A Story of Love's Fortitude

This is a movie based upon Shun and Nagisa being older. While the movie is hopeful, it is still profoundly sad and melancholic. Societal norms still determines that this relationship is not normal. It nearly ruined their relationship forever, and permanently changed what life’s paths they both took. It is a story painful to watch and made me cry. Not so much for its sadness, but for the lost opportunities of love they could have shared with each other. But fate has determined that, it is what it is, and you live your life in the moment and become grateful for what you have. It is an incredibly moving story of love, togetherness, and fortitude.
To fully appreciate this movie, you really need to watch the series 'HIS- I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD FALL IN LOVE WITH ME'. This will give you a perspective of who these guys are from a young age and how and why they mean so much to each other. This is a stunning combination of stories and is so human, with all its glories and foibles. You can see my full review of these two together at my (free) blog site at ppbongi.medium.com..

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Awful and Not Believable

I have NEVER bought this relationship in any of their series and even less in this one. I cannot believe them for one second that they are in love or even a couple. I see no spark. No connection with each other. And most importantly, no relatability to each other. They go through motions that look cute but there is no intensity. Even when they touch each other, they act as if they are both touching hot coals. They were that way in the other series, and they are the same way in this one. I just can not see them as a couple. When they look into each other eyes, which was not often, I do not see any intensity, spark, or connection. They obviously must like working together but at least for me, but that likeness does not translate into character development. I only see acting. No connection and no commitment. I just do not like these two as a couple. It simply does not work for me.

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Tender, Romantic, Beautiful

It is a ‘feel good’ series filled perhaps with the usual basic twists and turns but the overall story is just so well told. Sure, it has a lot of problems with the production, but I honestly bought into the story because I thought the series went into new directions. There is a very good reason for this series to be called Oxygen and you have to experience it to understand how meaningful it really is. Sure, there are flaws in this series. The main characters perhaps play their roles way more passively than they should have but for me it just worked. Some parts were miscast such as Solo’s dad. The story could have been tightened up more and less emphasis on characters that were superfluous. But the backstory of Gui and Solo were so engaging that it made it worthwhile to watch and enjoy. My full review of this very good and entertaining series is at ppbongi.medium.com. You can leave reply there if you want - either positive or negative.

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Too Long to Develop

I think I was drawn to this BL series because I became intrigued by the title of it. I wanted to know what it meant. You do not really know (or at least I could not figure it out) until close to the end of the series. When you do, it is quite charming, but it takes a long, long time to get there.
The build-up of this story never really reaches a climax. It is just a series of explanations. All these characters are likeable. They are all handsome. The story takes way too long to develop. There really is no intensity in any of their relationships and it was hard to believe that any one of them were in ‘love’. So sorry. I loved the title of this series and it started out good, but it just never grew or reached any type of intensity level for me.

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Relevant, Honest, and Current

This series is NOT made for old folks like me who are simply not into social media stuff. That does not mean that I can not appreciate what has been done in this series. It is both significant and profound. This series is based almost exclusively on two things – the computer and the pandemic. Both have been dealt with realism and gut-wrenching emotions. There is such a socially responsible message here that is almost as important as the development of their relationship. In fact, the one can does not happen without the other. Perhaps once this pandemic is over, we can look at this series and its message as passé but until then, it is RELEVANT.

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Sets the Tone

In a very real sense, I think this set the tone for many of the following BL series. It is an intensely character driven with superb acting and a great story line. What I enjoyed about this series is as the characters grow, so does the intensity of the relationship. You see it develop through a sense of caring. It is not overwhelmed with gay overtones but still manages to make it its central point. You can honestly feel for these characters as they ebb and flow from anger to frustration to affection to intense love. It helps also explains many of the rituals of college life and how they really do impact the growth and development of character. It deals rather effectively with bullying and those who are experience the bullying. It is good solid storytelling and is a window into the world of freshman and upper-class students. This one is in the must column for watching.

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Warm, Soft, Gentle, Tender.

There are a lot of flaws in this series. It is choppy, feels rushed, and perhaps their individual actions seem contrived. The main characters and supporting roles are gifted with the perfection of beauty. It all worked for me because I know how irrational we are as humans. We do things that sometimes make no sense and realize that what we have right in front of us is what is really best for us. This series showed that and these characters, even with all their vulnerabilities, did not succumb to the past but had the strength to see things as they are; not what might have been, or was. Maybe I made this too complex or read too much into this series, but this is what I got from it. I have been there with them. Of course, I wanted more from this series, but it did tackle the difficulty of making a commitment to another person and do so with the idea you are doing it for the rest of your life. If you want to review my full review of this adorable series, go to my free blog site and let me know what you think. It is ppbongi.medium.com. Thanks!

