3
5
jpny01
Really lovely
There's a lot to praise in this - the characters are not formulaic, and the themes of the story are quite a bit more mature than the usual high-school/college boy story.Our main character is about to hit 40, and lives safely and while he's not depressed, he's not happy either, just sort of going with the flow of life, doing the same thing every day, with only his younger employee Togawa to lighten his day. He's unaware that Togawa worships him and will do anything to make him happy. They draw closer and Togawa puts him on an anti-aging regimen which involves doing diffrent things all the time to keep him stimulated and force him out of his box.
It's a great dynamic, where the age diffrence, far from being a problem, is a plus for both of them. Togawa gets good guidance from a more experienced man, and Kozue is revitalized by Togawa's youth and unjaded perspective.
The other interesting quality is that Kozue is clearly the more passive of the two, so the power dynamic is interesting and more complex than the usual seme-uke dynamic. Kozue is older, more exprienced, and the boss at work. Togawa is always deferential and in awe of Kozue, but he's a little like a sheep dog, aggressively herding Kozue in the direction he thinks is best for him.
Where the series is a bit of a miss is that it shies from the physical aspect of their relationship - when you have a 30-year old and a 40-year old, it feels off for their interaction to be so high school, and this is underscored by a moment with a thumb that is tantalizingly domineering and one of the hotter things you'll see in a BL.
There is an inevitable comparison to Cherry Magic, and I must say I prefer this in almost every way. The dynamic between the characters is more natural, the humor is smarter and more understated, and Togawa is refreshingly weird in a sweet yet bossy way.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this - it's well-acted and shot, it's got some good fluff without being about fluff, and the characters and their interaction is not as simplistic as the BL formula generally dictates. It's also a series that you're likely to rewatch, and I don't say that often.
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Ugh. I don't know what happened here.
My theory is that whoever directed Ep 0 died. Then they didn't want to spend the extra money to change the credits, so they just didn't get a director or pulled some homeless guy off the street to do it. Actually, that's unfair to homeless people, because I'm fairly sure all homeless people, everywhere, could have done a better job with this series.Ep 0 was quite good - I had no expectations of it given this production company's previous work, which was mediocre at best and seemed like it was all commercials for products, but then Ep 0 came out and it was a fast-paced but not rushed romance between people with great chemistry and charm, so I got excited for the series. It's bad.
Here's what I think the problem is: There is only about 4 episodes worth of "plot", but they stretched it to 12 eps. Because they had Daonuea in a relationship with his first love, Tee (that seemed more based on habit than anything else), all the key characters were stuck in a holding pattern. Danuea was with Tee, so he was not free to be with Nine. Tee was with Daonuea, so he was not free to be with Ice, and Nine had a girlfriend so he felt free to f@#$ anything that could breathe.
Daonuea is a bit whiny, which would probably have been OK because he's cute and has a hot body, but because he had to whine about the same things over, and over, and over, he was just irritating and unpleasant. Nine was a walking red flag - apparenly serially cheating on his girlfriend, and he went hard for Daonuea, who wanted to be faithful to Tee but is a weak person so he made out with Nine pretty much constantly then pushed him away in a oft-repeated pattern that just made him even more annoying. If you're going to cheat on your boyfriend on a daily basis, then just do it, or break up with him. But don't make out with some guy and then act like it's all his fault.
Tee did begin his relationship with Daonuea on false pretenses, and apparently cheated on him in the past, so he's not Mr. Perfect (but is a lot closer to it than Nine or Daonuea, and he's sexy and I want him for myself, but that's not important right now), and he does understand when to give up, so there's that.
Nine's girlfriend is crazy, but somehow relatable. The actress played her very well and made her a fully-realized character instead of an evil shrew. She's clearly unstable and insecure, but aware she's unstable and insecure, which is kind of refreshing because she would generally apologize when she crossed (way, way, way over) the line. And it's hard to fault her for being insecure, crazy and suspicious if her bf really will bang anything halfway attractive.
