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Stay by My Side taiwanese drama review
Completed
Stay by My Side
2 people found this review helpful
by Heracin
Sep 18, 2023
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.5

Very cute in some aspects but lacking too much in storytelling, pacing and developments

The premise of this BL story was pretty interesting with one of the male main lead needing any kind of physical touch with the other main male character to "block" the supernatural element of the show. It has been done before but not necessarily in that context and so I was pretty intrigued on how the relationship was going to evolve starting from there..

Unfortunately, I found the overall story a bit boring, it remained quite superficial in a way with lot of questions not really addressed. I must admit that one of the protagonist was really written as pretty dumb (in an annoying and not -at least to me- endearing way), making it kind of difficult for me to understand why the other was so whipped for him (and also so quickly).

Despite those flaws, there are cute scenes that are worth the watch, there is a really good chemistry between the main actors with quite good acting...Some of their kisses were simply beautiful in a stiring way. I quite enjoyed the introduction as well as the last third of the story (even though the ending felt clearly too rushed) but there is clearly a saggy middle which dragged down the story for me. It is a bit of a shame that I felt there was so many issue in the pacing and storytelling given the short duration of the show.

I enjoyed the soundtrack, it gave some fun and almost cartoon / spunky vibe that created a good atmosphere. It will not necessarily remain in my memory but was really nice to hear during the show. The production value was standard for a university romance. They could have pushed more the horror vibe but decided to go for a comedic tone which I understand given the storytelling they were going for. I would have prefer the choice to be much more angsty to amp the stakes but it is a question of preference on the direction I wanted the show to go into...And it did not happen.

I would recommend this to people looking for a short BL romance with a fantasy element and cohabitation trope. If you have enjoyed drama such as "The Master's Sun" or movie such as "Marry My Dead Body", you might enjoy this because they share some similarities (either in the concept or the humour). I find it lacking in terms of story as well as relationship development but there are quite a bit of very lovely-dovey moments.
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