As usual disappointing....

There is an introvert with serious personality issues meeting an exrtrovert who is a musican. After that it does drag on.... In reality I doubt that many humans would have the patience for such a partner. Especially if one of them has a traumatic experience and is not talking about it. Of course that does not help at all. The chemistry between the MLs was partially akward. As usual lazy writing, because the side couples have limited screen time and there stories are not fully explored especially Game & Biu and they are missing mostly in the finale. The other couple felt rushed.

For a show where a band has a leading focus, there were not much songs in it. In the finale God says he is writing music, but of course we did not get to expierence that. The band was not that great imho. Also in the finale Diew overcame all his issues which is also rushed for me. Humans don't change that fast,.

This show had the ingredientience to be a good show but as expected it was medicore at best. All the fluff moments and the high production value do not save this show. A very very big minus is the turtle imprisoned in a little box. In many countries this would count as animal cruelty. So, there is nothing special about this show and I would recommand other shows.

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Cringe and cliché and highly overrated!

OMG, what a crap story. 🤣 Yes, yes, many will disagree with me but I'm sick of the "but I'm a man" lines and the 180° turnaround two episodes later...

The story was weak, the over-acting cringe. Why did it have to been Ms. Wad and not Mr. Wad? To be gay is not a new thing.
Happily I could got through with it with lots of skipping the BS.

The only highlight was Vee's grandma. Also the martial arts scenes started strong, but in the end even their quality declined. The "bad guys/gal" were one-dimensional and from a pennybook without any depth. But all characters were a lot like that, one-dimensional. There is some growth for both Vee and San but only on a minuscule scale from a bad outset imho.

I personally prefer "Lost in Translation" as the much more enjoyable show, even when this show was not perfect either. If I were you, I would skip this show and watch the former outing or when you like fancy costumes and an historical/fantasy vibe I would recommand "Meet You at the Blossom" as a much better experience.

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While not perfect the acting was on a whole other level compared to any other 2023 Thai BL.

I have no idea why people find the story messy or hard to follow, especially if you take your time and re-watch the episode if you really can't follow.

The concept is unique and while some writing is questionable especially avoiding the death of each main character. I have no idea if it's exactly the same in the novel, but they could have taken some leeway to change the story in this aspect. The show's highlight is the acting of Tor and Teng which is completly on an other level. It's neither cringe nor creepy to love whom you love especially knowing they have met at the same age. Their chemistry and acting is nothing I have seen in this years Thai BLs which is the main reason I can overlook all the faults this series has especially in the finale. I would have ended the series when they met again at the cinema, all the continued story was completly unecessessary and irrelevant and would have resonated more positively with the audience.

This series also did a great job to convey he feelings of the young Ongsa and old Suansoon which will move emphatic people to tears (as it did with me). Because the acting was so great I rate this show as high, because you can only watch in reverence of such a performance.

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Nice blend of comedy, fluff and drama.

I have not much to say, just I was very entertained with this series.

The story is of course not the best, but the acting is top notch. The only downfall is the kissing of MLs which, in typical traditional japanse style, is a dead fish kiss. When you can overlook this point, you get a nice blend of comedy and serious elements, solid story telling and some fluffy scenes. Production quality was top notch, intro & outro song fitted also very well and overall it's really entertaining.

So, if you have not watched it and you need something more on the light side, this is for you!

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heartwarming and beautiful...

Japan does it again with an unconvential story. While the age gap may some people turn away, it shows love can happen regardless of age too. They come closer over food while the younger character is an energized editor, the older character is an experienced but disenchanted chef. Ishida has abundance of energy, he sometimes feels like a child experiencing new things in life. Chef Mitsuya has closed himself off from the world and positive feelings. Ishida slowly but surely changes Mitsuyas views comulating in heartwarming vocal expression in the finale.

Both actors did an amazing job to portrait their characters. There is even fluff even albeit in other ways you would normally expect. Of course it's a classic JBL so they didn't even try kissing, but it does not matter for this story.

I can wholeheartly recommand this show.

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Typical GMMTV show with many spicey scenes but not much substance

After the first three episodes I did expect a more mature story with dark streaks and interesting twist. But as usual when watching a GMMTV show in most cases you get disapointed. The lead couple at least compensated with great chemestry and some sensual moments which really were done well.

Would it not have been for the lazy writing this show could have been actually good. It seems like for GMMTV BLs are just a mass market product where the focus is pleasing aesthetics (actors and filming) and a shallow story which does not require much brainpower. The most annoying thing is, all characters are really flat, there is no character development at all, there are always some clichés involved and there is always a bit of sillyness or childish behaviour, unnecessary story elements or elements not explored enough.