If this had been four episodes, it would have been a bonkers rollercoaster that was fun to watch, but because it's 12, it doesn't work. Crazy behavior, loss of self-control, forbidden love, etc. can be exciting, funny, or entertaining - ONCE. When the same crazy, selfish, and forbidden things are done several hundred times, it's boring, irritating, and you end up hoping everyone dies alone like they deserve.
The acting is probably decent. I say that because I'm not sure anyone else could have done better with this material, and nobody can say they didn't play their characters with consistency.
I might have rated this a bit too high, but the actors really did try, there was a story, even if it was thin, and it did conclude, albeit in a bit of a contrived happy group ending (with one of the most hilarious pregnancies you'll see. TBH, she should really go get an x-ray, because it looked more like she had a huge breast tumor than a baby).
Anyway, I'd watch Ep 0 and then pretend they met up when they got home and lived happily after. If you'd prefer a story where Nine ghosts Daonuea then shows up as a homewrecker with an insane girlfriend, makes everyone miserable, then Daonuea forgives him because he was randomly at an amusement park dressed as an assassin 10 years ago, and then they live happily for... I'd give them two months at best... then this is for you.
Suprise of the series: Ice and Tee, who had the only hot moment in the 12 eps.
EDIT: There is a special episode after the series featuring Ice & Tee, and it's also pretty good. It's a bit confusing about when it takes place, but it's apparently after Ice returns from Singapore. Anyway, those two have some serious chemistry and they're not afraid of getting physical - they were really making out, not just rubber-lipping it, and their NC-17 scene was possibly the best I've seen in a Thai BL, so I bumped up my score a bit.
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Yikes.
I'm not going to sugar-coat it. This was terrible.I'll get it out of the way - the makeup artist is either a sadist or hates both actors. Han Gi Chan looks 10 years older than he is (which means he's going to be a hot daddy in 10 years) and Holland looks deceased. I kept thinking of Beetlejuice.
The problem with this series is that the story makes no sense. Essentially, an all-star chef moves to a hut on the beach to sell udon. A homeless undead person shows up and insinuates himself into chef's life. Undead-guy is good at everything restaurant-related except protecting jugs of aged soy which are left on the floor for no apparent reason. Chef inexplicably falls in love with Beetlejuice, who abandons him in the night, leaving him heartbroken and with nobody to wash the dishes. One year later he returns and Chef takes him back without any curiosity as to why he left or any concern that he might run away again, altough tears that look like they came from a squeeze-bottle fall down his make-up plastered face. Chef seems to have been hurt by his other ex too, but at least he was wealthy and hot, and doesn't flee into the night for no apparent reason.
I'm sure Holland is a wonderful person who has had to endure harships, but we can't be good at everything, and acting is not on e of the things he's good at. I suspect he'd be able to pull off an OTT outrageous character in a comedy, but as a romantic lead in a drama, no.
Story: 2. Bad, but I gave it a point for not throwing in stock BL cliches.
Acting: 6. This is kind. Han Gi Chan is pretty good, and the two other minor characters are decent.
Music: 8. Holland sings the theme song, and it's pretty good.
Rewatch: 2. I'd say 1, but Han Gi Chan does take a shower, and I would rewatch that.
Overall: 5. It's not good. It's not embarassing (except the makeup and writing), but I did find myself hitting the +10 seconds button quite often.
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Not so much bad as unbelievably boring.
EDIT: Do not be tricked by the fake 10/10 ratings. The show is awful and is too huge an investment of time to slog through.The story setup is not innovative, but it is at least fertile ground for development. Unfortunately, the glacial pace of that development and the ridiculously boring characters does not exploit this opportunity. First, it seems clear to me that Wil was intended to be the villain, but because viewers inexplicably loved him so much, the producers reversed themselves and made him good, which drained the show of all interest and drama as there is no antagonist.
Second, the best actor, who plays the unstable psycho Nuan, is wasted playing an unstable psycho - which should be interesting, except his instability is too stable and never develops or goes anywhere. But at least you feel something when he's on screen. The actor playing Jimmy is good too, but it takes a long time to get over what a dick his character is at the beginning - they laid it on too hard and so the audience misunderstood that he wasn't the villain, Wil was (well, supposed to be).
