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FaeryWren
Be Brave Cutie Pie
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The bone structure thing bugged me LOL
Rated= 6~ 25/50 ~ 5RPG Scene // Fairy leading me off a cliff on the Mountain Pass. I think the Battle Axe is a flower
This started off not bad and I was genuinely enjoying it (and the accidental asmr in episode 2) but once the two characters got together, I kind of lost interest. There was also a disturbing scene that happens in a school that actually shocked me, that the chinese censorships let this through. I think that was my breaking point. I had decided to give it a rest for a while but after some time, I've just genuinely lost interest in the show.
Plot - The face swap thing kind of seemed a bit silly to me. A soul swap would have made more sense. We have a guy who can train bugs and the face swapping seems to have been done by witch doctors/dark arts practitioners anyway, so why not? Just peeling off someone's face isn't going to change bone structure or the body. If it was just her face, she would still have her body but the FL talks as though she is in another body entirely. (Or maybe it was just my subtitles.) So my brain kind of winced at that logic but I went with it. I did however, really love the slight chase between the FL and the ML because that is a perfectly understandable drama there. He thinks the FL, with her new face, killed the love of his life and the FL thinks the ML wanted to kill her.
Once we get through that trial, it becomes more of a build up romance with the leads that you would expect.
I felt like the characters kind of accepted this face swap like they had ran out of milk. It seemed more like an inconvenience than holy snowballs, I have a completely new face and body and along with that a completely new identity and lifestyle. That would really traumatise me and feel like maybe that should have been showcased a little more, esp for the FL. She goes from being a very bullied and hated woman because of her job and scarred face, to being someone who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman around, also from a wealthy family. That's quite a jump that's not really explored fully. For the most part, the FL just mentions that she's stolen the other girls identity and she must be mad for being murdered in her place. Umm, honey, she stole your identity LOL
The side couple was just sad to watch. The side ML was clearly devoted to the FL and suddenly, and the most randomly I've seen so far, the side FL is in love with the side ML and acts jealous. It just comes out of nowhere. It has 'rebound' all over it.
I have read spoilers to the end of the series and if I continued watching, I don't think I would feel sad for the couple. I would feel sadness from a friend perspective.
Acting - The ML is really at good crying. I felt that.
There are complaints about the FL's acting not matching the portrayal of the first actress. I kind of agree to an extent. It does kind of feel like a slight dissonance between them. They tried to use the flower petal plucking as a habit but I feel like they should have used some sort of personal expression to bridge the visual crossover for the audience. Like each girl having a set of habits and expressions that the audience could pick up on, other than good girl and bitch, so when the switch is made, it feels more natural for the viewer to see the character just change faces. Instead, it does feel like there's a personality change as well. The FL as the second actress, although still very intelligent and kind, does seem a lot more outgoing. If this is the character's natural personality, it's not shown very well in the first two episodes.
Music- I remember liking the background tracks to this one, although nothing to add to my playlist.
Rewatch - Since I've decided to drop this, I won't be rewatching.
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Meh
Rated= 3~ 13/50 ~ 2.6RPG Scene // Goblin's Swamp with only a rusty dagger. Forget it. Just Run.
I was swinging between boredom and wondering if this slightly racist.
Wealthy 'pale' Bangkok writer is tricked into going to a southern island as inspiration for his novel and conveniently doesn't believe in love because of family trauma, but continues to try and convince himself that the islander he's sleeping with is just a sugar baby.
The first 3 episodes reminded me of those tacky holiday romance novels I used to read as a teen and think that's what romance was. Then by ep 4 we switch to a contractual agreement because Rak doesn't believe in love, despite agreeing to stay on the island previously. There's also a lesbian side plot trying to happen but the assistant is just too much of a nerve grating character for me to feel anything for. The whole 'he needs to be tested for std's but I shouldn't be hearing about my boss sex life' may have made me wince like I had stubbed a toe.
Half way through 5 I realised that I don't care about any of the characters and I just wanted to join in on the chat in the BL thread.
Meh. I'll move on. It's not my kind of plot and none of the characters are appealing.
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A sensitive approach to an Old Trope
Rated ~ 9.5 ~ 42.5/50 ~ 8.5Scene ~ Elf in Sky City with Excalibur ~ Dazed, dazzled, addicted and unable to look away.
This was a ride through the feels.
Asian media does have a habit of blurring lines between siblings sometimes, so I'm pretty immuned to that kind content. Having said that, this was very sensitively approached.
