hyeop is fabulous in it, as he always is when I watch him in something. He stole the show in Nevertheless (sorry, Song Kang) and I loved him in the Witch's Diner. It just reminds me I keep meaning to watch more of his stuff. Also superficially, he's charming and handsome and tall and makes the female lead look tiny and I am not usually into height difference at all but it works for these two a whole bunch. Her fantasy dream sequence really reminds us that he is very capable of being more than a smiley puppy and someone needs to give him a role like that stat. Bonus that it's just fun to me to listen to him speak in Japanese after being used to listening to him speak Korean. He's clearly really good at the language so it's great he got to use his skills for this.

Some of the most touching scenes in this drama are with the female leads father and her best friend. This is a show about her finding love, yes, but all the relationships matter and are heart-warming.

It probably has the best second male lead I've seen (maybe after Chae Jong Hyeop's character in Nevertheless haha). The care and consideration the two supposed rivals show for each other after the comedy of it is played out is nice. The circumstance itself is enough to create conflict so people don't have to be jealous assholes about it. I really enjoyed Hanaoka enough to be interested in seeing something else that actor is in.

The mythology could have been tweaked a little. There's something significant most of the characters believe and it is never clear to me why they all believed it and never questioned it in the first place. But I downed all these in a few days because ultimately it was a really fun watch with lots of good feelings.

If you are a jdrama and a kdrama fan, it's also a delight to see a nice little hybrid of the things I personally enjoy in both being thread together into one story.

It was definitely worth the watch.

[doyouknowbtsswag]

KDramas/Actors

ੈ✩‧₊˚Doctor Stranger ੈ✩‧₊˚

Out Of Character |Jae Joon|

Hard Truth |Jae Joon|

ੈ✩‧₊˚ I am Not a Robot ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚All of Us are Dead ੈ✩‧₊˚

I Found You |Su-Hyeok|

ੈ✩‧₊˚Sweet Home ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚Alice in Borderland ੈ✩‧₊˚

(I know it’s a Jdrama)

Do You Remember |Chishiya|

Do You Remember 2 |Chishiya|

ੈ✩‧₊˚While You We’re Sleeping ੈ✩‧₊˚

A Flash Of Time |Jung Jae Chan|

ੈ✩‧₊˚ Train To Busan ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚Happiness ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚Peninsula ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚Gangnam Zombie ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚The Silent Sea ੈ✩‧₊˚

Before Space |Yun Jae|

ੈ✩‧₊˚The Uncanny Counter ੈ✩‧₊˚

Should Have Picked Up The Phone |So-Mun|

ੈ✩‧₊˚ Weak Hero Class 1 ੈ✩‧₊˚

Joy Ride |So-Ho|

ੈ✩‧₊˚Tomorrow ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚ Pending Train ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

ੈ✩‧₊˚ Big Mouth ੈ✩‧₊˚

Not yet…

(I’m watching more as we speak!)

[miloucomehome]

VIVANT EPISODE 7 THOUGHTS

(protip: never read the official episode titles from TB/S on T/Ver. Episode 7's could be considered a spoiler)

Wow. And wowowwow...

Pictured: Me finding yet more details I missed during the first two watchthroughs

Pictured 2: My reaction when I notice something brought up in this week's episode actually makes a statement/profile we saw a number of episodes ago look really suspicious.

First: Holy shit what the hell?! WHAT THE HELL NOGI?!

Second:

Kohinata, you're not off the hook! I don't remember which episode Kohinata's Nagano gets interrogated, but if I recall...didn't we learn that he was former JSDF? Isn't that what made him a prime suspect to Nozaki and Public Security? I kind of remember him saying how he left the forces...but wasn't he active in the 80s? We learned this week that Balka fell into civil war in 1983 and that Nogi Suguru (Nogi's dad) is reported dead in 1984 when he ends up dragged into the factional conflict. He did have a reaction when Nogi name-dropped Zayir/Zahir and Nogi F did go right up to his face and sniff him, stating he literally smelled "off"/suspicious.

(Kohinata always plays sus characters. I don't mind if in the end, it turns out he's just an old dude who wanted to hang out with a younger woman because his marriage is on the rocks, but MIU404, MOZU and even S1 of Emergency Interrogation Room set me up for years of doubt XDDD.)

Shinjo (gone from sus to maybe sus idk) brought up good points: why didn't Suguru communicate with Public Security in the 80s to tell them he was alive. I wonder if a flashback episode is around the corner...the late 70s to 80s seem like they might be really important. If Nozaki is in his 50s, then any older character we've seen could potentially be important a future flashback episode. If there's one planned.