The acting overall is fairly good, although nobody is really given much material to work with. Some of the acting is cringeworthy, but to their credit, a lot of the inexperienced actors showed improvement as the series wore on. And on.
Third, it's almost comical that every single male character (and all their family members. I am not joking) in the show is hot for the supernaturally average Joey, when Nuan and Jimmy are like, right there.
I can't rate the plot because there isn't one. I'm not joking.
There is a houseplant that has more scenes than most of the main characters. Still not joking. It is also in more conversations than most of the main characters. It is also more interesting than most of the main characters, and a better conversationalist. There is more chemistry between the houseplant and both Joey and Wil than they have with each other. The chemistry between Joey and Wil is so non-existent that when they touch it feels like the actors are sexually harassing each other.
The music is bad. If the music is not noticeable it's at least doing it's job, which would earn it a five. But there is one bar of music that is run over an over again to the point that you want to poke out your eardrums so you don't ever have to hear it again.
The production values are unacceptably bad - like a child with an iPhone could have done a better job of filming this. The camerawork was terrible, the sound was worse, and the editor is clearly a sadist.
As for rewatch value, I doubt even the most ardent JoWil enthusiast has ever rewatched a scene. Maybe the one in the bathroom where they're both in towels. Wil looks pretty good in a towel, so some people might want to see that again. If you held a gun to my head, I'd probably prefer a bullet to watching this again.
Overall rating: Worse than COVID, not as bad as the Holocaust.
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Anti Reset Extra Episodes
7 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
Cute but pointless
I didn't really get the point of this - it was fluffy but static. There was more than enough time to explore an element of their relationship, like what it's like for one of them to grow old and the other to stay young forever, or how annoying someone who is too neat and tidy can be - anything. The actor playing Ever 9 has an amazing body - I would have liked to see Yi Ping feeling awkward about being sexually attracted to him shirtless or something. I'm sure we've all thought about what sex with a robot would feel like emotionally - and since that's a very likely future for many or most people, it could stand to be explored.Ever 9 looked hotter with his hair like that.
The bumper car scene and the competition after that were the highlight of the episode for me.
Anyway, if you liked Anti-Reset, you'll probably like this, but nothing happens and the kissing is so-so at best.
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Very good, stops short of great
There is lot to recommend this series - foremost the acting, which is uniformly excellent. I'm not sure I've ever seen couples behave more realistically and without reserve - you really felt like these were people with feelings for each other. The physical affection in this is natural and convincing, with lovers sleeping cuddled up and not wearing enough clothing to survive arctic exposure with a minimum of one meter between them at all times like is typical in BL.There's clearly a lot of passion that went into this production, from direction, to wardrobe, to all aspects of the production, and it makes a huge difference.
The dialog is better than normal, and most of the characterization is steady and consistent.
There are a few issues, however. This is a classic enemies-to-lovers story, and it's at its best - as usual - in the enemies portion, with an interesting and fairly equal dynamic that's unusual and entertaining, with the enigmatic and non-maliciously manipulative Zherui showing up in bizarre and unexpected ways, and the frustrated and grumpy Zong Yi trying to get rid of him while missing him when he's gone. There is no particular seme-uke dynamic at first, which is refreshing, and when they do fall into those roles it's in an unexpected way.
The secondary couple is more clearly seme-uke, but the uke is not useless and without agency. He's crazy and mercurial, and would benefit from a steady-handed partner, but I liked that he's to be reckoned with, not a helpless damsel.
There are, however, a few issues which prevent this from reachingthe top tier. One is the convoluted plot with many holes in it and contrived relationships and coincidences, greatly exacerbated by numerous very large time jumps which plaster over organic resolution of dramatic tension, i.e. the important things tend to happen off-screen.
