too many characters/couples and an unfinished finale (watch the 1 couple cut)

Overall: there were 9 actors listed as main roles and 14 listed as support roles, they needed to cut the characters by half and then focus on the fewer characters/couples. I took a full point off for that finale which was one of the worst finales I have ever seen in anything, they dropped several plot threads/had no resolution for several characters/couples. 8 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI and MFlow Entertainment's YouTube Channel (not in the U.S.). Produced by MFlow Entertainment which also made Tin Tem Jai, Ai Long Nhai, Coffee Melody Second Chance and With Love.

After airing they made a special cut of just the established couple which I'd suggest watching instead of the series https://www.iq.com/play/beyond-the-star-nnkh0lxm1c?lang=en_us Just wish they would have had a better ending for them than a pinky promise promising not to cheat...

What Suggestions if you watch the whole thing (prioritizing the established couple and intimate scenes)
episode 1 - 14 minutes established couple sniff kisses
episode 2 - 32 minutes established couple in a window seat having fun
episode 3 - 5 minutes established couple in a tub having fun
episode 4 - 4 minutes glasses & friend dream kissing, 22 minutes established couple flirting & 33 minutes shopping
episode 5 - 16 minutes established couple on a couch having fun, 33 minutes established couple brief kisses
episode 6 - 36 minutes foot injured couple confession, sniff kiss and bed scene
episode 7 - 24 minutes (NSFW with foot injured couple) to 33 minutes and just pretend that's the end (episode 8 does have a meh NSFW scene with that guy wearing glasses 31-37 minutes)

Content Warnings: non con video recording/sharing, slap, manhandling, attempted suicide

What I Liked
- an established couple, they had some nice kisses/scenes
- cafe worker's dimples (though not sure why he lied about his part time job when the other character specifically said he didn't have to lie about it???)
- some decently done NSFW scenes (the established couple)
- (neutral) there were a few comedy sound effects, they weren't overwhelming

Room For Improvement
- there were a ton of characters introduced in episode 1 and I didn't care about any of them, I did eventually figure most of them out but then characters would vanish for an episode or more
- nonsense writing, a character said that they were waiting for another character to practice when we clearly saw them all practicing...
- slow pacing, I watched at 3x speed, didn't care about the rival company stuff or dance practices
- slap was not needed and not funny
- kind of hinted at a love triangle was annoying
- that final episode was absolutely terrible, barely anything was resolved, they also threw in a very serious thing in episode 8 with no discussion of counseling/medication/help

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enjoyable romance series

Overall: it was enjoyable but a few things make it not a 10/10 for me

Content Warnings: fixation on being thin, past bullying

What I Liked
- that the leads had nice skinship not just 1 kiss right at the end
- they did have some good communication and conversations (until they didn't but at least there wasn't a long time gap)
- funny parts like how they were in the same group all of the time
- cute parts like holding hands
- I appreciate that they both apologized for mistakes made
- avoided the drunken kiss dub con scenario
- avoided dead fish lip press
- the hint of f/f romance
- production value

Room For Improvement
- I didn't get why either one fell for the other one, especially Daun for Siwon who was super prickly
- some choppy parts, how did Siwon get Daun's number? For the bookstore if Siwon had just given 1 line because I was so confused at what he was doing until he explained it all later.
- the last episode especially I was pretty confused about what was real/not real
- I don't understand why the male friend expressed a romantic interest in the female artist, they could have just omitted that part and focused on the GL part

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Needed two seasons for the amount of plot it covered (minor spoilers)

Overall: enjoyable but they needed 1 season for high school and a 2nd season for college. I read the beginning of the manhwa but don't remember it well. Watched on Viki.