Our ML, Qian, loses his abusive mother to drugs, and is left alone to fend for himself and his little sister. Working as a cleaner for a local mob boss, he finds a homeless Yuan on his way home one night. After several times to help him, Yuan eventually follows him home and becomes an adopted brother to Qian and his sister.
While watching this, at first, it appears to be 3 young people just trying to survive in a world that isn't equipped or prepared to help. Qian works and sacrifices himself tirelessly for his younger siblings and treats them as such. Even agreeing to a boxing match that leaves him permanently injured, in order to escape the mob.
What lessens any feelings of awkwardness is when Yuan realises that he is gay and his feelings for his brother were never platonic. He has been devoted to him for years. There is a very compassionate approach to Yuan's self revelations and it draws out a lot of sympathy from viewer. He's in love with someone he shouldn't be and doesn't know how to walk away, so he resigns himself to silence but knowing that he won't be able to control his jealous.
When the emotional moment finally arrives and Yuan confesses to Qian, it is devastating to watch as Qian is understandably enraged and confused. There is a scene of the two cuddling while sleeping, so it is possible that, as Yuan later tells him, he also didn't have brotherly feelings but was afraid to admit or to even feel his real feelings.
Qian has dedicated his life to his sibling's happiness, creating the family environment they were robbed off early, so it is understandably hard to move from brother to lover.
I've found a lot of the 'adopted sibling to lover' tropes miss a very important step, which is the change it's self and how the characters work through it. Personally, I found this has been the best representation I've seen so far, where it's not a quick hop from one to the other because the writer is eager to get to the romance/sex. It's a genuine, painful questioning of Qian's real feelings for Yuan vs letting go of the life he envisioned for his siblings.
He consciously viewed Yuan as his brother, but subconsciously knew his feelings were deeper and we have to walk with him as he processes what he's never dealt with, including his mother.
I also really liked the progression of the sister. It's obvious early that she has a mind of her own and is a little promiscuous.
Much in the same manner a parent must face their child, Qian has to come to terms that his siblings are their own person, with hopes and wants of their own and Qian can't plan and control everything.
What held me back from giving this a full 10 was that I was reminded a little too hard of BL manga I used to read years ago. The older male being looked after by a younger and emotionally forceful male. It's not an issue for me and I was never uncomfortable with Yuan's motives and actions. I was just reminded a little too much a BL trope and it dampened the viewing pleasure just ever so slightly.
Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this and the music fit the scenes very well without being distracting. I would absolutely watch this again and it's possible that may even be a comfort series as the relationships between the characters, I found genuinely touching and heart warming.
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The Wild Young Things
I was enjoying myself comfortably before I found myself moaning, "Ohh God! Why am I relating?" LOLThis was gloriously trashy and all but one character is pretty morally questionable - Either through careless arrogance or vengeance but not irredeemable. Either way, I enjoyed this waaaaay more than I thought I would.
The thing is ~ I'm a major dropper. So quick am I to drop kick a show, I've annoyed the BL thread LOL And I honestly thought, this was going to be another one.
The thing is, this was relatable to me. This isn't a soft watch. All the characters will annoy you but it's in a way where, it's very human and understandable. I've known people, and have acted, the same way these characters do. They are troubled, insecure, have low self esteem, addictions and they feel very deeply, whether love, lust or hate. For me, this is how I experienced my youth, and honestly, I've seen people do worse to each other, than what these characters do.
This is the first time, I have enjoyed watching all three of the couples. My favourite were Sand and Ray, partly because FirstKhao knocked it right out of the park with their acting and chemistry, and they dealt with alcoholism. It's so common for characters to drink themselves into a stupor every night, that it was kind of interesting to see a show finally tackle an addiction like this.
The attempted threesome in the final episode was a little gratuitous but, maybe I'm just crazy enough to understand Ray. He has already made his feelings clear, and trying to get his relationship with Sand, finally, off the ground, after all the drama. Getting even the slightest sniff of another obstacle, and that wild dog persona we saw at Mew's birthday party came right out and drew a line in the sand....with Sand LOL He said, 'absolutely not - I have made my choice. I'm not doing this again' ....and I respect that lol ~9/10 ~ Loved their plot. I'd watch a whole other series with them.
Mew and Top ~ Hmmm, 7/10 a little less interesting because it was pretty straightforward. Top wants to bang Mew but falls in love. Pursues him. Cheats. Mew falls in love. Is told of the betrayal, spends the rest of the series hating Top, going off the rails and finally forgiveness LOL I did enjoy it but it was the least interesting to me. I think what I liked about it was just simply the character evolution of Mew. He's presented as the meek little nerd but we see early that he's not a push over, and as his plot develops, we learn just how passionate and savage he can be. It felt more like Mew coming into his own, than it being about Mew and Top's relationship.
