En of Love: TOSSARA (2020)

Someone made this at gunpoint.

Putting production aside, which you have to if you're determined to watch this, I have to begin with the cast. All but the two leads are unmemorable and oft squealing. Folk as Bar is adequate and a committed actor. I think under better circumstances, his Bar could have been quite charming.

I didn't expect when I looked up Win (Gun) that he might be any older than eighteen. This, possibly because of his struggle to fill Gun's bold shoes. There's nothing wrong with a romantic lead whose soft or less-than-stunning as long as they're written that way. There's no equivocating, Gun was written for someone charming, muscular, and fawn-worthy attractive. Win's Gun (I'm sorry Win) is none of these things and we're meant to believe it because the other characters say so.

The plot of this show is negligible. Undoubtedly the short run of this show is in part to blame for the jumbled mess of the plot. There were seeds of events, such as competing love interests and a half-assed faculty competition, that suggested to me a once-complete story. The micro inclusion of these elements was more confusing and unmoving than it might have been had they cut them entirely or chosen to focus on decidedly less and written them to their full potential.

In all honesty, I sped through the last episode as I had had enough by the start of the third. I was never able to latch onto any characters and the conclusion of their relationship was unconvincing.

If all you ask for in a show is a happy ending, go for it I guess.

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Cringey Leads With No Chemistry and Rather Forgettable Plot

STORY:
The plot was basic and nothing new or unique. Long-time BL fans have seen this done (and done better) a thousand times before, and I felt like nothing new was added to the genre. The pacing was severely rushed in the first episode, as if the writers wanted to cram in as much from the book as they could (read: quantity over quality) but to its credit, the pacing and scene selection did improve as the series progressed. I understand that the writers only had four episodes to work with, but that makes it all the more important to carefully select which scenes from the novel to adapt, make sure the writing is super tight, and that every single word and interaction has meaning behind it so that not a second is wasted. I also felt like episode four could have been cut completely and we wouldn't have missed anything, since the climax and resolution occurred in episode three. The series overall gave me the impression that the writer (of either the novel, screenplay, or both) cherry-picked their favorite scenes and attributes from other, popular BLs and dumped them all into this story, leaving me feeling as though I watched a low-budget, fan-made homage.

CHARACTERS/ACTING:
This is where I had the biggest issues (and if you've read my comments, apologies for the repetition). Oh, where to start? The main leads had absolutely no chemistry together whatsoever, and that made their "love story" very uncomfortable to watch. Gun was gross, cringey, a creep who had no respect for Bar's boundaries at all. From the very first episode, we see Gun constantly force himself into Bar's life, touch Bar without consent, control who Bar can and can't speak to, and proclaim that this is all in the name of love. Meanwhile, Bar responds with looks of disgust, discomfort, and flat-out refusal, until halfway through and he suddenly does a 180 because how else can they end up together? The problem is that Bar never indicates he enjoyment of this attention from Gun; he doesn't flirt back, and he always looks sour when receiving it. Even when they became a couple, he still looked uncomfortable with Gun's "affection," leaving me confused as to why these two got together in the first place. I think that for a character like Gun to be portrayed successfully, the actor needs a certain charisma that Win unfortunately did not possess. I also needed Folk to deliver something in the emotions department that his character was into this courtship from Gun, but he failed to deliver there as well. The relationship left a very sour, toxic taste in my mouth.

As for the other actors and characters, nothing to write home about. They, like the plot, felt like stock characters that are used in just about every BL, and none really stood out as distinct and memorable.

OVERALL:
Some really enjoyed this. I clearly did not. I can handle worn tropes, low budgets, less than stellar acting, and subpar writing--to an extent. But I need something special to make up for those shortcomings, a spark that just wasn't present in this story. I can't say I'd recommend the series, mainly because I got more disgusted by Gun the more I watched, but it's only four episodes and a rather quick binge, so if you're interested, why not? I'm left hoping that the next two installments of this franchise won't leave me quite as disappointed.

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What did I just Watch?

Gun was a stalker. Umm. Not cool dude. Creepy actually. When he finally gets Bar he acts like he owns him. Gun doesn't want him to go anywhere without him. Possessive much? Bar wants to go to the bar with his friends. Nope, Gun says no. Very annoying.

There was no story development. Nothing happened. Gun liked Bar. Gun stalked Bar. Bar liked Gun back. They are together. The end. Nothing happened to show us why Bar began to like him back.