There is also a silly cliffhanger at the end of every episode and in the middle of them as well. For example. a character is shot, but it turns out with a rubber bullet as part of a life lesson someone was trying to teach which was totally ridiculous. Someone is stabbed, and in the next scene his friends are standing at a bridge with white flowers. To give to him because it was only a flesh wound (to the intestines) - never mind that white flowers are for the dead, and that was just cheap misdirection for 10 seconds of angst. The cliffhangers required a lot of time to be burned on backtracking to fill us in on what happened, and made it very difficult to follow the series if you watched it weekly - so I would recommend binge-watching. As it was, I usually had to review the previous episode because the beginning of each episode is unconnected to the end of the last.
Finally, the dynamic between the main pair descends into stereotypical BL roles, with the formerly grumpy and irritated Zong Yi transmogrifying into a sweet romantic lead, which is frankly boring and inconsistent with the character as originally drawn. He was bound to soften a bit, but he didn't need to become a different person. Clearly the writer wanted lovey-dovey interaction, but it could have been done with some of the edge left in. Due to what happens along the way, he suffers from a short-term memory problem - for about 5 minutes after a huge time jump, then it more or less goes away and has no further impact on anything.
There is a fake memory loss plot that is resolved so quickly that it's pointless and probably should have been left out. The story arc of the mafia boss was very well-acted, but had so little impact that it essentially wasted time. Too much was attempted for the run-time available, when it would have been better to just cut out elements that weren't necessary to the story.
Would I recommend this series? Definitely. Despite the criticisms above, it has so much going for it that the problems are overbalanced by it's good qualities, not least of which the unbelievable attractiveness of the cast - they are all smokin', and even better are all talented and skilled actors.
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Trainwreck - but semi-redemptive Special Episode
EDIT: Post-Special Episode comments added.This series started off well. The acting for the main pair is good, they're very attractive & hot-bodied, and while there wasn't anything ground-breaking, it was nice that the main couple were both guys - fairly equal (although with a cute size difference - and It was a bit unusual for the uke to fight off a gang to rescue the seme from being beaten). Their interaction was refreshing & natural, and all-in-all it was a pleasant watch.
Until it wasn't. First, the secondary couple looked like it might be interesting at first, but it was a dreary slog, with very dull acting and an uninteresting story. Eventually I just FF'd though all their scenes.
Then, the main couple imploded. I should have known that when they got together too early. Instead of exploring the frictions caused by being friends since childhood and then becoming a couple, they opted for the most stupid and tiresome means of generating drama imaginable, the "mercilessly and cruelly break up with him so he can attain happiness with a good woman" trope. Ugh. By the time they emerge from that (by sprinting a mile toward each other wearing business suits in full sunlight without breaking the slightest sweat), you just don't give a flying f@#$ if they get together or just die horribly while crossing the street (which is usually fatal in BL). Although it turns out being run over by the White SUV of Death is survivable, apparently (you'll understand if you make it to the finale).
If I'd stopped watching after Ep 8 I'd probably rate this an 8.5, but unfortunately I continued watching. The plot turn doesn't even make sense - it's implied at first that one of their fathers was so against them being together that they couln't be, but he wasn't. At all. Other than initial surprise, which just about any parent will feel if they've never been given an inkling their kid was gay until walking in on him with a guy.
I will say that the kissing & love scenes were good. Max Lin looks about as good as one can with his shirt off, and Shi Cheng Hao is beautiful, and both commit.
The music is bad - it's like something you'd hear on an afternoon special from 40 years ago about a waitress falling in love with a prince that she doesn't know is a prince. It spoils the final love scene. There are nice cameos from three past series in this "universe" - Be Loved In House (the main couple in this series are divorce lawyers, so it's interesting to see a perfect BL couple having problems), H3 Make Our Days Count, and H4 Close to You.
I would skip this, or if you watch it, stop at the end of Ep 8. The rest is dreck. What a disappointment. Hopefully we'll see these leads in something better, because they were cute together in the first two-thirds.
EDIT for Special Episode: this was added, which really helped and got rid of the sour taste the latter part of the series left for me. Most of the episode is Ze Shou passing out after the wedding and dreaming he's back in high school but with his 28-year old memories - it's sweet, cute, and clever. The Sailor Moon outfit... Also, their English teacher is hot. Note what's written on the black board - it seems to reflect how Ze Shou feels about the girl.
