Did he die?

The ending of Part 3 Fallen Flowers left me a bit lost.

WARNING!!! SORTA SPOILER!

If you know the answer, please tell me. Did Haruto kill Ruka? Because I sure got that impression. Which kinda stinks, especially after the HELL Aoyama put Haruto through. Why he would still love that creeper is beyond me. That's really all I have to say, except this trilogy left me with nightmares. So don't watch if you aren't into twisted obscessions disguised as love and a heavy dose of SM. About the only good thing I can say is, the acting was pretty good. Hope the cast all get better parts to play, soon. The music wasn't bad, just emotionally misplaced. Except for the ending on the first part-which felt hollow-the rest of them the characters were gaslighting each other and the audience.

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Beautifully Done

I haven't watched the original 2008 yet, but I do intend to. This is short and done with great heart, and is absolutely chilling. Cinematography is beautiful. My only complaint is it's not BL, and it so easily could have been. Acting is excellent from a young cast. Music was okay, or maybe I was paying more attention to the visuals. I will be watching this again, so I will pay more attention to the music, and I may amend my review at that time. We shall see.

This is really all I have to say, but I'm still short on characters to get it accepted. So I suppose I'll blather on a bit. And this put over the top.

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Questions-AND Review

Does anyone know who wrote the screenplay? And is the uncensored scrip online anywhere so it can at least be read? I really enjoyed the drama a great deal, and hated the way it got chopped up by the censors. And the ending is the original cliffhanger! Is this the way the novel ends too?! I dont read Chinese, and the novel has only been partly translated, by half a dozen people. So I may never know unless someone can tell me. Also, does the director have a weibo account or email account? So, in order to get this posted-500 characters in all are required, apparently-I have to do a sorta review after all. So here goes.
The one gripe I have is the writer-both novel and screenplay-did not do their homework. Cut sleeve romances were not condemed historically in China. BUT, men were expected to marry and produce sons, what they did on the side, no one really cared, through most of China's history. Same sex activity among men was just seen as average normal male behavior. Other than that... it's really hard to tell much, the episodes were chopped up so badly and the whole storyline rushed, because of the censors. But what I could understand, I loved. This was never portrayed as a 'bromance', it was a romance from the beginning, and love was the main element, no wham bam thank you sir. The sexual tension was there, certainly, but it was more a slow sizzle than a raging bonfire. And all the better for it. I would have given the storyline a higher rating, but for the censorship. I thought the acting was very good and I loved the OST and would buy it if I could find out where to purchase it legally. The costuming was gorgeous. And yes, for anyone who cares, I'm queer.

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Historical Question

Did anyone else notice how the Security Forces/Police were using whistles to signal each other during the chase scene of the bad guy gunman after he assasinated the elderly scholar? Does anyone know anything about that? Were whistles actually used in the Joseon era like that? And if so, does anyone know where I can read more about it? Like the type of whistles, how they were made and used. I tried google search several times but never got any results that were even close. I just think it's a neat idea for close-in signaling, as whistles sound carries a long way, and a planned out set of signals-if changed on a regular basis, to keep the opposing forces from learning them, is a good idea. I'm doing research for a story.

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