Can we talk about Gun for a second? He is supposed to be the hunk of the school. The casting for Gun was all wrong. I don't want to disparage the actor but he wasn't what I imagine the best looking guy in school to be. The glasses alone ruin that. (And this coming from a person who wears glasses 24/7). He was just this awkward teenager who whined a lot. Oh, and WHY was he wearing pink lipstick through all of episode 4? I understand tint but man they were PINK!!!

Overall this drama felt like it was made in film class. The actors did what they could but weren't given much to work with. The casting was off, the script was WAY off. The acting was ok.

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This review is a personal opinion. It is not intended to sway anyone. I enjoy watching all types of art/media/dramas and my views are my own. Please watch what you want regardless of what someone else says about it.

A for effort. Not the worst nor the greatest mini-drama-series I've watched. Definitely had some issues that triggered me in some way. I tried to put aside my personal experiences when watching this, but eeekkk not a fan of the friends and not a fan of persistent characters who can't get a clue about the person being pursued. However, I do understand that the story was rushed, the actors were not the original ones and had to learn to act as a "couple" with a short time frame and the story is supposed to be 1 of 3 so maybe this was the experimental one?

Anyways, Folk could do very well acting if he is given the right role/script. But his character was wasted in this drama. He was the only one I watched this for.

The plot is pretty basic and similar to most BLs. I find that they were trying to do their own version of the HIStory series with this. I already mentioned the friends. While we love supportive friends in a BL or Gay Drama, if they aren't utilized properly they become caricatures/cartoonish. Their actions were a put off for me. Real supportive friends would have stepped in a few times when Gun was pursuing Bar and not encourage his creepy behaviors.

Likewise, a main lead that is pushy, stalkerish will always be unlikable in my book. I tried to again see it from the point of view that this was just rushed and not given proper development, but what they did put out was not that great.

What I will say is that I didn't appreciate some comments here about Gun's appearance. It was really unfortunate to read that people didn't like him because he wasn't "good looking" or "hot" or whatever. and I think this made him more unlikable to those viewers. I understand that we can connect to people/actors on a superficial level, but some of the comments about his appearance were just out of place tbh.

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One reviewer said he thought this must have been made at gunpoint - I agree, and I had to practically be held at gunpoint to watch it. I only slogged through it so I could get the backstory for Love Mechanics, the next in the series.

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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Just... no.

Well, let's talk about the worst BL drama I have EVER seen.

I hate myself and you know why? Because I read so many bad comments on this drama, but I STILL had the nerve to watch it. I can't believe every single second of my life that I lost watching this; that's time I'll never get back!

The acting was drier than a dessert. It's like all the actors hated each other behind the scenes and were all trying too hard to pretend they liked each other in front of the camera. It was so cringeworthy I had to stop the video every few minutes just so I don't accidentally send my fist through the computer screen. I don't even know what the plot was about because I got distracted due to everyone's horrendous acting.

That tall guy... I don't even remember his name; actually, I could not care less about his name. His character is a MAJOR manipulator. Always playing with feelings to get the other guy to do what he wants. And the writers had the audacity to pass it as cute romance. Terrible. If you have to manipulate someone to love you then that's not real love, honey. I feel bad for the shorty one for having to put up with him. Watching episode 3 made me gag a couple of times.

And the shorty guy? He looks, sounds, and acts like he got a foot up his a$$. The level of salt he was serving throughout the whole thing could cause sodium poisoning to anyone. Too bad 'cause I found him quite attractive, but well...

In short, don't watch this drama unless you hate yourself enough to waste your time. I warned you, sis.

The things that quarantine makes me do.

MyDramaList should allow us to post negative numbers as scores because I'd give this a minus ten in a heartbeat.

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It won't waste your time, but it won't be the best time of your life either.

This one was a cute and short Series with some problems.

The actors did a good job at portraying their characters and their feelings. However, I have to say I was not all that convinced by the choice for one of the main leads: Gun. I am not sure if it’s just my personal taste but while he was not unattractive he did not give me the feel of the “most attractive” guy in school, that he was supposed to be. Yes not all characters always have to be portrayed by the most beautiful actors, however if the character is known to be the most popular and beautiful guy in school then he should (in my opinion) also look the part, and for me the actor they chose just didn’t make the cut.

Now story wise: the main conflict in this Series was the development of feelings of one character towards the other (one sided love). I think this is a solid enough plot for a Series of this length. There does not not need to be any additional source of conflict or anything, since the time would be too little to actually get into it and solve it in a satisfying way.

