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Cute. That's it.
This is a typical formula series. Main CP is m/f and 2 others m/m. We have a group of friends (a band), there's a goofy character (who must be based off of Tong's character in KinnPorsche, he even looks like him) a capable responsible one, a closeted gay and an out gay, a doesntknowhelikesmen one and a villain. It's mostly a straight forward simple story, but quite well put together without obvious plot holes. Great scenery, some surprisingly funny scenes and a bit of emotional dialogue makes for a good watch. One big flaw, however, only 1 of the cp have good chemistry and all kisses are hugs. Or shot at an awkward angle. That's a big nope. So, overall cute, but nothing more.Was this review helpful to you?
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Perfect production but messy story
This BL was highly anticipated by many. BOC, Bible, Jes. This is a potentially golden combination. And it started off just as promising. Many different storylines that we could see were related, but how exactly was a big question. A lot of questions got answered from around ep. 4. but a lot still remained obscure. What exactly did these 4 minutes mean? and what was real? Because apparently some events were fictional? Ep. 5 and 6 gave us answers. But for me, those were not really the ones we were looking for and even more questions were raised. Who died? And if they did, who killed them? Tha last two eps. wrapped it all up. But not in a neat little package and we are still left with why's how's and who's. Should we have seen some bigger picture? I did not find it if it was there.Overall the acting is superb, as is the production. Perfect lighting.coloring and stages. Big love here. As for the other parts of the show, like consistency, story, music.... theres still some to be desired. It felt like there were parts of the story missing. Not as much essential parts, but still important "setting the scene" parts. We are thrown into one scene after another and are left to our own devices to connect them all. Which coukld have worked out great, but I still felt like we were looking at an unfinished product.
Maybe it was my expectations that were too high, or maybe it was BOC's ambitions that were too high?
I did also spot some references to KinnPorsche. More subtle, like in some shots, but also very in your face like the song "Why Don't You Stay" by Jeff Satur (but here not sung by Jeff Satur).
I will rewatch this at some point and maybe then I will adjust my review.
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Too much of this, too little of that
Well, this must be a first. I usually complain about needing more eps for the story to be properly told, but in this case I could have done with (far) less eps. 12 (and a half) was just too much!Reason for this was mostly the copious amount of fille scenes. The supermarket scenes were mostly uninterestin and unimportant, The scenes in the "USA" (where nobody seems to speak proper English) could have been anecdotal instead of literal. A lot of small scenes could have been shorter. All of this would have benefited the story and the pacing.
The lead couple (New actors foer me) did a decent job. The characters were a little too flat, all mischief came from the best friend Kor, played by Kimmon. His part was interesting, and he did very well. I liked tha fact that he has a relationship with a trans woman. I would have liked this relationship to be less vanilla though, but that's me.
Overall this was really cute. The NC scenes were aplenty (maybe even a little too much) but very well done. Tastefull and loving.
Due to the flaws as described, this does not exceed a mediocre rating for me. Could have been better, but certainly not bad.
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Philosophical and original epic tale
This drama does not deserve the current rating (7.1/10). I can't help but think if the main leads were played by more well known actors, the rating would've gone through the roof! They might not have done as good a job as the actual main leads, though. These men put on the show of their lives. Atom especially absolutely floored me with his performance, he is truly an amazing actor.The overall feel of the drama is somewhat melancholy, very much in line with the story, which is an epic tale about life and death, love and regret. The dialogue is riddled with poetic and philosphical lines. With this theres a danger of cringe, but that never happens thanks to the immaculate delivery. Except for the audition scene, where Sunshines agony poors out. I felt there was a bit of overacting going on here.
There is no NC scene, but the chemistry is absolutely there. Not the raw sensual kind, but the slowly falling in love and getting to know eachother kind. There are a few (near) kisses and these are actually enough.
The story is reminiscent of supernatural Kdramas, with the twists of fate, the agonizing dilemma's and letting go of your love . The feel is Epic, with a capital E.
The music deserves an honorary mention. No typical BL tunes here. Jazzy, indie tunes kiss your ears like a smooth summer breeze.
So if you're in for a drama about love, philosophy, referencing Faust and MacBeth, with amazing acting and a melancholy feel, watch this and be amazed.
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Focus on medical stuff ruined it
Disclaimers first: 1. I'm not a fan of medical drama's 2. I am a fan of Luo Yunxi, which is why I watched this drama.Yunxi is the only thing worth watching in this drama. Well, no that's not entirely true. the other actors give it their best effort with the material at hand, but that material is bad.