Content Warnings: non-biological brothers raised as brothers from ages 7-17, bullying, punches, slap (not between m/m ship), manhandling, attempted non con kiss

What I Liked
- sweet moments like that jump hug/kiss
- good production value (except shaky camerawork)
- Hae Bom is a cinnamon roll who has character growth by the end (more confident/takes initiative)
- Tae Sung did apologize for something he did in episode 5 that was bad
- that Tae Sung respected Hae Bom's boundary at the cafe in episode 7

Room For Improvement
- my major complaint is it was too choppy/not fleshed out enough. For example, they say they are going grocery shopping and then the next scene 1 guy is in a shower...
- in episode 5 I really didn't like Tae Sung pushing Hae Bom against a wall and putting his hand around Hae Bom's throat, especially since Hae Bom has been bullied and then the mom's pretty calm about it...
- in episode 5 there is a dream but it looks like Hae Bom is actually remembering something and that would be non con because he's so drunk (but it was a dream)
- cliche evil wannabe girlfriend
- unknown time jump at the end
- the intro was too long/gave away too many future scenes

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Happy Modern Day Romeo & Juliet

Overall: they did many things right but there were still some flaws/things I wish had been different. (minor spoilers below)

Content Warnings: fights, slap (not between m/m ship)

What I Liked
- Ohm and Nanon's acting, amazing, great chemistry well done kiss scenes
- the tropes that were subverted such as cute food sharing, the "gay for you" trope
- the protagonists actually communicated with each other, they apologize to one another, care for each other, the great examples of consent, really a wonderful relationship to watch
- there is a mix of seriousness with humor (Pat's flirt skills were top notch)
- we got the backstory/set up right away, it was clear when there were flashbacks
- the director's cameo
- avoiding a super cliched/stupid ending
- some pretty well done product placements

Room For Improvement
- I think there were maybe too many flashbacks/songs in the final episode, I wanted a good scene with each of the parents.
- Wai's redemption arc was so stupid. He should have been groveling but Pran apologizes to him?? He does the bare minimum for being a decent human and all is forgiven, I disliked this whole episode. For me, what Wai did is pretty close to unforgivable.
- the four parents lied to their children and put them thru so much distress. They owe Pat and Pran huge apologies and none of them apologized to their children. Also, they appear to know their children are in a romantic relationship at the end but then don't tell them so they have to keep sneaking around, wth???!!! Grow up (to the parents, especially Pat's dad, go an apologize to Pran's mom)
- there is never a reason to slap your child, never a reason to slap anyone unless in self defense
- the plot/editing was pretty choppy from episode to episode a few times. I thought 'did I miss something when we were in a different location possibly different day?'
- time passing wasn't clear and felt rushed. I remember once I saw a "Sophomore Year" at the beginning of an episode, weren't they Freshmen, so a year plus had passed? This should have been 2 seasons or more, 1 in high school and 1-2 in college/beyond. 
- they were fixated on the husband and wife terms which seemed unnecessary, can't two guys be husband and husband???
- that Pat's sister was doing Pat's laundry, do your own laundry
- technical issues or delayed subs with the YouTube premiere (I'm super excited that it's on YouTube, but at this point GMMTV should have the staff/knowledge how to make a glitch-free premiere with the English subs on)
- the title "Bad Buddy", something with Rival like "Next Door Rival" would have been a better title

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unexpectedly dark for a lighthearted romcom

Overall: I was okay with this as a 'turn your brain off' romcom, but then there was an extremely dark plot line (also zero consequences for a trash character?!?) and the plot ran around in circles (definitely could have been 8 episodes instead of 12). I'm rating this more harshly because GMMTV has the money and experience to make an excellent series. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with this one. Aired on GMMTV's YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: past rape for 3 years involving a child/step parent, past suicide, mental health struggles, non con/dub con touching, homophobia, fight/beaten up, non con picture taking/posting, unwanted public outing

