Love Area (2021)

I SHOULD HATE IT BUT I DONT

It started out as a typical "im a poor orphan boy and i work gazillions of job to make ends meet - you should love me and sympathyze with me because im poor but Im kind" story. It should sound overused on paper, but for me, it still worked.

Lets begin by talking about the gorgeous cast - they're all just beautiful! Kaitoon and Nont is already a good pair, but Valen won me over. The second couple is intriguing too. Oh, and I love Valen's sister, and how she knows what's going on but is not being nosy and is just being a forgiving and supportive sister. I even like Valen's friends and how they're just nonchalant about their 2 friends love interests.

I am also hooked by the way they showed same sex relationships is a non-issue and doesnt need to be discussed as if its the most normal thing in the world. I also appreciate that there are no villains in the series.

However, I wouldnt even call the series short and sweet cause there were a few times, even at 6 episodes, when i cant help but fast forward. There was also a few plot points left unexplained and the way they presented it made me ache for the second part BUT even if some unforeseen events come to pass and they can't continue the series, the ending still feels like a good conclusion.

What i hate is the way Kaitoon treated Nont, cause Nont doesnt deserve that. The problem with that however, is even if the second lead is lovable, i still love Valen even more.

Im giving it an overall 7 stars. Lets just hope that when, and if they return, that they'd make this an even better show and not ruin it just like a lot of sequels out there.

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I DO NOT HAVE HIGH EXPECTATION FOR SEASON TWO...

The acting wasn't the biggest issue here. Stiff acting could be overlooked occasionally if the story is great and compelling. This is definitely not the case with this one. If you think that getting attacked and robbed by thugs is a great way to start a romance and actually believe you can forgive the STRANGER who got you involved in all of this then this is definitely your cup of tea.

I completely skipped all the scenes with the main couple because nothing about them was interesting. I honestly didn't see nor felt any chemistry between them. The second male lead is the epitome of boyfriend material but choosing him was never a choice.

I stayed for the second couple. Their story wasn't all laid out and that made it even more engrossing. Learning slowly how they use to be together without knowing the reason why they broke up made you want to root for them even more. However, after the last two episodes, I wasn't so sure anymore if it was even worth watching. I'm uncertain if season two will deliver the type of plot I'm hoping to see with these two.

Overall, this series is barely enjoyable. One thing for sure, I don't have high expectation for part2.

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Non Deserved Better

I had barely even heard of this series, but once I tuned in, I was hooked. Presumably so, I thought a completely different story was going to happen. I fall in love with one couple, only to be forced to move on? Love Area Part 1 was a great mini-series that kept me on my toes. While I continued to enjoy my watch, I grew angrier and angrier with each passing episode.

Let's Dive In.

Production was decent. Not much else to say on that. I don't remember there being that many ads if any at all. I thought the wardrobes were pretty nice (you know, when they weren't wearing uni clothes), and the makeup was done really well. Nothing to complain about. All in all. it was pretty good.

Onto the plot. I think it was pretty basic, except, I sometimes like basic, and in this context, I actually quite enjoyed myself. Can't go wrong with a cute restaurant love.

Onto the pairings. The one thing this show does is give us two pretty compelling characters to match with the main lead (Although, one is to for sure happen over the other). I was here for Non and Kaitoon before anything. Non is just the perfect guy. We see no problems in his character (which could drive him to be pretty one dimensional, but oh well), he genuinely feels for Kaitoon and goes out of his way to involve himself in Kaitoon's life by helping him mend his wounds, giving him good advice, and just being there. They did him so dirty closer to the end. Non did not serve to be stood up, especially not twice. They treated him with the utmost disrespect and he better be given a heartfelt apology (and hopefully another character introduced for him). Moving onto Valen and Kaitoon. I didn't like them at the beginning, and I mean who would? Valen ends up trying to rob Kaitoon which in turn gets Kaitoon punched and actually robbed. I don't know how anyone could fall for their robber, but this is BL, and anything can happen. I didn't really start feeling for them until about episode 5, but then Kaitoon kept forgetting about Non, and it just hurt even worse in the finale. King and Peat's story felt like a completely different series. I think their pairing is a bit irrelevant since neither of them really play an important role in the plot. However, I did feel for King. Nobody should be abandoned, especially without an explanation. King started gaining my respect until Ice came into the story. Ice looks like a fetus, so if they're trying to maybe make them a thing (possibly not since Peat moved back in with King) then please don't. Even King making him go shirtless was a bit uncomfortable for me. Overall, all the couples in this series were okay.

