I am aware that this is a remake of a Korean drama and the production team did not have the liberty to change the plot as they please. I usually only watch remakes of Kdramas that I loved but I made an exemption for this one. I don't have a comparison with the original story line in this review.

The storyline is not novel but I am a sucker for older woman-younger man romances (noona romance!). It did not have so much plot to offer compared to other noona romances that dealt with external factors of the relationship. It was more focused on how Najai would accept her feelings for Tofu. A bonus though is that I have unexpectedly liked Rachanu and her baby daddy. They looked so cute together. I wish we got to see more of that relationship too. Kan and Kiss shouldn't be back together. I was so happy she returned that necklace to dump him but I was wrong.

I wished they could've cut the chase about Najai's feelings and gave us more cute scenes with our leads and we see how their relationship progressed. It felt like they pushed everything on the last episode. But I still loved the slow-paced tone of the drama though. No major highs and lows. The opening score in every episode fits the show perfectly. It lowkey feels like a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day.

New always have had great chemistry with his co-stars. He and Pancake are good actors but they kinda lacked that burning chemistry I was expecting. This does not have so much fluff so if you're looking for something like that then this is not the drama for you.

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Raised the bar for Thai BL series

This series went against the generic dose of BL series that Thailand has been producing lately.

Cinematography is the best one yet for this year. It's visually creative and stunning. I also loved that it's located in Phuket. The beach is part of the entire story rather than just an episode filler or a finale location set.

Directing is also crucial for this one. Billkin and Krit are fairly new actors and there are scenes that they still look green but the direction made them pull these scenes off with conviction. They are also not afraid to bare it all emotionally.

Another one of my favorite in this series is the OST. I admit I was a fan of 'singer' Billkin before I saw him acting. But without bias, the soundtrack and background music gave me all the feels. The cinematography + music goes so well together!

It's also commendable that it's not a romcom. They didn't have a second couple. No evil (ex) (girl/boy)friend. No consent issues. And although this is probably the first time I got SLS on a BL series, I appreciate that this does not have any villains at all.

I have great expectations for season two and I will anticipate it.

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A worthy remake

I am one of those who have watched (and obsessed over) Meteor Garden Taiwan 20 years ago. It might have something to do with it being a phenomenon in our country because everyone and their mamas knew who Dao Ming Si and San Chai was. I was so young back then I didn't know all the red flags the series have. I also watched Hana Yori Dango but it was aired right after the F4 fever so it wasn't that memorable for me. The last version I watched was Boys Over Flowers Korea and I hated that show. So my last memory of this remake is so long ago I can't recall clearly if some scenes were better or not from the other versions.

I am familiar with Bright and Win . The other actors are all fairly new so I won't be that critical of their acting. This is about F4 but we all know this series is focused and hard carried by the two main leads. Bright and Tu have chemistry. Before I started watching the series, I saw some promotional videos of them endorsing couple stuff and I saw that potential in them. I think they missed a lot of opportunity to show that chemistry. Bright has definitely mastered that infatuated and in love gaze. As for Tu, she looked uncomfortable in those long staring. I was convinced of Thyme's feelings but I wasn't really convinced of Gorya. Bright also improved on his acting. He nailed the comedic parts just right although he still needs improvement on some melodramatic scenes. Tu did her best as a newbie and she actually embodied the strong-willed Gorya really well. The other F4 members have delivered what they have to. It wasn't much work but they did their parts okay.

This franchise has been remade gazillion times so there is really nothing much we didn't see from the other versions. The times have changed though and there are a lot of parts that are already frowned upon.  I liked this modernized version and I think the show really delivered. I know they cannot go all out and fancy like the other versions (e.g. travelling to abroad) because of the pandemic. It's a pity how the show could've had a grander production but it did its best with all the restrictions. Thyme and Gorya needed more moments together. The only thing I liked in the K-version was Yi Jung and Ga Eul's story so I had high hopes for Kavin and Kaning. However, they felt so forced to me because the writers decided to wrap up their love story all in one episode. I'm not familiar with Prim but out of all the female characters that the show introduced, her portrayal of Kaning feels the weakest.

