Shasha
Eeyew....
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Stress and colours but no love
Monochrome is being sold as "boys love, lgbtq+, yaoi, gay" on WayuFilms Production youtube channel. I have not seen any of it unless you count a long fixed look between the leads until one of them turns the head around. That is the only moment in the film which could make the audience think that this is a romance, though there might be a whiff of unrequited love in the air!The story:
White is a graphic designer who, after being scolded at work, loses his confidence and the ability to see colours. His best friend Shield tries to help him adjust to the new situation but White is too frustrated to make a real effort. Until one day they meet a blind girl painting in the park and White realized that his deficiency is not the end of the world and that he can do his job in spite of it.
The story deals with the pressure: the one we put on ourselves thinking we can do anything and the one put on us by the world, the employers and the society at large. We need to learn how to deal with this kind of stress, and the film shows it to us: there are people worse off than ourselves who are doing much better just because they accept themselves as they are and have found a way to make the most of it by taking an alternative path. In this film, the bling girl teaches White to distinguish colours by smell.
The production is, as usual, on a shoe string budget. The best was actually the actress playing the blind girl: I really believed she was blind. The film also has the main character working on a poster for a film/web drama starring the same actress and from the same producers. (On n'est jamais mieux servi que par soi même!!) The actors are rookies who act better when they are not speaking: there is a long montage without dialogue, which I found the most interesting. It seems to me that WayuFilm Productions are rarely going outside these days, filming their short movies in the office. They have lost a bit of its charm: I remember when I first discovered them, the cinematography was stunning and the stories were original. The last few short films have been a slight disappointment: actors learning the trade, boring stories and bad production values.
So, there is no romance here just some wishful thinking from the audience used to better fleshed out stories (Mon & Oak period!) from this director .
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Pretty paintings and crime
DISCLAIMER: My opinion, that's all!The concept of this drama reminded me very much of many US shows, police procedurals in which they usually pair up a gruff but extremely honest policeman and a quirky highly intelligent civilian (mostly mathematicians or psychology professors or some such profession) who comes up with the right remark/discovery at a crucial moment thereby solving the case gaining admiration by everyone!
It is the same here: this time an art history professor and highly skilled painter is brought in to help with investigations. At first there is animosity between him and the detective but that quickly vanished when the painter skilfully solves the case in the nick of time, impressing the detective who becomes his main fan.
I was actually a bit disappointed that the conflict was resolved so quickly: I hoped for the tension to last a bit longer. From episode three onwards, we were on the full bromance(not chines censors' one though which it could have been seeing the physical differences between two characters who looked like they just came out of a shounen ai manhua!LOL).
Once their relationship was firmly established, we were treated to a series of "case of the week" episodes featuring different stories: murders, scams, suicides (the slightly GL overtone one did not sit well with me: it sent the very wrong message!)
Over these 20 episodes we did not find much about the main characters: their past and their families are barely mentioned.
And this is where the plot holes come in: the detective comes from a well off family but was caught being a delinquent in a gang fight. Painter looks like he was a homeless kid, taken in by a kind art teacher but still living as a rebel? He was nearly drowned to death (who saved him the first time?) and forgot the face of the woman who asked him for a sketch (that too: why did she have a photo of a 3yr old to find someone easily found 30 years later?I must have missed the explanation!LOL). A psychologist told him he needed to have another near death experience to jog his memory but he had had another such event just a few days previously and nothing happened to his memory. As the plot progressed, the painter got to have many new capabilities: highly observant, highly knowledgable in anatomy, highly competent in psychology (the way he manipulated the computer baron was amazing and of course chess master and extremely talented painter.Makes you wonder how the police managed to catch anyone before he joined with his drawing skills.
Last but not least, the police is painted in such a positive light; everyone is nice, honest, competent, trustworthy and cheerfull, supporting each other for the greater good! Amazing!
The paintings and the drawings were beautiful: in the last scene we are shown sketches of characters from the cases they solved and each sketch is in a different style! There are some really pretty pictures! The painter who did these for the drama production is a very talented individual!
I must admit that as much as I enjoyed this at start, I was getting bored with it by the end. It is not half bad, a fun watch but I just have trouble getting used to c dramas. Again I had the impression they first filmed everything, edited everything in a block then chopped it up into 40min pieces: sometimes the episode would end mid-sentence. They should really learn how to make a cliffhanger cliffhangy!
