Niniane
Netherlands
This review may contain spoilers
Made with Love
I was sceptical when I started this series, mostly because its another college student BL, of which we have PLENTY and of which only a few are really good. I started watching because Saint was involved in creating this BL and since I'm an admirer I could not leave it. I watched all episodes on IdolFactory's YT channel, bc apparently other sources have missing scenes.
Boy did I make a good choice! The first few episodes actually had me thinking I made a mistake watching this and I was afraid I might have to drop it. I'm glad I didn't, because after ep. 3 it redeemed itself and then some.
The acting is very good. It was very carefully directed and there was enough space for believable character development. You see the characters growing in their relationships and in their self-evaluation. This is delivered in a very natural way. The nerdy, insecure Toh starts believing he is actually not so bad after all, and grows stronger en empowered. The handsom jock Nuea is suprisingly caring and insecure about Toh. They both grow to appreciate each others insecurities, take each other seriously and help each other.
The love radiates from the screen. Fortunately there is plenty of age-appropriate skinship. These are guys in their early twenties. They will do more than just pecks and hugs. The love-scenes are endearing and hot at the same time. They made my heart flutter and in some cases even tear up a little.
What I liked: No-one wants to change the other person. There is a lot of respect and kindness. Toh is not a " pretty boy" (although he has absolute flawless skin). There is a low-key lesbian couple, a trans character, very accepting and loving parents, great love-scenes.
What I didn't like: The first 2/3 eps are very cringy. The storyline of Toh keeping everything even remotely to do with Nuea, even crabshells really grossed me out. The childish behaviour of both Toh and Jao annoyed the hell out of me. This does get better further along, but keeps creeping up on the characters and I just don't like it. As said, these are not children but young adults, there is no reason whatsoever to behave this way. The secondary couples could have used more screentime. There were pieces missing in that area. HOW did DaisyTouch, SomTor and KhwanFon get together??
All in all you can see that this was made with a lot of love and care and because of that I can forgive a lot of the bad. I really enjoyed (binge)watching.
Boy did I make a good choice! The first few episodes actually had me thinking I made a mistake watching this and I was afraid I might have to drop it. I'm glad I didn't, because after ep. 3 it redeemed itself and then some.
The acting is very good. It was very carefully directed and there was enough space for believable character development. You see the characters growing in their relationships and in their self-evaluation. This is delivered in a very natural way. The nerdy, insecure Toh starts believing he is actually not so bad after all, and grows stronger en empowered. The handsom jock Nuea is suprisingly caring and insecure about Toh. They both grow to appreciate each others insecurities, take each other seriously and help each other.
The love radiates from the screen. Fortunately there is plenty of age-appropriate skinship. These are guys in their early twenties. They will do more than just pecks and hugs. The love-scenes are endearing and hot at the same time. They made my heart flutter and in some cases even tear up a little.
What I liked: No-one wants to change the other person. There is a lot of respect and kindness. Toh is not a " pretty boy" (although he has absolute flawless skin). There is a low-key lesbian couple, a trans character, very accepting and loving parents, great love-scenes.
What I didn't like: The first 2/3 eps are very cringy. The storyline of Toh keeping everything even remotely to do with Nuea, even crabshells really grossed me out. The childish behaviour of both Toh and Jao annoyed the hell out of me. This does get better further along, but keeps creeping up on the characters and I just don't like it. As said, these are not children but young adults, there is no reason whatsoever to behave this way. The secondary couples could have used more screentime. There were pieces missing in that area. HOW did DaisyTouch, SomTor and KhwanFon get together??
All in all you can see that this was made with a lot of love and care and because of that I can forgive a lot of the bad. I really enjoyed (binge)watching.
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