Culmination of an addictive master-servant BL Story

I truly enjoyed the movie which is the culmination of the story of Hira and Kiyoi. After two seasons which I definitely appreciated, I was left really wanting to see more of them. The movie was highly satisfying therefore as it reaps the rewards of all the build up done by the series.

The story was well paced and encapsulate pretty well how their relationship as evolved while keeping in a kind of poetic way an S&M undertone with the subservient vs. dominant aspects of their dynamics. It also approaches (even if not that deeply) interesting topics around the entertainment industry and its darker aspects regarding fans and excessive idolization.

The casting did a good job. I still think that Hagiwara Riku is the main highlight acting-wise. The way his expression can shift and his eyes darkens at some points were properly shivering and kind of captivating. I will for sure be looking through his body of works to see more of him ! Yagi Yusei has improved compared to the two seasons of the drama: I think he made real progress in showing and expressing feelings in his role.

The film-making and production value were very good. There are a lot of scenes beautifully filmed that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. Some of the darker sequences had a big impact and the romantic moments were really lovely shot. The music is not overly present but the few songs were nice and kept the same ambiance as in the series, doing the liaison between the drama and the movie.

I would recommend this to people that loved the series. It is the culmination of the love story and is pretty satisfying. I still feel that I'm left wanting to see even more of them, so that they can even go deeper into the psyche of the two main protagonists and the evolution of their interesting dynamic. I'm a bit sad that it is probably the end of the road with those characters... But still what an enjoyable ride ! I think I am going to read the novel if possible !

Citeste mai mult

BL around a dating sim app and characters design: what's not to love ?!

The drama is centred around an office romance in a video game development company. The two main male characters share an interesting past together and I found the various flashbacks very well done and put at the right place all along the series. It allowed the viewer to understand easily the dynamic of their relationship, the trauma of their past still impacting their present. It made perfect sense and was very thoughtful. Given its length, the story is appropriately paced: it is never boring and manage to have some peaks and valleys, making it a really good and exciting show to binge-watch.

After watching this drama, I become really fond of the two main actors. They were both excellent, their friends-to-lovers storyline was super believable with well-executed kissing scenes as well as proper relationship development. The other cast members were likeable even if they are not that present given the shortness of the show.

I loved the format of the series with each episode ending on a typical multiple choices sequence as in many visual novels and dating sim games: it was super cute and totally in line with the thematic. The soundtrack was really nice with a couple of songs full of soul and emotion. The making made the drama even more enjoyable: it was simple and efficiently supporting the storytelling.

I would recommend this to people looking for a different kind of romance, it takes some very well-known tropes and manages to make something fresh from it. It kind of gives similar vibes to the manga "Otaku x Otaku". If you love office romances, friends-to-lovers stories and have an interest in games development and art design, go for it!

Citeste mai mult

How to escape toxicity and self-loathing in the midst of (b)romance

This very short BL series brought me a lot of conflicting feelings. I really enjoyed the ending of the story as it showcased the growth of both main characters. Some steps were taken towards less toxicity and self-loathing overall and that's clearly a win in my book as I was really afraid of a conclusion lacking nuance and realism.

On another side, I kind of wish the series would have been longer because even if the point of the scenario is very clear, the fundamentals of the relationship are a bit brushed off. There are a lot of elements that felt rushed and the storytelling definitely was more about a bromance than a romance to me. I indeed think that to go into a more romantic territory, the chemistry would have needed to be bigger and the scenario did not really provide a lot of opportunities for the actors to get there.

I love the opening generic of the series: the drawing effect in addition to the song was a winning combination. Overall, the production value was okay. The budget was not there but it had a strong indie feeling perfectly fitting for the drama.

I would recommend this to people looking for a more serious BL story. Rather than being about a romance, it is more a bromance to me and what makes it really worth it is its realistic and nuanced ending. I wish there had been more time to develop the romance but I appreciated the overall take of the scenario regarding the evolution of the characters.