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Are we really friends?
This little korean web drama is by far the best drama I've seen in a long time from Korea: this is how you make a correct friends to lovers drama!Minhwa's girlfriend is suspicious of his closeness with his best friend of ten years. On the other hand, he is completely oblivious of her closeness with her long-time best friend. Well, they are all fake friends and real lovers.
The drama focuses more on the BL and the GL is just a kind of side story. But the BL is just perfect! When they go on a trip alone, they are suddenly uncomfortable in each other's company, the tension rises and eventually breaks through the friendship barrier. These scenes are sweet and funny: the stretching before a jog is hilarious. Or when the straight couple tries to come clean to each other and are constantly interrupted and don't know how to say what needs to be said!
The actors have just the right amount of chemistry together. In the first episodes, they are dressed the same and they actually look very much alike, seated beside each other in the café.
Fake Buddies is a low budget (they seem to be all alone in the world!) web drama which again proves that talent and creativity are what is important not the money. I wanted to continue watching them: they are so cute and sweet together. I would like to know more about the girls and how they got together as well: that is the episode this drama is missing and therefore I took 0.5 off my rating!
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Game of life....
Apparently, I completely misunderstood this drama. To my defence, I never read the webtoon so I judged it upon watching. I don't know if the plot is clearer there but I was quite confused with the ending.First of all, I loved it: it was beautifully filmed and skilfully acted. The director loves original angles, ceilings and shadow contrast shots: excellent camera work! Actors are just as amazing: rarely have I seen such emotional, true acting in one of these web series. Music was nice and not intrusive, so we could really enjoy the plot and try to figure out what is what! LOL
Secondly, the plot was original, a device seldom used in k drama: transmigration. I said seldom, not never, and not as much as in c dramas. A 29 yr old sad and depressed man criticizes his friend's novel which is about to be turned into a game. After drinking too much, he wakes up inside the game as a 19yr old high school student, but with the life experiences of a 29yr old, and if he wants to live, he has to complete different tasks. When he leaves the game he is deleted from it but a couple of characters still vaguely remember him; How? Why? Then he kills himself (apparently he never learned anything!) and he is sent back into the game.
The biggest part of the series takes part inside the game. That's the problem I had with it: is the game real or is it an allegory for afterlife (since at one point, the ML comes out of the game and promptly kills himself! Or does he?) or is it that his friend based a character in the game on him....I don't know!
I was expecting a different ending. Something along these lines: ML learning to know himself through the game and finally realize that his novelist friend was in love with him (the vibe was of stratospheric proportion in the first episode, the chemistry hot and therefore I suffered from second lead syndrome!LOL That never turns out well in K dramas!).
Finally, in spite of the lack of straight explanation, as I see it, and after being told off, I am just going to take it literally, in the sequence and do not think about it logically! I was told that the game is the afterlife and that the ML was dead from the beginning. That's not what I saw. I'd like to say it is open to interpretation but...forget it!
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Unmet: Aru Nogekai no Nikki
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My today connects to+ tomorrow!
WOW, just WOW!!!Unmet is a japanese drama which is as perfect as it possibly can be! But before writing more about it, I would like to thank HPriest for the amazing job subbing this drama.
So if I think it was perfect why only 9.5? Well, I decided to nitpick and complain about the ending! It was a happy ending, don't get me wrong, I just wanted to watch them some more and not only the main couple being lovey dovey but everyone! I needed ten minutes more!!!
Japanese dramas have turned out to be my favourite asian dramas: there is an unmatched skill in storytelling where they are toeing the fine line between the reality and ideal world while never stepping over, one way or the other! Unmet is a perfect example of this!
There is rarely a truly evil character in j dramas: the majority are perfect human beings while the others which seem greyish (professor, head nurse, heiress...) turn out to be just hiding their true character really well as they are trying to survive in a difficult world. But they are all brave, smart, loving and eventually sincere. Except for the creepy rich grandfather eating snakes and frogs loudly while controlling everyone around him but he got his comeuppance and was never heard of again! This character was really a caricature of a person!
But we have such a nice cast of characters here : doctors, nurses, patients and of course main leads Miyabi and Sanpei. Miyabi, the FL is a doctor with amnesia who does not let a little thing like that ruin her optimistic and kind nature. Sanpai, the ML , is a doctor who comes back to Japan in order to find a way to cure her.