However it did progress a little too fast for my taste, or let’s say there were quite the jumps in the feelings of the one lead, that kind off felt weird since the viewer did not really get the feel that a lot of time had passed in between (even if it had, the feeling of time passing was kind of missing for me, if they didn’t explicitly say stuff like “two weeks ago...” I would have thought the whole plot took place over the course of 4 days).

Another problem is the portrayal of the one characters feelings, a one sided crush can be very cute and nicely portrayed, however here some parts just seemed a little over the top/ obsessed.
However, since the other character was a very grounded one who spoke his mind and in my opinion had the most healthy views on relationships I have ever seen in a Series, it played out well in the end.

For a Series of this length, were the storyline can not really be developed too deeply, I think this one did quite well. It was cute to watch and it doesn’t take up too much time either. So even if you don’t like it at all you won’t have wasted too much of your time.

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i honestly enjoyed it. yes it was a little too short for my liking but thats okay. the main couple was super cute. kinda had a sotus/2moons vibe which put it off for me in the first 2 eps but the confession scenes were adorable and im a sucker for wholesomeness so im satisfied overall. its sucky that we didn't get to learn much about the side characters but i completely understand since its a short series that's made to focus on the build of the main couple. also im a huge sucker for height difference so thank you. kiss scenes could have been better but like i already said, it's 4 episodes so i shouldn't have my expectations too high :)

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From the beginning, this felt like it was going to be a disaster. When you have a book and only four episodes to make out of it, yes, you will panic but you have to at least summarise the story in a way that makes sense to the viewers.
You have to find a way to not make it seem like you crammed everything in.

It was noticeable that Gun was not a convincing character. The people around him would praise him to be super charming but I can't really see it? Gun's actor is cute and I feel like they didn't properly direct him to have those said charming/swoon-worthy traits to be seen as convincing as possible. I read as well that a different actor was supposed to play as Gun but they had to change it real quick for some reason so I guess there was an issue with timing.

The way the main leads' relationship developed? How? When? How? Why? Out of the blue, we were made to believe Bar has fallen for Gun? Was it Gun's oddly persistent way of courting Bar? Gun continuously following Bar around when there was no sign of hope that Bar was even slightly interested? Then, boom, the two lived happily ever after?

Overall, this probably would've been good if the scipt and plot was written better. Keep this in your "I have nothing else to watch so here you go" list.

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Good? no. Consensual? YES!

Please don't get me wrong, this series SERIOUSLY had its faults, but it had something that I'm not used to seeing in BL, and that's consent! Everything else? Yeah, she needed some work.

Let's Dive In.

The acting was probably the worst part about this BL. The main characters did really bad, but Win's (Gun) acting was definitely the worst. It got a bit better by the end, but most of the time it felt robotic and stiff, and like he had a hard time expressing different emotions. While I do NOT believe in bashing the looks of Win (like some of you harshly do, as if ya'll look any better), I will say that he was an average looking dude, and them trying to play him off as the hottest guy on campus felt forced. The weirdest part is that they didn't need to play this trope at all, it wasn't like him being the hottest on campus drove the plot or anything, so it's pretty irrelevant. Most of the time I hate this trope because the cast in BL series are equally attractive, and none are overly-cuter or hotter than the rest. Just like Pha in 2moons2 and Sarawat in 2gether, they are played as the hottest on campus, but all cast members are attractive, so it makes no difference.

The one reason this couple is rated higher than the other En of Loves is because of one reason: CONSENT. I loved that even though Bar didn’t like Gun at first, Gun wasn’t forcing himself onto Bar and instead was just being there when he could. We have to speak about their first time because it was everything. We need more of this in BL!!! Bar made it clear that Gun needed his consent, and when it was given, Gun still was being patient and cautious. Even when they were kissing and Bar told him to wait, he immediately stopped and made sure he was okay and still comfortable. I LOVED IT. That scene is what really sold it for me. Had consent not been so broad in this series, then it would definitely be rated at a 5. But, because we weirdly don't see much consent in BL, this gave me a burst of hope that others will fall behind.

Besides that WONDERFUL moment, this series was stupidly rushed. Like, ridiculously rushed. Bar fell for Gun too quickly after saying he didn't like him. I get it, we only have 4 episodes, but it was way too rushed. Don't get me started on the whole "Moon" competition. Cringiest thing in humanity, I skipped all of it. I can't with literally any part of it.

A cringe series that was honestly one of those shows that you love because it's not good. I would recommend it for anyone wanting to see something with clear consent, but this would definitely be the last thing I'd recommend someone starting out in BL.

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