War of Y (2022)

Interesting topics but are they realistically portrayed?

Now, I'll say this show is a mess in so many ways so, I always find it funny when people make drastic comments like this is the best show on Earth or people who hate every single little detail of it.
I say this show is a mess because it is unusually long for a BL series that normally have 6, 8, 10 or 12 episodes... so reaching 20 episodes was something rare. And now, don't get me wrong, the fact that it had 20 episodes is not what makes this show a mess... it is the way the 20 episodes were handled. Having 4 stories lasting 5 episodes each would have been innovative if it was done properly. Instead, we have characters appearing in the first story that never appeared in the other stories. Can you honestly remember most of what happened on episodes 1-5 at this point? Probably not.

The plot of the whole series was to highlight or show people the worst issues, or the worst problems or the worst obstacles many actors, managers, producers and even companies have to face when doing a BL and it was a different concept from "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" as those series also wanted to showcase the worst issues inside the BL industry but the attempt started OK and then went to the toilet with poor directing choices in the plot and the storyline... This series wanted to bring different stories and get them their individual spotlight:

Episodes 1-5 had Billy and Seng acting as Nott and Pan almost immediately after we saw them in "Secret Crush On You". So, their previous characters were quite fresh in our memory and now each had a character that was the total opposite. That was good as we could see their acting skills, but sadly, this story was one of the weaker ones as the characters were not developed in a way I could fully understand their motivations to act the way they acted. From Pan being offered by his manager to one of the producers in order to get him commercials or a TV show or just money or him scrubbing himself quite harshly while taking a bath because he felt dirty or him not trusting Nott and his intentions of developing a real relationship, were just some of the plots that were never really fully developed. At some point I even thought this story will connect with the managers story and it kinda does but very marginally as Gus and Bew are the secondary couple in these episodes so nothing was completely handled plot-wise. This was probably the weirdest story of the 4 as Billy and Seng just appeared in these episodes and were not seen again until the final half of episode 20 despite having second credit after Lay and Muse (who also barely appeared throughout the show).

Episodes 6-10 had Gung and Korn acting as Gus and Bew... we saw this couple in "Y-Destiny" and they had good chemistry back then and they still do. That's probably their strongest point as their acting, especially Gung, remains a bit weak at times. They appeared in the first 5 episodes as the new BL couple trying to earn a spot in the industry but their main storyline focuses on their work and their managers. Now, I'm sure some managers do try to exploit or benefit from rookie actors who get poor advice from them but the way this was portrayed in these 5 episodes was quite exaggerated and 99% of the things we saw would merit some jail time for so many criminal acts. I hope that forcing one character to sleep with the other or to charm him so he could fall in love, sabotaging their own BL partner for their own benefit, hiring spies or having someone else spread rumors are things that happen in very few cases or this industry might be doomed already. I thing the plot twist of having Bew being the one who orchestrated most of the issues we saw, was good... but he is forgiven quite quickly by Gus and the two managers just go their marry way with another BL couple without really facing any type of consequences. And aside from some minor appearances in the first 5 episodes and being the main couple in these 5 episodes, Gung and Korn also disappear until the final part of episode 20.

Episodes 11-15 had Milk and Markpoom as Peak and Kla and I think if you want to really learn what happens inside an idol environment, you should just watch all the Korean singing reality shows where they train the young hopeful candidates in singing, dancing, rapping, and some physical conditioning. While that industry is also messed up in the way they value a cute face or a hot body and Korean idols have some quite insanely strict rules about their weight and their romantic life, the 5 episodes of Y-Idol were far too long. SoSatSeoulSay had a field day appearing on these episodes and having silly competitions with the trainees who then had to sing and dance in almost every episode (if we can call it that). War of Y wanted to highlight the obstacles some of the trainees (in this case, trainees for a BL series) might face like a bad or mismatched partner, a non-approving family, producers/networks who prefer a specific trainee over another, etc., but all these issues were poorly acted and not explored that much because of all the other drama they had to fabricate. Milk made his acting debut in this series and it showed because he was really one of the worst in terms of acting and I never really felt any chemistry between him and Markpoom.

