Taiwanese answer to Gameboys was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
SYAQ? features a Japanese love interest, a tiny frantic disaster gay, slow burn pining, and ended with a domestic montage of pure joy. OMG SO CUTE.It’s a marker of Taiwan’s adoration of the crash into me trope (have they ever done a BL without it?) that our boys spend less than 5 minutes of screen time together and still they stumbled into that one. Also, this is Taiwan, so there’s even a bit of high heat. The only thing wrong with this show was how short it was.
Stay all the way through the credits for the most adorable boyfriends ever.
An utterly charming series, all fluff, no drama, and pure warm fuzzies to watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
Covid and Social Media bringing out the boys to the yard...
If you want a short but sweet drama with not too much fuzziness to itself..this is the one for you.I'm a sucker for effective storytelling that doesn't drag unnecessary drama or uses old tropes as plot devices. I'm also it seems a sucker for stories centering around COVID times and how social media plays a central role/platform in the story.
This mini-drama had it all. Two dudes that liked each other. Supportive friends, a female character that wasn't too caricature or villainized, and a straight (no pun) to the point script.
Aaron Li is such a sweetheart. I've always had a soft spot for him since HIStory days and I'm happy to see him getting work. He was so adorable and dorky in this and I was really surprised with his Japanese level of speaking. Seems almost natural (perhaps he lived in Japan before?)
I really enjoyed that bilingual script (being multilingual myself) it is so nice to see how they jump from one language to another which makes it so relatable for us who do this every day.
The chemistry was actually there too! Which can be hard if the actors are not in the same room throwing lines. I liked the way they were awkward as well because it was a new thing for each of them. I love supportive friends! I mean that is the best takeaway from this drama in my opinion. Both male leads had friends who seem to be ride or die types and we need more representation like that in BLs.
in the end, watch it if you want something quick and enjoyable (get out of the gutter)
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A SHORT AND SWEET LOVE STORY
What do we expect when we start a series?In accordance to the tags, or the trailer, or the review, we expect it to be a certain way.
So, in keeping with this theory, when you watch this series, you should swoon, feel the love and finish it in a small amount of time, and you will.
Honestly, you could finish the series in the time it takes you to read this review completely.
(Just kidding ?. This will take 3 minutes at the most)
See You After Quarantine? may be an extremely short series, and I mean one that you could finish in one and a half hours short, but there is quite evidently no problem in the story telling or the acting. Even the production value seems high, considering the series was filmed entirely using a phone.
The series tells the story of Bo Chun and Itsuki Sato, who although from different countries, find common ground through an antique camera, leading them to form a friendship, that turns into a relationship.
This story of mistaken identities and love at first sight has been written in a way as to reflect not only the time of the pandemic, but in a way where it would be genuinely possible to happen at any and all times.
Ultimately, if you want to watch a series with literally no drama and just tons of cute moments, this is the one for you. So if you find yourself with a little time to spare, do give this a try.
Was this review helpful to you?
A very realistic relationship ?
I enjoyed this drama and how they made it more realistic to what happened in twain with a small budget. Like how they show empty streets/store/parks and the news real on screen with updates of victims. These small things are what made it diff from other drama. I like how the meet by accident due to a IM on computer from sato in japan & bo chum twain. There relationship grew during sato 14 day hotel quarantine & Bo chum lock down while on phone video . A great watch and yes i would again. PS people compare to gameboys and i think there differentWas this review helpful to you?
A lovely quarantine-themed series
I don't have much to say about this series, other than the fact that it was absolutely lovely in all its aspects.The story is very simple, but it's also shown in about one hour in total (every episode is 5-10 minutes long and there's 10 episodes) and no time was wasted at any moment. The characters were defined very clearly and got very good characterization, all through the dialogues they have with each other through video-calls, with very few exceptions.
The actors all did an amazing job as well. I've heard that this series was filmed with phones, which makes it even more impressive. Everyone seemed natural and I got really invested in the main characters and the development of their romance. I was afraid that the two protagonists would not fit with each other as a couple, but in the end they seemed to have great chemistry and I loved to see their moments together. I also really liked the mix of Japanese and Chinese.
It's easy for very short series like this one to feel rushed or like something is missing somewhere, but there was no issue like that in here. It surely won't keep you on the edge with loads of angst and drama, but I believe that this is also its main charm: since there isn't any dramatic event in the entire series, it's very good for whoever has an hour to spare and wants to watch something cute and relaxing.
I strongly recommend watching it!
Was this review helpful to you?
ANOTHER LOVELY TREASURE FROM TAIWAN
Love the GAMEBOYS feel to it, especially the last scene when they finally met up close and the camera was moving around them. This is short and sweet. Very special. It will leave you smiling in the end. Cute, light, funny, touching.You’ll feel really, really good after watching this one. So sastisfying.
Will I watch it again? Why not!
The only thing that is quite confusing are the subtitles (NOTE: Different sites have different subtitles, but those I've seen are equally confusing): He and she, him and her, boyfriend and girlfriend are most of the time interchanged.
Acting is flawless from the entire cast. Effortless and you won't feel they're acting at all.
I like series that are as short as this one that you can finish in one sitting.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Awww!
This is during the times with strict guidelines during COVID in Taiwan (which is noted through each timeframe of the day, really loved this transition: it's simple and it works). That's all i wanted, a sweet happy show. I'm so tired of angst and full blown drama.You want a pick me up? Look no further.
