1
BrightSun
Fantasia
This review may contain spoilers
The Soul's Journey & the Characters it Plays <3
Rated= 8.5~ 36.5/50 ~ 7.3
RPG Scene // Mermaid's Invitation for tea in the Enchanted Forest. Staff summoned all the Food
In my usual awkwardness that has plagued my life, I watched Between Us first, UWMA's sister story showcasing the side couple's journey. And honestly, I actually think I prefer Between Us over this one but that's more to do with it being closer to my own personal tastes. I rated this one slightly higher, so my own personal aesthetics do not take away from how touching the plot is for Until We Meet Again.
The show opens in 1988, with the tragic ends of two lovers, Intouch and Korn driven to suicide by their domineering fathers determined to separate them.
In modern 2019, we meet our MLs, an extremely petite and delightful little cinnamon roll Pharm, a first year at University, and our tall, dark and brooding Dean, President of the swim club. The two connect instantly and slowly begin to piece together their tragic past lives while falling in love.
I usually don't like the constant flashback style type of plot flow. It's too much of an info dump and I find it jarring but they managed to keep it's consistency by being relevant to what was happening to our modern MLs. So it didn't bother me as much.
I absolutely fell in love with Pharm in Between Us and he was just as adorable in this series. Both ML's were very stereotypical however, their relationship was, I found, surprisingly healthy as my usual experience with BL's is very sex driven. This wasn't. The characters started off already with a deep unexplained connection and it was allowed to slowly unravel. Dean was a green flag most of the time and I almost take offense to Pharm being tagged as 'a crybaby male' as his reasons for crying were pretty legit. He was however, a little babied by Dean but I didn't find it too much and it suited the characters and situations.
I did feel like it followed the kind of Japanese BL I would have loved as a kid, and the show's consistent nod to Japanese culture feels like I may have picked up on those vibes a little.
As reincarnation is a theory that I personally believe in, this one hit more of a spiritual cord than my heart strings. A little detail that I really loved was Pharm's signature colour was yellow (one of my favourites too) and Korn is wearing a yellow shirt the night they die. Another detail is how confident and pushy Intouch is vs how soft and meek Pharm is, yet both characters have a generally cheery disposition, or his love for cooking & baking Thai desserts, and how the first thing he ever cooked was an omelette. It's those little details that tie back into the reincarnation belief, that our soul's carry little things from one life to the next, like picking up it's favourite things to bring with it into it's new life. The mind forgets, the body dies but the soul goes on and it takes some of it's memories with it. I personally loved that little touch.
My foresight was strong with this one. I absolutely called those twists LOL because it allows, not only for the ML's to finish their karma but also the family as a whole as well.
I was a little stumbled on how easily the surrounding characters believed in Dean and Pharm being reincarnated loved ones but I suppose it allowed for some healing for those characters, so it's a minor complaint. I would have loved to have seen an outcome for Intouch's bestie who, although only seen 3 times, clearly cared a lot about him and I would have liked to have seen him appear somewhere just as a conclusion for that character.
As for side characters, I think if I had watched this one first, I would still have been in love with Win's character. In fact I actually found him funnier in this one but that's usually the job of the support leads lol
The acting over all was pretty good. It wasn't too over the top despite some of the scenes, and the crying felt natural. Surprisingly, it was actually a scene at the end, when Korn's brother finds his candy in the fridge. That one little scene hit me the hardest perhaps because it was simple. It was a reminder for the viewer, or perhaps just for me as a viewer, that it was those little things, that even though Korn has been reborn and is alive as Dean, Korn is still gone and he left behind two little brothers who had to continue living without him. It's a sad truth within my own spirituality. I may go on to where ever I need to go, but I'll never be me again.
There is, and will only ever be, one of you <3
I have to confess though, that I didn't really like the music. I'm finding that those vocal tracks over emotional moments are the norm for Thai dramas but I found it a little cringey at times with this one. But again, that may be just down to personal tastes as I didn't like the music in general in this show.
Overall, I would have no issue watching this again. Often BL's seem to focus on the BL aspect and everything else is an add on, but this time, it actually focused on the plot, which was reincarnated lovers, and the karma is that they are two men, and I really appreciate that for the genre.