Episodes 16-20 had Toru and First playing Most and Achi... we also saw this couple in "Y-Destiny" and in there they had some of the steamiest scenes on that mediocre series so everybody remembered them and anxiously waited for these episodes. They began appearing since the previous storyline as they were also part of the Y-Idol show. Once the producers manipulated the results, they were the winning couple and got their own BL series produced by Lay's character (P). In here, First had to carry most of the weight of the story as his character is involved with Toru's character for the series and also becomes romantically involved with Fern (played by Paper) a girl who is cast as an extra but who is secretly brought in to the series by P in order to spy on Most and Achi and make sure they don't break the "no dating" rule. This plot could have been the most interesting as First and Toru have a really good chemistry from their previous series and Paper's acting was quite good. The way her story was handled was quite disappointing as she is exposed as trans on episode 20 so P can save his production and Achi can keep his job... after a brief talk with Achi she doesn't appear again in the episode until the final seconds. We never got to see Achi's full background story which I think was key to establish his selfishness or his intentions. Most tells Achi in the last episode: "when you're cute, you're damn damn cute... but when you're bad, you're an evil person"... the lack of background on Achi made me wish would've gotten something more useful to understand why he acted the way he acted.

The last half of episode 20 has all the main actors returning for the Galaxy Awards and P magically wins the Greatest Y Award (using some of his scenes from "Y-Destiny") maybe related to the phone call he makes earlier in the episode to someone and to compensate the fact that the show he produced, lost (against the other 2 shows that ended up tying for the win) and his lead actor (Most) wins the Best Y Actor Award but he decides to quit acting to focus on music. Lay's character was a bit puzzling as he was supposed to be the senior Y actor looking over all the new rookies but ended up being like a leader of a mafia cartel but with zero background on his story and zero character development other than being a selfish jerk most of the time and having a Y series partner that appeared very few times and spoke even less.
The show ends with a silly montage of all the actors saying some things about the industry while holding the tiniest trophy ever given to what it's supposed to be the "Greatest Y Award".

I think this series had potential but the 4 stories felt quite disjointed despite having the main couple of episodes 6-10 appear in episodes 1-5 or the couples in episodes 11-15 also appear in episodes 16-20. I think Lay could have been the connecting factor in all stories but his role was quite narrow from being an "experienced" BL actor dealing with potential newcomers, to being a producer of a reality show, to being a producer of a BL series, to suddenly winning another acting award to remain relevant and also announcing that he wouldn't accept any more nominations so others can get the chance (hmmm... how generous of him!). Aside from that, each could have been a separate BL series on its own as most fit the current trend of just airing whatever mediocre product they can find as long as they cast good looking actors. One last annoying thing were all the social media posts that appeared on screen during the episodes as some were translated and some were not and the translations were placed alongside whatever the actors were saying, so it got very confusing and hard to follow all the text without having to pause the episode just to read half of the screen full of text.

The show ends with another of their polls asking if all the "War of Y" stories were true, would you believe it? I'll say that I would believe it but I hope the reality is not as exaggerated or as bleak as it looked in this series.

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Psychological Drama disguised as a BL

This series was incredible. I couldn't even classify it as a BL. That wasn't the purpose of it. It wasn't a romance. This series was a psychological dark fiction drama. It took the BL industry and peeled back its skin and showed the truth. From the fans, to the managers, to the actors, to the writers, the producers, the directors, they showed it all. They took four stories and gave us a real look at what the industry does to people, and what the people do to the industry. The ugly truth and the twisted beauty in that truth. While doing all that they gave us incredible in depth characters and storylines, making us all the more invested, making it feel all the more real. Through the characters we watched love, revenge, betrayal, bribery, manipulation, trauma, passion, fear and desire. It gives you chills. I haven't felt this passionate writing a review for a series in a long time. It truly blew me away.

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a perfect example of you can't have a cake and eat it too

The premise sounded very interesting and I'm always open for more BLs that try to shed some light onto the shadiness of this industry. But it falls into the same trap as many before. This show tries to call out and appeal to the same audience.