Not an actual couple but I honestly loved Ray and Mew's friendship. When Ray makes the choice to move on with Sand, we see just how strong the friendship is, and I loved that.
Now - Nick and Ton ...... Ooooh boy. There's a conversation we could have had here about a poly relationship but the writers had to bring in the ex for the other couples just simply to get Nick to realise what's happening LOL
I think that's the biggest downfall of this series. But having said that, it's very clear from the start, that Nick wants Ton to himself and Ton can't give that. So it's left with Nick, finally choosing himself and wishing Ton the best, while Ton is left alone, to start his new life in New York.
Personally, don't actually mind that ending. Would like to have seen Nick's next move but, that may have been left open in the event of a season 2.
Did feel a little on the nose though from the writers. It's the bad bitch finally getting their comeuppance, which is, if you want to ride alone, then you will end up alone, and that's never fun. This may feel like slut shaming, but when we consider Nick wanted an official monogamous relationship, Ton is not seen in the best light.
Which is why myself, and so many other reviews have said the whole Boeing story, really was a waste, when we could have explored poly relationships. But I guess Ton was just simply our villain in this series and he got a villains ending. ~ 8/10
Would also have liked to have gotten more on the lesbian couple and the bar couple. Because there clearly was a story happening in the back. If the whole Atom and Boeing story had been dropped, and used for them instead, would have been nice.
They also started doing this reality tv show thing of the characters talking to the cameras at the start, and then it just kind of stopped. Why bother starting then? LOL
Overall, it was messy ride that did it's best to explore different types of relationships but it ended up just following the same bl narrative i'm used to. I do feel some potential was wasted, but I enjoyed the heck out of it nonetheless.
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'You dont have to be perfect, You just have to be yourself'
I don't cry at shows easily. It takes a lot to pull a tear out of me. This one made me cry 3 times because it got personal.I can understand the more negative responses because I partly agree with them. There were times it got a little cheesy or what made Kuea feel like he had to be a certain way for Lian to love him? But after finishing, I just wanted to rewatch it again, and when I did, I instantly fell in love and my 7.5 rating went to 9.
The story is pretty touching, just in a typical Thai BL way. If you've never lived with the pressure of having to keep up a fake persona to keep others happy, then it might get a little lost.
What's the point of your life? Who are you living for? When you live a false identity, who are you really pleasing, and is it worth it?
In this case, it's not only about LGBT identity, it's also about personal identity. Just wanting to be loved for who you are. No fluff. No glaze. Just raw and real.
It turns out, that both were pretending for each other but I would have liked to see more of why. Kuea isn't a soft as he appears and Lian isn't as cold. Both love each other and when they see the true version of the other, they fall more in love because authenticity will trump every time. They're insecure, they're can't talk about their feelings and are awkward with each other.
Lian just wants to make Kuea happy but doesn't know how because Kuea just smiles and nods all the time. He loves Kuea but doesn't know how because Kuea keeps his real self hidden. It's hard to love someone like that when all your efforts are met with an expressionless glaze. I understand his frustration.
I felt this one. I've lived it, so it hit me hard and only strengthens my determination to be real.
I did feel that both 'tops' had that daddy dom feel but it did soften out as the characters opened up.
I also really loved the music in the show, which I don't normally so an extra point for that.
Perhaps a more biased review but it is what it is.
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The Guilty Pleasure
Rated ~ 22.5/50 ~ 4.5I had just finished watching Not Me and was in desperate need of more motorbikes. I initially was going to ignore this because it's MAME but decided to watch it anyway.
I am not a fan of MAME. S*A appears in her work like a fetish but your one true love will heal you, and her female characters are guaranteed to be trash. It's quite sad.
But I was in a mood to turn my brain off and just be dazzled by all the pretty men and their motorbikes.
There's really nothing new here. Both stories follow the same narrative.
Story one - Genuis architect falls for naive young student and manipulates the situation to let him think student is pursuing him. They fall in love and have hot steamy sex. Kidnap episode for drama.
Story two - Naive student's so called bestie, despite the pair telling each other very little, is forced into having hot steamy sex with genuis architect's friend in order to get out. hm. Rich wealthy who happens to be the fastest biker, because he has to match the excellence of his friend, proceeds to stalk and force his way into a relationship before realising he's in love. The sassy bestie turns tsundere and then a meek kitten as we see his ptsd emerge, get retriggered, retraumatized by the ex and friends who assault him again, but being in love will make it all better.