I was a bit upset with this story to be frank, they seem to have had a whirlwind romance and then they split and it took him two years to come back to her?!? Why? Gaining medical experience I guess, and leaving her to deal with amnesia alone, with friends and family?
The plot was perfectly structured: there is a main story dealing with the FL's mysterious accident and the ensuing memory disorder stopping her from being the doctor. When Sanpai arrives, he incites her to treat patients and there is a "case of the week" in every episode dealing with different neurological disorders.The balance between the two plotlines is perfect: just enough of the both to make you continue watching. Some cases were tugging on my heartstrings and I almost had a tear in my eye (I never cry when watching! NEVER!). I also kept wishing I could find such nice and devoted doctors to treat my ailments (Not lucky so far! Doctors here are so full of themselves and lack compassion!). As I said before, I needed about 10 more minutes at the end which was rushed and a lot of things happened over a very short period of time. While the earlier episodes had slower pace and covered longer periods with patients staying in hospital for weeks, the last episode seemed condensed, urgency was paramount and the speedy presentation of events past and present, needed more time to settle in. That's why I was left wanting for more! The reasons behind the FL's accident were rather flimsy but I found it so because I am used to the ruthless cheabol world in K drama (I tried to figure out why they did not kill her in order to keep the secret!) so the big baddie being punished easily and quickly in j dramas is always a surprise!
I do want to apologize at this point because I am writing this without any notes having finished the drama half an hour ago so I am only writing my impressions and feelings.
The acting was excellent, especially the main actress Sugisaki Hana: I loved her freckles and her cute smile and sweet nature. The main actor, Wakaba Ryuya portrayed the unkept medical genius with brio, managing to show his care and love buried behind the bed hair. The whole cast was excellent, they had a great team chemistry, friendships, bromances and romances all were just right. The music was nice and right for the drama, the intro animation very original and illustrating the drama well! The medical part of the drama (surgeries etc.) were not overpowering or off-putting: very often we never saw the procedure, just the before and the after. That is how I like my medical dramas: when they show the human part of the profession and not focus solely on the technical one.
I cannot recommend this drama enough. It is highly bingeable (well, I just watched it in day!) since they finish every episode with a cliffhanger. But apart from that, it is so nice to see a drama where people are genuinely kind to each other, not expecting anything in return. Well, that is a japanese drama for you!
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Two worlds, one love
You cannot imagine how happy I am to be able to speak French, now! I wish I could speak japanese most of all but since I cannot, this is definitely the second best today. Why? Because I could watch this amazing short drama and the only subs available are in french! So first of all, thank you Rosé Fansub Traduction for subbing this little gem!The story is about a girl and a boy secretly dating. She is getting more and more frustrated with secrecy that she starts posting on line photos of their moments of happiness(dessert, park bench etc.). Until one day someone recognizes his shadow and he gets angry. So much so that she makes a wish to live in the happy world. And her wish is granted. But in this world, he is unknown. Soon enough, she realizes she has entered the social media world where the pecking order is determined by the number of subscribers in the real world. She is surprised to discover that some very shy and unassuming people in her class have a huge number of followers.
In addition to the sweet romance, this drama mostly talks about social media vs. real life, about being yourself anonymously vs. hiding your real self afraid of rejection. This drama is optimistic, very positive about acceptance: you just need the courage to assume your choices and the others will admire you for the courage. There are a few other examples in this drama: a trans boy and a hidden singer who, to their own surprise, end up being accepted as they are! It would be nice if it were true in reality but hope springs eternal so...Baby steps internet, baby steps fixing hole in the net!
The production is exemplary for a webdrama: the plot is tightly woven, perfectly well written, the acting is top notch and the cinematography is stunning (the light is subtly different in two worlds).
I highly recommend this if you speak japanese or french: it is easily found on youtube! Half a point off because it was too short, I wanted more. Don't worry, the story wraps up nicely but I still wanted more!
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Pretty empty...
Well, here goes another typical korean bl under the belt! Nice production value, warm and rather beautiful cinematography, zero chemistry and a lot of lipstick. A lot!Jazz For Two was one of the first webtoons I ever read a couple of years ago and I remember liking it a lot. The art was pretty, the story gripping and I even found a playlist on Spotify featuring every song mentioned in the webtoon. What I do not remember is the plot just that it was about two boys in high school bonding over jazz!