The acting was alright. I think that the script wasn't all too strong so the actors didn't have much to work with. The strongest actor was probably Got (Tang), even though he had a small role, he still knew how to deal with the cards he was dealt. I think all of the main roles could use a bit of work, but Pak (Kaitoon) was definitely the best out of all of them.

Ratings:

Story: 7.5 - Nothing special or noticeably different from the others. I think they did an alright job at building up the chemistry between the main leads, so I will give that to them (Also, I'm a sucker for slow-burns, so I'm excited to see what happens with them in season 2). For that, I'll give it an extra 1.5 stars on top of the 6 I was originally going to give it. (But that better do my son Non better!).

Acting: 7 - Again, it was decent, nothing special, nothing better than the rest. Got and Pak give this score an extra two stars. I hope to see some stronger acting choices in season two (and maybe a stronger script as well).

OST: 5.5 - Didn't really pay attention to it. Since it wasn't noticeable for being annoying then it was decent for me. (also, no one was singing, so that's an extra star!)

Rewatch value: 1 - Again, I have to move on to other things I have to watch, but I probably won't come back to this series. Especially since season two drops in just a couple of days.

Overall, this series was a decent one. I'd recommend this for sure. especially someone new to BL. It's pretty fluffy and heartfelt for the most part. I think something should've been different (like them not treating Non like he's a piece of trash).

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Love Triangle Area, part 1

(mild spoilers)
Overall: it made me laugh a few times despite the dreaded love triangles. It felt incomplete but the second part didn't help. Aired on GagaOOLala. Re-aired in 2024 on Love Area The Series YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: 1 fight scene not between the m/m, mild abduction

What I Liked
- overall production value was good, a few errors with the English subs but not bad
- acting/chemistry was goodish
- the enjoyable OST is by Jeff Satur who also has a small role
- I am a sucker for a bad boy who is trying to be better
- there were a few times that I actually laughed out loud although some may have been unintentionally funny...

Room For Improvement
- ugh, love triangles (there are 2). I really want 1 of the third wheels to give up and find happiness elsewhere (unfortunately I have a nagging feeling this will be drawn out until the end of part 2)
- once again a dumb time gap but this had at least a more realistic reason, still a totally stupid plan though (not a fan of time gaps where 1 person in a serious romantic relationship ghosts/lies to their partner supposedly for their partner's good and then comes back years later and they live happily ever after)
- didn't like the way King (the painter) pressured/guilted Ice (the model) to take his shirt off for the painting
- the actor playing Ice (Freshmen college student) is 14, which is odd and he'd better not be a love interest or someone think he's a love interest
- Kaitoon has the memory of a goldfish or is just really rude for standing up Nont two different times and not answering his phone. I wish he had remembered but his phone had died, didn't have cell reception or notified Nont at least 1 of the times.
- Kaitoon doesn't appear to reciprocate feelings until the very end and I like both characters to at least show interest a bit earlier than that
- wanted the guy pursuing Panggo to stop/ease up (again not a fan of someone repeatedly pursuing another person when the person has expressed disinterest or no interest because that's stalker behavior). I realize this was done for laughs, I thought it was stupid.
- pacing could have moved more quickly
- I really enjoy the OST but it is replayed with various versions (vocals and just instrumental) a little too much.

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Slightly disappointing

so I did have a bit of a high expectations for this and was disappointed.

It Started out an your typical I'm a poor boy and I need more than 1 job to survive.
The characters were well matched and worked well together, the rest of cast were pretty okay.

I did feel that the story was dragging and had to much dialogue and the pace wasn't quite there, there wasn't much in the ML showing there effectiveness and love fur v each other till the last episode.

The bad boy vide didn't come across to much and that for me was a let down. Then there seemed to be a triangle love developing but again that wasn't well explored, and left the dude been stood up twice!