Really... This is why I dont like MAME. It's not a hate wagon. There's a lot of issues happening here and surfaces in her work. The plot is absolutely wack.
But I watched with my brain off and just enjoyed the visuals. And I absolutely enjoyed the visuals. The actors are gorgeous. I wanted to fix pyah's hair a little but he kept it back for the most part so I dealt. The actor for Rain is stunningly beautiful and they kept putting him under warm lights, which lit up his eyes and skin tone. The scene in the kitchen, with the sunlight behind him is screensaver material.
The sex scenes were very heated and more like how het couples have sex which is probably why they are enjoyed so much. Anal is a little trickier to keep to a position so it has you thinking that the bottoms are really flexible and the tops are really big lol But I have to give credit to the actors for going full on with those scenes. I was a little turned on. Cant lie.
And that's all I can really say about this series LOL The actors are pretty, the luxury visuals are enjoyable and the sex scenes are hot.
I dont even remember the music.
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Cute and Trendy
Rated = 9 -~ 39/50 ~ 7.8RPG Scene ~ I'm being seduced by fashionable elves into an enchanted forest, and the staff in my hand is just a twig lol
I am noticing that I have a preference for Korean BL's as they suit my taste more.
Heavily criticized so naturally I'm going to like it. It's not a deep thinker. It felt like a warm hug. Just a character with failed dreams trying to fit into the world. There's only 8 half hour episodes so it's nothing dramatic and a lot of stuff is quickly glossed over but sometimes I want that. Just something sweet to counteract the bitterness. I don't need to be philosophizing life at every moment.
It follows the dense cutie that everyone loves harem trope but I didn't mind it so much as it's not overly exemplified and felt more like naivety to me than just purposefully stupid. I also enjoyed how the character's spoke with their eyes a lot.
A sweet and easy watch.
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Human's are limited but our possibilities are endless
Rated ~ 7 ~ 28.5/50 ~ 5.7RPG Scene ~ Mage in the crumbling castle with a battle axe armed robot boyfriend ~
I actually kind of enjoyed it. I loved the A.I film and Bicentennial Man growing up so robot love stories don't bother me lol I would have given it a 6 generally, as it was a casual watch, a little cliche but cute. It was an ok watch, at first.
But the last episode got to me, because I got the old Momento Mori feeling. A friend of mine had an asthma attack at a halloween party and died. She was 23. I have not celebrated Halloween since. Human's are limited. You aren't guaranteed tomorrow, and if you knew you were dying, what would you do for your loved ones? Terminally ill people often prepare mementos for their family.
That's how I felt watching the final episodes. Although it gets rounded out at the end not to leave you too depressed, it's a story teller's way of facing human mortality through a fluffy, cute story of a robot falling in love.
And although the 7 year gap is cliched and kind of cruel in this plot, it also makes sense because the uncle admits to himself that he'd make the same decision. He wanted his nephew to be with a real person and ultimately was just forced to give in because Chu won't move on with his life, and Ever 9 gave the ultimatum to either let him keep his memories or destroy him so, after 7 years, with neither letting go, what was he do?
Overall I rate it a 7. I probably wont be rewatching it but still enjoyed it for what it was.
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Star and Sky: Star in My Mind | Sky in Your Heart
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Short and Sweet
RATED = 7.5 ~ 28.5/50 ~ 5.7RPG Scene // Two confused homosexual Mages separated in the crumbling castle and it's pesky moving corridors, and using their magical glowing battle axes to find each other again.
There's not a whole lot I can about this one other than I enjoyed it. It's just a short, sweet and fluffy BL about our ML Daonuea who confesses to his crush before he is to study in Germany for a year, and is awkwardly crushed. They coincidently meet up again a year later in University, where both have been selected for a 'Freshy Boy' contest. This all seemed like a beauty pageant to me honestly, where the boys have to live together in a dorm while the competition takes place. This is only half of the show while the boys grow closer, and the second half is to allow for some truths to reveal themselves.
Overall, it's nothing complicated, nothing major intense. It's just a sweet afternoon watch. Dunk and his adorable little face gracing the screen for a few hours.
Acting did feel a little 'stiff' for me. I don't know why. Maybe for the more emotional scenes, it felt a little held back? But nothing too major.
The side characters did make me laugh though. Between forcing the two leads together, being over with the drama and the two Moment Killers of the show and, damn....those....phones.... LOL
You'll either like it for what it is or just move on. I suppose I could watch it again just for the fluff.