The drama is another superficial bl romance koreans are known to produce. It touches upon serious issues but it never tackles them in depth. And issues here were many: homophobia, suicide, bullying, assault. The way to deal with these issues? Love, of course! Love, which magically cures mental problems, behavioural problems etc. etc.
Teens are still children, exploring the world and figuring themselves out, so their reactions towards anything outside the instilled norms may turn violent. Care and kindness are not necessarily the standard. They are scared of being different, to stand out and therefore, when faced with the unknown, they tend to reject it violently! This was shown relly clearly in this drama.
The main characters are four boys in an arts high school who eventually form two enemies-to-lovers couples. The actors were correct, the best being Song Han Gyom(3rd lead) who played DoYoon. The worst by far, Kim Jin Kwon(ML). I had trouble recognizing him even though I remember him from To My Star. The costume and make up designers created an unlikable image: oversized clothes and too much make up (nobody has such red shiny lips naturally: he looked really artificial). Moreover, he had no chemistry with his partner.
I would like to end just with one question: is there such a thing as korean drama taking place in high school but with absolutely no bullying?
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Butterflies inducing hope
Practically perfect in every way!A butterflies inducing, tears of rage provoking story of two lost men who find happiness and solution in each other's company, with love being the cherry on the top! One, Hiro, is a programmer convinced by his boss(workplace bullying/harassment) that he is incompetent and therefore putting more and more effort into ungrateful work. So much so that he is completely exhausted and drawing onto his last drops of strength. The other one, Kai, is a taciturn man used to being alone and always abandoned, expecting nothing from the world. When these two meet, their worlds slowly but surely start to change and merge, almost unwittingly!
The drama is full of romance tropes: opposites attract, childhood connection but it works perfectly well here. The actors have good chemistry and the evolution of their relationship is slow but steady, with their respective insecurities taking turns in blocking it. Misunderstandings appear but are solved immediately! There was only one problem I found in the first episode: in order to help him sleep, Kai "helps" him release the stress through a handjob which can be seen as SA since Hiro keeps saying No. He does sleep well afterwards but this scene just repeats the aggressive gay man stereotype! I thought we were beyond this!
Kudos to casting director who found young actors who resemble the main actors. I find this often in j dramas: more often than in other countries' ones! They really make it an issue of finding a believable looking young counterparts.
And of course there is food: what would a japanese drama be without it? Love goes through the stomach, everyone knows that!
The opening credits are actually the "happily ever after" sort of compilation of scenes we never really see since the drama stops when they get together.
It is a great watch. Japanese have done it again! Except for the weird title...
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It Doesn't Matter if You Don't Know the Plot
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Twists and turns: unexpected!
I usually start a review with a short synopsis but anything I may say can be a spoiler and for the first time ever, I want to keep a review spoiler free. You just need to watch it and enjoy the ride with a satisfactory conclusion!I have yet to watch a c drama which has a sense of a cliffhanger. Usually they do not practice this art form! Therefore, it came as a huge surprise when practically every episode ended with a twisty sort of cliffhanger. What is even more surprising is that they managed to do it with short, 10 min episodes! Extraordinary!
The story deals with time travel, reincarnation, entertainment industry and mental health. The writing is top notch! I would like to know who wrote this and if they wrote anything else. Because this is by far the most original, interesting and gripping short c drama I have ever watched! Music is the usual c drama songs, heavy on the flute and the cinematography is adequately windy and flowery.
There is romance, there is comedy, there is mystery here! It is easily bingeable! If I have any complaints about this drama is that most of the cast is bland, charisma free except for the actor playing the FL's father: he was somehow different from others, rather remarkable! The drama and the story are definitely worth your while!
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Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
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Art or life? Choose! Why?
NB: Thank you for the brilliant subs evasive subs!I discovered rakugo. I never knew it existed and one episode was enough for me to spend an hour on the internet trying to find out as much as I can about this art. And I discovered many interesting things and not only on wikipedia!
First : the lesson! (LOL!)
Rakugo (落語, literally 'story with a fall')[1] is a form of Japanese verbal entertainment, traditionally performed in yose theatres.[2] The lone storyteller (落語家, rakugoka) sits on a raised platform, a kōza (高座). Using only a paper fan (扇子, sensu) and a small cloth (手拭, tenugui) as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical (or sometimes sentimental) story. The story always involves the dialogue of two or more characters. The difference between the characters is depicted only through change in pitch, tone, and a slight turn of the head. The monologue always ends with a narrative stunt (punch line). Rakugo has been described as "a sitcom with one person playing all the parts". Around 1670 in the Edo period (1603–1867), three storytellers appeared who were regarded as the first rakugoka. (wikipedia)
Second: the plot!