RPG Scene // Mermaid's Invitation for tea in the Enchanted Forest. Staff summoned all the Food
In my usual awkwardness that has plagued my life, I watched Between Us first, UWMA's sister story showcasing the side couple's journey. And honestly, I actually think I prefer Between Us over this one but that's more to do with it being closer to my own personal tastes. I rated this one slightly higher, so my own personal aesthetics do not take away from how touching the plot is for Until We Meet Again.
The show opens in 1988, with the tragic ends of two lovers, Intouch and Korn driven to suicide by their domineering fathers determined to separate them.
In modern 2019, we meet our MLs, an extremely petite and delightful little cinnamon roll Pharm, a first year at University, and our tall, dark and brooding Dean, President of the swim club. The two connect instantly and slowly begin to piece together their tragic past lives while falling in love.
I usually don't like the constant flashback style type of plot flow. It's too much of an info dump and I find it jarring but they managed to keep it's consistency by being relevant to what was happening to our modern MLs. So it didn't bother me as much.
I absolutely fell in love with Pharm in Between Us and he was just as adorable in this series. Both ML's were very stereotypical however, their relationship was, I found, surprisingly healthy as my usual experience with BL's is very sex driven. This wasn't. The characters started off already with a deep unexplained connection and it was allowed to slowly unravel. Dean was a green flag most of the time and I almost take offense to Pharm being tagged as 'a crybaby male' as his reasons for crying were pretty legit. He was however, a little babied by Dean but I didn't find it too much and it suited the characters and situations.
I did feel like it followed the kind of Japanese BL I would have loved as a kid, and the show's consistent nod to Japanese culture feels like I may have picked up on those vibes a little.
As reincarnation is a theory that I personally believe in, this one hit more of a spiritual cord than my heart strings. A little detail that I really loved was Pharm's signature colour was yellow (one of my favourites too) and Korn is wearing a yellow shirt the night they die. Another detail is how confident and pushy Intouch is vs how soft and meek Pharm is, yet both characters have a generally cheery disposition, or his love for cooking & baking Thai desserts, and how the first thing he ever cooked was an omelette. It's those little details that tie back into the reincarnation belief, that our soul's carry little things from one life to the next, like picking up it's favourite things to bring with it into it's new life. The mind forgets, the body dies but the soul goes on and it takes some of it's memories with it. I personally loved that little touch.
My foresight was strong with this one. I absolutely called those twists LOL because it allows, not only for the ML's to finish their karma but also the family as a whole as well.
I was a little stumbled on how easily the surrounding characters believed in Dean and Pharm being reincarnated loved ones but I suppose it allowed for some healing for those characters, so it's a minor complaint. I would have loved to have seen an outcome for Intouch's bestie who, although only seen 3 times, clearly cared a lot about him and I would have liked to have seen him appear somewhere just as a conclusion for that character.
As for side characters, I think if I had watched this one first, I would still have been in love with Win's character. In fact I actually found him funnier in this one but that's usually the job of the support leads lol
The acting over all was pretty good. It wasn't too over the top despite some of the scenes, and the crying felt natural. Surprisingly, it was actually a scene at the end, when Korn's brother finds his candy in the fridge. That one little scene hit me the hardest perhaps because it was simple. It was a reminder for the viewer, or perhaps just for me as a viewer, that it was those little things, that even though Korn has been reborn and is alive as Dean, Korn is still gone and he left behind two little brothers who had to continue living without him. It's a sad truth within my own spirituality. I may go on to where ever I need to go, but I'll never be me again.
There is, and will only ever be, one of you <3
I have to confess though, that I didn't really like the music. I'm finding that those vocal tracks over emotional moments are the norm for Thai dramas but I found it a little cringey at times with this one. But again, that may be just down to personal tastes as I didn't like the music in general in this show.
Overall, I would have no issue watching this again. Often BL's seem to focus on the BL aspect and everything else is an add on, but this time, it actually focused on the plot, which was reincarnated lovers, and the karma is that they are two men, and I really appreciate that for the genre.
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