This show has twenty episodes (which is honestly a lot for BL standards) and they are divided into four stories (Story 1- Neu Ship, Story 2 - War of Managers, Story 3 - Y-Idol, and Story 4 - Wife). This show tries to create a soft transition from one story to the other by introducing the main characters of the following story in the current story and only semi-succeeds, but we'll get to that.

Each of these 5-episode stories tackle a specific issue and try to deal with it while also focusing on a couple (which is always the main two characters). It is always told from one of the main guys' perspective. If I had to rank these stories from best to worst it would look like this: Y-Idol, Wife, New Ship, and War of Managers. Y-Idol and Wife are pretty much interchangably since they were both done well one has a weaker beginning while the other has a weak ending and it's just whatever you prefer more, I guess. And I know that many people rated New Ship way higher than that but the truth is that it's been months ever since i've watched this story and I only remember bits and pieces and these bits and pieces didn't make me rate this show any higher than that. But let's go into each one of them, shall we?

*Story 1 - New Ship with Pan and Nott*
We jump right in with the very first episode tackling a very heavy topic. Pan is dealing with all the fame he got with the hit series and now they are shooting season 2 but oh no, there is a new ship coming into town and they threaten to take some spotlight from them. Also, he is casually hooking up with his on-screen partner and is on his best way to develop real feelings for him. And if that wasn't already a bad enough combo, his manager offers him to whoever gives her enough money, letting them do whatever with him basically in exchange for sponsorship.

I wish we would've focused more and Pan and his negative experiences with the industry. We know that his manager was selling him out to sponsors and we often get scenes of him aggressively cleaning himself and whatever parts people have touched of him and things he owns. So it felt like there was a big story there that they only touched on very lightly. We didn't see much of Nott outside of him being his on-screen partner and his love interest. Which seems to be a pattern in this show. It was just a big mess. And I'm glad that Pan decided to take some time off to heal and get some rest. I think that the story itself is worth being told but it was all so messy and at times confusing that it didn't do it justice. The acting however was great. Billy and Seng (Billy specifically) were acting their asses off. They brought these characters to live and especially with all these difficult scenes Billy got, he did a phantastic job.

*Story 2 - War of Managers with Gus and Bew*
In this story we focus on the relationships the actors have with their managers a little more than in the first one. The managers are friends and once they turn on each other and become enemies Gus and Bew and their careers suffer because of it.

Gus and Bew are introduced to us in the first story already but as background characters only getting a few scenes. They are the second couple in a second season BL that the two guys from Story 1 are leading in. Then, when more and more spotlight is shifted away from Pan and Nott and more and more spotlight falls onto Gus and Bew, they also get more and more NC scenes and attention from fans. They are both under quite some pressure to perform and to deliver, to make their fans happy and to stay relevant. The managers are not holding back to turn on their friend to get an opportunity for their actor to shine. This puts a strain on Gus's and Bew's work-and rl-relationship since they are constantly pitted against each other. Bew and Gus hook up quite at the beginning of their story and lead a secret relationship, but as it turns out it was all orchestrated by the managers who wanted them to... be together to have better chemistry? And there also is a mysterious girl blogging about them like gossip girl and is ready to reveal all their secrets.

All in all, this story was messy, a different kind of mess than Story 1, uniquely messy if you will. I would've loved an entire story about the fact that Bew and Gus were the first BL couple to publicy confirm their relationsip because I feel like this would be a huge thing and an interesting story to tell. Their acting was fine, nothing outstanding or particularly worth pointing out, but it was fine.

*Story 3 - Y-Idol with Peak and Kla*
It really surprised me that this show made it this high on my ranking, because I felt like this would be my least favorite by just reading the premise. But while it did feel a little stretched out, it was filled with opportunities that were either used or thrown away.

In the third story we focus on a korean-idol-surviver-show-esque premise. With three chosen BL couples competing against each other and whoever wins gets a role in an upcoming BL series, which means big fame and big money. Peak is struggling big time putting up a fake happy smile and creating ship content with his ship-partner Kla. Throuought the story we see Peak slowly using more and more tricks to stay relevant and gain attention, even faking an injury and then actually hurting himself so he isn't exposed. He is also in a constant fight with Achi, the guy who seems to be his biggest rival. Who seems to be able to look through all his tricks and can be quite mean at times.