You want ultra fluff? You got it. There is a slight moment of where it doesn't get fluffy due to...reasons, but it's realistic reasons. Mostly fluff though which I love to bits.
You want realistic & 3 dimensional characters? Your wish is granted
You want a sweet ending? Enough to give all your teeth cavities oh my god. There's many short videos after that they play after the "ending" and it's just - it makes me so happy.
All of that mixed into one. I never thought I needed it.
Yes it's short but it's done right. So right that I'm not even mad about how short it is!
The camera work is very real with the ways that many had to use video calls to keep in touch during COVID.
Was this review helpful to you?
Short but cute
This is a very short something, listed as drama but well I would not go that far as to call it one...This feels low budget and even though I know nothing of the budget I will rate it as such, the OST is amazing really setts the mood and is overall nice. a bit repetitive if you watch the whole thing in one go (it takes like an hour) but sweet and nice.
The side characters acting skills and placement on the annoying scale very from great even better than the leads to omg that person just needs to stop... But overall it was sweet.
The young lead had some annoying moments but the older guy and his friend rocked in both acting and characterwise I loved them, almost shipped them but hey if a guy falls in love with another guy at first sight who am I to ship him off with his probably hetero best friend... but Oh how I think I liked the older guys best friend. But the main couple is pretty sweet too and may give you some butterflies (it did give me some), and well nobody forces anything on anyone and that is always a + (sorry is that a spoiler).
Att the end they tell us that this whole thing was filmed with a galaxy s21 and that actually did both not surprise me and impress me at the same time. All in all definitely worth being watched but not a masterpiece .
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Cute and simple!
This story! Gosh! I'm gonna miss it now that it's done! I personally felt everything was so perfect, eventhough it was so simply done.Story-10/10
As I have stated- everything was so simply done. And yet, it was done so incredibly well. And the format way that they choose to do it (like Gameboys and Hello Stranger being done over an electronic device instead of face to face), you would think that you would get bored as you have seen this format already. But I wasn't. I wanted to see the outcome story of Chen Bo Chun and Itsuki Sato so badly, especially due to this format.
I will say that I nearly gave it a lower score due to the ending (or at least what I thought was the ending). But then we got those cute extra scenes that I felt wrap up the storyline so well!
Acting/Cast-10/10
They all did so good. Lance Chiu and Akihiro Kawai was able to portray thier characters so well. And while the storyline is so simple, thier acting was able to portray it so well. And sometimes you don't get that in some other series, but they were able to do it and made me come back every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to see what happens next with them. And then I was so happy to see Aaron Lai as a guest role in this series.
Music-10/10
That opening OST is addictive and I love it so much!
Rewatch Valu-10/10
I would most definitely watch this again. And I feel like I would enjoy it more as I won't have to wait like I did when watching it while it was airing.
Overall-10/10
Overall I loved this series! I would recommend this series to anyone who wants a cute and simple storyline that can be watched in one go!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Micro-series set in the pandemic with minimal cliches? Yes please.
To be fair, I've avoided most dramas that used the pandemic as a significant aspect of the plot setting because it often reads as far more gimmicky than the actual reality (which is wild to me given that this is a shared, lived experience). I went into this one knowing nothing but the title, so the expectations were pretty low.The cast is tiny which I personally prefer in this type of series (sometimes I need a break from learning sixty-four names, eighteen couple configurations, and four sets of interwoven family trauma arcs, thanks). I can count the characters on my fingers and have fingers left. To be completely fair, I was invested because of Aaron Lai and he did not disappoint. The majority of the side characters are engaging and fun to watch as well; MAMA needs their own variety-slash-drinking show. I was originally concerned that they were going to use one of my least favorite BL plot devices where two completely different languages are spoken concurrently and no one notices but everyone can communicate seamlessly with one another. Not only was this not the case, the brief language "barrier" and its sudden end actually made sense within the story. There are a few moments toward the beginning where the plot is a little muddy (i.e. random pieces of information given without context that have middling significance later, but if missed it's nothing major). True to form, there is the token female character that makes me want to strategically remove my own teeth just for something more irritating, but she's not the worst offender in that category.
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would.
Was this review helpful to you?
With a combination of Japan & Taiwan, this series is even more interesting to follow than the other series which combined Korean and Thailand *oops*
In Indonesian:
Sebelumnya saya sudah underestimate sama series ini mengingat tema yang diangkat sama seperti gameboys, akan tetapi ternyata setelah ditonton beberapa episode series ini memiliki daya tariknya tersendiri yang berbeda dari series lainnya yang sedang tayang.
Dengan perpaduan Japan & Taiwan, series ini justru lebih menarik untuk diikuti dari pada series sebelah yang mempertemukan Korea dengan Thailand *ups*
Was this review helpful to you?
Relatable story in a relatable timeline
To start off, I can't believe the Japanese main character is 37 years old! I thought he is only in his early 30s! Really good looking for his age!Anyway, like I mentioned in the title, this drama is made to be relatable during these relatable times of a pandemic, where it involves things like stay-home notices, quarantines, falling sick etc. And really quite sweet to see how two people can fall in love just from online conversations and facetiming.
Each episode is only around 10 minutes long so if you combine together it would be around a 1h 40 minutes sort of movie but each episode contains up to almost 2 minutes of intro and outro, so I felt like that was a down point because I believe people may be expecting more.
The ending is also slightly abrupt in my opinion and not much development after the short while they finally met physically. Just felt like it lacked in this aspect.
Otherwise, a short and sweet movie that displays how boy's love can still bloom even in times like this, would recommend to watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