Citeste mai mult

A beautiful journey to heal yourself thanks to music, brotherhood and 1990's vibe

This youth drama with a fantasy twist and set mainly in 1995 provides a great nostalgia throwback feeling as you follow a group of high schoolers starting a band together. The drama approaches in a wholesome way profound topics about friendship, family, as well as differences and disabilities that overall resonated well with me as the characters grow and learn. Though both romances were pretty cute, it is the brotherhood within the band and especially the father-son relationship that really got me invested.

In terms of storytelling, I truly enjoyed the set up and introduction. However, I cannot help to think that the conclusion would have deserved more time to reap properly all the rewards of the set-up done in the show. I was expecting the way it ended, there was a lot of satisfying emotional payoff but it could have gone deeper on the aftermath for all the characters following one of the major event happening in the last episode as well as regarding the evolution of the main protagonists and their relationships (especially regarding the female leads where it felt a bit short).

Overall, the quatuor of main characters work very well together, and I am pretty satisfied by the performances of the ensemble cast (especially for some of the more secondary characters). Choi Hyun Wook delivers a consistent and reliable performance in the role of the frontman of the band. I loved him in Weak Hero Class 1 and I love him as well here. The only little flaw I see is that his character tends to be very shouty. I think it is both bound to the role as well as to some of the directing. It is not at all detrimental to the story but it prevents some range in the acting as the character is always at 100%. Despite this, he (and his character) was clearly my favorite part of the show.

The filmmaking is pretty great with a colourful and boyish atmosphere perfectly fitting for the scenario. I love the soundtrack with its "older indie rock" feels. Every song done by the band is super catchy and the musical scenes each time delighted me.

I would recommend this to people looking for a very solid youth drama set in the 1990's. If you enjoyed movies like "Back to the Future" and dramas such as the "Reply" series, you will for sure immensely enjoy it! If you are a fan of musical genre shows, this one is also clearly made for you. I personnally really loved it despite some issues with the pacing of the script and the way I would have liked a bit more development on some elements, especially towards the ending.

Citeste mai mult

Too bad the storytelling around the stakes and the editing hindered my enjoyement

I was quite disappointed by this action movie. More specifically because the most interesting aspect of the plot (with the submarine scenes, all involving a deep and gutwrenching psychological aspect) is only coming up past the 2/3 of the movie. I'm left to wonder if I would not have appreciated much more the film if it had been edited in another way around rather than creating a false suspense regarding the identity of the antagonist.

The performance of the casting was overall good but not stellar. At the end, surprisingly enough, it is two of the guest roles (played by Cha Eun Woo and Lee Min Ki) that grabbed the most my attention. I wish that Lee Jong Suk would have been given a bit more room to shine and do more in terms of dialog as well as characterization. Once again, maybe a different edit of the story would have allowed to have much more powerful stakes for the story.

Regarding the production value, it was pretty good. There are some rather thrilling action sequences and good ideas in terms of directing. There are a lof of variety in the dangerous situations faced by the main protagonists. The soundtrack is quite absent from the movie, not that memorable but there is a pretty sorrowful that I enjoyed during the ending generic.

I would not necessarily recommend this to people as I did not particularily enjoyed my watch. My main issue with the film is coming from the scenario and the way the story is building up the characters. I did not manage to engage with the main roles and in an action movie, rooting for the good guys and understanding from where they are coming from is critical to really get me invested and care about the story. Here, I started to care much too late and felt that the 2/3 of the movie was not as exciting as I would have wished.

Citeste mai mult

Loved the intention of the story, the main actors chemistry...A bit too short to conclude solidly

A bitter sweet BL story where two former high school lovers meet again in their thirties after breaking up in quite ambiguous circumstances. I truly enjoyed the intention behind the script: to go the nostalgia and bitterness of young love to the passion and uncertainty of love at adulthood.

