I imagine the pitch meeting for this show going like this…

Writer 1: Hey, guys! Have you worked on any new BL ideas? The deadline is fast approaching.
Writer 2: Oh, shit. I knew there was something I forgot about...
Writer 3: I have an idea for this cozy, food-centred story called 'My Chef, Our Love.‘ It’s this show about two guys who start living together. One of them is a bubbly cook, the other is an over-worked office worker and—
Writer 2: Sorry to interrupt, but this sounds like every other J-BL produced in the last two years.
Writer 3: At least I thought of something. You don’t have anything better, do you?
Writer 1: Don’t fret, my guys. I actually have the perfect idea. How about we do a remake of another BL?
Writer 2: A remake? Do you think that’s really going to work for us?
Writer 1: Works for Disney, so why not us?
Writer 3: That’s actually a great idea, dude! What a perfect chance of taking a flawed show and making it into something bigger and better, and putting our personal spin on it. We could use Color Rush. It’s a Korean BL with a very interesting premise that got ruined by the lacklustre execution and the confinement of only eight short episodes. I’m sure we could explore the themes in a more interesting and satisfying way, and create a more electric and layered romance.
Writer 1: Oh, no, we’re not doing that. I was thinking we just take a show and do an almost shot for shot remake. Instead of making it better, we make it shorter so the story will make less sense, hire actors without chemistry so the NC scenes will be painful to watch, and add absolutely nothing new or interesting because that would require effort on our part.
Writer 3: Um… What’s the purpose of making a remake then? If we’re only making it worse, shouldn’t we just keep our hands off it?
Writer 1: The purpose is money.
Writer 2: Ohhhh, we like money! I say we do it!
Writer 3: I mean, I guess so. I suppose we should choose a really great BL then, so the remake will be great too. How about the Thai BL Moonlight Chicken? That’s my favorite.
Writer 1: Who cares about quality, man? We just need something super popular! Preferably something with a lot of spice because that brings in the viewers.
Writer 2: KinnPorsche?
Writer 1: That’s gonna cost too much with all the action stuff. We need something easier to produce.
Writer 2: How about Love In The Air?
Writer 1: Perfect!
Writer 3: Isn’t that a bit too popular? I imagine we’ll get compared to the original a lot if we choose to do something this widely known.
Writer 1: The more popular the better! We want to benefit from an already existing fanbase. Besides, Love In The Air is either loved or hated, so we’ll get a lot of viewers for sure. Everyone will want to know how it compares to the original, so they’ll watch. Maybe they’ll hate watch, but a viewer is a viewer, and money is money.
Writer 3: I guess so.
Writer 2: Since the Thai show wasn’t great in the first place anyway, maybe people won’t notice if we make things even worse.
Writer 1: That’s the spirit!
Writer 3: I don’t know, guys… Maybe if we worked on my idea about the chef just a little bit, it could turn into something special. Or we scrap the food, and do something entirely different. Something that’s never been done before, that pushes the boundaries of BL as we know it, and will add meaningful discussion to the BLsphere.
Writer 1: Why think of something new when we can save our precious time? Now come on, let’s put out a casting call. We need actors to get this going.
Writer 2: We should cast Shoma as Payu. He looks the part perfectly, and he’s not afraid of making out in front of a camera.
Writer 1: Brilliant!
Writer 3: Then let’s find someone who’ll match his energy. We need to at least make sure that the leads have chemistry if we’re going to do this, and that they’re ready to commit to the spice. The chemistry is the saving grace of the Thai show, after all.
Writer 1: You and your ideas that require time and effort. We’ll just cast a guy who vaguely looks the part of Rain, and if he refuses to open his mouth for kiss scenes, Shoma can just lick him like a dog licks people’s faces. Sound good? Good, let’s get this show rolling.

Okay, now for a bit more serious of an analysis. First of all (in case you couldn't tell), let me clarify that I’m not a fan of the original to begin with. I have my gripes with every one of Mame’s shows, so this one is no exception. In my opinion, the writing wasn’t great, Payu was being hella problematic at the start, Sky’s only trait was having trauma which was handled with all the grace and care of a bull in a china shop, and the acting ranged from mediocre to outright laughable in some moments. I don’t think the series would’ve garnered as much popularity if it weren’t for theNC scenes and the chemistry between the two ships.

With all this in mind, I was having split feelings about the idea of a Japanese remake. My optimistic side thought that this was a great chance of improving on everything I didn’t like about the original. The pessimistic side already knew that wasn’t going to happen, and that they’d probably only make things worse. After all, Japanese BLs tend to be shorter, thus leaving even less room for character and romance development, and the way I see it, J-BLs aren’t exactly known for passion and chemistry. They usually have this air of awkwardness about them that definitely wasn’t going to work for a show like Love In The Air, and if the chemistry isn’t there, there’s nothing redeeming about this series at all. Still, I was ready to go into this with an open mind, hoping in some miraculous twist I’d like it more than the original. Safe to say, that didn’t happen.

Me titling this 'Pollution In The Air‘ might sound harsh, but it is factually correct. This remake (like most others) lacks any sort of purpose, therefore wasting resources and fuel used for transport and electricity to pollute the air without even generating good entertainment. So I stick by it.

