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BrightSun

Fantasia

BrightSun

Fantasia
Unknown taiwanese drama review
Completed
Unknown
1 people found this review helpful
by BrightSun
Aug 31, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

A sensitive approach to an Old Trope

Rated ~ 9.5 ~ 42.5/50 ~ 8.5
Scene ~ Elf in Sky City with Excalibur ~ Dazed, dazzled, addicted and unable to look away.

This was a ride through the feels.
Asian media does have a habit of blurring lines between siblings sometimes, so I'm pretty immuned to that kind content. Having said that, this was very sensitively approached.

Our ML, Qian, loses his abusive mother to drugs, and is left alone to fend for himself and his little sister. Working as a cleaner for a local mob boss, he finds a homeless Yuan on his way home one night. After several times to help him, Yuan eventually follows him home and becomes an adopted brother to Qian and his sister.

While watching this, at first, it appears to be 3 young people just trying to survive in a world that isn't equipped or prepared to help. Qian works and sacrifices himself tirelessly for his younger siblings and treats them as such. Even agreeing to a boxing match that leaves him permanently injured, in order to escape the mob.
What lessens any feelings of awkwardness is when Yuan realises that he is gay and his feelings for his brother were never platonic. He has been devoted to him for years. There is a very compassionate approach to Yuan's self revelations and it draws out a lot of sympathy from viewer. He's in love with someone he shouldn't be and doesn't know how to walk away, so he resigns himself to silence but knowing that he won't be able to control his jealous.
When the emotional moment finally arrives and Yuan confesses to Qian, it is devastating to watch as Qian is understandably enraged and confused. There is a scene of the two cuddling while sleeping, so it is possible that, as Yuan later tells him, he also didn't have brotherly feelings but was afraid to admit or to even feel his real feelings.
Qian has dedicated his life to his sibling's happiness, creating the family environment they were robbed off early, so it is understandably hard to move from brother to lover.

I've found a lot of the 'adopted sibling to lover' tropes miss a very important step, which is the change it's self and how the characters work through it. Personally, I found this has been the best representation I've seen so far, where it's not a quick hop from one to the other because the writer is eager to get to the romance/sex. It's a genuine, painful questioning of Qian's real feelings for Yuan vs letting go of the life he envisioned for his siblings.
He consciously viewed Yuan as his brother, but subconsciously knew his feelings were deeper and we have to walk with him as he processes what he's never dealt with, including his mother.

I also really liked the progression of the sister. It's obvious early that she has a mind of her own and is a little promiscuous.
Much in the same manner a parent must face their child, Qian has to come to terms that his siblings are their own person, with hopes and wants of their own and Qian can't plan and control everything.

What held me back from giving this a full 10 was that I was reminded a little too hard of BL manga I used to read years ago. The older male being looked after by a younger and emotionally forceful male. It's not an issue for me and I was never uncomfortable with Yuan's motives and actions. I was just reminded a little too much a BL trope and it dampened the viewing pleasure just ever so slightly.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this and the music fit the scenes very well without being distracting. I would absolutely watch this again and it's possible that may even be a comfort series as the relationships between the characters, I found genuinely touching and heart warming.




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