War of Y (2022)

Intriguing whilst shaky Ep-By-Ep review (Ep. 1-19 covered so far)

Ep. By Ep. review, updated as needed at irregular intervals.

This drama feels like it came out at the exact right time. There is a shift going on in the BL drama world, especially coming from the viewers and the industry seems to (slowly) respond to this with sort of an emancipation move. War Of Y is rumoured to be based upon real stories from the BL-industry. We have all heard stories coming from behind the scenes of abuse, misconduct and tragedy and some of these stories can be recognized in this drama. This makes for an interesting but painful watch, as sometimes we may suspect who this story is actually about and it hurts. The way the stories are being portrayed is completely void of "juice". It does not feel like a reality tabloid. It feels like a painful look at what actually goes on (past or present?) with our favorite ships. I have been a BL addict for a few years now and also follow some of the ships on Twitter, YT or any other outlet. So here's a review of the series from a BL lover

There are 4 stories in total, each spanning 4 episodes.

1. New Ship (ep 1-5)
As much as we love our OG ships, we are always excited when we see a new cp in a drama. We don't always realize that any new cp can mean less work for an older one. The way ships stay relevant is up to how their managers decide to market the ship as a whole and the actors individually. Fans follow their favorite ships and biases like glue and every glance and move is painstakingly analyzed. Anything can be interpreted as either a confirmation of realness or denial of the same. Well, in this first story of the drama one of the managers all but prostitutes their actors and goes behind their backs striking deals left and right with only their own wallet in mind. This effects the actor who feels trapped between their manager, an upcoming ship and his ship-partner, with who he develops feelings, but who gets better career opportunities which puts strain on the relationship. The actors mental state is getting more and more unstable until he chooses himself over his career.

The ship, played by Billy and Seng (Secret Crush On You) is portrayed very realistically. The manager is an extremely hateful b*tch and the people around them must be aware of what's going on but do nothing. Help comes from an unexpected source and everything seems to turns out ok. Acting here is *chefs kiss*. There is not one really likeable character and there wasn't meant to be. You feel bad for the actors but also in a way they bring it on themselves by their actions or in-actions.

2. War Of Managers (ep. 6-ongoing)
Like in the previous story, managers do horrible stuff to market their actors and line their pockets. In this story, the 'moms' of the ship partners come up with an unsavory plan to keep the ship going. One of the actors is particularly sacrificed without him knowing. It is painful to watch him be so happy while knowing it's all a lie. His ship partner is ultimately suffering under the situation as well and when shit threatens to hit the fan, the managers step up the game and everything goes south really fast. This story feels even more uncomfortable than the first. The ship partners do have chemistry, but is this chemistry actually there or are they such good actors they can fake even that? At one point I expected Bew to push his partner off the roof, since in every scene something seems to be brewing in the air. So far both actors seem to be putting their career above their and their partners happiness. This will most likely not end well.
Eps 7&8 up the war significantly. The gloves come completely off and the managers dont shy away from any means to eliminate the other. Bews manager Toon even poisons Gus, compromising videos and fishy people are being used and the line between right and wrong keeps shifting in the wrong direction. at this point, the managers are not even doing it for their "child" anymore, they just want to win. Gus and Bew seem to realize this and agree on taking things in theyr own hands. I can only hope that this will prove to be the right move for them....
Ep.9: The story is getting a little sluggish. Although a big reveal is happening this ep, there is nothing really exciting happening. Just back and forth between managers and their "kids", a sasaeng fujoshi coming forward (but nothing happening with her...) and the feeling that there is something very fishy going on. Bew's hyper ventilating always comes when he is about to be called out, and it is highly suspicious to say the least.
Ep. 10. On the night he is about to receive the award he's been dreaming of, Bew gets called out. He is apparently behind everything. The leaked videos, the harassment of Pla, even Gus's arrest. He tries to get out of taking responsibility but Pla, Toon and Gus are having none of it. Bew decides to confess and take a break from everything. Gus is a real angel for still wanting to even speak to him, let alone forgive him, but that seems to be happening. It is all a bit disappointing tbh, and depressing. No clear heroes or villains, winners or losers. Just the gloomy toxicity of the industry.