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A Speed Run BL LOL
Rated= 7~ 26.5/50 ~ 5.3RPG Scene // Mage trying really hard to fix the Crumbling Castle. No magic, just an Axe
The biggest thing I can say about this series is f**kin LMAO
Dear jeebus, what just happened, and what makes it even funnier is that whoever subbed the show on iquyi clearly hated us all LOL
This is probably more for fans of the the actors because the average watcher will probably just be left wtf-ing into the night.
To be fair, if it was fully developed into 12-14 episodes, it would have been a really sweet series.
It's pretty light hearted, fluffy and the humour is there. Having said that, I still enjoyed this for what it was. It was like watching a really sweet island BL at twice the speed LOL They just made sure to hit all the major points to get the plot across and nothing more.
There was obviously something happening in the background for it to have lost half of it's time but whatever, I came for Boun and Prem and wasn't disappointed. I've been distracted by Boun in Between Us, and both guys were support characters in Until We Meet Again, so this time, I got to see Prem in a more adorable light this time and he's gone up the rankings of my favourite's list <3
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The Soul's Journey & the Characters it Plays <3
Rated= 8.5~ 36.5/50 ~ 7.3RPG Scene // Mermaid's Invitation for tea in the Enchanted Forest. Staff summoned all the Food
In my usual awkwardness that has plagued my life, I watched Between Us first, UWMA's sister story showcasing the side couple's journey. And honestly, I actually think I prefer Between Us over this one but that's more to do with it being closer to my own personal tastes. I rated this one slightly higher, so my own personal aesthetics do not take away from how touching the plot is for Until We Meet Again.
The show opens in 1988, with the tragic ends of two lovers, Intouch and Korn driven to suicide by their domineering fathers determined to separate them.
In modern 2019, we meet our MLs, an extremely petite and delightful little cinnamon roll Pharm, a first year at University, and our tall, dark and brooding Dean, President of the swim club. The two connect instantly and slowly begin to piece together their tragic past lives while falling in love.
I usually don't like the constant flashback style type of plot flow. It's too much of an info dump and I find it jarring but they managed to keep it's consistency by being relevant to what was happening to our modern MLs. So it didn't bother me as much.
I absolutely fell in love with Pharm in Between Us and he was just as adorable in this series. Both ML's were very stereotypical however, their relationship was, I found, surprisingly healthy as my usual experience with BL's is very sex driven. This wasn't. The characters started off already with a deep unexplained connection and it was allowed to slowly unravel. Dean was a green flag most of the time and I almost take offense to Pharm being tagged as 'a crybaby male' as his reasons for crying were pretty legit. He was however, a little babied by Dean but I didn't find it too much and it suited the characters and situations.
I did feel like it followed the kind of Japanese BL I would have loved as a kid, and the show's consistent nod to Japanese culture feels like I may have picked up on those vibes a little.
As reincarnation is a theory that I personally believe in, this one hit more of a spiritual cord than my heart strings. A little detail that I really loved was Pharm's signature colour was yellow (one of my favourites too) and Korn is wearing a yellow shirt the night they die. Another detail is how confident and pushy Intouch is vs how soft and meek Pharm is, yet both characters have a generally cheery disposition, or his love for cooking & baking Thai desserts, and how the first thing he ever cooked was an omelette. It's those little details that tie back into the reincarnation belief, that our soul's carry little things from one life to the next, like picking up it's favourite things to bring with it into it's new life. The mind forgets, the body dies but the soul goes on and it takes some of it's memories with it. I personally loved that little touch.
My foresight was strong with this one. I absolutely called those twists LOL because it allows, not only for the ML's to finish their karma but also the family as a whole as well.
I was a little stumbled on how easily the surrounding characters believed in Dean and Pharm being reincarnated loved ones but I suppose it allowed for some healing for those characters, so it's a minor complaint. I would have loved to have seen an outcome for Intouch's bestie who, although only seen 3 times, clearly cared a lot about him and I would have liked to have seen him appear somewhere just as a conclusion for that character.
As for side characters, I think if I had watched this one first, I would still have been in love with Win's character. In fact I actually found him funnier in this one but that's usually the job of the support leads lol
The acting over all was pretty good. It wasn't too over the top despite some of the scenes, and the crying felt natural. Surprisingly, it was actually a scene at the end, when Korn's brother finds his candy in the fridge. That one little scene hit me the hardest perhaps because it was simple. It was a reminder for the viewer, or perhaps just for me as a viewer, that it was those little things, that even though Korn has been reborn and is alive as Dean, Korn is still gone and he left behind two little brothers who had to continue living without him. It's a sad truth within my own spirituality. I may go on to where ever I need to go, but I'll never be me again.
