soap opera musical with cute BL side couple

Overall: this a series with some cutesy music numbers interspersed with soap opera stuff. 14 episodes about an hour long each. Aired https://youtu.be/la9YzvKhaAI?si=DcAq0zPNhbgvWM8E (episodes 11-14 were never subbed)

Content Warnings: past death, grief, intimate partner abuse, child abuse, fights/punches, held against will, homophobia

BL Couple Scenes
- episode 2, 17:10-30:10 and 55:50-56
- episode 4, 14:50-17:50
- episode 6, 16-19:20
- episode 8, 38:30-40:05
- episode 9, 50-53
- episode 10, 28:40-29:40 and 45:35-48
- episode 13, 30-33
- episode 14, 54-54:30

What I Liked
- the BL couple was sweet, needed more scenes
- character growth

Room For Improvement
- BL side couple needed more screentime
- not a fan of love triangles but it ended fine
- never subbed episodes 11-14
- cutesy music numbers interspersed with some serious topics was a bit jarring

Citeste mai mult

could have been amazing

Overall: after almost 6 months and no official international release, I was beyond excited to finally be able to watch this (see the MDL comments). Unfortunately, the characters changed and the plot let me down. About 1 hour long.

What I Liked
- some sweet moments
- flashbacks to the series (except for the rap because that was still extremely cringey)

Room For Improvement
- if you had a few minutes or a few hours with the love of your life for perhaps one final time, what would you do? Play a virtual reality game? Check your phone and ignore them over lunch? Do a dance and post it to social media? I was extremely disappointed in the plot of this special. In the first few minutes we should have gotten how much they loved/missed each other and a minimum of a passionate kiss.
- cliche interrupted kiss
- dead fish lip press
- nonsense stuff, ie. why would Jom try to wake himself up from something so amazing, why would he turn something on he should know would scare Yai, where was Yai (also by himself) while Jom was preparing that surprise
- the tonal shift around 40 minutes didn't make sense when Jom seemed so glib up to that point
- still no official international release (I'll add .5 if they ever get one), they could have put this on Vimeo to buy or rent, sold it to a streaming service/s etc

Citeste mai mult

enjoyed it more than the series

Overall: it was a decent special, although I wanted a few changes. 26 minute special aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4252/vip-only-2023-e11 and Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/40086c-vip-only My review of the series is here: https://mydramalist.com/profile/blcompilations/reviews/318961

What I Liked
- sweet moments
- that they explained why the beard was gone in a realistic way
- the characters from You Are Mine

Room For Improvement
- the one lead felt childish/petulant
- one piggyback is fine but 2 was too many
- talking/being concerned about who is the husband and who is the wife
- lip press for an established couple (and then the montage showed more lip presses

Citeste mai mult

hilarious, poignant and heartwarming

Overall: Ossan's Love Returns was my favorite in the franchise. The writers managed to balance several different genres (comedy, fluff, angst, mystery) well and we had character growth. 9 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (along with the rest of the franchise except Ossan's Love Hong Kong) and Viki.

Content Warnings: past death/murder, past violence, grief, non con kiss

What I Liked
- how Haruta and Maki had their flaws but they communicated with one another, apologized when they messed up and continued to love and care for each other, there was some excellent character growth
- clever ways they integrated the episode name
- sweet moments
- funny moments (I laughed so many times)
- realistic parts (like the bed head)
- ongoing physical interest/affection
- Moonlight Chicken (Earth/Mix) cameo
- how they integrated rainbows into the episodes

Room For Improvement
- the non con kiss with the new characters
- perpetuating the stereotype of a mother in law who is mean/exacting to a spouse
- wish we had a bit more time/resolution with several of the characters instead of a mad dash at the end
- if characters aren't comfortable doing something like at the end of episode 9, then the production should cast other actors

Citeste mai mult

baby, baby, baby (times infinity)

Overall: this series was filmed and released during the covid19 pandemic, it also has a main plot point that directly ties into covid19. I enjoyed the series when it was released though season 1 is on Netflix in some countries and on YouTube without all of the many language subtitles that it had when it first aired. 13 episodes that vary quite a bit in length, average is around 20 minutes. There is also a season 2 and a movie (the movie is a shortened season 2)

Content Warnings: there is a major one, I'll put all of them in a comment with a spoiler

What I Liked
- sweet moments
- funny moments
- Gav was flirty/forthright*
- Pearl as a supportive friend
- music
- production value considering it was an indie production during covid19

Room For Improvement
- *Gave was too aggressive/ignored boundaries
- Cairo was too reluctant for too much of the runtime
- cliche plot points with the friend/ex and poor communication although it felt more realistic than most

Citeste mai mult

appreciate that they tried something different

Overall: though I liked that they tried something different (i.e. darker plot with flawed characters, violence, etc), it was just too slow paced for me. I watched ep 1-3 and 8-10 on YouTube.