Nozaki Mamoru = Canon gay lead? IN PRIMETIME JP SUNDAY NIGHT TV?!

(I'll take it. Even if they forget about it or reverse course)

One of the only pieces of good news in this episode--writers confirming, as much as jdrama will allow them to outside of a BL drama, that Nozaki is gay. Not only that but he had loved another man: Liu Mingxuan. (And that it seems like Liu liked him first before he noticed or wanted to commit but did? Maybe he was closeted back then and worried it could be used against him?)

Nozaki: Well, in your position, it's not like you can have a normal love life, can you? (pause) Nogi: Nozaki-san...? Nozaki: Yeah? Nogi: Could it be that you... Nozaki: (laughs) I'm sorry. I can't help but look [at you]. Nozaki: You look just like him. Nogi: I do? Nozaki: It's like I'm looking at the junior who I lovedーLiu Mingxuen. He was a colleague of mine when I worked as a liaison at the embassy in Beijing. Nogi: And I look like him? Nozaki: Yeah. But he's not in this world anymore...

I did find this part oddly curious? worrying?:

Nozaki: He worked so hard for me. He was serious and tried so hard to get me to like him. But because of that... (smile fades) I ended up going over the line during the interrogation <-- this part Nogi: So then...that's when...? Nozaki: If I had actually paid a little bit more attention to him, he wouldn't be dead. That, for me, is my one failure.

The part I "highlighted", the "I ended up going over the line during the interrogation" (other TLs welcome!) part, has me wondering...what happened. And when. He's jovial and charismatic, but Nozaki still is a state intelligence officer. What could've happened?

I'll also headcanon that Nozaki sharing his story about his last lover and how Nogi resembles him, is a roundabout way of confirming Nogi's question was maybe "Could it be that...you like me?".😇🙏

I don't watch BL dramas (because I simply don't know which ones are?), but I've seen the odd drama or two with vaguely-gay-but-we-won't-say characters (with some exceptions: Nigehaji, for example has three). The fact that so far Nozaki is older, has been in love, exudes life experience, and has a different personality and energy from the usual gay characters I've seen in jdrama, is something. He also cares. He's competent at his job. He comes off as really cool, too.

Also his wink is dangerous. I take 500,000+ pts in damage each time (thank you.).

I'm very inclined to believe that despite the increased frostiness and visible gradual distancing in their friendship (see: the last two episodes T_T)), Nozaki was being honest. I also would like to believe that Nogi's line to him later was somewhat reciprocal?

(I know we love to see Nozaki be all close to Nogi, but I'm actually also really enjoying the frostiness of their relationship and how they're both trying to maintain façades more than ever with each other--Nogi as he tries to deceive Nozaki more and Nozaki as he tries to act as he always has despite the very significant information he's been learning about Nogi's true identity)

But as much as I'm inclined to believe his story, jdramas have the ability to betray and I'm steeling myself ahaha.

Nogi's cryptic message to Nozaki on the plane

I totally misread this scene at first as an "end of relationship" moment...but I later felt it was a compliment...then a potential coded message? Jdrama detectives on twitter think it may have been purposefully cryptic/metaphorical as a message to Nozaki, even planting a kind of signal to him--"if something goes wrong, watch for my signals" or something. (Among so many other possibilities)

But it also felt...affectionate? Nogi gently placing his hand on top of Nozaki's and gently clasping(?) it before talking to him felt genuinely kind. The slow letting go of his hand felt, sad almost?

The first idiom used is apparently quite old (1800s) and together with the second half reads:

あなたは鶏群の一鶴、眼光紙背に徹す

(For the sake of keeping it cryptic and rare-sounding, following the proposed definitions in the dictionary):

"You are a great figure among men; one who is able to read between the lines"

Literally (extra deep?):

You are a singular crane among a flock of ducklings chickens, able to read between the lines

Given how later the tracker Nogi removed and placed in some kind of signal blocking pouch, is reactivated and leads Nozaki, Chenggis and his officers to the site with the unconscious/dead Vostania members...Nozaki notices the "calling card" left by Nogi too before he receives a message that really catches his attention. I wonder if in that moment Nozaki's ability to "read between the lines" and grasp at the deeper meaning behind the evidence he finds kicks in.

I also feel like Nogi F realizes that he can trust Nozaki? Or at least that he believes he's exceptional and intelligent?

