PPBongi
California, USA
Cinematic Magic!
In a sense, this story is deeper than in season one. While still about Haruta, the story circumvents him to encompass more individuals around him and does so in a deeply, introspective, and immensely emotional fashion. To be sure, the keystone remains parallel to season one. The Captain, an older distinguished-looking man, falls in love with Haruta, a much younger and energetic man. Yet, in the end there is such a surprising twist that it caught me off guard. I honestly did not know what to make of it. Was it real or a profound cry out of a desperately lonely man? I cried at either prospect as Haruta, for the first time, truly seemed adrift. This is effulgent and, along with the previous “Ossan’s Love” productions, are worthy of our reverence. This is a jewel of virtuosity and therefore I would consider it a ‘Masterpiece’. They may be archival but should not be forgotten. Treat yourself to pure joy!Was this review helpful to you?
Perfection!
This story is a classic one as it reflects an age-old tale of a ‘mid-life’ crisis. While season one is 5 years and the sequel movie is 4 years ago, both ‘hold up’ today as being relevant, funny, and still charming. Beyond that, both are wondrously entertaining. It is funny. Very funny – throughout. And it completely held my attention. That is hard to do. To sustain a level of humor and constantly recreating realities that are funny is not easy to do, but this series and movie does so with great skill. The comedic timing is sheer perfection, and the physical comedy is outstanding especially for Tanaka Kei as Haruta Sochi. Many others also displayed great comedic timing as well. That is a reflection not only of good acting talent but also of exemplary directing. Both the series and movie have their slow moments, but they are few and far between.Was this review helpful to you?
Distastefully Cringy and Creepy
There is something distastefully creepy and cringy about this series and I frankly did not find it even a bit romantic in any way. In fact, I found it rather sad and pathetic. This series says more about a disconnect from reality than about the advancement of AI. The acting in this series is flat and stilted and monotone, not just by the robot but by the human. At times, it was hard to tell who really was the robot. In a real sense, I wish I had not watched this series. It made me feel uncomfortable and apprehensive about the future.You can read my full review of this series at BLBliss.com
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A Meditative Intensity Story
I could not sleep early on a Saturday morning, and this movie’s review came up in YouTube out of nowhere. So, on a whim, I decided to watch it. Before you know it, I had finished it and had become so engrossed in its plot and story, I found myself caring about these characters with a certain sense of affection. I found myself teary eyed and gently sobbing for them. It is an intensely gut-wrenching film that is deeper than it is given credit for. I was shocked and dismayed at how poor the reviews were for this movie. I do not understand. I loved it. To be sure, it does not move mountains, but it is not meant to do so. It is a story about two misfit loners who happen to find each other in exactly the right space at exactly the right moment in their lives that connected them in a feeling of fruition. They found each other’s cherished one.Was this review helpful to you?
A Series That Spins Its Wheels
This series looks and feels good, superficially. It had all the earmarks of being a very good story but fell so flat as the story progressed. It seemed to lack an ending that wanted to make a definitive statement; so, it chose to go cute. The series is just too short to develop any meaningful characters, which is a serious problem. It tried to be light fluff with a serious matter which I wish they would have treated with solemnity. Also, quit treating gayness with kit gloves. If you are going to show two men trying to be in love, give us something that shows that. It languished so much.Was this review helpful to you?
A Good Popcorn Movie
Indeed, this is a visually stunning movie that is certainly entertaining. With a big bag of popcorn (or snack of your choice) and a relaxing chair, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. Filled with handsome men, a relatively interesting but a bit slow-plodding plot at times, elegant chorography, breathtaking cinematography, and beautiful costumes, you are in for a treat. Is it memorable? Well, no, not really, but it sure is fun to watch. The plot is manifestly implausible, slow in the middle, yet it worked in the end as entertainment. The ending is to be expected. There are no hidden meanings, and the story does not go deep. To coin a trite phrase, admittedly, it is what it is. Do not read more into it. This is a beautiful, compelling, and colorful story. The costumes, choreography, cinematography, and set designs are all exquisite. So, grab some popcorn or your favorite snack and watch this very enchanting movie and then go to bed. It is that kind of movie. Fun but forgettable.Was this review helpful to you?