3. Y-IDOL
Ep.11 y-idol is a reality talentshow where 3 'ships' of aspiring y(bl) -actors compete for a role in an upcoming bl series. The plot revolves around 2 of them, Kla and Peak, who we met in the previous story as new 'kids' of managers Pla and Toon. Peak is having a hard time getting into the bl-side of the character he's expected to fulfill. This seems at least partly due to a bullying he experienced before. His ship partner Kla tries to help, but so far with little luck and with questionable motivation. This is again a story with a lot to unpack it seems and I hope it goes in a less painful direction from the previous one. Acting is certainly less impressive, but it's early days.
4. Y-Idol
Ep 12-15 I found this story both compelling and at times off-putting. Nobodies' motives are clear, everyone has an agenda and honesty to another or even themselves seems non-existent. Please never put me in an idol-contest. I will either kill someone or die of anger and frustration. The chemistry between Peek and Kla is amazing, but I can't tell if its real or not. Peek and Chai seem to break down and come clean at the end, but I feel there is so much more intrigue and behind the scenes than we have seen...
5. Wife
Ep. 16-18
The story of Most and Achi, who are a ship that's taking off, but Achi has a girlfriend (which Most doesn't know) who is part of their group and series. Most is in love with Achi, but Achi seems manipulative and I am not sure about his feelings or motives. This story is again food for thought, because what does happen when 1 shipped partner is in love but the other is already in a relationship? Acting and chemistry are top level. Some very very cute moments also in this story.
Ep 19. Well, the cat came out of the bag and secrets are being revealed. I can't decide if I believe Achi is really attracted or even in love with Most OR with Fern. When asked to choose he ran. These people are al idiots ruled by hormones it seems. Next week last ep. I hope they will make it a good one.

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Mixed feelings

This is a really tough review to write because I have such conflicting feelings about this series that I don't know if I can really explain why. I hated almost every character at one point or another, even if they had redeeming moments/story arcs and yet I couldn't stop watching. I wanted to sympathize with the main couples and then they did horrible things that made me dislike them for their choices.

Some of the acting was amazing while other performances were not as such. A lot of times I was wondering if the actor was just having a hard time portraying an actor on screen because they are essentially playing a person who is then playing another person. But overall, the stories were involved enough to distract away from that most of the time.

Speaking of the stories... Here's my takeaway from the different arcs.

Ep 1-5: Managers Suck. I was wondering the entire time if I'm supposed to feel bad for Pan and it's not until the end that you realize that his brattiness toward his manager is completely justified and that he was indeed the victim. But it sure made him annoying at times. However, this was one of the occasions where the acting was very good in my opinion. I'd seen this couple in Secret Crush On You and in that series, I really disliked Seng's character. I saw a little bit of it here but that was when he was putting on a face for investors. Seng's acting in this with all his different sides and emotions was really well played.

Ep 6-10: Managers Suck the Sequel. Honestly, the entire time I wanted to strangle Toon and Pla or at least have them do it to each other. I get that Gus was pretending to like Bew and all but even when he apparently is legit in love with him, it felt so fake to me, I was waiting for the next "behind the scene" with one of the managers to show that it was still an act. And after all the horrible stuff that he and the 2 managers did to Bew, why was Bew the only one made to feel like he had crossed the line in the end and be the one to apologize? Such bullshit.

Ep 11-15: This is why "reality TV" is so ridiculous. With the right editing and careful nudges, it is no longer "real" but a show within a show.

Ep 16-20: From the very beginning, I feel like half of the characters did a complete 180 out of nowhere. P, who up to now has been a nice, supporting person is suddenly a demanding producer and Achi who was this over confident serious actor and was good at everything could barely make it through a scene. I feel like there are completely different stories going on which would be fine if they weren't supposed to be the same people as before. And yet, somehow, I'm very intrigued and impressed by how Talay is played up "the bad guy." Within just 5 episodes, I wanted to cheer him, curse him and everything in between. He was made out to be this caring seasoned actor who was looking out for the new guys until he needed them to make a series. I mean, I get it.. there's a lot riding on the series and making things work and I understand why he had to be as hard on them as he was, but I swear there were times I thought the character was bi-polar. And yet, it still worked... don't ask me how.

I think the best I could say is that it is worth a watch but be prepared for a roller coaster of emotions and also be prepared that not all of them get a happy or even satisfying ending.