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Hands Down, the BEST BL

There are not enough accolades or positive comments on this earth that could begin to even describe this series. It is phenomenal. It is profound. It is the best acted BL series I have ever seen. Honestly, my words do no describe the emotional impact of this series. This was so beautifully done that it is a work of art. It is flawless. I have never been so moved or felt such emotions as I have watching this. I have not cried this hard since I lost my father. It was that emotional. It has to be one of the finest TV productions ever ANYWHERE. I am not Thai so I had to watch it in English translation so I can only imagine the impact it would have in its native language. Suffice to say, that this for me is the BEST program I have EVER watched and would rank this as my favorite of any series ever anywhere. The actors gave it their all and without exception, they are all superb. Perhaps this is hyperbole, but if this had been an American production, I am sure it would have walked away with every Emmy in every category that it would have been nominated for. This is, frankly, superb. I am honored to have watched it and shall remember this for a long, long time. This series is memorable. Thank you for making it!! Please watch! You can read my full review of this incredibly beautiful series at ppbongi.medium.com.

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Awful, Banal, Monochromatic

Where to begin with this tedious series that went nowhere and said nothing. If this was supposed to be a BL, then the L was missing. Watching this series was like watching paint dry - slow, boring, tedious, I have never seen such portrayals of characters so wooden and stilted that it was hard to see them even as 2-dimenshilanal people, Yes, the cuisine looked good but the endless food preparations got to be too much. The ending made no sense at all. Honestly, this was awful and a waste of time to watch. Or perhaps, I just did not get it. And I honestly do not care if I did or not.

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Simply Not Funny

To call this short series quirky would not quite do it justice. It is odd and almost appeared to be a story of a man with a multi-personality disorder. Labeled as a comedy, I frankly just did not get it and subsequently did not find it funny. But I have a difficult time with what is funny in different cultures as humor can be a very culture-centric concept. Another distracting aspect of this series is also a flaw (at least to me) reflective of Japanese BL and that is this constant use of ‘talking to oneself’ to explain actions. Several Japanese BLs use the technique of talking out loud as if they are having conversations with themselves. This is getting overused and tends to 'lead' the audience into what they should be feeling rather than what is.

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Does More Harm Than Good

This series attraction simply confounds me, honestly. To be sure, the acting is not the issue. But we have seen good acting before in mediocre series without any sort of recognition. Yet, this series seems to be inordinately ‘liked’ which to me makes absolutely no sense. Let me try and explain in reasons that both summarize the story as well as exhibit its massive flaws in the series overall – both in terms of its script and message. Let me emphasize that I have nothing against the acting, per se. It is satisfying but with no one really rising to the top to claim any accolade for outstanding performance. It all seemed rather predictable and pedestrian. You can read my full review of this BL, which for me does more harm than good, at BLBliss.com. It is filled with toxicity, abuse, and exploitation, and I find none of that 'loving'.

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Mixed bad as in any reality show

I must warn you that my perspective of this series is not all moonbeams and unicorns. I am not going to praise this series merely for the sake of praising it. Perhaps it is ground-breaking in the sense that it is a gay dating show in the Philippines and for that it deserves applause, unquestionably. As an outsider looking in, I did not understand its concept. I also had a serious issue as to how these 10 were chosen and more importantly vetted. I do not think it was random and my sense was that most were chosen based on social media connections and status in life. And some seemed relatively new to the whole concept of being gay or even if they were gay. I am not trying to negate in any way those who were chosen but with a country of nearly 114 million souls, there are not 10 out and proud unhesitatingly GAY guys from all walks of life, rich and poor, that are willing to be on a ‘reality’ show about finding a guy to ‘spark’ with? With no complications? And I cringe when I see the cavalier way we ogle and view people who share deeply personal secrets and vulnerabilities publicly. While it might be entertaining and, to some extent, hard not to watch, it is deeply personal and maybe cathartic but not necessarily therapeutic or healthy or always good to so freely share. Sometimes the whole world does not need to know or see our deepest vulnerabilities. I both liked and disliked this series, but mostly lean towards the latter. know the ‘good feeling’ we get from initially watching this series and for those participating in this series. But I am apprehensive it will be short-lived, unfortunately. For a whole lot of reasons.
You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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Magnum Opus! The total Package!

Yes, indeed I did watch this phenomenal series and, while not a gamer nor fully understanding much about the intricacies of this series, I treasured its theme and ambition. This series is breathtaking in its presentation, cinematography, storytelling, and acting. I was completely mesmerized and astonishingly could pretty much follow the gist of the story minus the minutiae and detailed storylines. Being a Westerner, I also got hopelessly entangled by the names and relationships of individuals. None of that mattered to me, however. My focus was on the two main protagonists and the heart of their story.
To say this series is unconventional would be an understatement. Interestingly, it was adapted from a BL, but it is NOT a BL. Is it romantic? Oh God, yes. It is beyond a bromance but certainly not a BL. It is in a category all by itself. The two leads, almost from the beginning, develop a strong and inseparable bond between each other that is unshakable. Early on there is a natural affinity between them and it does not take long for both to pledge fidelity to one other.
One of the best series of 2024! You can read my full review of this series at BLBliss.com.

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