What I Liked
- good friendship dynamics (and that they raised the difficulty of the boss/employee romantic dynamic)
- Yacht with his blue hair
- the established couple is adorable (but they didn't get enough screen time nor a plot)
- addressing mental health struggles (except that Cher should not have talked about Jack without Jack's prior approval and they also made it seem like everyone was happy that Jack stopped taking medication when in reality as I understand it medication is something to be taken as a management strategy, it's not a long term cure)
- a supportive ex
- neutral, comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- this was oddly very dark, I think they still could have had some serious parts (focusing on the mental health struggles as an example), but it almost felt disrespectful to have the rest be a light romcom, I'm not sure how to explain this but I didn't like the combo of extremely serious plot with silly plot
- lack of consequences for a trash character and instant forgiveness for the mom
- Thup, there are things that even if your loved one says you should keep secret that you don't keep secret and tell the authorities/school personnel and what was going on was one of those things. Thup wasn't a young child, he should have been around 12 to 15 when this was happening and then afterwards to let rumors circulate about Cher, he did not seek justice for his sibling and he had the gall to blame Cher....ugh
- paper thin plot that went around in circles
- cliche poor communication with fully grown adults, Cher's totally stupid "plan" in episode 11
- consent problems: there were some things they did really well but there was also poor consent including Cher ignoring Gun's physical boundaries in the beginning, Gun locking Cher in his car, "if you don't let me touch you I'll kiss you instead"
- I realize they were going for comedy, but many jokes didn't make me laugh
- Gun letting Cher be jealous for his own entertainment instead of clearing up the miscommunication
- nonsense things (we won't get into the hr headache this would be in reality), Cher is never shown to be doing anything with his ASMR channel, we barely see him gaming
- the cringey title

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a pleasant surprise

Overall: I enjoyed the duality of one of the leads, the aerial silks and more. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI.

Content Warnings: manhandling, blackmail/coercion, past death, non con kissing, non con video recording/sharing

What I Liked
- clear premise
- sweet moments
- intimate scenes, mutual affection
- something I really wanted actually happened in the final episode, wish we could have seen a bit more of the relationship developments (maybe a special episode will happen???)
- Wela was smart and already knew something, he had agency
- aerial silks/pole
- the idea that people can act very different in different circumstances
- that Khem didn't want to do stuff when Wela was drunk (but drunk people will frequently say they are not drunk so I would have preferred they altered the scene slightly)
- GL representation
- a realistic point of tension with the main relationship
- mesh shirts
- apologizing and pretty good communication
- supportive parents
- (neutral) comedy sound effects (didn't seem to have as many or maybe I tuned them out)
- (neutral) there were a lot of characters introduced but the name tags many of them wore were helpful before I figured everyone out

Room For Improvement
- not a fan of, 'I won't tell your secret if I get to kiss you' type of stuff, luckily Wela held his own
- the shrieking in the first episode
- continuity error towards the end of ep 1, they were wearing different outfits when eating, perhaps they changed but it wasn't mentioned or shown
- nonsense stuff/convenient writing: 2 characters happened to have each others' phone numbers, drinking 1 shot wouldn't make a person so drunk that they wouldn't wake up and if it did they should go to the hospital, showing someone super drunk then not drunk and then not remembering things well the next morning (which a person would need to have been extremely drunk to have happen), the mom being worried about telling her son something
- the subtitles had several errors but I didn't take off points for it

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totally wrecked Zeke/Fifth (watch ep 1, 2 and 13)

Overall: I liked Zeke and Fifth in My Story because they were flirty and sweet. In this season the writer totally ruined their characters and relationship. I was actively rooting for them to NOT end up together. Our Story is the third in the trilogy (season 1 is My Day which is not needed to watch to understand Our Story, season 2 is My Story which shows the beginning of Zeke/Fifth as a couple and is helpful to watch but not totally necessary) 13 episodes about 37 minutes each (taking out the built in commercials at the end). Aired on Oxin Films YouTube channel.

