Anti Reset (2024)

had hoped for more from this premise

Overall: an interesting premise that wasn't developed enough. 10 episodes about 20 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki. Note, there are extra scenes after some of the end credits.

Watch Suggestions:
- if you want to skip moping/flashbacks start episode 8 at 17:30
- unless you like (in my opinion) poorly done angst stop watching episode 9 at 5 minutes and then start episode 10 at 21:50

Content Warnings: non con picture taking, dub/non con kiss, non con touching, grief

What I Liked
- unique premise with a clear set up
- sweet/cute moments
- funny moments (the dream with the soap was a highlight)
- foreshadowing
- episode 6 Stay By My Side cameo

Room For Improvement
- slow pacing with a ton of flashback montages, also half of episode 8 was moping
- the only 2 female characters were cliches (repeatedly ignoring boundaries), too much time spent on them
- nonsense (and not talking about the obvious), do university students in Taiwan have their professor's personal cell phone numbers, his household supplies were stored in the living room on a bookcase, a supposedly intelligent and caring character is stupid and cruel
- they never really delved/explained the world building, and I realized this was a romance but there really wasn't any examination of ethics, only the human character focusing on himself and how he will be sad
- poorly done/cliche angst, there were many opportunities for drama but the writers chose the most cliche one
- that gap was waaayyyy too long and then there was about 3 minutes at the end???
- some of the camerawork felt low budget

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Unreal How Much I liked This

Seeing the overall rating and some of the comments I've read about this had me really worried about this series, but after watching, I'm Ever 9 and Yi-Ping's biggest supporter. Anti-reset was exactly the series I needed to get out of my BL-slump, and now I'm back in (I think, ask me in another 2 days), and I severely love this series.

Let's Dive In.

I desperately needed something new, something that wasn't a bunch of uniforms or office jargon, and this series was just perfect. It's the first in the BL genre (to my knowledge) that takes on the robot/human trope and I ate every single second of this series up. The first episode had me hooked, mostly because Li Feng (Ever 9) was gorgeous in all of his shots, especially the ones with Yi-Ping touching him and seeing how he looked so real but was just a robot. But more importantly, I think the overall feel of the series had me seated and so excited. Before their second kiss, the tension between them is so strong that you yearn for them to do literally anything.

Now the story isn't perfect. I think they could've gone into more depth about how Ever 9 worked in general outside of being a caretaker for Yi-Ping. I think it's interesting that he can eat, but does that mean he can use the restroom? And there were times when his emotions were so human-like that I wondered if he was just some half-human-half-robot person. I think as well they could've made the plot a lot more interesting by having maybe added a couple of twists, like Yi-Ping maybe finding out Ever 9 was a cyborg which is why he loved him, or at the end, they did reset him, and we have to see him rebuild all of these memories again with Ever 9 -- I don't know, something to spice up the plot a bit. Also, they never go into any depth about the weird connection that the series kept making to Ever 9 and Yi-Ping's dog who died. Was his dog's spirit in the robot (weird)? Did Ever 9 remind him of his dog which was like him finally having a companion again? I'm not sure, it wasn't thoroughly looked into, and I think it could've just been scrapped completely cause it was a little suspicious on the moral spectrum (but then again, he is falling in love with a robot so...)

But again, I loved this, the tension, their outings, the small moments of Yi-Ping falling in love with something he knew he shouldn't. When you look a little deeper into it, of course it's weird and a bit creepy to fall for something nonhuman, especially something that's programmed to do just that, And if you think even deeper than that, it's sad that Yi-Ping's uncle had to program a robot for Yi-Ping, and he that he won't ever be able to just make that same connection to a human person. He technically has nobody except something that could shut off on him at any time.

Their intimate scenes were handled really well. Lots of great kissing, and I liked that they focused more on the love part of the NC than the actual NC part. The series didn't have to make the women so insufferable like his assistant who couldn't take a hint or his student. I also hated that they made Ever 9's lips the color of his skin any time he was shutting off or in the lab, it just looked a little funny. Just some nit-picky stuff, but overall, I loved the story.

Ratings

Story: 8.5/10 - Some hiccups, but overall I enjoyed it. I love the lab stuff the most and watching Ever 9's facial expressions as they programmed him. Their domestic life was so cute, it's literally one of my favorite tropes.

Acting: 9/10 - They did excellent! Especially Li Feng. I think they both had some difficulties in being able to cry (in some scenes, not all), but overall everyone did a great job.

Music: 7/10 - I didn't pay much attention to it, but it wasn't distracting.

Recommendation Value: 8/10 - I really think this one is a good one to watch! It's different from the plethora of BLs that we have at our disposals, and it helped me get out of my BL-block, so that's a big reason too (lol).

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