Peak and Kla hook up one day which complicates their relationship and their performance as neither of them is ready to admit their feelings towards each other. In the end, Peak breaks under the pressure and all his lies and confesses. The votes are manipulated and Achi and his ship win the show.

*Story 4 - Wife with Achi and Most*
In the fourth and final story we focus on the winners of the Y-Idol tv show from Story 3. Achi and Most are now staring as the main couple in their own BL and it seems to go great. Achi and Most are very close and manage to motivate and encourage each other. Then, a new girl comes into the mix and the duo turns quickly into a trio. The new girl is Fern and she quickly befriends Achi and Most and we find out that she was sent there to keep an eye on them to not fall in love by the producer (P who we already know from Y-Idol) but also to create some fan content and boost their popularity. At first everything goes well, until Achi and Fern hook up and start a secret relationship. And because Achi just can't keep it in his pants, once Most realises his feelings for Achi and tells him about it, they hook up as well. Only that their relationship status isn't official and they have a sort of fwb situation going on. The cast and crew are whispering about their chemistry and that their might be more to their relationship than work.

Fern is getting more and more suspicous of the type of relationship Most and Achi have and them flirting with each other behind the camera doesn't really help either. Once she catches Most and Achi having sex (in a shower on set... it's... these people are too horny and think only with their private parts *sigh*) the truth is finally revealed. They both break up with him and from that moment on things fall apart. P finds out about Achi hooking up with Fern and fires her, news break out and now the whole internet knows about the affair between Achi and Fern, at the press conference Achi outs Fern as trans and reassures that their relationship ended.

We then get a little scene with Achi and Fern meeting up and they have the most confusing talk and I don't konw what's going on anymore. Basically they are hiting at them planning most of these things. They shake hands in a "we good now" way and that's the last thing we see about them and the last time we hear about Fern. Whatever happens to her or her career remains a mystery.

We get one last scene between Achi and Most where they are offered a second season deal since the first one did surprisingly well. We cut to three months later and both Achi and Most have yet to decide if they will do the second season or not. Most is like "my answer was clear from the very start. I'm in." while Achi seems hesitant. Most and Achi sort of make up, Achi finally owning up to the shit he pulled and Most forgiving him. After that there is no season 2 happening and we have to sort of fill in the gaps ourselves.

*The Reunion*
The last few minutes are a big reunion with all cast members at the 13. Greatest Y-Awards. A few people are not at the award show though. One of them is Most, through a video message we find out that Most is no longer persuing a career as an actor and instead focuses on becoming a musician (yeah I don't know how that happened either).

P wins the prize for most popular Y-actor and it's insinuated that he manipulated the results. He uses the spotlight to also introduce his new BL show with his ship partner. Which seems to be a huge surprise since many thought he would not act in another BL again. Also there seems to be some unresolved tension between P and his ship partner but it's never mentioned again. Then, big plot twist, turns out the Twitter gossip girl was HIM ALL ALONG! End credits roll.

*The Good and The Bad*
-Something this show does very well is make you feel sympathy for the characters, especially the mains that do the most shit. Which is really important given that everyone in this show is not 100% good and fucks up in one way or another.

-This show loves to tease you with the characters making out and then someone screams "cut!" and you are like "Ah, okay so this was for their show" which happens way too often and it takes a while until you get used to it, but since this was the first story it was new to me and I had to get the hang of it first.

-A pattern that you might have noticed by now is that no couple get's a fairytale happy ending. Which fits the dark, realistic tone it is set in. And I guess it's for everyone else to decide whether they like that or not. I am a sucker for happy endings but I didn't mind as much, given that this show tried to be dark and more realistic.

-The comments and the overall portrayal of fans was pretty spot-on. Sure, there were a few unrealistic instances but for the most part, it seemed realistic. I also appreciated that they translated them so we could understand the ones that weren't in English. Even though I have to say that I would've appreciated if they had placed the translations a little differently like in a smaller font in the upper part of the screen, because I had to watch so many scenes where actors were doing lives or a press conference and half of my screen was covered in text.

