AKAshon
This review may contain spoilers
3 STARS FOR ZONSAIFAH ONLY!
I was excited to watch this series due to it being one of the latest popular BL's along with 2gether, My Engineer and YYY. I was surprised to see Saint star in a lead role in this series. It's impressive seeing him star in two popular BL roles: PerthSaint in Love By Chance and ZeeSaint in Why R U?
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed and liked this series (at first)! Slightly over-the-top and campy. Interesting stylistic choice with the animated sequences and blurring of fiction and reality. How ironic. His name is Tutor and he works as a tutor. Lol. Pretty cool seeing a half-black actor in Kae, but he is a comic relief role though.
The first episode was interesting as it introduced the story and the characters. However, the second and third episodes dragged a bit as the excessive dialogue scenes don't actually serve a purpose and there is no actual progress in the story. However, the series picked up on episode 4. Episodes 4-8 were exciting and compelling, Unfortunately, the series lost steam in its later episodes where I didn't really care for Tutor and Fighter's relationship anymore (and yet the series gives them so much, like so much screen time).
Rivals becoming lovers is always an interesting story. There's a lot that you can do with the tension between two people. At first, I liked Zon and Sai Fah's story more than Tutor and Fighter's to be honest. Their origin story of stealing a girlfriend makes more sense than mistaking the spelling of a name. Their relationships was SO CUTE! Like puppy love! However, I felt that Zon and Saifah's relationship is a bit too quick (which the series actually addresses a few times lol). Like one guitar session where they almost kiss and then, they are on a date where they just so happened to be at the same time at the same time. I grew to like Fighter and Tutor's story, which was filled with sexual tension. I did like how the series portrayed Fighter struggling with his sexuality and fears being outed and Tutor struggling to pay off a debt (something that the wealthy Fighter can help with). Their transition from friends who secretly liked/hated on another to acting like a couple, being jealous of and acting cute with one another, is a bit sudden though. Going on a lavish couple vacation at the beach just to see if they want to be in a relationship is a bit much and doesn't make much sense to be honest. And it's most likely Fighter's father who is funding the trip and the fact that the father didn't ask who Fighter was going with or anything doesn't make sense. The vacation scenes were so dull, excluding the love-making scene ;). I was literally waiting for something, anything to happen.
Both main couples get together like episode 9, but there are still several episodes left. There's nothing to build to. Even when Fighter's father caught him making out with Tutor, they kept on being all lovey-dovey, which doesn't make sense as his father could hear them. And why would Tutor leave his phone when he went to the bathroom or talk to Fighter all lovey-dovey in front of his student, which doesn't make sense. I do like how Fighter's father was not accepting of his son's sexuality as it provides a different viewpoint that is equally valid (and more realistic) than the other BL's with parents who accept their children right away. I also liked how he stated the importance of the happiness of the family, not the individual, which is a common Asian cultural value, and how he knew what made his son happy because he raised him, which is a common (albeit false) belief among parents. Anyways, why didn't Tutor tell fight that his father wanted them to break up. It's not like he blackmailed him. He's not losing anything by telling Fighter that. However, it is poignant having the father see how unhappy his son is due to his beliefs. More parents should see these scenes in my opinion. Seeing how their decisions and actions can affect their children. Seeing if it is actually worth it. It's kinda weird towards the end where Zon acts like Tutor's close friend when it should be Saifah who should be acting like a close friend to be honest.
It is unfortunate that ZonSaifah scenes were unable to be filmed due to COVID 19 since they are my most favourite couple in the show. I wonder how much effect the COVID crisis had on filming though. Would the side couples like Japan/Tanthai and Blue/Dew have gotten more screen time? Anyways, those side couples were completely useless and had no purpose in the series.
The skinship and make-out scenes are nicely shot though. This series probably has the most intimate scenes from a BL that I've seen thus far. However, Fightor had too much intimate scenes and ZonSaifah didn't have enough.
A few trivial things here and there like how Fighter was able to use the koala mascot since he didn't work there and how Tutor didn't know that it was Fighter. The sister (Tony) subplot was kinda random and felt shoe-horned into the story to have someone for Tutor to come out to and to bridge the silence between Tutor and Fighter.
It may not have many moments that make your heart flutter or legs quiver like 2gether, but those moments that do feel natural and organic, unlike 2gether's which feel manipulative. Your hearts flutters when you see the couples learn about each other and support each other and love each other.
It is also interesting that a lot of the cast are from the YouTube group, DomundiTV, which is pretty cool to be honest.