There is, and will only ever be, one of you <3
I have to confess though, that I didn't really like the music. I'm finding that those vocal tracks over emotional moments are the norm for Thai dramas but I found it a little cringey at times with this one. But again, that may be just down to personal tastes as I didn't like the music in general in this show.
Overall, I would have no issue watching this again. Often BL's seem to focus on the BL aspect and everything else is an add on, but this time, it actually focused on the plot, which was reincarnated lovers, and the karma is that they are two men, and I really appreciate that for the genre.
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Well, now, that was just Fricking adorable
Rated= 8.5 ~ 34.5/50 ~ 6.9RPG Scene // Mermaid Vibing in the Flower Meadow. Sword Dancing practice.
I was having a drama slump and my years on the internet have taught me that when I feel like that, bored and restless and searching for something to die for, just randomly start clicking on things. It's like pasta on the wall. You will absolutely find something. And find something I did.
First 2 seconds I fell in love with Boun who plays Win. Daaaamnn, that man is FINE with extra emphasis on the F. God damn, I think I drooled through the first few episodes LOL
Unbeknownst to me, thanks to my randomly clicking, I have learned that this is a sister story to the original plot which follows Dean and Pharm, who are featured as a side couple in this one. I did find it hilarious, since I havent watched the original series, knowing that there was a whole drama happening in the back and I know nothing about it LOL I can just feel that the heat happening off screen LOL Having said that, Pharm, for his little appearances absolutely stole my heart and I feel like I'm about to lay down my life for him when I start watching his series, which is definitely coming next. No question. When I sit my butt down next for a series, I am clicking for Pharm and Dean LOL
Anyway, back to this series. This show follows Win, a punk'd out Vice President of the swim team and Team, initially a very innocent and sheltered young swimmer with a tragic past. Since I havent watch the parent story, Win seemed liked the kind of guy who had his eyes on Team previously and when he finally gets his moment with Team, Team jumps head first into bed with him, much to his delight.
It's a casual fling which naturally develops into heavier emotions, which casual sex usually does, for at least one of the people involved. That's how the brain works. We like to get attached to things lol
Overall, I found the couple pretty cute. The consistent nod to consent for me, was very sexy. Boun's acting is pretty piercing. He says a lot with his eyes. Prem, I felt was a little off at times but that may have just been me. He had a lot of very emotionally powered scenes and I think he did well through most of them.
His character has a legit tragedy in his past and his reactions and behaviour are very understandable for someone who has to carry that for the rest of their life. Normally, I would find the tsundere types annoying but I actually understood his moods here. I did really feel for his pain and felt the relief with him when Win comforted him.
As for the other couples, wow, there were so many.
Pharm and Dean, for what I seen, looked very stereotypical but were nonetheless adorable. 8/10
Bee and Prince - I actually really loved this couple. They seemed very genuine and Bee was an absolute sweetheart. 9/10
Win's Brother and Tol - I felt like this one was a little random. Like they had to squeeze some more gay in but I went with it. 4/10
Manow and Pheuk - this seemed like a really sweet and genuine straight couple in a BL and Manow was adorable and kind of funny. They looked cute together. 7/10
Overall, it's not a tense show despite it's content. It has a very warm and heartfelt BL that deals gently with life's more serious questions but doesn't leave you feel empty or hopeless.
I left with a big smile on my face for everyone. Definitely worth a rewatch.
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Hide's Art Student Film For His Fans
Rated= 7 ~ 33/50 ~ 6.6RPG Scene // Mage having weird dreams in the Flower Meadow. Sword might have become sentient.
I didn't know this was on here LOL
There's a certain kind of person who loved/s the bisexual disaster that was Hideto Matsumoto - HIDE.
This was a short art film by HIDE that honestly to me, was just a representation of hide as a man. Confused, overwhelmed and over-sexed, if not really struggling with his sexuality but seems very likely.
I watched this a few years ago on youtube. From what I can remember, it has an alien-esque visual to it of 2 'angels' or other worldly creatures would rebel against their 'God' and are sent to earth as punishment, where, as a fan, I really felt like was just a glimpse inside the man's head.
There's no talking, it's just 'babble' speech, running around Tokyo with a lot of grainy footage and symbolism, with a scene of sexual assault that turns a little homo-erotic. The characters are attacked and abused into suicide where they return to their God and abandon it entirely for it's cruelty.
