Don't waste your time and watch the Korean version instead.

So... I've watched this drama when it came out in 2018 but I decided to rewatch the Korean version that I absolutely love on Netflix and, because a special episode from the Japanese version (that I didn't know of) came out quite recently, I decided to rewatch this version as well before watching this special episode. I remembered not liking this version very much and here is why.

Let's start with the story which is the most important part of why I dislike this version. The Korean version is perfect, well written, the story flows really well throughout the episodes and I understand that the Japanese version had to make some choices in term of changes (not to be just a copy paste of the Korean version - even though it is quite a bit) and in term of plot lines to keep as they have only 10 episodes of 45 minutes each. Some choices were pretty good: they didn't keep the second serial murders case in which Soo Hyun was kidnapped, Iwata learns about the walkie talkie and Oyama by eavesdropping one of the transmissions and Saegusa's mother protects him from his brother's case's mess by giving him to relatives... Other than that, from the very first episode, this version is a mess.

The very first mistake they made was to change the timeline. Right from the start, the story begins in 1995 with the kidnapping case. But Oyama only discovers the corpse of the main suspect 5 years later! Also, Oyama didn't have the walkie talkie in 1995 and started having the transmissions in 1997, which is ridiculous! In the Korean version, the story starts with the same case but the case begins in 2000, the same year Jae Han finds the corpse and he already has the walkie talkie and knows about the transmissions since 1989! These errors lead to two inconsistencies. First, why is Oyama still in possession of a walkie talkie in 1997 when they already had mobile phones and were even seen communicated this way in the drama? At least, the Korean version is logical as in 1989, mobile phones didn't exist and it was their only way of communicating. Second, like the Korean version, the cold case squad was created right after solving the kidnapping case with the help of the transmissions. However, for an unknown reason, in the Japanese version, the transmission first starts in 2010 for Saegusa and the cold case squad is created the same year. And then, 8 years pass, the cold case squad is still in service and Saegusa just joins the team. Again, this is highly illogical as the cold case squad is wanted to be got rid of as soon as possible by the higher-ups and the main villain of this drama especially. How did the squad manage to exist for 8 long years? That would mean that they were successful solving cold cases which doesn't seem like it when we see them again in 2018...

There is another inconsistency created because of this timeline change. Saegusa is seen lonely and kind of depressed at school. This was because in the Korean version, Hae Young lost his older brother and couldn't see his mother because his father took him with him after the gang rape case that involved his brother. But in the Japanese version, there are no reasons at all for him to be sad and lonely because the gang rape case hasn't happened yet and he's still living with his mother and brother who is very much alive. So why doesn't he have any friends at school? I mean, he should at least have one or two friends!

Also, the Japanese version is way too rushed that they forget very important elements that explain the characters' actions. For example, in the first serial murder case, Jae Han suspects the bus driver of being the murderer because he saw him on the crime scene and he indicated him the wrong direction. In the Japanese version, there's no reason for him to suspect the bus driver apart from lying in his testimony as he was not on the crime scene. Moreover, they don't develop the characters' relationships enough. Oyama and Sakurai barely interact with each other (so how is it possible that they fall in love? She doesn't even confess her feelings so what Oyama said after leaving her is inconsistent - again!). Oyama barely interacts with his colleagues as well so there is no team spirit built in this drama and I wonder how he could have back up to save him at the very end. And because they put Iwata as Oyama's chief instead of Nakamoto (who seem to have the same position throughout the years instead of climbing up like in the Korean version - but it's true that only 5 years pass in the Japanese version instead of 11 years in the Korean version), they messed up the relationships between the three characters - especially between Oyama and Nakamoto.

Anyway... There are other inconsistencies in this drama - like the fact that the police have Saegusa's phone when he escaped from them at the hospital (how did they get it?...) and that the cold case squad still exist after what happens with Oyama and the fact that it is not possible because the kidnapping case has been solved in 2000, not 2010... - but I'm going to stop here and talk about another thing that I didn't like in this version... The acting.

It really depends on the drama but I usually don't have any problem whatsoever with Japanese acting. There are some great dramas out there in which the actors are phenomenal. But it is not the case in this drama, sorry... I liked some of the actors like Watabe Atsuro (Nakano), Komoto Masahiro (Iwata) or Kitamura Kazuki (Oyama) for the most part but the Japanese actors in this drama were too much at expressing their emotions. They were always yelling for no reasons and expressing despair, sadness with grand gestures that really didn't fit the situation. Especially in the first episode, during the interrogation of the woman (who is supposed to act in a very cold blooded way), we could clearly see when she was panicking and it was clear from the start that she was guilty. While in the Korean version, the woman barely moves and is only fidgeting to show her panicky state.