This drama was gripping from the first to the last minute! It tells the story of Bou, a young boy whose dancing career had been ruined and who is sent over to a master rakugoka to learn the craft of storytelling. He meets Sukeroku the first day there and they become fast friends in spite of completely opposite characters. The drama tells the story of their lives over a period of 60 years which covers Showa era (from approximately 1933 to 1997 with the epilogue 16yrs later!). The boys change names as they grow and get promoted within the rakugo association.
I used to watch a lot of western dramas with this kind of basic plot: story of one character's life practically from cradle to grave, spanning a long period of history when major changes happened. Since I usually avoid asian historical dramas as if they were plague, I have never seen an asian version of these life stories. I loved this one, it was gripping, but it tugged at my heartstrings too much in the last episode so I shall probably never watch anything like this again. Too painful in spite of them trying to be upbeat about main character dying of old age!
The plot describes the fight, very restrained and civilized, between the holders of the tradition (masters) and those who try to bring a bit to modernity into strictly coded art (Sukeroku). Yakoumo(Bou) is torn between the safety of known rules and codes and the admiration for the freedom and originality of Sakuroku's performance. And even though for a short moment Yakoumo felt jealous of his friend, he quickly accepted that his art is different, classical not as exciting as Sakuroku's but still admirable. The bond between those two people was unbreakable, they loved and cherished each other immensely and no matter what the world thought , they were there for each other. This was a real bromance!
The problems start when Yakoumo falls for a geisha. When his master asks him to choose between her and rakugo, he breaks up with her. She consoles herself with Sukeroku who was banished from rakugo for insubordination and everything leads to a tragedy with consequences felt for a long time afterwards. This was never really a love triangle and they showed it clearly. The rules and hidden envies ruined lives of three people who starting from that moment just survived and not lived.
The plot is tightly woven and there are no plot holes. The characters are clearly presented and they are fully fleshed out: we follow their growth over a long time period.
Third: the production.
Since this drama is a life story, there are a lot of time jumps so the extraordinary actor, Okada Masaki, first and foremost, had to play the character between the ages of 17 and 70 which is a no mean treat. The way he changed voice and posture and attitude with age is impressive. The actors also had to learn all the rakugo tales and codes of performance as well. Amazing. The only problem i had was the ageing make up (which was expertly done, no details were missed- like hands or neck.): the character who is supposed to be 70 looks more like he's 95, he looks too old for his age. Maybe it has to do with the personality of the character: dry, succinct, cold, unhappy, bitter, restrained so he looks older than he should?
The music is just perfect, with enough pathos to tug at your heart. The time period was rather faithfully recreated.
Conclusion
Drama is about rakugo, an art form thought to be on the decline but still alive and kicking and the people preforming it. it is about people in doing rakugo. As I said, I'd never heard of rakugo before this drama, but it is still easy to follow since it is a human story. Beautifully told story of people trying to overcome obstacles put before them by society, rules and prejudice. Sorry, this review is a bit messy...
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Kahogona Wakadanna-sama no Amayakashi Kon
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Fluff and candy
Earlier today, I came upon two reviews for this drama, two reviews with completely opposite take on it i.e. one loved it while the other one found it boring. I did not need more in order to watch it and form my own opinion. Which is between the two: it was not boring but rather superficial, not great but mercifully short, easy to watch and they did not waste time on silly subplots and even sillier misunderstandings between the leads.But firstly, I would like to thank @Nicksden for the subs and for the explanatory notes!
The story follows childhood acquaintances: japanese inn owner's son and the inn's chef's daughter. They fall for each other as kids but their respective social status forbids them from any closer contact. Until, one evening, he accompanies her home and is seen leaving so a scandal breaks out and he takes the opportunity to offer to marry her and at the same time escaping an arranged marriage. And all of this is only the first episode. Out of six: the next five episodes are a bit slower as they deal with them getting to know each other and dating while newly-weds.