Another thing I loved in this show are the women. F4 is the star but I think the female casts were scene stealers. Cindy is impeccable in her role as Thyme's mom. She screams power not in the crazy mom obsessed way. She just reeks of sophistication and intimidation. I think the casting team did amazing because Cindy, Bright and Maria all looks ridiculously gorgeous as one family. Maria did a softer interpretation of the big sis role and it was refreshing. Fah caught my eye and I think I found a new girl crush. She appeared only for a very few scenes but she made her impression. Milk also has a really strong screen presence and her chemistry with Bright is also palpable. I wish we could she them reunite in another drama too.

Overall, I think it's a great remake. Definitely worth watching if you are a fan of the franchise.

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This is underwhelming. It had a lot of issues going on that were solved in a flick of a finger or brushed under the carpet. The leads' chemistry is lacking. The music does not even match the vibe of the show. It's a generic plot that brings nothing new to the table.

The only good thing in this show is Na. And I'm happy they didn't forget him in the finale. I'm also glad that they introduced the idea of surrogacy in there.

I feel bad for Podd and Khaotung because I liked them both but this is really just not it for me. I can't even feel their chemistry at all. The beginning part was serviceable (even if personally I didn't like the slapstick and parody) but it just got worse per episode. Even Mike and Toptap were downgraded in this.

It's taxing to finish it but I thought I'm obligated to because of my love for the actors. Definitely good riddance and not worth a rewatch for me.

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Great concept but poor execution

Looking at the main leads and anyone who is a Kdrama watcher would definitely set high expectations coming to this. And it didn't meet mine.

The actors hard carried this show honestly. If it wasn't for Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young, I would've dropped this already. The plot went in circles for many episodes and it looked like the writer just copied all the lines in a philosophy book and called it a day. There are a lot of draggy moments that deserves a 2x speed.

Seo In Guk looked his best in this series though. *eye candy* It has amazing OSTs and it adds up to the feels. The cinematography had it's moments too. But that's about it.

I'm probably one of the few people who are genuinely rooting and is invested on the second leads. The finale episode was saved by them. I was squealing during their entire screentime. I hope Lee Soo Hyuk and Shin Do Hyun's chemistry is through the roof. Please I need another series with them as main leads.

Defintely not worth a rewatch for me. I'll probably just be contented in watching fanmade tiktok videos of Cha Joo Ik.

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Excitement build up every episode!

First off, I have not watched the movie version so I have no expectations whatsoever when I started watching this.

I loved it! It gave me excitement and anxiety every episode. I feel like I am there with them in their journey. There was not a single episode where I wasn't on the edge of my seat watching them cheat their way on an exam. The background music added an extra fire to the show too. We were also given a glimpse of the twisted educational system.

The casts' acting is average but they portrayed their characters well enough. June's portrayal of Lin was really realistic. I felt the most connected to her character.

I loved the ending too. It felt a bit lackluster compared to the other episodes but it's the perfect resolution we need on this. Every character had shown growth and learned from their experience so I'm absolutely delighted.

Definitely one of the most awesome shows I've seen for this year.

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This is not my typical genre when watching a series ( I can't watch the slightest of gore, I get stressed out!) but I was actually engrossed with watching this and finished it in one sitting. It probably helped that I was binge watching this with my family.

The premise and plot is really interesting. I like the concept of the games and the way they incorporated playing cards with them. I really like that everytime we are introduced to a character we get a flashback of who they were before they were holed up in the game. It makes their motivations more heart wrenching and touching even to a point that I shed a tear or two. The ending is definitely gearing for a second season so it's a given that we didn't get answers and may be back to square one again. They did a good job in that because I am desperate to know the whole scheme in this too. If only I knew it's an open ending, I would've waited for the completed seasons. That's probably my only complain in this.

I have watched Kento Yamazaki in his shojo days and I was even a little bit infatuated with him before. I gotta say he really improved heaps in his acting in this. All the characters actually really shined even the ones in the militant group. It took me a while to realize that Niragi is Dori Sakurada. He nailed his role! Keita Machida, who I was just watching a little while ago before this series, embodied this whole new character with him. The rest of the cast did an amazing job too.

Highly recommended and I will definitely wait for the second season.

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Waterfall of TEARS

This series wasn't originally on my radar but I saw a tiktok video of Joo Hee and Hyeon Joon's meet cute that I decided to check this one out. In terms of my original plan of seeing a cute noona romance, I watched a melodrama instead.