They could have stuck with this idea instead of the pointless drama after Ep 8 and it would have been so much better - in fact it would have been fun for Li Gong to have his own similar dream - maybe with him being a lot more aggressive knowing Ze Shou returns his love.
There are also three new Behind the Scenes episodes that I enjoyed (still ff-ing through the secondary couple) - the actors are so comfortable with each other, and they're both so smart and funny - there's also a lot of shirtless lingering for the filming of the love scenes. It's sweet how teary-eyed they got after the wrap.
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Gun is so supernaturally unappealing that it was totally incomprehensible that Bar would ever go for this creepy stalker, especially when he had the 1,000 times more attractive Mark after him too. To be honest, my skin crawled so badly whenever Gun was onscreen that I started fast-fowarding through all his scenes.
I would recommend you jut skip everything except the 5-10 minutes or so with Mark so that you have the background you need for Love Mechanics, although you don't really need to see it because there's a brief flashback that tells you everything you need to know in the second series. This is the worst BL I've ever watched - What the Duck is a work of high art compared to this. The acting is terrible - Gun manages to be the creepiest "handsomest guy on campus" imaginable and Bar is passable - it's hard to blame him given what he had to work with.
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Check Out: Special Episode
10 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
Wow, this was really lovely
Warnings : NO WARNINGS. Just plain loving and beautiful.I was not excited about this given how Skinship is a long ad. There is definitely product placement in this too, but it's wonderfully integrated into the plot and non-intrusive.
Anyway, this is both hot and adorable, with wonderful chemistry between the characters - it's rare that you instantly feel two people are perfect for each other without reservation so quickly. I'm really excited for the full series. Both actors really inhabit their characters - especially Chahub, who does a wonderful job as the mischievous Nine - his not-very-subtle flirting was really funny and sexy, and I really felt his character.
The plot progression is natural and believable, and the way they drew together was romantic and beautiful.
One thing, though: that female employee was so obnoxious that I seriously almost stopped watching this. Note to producers: characters like that are not funny - they're intensely annoying and that behavior borders on sexual harassment, and she should be fired immediately. I would leave and demand my money back if someone treated me that way at a resort.
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It's not bad, but pretty forgettable.
I really thought something was wrong with me today, after seeing all the rave reviews and comments, and I just wasn't seeing what everyone else was seeing. I even read 9 chapters of the webtoon to see if that would solve it. (More on that below).The actors are competent, but they seemed to be directed to under-emote, Thai style, which de-Koreanized the series a bit, which is a pity. But still, they were solid, and this was beautifully shot. All the side characters had good actors too.
But the story didn't make a lot of sense emotionally. We never get a sense for why Siwon was so hostile to Daun - I kind of understood why, but it wasn't really demonstrated. And then his turnaround is sudden and unmotivated. All of this made it a little difficult to invest in the romance, and it didn't help that their chemistry was not very heated.
I think part of the issue is the original story is a comedy, and they turned it into a drama, and in the process stripped it of everything unique and interesting. In the manwha, Siwon is an outrageous, OTT narcissist, and Daun is an even more outrageous and more OTT narcissist - Siwon is already funny enough, but that Daun suffers from such severe narcissistic delusion that even Siwon finds it incredible is LOL funny. The other issue is that the first two eps are really slow and dull, and because I binged it I never really recovered from that.
But turning it into a very conventional romantic drama just makes Siwon an unpleasant person, which is unfortunate because he's kind of plain when he's hostile and really lovely when he smiles. Daun, instead of being kind of crazy is just a conventionally sweet guy, and Diwan's hostility is strange and assholish. In the comic Daun really is stealing his spotlight, which Daun takes for granted as the natural result of his beauty (he actually glows).
So the end result is a reasonably pleasant but dull and forgettable series. If it hadn't been released all at once I probably would have forgotten about it.