It is a cute, short drama. The leads are nice and as usual there are not mean or evil characters. Well I guess a shoujo manga is for romantic young girls. Everyone is nice: when he overhears rumours about his marriage being fake, he acts upon it immediately and takes her out on a date. There are a couple of "suspenseful" moments: a test meal for her and the visit from the estranged brother for him but even those are sorted out in the same episode they appear.
The plot is not very complicated but I would not go as far and say, as they did in the comments on the drama's page, that it was "an excuse to have hot people kiss a lot and be cute together. they wrote the plot around that ?". I wish they did that because if you are looking for hot people kissing, you should look elsewhere! There is a grand total of 4 chaste (=fish) kisses and a bit of skin (ankle, leg, shoulder: him in the shower and one make out scene!) shown throughout the drama with the consummation of marriage left for the last minute of the last episode and under the final credits. I usually do not care about these scenes but I read the comment before I watched this so I paid attention and looked actively for hot people kissing.
There was one thing I absolutely hated in this drama but which is something frequently seen in asian dramas so I guess it must be cultural: women falling over and screaming when they see a handsome man go by. It is the ultimate cringe moment for me! I know that asian cultures put a huge stress on appearance and that the beauty is the most important asset one can have but I am finding it difficult to understand this kind superficiality within such rich cultures.
I did not like the cinematography very much: I watched the first episode in high quality and it was too sharp, to clear and eventually too cold! Other episodes looked better, a bit softer but maybe the video quality was lower too. I don't know but it made me realize that I prefer when the images are fuzzy, not too sharp because it gives the drama (or a film) a dreamy feel and it becomes a vector for our escape from reality. And that's what the entertainment is supposed to be in my book!
One more important thing: I want those star shaped candies. They look so pretty and yummy!
In the recommendation section on this drama's page, you will find two dramas with the similar plot but a lot heavier if you do not enjoy light and fluffy! This one is a perfect Sunday watch: short, sweet, cute and short!
The main actor was a support actor in Utsukushii Kare (and he gave me a severe SLS) and I couldn't help being reminded of that drama every time I watched the intro here because there were yellow bath ducks in it. Did they do it on purpose, or were there yellow ducks in the original manga for this drama too, I wonder?
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Unexpectedly good!
I started this on a whim: I had nothing to watch, I wanted to watch a bl and this one had just finished airing so I decided to give it a go! If I had to decide whether to watch this based on the poster(comedy! urgh!) and the synopsis(school bl? urgh), I never would have started this. And I would have missed this little gem.-What made this series extraordinary are the two main actors: Sea and Keen. While Keen is, just like his name suggests, keen, cheerful, happy go lucky and sweet and charming young man, I fell under the spell of Sea: his speaking voice, his solid acting and his sweetness. They are young but they are giving Gemini and First run for the money. I am eagerly waiting for their next project, together or separately, I don't care, I want to watch them in something else. Soon! In any case they are very much at ease with each other, and are not afraid to kiss in spite of their young age. Do not miss the bonus scenes at the end of the last episodes where they show us interrupted kisses from the drama uninterrupted: too cute! Speaking of which, there is the best accidental kiss I have ever seen in the first episode: cute and hilarious.
The plot is full of clichés but they are done so well, I did not mind them. The spoiled brat with a heart of gold, the struggling and suffering artist and cook with a heart of gold. Girl best friend with a heart of gold, encouraging the young men. The odd second couple. The cousin falling for the cook....In a way this reminds me of japanese dramas where everyone is nice and kind and open and even the apparently bad characters turn out to be nice. Actually, after the first episode, I was a bit worried at how they are going to stretch the thin plot over 12 episodes. Frankly they did a great job, not wasting too much time on repetitions, flashbacks and pointless subplots. There was not a dull moment!
They did away with annoying screaming trans characters which was one of the reasons why I enjoyed this so much. They also used a lot of sfx (lightning, hearts etc) and sound effects, which I usually hate with all my might. Here those did not bother me once. I am still reeling from the realization! LOL
I am very difficult when humour is concerned (slapstick and cring are to be avoided!) and here I was served the sweetest kind of funny with a minimal, barely perceptible cringe. Music on the other hand was a disappointment: it was the usual generic funky thai bl songs, which sound the same as every other thai bl song with a catchy tune and the passages a capella and eventually unremarkable.
This little drama is a perfect summer watch; sunny, fun, with some lovely acting, decent chemistry and solid writing. Don't expect to be shaken by this drama but it is a perfect blend of funny, fluffy and cute. Thank you for this nice surprise GMMTV.
