Thanu and Wayu are Perfect Together

As I stand on the opposite side in this matter and wanted Phai to end up with Thanu, I can just congratulate you to achieving what you wanted and hope you'll like what you get as I'll probably not watch it for this reason :)

I love Thanu and Wayu together as much as I love Dun and Bas together ! So glad they won the vote for the main couple :D 

 IceRose2018:

Where can I find the results of the voting event?

This was to vote https://twitter.com/starhunter_ent/status/1354655783569395715?s=09

And this was the result

 jpny01:

If they decided the plot of a story based on a vote, then they clearly don't have any ideas of their own, so what is my motivation to watch this series? That's really unbelievable.

It wasn't about "ideas of their own".  You said it yourself, they still had to decide upon the plot, no matter who won the vote.  The voting was set up specifically to give the fans of season 1 a way to make their voices heard.

Despite Wayu being listed as a support character on MyDramaList, he's not.  On Asian plaforms Bas has first billing, attributable to the idea that Wayu is the main character in season one around which everything happens.  Wayu is the main character in the web novel series the show, was adapted from.   He's central to the plot.  His eyes are the first thing shown in episode 1 of season 1.  He is the first of the main four characters to step onto university campus in episode 1.  Kit and Mark only meet through him and Thanu met him ages before having met Phai.  

So it wasn't any surprize the voting was set up around Wayu.  Voting just let the fans voice who we most wanted to see Wayu with.  And Thanu was always the presumptive winner.  Even the studio said they expected the vote to turn out exactly the way it did.

 Chelsea Black:

I think it's clever marketing as they know fans will be more engaged and want to see what they do with the pairing. 

Maybe, but good stories aren't written by committee or vote, and this series is already a mess - they should invest in good writers instead of elections.

 jpny01:

Maybe, but good stories aren't written by committee or vote, and this series is already a mess - they should invest in good writers instead of elections.

"Good stories" are written all sorts of ways but never in a vacuum.  And yes, by committee.  It's commonplace for a tv show or movie in any country to have multiple writers working together on the script.  It doesn't get more "committee" than that.  

And populace voting doesn't remove a single ounce of creativity involved the writing process, it simply narrows down a choice the producers would have had to make anyway.  You think the writer of a show decides the direction of the plot? Hell no.  Most TV shows involve that committee you're so disdainful of, often comprised of the show's producers and even network executives, choosing the direction of the plot.  Then it gets handed to a writer. 

The writers had to be prepared with plot outlines for all three possibilities.  In which case the creativity require was increased due to allowing the populace to vote, not decreased. 

Voting wasn't a creative shortcut, it was a brilliant way to get fans invested that worked.  on IQIYI, the Asian streaming platform contracted to air Gen Y, the approval rating for the show is 9.4 out of 10.  

So apparently the writing isn't that bad.  

Sure, A few people are angry that Phai and Thanu don't end up together, but that's not bad writing.  That was always a possibility, even with no voting.  Because, as I already pointed out, Wayu was actually the main character, despite how MyDramaList has Bas listed as playing a support character.  Phai isn't a main chatacter and it was likely the producers of the show never meant for him to be with Thanu.  

Okay, now you're backpeddaling.  First you were all "If they decided the plot of a story based on a vote, then they clearly don't have any ideas of their own".  Which is a direct slam about voting being analogous to lack of creativity.  Now you're all "Having a vote is not inherently bad or uncreative".   Pick one.

Voting didn't define the writing, only the pairing.  Populace opinion on plots is employed by production and writing teams ALL THE TIME.  Especially in the US where test audiences are used to see which characters and pairings audiences respond best to before tv scripts are finalized.  Voting happens all the time in scripting in the form of marketing research as well.  You just don't see it out in the open very often.  

But I found it refreshing that they were "Show your love for Wayu and Gen Y and vote for how you want to see his romantic life play out".  It had the benefit of keeping people engaged who were desperate for more and unsure of when season 2 would air.  It was a great way to keep fans sated who, due to COVID hitting the bl industry so hard, were unsure about the show's future.  And it was nice fan service for what is actually a really, really loyal fanbase of Bas'.  Myself included.

I'm unimpressed by the argument "The consensus doesn't seem very positive about how well-written season 1 was".  You lost me at the word "consensus".   Because there's no such thing as a general agreement on the quality of ANY show's writing.  

The biggest sign of a show's success is fan ranking/reviews and viewership ranking.  And in Asia it did great.  Again, season 1 got a 9.4 out of 10 on IQIYI, the Asian streaming service it was contracted to air on.   Which is how I watch it.  And its premier airing rankings on Chanel 3 were impressive as well.  More even than that, Bas had a fun bet going with Dun that Dun would pick him up and take him to dinner if the social media poll rankings for Gen Y season 1 put it in a first place.  And if you check on youtube, there is footage of Dun showing up at one of Bas' concert events, picking him up for that dinner.

As for the popularity of Episode 1 of season 2?  Well, you may not have liked it, but it hit huge, with an amazingly large viewership.  Even just a couple of days after premier airing, it's already ranked 9.7 out of 10 on IQIYI.  Hmmm....  97% approval.  I might have to take back what I said about a consensus.  

Season 1 had no plot holes, which was nice.  I hate plot holes. The Character motivations all made sense in Gen Y's plot.  Even when it was a character I really didn't like (points at Sandee), the reason behind why they were pulling their moves was relatable.  The comedy was pretty on par for a bl.  In fact, it had to rely a lot less on cute Foley than many shows.  The dramatic mood was well developed, including when Thanu avoided Wayu while he worked his stuff out.  He was torn between what he felt was his possible destiny, his probable duty and his absolute heart.  Which was a great bit of tension plot, even though many of us were tossing popcorn at the screen going "Don't ghost him!  Use your words, Thanu!

Lastly, let me hit on your final statement. "...having the central relationship of the plot decided by vote halfway through the story is absolutely bad."  Says who?  Happens all the time in TV, movies, and other media development.   Entire sections of movies have been re-filmed after filming was done and post-production was in swing because a rough cut audience screening showed too many audience members didn't like something.  Audience polling has even resulted in complete re-shooting and/or recasting of entire episodes before.  Audience polling tools are an industry standard.  The primary difference in this case wasn't its impact on the plot or whether it was a marketing ploy, but rather its visibility and its fun for the fans who participated.

But just to set your mind at ease, the voting set up for Wayu's relationship status at the end of season 1 wasn't planned suddenly, "halfway through telling the story".  It was planned from day one, which was why the actor playing Pharawee was hidden from the audience until the very end.