Shaky start but blossoms sweetly

I enjoy how HaeBom grew and changed as a characters, starting with a doormat personality, but grew to stand up for himself and take the initiative to do things that will make himself happy rather than defer to other people's will. I really like how the costume department very subtly changed up his styling and wardrobe as he matured and got more confident.

I feel the worst for HaeBom who lost his family and was so thoroughly rejected and given a cold shoulder by his only friend for 12 years while living in the same house. TaeSung is partly to blame for HaeBom becoming like this although he rejected HaeBom becoming his brother because he already knew he loved him in a different way even as a child, 12 years of not being friends with him left HaeBom isolated.

Even though HaeBom is the one with the most changes, kudos to TaeSung's steadfast love and support once he snaps out of his 12 years of frosty coldness when he realizes he may forever separate from HaeBom once they go into university. He really is the one that loves HaeBom the most in this world. He did learn that he enjoy baking too, good for him.

EunSun is a single mom who works hard and loves both her kids and even though she had a hard time accepting them as a couple immediately, it came from fearing that they will have a hard time in society rather from hatred within herself. TaeSung's besties are great, it's nice to see his guy friend YoungHee so accepting and encouraging.

I was happy to see HaeBom be the one proposing even though TaeSung was the first to say he would later, there is no binary separation of roles for them. It's also sweet that this couple gets that far whereas most k bl/lgbt dramas are loves pretty much end the story of when the couple has just gotten together.

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Gay characters from the gay community

It's so refreshing to see queer characters that already know their sexuality, SeungHyun being in the Rainbow Rice cake club during university and Jong Chang having had several relationships already, and SeungHyun's university friend Jiyeon is the implied lesbian rep. It's nice to see veteran actress Ye Ji Won play the CEO in this drama, she always brings a fun quirky vibe to her characters. It's nice that there aren't any spoiler filled previews at the end of the episodes and has a manwha type illustration of the ending shot instead.

Jong Chang moves fast to confess and to apologize, which is good because the episodes runtime and number are short. SeungHyun may be a late bloomer in life, but he catches up quick once he gets a boyfriend. Good for Jong Chang for not moving up in position in the company when he doesn't feel like it, quitting that company where the workplace bully can get their way, for have a funny cat that sends nonsensical texts, finding a boyfriend that loves creating ads as much as he does, and establishing a queer owned ad firm with the excellent interns and employees he poached. The little internship summary video that SeungHyun and KangHae makes is cute.

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Indecisive male lead causing strife to himself and others the series

There is angst and pining and then there is prolonged misery, the later of which the meat of the drama falls into. One person that is the cause of so many nice people's pain. Night is selfish and only concerned with himself and doesn't consider the pain of his best friends.

It was terrible enough that Night dragged things on for YEARS with Namwan who also has her weakness with hiding the necklace and knows Dream's feelings towards Night but still asks him for help with Night, but she finally makes things clear for herself and for her friends too. The flashback reveal that he and Dream already kissed before during high school and he still kept his ambiguous relationship with Namwan made the whole situation even worse, it's understandable that Dream who is already in so much pain from losing both his parents cut off communication and left. This also explains why Dream is so nonchalant about Night drunk making out with and feeling him up, it ultimately doesn't mean anything. The show needed to show where and when Dream met Day within those five years, it was so random for him to show up as Dream's close friend and also Night's brother, but none of the three knew the three of them have been in a love tangle the whole time.

I really enjoyed seeing Dream stand up to the former high school and current adult homophobic bully all on his own and as terrible as Night is, I did like his confrontation speech with his father, finally doing something that he's unable to for so many years, which was saying exactly how he feels, the reasoning he's too dumb for engineering and can't help his father business so he chose a major he himself likes, he loves a guy but won't be with him because his dad won't approve and now that guy has left him just like his mom. I also liked how Night's bad behavior led to his confession to Dream not working out with Dream thinking that Night is just using Dream's feelings for him to beat Day. Good on Dream for not agreeing to be with Night until Night pulled his own messy self together.

