A Quirky Short Film

Content Warnings: none

Overall: a cute short film (30min) with an art house film quirky vibe

What I Liked
- the set design is really nice
- the camerawork and lighting made it have an art film/quirky/unique tone
- I could see this being a whole series and I don't think I've seen a fortune teller reading tea leaves in BL yet...

Room For Improvement
- I think I know what happened at the end but I'm not really sure...which generally isn't how I like to feel after watching something
- the goofy sound effects were okay, I liked that they toned them/got rid of them later on

Citeste mai mult

Bit Off More Than it Could Chew

Overall: This is a perfect example of trying to tell too much story in too short of screen time. The result is a bunch of hanging plot threads instead of a completed story.

Content warnings: two rapes (shown) and violence (not between m/m).

What I Liked
- I thought the visuals, acting, and production were good
- at least there weren't any evil ex-girlfriends or stalker fans fetishsizing m/m relationships in public...

Room For Improvement
- too many things were not completed, what happened with the store owner, the mafia boss? Light's dad is just skipping around free as a bird for the absolutely despicable and illegal things he's done??? What about that other guy, he's also not in jail, get him in jail!!!
- the fact that the police officer didn't believe Light, I wanted to strangle the police officer... This already feeds into the idea that survivors won't be believed if they come forward.
- once again we get BDSM portrayed as non-consensual, boo

Citeste mai mult

A Realistic Slice of Life Set in a Religious High School

Content Warnings: none that I can think of

Overview: you might like this if you like slice of life stories

What I Liked
- the setting of an all male religious school is fairly unique from what I've seen thus far
- the main character Dominic has (stereotypical) feminine qualities which is rare to see and I liked that he character wasn't played just for laughs like I've frequently seen with trans women or crossdressing men (though this did happen with the fortune teller/assistant)
- the ex girlfriend wasn't some flat evil character, she saw that he changed, they were more compatible now and wanted to give it another try

Room For Improvement (minor spoilers)
- that Dominic lied and said he just wanted to be friends/platonic when almost the whole time he was looking at it from a romance aspect
- was it ever explained why Dominic didn't go to the playground, did he forget? what happened???
- how the ending played out, it felt like Dominic was trying to force Luke...

Citeste mai mult

a short miniseries with love triangles (or rectangles???)

Content Warnings: none I can think of

What I Liked
- visuals, the actors are cute
- production (like sound, subs, lighting) are actually pretty good for what I'm assuming is a very small budget
- the BTS clips at the end of each episode are fun to watch

Room For Improvement
- the crying itself was fine but when he raises his head it didn't look like he had been crying at all (i.e. no tears, red eyes or nose)
- the kiss wasn't the best but it definitely wasn't the worst that I've seen
- this season ends on a cliffhanger
- I'm watching the 2nd season and you really don't know who to ship or what the endgame is, there are multiple people liking other people

Citeste mai mult

Actual communication & character growth!

Content Warnings: bullying, maybe that super bizarre meet cute, 
(minor spoilers)

I watched the first 5 episodes but since I'm not a fan of love triangles (rectangles? pentagons?) or slow burn romances, I decided to wait until it was finished and binge the rest if reviews were good. And I'm so glad that I watched the rest (albeit on 1.5 speed).

What I Liked
- hold onto your hats because...characters actually communicate with each other, whaaaaa???? Not perfectly, but there is a bunch of effort and it's so nice to see characters looking for clarification and communication. 
- characters actually apologize for mistakes they made and try to learn/grow from them
- attention to detail with the production/production value. I can tell thought was put into things (such as a character is mentioned to have red ears and his ears are actually red).
- Shi Woon is the best boy, I liked many characters but Shi Woon is a goofball who isn't stupid, more of this please
- the parallel with the cat
- finally a supportive and kind teacher who isn't flirting or hooking up with a student
- some great lines including "steal what, Tae Kyung is not mine just like Da On isn't yours"

Room For Improvement
- that absolutely awful meet cute with the you know what and referring to his butt, no way. The writers must have thought this was funny but it was totally not funny and awful to watch. 
- I know it's based on a game but I wish they would have made the names more unique from each other, because I kept getting confused about which person was being talked about
- It can be slooooooowwww, like those 2 minute lingering glances after a catch and fall, talking slowly, walking slowly
- once again we have the female character who make a terrible decision but at least this one has character growth
- the 2 kisses, especially the 2nd. I give them 1 shocked kiss but when 1 person doesn't move their lips/pucker and the other is making an effort, it looks so awkward. I blame the director/lack of workshopping. Looking at the BTS, neither actor had done an on screen kiss. The actors should have been given some direction/information in a smaller group setting before going to film it.
- the last episode left many things unanswered and felt rushed but perhaps there will be a season 2

Speaking of, I'm looking forward to a season 2 or a spinoff (but don't make me get rid of one of the things on my What I Liked list).