Notes: I watched most episodes but skipped a few because I wanted to poke my eyeballs out, I kept up with comments/what happened overall though. I suggest watching episode 1, 2, episode 9 part 3 at 7 minutes (nsfw scene), episode 10 part 3 at 10 minutes (nsfw scene) and episode 13

Content Warnings: attempted suicide, past suicide, parental abuse, intimate partner abuse, homophobia, non con picture taking/sharing, alcoholism, depression, sexism, gaslighting, manhandling

What I Liked
- Zeke and Fifth were cute/sweet/flirty (ep 1 and 2)
- GL rep (though the pacing was odd/not enough screentime)
- it was too frequent but the innuendo jokes were fun
- Xion Lim (director) played an assistant as Easy Ferrer (writer) as the other assistant
- Zeke's supportive mom (though she was a bit too involved at times)
- opening song and ending credit song

Room For Improvement
- the writing destroyed Zeke & Fifth both as individual characters and as a couple, Zeke said how he was hurt that he was called toxic while he screamed at his boyfriend was terrible writing, Fifth's actions make zero sense to me, so many characters did total nonsense things
- abuse was handled really poorly, Fifth said "he {dad] beat us" and the response was "that means you still matter to him", like WTF?!? and then later Jelai says his ex-boyfriend who was abusing him is awesome and Jelai apologizes to his abuser?!? what year are we in?!? akldfjkslajkdljaidla!!!!!!!
- way too many couples (6 couples/love triangles) and I somehow didn't like any of them
- exposition dump/voice over to start the series
- so many nonsense/unrealistic plot things (I'm not even going to try to write them all out) example 1: that a significant other didn't know of a life threatening food allergy until 6 months of dating, example 2: that a hospital didn't have any A+ (30% of the population has this blood type) or O negative (universal donor) blood?!? they should have had Zeke have AB negative blood because a 5 second internet search showed that number of people with: O positive: 35%, O negative (universal donor): 13%, A positive: 30%, A negative: 8%, B positive: 8%, B negative: 2%, AB positive (universal recipient): 2%, AB negative: 1%
- the comedy sound effects
- toilet humor
- super dramatic thing happened at the end of episode 11 and then the majority of episode 12 we have no idea what is going on, just random side character plots happening?!?
- in the final episode, did Zeke ever apologize for all the awful things he did?!? why was just Fifth apologizing?!?!!!!!!

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started off well but cliched plot elements led it astray (watch suggestions)

Overall: I initially gave this a 9.5 because it was a peak Japanese romcom. However, cliched writing really let this series down. 10 episodes about 20 minutes each. The series is based on a manga which I haven't read and I'm reviewing the series based on its own merits. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/3947/although-i-love-you-and-you-2024-e01

Content Warnings: manipulation

Watch Suggestions
- watch episodes 1-3
- end episode 4 at 22 minutes
- start episode 5 at 19:20
- watch episode 6 30 seconds to 1:30
- watch episode 7 11:02-11:40 and 17:30 to 21:55
- watch episode 8
- watch episode 9 until 15:50
- start episode 10 at 18 minutes

What I Liked
- funny parts
- sweet moments
- Sakae's friend
- restaurant regulars
- Soga's non cliched female coworker
- worked on their communication in episode 8 and Soga said what he wanted at the end of that episode

Room For Improvement
- confusing start, wasn't sure if that was a flash forward or flashback until they explained a little more later in the episode
- very cliched writing, spent way too much time on the ex, Sakae is shown as knowing what he wants until he suddenly doesn't, poor communication trope
- the comedy music was funny at first but it was overused
- thin plot stretched out over 10 episodes (needed to be 6 episodes instead), way too much time spent on side characters instead of developing the main couple
- what they pretended to do in episode 9 was stupid, the train ride is less than 3 hours, it wasn't as big of a deal as they made it seem
- 2nd couple came out of nowhere in episode 10, rather they had developed this couple instead of all the love rival nonsense

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excellent premise and actors let down by bad writing (minor spoilers in content warnings)

Overall: the trailer totally hooked me but the writing just wasn't there. This is basically a classic Thai BL romance with window dressing. Aired on YouTube.