In itself, the story has potential: Brilliant medical student getas devastating diagnose of huntington's disease and drops out, going travelling to make money at odd jobs. Meets her brilliant professor on other end of the world and they fall in love. She holds off due to diagnose but love will be love. Simple enough, right? you could do so much building off of that. But what happens in this drama is emphasizing the medical side. Research for a cure. Ok, that's one way to go with this and even that can turn into a good drama. But not with lengthy dialogue on medical stuff, competing researchers, full explanations of experiments and such. I fell asleep more than I watched.
Besides the medical, we have the familial. One dad passed on the same disease, one dad is a cheating bully. The stepbrother is the main rival and many issues have not been spoken about on both sides. This is potential fireworks, but it's not. Or it's too far into te second half of the story and it leaves us empty-handed. Unfinished.
The main couples chemistry is non-existent. Luo Yunxi gives it his best effort and you can see him digging deep, but theres no reciprocation, I did not feel anything. No butterflies. It even looks like they don't really want to kiss eachother. No lipmovements . Horrible.
The last 2 episodes were the best. Where we moved away from the medical jargon and could focus on the relationships. That should have been done sooner, and shows what could have been, but will never be.
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Slow start epic finish
The first 10 eps or so of this show are not a good indicator of what comes after. It takes a long time to set the scene, introduce the characters and take us to the point where we start in the first ep. Until then it has been a good, but not great drama, with average arcs and tropes. But from this point it picks up momentum and does not slow down until the last second. We get thrown into a life or death struggle with multiple heartbreaking casualties, surprises, plot twists and reveals we did not see coming and a lot of romance. I was a little disappointed about the main couples chemistry, but this was made up for by the side couples. All in all this turned out to be a great watch that I will be remembering fondly.Was this review helpful to you?
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Original story with great acting
I went into this kind of reluctantly, since the rating was only 6.5. I ended up really enjoying the originality of the story and the great contrast between the reality of relationships and the fantasy of a wishing cafe.Yes, it's messy. But isn't that what relationships are? All main characters performed very well. Good chemistry, good timing. There were some gaps in the plot, but not too disturbing.
What I did not like was the lack of acting skills of the supporting actors. Overacting, weird expressions, robot like performances.
For a young production house and inexperienced actors, this was extremely well done.
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HEAVY trigger warnings. I am not ok.
I know, I know, I should have read up on this drama and maybe watched a trailer. But I'm not used to doing that and my watch recommendation is the tag "LGBTQ"and/or "Gay Male Lead" as these usually lead me to a BL drama. This is not that. I repeat, it is NOT a BL. at least, not one where there's actual love involved (not counting the brief hand holding by the two friend characters in the forelast scene.I don't really understand the theme or message of this drama. Is it to warn against cyber bullying? The dangers of sharing and shaming on social media? If so, this could have been portrayed much clearer. The drama now focuses on the SA-event and the aftermath for Shin and Keng, rather than that.
The final scene (again: What is the POINT??) leaves room for a follow-up. IF that were to happen, I need a strong Shin who has overcome the events, a Keng who is in prison or at least very much in the gutter where he will have to remain until his final breath and a real love story as a redemption arc. But maybe we should just leave it alone. This was traumatising enough.
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They took some scissors
I really liked the absolute mess the series was. I was curious what they would do with the movie. Well, they messed up. They cut out all the dramatic over the top mess and put in some extra NC-scenes. Like I love looking at these men, but it looks more like a compilation now rather than a movie. Inconsistencies arise when we don't get the drama, but do get the aftermath. The story gets muddled and illogical. The whole Tee/Ice storyline was cut, except for an after-credits NC-scene. Why? And why leave in the goats and the woman in labor? It's all just meh.Was this review helpful to you?
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Good "in-between-BL's" watch
Binged in 1 evening. Not because it was that entertaining, but because I had nothing better to do. And that's the perfect time to watch this BL drama. There's not much substance, there's not much story, there's nothing iconic. It's just nice.What I liked:
The developing romances are sweet and steady. Some might say slow and boring, but I prefer steady. Again, nothing extreme except for the odd butterfly.
Some of the plotlines are cringey because overused tropes, Some scenes are unnecessary and unnecessarily long. There's a skip button for that. Just FF to the next romantic stare, tease or little kiss and you'll be fine. I loved the sweetness in the couples. And the fun they had together. Thats always so overlooked. Couples should have fun and frolic as much as possible. They are newly in love after all.
What I didn't like:
I have no idea when or why the shirts came off. Surely not just for sleeping? But no hints to anything else happening. Weird. Decide to have a love scene and passion or decide to not have that. This innuendo (if you can even call it that) is stupid. The ex showing up and then no room for communication or explanation just a storm-off while there was not even anything really happening? Stupid. Giving the Record Boss the time of day after his toxic behavior? Stupid. Giving us a return scene of 1 minute? Stupid.