Citeste mai mult

didn't live up to its promise...

Overall: unfortunately they must have changed writers from the prequels (https://youtu.be/PsGI1LJn-7Q and https://youtu.be/estp_6mHi1s) and we got unfunny parts and nonsense stuff instead of a realistic angsty series. Airing on WeTV and YouTube (according to the company YouTube will be 3 hours later).

Content Warnings: bullying, death (past), grief, vomiting

What I Liked
- the child actors did a great job
- cute/sweet moments
- countryside setting in episode 1
- wish the realistic reaction at the end of episode 5 had happened when they first re-met
- production value

Room For Improvement
- Phu's actions (to me) aren't romantic, they are immature, selfish and extremely hurtful over the course of a looong (10 years) period of time, there is no apology he can make for ghosting his best friend for a decade, I find Phu unlikable and don't want them to end up together (but I'm sure they will)
- because of time jumps/flashbacks it felt choppy in beginning episodes
- I think people who haven't watched the prequels would be confused especially the university part
- I didn't find that workplace humor stuff funny including the caricature characters

Citeste mai mult

could have been total campy fun (watch suggestions)

Overall: with a few changes this could have been a super entertaining comedy. I deducted a full point for the atrocious lack of consent (mainly in episode 7). 8 episodes about 50 minutes each. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/m9ytee03pftoltl-OMG%20Vampire%20(Uncut%20Ver.) There was sometimes an additional product placement scene at the end and this review was of the uncut version (which was the only listing originally on MDL), not sure there even is a cut version. Very Great also made Physical Therapy and Crazy Handsome Rich

Content Warnings: deaths, rape, non con maybe turned consensual, non con kissing, blood, manipulation, vomiting, harassment, non con touching, stalking, breaking & entering, held against will, beaten up/fights, manhandling

Watch Suggestions (takes out most of the love triangles, focuses on cute moments & skinship)
- watch episodes 1 & 2 (or read the synopsis and watch the beginning of episode 1)
- watch episode 3 from the beginning to 17:30
- watch episode 4, 9:40 to 10:40, 25:30-26:15, 36:45-39:50, 43-51:50
- watch episode 5, 7:10-16:30, 32-36:20, 42 to the end
- watch episode 6, beginning to 45 seconds, 6:30-11, 13:10-16:15, 20:20-26:50, 28:30-33:30, 34:45 to the end
- watch episode 7, beginning to 1 min, 11:30-12:20, 14:20-17:10, 32:30-41:06, 42:24-49
- watch all of episode 8 but I'd suggest ending at 59:40

What I Liked
- the over the top campy humor made me chuckle a few times (Thaiwilight City)
- beginning scene got my attention
- good kissing
- sweet moments
- lack of voice dubbing
- supportive friends and parents

Room For Improvement
- the non con in episode 7 was horrendous, being in a relationship does not mean you get to do whatever you want when a person is sleeping (although this was fictional because no way would a person sleep through that), I think with 1 couple they were going for a bodice ripper vibe but it came across as more uncomfortable than steamy, they even had non con right at the end of episode 8
- many world building exposition dumps
- juggled too many plots/relationships for 8 episodes
- nonsense/'because the writer said so'/convenient world building stuff i.e. problem is population increase but then same sex relationships are worse somehow???, why wouldn't he just sleep for 200 years? I guess he was nervous about something happening in 6 years but given his age seemed unlikely, super improbable that would happen to the 4 of them at the exact same time and a ton more
- Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy music, same music from their past series
- the music 'na na na na na na naaaaa' over steamy scenes
- episode 2 when characters argued about who would be the groom
- not a fan of 2 men fighting over a woman in het series and definitely not in BL series
- odd that Patrick went from intrigued to very reluctant to head over heels

Citeste mai mult

full of sweetness

Overall: the sweet/caring dynamic is fun to watch. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/your-sky-episode-1-1mjy70t567o?lang=en_us ; cut on YouTube (not available in Japan or South Korea) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcTibKbv20S4ZNMvGUzUFQZrJenvr4xCa&si=Z1iDluCF_Hhpy73L I added up the timings in ep 1 and the uncut was about 1 minute longer - I didn't see any difference between the cut and uncut versions.

Question - I'm wondering if the nickname "Saggy Cheeks" would better be translated to "Squishy Cheeks" - if anyone who speaks Thai can talk about the translation please let me/us know. "Saggy Cheeks" has a negative connotation to me but I had the impression that it was a silly nickname, not a negative nickname.

