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Precise Shot chinese drama review
Completed
Precise Shot
10 people found this review helpful
by labcat
Apr 18, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Surprisingly, this is BL and not bad

This series will not alienate those irritated by how BL is transformed into bromance in series from China.

While China effectively has a ban on BL series, this has not stopped the entertainment industry from adapting BL books into series, usually with the BL censored and turned into some sort of bromance. In this case, the series deserves credit for not twisting the BL into bromance, which can put some people off. This series is very much BL because it is so obvious that the main characters are in love. (Perhaps the BL is still diluted, but it has not been transformed into something else.)

The story goes that Shao Yi You's father hires Shao Yi Liang to pretend to be Yi You's half-brother. The explanation for this is a little bizarre--it's supposed to help Yi You overcome a psychological condition, which he has during competitions, by letting him have a friend. Yeah, this guy supposedly has no friends. .... Oh wait, actually he does at least one friend, a girl who has gone overseas. (This series does have a couple of inconsistencies in characterisation, but these do not mar the story in general.)

After Yi You's initial hostility towards Yi Liang wears off, their relationship is pretty cute. Their feelings are clearly romantic though Yi You seems more sure about his feelings. Yi You gets visibly upset when he is reminded that they are brothers (of course they aren't). When the pretense is almost exposed by Yi You's friend, Yi Liang spins some sob story to convince Yi You that they are really brothers, and, again, Yi You looks miserable. The delight on his face when he overhears Yi Liang talking and finds out the truth about Yi Liang's identity is priceless. On Yi Liang's part, he gets upset when he sees Yi You hugging his female friend and secretly spies on Yi You talking to an ex-teammate.

BL's in China will, for a long time to come, have to contend with censorship laws. But those producing BL-based series are getting rather good at circumventing the censorship laws. Sure, we are not going to see kissing scenes, not to mention passionate bed scenes, but the strong romantic feelings can still be craftily portrayed. A series like Precise Shot can still capture a segment of the BL market because the love portrayed is innocent and pure whilst being quite intense at the same time.
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