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Feel-good sports science romance
There are a lot of college bl series, but not a lot centering around the sports science faculty and more specifically the sports players of this faculty. We see Basketball players and Track team members, practicing their sports. 3 different romances evolve and grow as the members go through their college years. Fah and Torn have known each other for their whole life, and realize they have more than friendship. Saen has had a thing for Ai and decides to pursue him until Ai falls for him. Vee has a crush on his sisters boyfriend Dome, and they figure out what to do with these feelings.I liked the original take of the story, the diversity in characters and relationships and the fact that some real issues and drama has to be dealt with. There is also a good amount of chemistry.
I didn't like the erratic pacing, the bad kisses and the rushed although nice ending.
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This is a new favourite!!
I honestly didn't expect to like this drama so much. I had not seen many spoilers and my TikTok was not really buzzing when it aired, so I was expecting something average. Boy was I wrong. I LOVE THE HELL OUT OF IT.The mildly scifi theme, multiverse, is just the basis for the epic love story of Puen, a rising actor and Talay, a movie colorist. They make a switch upon there untimely death, and find themselves in the body of another person in a similar but different universe. While navigating their way in the life of the person who's body they now occupy, they meet and discover they're in the same boat. Deciding to be friends and trying to find a way back to their own universe they gradually fall for each other.
The way the falling in love and the shift from friends to lovers is brought forward is award-worthy. The first actual kiss doesn't happen until ep. 8, but the anticipation and build up to the kiss and later the confession(s) is on butterfly level 3000! This is all done is such a non-explicit way, it is just beautiful. There is NO verbal sexual innuendo, but the tension is there and then some. The non-verbal is extremely well executed.
Once the first kiss, and especially the confession and discovery that they actually are each-others way home has happened, more and more kisses follow. But not the let's stare at each other and act like fishes kind of kisses. Real, deep and lovers' kisses these are.
When they finally return home, new troubles ensue due to their live having been taken over by someone else. They need to fix what was messed up and find each other again in more than one way.
What I loved: almost everything. The acting, the story development, the original theme, the fantastic side characters, the cameo's (Tay! Mix!), the music, the scenery, even the product placement was weaved into the actual story, so it wasn't too distracting or annoying.
What i disliked: Some scenes seemed to be cut off at an illogical point. But that's just me nitpicking :P.
I would love to see the story of Tess and Pakorn (Tun) on the other side/in the other universe. We got a glimpse of the meek Pakorn and the asshole Tess, but there's more to this story. Maybe we will get to see Ohm and Nanon in a spin off drama. For now, this one shoots to the top 5 of my 2022 winners. I you have not watched it: do it NOW!
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Great potential, meagre execution
Just 3 eps is just not enough for any love story, and that goes for this one as well. I was also quite apprehensive about the high schooler with a Uni student, and I was (partly) right. Although the actors have great chemistry together, the way Nuea seems to almost groom Praram is kinda cringy. He reels it in a little later on, but its damage done.There is a weird scene where Nuea is just sitting at his computer in his room not speaking but typing stuff that is not being conveyed to the viewer. Did they forget the sound or captions on this part?
The story ends with Prarams 19th birthday, and felt more like the beginning of the story rather than the end. Although it wa never boring, I can't help but wonder what the purpoe of this separate story was if not as a warm up to a larger series? That we are still not getting, by the way.
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A gem from Japan
I really enjoyed this BL. Japanese dramas always hit different and not always to my taste, and I have never been able to put my finger on why, but this one is a very good watch.The acting is really good, and I liked the story of the slow burn and fear of rejection and stepping out of your comfort zone. Although not explicitly homophobic, the fact that you feel different than what you think society expects from you can be scary and lead you to do or not do things (hmm cryptic, huh). I would have liked a more conscious decision towards being who you are, but i will definitely take what I got here. Butterflies to the max and o these guys are both adorable!
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Taiwanese BL hit different
I don't know what makes Taiwanese BL series so good. Almost without exception they are original, captivating, touching and cute. As with this one. It grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last ep. One explanation is the acting. All characters do a fantastic job. Another could be the utterly blinding visuals of the actors. Or maybe it's the down to earth take on lgbtq issues... Whatever is the reason, this BL is amazing. I cried so hard when Fu Ligong broke it off... And I cried even more when I realized why he did it. The wedding was the cutest thing and Yukis hair should have its own series.Was this review helpful to you?