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Jun's harem

It's funny that Lee Jun of all people has multiple guys gaga for him, including his main love interest/estranged childhood friend who is maxed out character powers personified: handsome, tall, generational wealth, business savvy, young and accomplished, great kisser, etc, that only has eyes for him. Lee Jun himself doesn't have anything outstanding in his personality outside of the first episode where he boldly asks a stranger for a lift to work, the reveal he tried being an idol, and the childhood flashback . The show forgets to actually to establish a interesting personality for him and he was mostly just the object of the three guy's affections. The drama spent a bit too much time on the three guys pining for Lee Jun and not enough Lee Jun actually dating Choi Jun, but when they finally at last do, I like that Lee Jun goes from 0 to 1000000 with his extremely attractive boyfriend, as he should.

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Sweet former besties to romance story

I really enjoy the cozy look of the show from the color grading, cinematography, sets, and costume. The show utilizes the short run time well with the supporting cast being used in just the right amount to build the world, while most of it is rightly focused on the main leads. I like the recurring funny bit of artists finding their reason to draw being Ahn PD's enemy to his goal of filling the webtoon development abroad trip program. The characters are lovely and gentle hearted, particularly Ki Tae, who has good reason to be angry at Wan, but doesn't lash out, partly because he tries to shut it down on the inside like he had for the past seven years. I do like that show delved a bit into the mental trauma that resulted from Wan suddenly cutting off all contact. It's especially cruel after each cute high school flashback segment showing how close they actually already were before Wan confessed/kissed and ran assuming the feeling wasn't mutual when Ki Tae pulled back from shock. It would have been good if they had a conversation about Wan's offer to go abroad rather than Wan just deciding all by himself that he'll ditch that opportunity to tie up that part of the storyline more neatly. It also seems like a missing scene at the end when he suddenly announces the company counteroffered to make a webtoon of the game he's been working on instead. I like how Ki Tae was absolutely prepared to kiss Wan properly when he gets the chance to and how Wan and Ki Tae are mutually affectionate and genuinely enjoy each other's presence and time. The high school ending flashbacks at the end of every episode is a brilliant way of the show to give context of their past within their limited runtime and I love how they use it to show an alternate path if their high school selves were able to confess to each other sooner, they already had mutual feelings that whole time.

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Seaside town romance

The development of Wonyoung and Taejoon's romance is pretty well done. Wonyoung being his bright and hardworking genuine self and melting Taejoon's hardened exterior bit by bit and Taejoon's attentive caring nature melting Wonyoung's heart is enjoyable to see. As is Taejoon and Dong Hee's friendship, the way they drag each other by the collars like puppies is so funny, especially when Dong Hee does it to the serious Taejoon.

Wonyoung not revealing the truth sooner was a coward move, but his fear at least is not unsubstantiated, and the fall out angst is dealt with in a satisfying way, giving Taejoon a chance to close and heal the festering wounds of the trauma that was inflicted on him from his ex, and with Wonyoung doing his best his way to make up for it. The foundation that was set up was strong enough that I can still root for their relationship.

Some of the kissing are stilted, but I blame the director. It's not an exclusive bl issue, but an issue in asian dramas in general where the actors are told not to move and it makes no sense. There's a kissing scene later that shows the actors can do normal screen kisses just fine and are committed to portraying gay characters in an intimate relationship.

Dong Hee gives me major Thai drama actor in terms of styling and storyline. The flashback that shows Ho Tae's mom showing the abused Dong Hee the warmth, kindness, and acceptance to his sexuality explains so much why treasures her so much and can't reciprocate Ho Tae's romantic intentions. He's getting a spin-off, good for him.

All in all a pleasant watch.

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Slow burn that abruptly fizzles out

The pacing of the story is that it's a lot of set up that ends right where it's finally going to pay off. Soo Hyuk and Yoon Dae uniquely understand the family baggage and trauma they each have. Soo Hyuk bears so much pain and hurt with his hard earned money just feeding endlessly into his father's vices. Yoon Dae keeps looking for someone to offer him stability and care. Even though the pair are mutually attracted to each other, it's hard to root for them without some meaningful change from Yoon Dae other than a confession. I want to see him step up for Soo Hyuk. There is a little set up that Soo Hyuk's co-worker might potentially be interested in him too, but everything just suddenly ends.