About the music, there's nothing much to say apart that the song of BTS really helped the series being known. At least, I like the opening better than the Korean one. They sometimes misused the soundtrack but it is only noticeable in one scene around the end of the drama.

Would I recommend this drama? Absolutely not. Watch the Korean version instead, it is way better in everything.
The Japanese version could have probably been better if they changed the cases they are working on and chose Japanese cold cases instead.

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It's bad... Not terribly bad but bad nonetheless.

Right from the beginning the direction pulled me off and then, it only continued.
There is absolutely no continuity in this series and a lot of errors that could have been easily rectified if the filming crew was paying attention to what they were doing. I have two examples in mind.
The first one is when Sun goes down the mountain alone. He decides to go back up for a reason that he is not even doing at the end and then, goes back down but... the road he's walking on is climbing and Arthit comes from the opposite direction from where Sun is, which is totally illogical if they both are going down the mountain. They should walk in the same direction. Also, I have to add that when Sun is halfway to the hotel when he is first descending, it is totally dark outside, but when he goes up, the sky is lighter than before.
The second example is when Sun begs Arthit to free him from the handcuffs and Arthit accepts. But the next scene shows them walking side by side, with the handcuffs locked on their wrists. So what happened between those two scenes?...
And there are so many errors like these throughout the series that I sometimes wondered if they didn't lose any footage and tried to deal with what they had left.

We also lack information about important things. Like the fact that Sun's dad has scammed an old man for 10 million bahts but we don't know if the old man realised he has been scammed and what happened next. We also have a flashback of Sun and Arthit when they were young (and Arthit remembers who is Sun) but we don't know if Sun remembers who is Arthit. And why is Ashing's dad sending Sun take back the money when he knew that was Sun's dad that owed money to Arthit's dad? Unless, Sun's dad was owing money to both Arthit's and Ashing's dads? I'm so confused...

Last but not least, the pacing of the series is awful and badly done. There is absolutely no progression whatsoever between the two leads throughout the whole series and, all of a sudden, at the end, Sun wants to stay with Arthit (when he wanted to escape the last 5 episodes) and Arthit accepts with a smile and a tear in his eye. Since when did they develop such a relationship? Is this again a case of missing footage that I was mentionning earlier? This is ridiculous. So I couldn't care less about these characters and their relationship because we didn't see anything interesting between them.

To conclude, I would say that the plot could have been interesting if it were correctly written and directed. I even thought at one point that maybe it was because 6 episodes were too short to develop such a story but the problem wasn't it: the main problem is the filming crew... The same filming crew with a 12-episode series would have been the same or even worse because our suffering would have lasted longer.

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Not that good, but not that bad either

Even though, I didn't expect to watch the BL of the year when I started this series, I was entertained enough to continue watching. But my interest for it got lower and lower as the episodes progressed...

The main plot is not great, but it is okay enough to make an 8-episode series. The problem is that it was poorly written and poorly directed. I'm sure the actors could have done a better job if they had a better script and they were better directed.

About Poon and Tian... I have watched this series for them and I kept watching only for them. Their pairing wasn't great, but it was the best out of all the pairings. My problems with them are that Tian was too possessive (barging into one's kitchen restaurant just because he doesn't want Poon to work for another than himself while he's just dismissed him from work for a month was a bit too much...) and Poon doesn't love Tian as much as Tian loves him. I really felt it was a one-sided love. Tian was the only one reaching out for Poon every time they had a problem and, at one time, I was hoping Poon would do the first step but, yet again, it was Tian. Also, I'm really tired of series that try to avoid kissing scene at all cost. They want to do romance series but they can't show one normal couple that kisses without being shy or ashamed. It's really annoying... I know Asia doesn't like couples showing their love in public, but the couples in series are usually in a private space when they try to avoid kissing! That's not how normal couples would act! At least, I hope so for Thailand's sake.