Content Warnings: manipulation, non con touching/manhandling, punches, non con picture taking/sharing, coercion, transphobia

What I Liked
- showed a main character as kind through his actions at the beginning
- caring/sweet dynamic and that they communicate
- one of the few child-like characters who has agency (actively makes his own decisions)
- supportive friend group
- loving and supportive family
- that the brother figured it out/was smart and supportive
- protect mode
- non cliche ex girlfriend
- non stereotypical trans characters

Room For Improvement
- character exposition dump montage with voice over for the other main character
- the stereotypical trans woman character
- nonsense stuff: so drunk he couldn't recognize someone but still able to stand/walk and talk; friends didn't seem to know what was going on but everyone else did in ep 2, that the antagonist didn't switch his focus to someone else
- nervous about pacing with 9 episodes remaining
- some of the camera angles were odd
- in episode 6 they needed to show them filming so viewers realized that it was for the student film and didn't really happen (on/near the beach)
- in episode 7 what a character did could have killed another character, that was too violent and thus far the couple hasn't had a conversation about it
- a character randomly showed up to comfort Oh, they could have weaved in this character earlier
- (neutral) comedy sound effects

Citeste mai mult

a confident King goes thru the ringer

Overall: I give the production large props for tackling several realistic issues; however, there were too many plot threads for them to develop them all well. Aired 8 episodes about 30 minutes each on ANIMA Studios YouTube channel. Here is the playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMPz9QG8YAxIjGoPfHFugXYAbumaqC0Cj&si=4tZjYcP2X4JCgqlO

Content Warnings: past suicide, grief, hate crime, blood, homophobia, transphobia (including repeated dead naming), manhandling, non con picture taking, unwanted public outing, slap (the series needed more trigger warnings on the intro screen as I could see many things being very triggering for some people)

What I Liked
- the intro with some historical information included, integrated historical people in with the present
- an outspoken character that felt like a real person and not a stereotype
- queer representation including a trans female character (and something else but it's a spoiler)
- characters used stereotypes to determine who was queer and then called themselves out about it
- addressed realistic issues like homophobia/transphobia
- some sweet moments and the flag/scene at the end was excellent
- supportive friends, grandma & a dad
- production value

Room For Improvement
- hope that friend was fine in episode 1 when the dean was yelling at them and a character did something suddenly, would have been nice to see a check in about that
- odd that the first thing the grandma says to a grandson she presumably hasn't seen in awhile is to ask what his preferred sexual position was
- the water rescue trope where it was so shallow it looked like he could stand
- a terrible "plan" related to the pool
- what the mom did in episode 4 that isn't really addressed
- in episode 4 it wasn't as emotional as it could have been because they at first weren't clear what happened in the past and they hadn't established that character
- too many plot threads/antagonists, weren't able to develop all of them really well
- in episode 5 it wasn't clear what Lili told her friend
- as much as I hated Marco's actions, Lili saying "nobody loves you" went too far, maybe it was a translation error
- kind of making fun of getting consent in episode 6
- I understand why King said, "it's okay to be (spoiler)" but he should have checked in with that character first (ep 7)

Citeste mai mult

basically commercials with some cute moments

Overall: I don't mind product placement, but in this case there was more product placement than plot. Three episodes about 12 minutes each. Aired on DFJ Entertainment's YouTube channel https://youtu.be/16s4HBeSKUE?si=5wguaKQ0sgnG6ocl

What I Liked
- lap sit and walking fingers up his arm
- the cat
- having subtitles in multiple languages

Room For Improvement
- mostly product placement
- think they should have left the boyfriend out of the series, did the main character learned/grown so a future relationship would even be successful?
- ending was disappointing with them cutting away like that

Citeste mai mult

some cute parts (watch suggestions)

Overall: cliched conflicts weighed down the otherwise cute plot. 10 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki. The production company also made: Stay By My Side, You Are Mine and Anti Reset (airing in 2024).

Watch Suggestions (unless you enjoy slow pacing and cliched drama)
- watch ep 1 & 2
- skip ep 3
- watch ep 4
- skip ep 5
- could skip ep 6, there is a cameo from the You Are Mine leads and a cute sick/caring scene around 12 minutes but stop at 16 minutes to avoid useless family drama
- skip ep 7 & 8
- watch ep 9 (can also start at 8 minutes and watch thru to the end) and episode 10

Content Warnings: homophobic remark, dub/non con kissing, vomiting

What I Liked
- cute moments
- facial hair (and it looks really good) on a lead
- supportive/wingman friend
- two side characters (though zero screen time in episode 5-8 and only a little bit before then)
- cameo of You Are Mine actors in ep 6 and 10
- that Liu Li stood up to the mom

