My new favorite

This was the sweetest, most heartfelt BL I've watched thus far. Although it only has 8 episodes, and each episode is only about 15 minutes long, it was enough. I don't think making it longer would have made it better. The script had everything it needed in order to tell the story well. The acting itself, the movements, the emotions, the dialogue, all seemed genuine. The mini-game at the end of each episode helped to show the background of the characters and assisted with story progression, while adding a fun element and keeping the show from taking itself too seriously.

The story centers around Lee Wan, who confessed his feelings to his best friend, Shin Ki Tae, directly after their high school graduation. After the confession, Wan runs away without giving Ki Tae time to process the confession. Lee Wan completely removes himself from Ki Tae's life, leaving Ki Tae searching for him for the next 7 years. Upon reencountering Lee Wan, Ki Tae wastes little time working his way back into Wan's life, leaving Wan to make decisions that will affect whether or not they have a future together.

This drama helps to raise the bar for K-BLs, and for BLs in general. With a total run time of approximately 2 hours, I literally doubled my watch-time by rewatching each episode at least once as it aired. It was well thought out, well written, well directed, well edited, and well acted. (Too much? Am I gushing?? LOL.) I highly recommend this series.

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Just some thoughts...

I've completed the show and glanced through the other reviews. I think that there are enough reviews that give fairly good synopses (I had to google the plural for synopsis...never had to write that word before. Lol). Anyway, I just wanted to leave some of my own personal thoughts on the drama.

I thought that the actors interpreted and delivered their roles well. I was disappointed, though, that while I could feel the friendship, and even the love that the main leads had for each other, I didn't see any actual passion in their love. And while that's ok in real life....many have love and friendship in their relationships and that's all they need...I didn't think that it translated into a good love story for a k-drama. Basically that means the chemistry just wasn't there in my opinion.

What I did enjoy was the relationship between John Jang and Park Ji Wan. I would have loved to have seen much more of them on screen. I thought their chemistry was amazing. Or maybe it was simply the story of the underdog getting a win. But, tbh, although she was portrayed as such, I never considered Ji Wan as an underdog because she was the prettiest female in the cast...again, my opinion.

Also, Dae Hwi. Idk, there's something about him. As a kpop fan, every time I see him on screen, I have a habit of screaming "Dae Hwi!" LOL. (Idk why, it's just a thing. He impressed me on something he said once, and made me a fan.) So, although I hadn't looked at the cast, within the first 2 minutes or so of the show, I was yelling his name in excitement. And the fact that I loved his character just made me like him better. He portrayed Sang Woo, who never gave up on his ideals and never betrayed his principles, regardless of the situation.

(My daughter also pointed out that Choi Si Won was also an idol, and it made me wonder if I'd missed any others.)

The drama overall held my attention fairly well. I thought they could have done better with the "Kingdom of Love" show that much of the drama was based around. If that had been a real show on television, I'd have skipped it. I loved Yu Reum's supportive parents. I loved the friendships that Yu Reum had. And the relationship between Dae Shik and Hye Jin is something for everyone to strive for. Dae Shik is such a loveable character, and his attitude is everything.

I was disappointed that they didn't do anything with the camera exposure of Chae Ri's one night stand with Jang Goon. And there were a few more storylines they could have gone with, and chose to ignore or edit out. So my satisfaction wasn't quite fulfilled.

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Someone please give these actors better scripts!

I'd read comments about how awful this show was, and I thought, "It can't be that bad, I'll judge it for myself." And well....I just want to know who let this drama happen?? Why didn't the director stop this?? Do the writers still have jobs??

The acting was pretty dang good. Especially since they really didn't have anything to go on. I've seen much, much worse acting. But the dialogue, what little of it that there was, was pretty bad in a lot of places. Not all of it was horrible. And there were some life-lessons they tried to address. I appreciate that they made an attempt to deal with problems such as depression, family, friends, relationships, and a few lgbtq+ issues. They just weren't dealt with very well.

I had issues with several of the storylines and plot devices. The sister's storyline was total BS. Taking the kid away? I had sympathy towards her until she did that. The aunt telling Rose to push Dr. Yang out of his job? Nope. And Dr. Pun....I just don't even know what to say about him. I liked him even though he was unprofessional, pushy, and disrespectful at times--I've never seen someone be respectful and disrespectful at the same time, but this character managed it,-- but some of the things he did were, in my opinion, verging on sexual assault....luckily he never pushed it that far. And then there was the flash forward, and for a while I wasn't sure if all of the scenes from that point on were future scenes or if they were flashing back to the past again. It just wasn't done well.