People in the comments section are saying things like "Korea's answer to ITSAY" - I certainly hope not, because I have very high expectatons for what a full-powered Korean BL can accomplish, and this series doesn't even approach ITSAY - this is more like Korea's answer to Fish Upon the Sky. I thought it was markedly inferior in every aspect except cinematography to the same director's Where Your Eyes Linger - which is not at all surprising as she's extremely talented (we need more female BL directors!) and she wrote the screenplay for WYEL as well as directing it.
As a minor note of no importance, I wish Asian dramas would stick with their original names - e.g. Cherry Magic's Japanese title is hilarious - and attempts at wordplay often fall flat. Because "blue" and "Ming" are both words, and Ming-dynasty porcelain is characteristically blue, putting them together just comes out blue Ming (i.e blue MING instead of BLUEming).
Summary: good and worth watching, but don't go in with expectations of an 11/10 or you'll be disappointed. Maybe watch the first two eps one day and then wait a while and binge the rest.
Edit: I had to look up this series on 13 May 2022 because I couldn't remember it. I kind of do now, but only vaguely. So I guess I was right and it's forgettable. At least for me. I do remember the Manwha, though because it was really funny.
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Ghost Host, Ghost House
13 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
It's not terrible.
There are some positives to this, including that the author clearly has enough life experience to write characters that act like people. The plot doesn't depend on tropes and accidental kisses, it's just a straightfoward attraction between two people.What the author does not have, however, is any sense of pacing or dramatic plotting. There really isn't much point to the premise as it doesn't really factor much into the story and has nothing to do with the ultimate resolution. There is a mystery at the beginning that could have been drawn out and made more terrifying, but instead the audience is let in almost immediately and it's played mostly for laughs.
The two main failings are the plot holes and the general lack of energy to everything. The end result is that I really never had much idea what was going on because nothing impressed itself on me stongly enough to remember, like in the finale when they reveal their coke-can tabs. I have absolutely no memory of anything involving those. Kevin has an ex that's important somehow, but that's never fleshed out. Also, How is it possible that Kevin wouldn't know the state of his aunt's family? Wouldn't his mother know the truth? Or if not, wouldn't he have to tell her?
Also, the story depends on a three-year time jump, during which the main pair don't see each other. What? Why not? Kevin has the resources to fly back & forth from the US, and Pluem's new job would certainly pay enough for him to travel. Why did Kevin even go home? All he does is live stream - it's not like he can't do that from anywhere.
But most of all, none of this has anything to do with the premise of the show, which isn't in the end a premise, it's just a "schtick". It isn't integral to the plot like in the masterful Something In My Room, and has nothing to say - it's just a shallow and unmemorable romance.
The dialog isn't vapid, but it's infected by the Thai-drama-endless-pauses-while-speaking disease which I take it is supposed to lend serious scenes gravitas, but instead makes them dull and stilted, because nobody speaks like that or we would slap them. The pacing of the series is too fast, but the pacing of every individual scene is too slow.
There are also other strange choices - in the final episode, where Pluem is being seductive (highly, highly, successfully), this could have been one of the hotter scenes in a while, except instead of being turned on, Kevin appears to be terrified, which is really a buzzkill and makes it creepy. It's odd, because when the camera shows us his perspective, he's staring straight at Pluem's pecs, which are ably outlined by the fantastic outfit he has on (speaking of which, the wardrobe in this series is first-rate), so why is he acting like a 12-year old girl facing his first time when he's a man in his late 20s? It drained all the energy out of the scene.
You can see that Boy and Tod have the potential for chemistry, but it's never really allowed to go anywhere, and this whole series feels like it was created with a hand tied behind its back - as if the creators were embarassed by feelings and felt they had to exercise unnecessary restraint.
This isn't a terrible series, but if you remember anything but Tod's short shorts a few months from now, or maybe Boy's sexy smirk, I'd be surprised.
