3
5
jpny01
Charming and well-written
I loved this series, mainly becaus of the stellar main pair of Tinn and Gun, played by Gemini Norawit and Fouth Nattawat to perfection as teens experiencing first love.
The side characters are all well-written and acted, especially Tinn's mother, who is the school principal, and everyone has to love Mark Pakin as Tinn's best friend Tiw.
The story is wholly unoriginal, but it's the best realization of this type of plot.
The actors also sing all the music, which is always a plus., with Ford Arun being the standout, although Fourth & Gemini both have lovely voices too.
This is not a world where homophobia doesn't exist (although it only barely exists), and issues like parental concern over the future happiness of their gay children, or whether or not they did anything wrong, were all realistic and sensitively handled.
What prevented this from entering the top rank of BLs, however, is that although this contained one of the most breathtaking scenes in all of BL - the dance - you'll know it when you see it, and the progression of Tinn and Gun's relationship was magical, it peaked early and stagnated, leaving the second half at a lower energy level and at times quite dull. I don't need kissing in a high school story, but I know that I do not want an endless string of kiss fake-outs, which is cheap and started to feel homophobic.
The central dramatic conflict, that the music club's rules forbid Gun to date before a competition at the end of the year is contrived and the path to the context uninteresting, and the overreaction to a setback for the band was one of the only sour notes that felt out of character and lacked the authenticity of the rest of the series.
Fourth is so cute that there were a couple of time I cried a little just looking at him - that outfit at the prom was fatal. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him and Gemini - they are both highly talented, and easily hold their own with more experienced actors here and even in Midnight Chicken.
I would rate the first four eps a 15/10, then declining to around a 7, hence the 8.5. The first few episodes were so good I thought this would displace all others and become my favorite of all time - but unfortunately it deflated a bit as it progressed. Still, I wouldn't hesistate to recommend this to anyone and everyone.
The side characters are all well-written and acted, especially Tinn's mother, who is the school principal, and everyone has to love Mark Pakin as Tinn's best friend Tiw.
The story is wholly unoriginal, but it's the best realization of this type of plot.
The actors also sing all the music, which is always a plus., with Ford Arun being the standout, although Fourth & Gemini both have lovely voices too.
This is not a world where homophobia doesn't exist (although it only barely exists), and issues like parental concern over the future happiness of their gay children, or whether or not they did anything wrong, were all realistic and sensitively handled.
What prevented this from entering the top rank of BLs, however, is that although this contained one of the most breathtaking scenes in all of BL - the dance - you'll know it when you see it, and the progression of Tinn and Gun's relationship was magical, it peaked early and stagnated, leaving the second half at a lower energy level and at times quite dull. I don't need kissing in a high school story, but I know that I do not want an endless string of kiss fake-outs, which is cheap and started to feel homophobic.
The central dramatic conflict, that the music club's rules forbid Gun to date before a competition at the end of the year is contrived and the path to the context uninteresting, and the overreaction to a setback for the band was one of the only sour notes that felt out of character and lacked the authenticity of the rest of the series.
Fourth is so cute that there were a couple of time I cried a little just looking at him - that outfit at the prom was fatal. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him and Gemini - they are both highly talented, and easily hold their own with more experienced actors here and even in Midnight Chicken.
I would rate the first four eps a 15/10, then declining to around a 7, hence the 8.5. The first few episodes were so good I thought this would displace all others and become my favorite of all time - but unfortunately it deflated a bit as it progressed. Still, I wouldn't hesistate to recommend this to anyone and everyone.
Was this review helpful to you?