It makes me think of the kind of films I would have made as a student. It's more of a self expressive visual piece that set the stage for hide's solo music.
R.I.P Hide ?️
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Le Sigh Part 2 - The Power of Love
Rated= 4.5~ 21.5/50 ~ 4.3RPG Scene // Troll stalking me through the Mountain Pass. Not sure the short sword is enough.
My original review 27th April 24 -
Le Sigh
I really, really wanted to like this but I just couldn't get into it. I tried 3 times but my brain just won't let me accept a romantic relationship with a lead who basically acts like a child. If it was meant to be friendship I'd be fine but I'm expecting romance from a character who is basically a 5 year old in an adult body and I just can't move past that. Also, the harem of fairies. Oh please. My first, 2 months now as of writing this, adventure into chinese dramas, I'm starting to see a pattern of shows that just aren't for me.
Visually, this show is stunning. A lot of green screen LOL The sets are glorious. It even just looks like a chinese fantasy. Palaces floating in the sky. Ornate head pieces etc The opening credits were actually my favourite thing LOL the artwork had my mouth open and I think that's why I just really wanted to like this.
It's one of those shows, I think this is my 3rd one now, where everything looks so grand but I just don't like the characters. This time I at least liked the ML but that was it. You can't force yourself to watch a show that you're just bored to tears watching. It's like a christmas cookie. All visual, no flavour.
My updated review on 15th June 24
I wrote the above review after I had initially dropped the show but because I can't write two reviews, and people had like the previous review, I just had to delete and write this instead.
At the time, I was fairly new to c-dramas in general so I was just going on instinct at the time. I have now, thanks to Immortal Samsara, have learned that Xianxia's spend a lot of time laying out groundwork for the world building and characters before they give you the plot, which seems to be happening around episode 7 or 8. I dropped this show in the first minute or 2 of episode 8 and realised that I had probably dropped this minutes before the plot arrived. So out of curiosity, I went back to it, and if I had kept watching for another 5 or 10 minutes, I'd have seen the FL's bully get a glorious smackdown LOL
And I was right. The plot arrived with that event.
So I said, ok, I will give this one more chance. For the most part, my original review still stands. It was like Harry Potter all over again. The logical part of my brain can see why this is popular. It looks good, the characters, most of them redeem themselves, really love that Danyin's conclusion, that's awesome. It's a pretty cohesive plot through out, no major plot holes, all the characters had legit reasons, even if it was just obsession and had a really sweet message under it all.
But I just didn't like it. There was a cog in brain refusing to move and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that. I just didn't like. It was boring. I think it was around episode 20 when I really started to skipped scenes. I just wanted it to end.
Like I said in my first review, the ML made this show for me. He was the only one I was interested in. I love an anti-hero and to be honest, even as a villain, I loved him, he was hilarious. Everyone else who might have had a reason to stand out to me just faded into the background as the plot hooked them up in a side pairing I didn't care about.
That dragon. My man. How they wronged you by dampening down your potential.
And once again with Xianxia Immortals, the Emperor is the biggest A*hole and everyone is so self righteous without logic they make me support the villains.
My original rating was -
story -3 moved to a 7. I don't think the writing was too bad. It flowed well, it was understandable, the characters had their reasons and the narrative was very plain and simple - the power of love and obsession, and what it does to us.
Acting- went from 2- 6, this all because of Dylan Wang's portrayal of the ML. That's literally, he was the only reason I managed to finish the show. This was the Moon Supreme show for me. He gave good passionate kisses. I appreciate that for a chinese show that seemed to be scared of showing any lip movement whatsoever.
Music- 2-3 -Not much change to the music, I didn't really care for it and found it a little intrusive and loud over romantic scenes.
My rewatch remains the same though, at 1. I am unlikely to watch this again.
Overall, I can only give this one extra point simply because I loved the ML character. Everyone else, meh. I just didn't care.
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Wibbley Wobbley Time Wimey with several shots of Caffeine
Rated= 6 ~ 25/50 ~ 5RPG Scene // Fairy buzzing around my head on the Mountain Pass. Trying to swat them with an axe.
For my review of White Cat Legend, I hated the cgi cat face and paws and gave a description of what I would have preferred, and damn, I love being right ?I got a little bit of it in this one. He looked great ?