Overall it was an okay watch, i will do part 2 mainly because of the teasers they left behind

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Love Area has a decent premise but doesn’t execute it as well it could have

The premise of a spoiled and immature man being increasingly drawn to his precocious, hardworking co-worker is a pretty sweet sell. But Love Area squanders this opportunity with a storyline that is mostly uninteresting (let alone surprising) and the less-than-ideal chemistry between its actors.

It is a shame that Valen had very few memorable moments showing why audiences should be invested in him at all. I’m not asking for the male leads to be straitlaced saints, but there was literally nothing relatable about his flaws.

The second couple, King and Peat, have a fiery romance going on, but introducing a potential antagonist, in the form of a 14-year-old (I kid you not, the actor is 14) just makes things extremely messy and bizarre.

Please give this one a miss unless you really have some time to kill. But will I still give Season 2 a chance? Yes, because I’ve already invested my time in Part 1 and now need to know if Valen will finally become likeable.

Read my full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/love-area-the-series-2021/

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Surprisingly good!

Perhaps I was just in the right mood, but I really liked this series a lot (or at least this season). While it is ordinary and the story has been told a million times, it seems to work mainly because of the acting of the main main characters. Their approach to these characters, while again ordinary, still made them feel fresh and unique. The interplays between the two main leads is very good and believable. The one suffering from unrequited love obviously shows painful expressions on his face but maintains the quiet dignity of someone who can only look at someone from a distance and hope.
If you want to read my complete review of this cute series, go to BLBliss.com. Thanks.

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Imma be honest, it was not for me

okay, this is my first review.

i usually don’t have the patience to sit down and write my opinion but this series intrigued me.

Imma be honest, it was not for me.

The story is great and the actors’ performance as well but it was way to slow. I was watching it x2 speed the whole time and it still felt like forever.

Again, the idea behind the story is there but at some point lost.

Kaitoon is a very sweet and loving character that cares mostly about making them coins (same here lol) so he can survive.

Then we got Valen that is being a spoiled brat at first but seems to want to open up as the story moves on.

Nont is as sweet as honey but i ain’t a fan. it’s not like he did sth wrong but it’s not my cup of tea.

We didn’t get to see any development between King and Peat in this season which was kinda disappointing cause i think they could have carried the show if sth was there.

As far as the cast, everything is great i can say!
But i don’t really get why a character as Nont is casted as a main role. In season 2 maybe things are different but this season i wouldn’t say a lot happened around him.

Now music, honestly i didn’t hear anything.
Let me explain, as i said i watched the series in x2 speed so i wasn’t excited about the music part. I just wanted to be done so i can move on and someday finish watching it.

The rewatch value of this series i think i made it pretty clear lol. But in all seriousness, i wouldn’t waste my time to rewatch this. It felt like an eternity to finish in the first place.

Overall, i have mixed feelings about this whole project. I’m not interested in watching Part 2 to be honest. Maybe imma give it a shot in the future but right now i’m feeling way to weird about Part 1.

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Wrong Synoposis? PS: don't make plans with Kaitoon

The first 3 episodes I genuinely thought we were following Kaitoon as our main lead, only to read the synoposis and realize this was supposed to be about Valen??
That definitely never comes across, the first 20 minutes we follow Kaitoon as he goes through his daily life before he encounters Valen.. from Kaitoons perspective. We never get any background on Valen either, why he is in debt, why he possibly had a gambling habit (which is only hinted at in 1 sentence during the entire show) it never gets mentioned that his birthday is on Valentine's day, so I'm not sure why that was of importance in the synoposis either?? We even celebrated Kaitoon's birthday, but never Valen's? We follow Kaitoon as he is simultaneously getting to know this other guy Nont as well as Valen. Which gives you this very one-sided love triangle where it is painfully obvious Nont was never even an option to begin with. The one thing this entire show taught me was that you should never make plans with Kaitoon, since he won't remember it anyway. Literally every single time (I'm not kidding, this happened literally every time without a fail) Kaitoon forgot he made plans with someone and just never shows up. He doesn't even bother cancelling either... Poor Nont.
Due to the way everything is set up I'm not even sure why Kaitoon would be seen as the guy that teaches Valen about compassion and tenderness? Like where? That just never happened in general. Sure he isn't a bad guy, but he isn't particularly compassionate or tender at all. He is just kinda there, minding his own business/ being self sufficient and barely interacting with other people. Noticed how I can only talk about Kaitoon? Yeah well turns out we genuinely follow most of his life, I'm not even sure what Valen does in his free time if I'm honest with you. Nothing in this Synoposis was something I saw in the show at all and it's a pretty short and straight forward blurb at that.