Content Warnings: death, suicide, mental health struggles, grief, manipulation, non/dub con kiss (fake sleeping), non con touching (sleeping), punches, fight, homophobia, non con photo/video taking and posting, unwanted outings, blackmail

What I Liked
- acting and chemistry, especially First and Khaotung (hope to see them as leads again either together or separately)
- promising premise with mystery elements
- flirt and cute moments
- Akk's parents
- good OST and opening credits

Room For Improvement
- that a main drama was private school students being angry about wearing uniforms, this fell flat and would have been better if it focused on bullying/homophobia as many private school students everywhere have to wear uniforms
- too few plot twists and too late
- the writing was a let down, was Ayan even investigating most of the time? A teacher wearing louboutin shoes? Why weren't the 3 students just expelled? Random bonfire on a beach? Why on Ayan tell Akk that at the end of episode 10 at probably the worst possible time? I still don't really understand a character's motivation in episode 11
- Akk was reluctant and Ayan was aggressive for too long, Ayan consistently violated Akk's boundaries, he was being disrespectful not supportive
- two slow burns, would have been better with a fast burn and a slow burn
- what two characters did in episode 11 is close to unforgivable but they have no consequences and all of a sudden everything is totally fine
- hugging and thanking that character in episode 12 part 1 was bizarre
- very angry/sad about what Ayan told Akk's parents in episode 12 part 2, that's not his place to say especially without first discussing it beforehand with Akk

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I was entertained...

Overall: this was what I'd call standard Thai BL with an enemies to lovers plot. Though it had some flaws, I was entertained. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: voyeurism, manhandling, fight, non con touch (sleeping), manipulation

What I Liked
- the sweet brother relationship
- the food looked delicious
- the cute moments
- the funny moments
- the dynamic of an aggressive flirt and a feisty guy
- how Poon made Athip see how Athip's niece was feeling
- Athip's assistant (can we get a series with her and the assistant from Cutie Pie?)
- good production value

Room For Improvement
- cliche wannabe girlfriend although it wasn't the worst example that I've seen of this trope
- trans woman used as comedy
- continuity error in ep 3 with stains that magically vanished
- the drama in episode 6 was stupid and Athip was dumb
- brother and niece weren't in the finale
- kiss partially blocked
- the blur filter is pretty high with everyone's faces
- the subtitles said "partner" a few times which is confusing because they could be talking abou business partners however I think they meant "boyfriend"
- odd title isn't explained until episode 4

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Check Out This Special Episode

Content Warnings: non con/dub con*

Overall: Looks like it sets up the series which will air in 2022 (which I will definitely Check Out lol)

What I Liked:
- the actors have good chemistry which makes sense as they were in Skinship together (fyi there's like no skinship in Skinship)
- the story of people meeting at a resort/hotel is not new, but I think it played fairly well, they had some cute moments

Room For Improvement:
- enough with the creepy stalker women, that hotel worker was so unprofessional and she should be reprimanded for being unprofessional/harassment 
- *I didn't like how Daonuea was definitely drunk but Nine looked like he wasn't when they had their bed scene, that gets into the non-con territory as people can't consent when they are very drunk. I wish they either both weren't drunk (preferred) or they both were very drunk.
- leaving your partner is such an a**hole move, people should be there in the morning even if it's awkward
- at least there was a reason Nine had to shower at Daonuea's room but what was the reason they had to shower together at the same time? Is there limited hot water or something? (I liked them showering together, just wish there had been a logical reason for it)
- am I the only one who doesn't like characters in romance genres smoking?

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want to see actors in something else (watch suggestions)

Overall: this is an old school Thai romcom/drama that should have been left in the past. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each aired in Thailand. I watched the WeTV version that had 10 episodes but most of episode 10 was the actors talking about the series. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/e36k7s4okwtoesy-A%20secretly%20love%20(Uncut%20Ver.)