Content Warnings: murders, attempted murder, attempted suicide?, suicide, graphic violence, gore/blood, held against will, manipulation, manhandling

What I Liked
- different approach with a darker tone
- like how Art didn't just stand there in episode 3 and actually did something
- realistic/well done NSFW scenes (that scene in episode 8 was amazing with the awkwardness and communication)
- acting
- supportive brother
- ep 8 that humor with the chicken was funny
- cinematography*

Room For Improvement
- I wanted scenes cut shorter or omitted and for it overall to be faster paced, an example is how the scene at the beginning didn't hook me into the series
- the pre explanation of how getting hit in the head causes you to lose oxygen and then lose your memory did not make sense, it should have been how blunt force trauma can cause memory loss
- trying to make comedy around the suicide attempt did not work for me at all in episode 1
- I realize the premise is fictional but I wish they would have gone with something that could cause an end of the world situation like nuclear war/fallout, major natural disaster or global pandemic. Countries track asteroids that are thousands of miles away from Earth, and how would an asteroid knock the moon into Earth? How does 80% of the Thai population fit into a bunker? Being in a bunker wouldn't matter anyway if the moon somehow smashed into the Earth.
- the very ending of the final episode was disappointing, it makes everything else before feel unearned
- *a night scene in ep 2 was too dim and I could barely see anything, might have been more night scenes that needed some lighting

Citeste mai mult

Paint With a Jerk

Overall: We have the enemies to lovers trope along with the fastidious/uptight guy and the messy/carefree guy. I watched the first 6 episodes and then reactions to the rest

Content Warnings: sexual harassment, non con touching/posing, a punch, throwing an item at another person

What I Liked:
- I did laugh out loud at a few parts, mainly Phab who is #bestboy
- fun flirting and also burns in return
- I thought the actors did a good job with a bad script
- overall production value was pretty good except a couple of camera shots that I didn't like

Room For Improvement:
- the main issue is that I can't empathize with a jerk character who is a jerk and the reason is not shown, there is slow or no character growth until right at the end and then they are happily ever after with their former tormentor. Episode 6 and the preview for episode 7 made me drop this for now. Calling someone "stupid" and saying "you f*cking suck" and then throwing and hitting them with an object, nope (and before that, wth were those alarms/dumb schedule)
- the relationship between Maze and Nueng was so bizarre, when there was a perfectly reasonable explanation (and they should have been clear at the beginning to show why Maze has closed himself off so much)
- the cliche 'I don't remember anything last night although I totally remember what happened'
- that hotel manager plot was bizarre and not needed, also he didn't really have any consequences
- the basically blackmailing him, totally not realistic contract, someone can't just say they are your manager and take 40%
- was not feeling the side couple, wish Green had played Nueng
- I think I was not really understanding some of the plot at the beginning, what exactly Maze was doing
- that firefighter carry inside the art studio was odd
- the punch was also odd, I think they could have choreographed it right before but then one of them messed up the choreo. I would have liked that reason more than the reason they gave.
- taking pictures and posting to social media without approval, nope
- I'm not into the stereotypical/cliche scheming trans woman character

Citeste mai mult

misstep by misstep (watch ep 1, 2 and 10)

Overall: there was a solid premise here and I would like to see Man again but the writing/editing was lacking. I watched episodes 1-4, 10 and read through comments about episodes. Aired on YouTube, GagaOOLala and WeTV (depending on your country). Same production company as Lovely Writer.