Now if you leave the Synoposis out of it, it was a decently enjoyable show, apart from the Nont parts that just became painful to watch. I would have rather had them keep things platonic with Nont or just scrapped his entire character since he never was part of the story, he was more like a prop to fill some gaps in Kaitoons free time?
And lastly on a positive note, let's be honest here, why did them holding hands in the end give me butterflies though!
It was such a small simple gesture and yet genuinely impactful with the way the show was set up.
I like how everything feels kinda slow burn, but you still are made aware of Valen's interest in Kaitoon the entire way through. Nothing between them was rushed and felt pretty organic which made the last scene work beautifully.

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Generally satisfied but Lost in transition

This series is the definition of a slow burn. You know what is going to happen but just have to get use to sitting back and watching the main leads fall in love over time. The re-used plot device of a bad guy made good by the love interest never gets old. Somehow I didn’t find it annoying that Kaitoon conveniently forgot his dates with Non. Although Non deserved better. Having to wait an entire season for a hand hold in the sand was a bit anti-climatic . Showing a glimpse of season two is just cruel.

Now here for the confusion…between King and Peet. I can’t figure out what happened to them. I understand Peet left King because of depression (as described in the video) but what was in the note? That was not translated and I am confused. Did he commit suicide? Did he die? I am totally lost. Then he ended up with this junior he nearly ran over in the taxi cab. Can someone explain what’s going on? Is he going to be with the junior?

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Just Another Average BL (But that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it!)

Love Area honestly isn't as bad as the other reviews make it out to be.
It has a very generic plot and at times can be a bit slow, but there is something about it that makes you want to just keep watching.
That being said, Love Area's saving grace is that while all the actors are rookies, they can actually act!

STORY:

Kaitoon is a hardworking orphan struggling to get by and works multiple jobs to make end's meet. One day as he's walking home from work he gets robbed by man with a knife. The robbery gets botched by actual thugs that arrive leaving Kaitoon to call an ambulance for his would-be robber. The next day at work he meets the owner's brother, Valen, who also happens to be the robber from the night before. Kaitoon is surprised, but nevertheless has to work with and train Valen. At first they are awkward and can't stand each other, but as Kaitoon is forced to train Valen, they get to know each other more.

Meanwhile, Peat returns to try make amends with King. However, the 2 years they spent apart is taking a toll on King. He doesn't know if he should reconcile with Peat or move on with his life.

So yes, the plot is very generic. Poor, hard working orphan meets rich bad boy with money issues because he chooses not to work. It sounds like so many other manga story lines that it's so cliche. However, there is something about Love Area that does keep you wanting to see what happens next. For me, it's honestly the second couple, King and Peat. (I personally thing that they should have been the lead couple instead of Valen and Kaitoon, but I'll talk about them a bit later.)

Getting away from the fact that it has a generic plot, and looking at the story line itself, Love Area starts off great, but from around the second episode it starts to lose momentum. The first episode was well thought out and got the audience invested, by giving us glimpse of Kaitoon's backstory then dropping us into the middle of his life, however, this style of storytelling is how the series starts to lose it's audience. The film makers did amazing with Kaitoon's background, but Valen, King, Peat, Non, and every other character doesn't get the same treatment. We know nothing about any of them and are suddenly expected to care for them. For example, in the first scene we meet King we are introduced to him as Valen's friend. He's seen smiling and looking happy, but as soon as Peat walks in we see he has issues with him. We then are given a scene where they talk about Peat returning after 2 years and King explains that he's angry, which is great, but we don't know their relationship or how King was dealing with this separation, so it was awkward. We were just thrown into the middle of their drama with no backstory. While we do get some of our questions answered by Peat later in the story, there are many instances like this with many of the characters which leads to many plot holes. Most of the plot holes are irrelevant and can be ignored, like how did the Nisa know that Kaitoon needed money and she should give him his paycheck weekly. However, there are some bigger plot holes, like how did Valen become in debt when he's rich and could have asked his sister, why did he revert to robbing Kaitoon in the beginning of the series, and what happened to the thugs that were after him? Hopefully these questions will be answered in Part 2, but I don't think they will be. It's still a nice BL to watch though.

