Firstly "Like" You (2023)

better than the series

Overall: this is a re-edit of Burger/King's scenes from Burger's perspective (it has basically the exact same plot as a Japanese BL). First released as 11 short episodes and then in a movie format https://youtu.be/M-13TVFe9g8?si=GvAElSlfmAtFen4j It solved a lot of the problems that I had with Hit Bite Love, though I think they could have improved even more with the footage they had. My review of Hit Bite Love https://mydramalist.com/profile/blcompilations/reviews/254503/ Aired on Jinloe's YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: hit, kick, coercion, manipulation, non con touching

What I Liked
- sweet/cute moments
- a few funny parts
- how King was up front about what he wanted

Room For Improvement
- a voice over/exposition dump to start it but I didn't take off points
- the stereotype of a yelling trans woman
- in episodes 8 and 9 there were brief flashbacks to scenes that they didn't include in this version, I think they could have edited a bit better
- Burger is too reluctant for too long and King is a bit too aggressive, they could have also edited this to tone it down a bit
- Burger used that resume against King though it was toned down
- we needed 1 additional scene for the ending because it felt incomplete, even if they had shown us texts they had written to one another where Burger asks King to go on a romantic date

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The boys whose names together are not the only thing that look good on them

Who has seen 'Hit Bite Love', the six-episode teen romantic drama released on Jinloe Media's YouTube channel in 2023, which tells the story of six boys from "Rose Garden College" who decide to break all taboos and learn the real truth about love...pain...and growth, don't you remember Burger and King, two of those teenagers?
Don't you remember those two classmates who one day, sitting at their desks next to each other, King, played by Newyear Nawaphat Thannamongkhonsawat, discovers that he forgot a book, so Burger, played by Jur Vasin Traiprakhong, tells him offer yours to share?
Have you already remembered? Of course. It couldn't be any other way, because you immediately connect with the story of these young people that starts from that precise moment, when King sees a drawing of himself in the book and mistakenly assumes that Burger likes it. After this, King finds happiness just thinking that he is loved by the boy who sits next to him and asks him out. However, he will soon discover that everything has been a misunderstanding, because Burger has no feelings for him.
But if in matters of the heart, misunderstandings have caused conflict and broken relationships, they have also brought love, happiness and hope. This is precisely what King finds when Burger enters his life and the two build an emotional connection.
Directed by Jakkaphong Pachara (Yuan), 'Firstly "Like" You' (ตกลงใครชอบก่อน), picks up the story to, through the eyes of Burger, the main narrator, delve into the relationship of the two young high school students .
Based on the entire footage of 'Hit Bite Love', which is just over five hours long, 'Firstly "Like" You' leaves aside everything related to the other two stories, that is, the love triangle between Ken , Shogun and Matteo, and the relationship of the stepbrothers Hida and Saint, to, in about 80 minutes, focus on the birth and evolution of the romance between the president of the school's drama club, and the student transferred to the famous college of high society.
By leaving out everything else, the drama is transformed into a comedy, which achieves a lot of acceptance among an audience that may have rejected the series for addressing topics such as toxic relationships and BDSM.
Bordering on a love triangle that is also not very interested in exploring in depth, the screenwriters Poy Orachat Brahmasreni and Chim Sedthawut Inboon expose in the narrative text themes such as love, adolescence, friendship, discovery, acceptance and personal growth, always in order to entertain, but also to make you reflect.
In this way, we will follow in the footsteps of the young boy with a silly, neurotic, enthusiastic and immature personality who, while he wants to join the drama club because he dreams of being an actor, will have to deal with the persecution of King, who is firmly convinced that his partner class is secretly in love with him.
Personally, I was amused by all of Burger's witticisms to get King away, because every time King approaches him, Burger gets nervous. Likewise, I enjoyed the close relationship between King and his mother, with whom the student has no reservations about confessing his most intimate secrets.
The audience will be able to enjoy how, based on the misunderstanding, King is the one who will be interested in approaching and pleasing Burger. It is pleasant to see how King, a responsible, mature and popular teenager, always surrounded by many girls interested in joining the club to be close to him, suddenly discovers his sexuality while experiencing a homosensual awakening.
'Firstly "Like" You' more than meets what is expected from a film of these characteristics. The keys are, mainly, its script, its aesthetics and its performances, because although the two protagonists have little experience and are only 16 years old during filming, their performances fit perfectly with the narrative style of the story.
Jur Vasin Traiprakhong takes the cake, for his grace, charisma and the way he handles the humorous scenes.
Another element to highlight is the music. Being the same as the series, the cast itself is the one who sings the songs that make up the film's soundtrack. In this way, we will enjoy Jur, Tae, Newyear, Pure, Bigboss, Vic and Alan, who perform "Hit Me Bite Me", a song composed by Alan Campana, and Vic and Tae singing "Oxigen", a song written and scored by Vic Vittawin Panichtamrong.
The photography, by Suchart Makhawimarn, contributes to making the story of two people who become friends and fall in love credible, despite being polar opposites.
Suriya Kaewkrong's editing achieves a fast and quite adequate narrative. However, flashbacks to scenes already presented could have been avoided.
Even so, it is regrettable that, seeking to visualize diversity on screens, the film portrays queer characters in a stereotypical way, due to their continuous screams and mood swings.
While it is true that Thai serial and film fiction with the presence of LGBT+ plots has experienced various changes since its appearance, going from an initial invisibility and stigmatization, in which the characters had to be presented as the opposite of what is morally acceptable in society , to a quantitative increase in these characters, and despite their decrease, traditional and recurring stereotypes continue to be used such as the effeminate LGBT+ character or transsexuals who, due to circumstances, act in a grotesque, exalted or tormented way due to their condition.
Despite the positive increase in the visibility of diverse sexual orientations and identities in BL series and films in this country, creators must take into account that a poor symbolic construction based on stereotypes reinforces not only the deformed social imaginaries about this minority, but the very identity of the collective.
This is even more important if we take into account the great socializing potential that the film and television industries have and the capacity for transnationalization that the distribution platforms of these entertainment products have achieved, as they can promote a distorted vision of this non-human group. only in the Thai national space, but also in the rest of the globe.
'Firstly "Like" You' reminds me of 'Kieta Hatsukoi', the 2021 Japanese teen and school Yaoi romantic comedy from the TV Asahi network, which tells how through a misunderstanding, Aoki, the high school student with a personality Brilliant and in love with Hashimoto Mio, the girl who sits next to him in the classroom, he ends up in a romantic relationship with Ida, his classmate.
I also find similarities with other Thai BL dramas. If in 'My School President', for example, Gun (Fourth - Nattawat Jirochtikul) and Win (Winny - Thanawin Pholcharoenratm) get to know each other more deeply after answering "36 questions that will make people fall in love", in 'Firstly' Like" You' King will propose a series of questions that Burger must answer as part of a theater club survey, claiming that the objective is to get to know the future actor better.
Of the three couples in the series, Burger and King was always my favorite. If they brought joy and life to the series, the film carefully chooses and stages the appropriate scenes to preserve the world created around these characters in the six-episode drama.
The one between King and Burger is a surprisingly tender and innocent teenage romance that is highly recommended, for its humor, for the reflections it invites us to, for the palpable chemistry between the two young people, and for how they manage to create a friendly bond first, romantic. later, without becoming a couple, since we will surely find this in the announced second season.

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