Content Warnings: vomiting, harassment, sexism, non con picture/video taking, likely more

What I Liked
- the supportive friend group, talking about making your own destiny
- Pat pushing back on older people automatically deserving respect because of their age
- Pat almost punching that other dude who was harassing Pat
- a couple funny parts
- nice to see an established couple and Chot was great, that phone conversation in episode 10 was amazing, would have been even better as an in person conversation
- talking about getting a vasectomy is rarely mentioned and much appreciated
- NSFW scenes/kissing in episode 10 was fairly well done
- (neutral) has comedy sound effects (I really dislike the gulping noise that they use)

Room For Improvement
- the timeline/time skips, I dislike time jumps and the timeline here was pretty confusing, I think this took place over 5 years
- choppy parts (they get ready for a fancy event but then we never see them at the event? suddenly they are in a car?)
- the pacing was too slow, there are many scenes that could have been cut or shortened (toilet humor to start with),
- what do two attractive men see in Pat? I was hoping for some character growth but found it very lacking. He drinks too much in front of his boss and then does it again later? He is shocked by Jeng's declaration? He cries when confronting Jeng in episode 10? He cries several times at work, he argues with a client due to personal feelings, etc.
- Jeng bothered me at times as well, he doesn't get to tell another adult to stop drinking (and then bring him to a bar directly afterwards???), he was a bad boss, I was hoping to see some growth but he disciplined a subordinate in front of another subordinate, then somehow it appears that person was not moved to another team? And why on earth did Pat have to apologize to his harasser, he shouldn't have apologized even if he hit the dude. From an earlier episode, I thought Jeng would see he got those pictures and then apologize to Pat but that never happened. Jeng refuses to talk to Pat in episode 10 and goes back to sleep. Jeng had a decent plan in episode 10 but then months go by and he didn't implement it and instead did something that would make things even more of an HR headache...
- the side couple wasn't introduced well (I was never sure what their jobs were) and I wish Jen didn't have an (apparently nice) boyfriend because it made impossible for me to root for their relationship, also they took up too much time in episode 3, then randomly one of them has a new boyfriend???
- in episode 5 Pat (a character in a fictional BL series) says "bl couples profit off the identity of the LGBTQ community", I mean, they probably do but the queer community also benefits from bl series existing, many bl series are romcoms with happily ever afters instead of the normal tragic ending we get and maybe seeing two men end up happily together can change people's minds a little, it at least gives more exposure. And maybe it wasn't the creators intention but putting Zee and Nunew as the other couple insinuates that they are profiting off the LGBTQ community (when first of all they might even be part of that community for all I know) and I've heard they are major supporters of LGBTQ rights
- nonsense things, Jeng manages a restaurant and is a marketing manager?

Citeste mai mult

Content Warnings: violence, tragedy (not between m/m)

Watch it for Pitch/Bank if you want, but unfortunately the potential was definitely not reached.

What I Liked
- a nice concept of a bodyguard/protectee
- humor mixed with action
- some cute fluff moments
- Pitch/Bank as the side couple
- Sky's dad's acting
- production value seemed fine

Room For Improvement
- that sponge bath was too invasive
- Gun's sad/angry acting, this was just painful to watch and it's partially the director's fault
- many plot holes/non-logical things such as: why wouldn't Sky's mother pre-donate her own blood (especially when she was pregnant as there can be complications), why couldn't Sky donate to her (granted he couldn't do as much as he was a child but still...), why wouldn't Sky pre-donate his blood since it's so rare, why would you put one of the only blood donors in an extremely dangerous job, why did the writers have them be in the art department when Sun can't draw and that's easily found out by the university, why did Pitch get a personality transplant, how did Pitch/Bank become boyfriends
- how Sky used those two women which I was worried about from the beginning, they should have cut out their characters and focused more on Pitch/Bank
- lack of character growth from Sky especially
- I absolutely hate time gaps and this was no exception, the ending felt very rushed

Citeste mai mult

it's not funny, it's offensive

Overall: this was a remake of a 2015 series (on YouTube unsubbed). It felt like it was stuck in the past (or even farther back than 2015) with its colorism, body shaming, effeminate male/trans women stereotypes and sexual assault played as comedy. 16 episodes about 35 minutes each. Aired on WeTV.