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Watchable mixed-bag and signals

I enjoyed how the different focuses of each story flowed from one to the other, but the pacing was all over the place. I liked how certain actors in the main pov role were giving a chance to play against the their usual typecast parts and that the main characters being in the wrong is actually shown as being so, whether the respective actor was able to carry the screen time with their acting though is different per case. For a show that sets itself up to show the underbelly of the industry, it doesn't really do much of that aside from showing Pan being sold by his manager to creeps. Most of the storylines involve actors being ruthless to get their time in the limelight rather than the larger systemic issues. Even when the show mentions other issues in the industries like how it's reliant on nc scenes and "service", the show merely lampshades but doesn't have anything in particular to say about it since the show itself is complicit. It literally asks questions it doesn't really answer in form of their own gossip girl type social media account that's featured throughout. There were also fangirl inserts in the form of two characters. The writing for the live comments from both Thai and international fans were eerily spot on and added well to the tension of the scene as you tried to read the reactions and watch the scene at the same time. It was one of the most well done of this kind of storytelling device I've seen so far, so kudos to the show for that. Some of the twitter trends featured were pretty fun to see like how the changed up the names of real people and events that trended regularly in Thailand like dogexpo7 instead of catexpo9. The actor First again is the stand out of War of Y as he was in Y Destiny and props to Toru as well. Both of them carry zero ego when it comes to acting and are fully committed on top of being actually very good at it which made their storyline the most enjoyable to watch. All of the main pov characters are unlikeable though humanized and Achi was the one who got away with the least comeuppance, which is ironic considering how he complained about how Peek was getting that special treatment in Y Idol. Achi is also a rich kid with a nepo safety job waiting for him for insult on top of injury. First really did an amazing job to make Achi bearable to watch. I liked that none of the couples end up happily together. The ultimate winner and this series' gossip girl, ends up to be none of the featured pov characters, but P. Attichon who seems to have some weird unresolved negative tension between him and the actor he's shipped with, but it's never addressed and he unveals his new series about marriage equality as well showing how he uses his social media savvy to stay on the pulse of what audiences want. Overall I appreciated the effort to do something out of the norm even though the delivery didn't exactly come through, it's still more watchable than most other current Thai bl offerings around the time of it's airing.

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NOT ENTIRELY DISAPPOINTING!

If you want to watch this series, please be prepare to be traumatised and your image of your favourite ship will be ruin. This series portrays real life situation in entertainment industry especially when the actors are in BL series that involves shipped couple. At first, I find it difficult to watch this series maybe because I have this mind set that all shipped couple is real but this series really shows me that the shipped couple is just doing fanservice and not real.

Overall, the first and second story is damn good and boy, what can I say about Billy Seng couple? They are DAMN GOOD. Boy, their acting skills definitely overpower the other couple. Sad that they broken up though. The 3rd story is the most BORING STORY EVER!!! Like… what the shit is this?

Fourth story is WAYYY TOO REALISTIC so I have already got the idea that this story happened in real life, real actor but I am not sure who. At the end, they did ask the audience a question; “Would you believe it if we say War Of Y series is based on real story?” And I immediately say YES. Because I can see it. CLEARLY. This series is an eye opener so if you are not ready to have a change of pov for your favourite shipped couple, please don’t watch it.


Sex scenes are damn mad broo ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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An Incomplete Review

Girl...I don't know.

Imma be honest- I knew starting this series that I was waiting for First and Toru's storyline. I think the creators knew that when they made their story last, no? Nonetheless, I did attempt each storyline at least once. But ultimately gave up and waited for episode 16. (So yes, I skipped half the series.)

That being said: what I did watch? wasn't... The strongest. Lots of meandering around. I wasn't sure what the conflict was half the time (some would say it's cause I skipped 16 episodes. And I would say to those people: would it have really mattered? "Y Destiny" tells me that it wouldn't've!) Also I feel like the chemistry was very awks between First and Toru this time?

Saving grace? : Fern. The outfits. I tried Billy and Seng's storyline, and that caught my attention for a few minutes. So I guess that counts for something. The only couple I wanted to know more about was, oddly enough, Korn and Earth. They were just vibing.

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Futile fights of Y

The show promises to expose the dark underbelly of BL industry. But with examples that are convincing just enough to make you overlook some of the obviously fake drama, it's not exactly a cold hard truth people might expect. And while the first two stories do a good job of balancing the social commentary, conflicting characters and the sweet Y fanservice that pays their bills, later half of this series is more of your standard petty drama with pacing issues and questionable script. If you're looking for a social justice, you won't find it here. If you instead want to feel disillusioned with the same system you partake in to support your favorite shows, the first 10 episodes are more than enough. And for some, maybe a little too much. Trigger warnings not applicable, since they would ruin the whole point of this show. Just be extra careful with it.

My main take from this long ass BL of ours is - very good premise, progressively more lacking execution. It focuses mostly on multiple personal conflicts, which (no matter how refreshing in setup) are fairly mediocre in thai BL script writing. Adding to it AIS PLAY's renowned disinterest in international audience and questionable editing skills, you might end up with something that's significantly more challenging than rewarding. Ultimately, I wasn't satisfied with my investment in it. Ending episodes of each story tend to be either rushed or underwhelming, which really soured the mood for me. Overall quality of stories goes steadily down with each new segment.