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Romance with a side of realistic work stress

Dohoon and Yoonsoo have separate work lives that are well illustrated which allows for interesting contrasts of when they're together and how they intersect. All the work woes and utter exhaustion from both are very relatable. The show also shows well how Sangwoo could be a legitimate possible love interest for Dohoon, they would have been the leads of a different kind of workplace romcom had they met before reuniting with Yoonsoo. Good on him for helping out Dohoon even when Dohoon does not reciprocate his feelings. It's nice that for the most part they are all mature people who get into spats when they get stressed out, but they work things out. Dohoon eating all the kimbap that fell on the asphalt deserves some pity points. If I were Yoonsoo, I would be very concerned he did that lol. The kimbap does look very delicious. The subjective memories of the university days is nicely done to show how hilarious unaware Dohoon is, a point that he himself is aware that he's unaware at least. I like that Yoonsoo lived his own life and dated other people between university and running into Dohoon again. All in all the drama was an interesting watch.

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Soapy Fun

Over the top camp played seriously, everyone knew their assignments and did it well. It's an old school soapy drama style coupled with the still relatively new school conceit of gay characters and gay couple at the heart of it. Film in particular is fantastic as Charn the cunning and seemingly soulless lawyer with the evil smile whose facade is broken down by the humble, hunk Tinn.

Charn's flashback of what happened to both his mother and him and the scene of him unable to lie to Tinn on the tarmac were the show's highlight's. Fantastic acting by Film. It's too unintentionally hilarious though that throughout the show he gets shot and he's never bleeding from the gunshot wounds, so when he got shot in the end I'm just thinking he's impervious to bullets even before he reveals the bulletproof vest. I love that there is time set aside in the finale for Charn and Tinn to get married and live their domestic bliss with Tinn accepting that Charn needs time to change fully. When Tinn proposes and Charn brings up that there is not law for gay marriage yet, I'm so happy in a meta way for them that they can be legally married less than a year after their marriage in the series which was September 2023.

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Tasty though not completely filling

It's always interesting to see high concepts play out for romantic dramas, immediately kicking into action with high stakes, date or die. For a fantasy to be immersive without too much distraction, there needs to be in world explanation for important story elements.

Setting up the rules for kissing the birthmark that was the wound site from a previous life to calm some sort of pain that activates is interesting. It is unclear if it's their proximity only that sets off the pain or if Dong Baek always had that pain and only Yudam can cure it. And so much more like a there needs a clearer explanation exactly what went wrong and got Yudam and Dongbaek cursed, was Yudam alive for 300 years consequtively or was he reborn with the same memories, who's the spirit that possessed Dong Baek, did Dong Baek have other life times in between the first and the current, is the heart shaped mark from a different stabbing from one of those other lives or else how did Yudam know about it, is Denis the assassin that killed Dongbaek, why is Denis calmed by Dongbaek, why is he obsessed with him...etc. It's a really fascinating premise, but a lot felt like it was left on the cutting room floor. I like how the past life scenes show Yudam as warm and kind, juxtaposing with his self 300 years later after he has been living on autopilot, how he's been thawing with his time with Dongbaek, and finally he's back to how he was in his first life after he forgets Dongbaek. It's a bittersweet ending that Dongbaek gets to remember first by keeping his memory in this second loop, but Yudam is already interestested so they can start over with Dongbaek explaining what happened to him eventually. They're even that way with Dongbaek not remember their first life either, neither will have the trauma from that life, though Dongbaek will have some from dying in the first loop of the current one.

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Sotus next gen

This is not the gl version of a legendary bl that kicked off the mainstream popularity of the queer romance dramas, but it does feel like a spiritual successor showing how the sentiments have changed regarding university student bonding activities. It's nice to see ladies in STEM get some representation also to have lots of women in main roles as well. There were a couple supporting roles that should have been played by women as well, such as Manaeow's bestie and P'Pure. I liked the flashbacks revealing Gyoza's journey with the Engineering program's SOTUS orientation exercises, she worked hard rallied to change it to something less traumatizing her incoming underclassmen. I also liked the use of the Engineering program's distinctive shirt jackets to indicate the passage of time. Gyoza and Manaow are lovely together and acted well. The couple gets into fights, but I can understand them snapping from being strained like an over twisted guitar string from being ridiculously busy with a full university workload and also having to tutor so many people including highschoolers, organizing events, etc. The two instances of the homophobic cars hitting Gyoza and Warang out of nowhere were quite silly as was the selective memory loss, but the later plays out okay. The second couple is cute, I'm glad Warang got over herself because her entitlement over Gyoza was not. Thida is the emotionally mature queen and best friend vip. I like that while the characters are sexual, they are not sexualized. I think it probably makes a big difference that the director is a woman and from the queer community as well. All in all, I hope that this drama is a sign of more fully funded, full length gl/queer storylines lead by women to come.