(I also believe that Nogi F was the one talking to Nozaki during that scene. Sorry Yuusuke! XD)

Now...my most recent "AFHDSKJHFSD AAAH" and "HMM 🤔🤔🤔🤔" discovery--

6 BEPPAN BODYCAMS BUT ONLY 5 ARE NAMED ON THE SCREEN IN THE CONTROL ROOM!!!

The most recent find--

The members of Beppan chosen for the Vostania-Tent meetup interception mission that were all gunned down by Nogi all had their bodycams named...except for Nogi's. That's such a strange thing to overlook.

Not only that, but weren't they all wearing bulletproof vests? Were the bullets in Nokor's gun for piercing bulletproof vests? I don't think the 6 willingly would go into danger without their vests...

COPIUM: Nogi and the Commander are in on it. This is their operation. Nogi didn't betray Beppan. Commander Sakurai's reaction may have been because of Nogi's methods and/or who was shot. If any of the 4 survived, it'll be interesting to find out what they think... (I think that...maybe each group in this series will have traitors of different kinds in their midst? Or maybe we learn about other members of Public Security, Beppan or Tent that neither of the revealed agents of either group are aware of?)

EDIT: THIS GUY LIVES! (credit to the fans in the VIVANT thoughts tag on Twitter) In the "Next Arc" trailer when ep 3 ended, they show Kumagai's actor, Nishiyama Jun, in hospital robes:

Now I'm extra curious. If the others are dead and only Kumagai and Kurosu live (please live), then maybe the Commander and Nogi suspected someone among them was a mole?

Sam is also in that trailer (earlier video?) maybe that wasn't him in episode 5 hahahahaha (denial)

H*rry P*tter -- Nozaki the geek

I made another post about this, but the HP reference and DVD set drop is actually likely really important, I think. I really do believe it's to find a subtle way to keep Drum by Jamine's side and keep watch over her (whether for Public Security or because his intuition is going wild and he's worried for her safety) The post is here and in summary, my realization is that his words to Drum as they leave Jamine's hospital room has me thinking he's setting Drum up to keep near-continuous watch of her later on!

Nozaki : Alright then Drum, let's go grab a bite to eat. Drum: 😄😄😄!!! Nozaki : See you, Nogi Nogi: (nods, smiling) Nozaki (as he leaves Jamine's hospital room with Drum): Oh yeah, that's right, there's no Mongolian [version]— Make sure you translate it properly for her [while she watches], alright?

Also, for real though, I'd like to believe that during happier times for everyone in that franchise's boom, Nozaki was definitely a fan and did the midnight lineups and dressed up with his buddies (or relatives?) for the movies and books. If he's not using a ruse, my headcanon is that he's been able to enjoy life in some ways and indulge in some hobbies.

(Also: If I were to romanize スネイプ社, it'd be using Mongolian Cyrillic romanization. "Snape Co." is too awkward lol and from what small research into Mongolian I've done, "sna" will not produce the same sound as it does in English. Maybe Snép? Snaype? Snaïp?? Snêip??? Snayipp??)

Is this is a hint that he's going to act as a double spy...?

I'm excited and scared to see how Nokor and Nogi will face off. Nino's delivery of the line "Hey there, brother of mine" was menacing in the episode 8 preview. (I'm only familiar with Matsumoto Jun's acting in 99,0%)

I wonder what Nozaki received on his phone. And poor Kurosu...he's living up to the kanji associated to him in the early promo cast announcement teaser of 信頼 (shinrai - trust, faith), but it's getting thrown back in his face in the worst way by this apparent(??) betrayal by Nogi?? I feel awful for Kurosu--he put a lot of faith in Nogi believing this betrayal, the capture, and the injuries, were all part of his plan...when apparently they're not. I want to go back in time to this moment:

I wonder if each character's kanji words will mean they'll each come face to face with that crashing down on them. Kurosu is sure to trust Nogi less, if at all, if it turns out this was all part of some bigger plan....maybe? A bit of a "One must fall before they can come back stronger" type of theme? (I wonder how Kurosu ended up partnered up with Nogi?) I'm still so sad over his "This is all part of the operation, right?" and "You did this because it's part of the plan, right?"....Kurosu really trusted Nogi.

To end (Because I could go on for a while I think)---

Nozaki and his "Oh wow oh no this sucks. It would've been great if someone had stuck another tracking device on Nogi somehow without him noticing, eh?" pose (Chenggis, meanwhile: $@%#!$#!%):

Chenggis being cute. CHENGGIS BEING CUTE??

Wink = 5,000,000pt damage

Thanks for reading to the end. Sorry if my thoughts were all over the place--I made a draft of this on Monday and meant to post it but was out in the evening and came home and was too tired XD;;.