-While I did like that this BL tackled more issues and divided the show in 4 stories, they felt all very disconnected. Each story is a standalone which is fine, but makes them feel isolated. You don't see or hear anything from Pan and Nott for like fifteen episodes until they show up in the very last few minutes of the final. And you tend to forget. I can't remember the first story as well as the last one, because I haven't heard or seen anything about it in months. I saw many people say that this show had too much going on and maybe it would've done better with fewer episodes and maybe letting a few stories happen parallel, to connect them a little better.

-While it does mention that NC and fan service is getting more and more and is a problem for the actors for mulitple reasons, this show features many NC scenes. Sometimes it's used to highlight an issue (like directors and people behind the camera mocking NC scenes will still working them in because they know sex sells). It's clear that this show had to be careful with calling out some certain parts of the industry as they were playing right into it. They lampshade a few important issues but since this show is still a BL after all, can't expose them for what they are. They talk about how tiring fan service is and how the producers often rely on NC scenes and include more of them to make their shows a hit, but they themselves include quite a few NC scenes in every story (most noteably in the last story imo). And that's the big problem with most of these call-out-BLs. They can never fully commit, because they fear to lose the audience. And that's why often the messages and morals of the stories were undermined and fell flat, because they couldn't fully commit. I'm not saying that it's impossible to create a BL that calls out BLs and the BL industry, but it's certainly not easy and this particular show was suffering because of it.

-The thing is that this show is after all a drama and not a documentary of any sorts and therefore the lines between "these are stories that actually happened" and "this is fiction and we dramatize and sensationalize a few parts of it for TV". And therefore we quickly jump to the conclusion that every bit of the stories that we brush off as unbelieveable are automatifally fake, even though they probably are very real to some extent.

-To end this review on a good note: Aside from the Twitter posts and forums and whatnot, the show uses a specific tool to question us (the audience). It shows us polls from a gossip girl-like user without ever telling us the results. Questions like "Do you think that NC scenes and fanservice can lead to actors falling in love?" And there is no right answer and this show is also not here to give it to you. They are used to make you think for yourself, maybe question what you belief. It's a clever tool that I wish was used a little more during the show. The last thing we see right before the credits roll is actually a twitter poll. Right after We find out that P is the mastermind behind it all, we get one last twitter poll. "Do you think the stories are based on real life or made up?" So, after all, it's up to the viewer to decide what to believe. And end credits roll. I think it's a fantastic way to end this show. A fantastic tool over all.

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Interesting concept, but...

War of Y is a story of behind the scenes drama in the BL industry, following in the line of Lovely Writer, Call it What You Want and Call it What You Want 2. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

WELL KNOWN ACTORS. This series featured some longtime BL favorites: Talay, Billy, Seng... and more.

INTERESTING PLOT TWISTS. I appreciated that the series wasn't entirely predictable, and liked that some of the "victim" characters turned out to be the most devious of all!

CONS

MOTIVE. So it's a series, based on real-life incidents, exposing much of the crap that goes on the BL set. Well, this too is a BL. So what are we supposed to learn here? Should we stop watching BL because it is, in actuality, a completely toxic industry? What was behind the scenes like on the War of Y set itself? Squeaky clean? Or more of what they are claiming to "expose?" I will say this: if War of Y serves to help eliminate fanservice once and for all, I'm all for it. It's soooooo creepy. But War of Y's couples are currently indulging in fanservice of their own... so what's the point, really?

TOO LONG. Four stories was too much. By the fourth one I was bored, and Achi was just a giant turd. I would have liked to see him suffer more, I think he got off pretty much unscathed. At least he and Most didn't ride off into the sunset together, the way Pan and Nott did in the first episode (puh-leeze... I give that relationship about three months at best).

A lot of viewers think this was pretty great, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. For me it was kind of medium. Interesting some of the time, but I never found myself eagerly awaiting each week's episode, the way I do my favorites.

It's a 6.5 from me.