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Miscast and imbalanced romance to typical kdrama issues ratio

Camera angle kiss again in this day and age shows the lack of commitment from one or both of the actors and it really breaks immersion for the viewer and the production is at fault as well for letting this situation become so. The role or roles could have gone to better actors that would commit fully to portraying the characters. The complicated and toxic tinged relationship between Han Joon and Yoo Jae has so much potential to explore with Yoo Jae not wanting to date Han Joon, but not letting Han Joon date or even be close friends with anyone else either with the hints of Yoo Jae's dependency on Han Joon with him being the closest thing to a loving family member he has because of his troubled homelife. He wants Han Joon's attention and physical closeness all to himself and I like that Han Yoon calls him out on it which unfortunately only leads to the aforementioned very anticlimactic camera angle kiss. Also, every romantic benchmark is a big deal with this intense set up, but it's always abruptly undercut in the editing of this drama. That would mean more actual kiss scenes or something that would organically be the expression of the two characters. I do like the scene where they went out for ice cream and held hands. They got to date for five seconds before it all ends. If only there was committed acting, it would be a lot better, but it's not so there are better options to watch than this drama.

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Still budding

The production is competent for it's low budget, especially compared to other independent low budget series. I don't mind the lack of extras because of the budget, it's a very nitpicking point people take such personal umbrage with. I like the show's creative use of the spaces that doesn't need to utilize more people like the library, which is also an intimate space. Where it needs improvement is definitely the pacing and writing. The actors are okay, but for so much of it the main characters Min Jae and Yoon Chan seemed to be on the opposite mental age spectrum with Yoon Chan who I suppose they wanted to be innocent, but was giving more of a early twenty something with a stunted mind of a 5 year old. He's too old to get away with thinking that friends kiss and flirt like that. Also while it's a good thing the actors are committed in acting kiss scenes, sometimes they go on for way too long in the edit. I did like the professor character being a mentor figure and they actor is good, up until the weird cousin loving story. It's actually pretty harmful and messed up to use that as the parallel to a same sex relationship, it's literally the type of thing bigots use to falsely accuse lgbt people with. I'm pretty disappointed with Strongberry for not clocking that in their script. Despite all the flaws, I'm rooting for them to do better in future shows and in this show if it gets another season to finish out the cliff hanger.

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A bit discordant

The production looks nice, the cast is okay. The blue hair character Do Yoon is the funniest, I had to rewatch when he pushed Tae Yi off to the side to hug Se Heon, the comic timing was great. The edit pace overall is really slow. Since this is from the same screenwriter/director from a previous drama that totally failed in the romance department, the main couple's romance here is an improvement, but there is still room for more. The characters kissing people without consent is not good, but at least they apologized I guess. I've seen complaints, but the light kissing during the high school times are both age appropriate for these characters and kudos to the actors didn't look jpeg. They also showed their grown up kissing three years later after high school, it's fine ya'll lol.

There is a concerning amount of bullying consisting both of beatings and of a sexual assault nature that are forgiven way too easily. Especially concerning when Tae Yi falls into this category. He deserved to be kicked between the legs for what he did to Se Heon. I get what they were going for in the second couple, but that reconciliation, even just as friendship was way rushed. Joo Ha needed to do way more to make amends for being the violent terror that he was toward everyone. Do Yoon deserves so much better. The reveal about Se Heon and Tae Yi's brother was sad and the conclusion to that felt a bit abrupt as well. The storylines weren't spaced out very well. They should have given a bunch of the time dedicated to bullying to develop the interpersonal storylines instead.

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