The first one is (aside from the ending) almost perfect, easily getting a strong 9.0 score. It can be scary and make you sick to your stomach, but it's also oddly cathartic at the end. Even if a bit unnaturally so.

The second part is still very clever, with yet another underwhelming ending. As is customary in eastern media, villains aren't really punished for their transgressions. Especially where seniority plays a role. You can add victim blaming to that list, too. But life isn't always pretty, so it deserves at least 8 or 8.5 out of 10 points.

Third one is... calm? Basic? While it manages to keep up with the darker, messy tone at the start, it quickly devolves into mushy nothing and only slightly picks up at the end. It doesn't feel like it wants to tell something, nor does it manage to do so by accident. It's pretty though, and I like openly messy plotlines. Shame it didn't amount to something more. I'd give it an 8/10 if it were a standalone, here it's more of a 7.5 in comparisson with previous stories.

The last part, however, was a major disappointment. It lacked message, clear direction and conflict for the vast majority of time. The ending was both rushed and underwhelming. It showed an idea of good conflict, but utterly failed to deliver on it. Instead of neatly tying the whole thing up at the end, it made some awkward knots and called it a bow. It's barely worth a 7 at this state, but let's do a 7.5 for the bigger picture.

Overall score - generous 8.5 out of 10. I don't think it's a show you would want to binge, though.

While the stories are slightly connected, only adjacent ones have enough overlap to warrant watching them in intended order. The link is weakest between second and third story in my opinion, strongest between part 3 and 4. Which leads me to recommend watching WoY in these possible orders, based on my preference: (gagaoolala version has better translations)

1. Watch only the first 2 stories, episodes 1 - 10. They are dark, messy, unpredictable and icky in all the entertaining ways.

2. Watch only the first story, episodes 1-5. Second story expands a bit on the first one, but it's more of an alternative run of similar situation and doesn't add that much more to the overall creeps.

3. Watch the first two stories, take a break, then watch story 3 (episodes 1-10, 11-15). The later one is significantly more light, more petty, and less well-thought-out. It's still an okay watch, though.

4. Watch only for the main CP(s) you're interested in - episodes 1-5 for Billy-Seng, 6-10 for Gung-Korn, 11-15 for Mark-Milk and 11-20 for Toru-First (characters of Toru and First are very present in episodes 11-15, but their relationship starts developing from the episode 16 onwards.)

5. Add story 4 to option 3 (episodes 1-10, 11-20), mainly if you are interested in Toru-First relationship.

6. Watch all episodes in the order they were released in, slowly. Some of you might be completionists, but be careful not to rush it. It's quite a heavy watch on its own, mainly because of the darker themes and bad editing/translation choices.

7. Watch only the later two stories, starting with episode 11. I'd only recommend this for people who tried the first story and it was too much for them (emotionally speaking).



Some other remaks about the show, might be minor spoilers:

I was surprised by the DMD cameos/promos/god knows what it was. It didn't fit there in my opinion. I'm biased against the company, so you might not care about it much. But it was an odd choice that affected the stories either way.

It was a missed opportunity not to actually create the twitter polls from @GossipXoxo user as the show was releasing. One thing this show does really well is representing how online fandoms act, and I'm genuinely interested the polls' results from real life fans. It would also be a quirky marketing move that would have cost them next to nothing.

Situation about the translations was messy, even after both AIS PLAY and Gagaoolala starting translating text messages. Often there was too much text, for too short of a period to read it. Which is something that should have been tweaked in editing, especially for important parts. It was exhausting pausing the screen all the time, and rewinding, and even google translating at the start. Some of it was just useless banter, but a lot of it included context that was sorely missing otherwise. If they want to do a story where (social) media plays a crucial role, they need to do better next time.



In conclusion, the series lacks in bigger picture one would expect from their pointed marketing as the whistle-blower. Even if all of those situations actually happened in real life, the show didn't serve as a call to action in any way. It contradicts its own "messages" profoundly, so much you'll even start to wonder what those messages are. And it's not doing it in a clever way! Just plainly confusing, almost alibistic, none insulting and still money earning one. Its aim is shattered on multiple places by separated endings and obscured by bad editing and translation issues. In a way, it's kinda disappointing, considering what it could have been. But it still manages to be an above average and somehow unique BL show, and one I recommend at least trying. If the first story feels too dark or messy for you, give story 3 a chance ?