Plot - I find some people hate the Immortals going to the Mortal realm plot so the creators of this one laughed and added several mortal realm journeys as the entire point of the plot lol
We open with the story of a great evil empress, Cang Hai who was defeated by the God of War and now there is a prediction that she may return. Our God of War, the ML, is isolated and moody. His primordial spirit was damaged in his battle with Cang Hai, and he suffered memory loss, and has gone to the mortal realm for numerous different trials in an effort to heal it but nothing has worked. With the prediction that Cang Hai will soon be resurrected by her vengeful clan, he agrees to the trials he hasn't tried yet. Love Trials.
Enter our FL. Once a cloud, she was brought to form and raised by the Red Thread Master, the master of the Marriage Pavilion, responsible for match making in the human realm. Our FL is coerced into taking on the responsibility of finding a woman to go through the love trials with the God of War or the Marriage Pavilion will be destroyed. She auctions this role off to the God of War's many admirers to raise funds and in the process of tying the red thread of fate to the sleeping ML's wrist, accidentally gets tied to him as well, thus beginning the trials.
The first trial is accidental, short and funny as they take the form of a tiger and a pig, which becomes a running theme throughout the show.
Each life is different, furthering the romantic plot. The 2nd life or the first 'official' life is the longest running, starting in childhood and going through to the characters eventual deaths. Each life gets progressively shorter in episodes as we start building the momentum.
Back in the Immortal realm, the leads eventually find out that by the FL sacrificing her life for the ML, she is giving him her own primordial spirit as they share the same origins. This leads us back to discovering what actually happened in the famous battle with Cang Hai and who the real villain is.
There is an interconnectedness that I really liked within the plot. As some characters keep reappearing in different lifetimes, casual mentions of previous life characters to give us a sense of time between each life, as well as a side plot unravelling with a secondary couple. It feels like one big web and I like when writers do that as it creates connections between the different segments and helps the flow of the story telling when you are using several very different characters, environments and backgrounds.
We see an array of sets and designs in each life, from middle class life, sects, royalty and demons. And each one with it's own aesthetic that mirrors the lifetimes of the characters.
Unfortunately, I found at times, the plot dragged. The thing is, I felt like the pacing was fine. The first life had to be the longest because it was the one that built the feelings the ML had for the FL. But every time we got back to the Immortal realm, I felt like the writers had hit a wall. There was a sudden drop in momentum. That's the problem with using several different stories to create one larger one. The viewer spends time getting wrapped up in the mortal realm arc that when we go back to the 'real' plot, we almost feel like what we just witnessed didn't matter. Although there is some essence of history repeating it's self, there's nothing more than the romantic element. In one life, the FL commits suicide knowing that the ML won't be returning from battle and decides to just say 'hey, I'll see ya back at home'. This hurt my feelings a little bit. The first one dealt with this well, in that yes, they return to the Immortal realm but the mortal lives they lived will be forgotten. The body dies, the person ceases to exist ever again. There is importance placed on their earthly lives but then after that, they just forget about it. Afterwards, there was perhaps too much of a casual approach to the mortal lives.
There was also a joke about cooking a pet pig for dinner. Not cute. I was very annoyed. The little pig lived but was forgotten once that life ended.
Another reason for the drag brings me to my next point.
Acting - Ding Yu Xi has beautiful, cat like eyes, and a very expressive face. Unfortunately his co star, our FL, is not quite on the same level. I only call out actors when they stand out specifically and I'm afraid Yang Chao Yue stood out for all the wrong reasons. Her character started off with that really annoying, pouty, childlike voice that Chinese actresses are sometimes made to do. Thankfully as the character evolves, she loses it but she is severely lacking the 'umph' to pull off the emotional scenes. I was actually skipping through her death scenes, scenes that were meant to be emotional, were just really grating my nerves. She was more annoying as an actress than as a character, and that doesn't happen often. I was drama kid, I can give actors some room to grow but wow, this just felt awful to watch. I haven't seen any other work from this actress so I'm willing to make it a directional problem but there were just too many times where her portrayal just felt so wooden and dry, like she was on her 100th night of a touring show. The emotional crying scenes were painful, like a child pretending to cry for attention. Ding Yu Xi managed to counteract this with his own quips and quirks to keep me watching but he shouldn't have to and that's just sad as a performer.
Music - I quite enjoyed the music to this one. There were two specifically that stood out. The dramatic one and the bah dah bah one that played during the cute moments.
Rewatch - The romance in this isn't particular intense and the kisses are simple, which may have contributed to the feeling of drag for me, when we returned to the Immortal realm. It feels as though, even though the leads have had lifetimes together, the romance never leaves that teenage phase of hand holding and promising to be together always. It is however an enjoyable watch but I did skip scenes so I'm unlikely to watch it again.
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