TheStarsOfTheLion
This review may contain spoilers
A low budget but beautifully made series
This is my very first review ever on this site so maybe there are some hype in it, but it's true that I really like this series.
This series has the visual, the characters, the story and it reflects gay people - things that ironically many BL series seem to ignore.
Story: The setting of this series is nothing new: a seemingly straight guy got forced into rooming with his neighbor whom he disliked from the start, only to ended up falling in love with that hot, handsome neighbor in the end. However, while many other BL series are fan services as a whole, focus sorely on the shipping: how they met, how they got attracted to each other (or not, they just deep down "like" each other from the get-go), their intimate moments and their cliché jealousy from their over-possessive characters; this series is a story about gay guys that tackles on gay problems: the acceptance and attitude of family members, self-discovering, self-acceptance and fear, expectation of parents and desire of one's own, the unfair need of coming out and its hindrance, etc. It has a story to tell and we can see a little more into the lives of the characters and their struggles (at least the main characters) instead of just love. And that love was viewed from the scope of gay people instead of that of the heteros, as many other BL series made me feel so.
Acting: The lines, actions and movements was delivered naturally and smoothly. While there is no complicated moments or conflicts of emotions to challenge the actors' skills, it's still good acting nevertheless. The interactions between the two leads are sweet, cute and believable. That's all I need.
Characters: There are very few characters in this series, but we still have a diversity of characteristic: an out-and-proud gay dude having a cold war with his family, a lost guy carrying the burden of expectation from parents without chances to know and do for himself, a self-proclaim ally that's cheerful outwardly but fierce inwardly, a nosy neighbor but helpful and understanding, a sarcastic and blunt best friend. While it lacked in quantity, it made up in quality.
Music: It's agreeable enough in my opinion. The music is nice. It's just... that I'm still getting use to Filipino so I find their songs to be hilarious. Maybe it's just me.
Visual: As I have said before, I think this is a low budget series. In this series, you can see that they use two apartment rooms, the front of the apartment, some public areas of that complex, the inside of a taxi. That's it, the whole filming scenes; and eight characters in total: two mains, three supports, three minors. However, with what they had, they made it good. The scenes, the camera works, the color and the lighting are no less than that of other series. The makeup is good, not make me grossed out with faces too white or lips too red like some series I have seen. Above all, I guess the cuteness and handsomeness of the two male leads blinded me and made me cannot see anything else that may be flawed *LOL* And the dance. Gosh, I love it. Like a scene plucked out of a fairy tale.
With those interesting characters, good visual and interactions of those two cutie pies, and the way they cared about the scope of gay people, I don't mind watching it again.
Strongly recommended.
This series has the visual, the characters, the story and it reflects gay people - things that ironically many BL series seem to ignore.
Story: The setting of this series is nothing new: a seemingly straight guy got forced into rooming with his neighbor whom he disliked from the start, only to ended up falling in love with that hot, handsome neighbor in the end. However, while many other BL series are fan services as a whole, focus sorely on the shipping: how they met, how they got attracted to each other (or not, they just deep down "like" each other from the get-go), their intimate moments and their cliché jealousy from their over-possessive characters; this series is a story about gay guys that tackles on gay problems: the acceptance and attitude of family members, self-discovering, self-acceptance and fear, expectation of parents and desire of one's own, the unfair need of coming out and its hindrance, etc. It has a story to tell and we can see a little more into the lives of the characters and their struggles (at least the main characters) instead of just love. And that love was viewed from the scope of gay people instead of that of the heteros, as many other BL series made me feel so.
Acting: The lines, actions and movements was delivered naturally and smoothly. While there is no complicated moments or conflicts of emotions to challenge the actors' skills, it's still good acting nevertheless. The interactions between the two leads are sweet, cute and believable. That's all I need.
Characters: There are very few characters in this series, but we still have a diversity of characteristic: an out-and-proud gay dude having a cold war with his family, a lost guy carrying the burden of expectation from parents without chances to know and do for himself, a self-proclaim ally that's cheerful outwardly but fierce inwardly, a nosy neighbor but helpful and understanding, a sarcastic and blunt best friend. While it lacked in quantity, it made up in quality.
Music: It's agreeable enough in my opinion. The music is nice. It's just... that I'm still getting use to Filipino so I find their songs to be hilarious. Maybe it's just me.
Visual: As I have said before, I think this is a low budget series. In this series, you can see that they use two apartment rooms, the front of the apartment, some public areas of that complex, the inside of a taxi. That's it, the whole filming scenes; and eight characters in total: two mains, three supports, three minors. However, with what they had, they made it good. The scenes, the camera works, the color and the lighting are no less than that of other series. The makeup is good, not make me grossed out with faces too white or lips too red like some series I have seen. Above all, I guess the cuteness and handsomeness of the two male leads blinded me and made me cannot see anything else that may be flawed *LOL* And the dance. Gosh, I love it. Like a scene plucked out of a fairy tale.
With those interesting characters, good visual and interactions of those two cutie pies, and the way they cared about the scope of gay people, I don't mind watching it again.
Strongly recommended.
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