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This series had no purpose except to shock

I hated this series but not because of any acting weakness or story. The acting is exceptional and the story is interesting but told so negatively that it became an ugly mess. It is exploitive, demanding, and seemingly a very ugly way to make a living. Yet we know its addictive qualities. The editing is simply awful. There are four stories but only tangentially connected to different aspects of the BL world. All of them very ugly and almost amoral. One cannot help but to feel sympathy for these characters whether they are gay or straight and contempt for their managers and production companies. while I am not sure everything is always black or white, this series certainly presents a darker side of this industry.

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Not my cup of tea.

I was super excited about this series; I've waited months for it to finish airing so I could binge it, because I thought I'd enjoy it a lot. It definitely didn't live up to my expectations and after each story I felt like I was left needing more and not in a good way. Open endings are not my cup of tea and I try to avoid them as best I can. As I was watching I became less interested in the story's and just wanted to finish it.

The one thing that kept me from not dropping the series, was the last story Y idol: Wife, Toru and First have been one of my most anticipated pairings, I loved them in Y-Destiny, and I was very excited to see them paired together again, but their story really disappointed me. I didn't understand the ending, did Achi and Most end up together? Did they not? Also, at the award ceremony we saw Bew, where did he come from? I thought he left.

The stories were just way too rushed, when I finally started to understand what was going on the plot had already taken a 180, and it was most likely for the worst.

To sum it up if you're okay with way too much drama, poorly executed plot direction, and open endings I'd say give it a shot. I know I've said a lot of shitty things about this series, it wasn't like it was the worst show I've ever watched, because I've most definitely watched worse, but I can most confidently say it was not very high on my watched list.

Everything I've said is just a warning, watch at your own risk I didn't like it, but you could love it, everyone has their own opinions, and I was just sharing mine <3

PS. Let's all pray to the BL gods that they give us a series dedicated to a Toru and First pairing!!!

PPS. This was my first time writing a review sorry if I ranted, but sorry not sorry if you don't agree with my opinions. <3

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I was more invested in some characters/ stories than others and that's unfortunate

I sat down and watched this all in one go in a space of three days (I kid you not and I am shocked at this myself). And while some stories were far better than what I expected, some just did not gel well with me.

Story-7/10
I am going to separate my marks into four parts adding up all the ratings, as it was four different stories that were being told.

Story 1-7/10
This was my 2nd fave story out of the four. The MC, Pan and Nott, are being played by Seng and Billy, who I remember from the series 'Secret Crush on You' that I watched last year. This story is actually quite believable to me in the BL industry because we, the fans, have heard and seen so much weird things that this storyline is so believable to me. While I did not understand/ like the ending, the story was still more entertaining to two out of the four stories.

Story 2- 6.5/10
Gonna be honest with you guys. I got so confused with who was using who in this story. And maybe that's why I personally didn't like it. And what I didn't get is with the managers. Like, they didn't want Gus and Bew together, because oh how they were selling their image to the public. Yet, Peak and Kla, their next clients are able to date each other. But then again, they took them because of how they were a ship in their university, so I guess that it would be different for them.

Story 3-8.5/10
This was my fave out of all four. Why? Because I was able to follow it so closely and understand it. I understand why Peak did what he did. And at the ending, he actually showed that he was guilty and stated his flaws. And when he didn't win- I actually believe that this could happen as the company choose who they wanted to do the series for them. I think that the reason why this one is my fave is due to the fact that the MC, Peak and Kla, were the only MC that actually got their happy ending.

Story 4-4.5/10
Ugh! I just didn't like this one at all. Could be the fact that I just didn't like Achi from the get-go in the third story. And his character just didn't improve in his own story. Also, we get some kind of history of Achi from his past school days, but I wanted to know more about his family life. Like, why didn't his parents come to the Y Idol series like how all the other contestants' parents did? I really felt the pain for Most, because I honestly thought that they would have been together. The only highlight for this story for me, was the fact that Earth and Korn became a couple. That was the only good thing for me. We also got to see more of P Atichon, who most of the boys looked up to in all of the stories. While he was always being portrayed as a caring senior actor, in this story we get to see another side of him- but it's not very detail. And I guess that's why I really didn't connect with this story.