I feel sorry for the actors. Most of them were really good, especially considering they had all those long pauses and drawn out scenes. But there were production issues, sound issues, writing issues, etc. The actual story had such potential. It was simply wasted in my opinion. This was one time that I agree with the comments.

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Live Action Manga

I am disappointed that this series didn't turn out better. I think the actors did a fine job with what they were given. (I even have a little crush on Masayan.) But just because this was adapted from a manga doesn't mean that we should be looking for the manga characters to come to life. It should be the same storyline, but with life-like characters. I will admit that this was done better than some manga adaptations, but still didn't hit the mark. Onoe was still an OTT character and Motoharu was still the cool, unaffected focus of his affections, as in most manga stories. With some realizations, communication, and the help of the side characters, they were able to work things out for a positive ending, but getting there simply felt like a chore. It was a bit choppy. There was character progression but I'm not sure where it came from.

I will not be rewatching this series in it's entirety....but I may go back and rewatch parts of the last couple episodes, simply because they were cute. But probably not.

I would like to see these actors in other non-manga shows though.

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Worthy of a rewatch

I appreciate so much about this film. The acting, the dialogue, the attempt at reality during the love scenes. I really, really liked it. I am one to gloss over missteps, mistakes, and plot holes in order to enjoy the effort put forth by the cast and staff. I understand that it's all acting. It's fantasy for our enjoyment. Mistakes will be made, people will have opinions, and not every thing is for every one. But this is honestly a pretty dang good story.

For you (me) to completely understand what actually transpired in the story, a rewatch or 2 is necessary. I watched this as a movie on GagaOoLala as opposed to the original 'shorts' that it was released as. Watching it in the original would probably have helped with the (however slight) disjointedness of the show. But other than that....after watching a second time, I understood much better about the pulled punches, the slight hints here and there, the noticing of the med kit, etc.

I am glad that Strongberry read and replied to the reviews. That shows me that the company is willing to find out what the public thought about the show in order to continually improve their productions, as well as giving the public what it wants to see. (I do not expect for Strongberry to read or comment on this review, as it's been over 5 years since this came out, and people/companies have to move on, but that's not going to diminish my respect for the company.)

I recommend others to watch this....and then rewatch it for a fuller understanding.

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When you’re watching a drama and out of your mouth comes the words “We need a hero……!!!” you know you’re waaay too into the drama. ...

Ryu Su-Yeol is a renowned detective in the Anti-Corruption Department of his Korean police agency, known for his ability to solve cases and resolve matters to the satisfaction of the police commissioner. Due to trauma in his past, he unknowingly developed an alternate identity. This identity, named "K," has a hero complex and wants to punish the bad guy, regardless of the law. But K also acts as Su-Yeol's savior again and again, as Su-Yeol can't seem to keep himself out of trouble while chasing criminals. K also has a good instinct for identifying others who are noncorrupt, and pushes Su-Yeol to help keep those people safe. Su-Yeol faces his past, as well as the reason that K was born, when a psychopathic psychiatrist, a corrupt official, and a drug ring all tie together to create havoc in Su-Yeol's life. Su-Yeol and K work together to solve crimes and keep themselves and others alive.

While I never really understood how the drug ring tied into the psychiatrist except by chance, I can't be sure if that was because of plot holes or because of language barrier/translations. Regardless, I was a little confused by how everything tied together. Also, the level of physical violence and blood was unnecessary to the story. Although some violence was definitely required, it could have been toned down and still have told a good story. Still, it held my attention. I never had to skip through scenes.

My favorite scenes were the ones with K. He provided comedic relief and Wi Ha-Joon played this character amazingly. He and Lee Dong Wook had a very interesting chemistry (a true "Odd Couple") and played off of each other well. I don't think another actor could have effectively pulled off what Wi Ha-Joon did in this series. I would guess that Wi Ha-Joon improvised some scenes and reactions, as they seemed too good to be scripted. The rest of the actors were well cast also, and they worked hard to fulfill their roles.

While I liked this drama, I also think that it could have been shortened to a 6 or 8 part mini-series and still have been effective. Either that, or lengthened to 16 episodes to explain better some of the reasoning behind certain actions. The acting itself and the 'edge of your seat' situations will maintain a good rating from me.