Room For Improvement
- the whole drunk cliche
- the waiter's rude comment would have made more sense if there were a bunch of people in the restaurant and some were leaving because they couldn't find a place to sit, also the animal sanctuary could have used a few extras as well
- in episode 5 the dub/non con kissing was uncomfortable to watch as was the freeze kiss in ep 4
- instead of introducing that character in ep 6 they could have developed the sassy waiter and the upbeat friend (who basically vanished from the series)
- camerawork sometimes moved too much/had odd angles
- slow pacing
- two grown men fought like middle schoolers over another man as if he was property and not a person, tried to be comedic but failed
- noble idiocy

Citeste mai mult

A Slooooowwww Realistic(ish) Drama

Content warnings: none I can think of

Overall: A slower paced (too slow in my opinion) series dealing with a realistic problem.

What I Liked
- A more realistic reason for the drama
- Supportive siblings
- Lack of evil girlfriend/ex-girlfriend/stalker "fan"
- Focused on 1 couple* instead of a billion (slight exaggeration) couples

Room For Improvement
- 4 year gap: I really dislike time gaps where 1 person makes a unilateral decision and the other person is miserable for years and years supposedly for their own good, ugh.
- Number of flashbacks/flashforwards: it takes me out of the story and this had quite a few of time hops especially via flashbacks. The whole 7th episode was a flashback, it felt like filler.
- Lack of doctor/patient confidentiality: I think the sister could have talked to Nut about Phob instead of his doctor
- *Not being clear about the brother & Tar's relationship until episode 6: just a few romantic moments would have made this clear earlier. I would have liked their relationship to be more developed.
- Pacing felt too slow to me: I watched this on at least 1.5 (or more) speed and I think it would have been better as 6 episodes, maybe even 5.
- The ending: was okay, I generally don't like cliffhangers and I don't think it had the impact it should have had because of the lack of a developed romantic relationship. I would watch a 2nd season though.

I skipped ahead from ep 5 to the end because I was worried and fyi it is not a tragic ending. 
Watch past the credits of each episode as there are side stories/interviews with the cast/director. 
I think I'm being a bit generous with 7.5 as I really had to push myself to finish all 8 episodes.

Citeste mai mult

great to see Boss & Fort again

Overall: seeing Boss & Fort was a highlight in what should have been a fun vacation special episode. Aired in 2 parts about 1 hour total on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4936/love-in-the-air-2024-e09 and https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4937/love-in-the-air-2024-e10

Content Warnings: maybe non con touching/kissing (it's complicated)

What I Liked
- intimacy
- cute moments
- Boss & Fort

Room For Improvement
- 7 minutes was too long of a recap though if someone wasn't feeling the series I guess they could just watch that
- directly after the recap there is a random character and what felt like a random scene (does make sense later)
- the cliche thing at the end of part 1 was confusing with how Fuma & Arashi acted as if it was on purpose, so I ended up disliking them most of the special until that was explained
- the woman playing ping pong part
- Rei and Kai who generally feel like they have less power in their relationships continued to have less power during most of the special
- Fuma's hideous suits

Citeste mai mult

enjoyed the premise

Overall: I enjoyed the premise but wish we saw more interactions with the leads and less of the villain. 50 episodes about 1 minute each. Aired first 3 episodes https://www.vigloo.com/video/15000040?season=15000040&episode=0 and all episodes in the Vigloo app (more info below, it also has Love in the Apocalypse). Note that the final episode 50 is on a different tab in the app.

Content Warnings: manhandling, sexual harassment, non picture taking/video recording/sharing, attempted blackmail, punch/fight, past abuse/beaten up, unwanted public outing, past suicidal ideation

What I Liked
- interesting premise
- something that gives a plot point away, has to do with their history
- the few sweet moments
- good kiss (in episode 22)
- only took 2 days to watch the series for free (had to watch ads)

Room For Improvement
- needed to narrow the plot and focus more on the leads
- the background music was too loud at times (though the music was good)
- sometimes the flashbacks weren't very clear
- the villain was very stupid and then did a very quick 180
- comment about how he needed to Photoshop the picture before posting because he wasn't wearing make up in it

How to Watch for Free (episodes are 50 coins each, whole series needs 2,500 coins, you can't skip episodes but once unlocked they stay unlocked forever)
Day 1
- watch episodes 1-9 (free on the app)
- can watch 10 episodes free with ads, I unchecked the auto unlock, clicked off of that box and another box popped up saying "view ads to watch for free 0/10" (I did that for eps 11-20)
- watch 15 ads per day for 30 coins each on the rewards page and do the daily check in for 50 coins (eps 21-30)

Day 2
- watch episodes 31-40 free with ads
- watch the 15 ads to get coins, do the daily check in and watch episodes 41-50

Citeste mai mult