Given the short duration of the series, I felt the scenario managed to accomplish a lot in the development of the relationship, at least until its last episode where I felt the resolution of the external conflict a bit too easy. I would have prefer they kept the issue and evolution mainly internal to the couple because there were clearly not enough time to conclude properly on what felt as a last minute external obstacle.

I liked a lot the two main actors as well as their younger selfs counterparts. I found both iterations of the couple had great and palpable chemistry. The secondary roles were less convincing to me, they were either transparent (e.g. the office coworkers) or too caricatural (e.g. the "antagonists/rivals").

I enjoyed the original soundtrack, it was very slice-of-life, not that original but very pleasant and completely fitting the story. The production was quite standard for the genre with not a lot of variety in the sets and decors. There was obviously not that much budget but it was not detrimental to the storytelling.

I would recommend this to people looking for an adult BL story, which manage to bring together an innocent youth love with a mature romance when they reunite. It is a bit of shame that the last conflict and the conclusion are less solid than the introduction and middle part of the series but it is overall a very enjoyable watch.

Citeste mai mult

Some amazing performances and discoveries among the cast, lost some steam towards the end

I loved the premise of this survival show with the objective to found a vocal boy group of only 4 members. It felt fresh and original as a concept. Unfortunately, it fell a bit short concept-wise: it almost looked that mid-way the producers changed their mind on the initial idea. They lost their concept on the way, with no real differentiation compared to other singing competition that I have seen. The way they organised and splitted the episodes / missions felt also quite strange, as well as the voting rules and principles. The episodes were quite short for such kind of program but I felt they could have spend a bit more time in building stories around the candidates. Indeed, maybe the episodes were too short to fully get attached to the more subdue candidates...

While it felt short in story-telling and production, I must say that I found the cast quite good overall. No obvious bad / fillers singers, just talented individuals with of course some being shown more than others. Nothing outrageous, except maybe for some missions where I think they could have shown all performances rather than scratch off some with just a better editing and split of content between episodes.

Regarding the cast, I was truly happy to find back some very familiar faces met in others tv shows (such as Geonu, Jay, Lee Hwan Hee and Wumuti) and I felt I really made some interesting discoveries among individuals I did not know before (e.g. to name a few: Kim Min Seo, Choi Su Hwan, Jeon Woong (from AB6IX), Lee Kwang Suk, Park Je Up, Kim Seung Hun (from CIX), Seon You (from UP10TION), Bain (from Just B which is a group I like but did not know a lot about the members -except for Geonu), Bitsaeon (from M.O.N.T), Kim Seo Hyung, Jung Soo Min, Kang Ha Yoon, Park Joo Hee, Choi Haram and so much more...). I liked as well the MC and judges casting...I knew most of them, but again, episodes felt short to get attached to the ones I did not know from before.

In terms of rewatch value, I know that there are some performances that I will gladly rewatch (and already do) in the future...I will for sure rewatch again Dangerously, River, Bad News as well as honestly every interactions of Milky-up who were just so lovable and wholesome...Overall, I am happy with the results of the finale. The winning team was my favorite but honestly all the candidates were so good that there were no "bad" choice. However, I was disappointed by the finale production, it lacked strongly in entertainment value and felt draggy as well as super expected. The best performances of the show are all coming from the first third / half of the contest...It is a bit of a shame that the orginal songs did not grab as much my attention.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a survival show with some great singers and performances. It is pretty entertaining with a good cast and the concept of forming a vocal group is quite fresh. It lost some steam along the way and production could have done a better job to spread out content and to make the finale more exciting.

Citeste mai mult

An exciting game show that will put your brain on fire in a very entertaining way !!!

I loved the concept of this TV show: teams of students from different universities face each other around games requiring a lot of brain power. Some games are more exciting than others, but the showrunner managed to have a nice variety and rythm all throughout the lenght of the show.

I enjoyed the casting: there were clearly some players that had a bit more screen time but overall it was quite well-shared between the universities and the various students. My favorite team wins which I highly appreciated. I was expecting it given the editing which made it relatively obvious, but in any case it was in overall very satisfying to watch and super exciting to follow as the competition unfolded.