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Beautiful Story and Beautifully Shot
First, this is not for everyone. If you're expecting a BL, you can stop expecting a BL - it's not one. There is an LGBT aspect of the story, and the male gaze is present as Atom wears very little thorughout which is a goldmine for shallow people like me, and when he is dressed up, he looks amazing.Reading the comments section, there is a bit of overstatement of the theatricality of the series. It is intentionally play-like, but the purely visual elements are of equal importance to the dialogue, and I think that because this was deceptively marketed a BL, the audience was looking for BL and not seeing what was really there, and you can't blame the audience for that.
If you approach this as a straightforward story, you may hate it - it's an allegory, so it's important to think about what everyting symbolizes and what is metaphor, and what the message is.
There are many related themes, a couple of the more surfacy ones being the futility of second-guessing past decisions - and the utility of atonement in order to move on.
The structure of the story has Sunshine given the power to totally erase a person from the universe each night for 7 Days before Valentine('s - I wish these productions could get the grammar of the title correct), and the correct decision will bring love back to him. Each erasure has a lessson, but this causes the biggest problem with the series and what I think is the main reason so many people disliked it and/or dropped it:
it's too long, One of the erasures is a self-indulgent political statement by the writer, which didn't belong in here. What would have been more meaningful and universal would have been to erase the Conservative, ending up in a Stalinist far-left conformity, as without balance even the side you're on can become descend into oppression.
Another of the erasures just makes Sunshine evil and malicious and should not have been included, Some of his decisions are bad, but viewed through the lens of his heartbreak is understandable, but this one isn't - it's just awful of him.
The acting in this is fantastic - the series rests firmly on Atom's shoulders, and he carries it. His heartbreak is heartbreaking, his smile is even worse (so beautiful it hurts), and there's a scene with him on stage that's worth it in itself. Jet is good too, but he has a more limited range and I don't think he quite kept up with Atom. The small parts are all very well acted, even "annoying stock characters" that made them all compelling, like Jared the Flower Guy. who could have just been irritating, but it's hard not to fall in love with him.
I loved this series, but I did feel it bogged down in the middle. If you can put up with that, the end is worth it. But again, this is not a BL, so don't watch it expecting one.
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By far the best Oxin series to date.
There are some surprising things in this - the story is relatively focused, the cast is beautiful, and the story, while not very original, it fairly well-written - until the last episode.It built up to a climax in Ep 7, but then deflated like a sad balloon. The fallout from what happened is barely touched on - what was the end result? The marriage was a business deal important to both families - that plot element was just dropped.
The climax itself is caused by Briggs and Shao being incredibly stupid and reckless, but I suppose first love can do that. The problem is that Briggs behaves totally out of character afterwards. If you're willing to derail a wedding to get your man, shouldn't he follow through instead of ghosting Shao? He's a horrible person - ruining someone's life then shrugging and going on his way. I know that's not how it's meant, and he does provide his reason, but it's unconvincing.
The whole finale is taken up by a replay of the entire climacitc sequence, followed by a lot of static scenes of people laying in bed moping. Given how short this was, it spoiled the story to have a filler ending episode that didn't make too much sense. The didn't really "earn" being a couple - it just happened, and was hard to invest in.
The acting is good, not stellar, with the exception of a few of the female roles, a recurring failing of Oxin productions. There is FINALLY a trans character that isn't a humilated for cheap comedy and is actually smart and wise.
If this is the new standard for Oxin, I'm happy because it shows a steep upward trajectory, and perhaps we'll see even better productions in the future.
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Individual Circumstances
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It's OK. A bit repetitive
This is a forgettable series with a solid first episode and a pleasant Ep 7 & 8, but the rest of it was a dreary repetitive mess, with the character of a reclusive writer being absolutely horrible to a charming, generous, and extremely good-looking director who he obviously had a troubled past with. The writer is so awful, though, that it was hard to care if they got together or not.And as more and more is revealed, it's clear that the writer was totally in the wrong, but also the plot hinges on yet another implausible misunderstanding - how could Woo Jae have been unaware of Yeon Woo's mother's death? It didn't make much sense.
The kisses are the worst I've ever seen, even by Korean standards - it was really uncomfortable to watch, and it would have been better to just do a hug.
6 months from now I'll come across this review and have no recollection of having written it or watched the series, except I'll probably remember writing that I wouldn't remember writing this.