Due to all of the marks adding up will give me 6.625. So, I will give the story a generous 7/10.

Acting/ Cast-8/10
I actually did enjoy the acting of the casts. I felt that they were able to portray the characters well. And for that I will give them an 8/10.

Music-7/10
Even though I have just finished this series, I had to go back to listen to the OST's as they really did not leave an impression on me, but it did sound catchy. As such, I will give the music a 7/10.

Rewatch Valu-5/10
As I have stated, I really like two out of the four stories (story one and three). Due to this, there is a 50/50 chance that I will rewatch this series, especially just those two stories. Due to this, I give a 5/10.

Overall-7/10
Overall, I give this series a 7/10. While I did enjoy it, it had some flaws that just wasn't properly explained and executed in the series and that I am just unable to overlook. It is most definitely sad if what I watch do happen in the BL industry to these actors who just want to live their dreams.

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Nice BTS of the BL Industry

Thank god I (somewhat) kept up with this series or else it probably would've gotten dropped cause I can't see myself sitting through 20 episodes, all ranging from an hour long. But I finally finished this, and boy wasn't it a journey. War of Y takes us through the ups and downs of the BL industry by telling us the different stories of 4 BL pairings, all dealing with their own, individual problems. From a broader observance, this series was pretty good, but it had its many problems, and one of those is being too long and having quite a few underdeveloped characters.

Let's Dive In.

I'll be honest now, I really half watch (more so skimmed through) the last two stories, cause while being different, they were still pretty repetitive in some of the circumstances. So I'll put in order which stories were my favorite:

1. War of Managers
2. New Ship
3. Wife
4. Y-Idol

War of Managers was a deeper behind-the-scenes of how messy the crew to these projects can be, and I was living for it. Also, I loved Gung and Korn from Y-Destiny, so I was pretty excited to get to their part. The characters were all well-developed, and the plot was very twisty and complex so it kept you on your toes. I didn't expect anything that happened to happen, so it was fun to observe the unknown. The moral was, "Watch your back! -- and that goes for everyone!" 9/10

New Ship was good too, but it was slightly more tedious to get through. Seng's character was very complex with a deeper meaning while BIlly's character was just kind of -- there. What really pulled me was the acting, which was the best out of all the 4 parts. It explored more about how far actors will go for fame, and it did it excellently. 8/10

Wife was one that I skimmed through cause by this point, the story was over for me. But the pairing has really good chemistry, even when they're just acting like good friends. It speaks about what most of us say about BL actors and their personal life -- none of our business. Mostly why I skimmed through it because the outcome was what I was already expecting. 8/10

Y-Idol was just not my cup of tea at all. Mostly because the main actor was stale and just -- not a good actor. Their kissing scenes were hell to watch, especially when this was supposed to be a more erotic-type series. Maybe with some better acting, I could've enjoyed it but -- it was a no for me. Also the singing and dancing -- just no. 5/10

Rating:

Story: 7.5/10 - some stories were good, others okay, a few 'eh's. Y-Idol is what really pushes this score down, it just didn't do it for me.

Acting: 8/10 - Again Y-Idol takes down my score a bit. The acting was pretty stale. Outside of that, everyone else did a really good job.

Music: 9/10 - The Parkinsons return! I love them, they make beautiful music. I recommend listening to them!!

Recommendation Value: 6.5/10 - not really, but maybe so? There are a few cool cameos (Max, nat, nunew, etc), the NC scenes are done nicely, and there's some story there. so sure! Would it be my first recommendation for 2022? No, that would be DNA Say Love You (watch it if you haven't, it's brilliant!)

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One of the better Copy A Bangkok series and I am here for it.