Production was adequate in conveying the essence of the games, with the rules being very well explained and allowing the viewer to even participate and try to find the solutions as well. The soundtrack was not very noticeable (neither in a bad or good way). The budget felt a bit limited at some point as I think the producers could have let students use more hi-tech and technological means to take notes and define strategies in order to make it even more visually appealing for the viewers.

I would recommend this to people looking for an entertaining competition show with a lot of mind games and exciting intellectual battles. This show is really all about participating with your skills foremost and your brain power. There is some strategies but no tricks nor manipulation nor hidden alliances...The objective is clearly to prove yourself with your intelligence alone and that's really refreshing overall.

Citeste mai mult

Uninspired BL movie: banal story + bad acting

This BL movie depicts a quite banal romance. It had some cute moments but honestly I could not get behind the romance. I felt no chemistry and I really think the way they set up the romantic elements make it difficult to support it. Too much "destiny" stuff preventing any real character development. Destiny is pushing them together (-at least we are told so) but there is not much else there to show why they would develop mutual romantic feelings. It feel very surface level despite the fact that the film address some concern faced by the protagonists regarding their sexuality and their acceptance within society.

Unfortunately, the actors skills are pretty weak. Most of the dialogs felt super flat though strangely enough, there are also so many over-the-top and overacting moments. I cringed at so many scenes, which I am pretty sure was really not the purpose.

The production value was overall ok, it felt like your standard / middle-of-the-road high school series. The saving grace of the movie was a couple of songs sang by one of the main character. It was nice without being very remarkable.

I would not recommend this to people as there are much better BL highschool romance out there. It is only the second production from Philippines I watch and I must say that so far, I'm not convinced about what I have seen. I still want to discover more from this country because I think I might just be not lucky so far with my picks.

Citeste mai mult

Wei Wu Xian and Lan Wang Ji stole a place in my heart ~~~

The story is beautifully built. Each of the narrative arc is interesting not only for the storylines but as well because they participate so much to characters development. There are a lot of clues spreaded through the script that results in highly satisfying payoff. The characters are very well written: they remain consistent during the whole saga and their motivations and actions make sense, which given the length of the show is quite an achievement in itself. The pace of the series was very good, you feel immediately compelled to watch the next episode. There might have been a bit of overexplanation scenes toward the end (it can feel slighlty repetitive, especially if you guessed some of the revelations like I did)...But at the same time the ending offers so many rewarding and great moments for the viewer that I was really happy with it.

The acting was really good. Especially regarding the actors playing the central protagonists: Wei Wu Xian and Lan Wang Ji. Wei Wu Xian was my favorite character and Xiao Zhan portrayed him with a lot of charm, candor and charisma...The variety in his acting game really seduced me. Wang Yi Bo who portrayed Lan Wang Ji had a difficult job as his character is very cold/reserved but he managed to do a lot in terms of micro-expression and you can see the evolution of his character as the series progresses. The secondary cast was also very convicing in incarnating the support roles (such asJiang Cheng, Jiang Lan Yi, Wen Ning...so many interesting parts who shined through with amazing and emotional scenes.) Overall, the ensemble cast was very good with maybe some weaklinks on a few very secondary roles.

The production value was good but lacked in some way. I'm probably nipicking because I loved this series very much but I truly wish they had a bigger budget for some scenes (the battles ones), the fights in small numbers were good and special effect were okay in overall. But clearly there were some obvious limitation when showing scenes in an impactful / big picture way, the grandiosity was not there (or at least not as much as I feel the story deserved). I wish the special effect make up would have been much better because it was frankly not good. The music was lovely: mainly the musical themes, as some of the characters plays instruments to fight, the soundtrack theme was of utmost importance. It was very nice and pretty.

I would strongly recommend this to people looking for an historical saga splendidly built, with amazing characters and relationship developments as well as some great acting. It is an adaptation of a Chinese BL novel (which I have not read -yet) and despite the censorship in China regarding those, they manage quite successfully to make the viewer understand the subtext behind some of the relationships.