The acting is good, especially Yeon Woo - Woo Jae is flatter, but he delivers in the climactic scene in Ep 7. The music is also pleasant enough, and Han Jung Wan is very hot. The wardrobe is particularly good, to the point that I looked forward to scene changes to see what the characters were wearing. If you can stay awake through the middle episodes, the ending is nice. Except the kisses.
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Very ambitious production
I gave this a relatively high rating because the scale of ambition here is so high, and the execution is fairly impressive for such a low-budget production - not low in BL terms, but for the CGI and effects, and all the fight scenes, they got good bang for the buck.The cast is beautiful - every frame is full of eye-candy (for me, it was all about Gap as Yai and Nat as Art, but they're all hot and gorgeous), it's well-filmed, the acting is overall very good, the music is a step above the norm - but the writing is a mess.
How would you summarize Phaya and Tharn's characters? How did they develop over the course of a long series? Their personalities are similar and there's no journey at all. Even Chalothon (played with wonderful malicious glee by Heng), who has the largest character development, does it with a light-switch off-screen in the #1 enemy of good writing, the lazy time-jump. The side characters were all better drawn than the mains - for example, I could describe Yai in detail, but to be fair, he and Nat were the two best actors in the series, and infused their characters with layers.
Instead of Tharn sulking in flashbacks for the entire final episode, wouldn't it have been nice to see Tharn & Chalothon's interaction? What was the point of the artist character (named "Art")? I appreciated having Nat Sakdatorn wearing very little on my screen for an episode, but it, like most of the plot threads, went nowhere.
The main day-to-day villain is stolen from a Scooby Doo cartoon - I almost expected the "and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids!" His sidekick has no personality whatsoever, so he should consider himself lucky. I think we know who the mentioned but never seen Big Boss is, but I'm really not sure given the way the series ended.
Billy & Babe get high scores for their lack of inhibition in the love scenes - that was real kissing, and their bodies even touched - but they're so hyper-romanticized and formulaic that they lack any heat, and I just didn't feel it. There is chemistry between the characters, but it's more best-friend chemistry than lover chemistry, at least from Babe, who didn't show much emotional range and I just didn't feel the love from him like I did from Billy. It was strange that they had Tharn in drag in all the past life scenes - that really served no purpose. Even if that role in the mythology it's derived from is female, then either have a woman play the role in those scenes, or just make his character male.
The series had a lot of good stuff in it, some great visuals, some intense scenes, but it seemed a bit like a collection of ideas someone had for great scenes with no coherent plan behind it. There are many plot threads that go nowhere and just take up time (although again, I'm not going to complain about getting my naked Nat, useless or not). His storyline seemed like it belonged to a totally different series (which I would have much rather watched), and I can't help but wonder if this was written as an episodic serial rather than a coherent novel.
And in the end, I was bored. I think perhaps the biggest problem is the lack of stakes. Shot 15 times? No worries, pshaw, he'll be fine! Impaled with a magical ice spear? Just a flesh wound. Fall off a cliff and plunge 1000 meters onto rocks? A nasty bumb, for sure, but nothing to worry about. It even got to the point where when people made comments that are usually the kiss of death, like "when this is all over, I'll have your favorite meal waiting for you at home", I still wasn't worried. There are a few characters for whom there's an explanation for why they aren't bruised and battered after fights, but that shouldn't apply to their hair still being pefect, although I suppose being supernatural could include magically-arranging hair. (Speaking of which, Billy's hair in Ep 12. Yikes.)
I was hoping for a spectacular final confrontation, but nope, nothing of the sort, other than a drug raid which resolved nothing. There was too much that I had to fast-forward through - so many flashbacks and pointless scenes - and because there were no stakes and no real purpose to them, the fight scenes were just filler for me.
I would recommend this for the visuals and actors, but I don't understand the incredibly high score. It's worth watching, and I hope it emboldens more sci-fi & fantasy-themed BLs, and I applaud the effort that went into this, but with better writing it could have been a 10/10.
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