The first BL side couple was of course cute but Fluke was a bit stiff at times. The second BL side couples did not really have a story at all, it just "happened". And then is Dr. Ter, first rejecting Dr. Wandee, then forcing him and then he finds a girl - WTF?
The conflict between Yoryak and his fathers felt strange, because if you hold a deep resentment against a family member both would struggle to solve it. Most of the time the characters are not overly mature, so to have a nice ten minutes chat and it's solved is a bit unbelievable. Also the nightmares of Yoryak were not explored deep enough, we did not see any therapy session and so his resolves feels out of place for me, As I said, lazy writing.

Overall it's not a bad show, but it lacks in story-telling.

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This is a mixed bag...

First the bad things: The problems of prostitutuion is only superficial mentioned, the acrobatics are only shown prominently in the first and last episode, even when some actors had to do a lot of work to make it believable. The ending is strange as well, especially with the love-triangle... while I don't see it problematic when three people love each other, it was not really explored through the story, it was there in the final episode and I didn't really expect it.

The good things about this series is that the production quality overall was high, and there was a lot of fan-service, which was overdone in my opinion. The chemistry between the leads was also good and they did a good job.

So overall not a bad show, but not a very good one either due to the lack of a more indepth story about hosts in general and not exploring the love-triangle from the beginning. At least you will have lot's of eye-candy.

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simply mostly cute.

I don't understand all the low ratings this show received.
While it's not perfect, it's watchable, with some laughs and some tears.
It's by far not as bad as "The Middleman" or the absolut horrid "Crazy Handsome Rich".

This show has its cute moments, also it's serious moments.
While some of the effects looked cheap, you have to consider that this was not a high-budget series, so you should not take that so much serious. The effects in "Law of Atttraction" were much worse, but I didn't see 1.0 ratings.

For me this show was enjoyable even with some overacting on the comedy parts and with the stupid noises, but the gist of the story and what the director wanted to transport was positive and the acting ranged from cute to good. I don't understand why people have expectations regardsless of who is acting or writing or directing. Regardless, reviews with 1.0-3.0 ratings are unfair compared to many other worse shows.

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Not an redemption arc

While I am happy that "Up" had a chance to play a different character (and we all did really hate him), I'm disapointed in the story. Ming understands what he did was wrong, but he did not change his character that much. I can believe that he now really tries hard to be a better partner, but we have no idea if his control and power issues has been dealt with and I doubt it.
There were scenes where he was lying on the floor not eating, just drinking and not doing much, but this did not help to change his narcisistic flaws which are still present in the finale. I guess the screenwriter are contradicting the character because they wanted an redemption arc.

I also would have wished, they used "Winner" for the first part of the show and only "Poom" for the second half. This would of course complicated filming, because both actors would have to learn the same mannerisms for their characters which would have made the story more interesting and the immersion in the story more believeable. That the same person plays both characters irked me a bit.

I'm not happy with Mings character development and the same for Joe. Joe is always Joe not standing up for himself, not understanding when to say no. I can understand you love whom you love but there should be a moment when your brain says "enough is enough!". This show had so much potential, the first four episodes had me hooked and I thought about how they will solve the redemption. And because of the lack of a real redemption arc this show fails. For me the finale was especially lackluster because everyone is now "happy", all is good and even Mike got Mings secretary as future BF (They should have expanded that arc as well), because most of the later episodes is a repeat of the first ones without the violence and lack of self-reflection on Mings part but he forces Joe once again repeating the same mistake again.

So overall the show is still above average even when the story-writing falls of a cliff. It did at least try to do something different in the sea of average shows, it did try to give us a mature story in the sea of university settings. And Up as Ming was really great!

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Not the best BL in 2023 by far...

What I like:
production quality
costumes
music
most acting

What I dislike:
The ending; yes it's fantasy and so on, but it's not believable.
Jom - he is sometimes docile, sometimes mature. Only in the finale after "returning" he is much more believable.
Stereotype evil Robert, he is too plain, just a 08/15 bad character from one of the cheap novels published every week, no depth, no other side of him, just 10 pages worth of the 60 pages.
Story-Plotholes: While Yai falling in love was shown for a long time, Jom just did it out of the blue, overcoming his trauma from ep 1 in a blink of an eye. To be gay in early 20th century was by far not as easy as it's depicted in this story. Yai confesses he loves Jom and the father was relativly mild., compared to other series where the family explodes even today. There were always exceptions to the rule but it makes this point of the story not believable.
Pacing: After Robert is removed from the series everything is dragged on an on which made me skip some scenes.
Yai with silly Mustache

Summary:
While the production quality was top notch, music was very fitting, the acting overall very good, the setting something unique, the ending unbelievable and the preview of a second season unnecessary, this show is a mixed bag. Jom should have been more struggeling and maybe slowly falling in love in episode 7 with the first spicy scene in episode 8. But of course they could have paced the show faster with some serene scenes inbetween. If there is a second season I hope they will not repeat the same mistakes they did this time where script and direction was sometimes weak.

