I'll start out with the things I really enjoyed about this series.

Firstly, the side characters were delightful and their actors all did a fantastic job. I appreciated how much everyone felt like actual friends/family and that they got to have scenes together that didn't necessarily have anything to do with the main romance. It feels a little rare to get to see such a well fleshed-out friend group, not just people who you're told are friends. While I'm not personally a fan of the whole "female friend is into BL" trope, it wasn't handled terribly and I really enjoyed Manow and I was glad that the characters actually hung out with women sometimes lol.

I enjoyed the flashback scenes (for the most part) and thought In and Korn had a compelling and believable relationship. I think their story was handled very well, as were the heavier topics (although it did feel a tiny bit victim-blamey at the end, it was mild enough that I can let it go). It's hard to depict these events sensitively and I think they did a pretty good job.

As others have mentioned I also liked how they handled the differences between the characters in the past and future, I liked how different they were and how their personalities were shaped by their difficulties in their past lives. I'm also glad they addressed the concern that their past lives were the only thing keeping them together, though I think that could've been handled better, Pharm was being very reasonable IMO, even if it was due to his anxiety I think he had a point.


As for what I liked less... I really just did not buy Dean and Pharm as a couple at all unfortunately. Before they started dating it wasn't too bad, but once they were actually together... I get that Pharm didn't want to rush into things but it was handled in a way that made me feel really uncomfortable, it always seemed like Dean was pushing him further than he wanted to go and he didn't get to assert his boundaries. It just never seemed like he really wanted Dean to be kissing or touching him at all, which could have been a really interesting conflict if it had been handled better but in the end it just wasn't and because Pharm looks so much younger than Dean it made it feel a little gross. This was honestly a major issue for me and it really brought down the rest of the show because I found it difficult to enjoy most of their scenes together (which is of course 90% of the show).

Regarding the plot, I thought it was interesting, just slow. I don't mind a thinner plot in romance, character-driven stuff can be very fun! But it really started to drag, especially as I had figured out the plot twists episodes before the characters did, it really started to lag in the second half and I started to get a bit bored. The whole thing could've been a few episodes shorter if they'd tightened it up a bit and not repeated flashbacks so many times and I think that would've helped. It did a disservice to what otherwise could've been a really solid story, I really like a lot of the ideas but the execution could've been better.

I will also say, the music challenged me, it was always a weird volume and felt like it was interrupting a lot of the scenes and it got kind of annoying. The songs were fine it was just the way they were used.

Overall I don't regret watching it, and I had a decent time with it, but I wish it had lived up to more of its promise.