Nearly Perfect Propose
This series is a phenomenally gentle story of two individuals who by happenstance meet as boys in childhood with one becoming his savior and then 10 or so years later, they meet again where in the end the other becomes his savior. The story goes full circle. This is an exceptionally well-acted series, given its short duration. So much had to be accomplished and shown in such a short period of time. Even the supporting performances were so spot on. However, who really steals this series are the two young boys who play the younger versions. Surprisingly, for a Japanese BL, they did a good job of showing a connection and were unafraid to kiss with a certain commitment. It seemed honest, genuine, and realistic.Was this review helpful to you?
Magnificent! A real gem
Magnificent! This was the first word that came into my mind after watching this short charming and beautifully done BL. It is obviously patterned off the South Korean model and it works! I simply do not understand the negative criticisms of this series. It is well acted, storytelling is engaging, and it is such a delicate love story that I think people mistook that delicacy for lameness. To be brutally honest, the only people who see it that way are not gay or those who have forgotten what it was like to struggle with acceptance. The intensity of its credence for each of us who had to face that is wildly different individually. Each persons’ journey is unique and soulful. This is a classic BL with such soft, gentle whispers that it almost glides under the radar unnoticed. But this is a beautifully done and very touching series that because of its delicacy, is mischaracterized. There is some fine acting here capturing all the various emotions of coming out, of being jilted, and suffering from an unrequited love. You can read my full review of this wonderful series at BLBliss.com.Was this review helpful to you?
One word: Eschew
This story is profoundly complex, made elementary. Yet, it should not. It presents itself in a superficial manner with a lot of voyeuristic sex scenes to help us with our escapism from its true reality. And its true reality is that it is a very sad story filled with toxic people doing awful things to innocent people. I found the story to be a rather ugly tale peppered with unnecessary eroticism. This series has a lot of diversion in it. Many hot, steamy love scenes, that felt very voyeuristic to me and sometimes laughable. Sure, these guys are sensual, cute, and sexy. To see them romping around in bed making love with their pants on is just plain ludicrous and silly. It was just not the main couple either. How about under the covers with simulation so we can use our imagination? Sometimes imagination is better. To show us making love in bed (or having sex) with pants on seemed extraordinarily contrived and silly. And completely and totally unrealistic. And I might add, insulting to gay people everywhere.Was this review helpful to you?
This Series is Real, Raw, & Revealing! Brilliant!
Don't let the negative comments about this series through you off. It is deeper than what it is given credit for.This series is an erotic roller-coaster ride through the world of gay love. If non-gay people want to know what it is like to be gay, then this is the series to watch. Not the idealized versions of BLs. This is what the world of gayness is, whether you want to believe it or not, accept it or not. It is what it is. Sure, it is the darker side, but it is no less real than the ornament sanitized version of what GAY love is via BL. In other words, this is its antithesis. This expresses the real world. It is a potpourri story that is at times impossible to follow and logically makes absolutely no sense; it has a ‘soap-opera aspect to it. And I loved every minute of it. Why? Because it presents the darker side of ‘BL’. And if you think for one second that this world either does not exist or is not real, then you are misinformed and mistaken. As it does. What this story does is capture all the issues facing gay men today in a raw, gritty, realistic fashion. Sometimes a bit over-the-top dramatically but never ever unrealistically. To be sure, the problems are overblown, but never its lasciviousness. These actors had the guts to portray the characters in all their rawness and ugliness, and yet give them believability and made them oh so human. Kudos! And well done!
I for one loved this series. This will end up on my Ten Best List for 2024. You can read my complete review of this amazing series at BLBliss.com.
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Awesome Love Story But......
This is a stunningly beautiful production with a love story that is so entrancingly told that I honestly did not see two men in love but simply two individuals in love. It really was a love story that transcends genders and epochs. This is a romance that begins between two mythical Hindu/Buddhist deities named Garuda and Naga long ago. Throughout the ages, each continue to be drawn to each other in a way we would call destiny. Had the saga simply stayed with the journey of Phaya and Tharn, this would have been an apotheosis. But unfortunately, it became unwieldy and got so lost in the development of subplots, specifically involving a troupe of them becoming police officers, and solving a crime, that the love story almost took a back seat. And frankly all of that was so superficial and unnecessary to really what was in essence an alluring love rhapsody. The story of who they were is so much more important than what they were but unfortunately the production got so bogged down in the storytelling that the love came in sporadic waves, thus in a sense diminishing the emotional impact of their bond considerably.Was this review helpful to you?