STORY
As opposed to majority of the people in the comments section, I didn't find the friendship arc lacking. Adult friendships are supposed to be like that. The only reason they still see each other as often as that because they're all unmarried at 39. I did find this show pretty slow (admittedly I watched most of it at 1.5x speed) and I'd rather see more screentime on Joo Hee than Seon-u and his sister. Chan-young's story is the one that made me cry a river. Since this is a melodrama, they should've just put full force on the melo and explored more on Chan-young's struggle with the illness.

ACTING/CAST
Perfect! All of them nailed their roles perfectly. I don't think I'll cry as much as I did if it wasn't for the on point acting of everyone in this cast. Hats off for the perfect casting!

MUSIC
I can't even remember any of the songs because most of the time I'm watching, I was crying.

REWATCH
I will never be able to rewatch this one unless I want to torture myself. I just won't have the strength to rewatch a series that's so emotionally draining.

This is melodrama and slice of life combined so if you dislike either of those then this series is not for you. It's a slow show and definitely not for binge watching. Still kinda sad I wasn't able to see an amazing noona romance storyline lol.

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I really enjoyed this one. Few of the dramas where the male lead is more relatable than the female lead.

Kim Min Jae has always been so great with all the roles I've seen him in and this is not an exception. He aced this one. I think he should play more comedic roles. I haven't seen Park Gyu Young as the female lead before but I really liked her in Sweet Home and I think she did pretty okay here. I haven't seen much of Kwon Yul too but he has probably mastered this kind of role he is playing here.

I liked the opposites attract storyline for the romance. First two episodes in and I know I will like this already. We didn't get the usual cliches. Moo Hak is a nicely written male character. He was made to look like a laughing stock for the hi-so point of view but he really is great at what he does and he's one of the few good-natured male leads out there. Although Dali is the weaker character, I think she stood her own ground too without making her look like a damsel in distress (maybe just a one or two episode exception). They really exuded the great chemistry I didn't think they will have. They are the kind of unlikely couple you wouldn't expect to last but are actually kindred souls that fit so perfectly.

What I didn't like in this storyline is that they forgave everyone who did them wrong just like that. I was rooting for Moo Hak when he finally burst out his frustrations with his dad and his stepmom only to see the next episode like nothing happened there. I can't really say much about the supporting casts since they really weren't focused much on here.

The OSTs though are perfection and I loved the feels it added to this cute show.

Additional points to this one for not being an almost 2-hour long per episode show. All Korean dramas recently have been too draggy and long and results to a lot of filler episodes. I recommend this to anybody that want to watch a romcom with both mature and sensible leads who wants to binge without worrying too much of the time consumption.

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I don't know how to start my review on this but I want to establish first that I loved the Chinese version of this. That being said, I will be writing many comparisons between this remake and the original in my review.

I did enjoy this one but it didn't give me the same level of butterflies than the original. Probably part of the reason is that Shen Yu and Hu Yi Tian have explosive chemistry. In this version, it was kinda lacking. And since this was shorter in duration, it didn't give much in-depth look at the characters. I feel like people who didn't watch the original will not really appreciate the phasing of this one. I was crying on Jin Hwan's story arc but that's because I was so attached to his character in the C-version, this version didn't give my Philae & Rosetta justice.

Now what I loved in this version is that the male lead is so squishy, fluffy, kind and overall a better person than the original. As I said, I wasn't much into the chemistry of the leads but I still wanna give this a high rating because of Cha Heon's character. I didn't know it was the actor's first role. Sol-i though was the opposite. I didn't like how the actress portrayed her. I don't remember the original version to be squeaky.

If you want to watch this one but haven't watched the original, I recommend you watch the original first. It will make you comprehend more and understand each character better and will give you an enjoyable experience in watching this just like I did.

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Still hits right in all the feels

Even if a lot of people were disappointed with how this season panned out, personally, I still loved it just as much as the first season. I rarely like second seasons but this one is an exception.

Sure I was also infuriated with Teh to the core when he did that to Oh-Aew. But how it was portrayed was so realistic that I felt it in my bones. I was crying my heart out when it happened. My biggest what if though is that "What if Jai actually wanted to snatch Teh away from Oh Aew? Will Teh really break up with Oh-Aew?" But I wanted to take the story as it is and my what if will have to take its rest.