The product placement in this series is so shameless. Usually, I enjoy product placement in BL series as it's generally cute and funny, but this series takes it to another level, kinda shoving it in your face.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed and liked this series (at first)! Slightly over-the-top and campy. Interesting stylistic choice with the animated sequences and blurring of fiction and reality. How ironic. His name is Tutor and he works as a tutor. Lol. Pretty cool seeing a half-black actor in Kae, but he is a comic relief role though.
The first episode was interesting as it introduced the story and the characters. However, the second and third episodes dragged a bit as the excessive dialogue scenes don't actually serve a purpose and there is no actual progress in the story. However, the series picked up on episode 4. Episodes 4-8 were exciting and compelling, Unfortunately, the series lost steam in its later episodes where I didn't really care for Tutor and Fighter's relationship anymore (and yet the series gives them so much, like so much screen time).
Rivals becoming lovers is always an interesting story. There's a lot that you can do with the tension between two people. At first, I liked Zon and Sai Fah's story more than Tutor and Fighter's to be honest. Their origin story of stealing a girlfriend makes more sense than mistaking the spelling of a name. Their relationships was SO CUTE! Like puppy love! However, I felt that Zon and Saifah's relationship is a bit too quick (which the series actually addresses a few times lol). Like one guitar session where they almost kiss and then, they are on a date where they just so happened to be at the same time at the same time. I grew to like Fighter and Tutor's story, which was filled with sexual tension. I did like how the series portrayed Fighter struggling with his sexuality and fears being outed and Tutor struggling to pay off a debt (something that the wealthy Fighter can help with). Their transition from friends who secretly liked/hated on another to acting like a couple, being jealous of and acting cute with one another, is a bit sudden though. Going on a lavish couple vacation at the beach just to see if they want to be in a relationship is a bit much and doesn't make much sense to be honest. And it's most likely Fighter's father who is funding the trip and the fact that the father didn't ask who Fighter was going with or anything doesn't make sense. The vacation scenes were so dull, excluding the love-making scene ;). I was literally waiting for something, anything to happen.
Both main couples get together like episode 9, but there are still several episodes left. There's nothing to build to. Even when Fighter's father caught him making out with Tutor, they kept on being all lovey-dovey, which doesn't make sense as his father could hear them. And why would Tutor leave his phone when he went to the bathroom or talk to Fighter all lovey-dovey in front of his student, which doesn't make sense. I do like how Fighter's father was not accepting of his son's sexuality as it provides a different viewpoint that is equally valid (and more realistic) than the other BL's with parents who accept their children right away. I also liked how he stated the importance of the happiness of the family, not the individual, which is a common Asian cultural value, and how he knew what made his son happy because he raised him, which is a common (albeit false) belief among parents. Anyways, why didn't Tutor tell fight that his father wanted them to break up. It's not like he blackmailed him. He's not losing anything by telling Fighter that. However, it is poignant having the father see how unhappy his son is due to his beliefs. More parents should see these scenes in my opinion. Seeing how their decisions and actions can affect their children. Seeing if it is actually worth it. It's kinda weird towards the end where Zon acts like Tutor's close friend when it should be Saifah who should be acting like a close friend to be honest.
It is unfortunate that ZonSaifah scenes were unable to be filmed due to COVID 19 since they are my most favourite couple in the show. I wonder how much effect the COVID crisis had on filming though. Would the side couples like Japan/Tanthai and Blue/Dew have gotten more screen time? Anyways, those side couples were completely useless and had no purpose in the series.
The skinship and make-out scenes are nicely shot though. This series probably has the most intimate scenes from a BL that I've seen thus far. However, Fightor had too much intimate scenes and ZonSaifah didn't have enough.
A few trivial things here and there like how Fighter was able to use the koala mascot since he didn't work there and how Tutor didn't know that it was Fighter. The sister (Tony) subplot was kinda random and felt shoe-horned into the story to have someone for Tutor to come out to and to bridge the silence between Tutor and Fighter.
It may not have many moments that make your heart flutter or legs quiver like 2gether, but those moments that do feel natural and organic, unlike 2gether's which feel manipulative. Your hearts flutters when you see the couples learn about each other and support each other and love each other.
It is also interesting that a lot of the cast are from the YouTube group, DomundiTV, which is pretty cool to be honest.
The product placement in this series is so shameless. Usually, I enjoy product placement in BL series as it's generally cute and funny, but this series takes it to another level, kinda shoving it in your face.
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