I thought this series was great. I was skeptical at first, as it was created by Copy A Bangkok and directed by the same person who did Y Destiny. I've watched most of the previous CAB series with my finger on the fast forward button. BUT it seems that things are improving for the better over at Copy A Bangkok. The acting was great for the most of these actors that I have seen absolutely flop in other series. I was quite impressed with a few of them. Showing more depth than I've ever seen from them before. Enjoyed most of the stories. They were all insightful and dramatic. Kept my interest throughout the series. Lots of drama, betrayal, romance and heartbreak! Enjoyed the concept of seeing into the bl actor's personal lives and their workplace/career struggles. Was interesting to take a peek behind the curtain and see some of the components of working on a bl series. I don't know how truthful the protrayls and storylines are but it was it incredibly entertaining to watch. Interesting that some actors played themselves in the series. Even more interesting that some actors like Net and James were protrayed as jerks and bullies. Lay basically played himself with a different name and was portrayed as jaded and bitter. Makes you think about what are these actors are actually like in real life. Where does the truth begin and the series end? This series has some the hottest kisses and NC scenes I've seen in a bl series! Like the scene where Peak and Kla are in bed in the Y idol storyline. Had my finger on rewind for alot of this series instead of fast forward haha. I do recommend this series. One of the better series to come from Copy A Bangkok. I really enjoyed it for what it was. The production and script was much better than many of their previous series. Copy A Bangkok have stepped up their game. Seems like they are looking to step it up with BL series from here on out and I am here for it.

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Insight With Stimulus To New Perspectives On "BL" shows

Y this series surprised me: bravery in displaying what many want to be left unseen.

While the portrayal of real issues isn´t something I´d necessarily "enjoy" watching, because it stirs guilt and doubts in me, the entire show should be considered a gift of insight to us. By making me question the industries, I also focus more on what I want to support in my feature, which is definitely not this type of working environment, hence, I will inform myself more of what I support with my views as a consumer. It is also nothing that should be left unspoken that is why I give the ...
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Story >> 8.5
... however, I still have some trouble looking past some coincidences and plot twists. Do they make sense? Definitely. Are they too much sometimes? Yes, but just a little. Portraying fates, that are close to what must have been happening behind the scenes of some shows, is a real challenge and I´m honest with you when I say they did an outstanding job. The excellency would have been if they kept their feet of realism firmly on the ground but they slipped into a more melodramatic direction, which is perfectly fine because it's a drama and not a documentary, I am just being a bit picky about that.

New Ship >> 9.0
The tragedy and dilemma of this story are not easy to bear but it´s definitely worth watching. It gives different POVs into the controversy behind the scenes of some Thai "BL" shows. And the truth hurts. A LOT.

The War of Manager>> 8.0
Similar to the first story, obviously because of the same environment, but also different in the base of the main characters and their significant differences in personality and behaviour compared to "New Ship". At some point, I was in denial that those kinds of greedy people exist in our world, but unfortunately for some actors/humans, they do.
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Acting / Cast >> 9.0
I really hope that Seng gets the credits he deserves for his acting, which was one of the best performances I have ever seen in my time as an Asian drama geek. His portrayal of Pan really hit me on many levels and I really can´t think of anything to criticise. Billy´s performance was also praiseworthy and I won´t forget about those two for some time. It´s just that all actor's performances combined I found some things I found somewhat irritating, thus giving Acting a 9.0.
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Music >> 7.0
I´ll leave it like this for now, because I am not really tempted by the music yet but I also don't find it disturbing or incorrectly matched/selected.
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Rewatch Value >> 4.5
This may not be easy to follow up after I highlighted how good I find the actors and most parts of the plot but because it is tough, me rewatching it will be unlikely. HOWEVER, this doesn´t change the fact that it is an incredibly executed series that I didn´t expect from a Y series, to be very honest.
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Overall >> 8.0

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Ep19 is shit and 20

Ep19 is shit and 20 more shit i hate it. it was going good until those episodes. i don't know if yall don't know what do write about, but this shit ain't it, also how the flick yall make the girl pregnant. tf yall could of do something else yall just make me hate episode 20 more. also just because she is jealous it doesn't give her the right to what she did. like i really don't like episode 19 and 20.it was good up to 18. flick 19 and 20. I'm not really interested it this show anymore, i am really glad that it's over, maybe that is why this show is so underrated. maybe if the story line was better ma more people might of watch the show. I'm still vex that yall made her pregnant. i really hate it after that.like never me again, i should watch over check out instead of this shit and check out was really shit.

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