What's cooking? In this series, Nothing
This story is your standard Thai rom-com droll series, treating gay relationships like infantile, immature, puppy-love versions of Pollyanna tales. Not that it is not cute; it is. Not that it is not entertaining; some of it is. Not that it does not have good messages and themes; it does. But it is tedious, boring, and unchallenging with not a shred of originality to the story or plot, although the food looked awesome. And the actors all (save one) could have done this series sleepwalking. In other words, it is standard stuff, cliché-driven, with lots and lots of triteness thrown in for good measure. This series gives new meaning to the term ‘light-fluff’. Again, there is no point summarizing the story. Take parts from a slew of Thai BLs and you got it. Their love story weaves and bobs through many what seem like endless banal episodes. Both acting as if they are in grade school rather than in college. The acting in this series by the main performers is standard. It is cute and some parts of it were entertaining, and they delivered their lines well. In terms of intensity of a relationship, there just was not any.You can read the rest of my review of this series at BLBliss.com.
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Pit Fall
This series is full of lust and desire, but truth and honesty, not so much. I have seen my fair share of bad BLs, but this one stands out for having no scruples. None overall and none with any of the characters. In addition to one of the most idiotic and obtuse plots I have ever come across. In a nutshell, a completely unrealistic storyline with sinister characters and a lot of spurious acting as well. The screenplay is simply awful in this series. Most of these characters are caricatures and they come across that way. It is overblown with self-indulgent personalities, a poor script, mediocre acting, absolutely exasperating main characters with me absolutely loathing with a passion the entire characterization and approach of Charlie, a storyline that is sick and demented, but great very rehearsed love-making scenes. Absolutely none of this worked of me.Was this review helpful to you?
A Masterpiece and One Of The Best! Magnum Opus!
Undoubtedly, this is one of those series that will either be loved or panned, mainly because of the esoteric and metaphysical nature of its theme and its presentation as a Greek tragedy. It is allegorical with metaphorical representations of life presented in temperaments of profound introspection surrounded by an almost overwhelming sense of loss, guilt, and shame. It tackles all the hidden and unexplored and often times buried emotions of humans we do not want to face or find impossible to bear. It strips away for us to see and quite literally experience and feel. We see it through the eyes of a protagonist and an antagonist at the same time; with each character being both. This series is a thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating elegy that uses the language of words to embody love. If you want to see lust, or romps in a bed, or contrived love scenes, or soft rituals of love, this is not for you. If you want to see a deep, meditative, and, at times, profoundly poignant perspective of human nature augmented by the process of finding what the meaning of love is all about, then this is for you. There is nothing ‘cute’ about this transmigration at all. It is deeply solipsistic, pensive, and intensely mystifying. There is also nothing ‘clear’ about this series. It is symbolic with symbolisms of all kinds bombarding you. At times they overwhelm you. Everything has meaning. Even the smallest of details. Blink and you might miss it. You have to decipher their meanings. Much happens mostly through words but also through deep reflections in expressions of the faces, manners, and body language of the main two characters, as well as all the other characters in this series.The rest of my review of this phenomenal series is posted at BLBliss.com.
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Good Series; Really Lousy Script
The allegory behind this theme is fascinating. Its screenplay is where it fell flat. If they had followed the initiative of the story, the saga would have been a way more compelling BL. Instead, it became spasmodic. The receptivity behind this story is very good; the screenwriting is simply awful. Frankly despite its awful screenplay, this is well acted, and the actors and actresses did the best they could with a lousy script. This series is deeper than what it is given credit for. It gets lost in the endless and totally unnecessary cat-and-mouse, ‘enemies-to-lovers’ fiasco. Thai BLs absolutely need to get out of the rut of being formulaic. This series was a shameful waste. This was good; it just was not great. But it could have been.Was this review helpful to you?