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Within the world of a comic

This is a rom-com/drama about Dan Oh and her relationships with other characters of the high school comic that she finds herself a part of. She and a few others become self-aware and are able to realize that they are more than the setup that their writer established for them. In order to change the story to better reflect the self-aware characters' thoughts and wishes, they work together, or sometimes against each other, to make the needed adjustments.

The drama had a lot of potential, and, as is, would have been fine with half as many episodes. If it had to be 32 episodes, it would have been better with more story line. Instead, the same few scenes were played over and over as if the viewers needed certain points drilled into their heads. You could almost skip the entire middle of the story and not miss anything. Personally, I didn't mind too much, simply because Rowoon, Lee Tae Ri, and most of the others, are pretty to look at. But I did get tired of seeing the same scenes. Even within the story, Dan Oh was tired of it. And the brooding faces of a bunch of rich, angsty teens got tiresome as well. It was a breath of fresh air when the final episode moved them on to a new (university) comic with the same characters but a whole different vibe. I wouldn't have minded if there had been more university episodes and fewer high school episodes, just to see the cast play more of their new characters.

I did love the premise and the way the comic world was portrayed from the viewpoint of the characters. In between each "stage," it was like a director yelling "cut" and the self-aware characters would retreat from their setups, while the ones who were not self-aware would continue as their characters were written. I did not understand how the characters within the comic had access to a previous comic, but....plot holes within plot holes, I guess.

The OST from this drama is amazing in my opinion. These songs will stick with me longer than the drama will.

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Second Chances

Warning: Time travel trope

When I began this series, I didn't realize that it involved time-travel. I try to shy away from those. I just don't enjoy them. But once I started, I had to see the series to completion.

This drama is about Shion, a 29 year old female, who never got over her HS first love and his rejection when she confessed to him. She never gets over her obsession, but is also so traumatized by his words that it shaped her life. Luckily she gets a second chance.

I was in cringe mode until the school camping trip, which was actually adorable. At episode 8 (of 10) I finally was able to say that I was truly enjoying the show. That being said, I absolutely loved the friendship between Shion and Mitsuki throughout the entire series. Mitsuki is the friend that everybody needs, and Souma finally becomes the crush worth waiting for. And Shion finding her confidence and realizing that within her struggles lies her self-worth is a lesson we should all learn.

This drama has a hard-won happy ending, so there’s that to look forward to. I really had to question whether I wanted to go on watching this by episode 3, but I’m glad I made it through. And there are parts that I wouldn’t mind watching again. There is even one part when you first see Kaoru that is actually a foreshadowing, but due to the nature of time-travel, you may or may not actually consider this part as being resolved. I do not, however, consider it a plot-hole.

I would consider this a good story for those who don’t have problems with cringe or second-hand embarrassment. I appreciate the fact that the story addressed problems with traveling backwards and the consequences of changing the past. Individually, I loved all the characters....even the gardener. LOL. The acting was really good by all cast members. I was glad that the story moved on without (as the title may suggest) any beauty pageants or things of that nature.

I regretted starting this program, but I don’t regret finishing it.

The moral of the story is: Be careful what you say. You will never know what scars you may inflict with your words.

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And now for the unpopular opinion

I've said many times, and I'll say it again: I am very easy to please and can overlook a multitude of sins when watching a BL. Even still, there were definite problems with this series. It was almost as if it were a 'choose your own ending' story, but they forgot to put in the options. It seemed experimental. You never really knew if the ending of each episode was going to continue with the next, or was it going to be a completely new story. If parts of it were supposed to be imagination, they forgot to include the dreamy, cloudy edges in the scenes. Maybe the writers were waiting for opinions from viewers after each episode, and if the viewers didn't like it, the writers started over....?

However....most of the acting in this was pretty dang good. Jeff Satur (Sean) can act. Period. I'm glad he finally started to get better roles (ie KinnPorsche). Gun Tieosuwan (Valen) was extraordinary. Same for Ohm Napat Utsaha (King), at least if it's a dramatic crying scene (since he didn't get to do much else.) For the most part, the rest were also really good, and would have been better if they'd had better direction. The long pauses while talking, the extra-long stares into each other's eyes, the staring out at the ocean....I mean, all that can happen, but not as many times as they put these poor actors through. If you're filling up a time slot, that's not the best way to do it. The most naturally acting cast was the older generation, which is strangely surprising in my BL experience. (You would think those with more acting experience would be better actors, but rarely have I actually seen that in a BL.)