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Water, water everywhere....
I decided to be generous and reward this short film with a correct rating. It was Ok and somehow it wasn't. I liked the quirkiness of the beginning but they just had to go and ruin a cute story with stalking. When kids stalk each other it is often cute, here we are talking about adults so even though her stalking is not threatening it is definitely creepy and immature and not romantic. Still, they gloss it over completely...The story is simple: a young woman who cannot help but hear the pattern (BPM beats per minute) in every sound, longs for the underwater silence and has only one friends, falls for her friend's boyfriend's friend Mizu and starts stalking him trying to figure out why her own heartbeat accelerates when she's near him. She records everything in a notebook titles Beats for Mizu.
The acting is excellent, the cinematography pretty, watery, subtle and light. There is a lot of water in this film starting with the story of little mermaid up to the ML's name. The music is excellent and it delivers emotions when the main characters cannot. The friendship between two young women is precious. I almost wanted this to go the GL route! The first boufriend/kis scene was hilarious: the awkward youth!
Nice short watch!
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Flat....
I love Japanese bls, but this one was a dud: flat, boring and chemistry free.The idea was interesting: a BL drama based on a manga about a couple of actors filming a BL drama based on a manga. But after the initial chuckle, everything sort of went poof! Unfortunately, they decided to keep it serious and that ruined the fun part of the premise. I have not read the manga but the characters were flat and unlikeable in this drama. They are maudlin, quiet but really just lifeless and flat. Fortunately there was the support character who brought in some very much needed entertainment, because the main couple were sleep inducing!
Main characters are very unconvincing. One is supposed to be this pretty, handsome model and actor and the other one a talented actor but he is completely tongue-tied before the "pretty" model he used to worship in college. So the model decides to help the actor out...and one thing leads to another! Very slowly!
I do not know how they film dramas in Japan, but don't they rehearse before filming, read through the script together and things like that? According to this drama, they don't! They get their scripts, they learn their lines at home and then film them the next day! What kind of unprofessional actor is he who does not dare look at his partner because he is so much in awe of him? He may be talented but he is incompetent!
From the first episode, when we discover that they went to same college, it was pretty much obvious that the model has been in love with the actor for years. So of course, the model decided to use the actor's stage fright and get closer to him. But the actor misunderstood everything especially when he overheard conversations he was not supposed to hear!
Another issue I had with this is the main actors' hair: too long, hiding their eyes. I often wonder what is the point of that especially if you are playing actors. Why hide behind long bangs: it is unbecoming and depressing! Aren't actors people who hide behind masks, who pretend to be someone else? But here they seem to be playing themselves since they have the same hairstyle on and off screen (in this drama they play actors acting in a drama so we get to see them on and off the set!)
And of course, if you like fish kisses you are going to be served here: there are far too many of those. Accompanied with little or no chemistry between the leads.
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Ah that hairline....
Well, this does not stand a rewatch!I watched this for the first time when it was first released and I loved it. So a week ago, when I was feeling a bit down and not wanting to start anything new, I decided that rewatching this was a good idea.
No, it wasn't!
It took me three days to finish the first episode and than another two to watch half of the second one before finally abandoning it: it was unwatchable.
The story is not bad, the hook up was all PC, asking for consent and all that jazz.
But: the actors may be cute and handsome, they cannot act to save their lives. The line delivery is monotone, the facial expressions non-existent or rather they each sport one single expression throughout the drama: Boun is trying to be cocky and seductive (just cringy and unconvincing!) and Prem has eternally trembling lips and panicky attitude. And they have absolutely no chemistry between them: Boun falling for Prem when he sees him in the first episode comes from nowhere. I guess that's what they call love at first sight and that is something reason, logic and appearance cannot explain.
Then there is the only actress with lines Samantha, fidgeting and grimacing and trying to show shyness and seductiveness but failing miserably. She was painful to watch. Dean with his expressionless face and zero acting talent is a known and expected quantity, while Fluke cries easily and very often.
The production value is standard though they forgot about continuity when it concerned Boun's blond hair: that was the most amusing aspect of this drama i.e. keeping track of Boun's roots!
I have either seen too many BLs now and my rose-tinted glasses are off, or I am a bitter and blind person who needs to have her eyesight checked.
A good watch once but not to be repeated !
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