I am a long time fan and then an even longer time proud hater of omegaverse. I was fresh out of bls to watch, except stuff by mame, so I was prepared to look at literally anything else. I didn't notice the omegaverse tag and was horrified when I jumped into this and it came up. It's my least favorite trope-- it's almost always used to make a plot go from (possibly) interesting to outright horseshit. My personal saying after nearly a decade of being an ABO fiction reader was: once every five years, there is a cold day in hell, and an actually good ABO fic is born.

All that to say: I now stretch that over to series as well with great prejudice because, despite how much I actively wanted to hate this

OMFG ITS SO GOOD WTFFFF
And damn did I wanna be a hater, I was so, so excited for it but...the ABO is not in my face-- normally I'm cringing every time someone says Alpha or some shit but the ABO is like a background element. WHICH IS THE BEST WAY FOR IT TO BE. There's so little bs here I had time to forget the ABO entirely some episodes. This part of the review is literally just for others like me: I see you, I feel your pain, and stand in solidarity with you because if you start watching this, you will finish it. It's hot, good plot, nice conflict, no misunderstanding bs storyline, characters just ask what they wanna know. (And even with the one misunderstanding plotline, it's set up right-- you can pick a side instead of everyone just being immature, annoying, and wrong.) I should also mention that it doesn't seem to be cut-and-dry bog-standard omegaverse rules, so that helps.

Anyway, if you enjoy whump there's a lovely, modest dusting of it in here which is enough, I guess. I was constantly grinning in anticipation of one of the characters having a bad time. And when that character wasnt, a different, equally whump-tastic character WAS. Perfection. I won't spoil anything so I'll just say this: the peak whump you'll end up hoping for will be satisfied 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂😉 (Please do remember that I described it as a moderate dusting of whump and don't get too excited though, there will be at least two moments where you beg a character to stand up or at least consider growing a spine/self-respect.) I'm having the bestest time though, friend, you gotta go watch it and get caught up.

Also, sidenote: I didn't think American culture affected me that much, but when bro sent 8 texts in a row in a single minute? I won't lie, it really threw me off. No bearing on the review or my rating, I just noticed myself counting how many messages he was gonna send lol.

I had a short period of being interested in racing/NASCAR a long time ago, so I thought I'd probably end up skipping most of the racing scenes (I just watched Love in the Air and skipped every single one there. Or at least every one in the seven episodes I got through.) I skipped the first race and then there was always some gimmick or plot point that made every following race interesting. This script is so offensively good bro, I'm trying to explain that as clearly as possible. A lot of times, I have to give BL a bellcurve to stand it up against other genres, but this is just good. It's just a good story with good acting and good pacing. It's a satisfying watch, nothing dragged out for too long (especially the dramatic scenes omfl, looking at you wabi sabi. So refreshing to not look at a character for ten straight seconds of nothing)

I had to do a stroke test a few times because I couldn't tell if the translations suddenly made no sense for a few lines or if I'd lost the ability to read. Luckily, it was the first. Unluckily, it was the first. Sometimes you're gonna miss stuff because the words on screen could mean anything at all except a coherent sentence.

Cute side couple is cute and doesn't make me wish they were the main couple but also doesn't bore me. Ads are as aggressive as usual so if you dislike that, good luck, but I just find them funny so I didn't factor them into my rating. Everyone in the series is an adult and acts like it and it is so damn refreshing. There are issues in it that I'm actually torn on!! Issues complex enough to not have an immediate and obvious right answer! Heaven really is on earth sometimes.

The music is good (that generic club beat gets me bouncing in my seat) but the one sad piano track does get repetitive and can be a bit annoying by like episode 5. Everyone's eye candy in this show to the point that it's almost irritating. The side side couple is also cute, it actually took me a bit to realize they were another pair but once I did? Whoo-wee, I wasn't made about that at all, nosiree! The side side side couple is also cute but kinda unnecessary? Like I dont need them there, but I'm happy they are because I like them.... but also they're also taking up valuable story time, idk.


I was a little sad they made the plot points that should've been mysterious kinda obvious but, if you're an overthinker, you should be able to gaslight yourself into thinking you don't know what's going on. And even if you can't, it's still entertaining regardless!

You have no idea how much my pride was smarting when I bought iQiyi premium to watch an ABO show, so I hope this review also convinced you to do the same and join me in the comfortable lap of hypocrisy lmao, it's worth it (I got it for $2, I think it was a sale or newbie benefit or something¿ mighta hesitated more if it was like $10.) Anyway, long story very, very short: watch this.

EDIT: Ive finished the show now and....wow, everything in the last few episodes (maybe since 9?) Really ruined this. I thought this would be an all time fave but it just devolved into a shitshow. Some points of contention and then Im outta here:

1. Jeff can seenthe future but never uses it to help in all the dangerous situations? "Yeah guys, lets go contront traffickers who have guns but Im too scared to see if anyone dies lol" Please dont pmo

2. The amount of time wasted in Tony's house doing shit they could do very much out of Tony's house??? Like is this your home? Do you want to be caught?? LEAVE. Or leaving guns in arms reach of people who want to shoot at them. Little stupid things that are infuriating.

3. The KentaPete plot was unnecessary and wasted time they obviously needed to make the plot less awful.

4. Either give your villains knives or, if the must have guns, dont give them stiff trigger fingers and stormtrooper aim. And the MONOLOGUING, GOOD GOD JUST SHOOT. IDC WHO JUST FUCKING SHOOT. Actually make it me, get me out of here.

5. They needed more episodes or more writer rooms. Or both.

6. The easiest acceptance of someone faking their death ive ever seen.

7. The ending wasnt just rushed, it was mach speed.

8. People dying is treated more like a slight sad inconvenience than... idk someone fucking dying.

9. Way deserved better fr.

Im so annoyed because this had such potential but then it BL'd itself into oblivion. Ugh.