About Teng and Mayom... I gave up. I was already skipping their scenes in Gen Y, then Gen Y 2 so I was a bit reluctant watching their scenes in this series. I tried and, at the beginning, it was okay as Teng already had a boyfriend and I think this part of the story was interesting but I quickly gave up. I would have honestly been better without Mayom's character (or him coming later in the story). Because the whole thing with Teng and Tan was that Tan didn't want to go public with Teng, hence the reason why Teng broke up with him. But then, Tan thought it was because of Mayom (who only works in Teng's restaurant to get him, by the way - this is already a red flag...) and when Teng said to him that he had no feelings for Mayom (which was absolutely great, I loved this scene), Mayom was still the topic of their discussion instead of concentrating on their real problem: Tan not wanting to get out of the closet. For once, they had a good story to tell but they completely ruined it with one character that can't keep his thing in his pants...

I'm going to finish with Tay and Amy... Since when Tay had a thing for Amy?... Because he's never shown any interest for her until she was heartbroken because of Tian. Their pairing would have been more believable if they had initiate something between Tay and Amy before she got rejected by Tian.

Another problem that I have with this series: I didn't know you can run an entire restaurant without only one cook... Also, why are the cooks out in the room and not cooking in the kitchen? That was so annoying to watch Mayom out and about to flirt with Teng when clients were waiting for their food to be made...

As a whole, I still managed to finish the series. It was not that good but not that bad either.
Would I rewatch it? Certainly not. But I was entertained enough the time that I watched it.

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The cast is amazing!

I've just finished the series and, even though it is clearly not the best BL out there, it was really enjoyable to watch.

I'm going to start talking about the cast because it is the best thing from this series.
First of all, I know all of the actors!! They all have played a role in a BL series and I couldn't stop saying every time a new actor appeared on screen: "Oh! I know him/her!". I was quite happy to see them again in this series but, at the same time, it was really weird to see so many familiar faces in just one drama. It's like the cast directors have watched all the BL series from those actors (which I'm sure they have) and made a list with the actors they wanted to cast. I was especially surprised with Mild and Bruce!! Second of all, all of the actors are excellent in their roles. Of course, as a fan of Singto, I already knew his talent in acting but I really liked the acting of the supporting cast as well. Especially Yoon and Yatch. I've known Yatch since Love by Chance and I've seen him in several BL after that but I've never seen him play a serious character before (if so, it didn't leave a mark on me). He was always the goofy and funny friend of one of the main characters (and he was good at it!) but this is the first time that I was able to see how good he is at acting. Even though he didn't have much screen time, it was enough for me to notice that he was a talented actor and I hope to see him in a drama again very soon. As for Yoon, I never really liked the series that I've watched with him so I couldn't really appreciate his acting (YYY was the first series that I've watched with him and I hated it, it was so ridiculous...). But this drama has shown me a different side of Yoon's acting that I really liked and I hope to see him again in another (good) drama in which I can see and appreciate his acting.

Now, moving on to the storyline... It was quite simple and quite enjoyable as a whole but there were elements in the plot that I didn't quite like. I'm going to start with the jealousy thing (if you don't want to be spoiled, you should stop reading now). I don't understand why Tharn and Phap were jealous. Tharn is supposed to be friends with Maze and Nueng for a very long time (from his college days if I remember correctly). Didn't he know that Maze and Nueng were siblings? Really? Even Nae seemed to not know their real relationship, which is really surprising because they seem to be friends for a very long time. Weird that Maze never made it clear with them that Nueng was his step-brother. Also, Phap knew about it!!! I don't remember the episode but when he went to Phuket with Maze for the first time, they went to visit an old lady that showed him some photos of him and Nueng and she explicitly said that they were step-brothers. He even said to Maze that he thought Nueng was an en-lover after that and Maze called him crazy. So why is he jealous? I know that, sometimes, I even believed that there was more than just a brother's love but he should be acting like that. Then, there was the back and forth from Phap again. Every time he was jealous, he was sulking and taking his distance from Maze but, the next scene, he was all smiley again and going back to Maze as if nothing ever happened. It was really disturbing to be honest and that happened a few times, not only once! Every time Nueng made an appearance actually... To finish (and someone has already pointed it out), they introduced a scene in which Phap hurt himself saving Nueng gfrom drowning. I thought they were going to develop this injury to be a serious one (a broken rib, for example) that maybe led him to the hospital and Maze would have been worried about him but... nothing!!! Absolutely nothing. They never develop this plotline, they did nothing with it and I was really disappointed that there was no end to it (and I know I'm not alone).

As a whole, apart from the few elements that I didn't like, it was still a good series to watch. Will I rewatch it? Probably not, but it didn't get bored or I wasn't upset watching it so that's good!

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I recommend it!

