I notice that people either love 2 Moons or hate it. I'm somewhat part of the latter group. Even

Realism and Representation: 2 Moons get a fail in this category. Pha's confrontation with the "gay is wrong!" Pring in episode 11 basically tells the audience that Pha is a straight (TM) guy who fell in love with Yo, the one man he's interested in. He also "advised" Kit earlier on that the gender of the person doesn't matter when it comes to love, which is the definition of pansexuality, but completely ignoring/erasing the existence of sexual orientations. Ming and Kit are also "suddenly awakened" straight (TM) men as if they triggered the gay-for-you mutation in each other. No, there is little evidence to suggest any of them being bisexual or pansexual given how they only find that one man (TM) attractive. Besides, none of them claimed to be. Is this shit written in the 2000s? Ming and Beam, despite being great friends, failed the heternormativity/fujoshi criteria for the show by calling Yo the wife and made jokes like "they'd have lots of children by now." Pha himself made a pregnant joke, and of course it's Yo who's pregnant. It's a wonder how Yo still manages to not come out as trans and get transferred to the Star section of the competition. Maybe the show should be called Moon and Star instead? With the exception of Yo who has never shown interest in women (or other men besides Pha), and Forth who is the best representation of an openly gay man in the series, the other gay characters are obvious stereotypes and caricatures (Angel Club) but females students in the same fan club act pretty much the same way - obnoxiously and creepily. There are no demonized female characters besides some jealous women doing normal jealous things. Transwomen are shown as matter-of-fact and are not made fun of. Lastly, there are quite a few rape jokes, depending on the translation. A translator's notes say that the word means to do sexual things forcefully to someone but not necessarily rape.

Story: What's the trope name for popular guy falling for the lonely/ostracized/quiet/insecure girl/guy? Tropes are fine IF everything else goes well. That's not what's happening here. While having two people who have "secret" crushes on each other stumble around to gain each other's affection can be fun to watch, it makes my eyes invert themselves that Pha manages to ruin every moment he had with Yo since MIDDLE SCHOOL even though he knew Yo's feelings towards him. Don't go acting all sad puppy after you purposefully misread Yo's awkward but obvious signals. Yes, he's still into you. Pha's friends claim he's struggling with his sexuality and worry too much about what others think. I don't buy that. Or at least, that's not what the audience is seeing: Pha's being extremely confident and forward with Yo with every chance he gets (even Pring can see it) and yet he follows it up with a giant step backward. In Cantonese, we call what he's doing to Yo: a bite of sugar, a bite of shit. That's the one thing I can't suspend my disbelief for this show. So if you don't want to watch the sugar and shit back-and-forth, watch the first two episodes and skip to episode 7 which is the turning point of their relationship. Afterwards, Yo transforms into a dead fish. The ultimate twist of the story is... Pha has been in love with Yo this whole time! Shock!

Characters: I'm tired of dramas trying way too hard to push the idea with someone is attractive. It's unoriginal. It's not funny. It's cringey. Let the casting do their job. Pha is absolutely obnoxious and physically aggressive but seemingly only to Yo, and without reason. The actor had that aspect nailed down. The first thing he did to Yo was to insult him of being spoiled because he's rich. Guess what? Pha is rich himself. Something doesn't add up. Was he bullying Yo (before he recognizes him) because he's immature and that's his way of showing affection, or is he rude to everyone? It's not the latter because we later know he gets along well with pretty much everyone. And it's not the former because once Pha recognizes that Yo is the Wayo from his middle/high school, and therefore worthy of affection, he acts like a normal human being. Yo looks child-like and feminine but he has a surprisingly low voice, is brash and never a push-over. I like that. But after they start dating, Yo turns into a jealous dead fish with confidence issues. He gets compliments from everyone, including Pha, in almost every episode! He also slut shames. And he's too shy to kiss Pha until the last episode? I don't like that. Fort is basically perfect personality-wise but he gets very little screen time.

Acting: everyone gave a pretty solid performance despite the script they have to work with. There are a lot of awkward pauses when it comes to Yo. I'm not sure if we're supposed to find them endearing. Yo and Pha's vacant stares of longing are pretty funny at the beginning but Yo has this vacant expression (without the longing) for 3/4 of the series. Is he trying to mask his feelings? But after they practically got together, Yo's still pretty uncomfortable with Pha. Compare that with how open he is with Ming, or even when he first clashed with Pha. He was a lot more emotive. I know he has some confidence issues but he got with the love of his life! How is he not over the moon? What is the director going for? On the other hand Pha's completely, openly smitten. The talent show is realistic because it's very cringey. Yo's performance is nice but I prefer the song he played in the piano room. I like the actors - they were the only thing keeping me going. Since they're not in the next season, there's absolutely no reason to continue watching.