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This was a wild ride!

Story 1:
9/10
My favorite and the most memorable. The chemistry was off the charts and I felt all the feels!

Story 2:
8/10
This was my least favorite for several reasons. So much was happening and it was hard to follow. I don't understand how the one person everyone lied to and manipulated ended up the bad guy. His partner deserved and apology, but the managers did not. Not my favorite ending either.

Story 3:
8/10
I skipped a lot of this because so much wasn't necessary to the plot (the singing and dancing for the show). The story itself was so interesting and the couple had great chemistry. I love their happy ending.

Story 4:
8/10
I hated Aichi (I think I spelled that right?) from the previous story and I have never been so happy to see someone not get a happy ending. I cackled when everything blew up in his face because he is literally the worst lmao. They both deserved so much better than him. However the chemistry was super good. I didn't really feel the connection with Fern though. She was a great actress, but I don't feel like Aichi was giving any chemistry with her.

Overall good. Worth the watch!

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Good in theory, not in action.

This show had quite a bit of good content in theory, most people wouldn’t like this because it isn’t your stereotypical bl, right? I watched the first five episodes (Billyseng storyline) but I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest. maybe bad casting, maybe just the storylines not put together well enough, I’m not sure.

I was looking forward to this show because it had a great story of looking into the y industry, and how competitive, petty, and demanding it can be, but I don’t think the story was put into place well. maybe it was the chemistry between actors, maybe it was the way the production shot it, maybe it was just an example of a good show in theory but not in action.

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wrong characters get redemption arcs/don't have consequences

Overall: it's obvious from the title of the series and the trailers that this isn't going to be a fluffy romance series (which is fine). Unfortunately the wrong characters are receiving consequences and the wrong characters are receiving redemption arcs. The 20 episodes are broken up into 4 stories, each one has 5 episodes. Aired on Gagaoolala and on AIS Play's paid Youtube channel.

Content Warnings: attempted suicide, manipulation, non con touching and kissing, homophobia, mental health struggles, fight scenes/violence, non con video recording/posting, sex trafficking, blackmail, cyberbullying, homophobia, drugging, kind of attempted murder

What I Liked
- intro/OST
- kissing/steamy scenes from Pan/Nott
- acting from Seng/Billy
- the sweet moments
- shout out to marriage equality

Room For Improvement
- it really bothered me that the wrong characters were receiving redemption arcs, I wanted to see jail! maybe this is supposed to be realistic but it's not my thing
- the kissing from the side couple was not good
- there are quite a lot of characters
- how would the manager not know what NC stands for?

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Must watch ep 1-5

New Ship ep. 1-5

NottPan/ BillySeng we’re so amazing! I am in awe of this series and I can see why the series started with them! The series had so much stuff to unpack and it gives so much insight on the bts of the BL industry! The story started so strong and ended beautifully! Some characters intentions didn’t come to light until the end while others have been showing us their true colors since the beginning! I’ve become a fan of a few actors I didn’t know before this started ? also the cameos in this series are unexpected and fun ?

We will still see NottPan on the other 3 stories throughout the next 15 episodes so I’m sooo excited!

And this rating is effed up cuz ain’t NO way y’all are rating it this low! Smdh!

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Dropped like a fly

I went back to this twice. Storyline was interesting and showed promise of understanding the industry but after two attempts I eventually dropped it.. it wasn't quite sticking for me. I think one of the problems was all the texting going on without translations - didn't have a clue what was being said and lost the plot. Another reason, fed up of all the whinging and whining bottoms for the whole hour every episode which seemed to drag on and on. Really difficult to watch hence I gave up.

There are so many other better BL dramas out there. I've just finished 'An Unfinished Business' in just one night because it was fresh, funny and mature.

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Im disappointed!

2/10 dropped/disappointed!!!

The series had so much drama and beautiful relationships were destroyed. It was torture to watch and that's why I stopped the series. I didn´t like it. If it had been a normal Idol gay series without exaggerated drama then it would have been really good. Very sad!!!

Negative:

1. What annoyed me was that the Maincouple: NottxPan was first together then they argued and then they came closer again....and it went on and on like that...it was exhausting to watch.
2. That Nott didn´t help >Pan for example >defended where he was beaten down......by the others.
3. It would have been nice if there had been a separate series of KlaxPeak.
4. It is very stupid that the relationships are all destroyed.
5. Too much drama in the Series.
6. Story.

Positive:

1. I loved the Maincouple: NottxPan.
2. And the third Couple: KlaxPeak.
3. Acting was very good.

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