Content Warnings: colorism, trans women/effeminate men stereotypes, body shaming, bullying, cyberbullying, sexual assault played as comedy, sexual harassment, sex shaming, transphobia, held against will, non con picture/video taking and sharing

What I Liked
- Jet/New until the end of episode 6 which is what made me drop the series even though I wanted to give this a complete watch/review
- one of the teachers (the one who didn't sexually harass/assault a fellow teacher and didn't bully a student)
- it was good attempt with the message about being able to wear a uniform to match your gender identity, but then that character wore something out of a Japanese manga, would have been much more powerful if that character had worn the Thai school uniform for women
- episode 2 had good sex ed with using condoms correctly

Room For Improvement
- sexual assault played as comedy, it went on for so long and was not funny
- the two teachers who bullied a student and sexually harassed a fellow teacher
- the stereotypical male guys had love interests while the effeminate male characters were constantly fighting with each other and bullying a trans student
- way too much catfighting and bullying
- too many characters (there are 21 on the poster) and I couldn't figure out their names/who they all were
- comedy sound effects
- cliche overheard something and didn't talk

Citeste mai mult

a fun comedy vertical series

Overall: note that the focus is more on the contentious relationship of the actors than the romance with the guardian spirits. 30 episodes about a minute each. Watched on the Vigloo app - the first few episodes can be watched here https://www.vigloo.com/video/15000105?season=15000105&episode=1 Vigloo also has: You Want Some, Match Play, Rule #1 No Dating Rule, Love in the Apocalypse

What I Liked
- the guardian spirits and their story
- it made me laugh a few times
- the group hug

Room For Improvement
- too much screaming
- kind of ambiguous with the actors' relationship


How to Watch for Free (episodes are 50 coins each, you can't skip episodes but once unlocked they stay unlocked forever, there are additional tasks to get more coins like following the company on social media)

Day 1
- watched episodes 1-8 (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 9-18)
- watched 15 ads per day for 30 coins each on the rewards page and did the daily check in (eps 19-27)

Days 2 & 3
- watched 3 more ads for the last 3 episodes

Citeste mai mult

not a fluffy BL

Overall: centered on an established couple and it was not a fluffy type plot. I watched this 22 min short movie on Flying Penguin's YouTube channel with membership https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p81bh_UQUow&t=584s&ab_channel=%EB%82%A0%EC%9C%BC%EB%8A%94%ED%8E%AD%EA%B7%84flyingpenguin

What I Liked
- good kissing/intimacy
- camerawork with going wider and making the guy look smaller

Room For Improvement
- too dim, needed more light on actors' faces
- they didn't translate texts
- perhaps in part due to the non-translated texts, I wasn't 100% sure what was going on

Citeste mai mult

good development

Overall: I enjoyed the back and forth with the leads/their dynamic. 50 episodes between 1-2 minutes each aired on Vigloo app which also has (Match Play, Rule #1 No Dating Rule, Love in the Apocalypse - My Man's Man is from a female character's perspective and I wouldn't call it a BL series)

Content Warnings: punch, blackmail, homophobia

What I Liked
- caring moments
- non dead fish lip press kiss
- stood up/supported partner

Room For Improvement
- background music was too loud at times

How to Watch for Free (episodes are 50 coins each, you can't skip episodes but once unlocked they stay unlocked forever, there are additional tasks to get more coins like following the company on social media)

Day 1
- watch episodes 1-7 (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 8-26)
- watch 15 ads per day for 30 coins each on the rewards page and do the daily check in (eps 17-25)

Days 2 & 3
- watch the 10 episodes, do the daily checking, watch the 15 ads per day (should take 2-3 days in total to watch for free)

Citeste mai mult

well done micro series

Overall: I enjoyed the back and forth with the leads/their dynamic. 63 episodes between 1-2 minutes each aired on Vigloo app which also has (You Want Some, Rule #1 No Dating Rule, Love in the Apocalypse)

What I Liked
- idol and trainer/stunt person
- how both were equally sassy
- caring moments
- non dead fish lip press kiss

Room For Improvement
- background music was too loud at times


How to Watch for Free (episodes are 50 coins each, you can't skip episodes but once unlocked they stay unlocked forever, there are additional tasks to get more coins like following the company on social media)

Day 1
- watch episodes 1-6 (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 7-16)
- watch 15 ads per day for 30 coins each on the rewards page and do the daily check in (eps 17-25)

Days 2 & 3
- watch the 10 episodes, do the daily checking, watch the 15 ads per day (should take about 3 days in total to watch for free)

Citeste mai mult