My biggest question is WHY?????? Why make a remake if you don’t have anything meaningful to add? The show has a shorter run time, thus robbing the story of any sort of character development, realistic romantic build up, and rushing through plot points in unsatisfying ways. The chemistry between both ships is nonexistent, thus robbing the series of the only good thing the original had going for it. It keeps the problematic aspects of the original, like Payu touching a scared Rain without consent and Prapai pursuing Sky after he's made it very clear he's not into it. The scenes are almost shot-for-shot recreations of the original, only with a few adjustments to sum up multiple scenes of the original into one due to the lack of run time. Nothing new is added, nothing is explored on a deeper level. This is just a complete waste of money and time that could’ve and should’ve been spent on creating a different show — one that at least has something to say.

Now, let’s talk about the two ships individually…

Arashi x Rei (aka Payu x Rain):
I actually really like the casting for Arashi. He fits the character perfectly, his acting is decent, and he’s committed to deliver the spice of the original show. He's definitely my favorite part of this. The actor playing Rei, on the other hand, is very difficult to watch. I don’t think his acting is bad per se, but it just doesn’t work for me. The only reason I sort of liked Rain in the original was because Noeul gave him a lot of charisma. He wasn’t a great character, but Noeul made him very lovable. Here, Rei is just awkward and annoying. Especially him delivering every other line with an audible pout is getting frustrating.
The two actors have zero romantic chemistry, thus making their "love“ story fall flat on its face, and the NC scene outright painful to watch. I absolutely hate getting secondhand embarrassment, and sadly, these guys gave me a ton of it. Like, please, for the love of the BL gods, don’t cast people in a show like Love In The Air that refuse to open their mouth during kiss scenes. If I have to watch Arashi licking Rei’s lips like a dog one more time, I think I’ll actually combust from cringe. Some people argue that Rei’s supposed to be inexperienced and that’s the reason why he wasn’t participating in a proper make-out. Who knows, maybe. But that doesn’t really matter because no matter the reason, it’s just not enjoyable to watch. It makes the whole thing feel sort of non-consensual, which is the last thing I want to feel during an NC scene, so it’s a big no from me.
In terms of their story, everything is rushed. Plot points are given no time to breathe, and the characters feel even less like fully fleshed people than they did in the original. Nothing is explored in any meaningful way. Both of them fall in love with each other for no discernible reason and way too quickly. It’s hard to tell when and why both of them started to develop actual feelings for each other. Arashi is as problematic as Payu was, which made me dislike the guy as much as I disliked him in the Thai version. Sadly, Shoma doesn’t have quite as much charisma as Boss had, thus making the whole scene of him non-consensually touching Rei in the car even more unbearable to watch than Payu touching Rain in the bathroom stall.
All in all, I care for neither of the two and feel no attachment or investment in their rushed relationship. These two don't even know each other, yet I'm supposed to believe they're in love? Alright.

Fuma x Kai (aka Prapai x Sky):
I don’t mind the casting choice for Kai in terms of visuals, but I do mind what they did to poor Sky. He didn’t have a personality outside of his trauma and being sassy in the original, and somehow, here he gets even less because they took out all the sass. Which was the most enjoyable thing about Sky, so here, it just feels like we have a traumatised plank of wood on the screen. The actor looking the part doesn’t save much if you don’t give him an actual character to portray. His acting in dramatic/traumatic moments is sadly also less than convincing. He does this weird bent walk, which is probably supposed to make him look scared or sad, but it just makes him look like he has a stomach ache or constipation. The guy acting as Fuma doesn’t fit the role of Prapai in the slightest. He lacks all the flirtatiousness and charisma that Fort gave to Prapai, thus making him entirely unbelievable as this playboy-turned-good-boy. He’s giving tired office worker more than hot CEO fuckboy, which just isn’t working at all.
The two of them paired together have all the chemistry of an extinguished fire. If Rei and Arashi have zero chemistry, Fuma and Kai have negative chemistry. Their NC scenes are drier than the desert, and Fuma pursuing Kai against his wishes feels even creepier than in the original because Fuma doesn’t have any charm to help him out.
Because the show is trimmed down, Kai’s trauma is handled with even less care than it was in the original. Everything regarding his story is so rushed that I worry anyone who hasn't seen the Thai show struggles to comprehend what's going on. Kai literally goes from not wanting anything to do with Fuma to kissing him on the cheek and going on lunch dates with him in two minutes. It makes no sense and made me feel like I missed an entire episode. Then he goes from reverting back in his shell to sleeping with Fuma in lightning speed. Apparently in all the whiplash, somehow he discovered he loves Fuma, despite having known him for what feels like a week. On top of everything being rushed and glossed over, the initial scene showing Kai getting sexually abused was laughably bad. Those scenes weren’t handled well in the original either, and Peat lacked the acting chops required to get across all the fear and helplessness. But here, it's even worse. The scene feels overly camp and almost made me laugh because of the bad acting and all the evil laughing in the background. All in all, the FumaKai storyline is borderline unwatchable if you ask me.

This show doesn't just fail as a remake, it also fails if you view it as a stand-alone piece of television without comparison. In fact, I'd say it would be even worse without keeping the original show in mind, because at least if you've seen the original, you can fill in some of the massive gaps the Japanese version leaves you with. For me, the only good thing to come out of this is the song that was playing during the ArashiRei NC scene. The only problem is that I will forever associate it with that awkward mouth licking that is burned into my mind thanks to this show, so I can't even fully enjoy the song. The chemistry was the only reason I sat through the original, and the only reason I sat through the remake is because 1) it's hard to look away from a car crash, and 2) Writer 1 was right about people wanting to hate watch this to see how it compares to the original. So yes, I fell right into the trap, but at least suffering through this will make the original show look like a masterpiece in comparison. Not that I have any desire to ever rewatch that either...