Hmmm.... much more boring compared to His Man

While it's nice to see interactions between people searching for a live-partner, I don't need a panel who does explain me what happenend. That is so annoying and belittles the viewer imho.
So I prefer "His Man" over this by far, because there are much more open feelings, much more conflict, much more misunderstandings and much more butterflies.

Overall a OK show, but I skipped the panel all the time. But I'm disappointed about the length of the show, because they were together for four weeks and have less material as "His Man" which is much more intense and interesting for just a week.

Citeste mai mult

Strong beginning, weak ending

While the first two episodes started strong, the series got weaker going on.
Mixing a criminal plot with supernatural beings is a fine line to walk and they tried too much without much of a thread to connect it all.
The production value was high, but the acting left something to be desired.
Overall this show is not as good as the ratings make you believe, but not as bad as many others. The CGI was at least medicore.

The worst was the finale with it's cash-grab for a live streaming event which I find very disappointing. Why do they need such an event, did they just want to milk the fan base? The ticket price was astronomical for Thais.

The story that didn't follow a strict plan and got convoluted later on, so the show could not live up to its potental. If the supernatural parts would not in it, they could have saved a lot of money, shorten it to eight episodes and the result could have been better. Also when the supernatural character is female, why has the male actor take that part too? That was a really silly decision. It's always bad when a show starts so strong and falls off a cliff later. I was really disappointed.

Citeste mai mult

Not the best BL series 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.

Citeste mai mult

Cute but cliché

Rich boy meets girl at school, has no guts to tell her about his feelings and has to move.
He comes back, still has the love for this girl and this time he gets his girl.
That's the short version of this plot. It has not much substance and the end is more disappointing then I excpected otherwise it was enjoyable to watch. Why does a woman has to follow the man? Some minutes before she told him, she could not follow him because she still has dreams, but I guess she fulfilled them? We have no clue.

One side couple has an arc, the second side couple is much too short to know what has happend in their past. And then there is a poor loner who only gets the misery if one of his friends is in a slump.

I'm not a fan if actors have to play their version 10 years ago, it brakes the believability. So to have similar but younger cast for such scenes would have been much better. Overall it puts a smile on your face watching it even with such a weak plot. So for me it's a bit above average because the acting was very good.

Citeste mai mult

Atypical BL with stunning art

I am late to the party, so to speak.
After the series ended I did not really understand what was happening but now I binched watched the series again. So, if you don't understand it, as many reviews say, you should binch watch all five episodes again and it will make sense.
The story is sensible, the acting of the MLs stunning and the style was also great and different from the known happy BL world. You feel depressed, the angst of the characters because they did not have a nice life and they fight with their inner demons. The end is not confusing, it's a happy end, they will try. So after all the "shit" they went through, the end offers hope for both.
I wholeheartenly recommand this outstanding series, but only if you can handle a downer and you can focus the story of this series otherwise you might misunderstand.

Citeste mai mult

Cinematography at it's best...

First, I don't know any of the actors nor did I know about this show. I just was intrigued by the title. I expected some family with power working out of the shadows and it did not disappoint. For sure this is not an action series and that's what I like. It's slowly building up, detailing every nuance of all the characters in it. It looks mostly emotionless but it isn't. It's all very subtle and hidden but it's there. The normal family struggles with affairs and enstranged father/son/daughter relationships are depicted in detail while telling a story about a political power struggle at the highest level. I hope they will continue this story with a second season because ending on a cliff-hanger is not really my cup of tea.
Overall this series seems to be made for a niche of people who do enjoy artistic cinematography, slow character building and story telling, which is diametral of how fast our society lives now. And I think, that's a good thing!

Citeste mai mult

Positive messaging...

I won't tell you much about the series but some things that stand out. First the focus of a positive messaging, to have respect for all people regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation or social background. That's the outstanding feature of this show. Second production quality was top notch.

The negative aspects are as usual for thai shows silly comedic sound effects nobody needs, the story is not really focused on the second couple and had a lot room to improve. There was not much character growth overall. It's a bit cheesy at times but gives you a good feeling.

Overall the show was better than expected, gives you fluffy moments, funny moments and mature themes and scenes with a bit of fan service. If you want to have a nice time and there aren't any better shows to watch, it will entertain you.

Citeste mai mult

Too short with shortcomings

This is a nice romance, but they missed an opertunity to get into more details due to the short run of this series. The struggle for Ryuji was not explored in detail which is a shame because in contrast to many other series he has absolute no idea about his feelings, his wants and how to express himself. Also the "kissing" scene in the finale was more lame than romantic. I don't need hot and spicy scenes mostly seen in Thai BLs but kissing should be real not just touching lips.

What this series sets it apart from others japanes BLs is the communicaton between the main characters. They always talk it out which is really refreshing. I personally can also enjoy "My Personal Weatherman" which is 100% opposite to this series.

Overall an enjoyable series with much more realistic characters compared to many other shows. Also the production value was high with some sweet moments and good dialogues.

Citeste mai mult

Wholesome...

While Minato-san is often annoying to watch and scared of his feelings, the story is a wholesome one with some scenes which are bringing tears to your eyes or very fluffy feelings. For western cultures this seems a bit silly, but I guess in Japan this is more reality for denying yourself for whatever reasons and even just being gay is still hard. Also the "side couple" brings lot of enjoyments with an adult who is social akward by any standards which brings its own dynamic with his young would be lover.

I won't spoil anything, so I'm just saying, they did a great job bringing this series to life. I hope after Season 2 there will be another one :)

Citeste mai mult