I loved everything that they tackled in this season. We saw how couples grow up to be their individual person. We saw dreams getting shifted along the way (I was so torn about who to side when Oh Aew decided to stop acting). We saw how a temptation is so easy to come by when the relationship is already so fragile. We saw how a relationship is not all rainbows and butterflies. We saw Teh and Oh-Aew's journey. Billkin and PP embodied Teh and Oh-Aew so perfectly.

The directing and cinematography are still one of the bests I have seen in Thai dramas. It wasn't as aesthetic as it was when the location was set in Phuket but it still visually stunning. Rounding up the best things about this show is the OST. I want to kiss whoever is the musical director of both seasons because it is chef's kiss. The songs and background music amps up all the feels.

Overall, I am recommending all ITSAY fans to make sure to watch the second season because it is worth it.

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This drama had a really promising start and it hooked me right away. But unfortunately somewhere along the middle half of the series, it lost it's magic for me.

We can literally skip 8 episodes and feel like we didn't really miss much. This is probably just really bad writing. The female lead had little to no character growth for those episodes that are skippable. It felt like the writer just recycled a misunderstanding plot over and over again.

The side characters were also equally underdeveloped. I couldn't really connect or feel sympathetic to them. Again, probably due to messy writing.

Part of the reason I stuck with this until the end were the main actors. They were really great at their roles. Anybody with less than stellar performance and this series could be a drop for me. Park Eun Bin's interpretation of Song Ah is so realistic. She made me root for Song Ah's growth even if I don't personally relate to the character.

This had all the potential to be the best melo romance series but it kind of fell short.

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Claiming it as one of the best this year!

Writing this review literally just a few minutes after watching the finale. I AM IN LOVE with this series. It was enjoyable for me from beginning to end.

The plot is something new for me (BL-wise). Plus points already that they are not in a school setting. As soon as Gene said that the non-consent is not romantic in the first few minutes of the first episode, I was sold. They gave us a view of the realities of the BL production down to the craziness of the fandom world. It definitely made me open my eyes to these happenings behind the scenes. It gave me a better perspective. But at the same time, I'm happy they didn't go through a documentary-ish route that focuses on that drama because it would've bored me. I loved that even though it exposes the downside of the whole BL genre, it still managed to give us butterflies with the main story arc. Another thing I liked is the constant emphasis on the importance of consent which definitely threw lots of jabs to other BL stories out there.

As I said, I enjoyed this from beginning to end but there was some scenes that were unnecessarily extended. Like with Tum and his sister. Their scenes can literally be scraped off. I was not on board with Tum and Tiffy ship from the very beginning (although their visuals as a pairing would be fire). They also gave us a whole Aey back story in one episode (and even made me cry for him) and forgot about that arc afterwards. On the other hand, I was happy they gave justice to the Hin's story as an aspiring new writer.

Acting-wise, Up played Gene to a T. Gene is way too relatable. I don't know if that was what's really in the novel but Up definitely embodied that role and made me root for him. Kao has million miles improved in here compared to his last series (although he didn't really have much to work with in UWMA). Chemistry-wise, it was explosive! I feel so single when I see them together. My heart goes to an endless somersault because of them and I think it's unhealthy already.

The OST is also an instant mood booster. If it was in some other show it would've been annoying have an overplayed OST but this one is definitely an exception. The songs in the melo parts were also really good.

Overall, this is rewatch worthy and definitely recommendable to other BL fans out there.

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The main leads are so cute together. I love how Kurosawa is so patient and understanding of Adachi - seriously we need more BL leads like him! The actor who played Adachi really stood out for me. He portrayed the 30 y/o awkward virgin in the most adorkable way.

I have watched a couple of series with mind reading as a plot device but this one is something new for a BL series so I'm eating this up.

I was not very fond of the second couple. I just didn't like the way Tsuge's actor portrays his 30 y/o virgin character (I guess he was meant to act as the funny side character). I would've never thought that the turning point of the entire series will be Tsuge's "Your heart has nothing to do with magic. In the end, it is up to you to decide what to do" line. YES I REALLY AGREE TO THIS.

It was really cute and fluffy short series. No other conflict on the storyline. I liked it. It's worth the watch!

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