Citeste mai mult

Lack a point of view, too middle-of-the-road screenwriting making it rather bland despite the topic

This movie is kind of an adaptation of Cinderella fairy's tale but involving Little Riding Hood and centred around the resolution of a crime mystery...I unfortunately did not enjoy this film but it might be just a case of "it's me...not you".

In terms of fairy tales adapations, I think it is lacking a strong point of view. It is sweet but not much else. I wish they went darker but the scenario went for a middle-of-the-road tone that I found a bit boring. There are too much comedy / overacting to take anything seriously, so the ending with the "life lesson" felt totally flat to me. At the same time, they are adding grim touches with the crime itself and some of the elements relating to the characters, but it is done superficially and it never get even midly frightening...

I was not impressed by the acting but the production value was alright. Special effects were overall well executed and costumes were really pretty. The music was not memorable at all but fitted well with the movie.

I would not recommend this movie if you are looking for a darker take on fairy tales. It is really a matter of taste and expectations. Personally, I enjoy a lot Kaori Yuki mangas where she often revisit in a very dark and grim way various fairy tales...I would have wished the movie to take a similar approach. Here, it is more a family movie with a mystery for which I found the resolution pretty clumsy as well.

Citeste mai mult

Despite its short length, this series still felt like a loss of time...

This short length series (26 episodes for a total duration of 3h42 minutes) follows the relationship between Yan Zhen (acting as CEO of the company instead of her husband who mysteriously disappeared while trying to invesigate some corporate issue) and Chu Ze An, the twin of her lost spouse. Does it sound bonker but interesting with a lot of soap elements ? Yes. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy my time watching this series, the writer chose the safest and blankest way to develop the plot.

I wish they went crazy with it but sadly enough, it remained all along very timid and safe...In addition to that, none of the choices made by the characters made a lot of sense...All their issues could have been resolved much more efficiently, the scenario makes a point to tell us how smart they are, but honestly their actions are dumb most of the time...I must admit that the heroine is the smartest of them all, so it alleviated a bit my frustration with the scenario.

The acting was very bad. There were so many "WTF" moments where the actors almost did not react...I did not feel the chemistry between the leads and separately they were not able to carry any of the dramatic moments. I know they were not helped at all by the writing but I wish they would have at least made some minimal effort to emote any kind of believable emotions...They were really generic all along the series. The secondary roles were not portrayed in a more inspired way and the actors playing them had also what felt as limited acting chops.

The production value was average at best, which I expected given the short lenght series format. The soundtrack was pretty nice, a bit repetitive and overpowering given the length of the episodes but overall probably the best part of the series.

I would not recommend this to people as there are much better dramas out there. Even if you are looking for some soap, brainless series to just entertain yourself, there are for sure more fun and better things to watch. It felt like a loss of time, the story was really uninspired, boring and overall badly acted.

Citeste mai mult

Despite frustrating ending + writing flaws, worth it for the butterflies that the romance provides!

I have watched the previous chinese adaptation "Addicted" of the novel and was curious to see the newest adaptation and how the director and screenwriter will be able to build up this BL relationship while meeting the censorship criteria. Fortunately enough, I think they did a very good job regarding the development of the relationship.

They choose to develop the story in a less toxic way. I liked how toxic it was in the previous adaptation, but here they made it something else and it is as interesting and much more wholesome and candid. They managed to handle the censorship very well: the relationship between the two guys is clearly romantic and with a lot of chemistry despite not being able to show much. Everything is in the subtext, which I really enjoyed.

The downside of the story resides in the last third of the series with a not very inspired resolution to some of the familial conflicts as well as an abrupt ending that felt very much open and which was to me super frustrating. It seems that once again an adaptation of the novel is stopped in the middle of a narrative arc. A season 2 would be more than welcome to conclude better the series but sadly enough, I don't think anything is planned in that respect.