Kaitoon & Valen

Kaitoon is very hardworking and nice, while Valen is headstrong and naive in love. Their whole relationship is Valen pulling Kaitoon into doing something and Kaitoon is too nice to say no or put his foot down. That being said, Valen is whipped for Kaitoon and thinks about him 24/7. They have an interesting dynamic which compliments each other. While they aren't the most interesting BL couple out there, they somehow make the audience interested in their story and make us wonder what happens next.

Kaitoon & Non

Non's character is... How should I say this... While Non is set up as the perfect foil to Valen, aside from the first episode, his character is useless. In the first episode Non's character is made to be Kaitoon's perfect man. However, as soon as Valen is introduced it's like the film makers forgot about him. He only shows up to make dates with Kaitoon, only to get ditched on their date. It happens 3 times and we don't really get any reaction from Non. He's supposed to be in love with Kaitoon, but we don't see any of it. Kaitoon also seems not to care about his friendship with Non, so what's the point in keeping his character around? Unless Non really steps his game up and wreaks havoc on Valen and Kaitoon's relationship, I don't see a point in his character. I wouldn't even consider him as part of a love triangle.

King & Peat

We are literally dropped into the middle of King and Peat's relationship, so we don't really know the dynamics of their relationship until later in the series. Even then, we're still not sure how their relationship works. However, the reason I say that they should have been the leads of this series is that they were the first to get us invested in the series. We were curious about what happened between them from the beginning. (Even more than we were curious about why Valen robbed Kaitoon.) They also brought the drama to this Thai drama. Granted it's not that big of a drama as it could have been, it still is drama compared to the "will they, won't they" between Kaitoon and Valen because as I said earlier, the love triangle between Kaitoon, Valen, and Non is non-existent.

Also, on a personal note, the reason Peat left King is very unique in any drama, BL or not. If the story was about King and Peat, then Love Area would probably be the next Tale of a 1000 Stars or Until We Meet Again (If they could get even better actors to play the characters.) Hopefully part 2 won't sleep on King and Peat, but I don't have high hopes since King and Peat's drama seems to be wrapping up, although I don't know what the boy who volunteered to help King with his portrait will do to their relationship.


ACTING:

While the actors are all newbies, their acting is very decent. It's not the best, but at least they can act. I've seen way too many BLs with new actors that are just good faces. Here, all of the actors have the whole package. They just need to hone their skills and hopefully with a few more acting credits to their name, they'll get better roles.


OVERALL:

Love Area is a decent watch. There are some issues here and there, but it doesn't really effect the plot too much. The audience is also kept entertained enough to be curious about what happens next. Yes, there might be some times when we skip ahead, but it's usually because we want to know what happens next.

If you're looking for a masterpiece, then this isn't for you. But if you are looking for something to watch to fill your BL needs, Love Area has got it covered.

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Thai Bl Pulp featuring a love triangle: tsundere/sunshine\piner in food service setting

Food service is one of the better premises I’ve seen taken up by the pulps in particular in 2021 (although it seems to be leaking into a lot of BL). This love triangle started off strong but went askew by ep 6. It gave me a terrible case of second lead syndrome (and not in a good way - in a True Beauty kind of way.)

It’s interesting to compare this BL to Light On Me, which handled the love triangle so well. In this one, audience sympathy became weighted too strongly towards the 2nd lead, and Kaitoon looked like a jerk because of it. Light On Me managed to keep all 3 sympathetic, understandable, and endearing. Love Area waffled. It’s a bit unfair to compare a Thai pulp to a Korea BL so I’ll stop now.

It is all apparently a moot point because this BL ended abruptly on ep 6 and a cliffhanger. Because this is a pulp there is no knowing if we will ever actually get a Part 2. My low rating is partly because of this.

RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO AND CAN TAKE A LOVE TRIANGLE + CLIFFHANGER

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