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Thais can't adapt a foreign story....

After we had Cherry Magic and My Love Mix-Up, I had not much hope that any thai production company can adapt a non thai story. And they did not disappoint.

Why do they think, they have to make anything into a comedy with material that does not match. "Addicted Heroin" is neither funny nor a comedy. It does not make sense to have a serious story made with lot's of comedy elements (and it's stupid sounds). I can't fail the actors who all did a very good job in most scenes. Even Mac as newcomer performed much better than I would have expected. Regardless the writing was as usual lazy especially with the finale.

The final episode was confusing. The bad dad should have a relevation, so it does not make sense that both of them run away... And they are 17 or so... where can they run? Also the second couple was confusing as well and we do not know if they got together after they have chased each other for 8 episodes, than a strange reveal that "Only" was into "Pop" which did not make much sense for me.

What they also did not incorporated was the passion for each other. No time in the series I had the feeling they burn for each other. It was mostly childish or awkward. And due to the underage of Mac there is no kissing. The only highlight of the whole show was the family of Pop's dad. So in summary, this was a bad adaption as well. The series without the knowledge of the novels was not even medicore, especially because the finale does have too many loose ends and unlogical "conclusions".

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Sad, funny, wholesome and great

What a nice series. First a story of two brothers were one of them struggles because he is on the autistic spectrum and then the struggles with the estranged sister and her little son. It's a journey of growing and understanding.

The standout of the show was the acting of Bando Ryota who plays Michito. He was so amazing, with all his expressions that it felt extremly realistic. With his painting background he was a perfect choice for this role. Also the other cast did a great job. Cinematography and production value was high, the script was very good.

This series was sometimes very sad, it was sometimes very funny and it had a great balance. I can recommand this series, even when it was sometimes hard to watch.

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A realistic depiction of gay life end of the 1980ies...

While nowadays so much BL crap is produced, this is a very serious story about how life was for teens at the end of the 80ies. It's especially important because this movie begins when the martial law ended in Taiwan. They discover themselves, they discover how cruel the world is, discover that the end of martial law does not change people over night and also what role the church played against homosexuals.

It's one of the masterpieces Taiwan always produced in the BL-World where the story matters, where the characters matter, where the acting matters and where the production quality, direction and execution matters. All is done so well and all makes sense.

This movie does not have a happy end, so I advise caution before you watch it because it could make you feel terrible, sad or even depressed. Still, it's a masterpiece and leaves a strong impression.

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Not a love story...

Two boys meet at a playground and since then are often together. Both can't communicate well. One is "docile" and bullied a lot - at least at the playground and the other is a "cool" boy but void of emotions. That's a typical J-Drama, full of misunderstandings and poor communication. In highschool they meet the same girl, and the "docile" boy falls in love but again no communication. The "cool" boy says bad stuff about the "docile" boy, but he seems to be jelous of his love and so he takes interest in the girl and after university they marry. You may think it's a love triangle, but it's not. And then all the bad stuff happens.

While the story is not as good as it could have been, it's consistent and logical. The acting is top notch, I guess you can say it's not natural and a bit over-acted for dramatic effect, but all chars are still believable. Camera, Lighting everthing was very good too giving this series a special vibe (which gets a bonus point in my rating). I would have wished, they would have expanded on the flashback as boys to see if the "cool" boy was always an asshole especially to the "docile" boy, but we will never know. For me it had some bromance vibes surpressed by the "cool" boy.

Overall a vey good show, but nothing "entertaining" in the usual sense.

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More entertaining than most other shows in 2024

The story was more interesting and complex compared to all the other crap we had to watch in 2024, even when not everything is perfect. Of course there is over-acting and sillyness but also very serious scenes and nice fighting scenes. The set and costumes are stunning which is a highlight of this series, just some hair-pieces could have been improved.

I don't want to get in detail with the plot and acting and so on, because lot's of reviews already do that. I felt entertained even with some of the over-acting and sillyness, so for me it's a good show with stunning visuals.

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