The two actors casted as main leads were really good. They had a great chemistry together and I totally believed in their characters' strong feelings for each other. They managed to convey so much with just their eyes, the looks they were throwing to each other as well as each of their very innocent touching. That's impressive to express so much with so little skinship: every little hints they gave regarding their affections and even more felt like a precious gift to the viewer. The secondary cast was more of a mixed bag in terms of performances.

I enjoyed the production value of this drama. There were a lot of very pretty and memorables scenes between the leads showcasing very well sweet moments between them. I also enjoyed the soundtrack: I liked less the opening song but the other three songs were very solid and such a vibe fitting the romance very well.

I would recommend this to people looking for a Youth BL that really put the focus on developping in a wholesome and believable way the relationship between its main leads. The scenario might be a bit wonky at time as well as the actions of some of the side characters but the main relationships (as well as the two actors acting as leads) is really worth the time invested. Be aware that the ending might be frustrating, but the journey of the romance really offset this point to my eyes.

Citeste mai mult

Disappointing, tries to do too much in too little time / do not convey a convincing BL story

This BL drama is centred around the encounter of Toki, delinquent highschooler and Sahara, his homeroom teacher for which he develops a one-sided love...The premise of the series was super interesting and there were quite a few good ideas in terms of characters background and even regarding a storyline for secondary characters that was super promising (another rather taboo romance that went regrettably nowwhere).

Unfortunately, the overall scenario is a deception at several levels. First, they really embraced a comedical tone for the first part of the drama instead of really deep-diving into the more taboo aspects of the various relationships...The writing and directing wanted to keep things light and relatively surface level which is clearly not the direction I wanted the show to take. Secondly, the series tried to do too much in too little time. We get a lot of background story on some side characters or on the past but in fact it is to the detriment of the build up of the relationship of the main couple.

I was utterly unconvinced by the relationship between both main male leads. They had no romantic chemistry. Separately they were a bit better (especially Hachimura Rintaro who managed to make his character rather endearing when he could have been very annoying) but sadly it was very difficult to feel engaged into their relationship...The others actors playing secondary roles were quite okay overall, nothing really remarkable but nothing bad neither.

The production value was rather poor, you can feel the limits in the budget with the repetition of the sets and decors, as well as the limits in the directing (fight scenes were just cringe). The music was forgettable but I enjoyed listening to the opening and ending generic.

I would not recommend this to people as there are better school BL out there. This series had some really nice tropes but completly failed to exploit them. I wish they would take the two same storylines (teacher/ student as well as the other side romance) and make it very gritty and dark...I wish they focus solely on those two relationships and give them enough room to develop and be believable. Anyway, too many wishes...It could have been really special but was rather plain instead.

Citeste mai mult

Societal critic supported by a strong cast and impressive storytelling: very deep and impactful!

A beautiful movie very impactful and that made a deep impression on me upon watching. The scenario is one of the strong point of the movie: it almost felt like a theatre play in several acts. Every question find an answer, every element showcased at one point of the script has an importance for the rest of the story... The film approaches some very important societal topics and provide a sound critic of Japanese society without being preachy and with a lot of subtlety.

The cast is really great: the characters are multi-faceted and the actors and actresses manage to provide plenty of nuances to their roles. There are a lot of angsty and emotional moments that are played with expertise for the adults parts and candor for the children parts.

The production value is good, I loved some of the decors as well as the editing which really enhanced the various storylines intertwined with each other. The soundtrack was not overly present but there are some critical scenes involving music with a very interesting set up.

I would strongly recommend this movie to people looking for a film providing a critic of Japanese society, discussing important topics and very well acted. The ending made a very strong impression on me...I will not spoil it but the message behind it really moved me deeply. There are some triggering aspects to the movie but it is not too graphic, a lot happens in subtext and is understood as the story unfolds itself. If you are looking for some fluff or slice-of-life movie, it is not the film for you. But if you are ready for some great and poignant storytelling, give it a shot!

Citeste mai mult