Watch Suggestions (this avoids a lot of a guy harassing his ex-girlfriend, hazing and second lead syndrome)
- watch episode 1 from 5-19:20 (flashback to them in high school)
- start episode 4 at 37:40
- watch episode 5
- watch episode 6 from 23 to 34:20
- watch episode 7 from the beginning to 6, then GL at 16-17, watch 23-29 or continue to the end if you want to see a lot of music practice/performance
- watch episode 8 from 4-18:40 and then 41-42 has a nice message about funding rural schools
- watch episode 9 from 18:30-23, 26-29:40 and 34-39 (or can watch to the end)
- either start episode 10 at 6 minutes or you can watch the whole first 12 minutes (the rest is behind the scene stuff)

Content Warnings: slaps, manhandling, blood, beaten up, stalking, harassing, hazing, slaps played as comedy, non con touching

What I Liked
- clear premise
- supportive friends (the twins)
- the GL after they communicated/were honest with each other
- episode 8 message of the importance of funding rural schools

Room For Improvement
- for the majority of the series viewers saw an utterly unlikable character, he's harassed his ex, was immature, acted like a jerk, there were almost no redeeming qualities so I did not want him in a romantic relationship with anyone
- cliche (more than once) saw something and didn't communicate
- comedy sound effects that didn't make it funny, nor was the toilet humor in episode 9 funny
- was not a fun way to start a series (and I hope unrealistic)
- confusing parts, based on the summary and what was shown they first met in high school when Khon was a Freshman and Pluem a Sophomore, in the present they were a Sophomore and Senior in university, Khon didn't interact with Pluem for 2 years at the same university? he's just started the hazing/initiation stuff with Pluem?
- kind of a 'gay for you' trope
- episode 5 had a flashback montage of what we just saw in the episode
- very confusing subtitles (didn't take off points although it did negatively affect the ability to understand what was happening, Necklace was the ex-girlfriend)
- the title should have been "I Secretly Love You" or "A Secret Love" (didn't take off points)

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deliciously sweet (please watch so we get the sequel :)

Overall: this is a gentle slice of life food-themed movie. Runtime is 90 minutes with a funny post credit scene. Aired on GagaOOLala.

Notes: see my comment with a spoiler as to a tag that I think this series/description is missing.
They have already filmed the sequel https://natalie.mu/eiga/news/527213

What I Liked
- delicious looking food
- cute/sweet moments
- funny moments
- cleared up problems that cropped up relatively quickly/easily

Room For Improvement
- how Aki didn't know that about Haru (around 46 minutes)
- I think this relationship/what they don't do would be pretty unrealistic in real life but I didn't deduct points because it's fiction

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good character growth

Overall: I liked seeing two flawed characters (and yes Shin is flawed as well as he pushes and ignores Minato's boundaries multiple times) and Minato's character growth. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: non con touching/kissing, manhandling, internalized homophobia, non con photo taking, a high school senior (17 then 18) and a 28 year old (this aspect did not bother me personally)

What I Liked
- cute intro and closing credits/songs (watch the final episode closely as they are different!)
- that they actually communicated with one another, talked about their thoughts and feelings
- the food shirts that Minato wore
- how scenes towards the end of the final episode mirrored scenes in earlier episodes
- acting
- production value (cinematography, music)

Room For Improvement
- the pacing was a bit too slow with the whole teacher near conversation multiple times, that should have happened sooner
- I actually wished Shin had had some character growth and the ending had gone a slightly different direction
- I liked the sister and friend, couldn't care less for that depressing lump and did not enjoy the side couple
- continuity error with sheet placement
- the technique at the very end needed improvement but I'll give them a break as it might have been both of their first times

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What a gem - great chemistry with an established m/m couple

Overall: I gave this a 9.5/10 because it's from 2009 and it still holds up well twelve years later. Watched on gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked (very minor spoilers)
- features an established couple
- the kissing/intimate scene was on fire, everyone else needs to take notes - none of this dead fish lip stuff
- that Min Soo doesn't apologize for who he is or who he loves, but is apologizing for the way it was communicated
- there is no ghosting or forced separation due to what a parent wants
- shows a bit about military service which I rarely see in Korean rom coms
- (neutral) the intro song and song towards the end were fine

Room For Improvement
- the discussion with the mom and her chest was weird
- I didn't really understand a scene with Seok Yi waiting outside towards the end, I didn't think Min Soo's mom and him lived in the same city..
- dry crying during the the drinking scene

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