I watched it all and didn't skip, although there were a few times that I thought about it. I actually liked watching the acting. I actually liked most of the story. The actors did a great job portraying emotions. There were parts of the story where the reactions were more realistic, like when the characters refused to listen to explanations. (Lets be honest, when you're angry and hurt, you don't want to hear explanations.) There were legit, real kisses. There were believable touches and intimate moments. (I think it was in part 1 where it showed a flashback of Peat lounging against King's arm while reading a book that literally shocked me, because it was such a natural thing to do that you rarely see it on screen.) (And the scene where Valen is kissing Kaitoon before Atom started banging on the door....I wonder if they were still acting at that point....)

There is enough left unresolved that they could do another season, and I wouldn't mind watching more. I would ask that they clean up the direction and production a bit. But I can honestly say that those 2 scenes I mentioned are some of the most memorable that I've seen in all 150 or more BL's that I've watched. And the last scene, the last few seconds of the show, past the credits... many people didn't like. But it was everything to me.

And I love listening to Jeff Satur's voice on the soundtrack!

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Match+Mix+Ryu

My opinion, + mild spoilers

I can honestly say that this was the weirdest chemistry I've ever encountered in a BL. I know it's just acting, but onscreen, the 3 of them belonged together. The chemistry between just (any) 2 of them didn't really work. It was awkward. The 3 of them together, when they weren't competing, was amazing! I felt like I was watching friends who had grown up together and cared deeply for each other rather than people who had just met. There were jealous moments, but a lot of times when there should have been jealousy, it came across to me that they simply cared more about each other than they did themselves.

That being said, when Mix was feeling sorry for himself, I should have wanted to kick his butt. Somehow, instead, I just felt sympathy towards him. That says a lot about the acting in those scenes. As far as the rest of the acting, I think they would have done better with a better script. They were so limited, with everything literally being in-house, that it was a "make the most of it" script. To be honest, the best/most natural thing I saw in the entire drama was the initial kiss.

This is the first drama I've seen where, due to the chemistry of the characters, I was rooting for some type of poly relationship. After the first couple weeks of living together, they should have been looking for another place to live that didn't have a 2 person limitation. The happiness of the final scene and the possibilities ahead made the whole series worth watching. I assume there's not going to be a season 2, so in my head everything works out the way I wanted.

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Glad I persevered

I admit that I did a lot of fast-forwarding through the first half....ok, more than half of the show. The part with the teachers was unnecessary. The photography club was unnecessary. The side characters were just fillers. This could have been done with half as many episodes if they'd focused on the main characters. I read the comments before starting the show, and about 2 episodes in, I thought, "Ugh, I agree with the comments, this is bad." But I'm glad I persevered, because at some point I stopped fast-forwarding. By episode 9 or so, I was actually interested. Mind you, it shouldn't have taken that long to become interesting, but still....and even then, I had some negative thoughts, but the show resolved well in my opinion. The acting became much better. The story became much better.

The English subs never got better, and there were times it required some interpretation. For instance, the bar scene in the last episode was one of the best scenes in the drama, but the subs were so bad that I had to rewatch after I figured out what they were trying to say. That is very distracting when you are trying to enjoy interesting and pivotal scenes within the drama.

There were a few characters in the show that had some outstanding acting, especially with what they had to work with. And honestly, there really wasn't much chemistry between the leads. Despite this, I think they pushed hard to make it work the best they could.

Overall, I'm glad I watched this.

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Great story!

I had a hard time finding the movie. I ended up renting it from Amazon Prime, as it wasn't available anywhere else that I had access to. I have read comments and they say that the Season 2 is the movie with a few more scenes. I would have preferred to see the Season 2 over the movie, but couldn't find the full season anywhere. I will probably go back and watch the episodes that I actually do have access to, just to see any missed scenes.

As in Season 1, Pearl was a gem! (Pun intended haha.) Her love and support of the boys couldn't have been better. In my opinion, the boys other than Cai and Gav were just eye-candy, but who doesn't love a little candy??!! Gav and Cai were the main focus, and they had me smiling, giggling, and crying at various times. Poor Gav, dealing with his homophobic aunt....I seriously want to hurt people like that who spread their hate and misguided "concern." I'm so glad that the boys finally stood up to her. (I'm not violent, just angry that some people want to hide behind their religion in order to dictate how others should live.)

