This BL series is a simple romance between two former friends turned rivals...The premise sound quite banal but not at all: far from being basic, the love story is super compelling thanks to the context in which the characters are evolving. The internal conflicts are well balanced with some external events. The fact that they are studying Chinese is super interesting and inspiring as well.

The writing is solid with maybe some defaults towards the end with a noble idiocy trope which I would have preferred to be avoided. Still it is well in line with a teen angsty mentality...Despite this, I found the plot captivating and I was enraptured by the 5 episodes.

There are so much tension and angst between the two main male leads: they completely captures the viewer's heart. I felt deeply connected to the characters and their budding feelings for each other. The characterization is really well done: watching some scenes, you feel a lot of second-hand embarrassment as well as excitement at the same time. One of the main protagonist is such a jealous, possessive, angsty boy: I loved it and it made so much sense to! Overall both of the main roles are really lovable with their flaws and their needy side in their friendship.

The two main actors had a great chemistry together: there is such a poetry and a longing when they are staring at each other, nothing extravagant, just super sensual. They are super committed and are not afraid to get ugly and dirty to sell the scenes, which I found very commendable. There are so many platonic moments that made my heart rate increase and were super compelling. Such a turmoil of emotion and internalised passion could be seen in the eyes of the actors: they did an amazing job, especially as it was their first time in leading roles.

The directing is beautiful, most of the scenes are shot with purpose and artistry. It is super impressive to see all the little details filmed to nuance the script and show the growing desires between those two young people. The OST is really nice with one specific Chinese song particularly meaningful for the relationship as well as some pretty emotional Thai songs. The overall soundtrack is lovely with sometimes songs without instrumental (and sang in an excellent way by the two actors) or in the contrary some instrumentals without lyrics.

I would strongly recommend this to people looking for a poetic and deep BL teenagers story. It is an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance but so much more than that. It has an artistic vision quite uncommon which leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.