I saw someone write that they didn't think Gav's character should have broken down as he did, because he was so upbeat and happy other times. But this movie really showed the amount of pain that a lot of people went through because of the pandemic. You can only handle so much before you break, and with the real-world stresses on top of the pandemic stresses, it's a wonder that he didn't have a breakdown beforehand.

I loved the amount of love and happiness the two boys showed each other. I also saw that they didn't top and bottom each other, as you see in EVERY other BL out there. That was the most refreshing thing for me. I mean, it's not for everyone....some choose to be one or the other..... but the way it was handled in the movie did a good job in displaying the equality of their relationship.

I adored Season 1, and I loved the movie/Season 2. I hope they make a Season 3, but honestly, now that they've partnered with Japan on production, even if we have a Season 3 we international fans will probably not have access.

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Not laugh-out-loud, but amusing

As this is literally a spoof of BL manga and dramas, it was over-the-top acting with an over-the-top storyline. I'm not usually a fan of overacting and silly stuff, but this wasn't too bad for what it was, in my opinion. It was actually a little more serious than the first season, and had a bit more substance. It also had some character growth, which is always a good thing.

I was introduced to some new (characters) actors, and I am looking forward to seeing some of them act again. However, the one actor that stood out for me is Yutaro (the mob's brother.) I think he had the most natural acting of anyone. (That statement is a little suspect, since none of them were supposed to actually act 'natural' due to it being a spoof.) But I have seen him in a couple of other things, and he always seems to stand out as a good actor.

From the 'behind the scenes,' it seems that this director is good to work for, so he is able to get the actors to fulfill their roles appropriately. I appreciate that the actors seem respected and acknowledged for their hard work. Hopefully the rest of the staff are as well.

Overall, this was enjoyable, and if there is a third season, I will watch that also.

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Heartbreaking, emotional, amazing!

Oh my gosh that was so good! I'm not going to try to be all poetic and proper, I just want to gush about how good this series was. There was such good chemistry amongst the characters. And I swear, every time Ung smiled, I melted. So now I'm just a puddle of goo trying to operate the keyboard to say how much I liked this.

I didn't cry a lot, which in itself is a miracle, because I'm a crier. There were a couple of tears shed here and there though. If there hadn't been, I don't think I'd have liked it as much. That last episode definitely tugged at a heartstring or 2.

There were a lot of flashbacks, especially to the first documentary, but they were done well and I loved them. There weren't too many scenes throughout the whole show where I questioned whether I should fast-forward. But honestly, it's 16 episodes....I think there were 2 or 3 that I thought about doing the Netflix 10-second skip. To have that few is a win in my book, and I never did skip for fear of missing something.

It wasn't fast paced, but it wasn't so slow as to be uneventful. I swear I was heartbroken for the first 13 or so episodes, and several times I went to the MDL individual episodes to comment, but I never wrote anything, as I was too much into the "what's next" of the series. Truly, it was WAY better than I thought it would be.

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We don't talk about Todd.

I am all about a good action show, but a lot of the action portions didn't do it for me for whatever reason. I did a lot of fast forwarding during the first few episodes of the show. I didn't drop it though, because even if this particular show wasn't my favorite, it was still a good story with some amazing acting. It felt full and well rounded, and the resolution, in my opinion, took about 3 episodes as opposed to everything being dumped into the last episode. So, while all the sneaking around and violence was necessary to the story, I didn't feel the need to pay attention to any part that didn't have dialogue.

I appreciate that, while LGBTQ+ rights were a part of the human rights that they were protesting for, it was in no way an issue for the guys to have romantic relationships with each other. Within the gang, there was no discussion whatsoever about it being taboo...they just accepted it and moved on. The only part that was really mentioned was the fact that Black and Sean didn't get along so it was surprising that they got together (even though it was finally revealed that Sean was with White, not Black.)

I want to reiterate that the acting was phenomenal.

Some of my favorite scenes:
--When Black beat up Sean and Sean didn't fight back
--The van rescue
--White saving Sean's life in the shootout
--Any scene with Gumpa....I just loved his character, and the smiles that he gave Sean and White showing his happiness for them. Such a parental unit for the gang.
--Any scene with Gram. He was just so good looking. I think it was his hair. Also...I did not really understand the relationship with Gram and Nuch. I think they tried to explain it, but it just confused me. But I loved how sincere Gram was in his affection towards them. And the scene where Gram blew Nuch a kiss was simply sweet.
--Dan's tears

Despite the fact that I wasn't interested in parts of the first few episodes, and various parts throughout, I think that it is worth a high rating.

And Todd......

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