I've read a lot of people complaining about this series but I personally really liked it.
Yes, it's slow paced and I think the broadcasting team made a bad decision by releasing one episode a week. When I saw that, I decided to wait until the end of the series so that I can watch it in one go and that was a pretty good decision that I've made because I'm satisfied with the result.
I think it is a pretty realistic story, the characters not able to be upfront with their feelings because they're scared. It happens to a lot of people (and I'm one of it). So maybe for a show, it is annoying but I liked it a lot.
The only thing that I wasn't quite happy with was the end and the trio Shi Lei, Zi Tong and Zhao Gang. To me, it wasn't necessary as Shi Lei was already ready to confess his feelings.
Also, I was suprised to see Wayne! Is his goal to make a cameo in every BL show from Taiwan (and Japan)?

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I've just finished the series and I must say that it is really good!! I loved it!!

First of all, the cast is amazing. The duo Lee Dong Wook/Wi Ha Joon is absolutely amazing and hilarious. The serious but corrupted Ryu Su Yeol and the crazy K show us so many incredible and funny scenes. The supporting cast also deserves a round of applause, be it Ryu Su Yeol's team (with Hui Gyeom, Gyeong Tae and Jae Seon) but also the villains that I wanted to punch in the face more than once, especially Do Yu Gon, Captain Kim and Jeon Yu No. I also have to congratulate the female lead, Hui Gyeom, who was one of the rare female characters that I liked (okay, maybe it was because she didn't have that much screen time and there was only a little romance in the whole series, which I prefer, but still!).

The plot was actually very good and interesting. There are a lot of scenes for which you get frustrated because the villains have the upper hand but it's usually resolved quickly after. The thing that I didn't like with the plot was that there are two stories. We start with a good plot about drugs dealing and corruption but, once this storyline has been resolved, there's a complete turn over and the plot gets to another completely different storyline. And even though it's linked to the main character (or characters, I should say), we don't see the villains that were introduced at the beginning of the story anymore and they just kind of disappeared from the main plot, which is a shame because we spent more than 8 episodes to get used to them.

Anyway, that's the only thing which I was disappointed with (even though, the two plots were interesting enough for me to keep watching). I would say it's a very good series to watch and watch again but the second time would probably be less interesting as there would be no surprises anymore.

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Don't waste your time, unless you have time

So... I've finished this series in two days and there is a lot of good but a lot of bad as well...

Let me start with the good things:
- The start of the series was really interesting. As a whole, the main plot (and I'm not talking about the romance plot line) is quite enjoyable to watch.
- The fight scenes are really well-done. I'm not an expert in fighting but I can notice when the production has made an effort to train their actors when they have fight scenes, and here is the case. I wouldn't say it is realistic because we still have things like an enemy who is waiting for his turn to fight the main character or the villain that waits before pulling the trigger. However, Sun's fight scenes were believable and really nice to watch.
- Pitch and Bank's couple. This is the only thing that I didn't expect from the story! I really didn't see it coming and was pleasurably surprise to see them getting together. I absolutely loved their scenes together and they actually had the best kiss scenes from the series.
- Boat's acting. Unlike Gun that I know from LBC, I discover Boat in this series and he's really good! He really knows how to act, fight, cry... He is convincing in his role.

Now, I'm going to talk about the bad things:
- From the middle of the series to the end, it gets boring. Maybe because they focus more on the romantic relationship between Sun and Sky but I found it a bit boring. And I really dislikes the end (I'm afraid to reveal too much but for those who have watched the series you'll know what I mean). Sky's father and the number of years were totally ridiculous.
- The clichés... I know a lot of BL shows use them but in this show, it was ridiculous and cringe. I really disliked watching them and was rolling my eyes everytime I saw one. They really should stop with that and try other ways to get the two main characters close.
- The fact that the boys used the girls' feelings. Ok, Juno was a bit too much hitting on Sun but at least, she gave him clear signs that she was interested in him. So why didn't Sun tell her that he was not interested in her? At least, she would've clearly known (even though it was pretty clear he was not interested but I don't blame Juno for continuing pursuing him if he didn't say anything). Sky, on the other hand, was clearly using Tortank (forgot the spelling, sorry) to get Sun jealous and I didn't like that.
- Gun's acting. I don't hate him as an actor. I kind of liked him in LBC but when he has to pull off emotional scenes, he's not really convincing (sorry). Someone already pointed that out in the reviews but everytime he has to cry or be angry, he shows his teeth and it kind of became ridiculous. Especially when he cries (if he really cries because I couldn't see any tears).
- The singing scenes. It was boring to watch the two actors sing, especially because they sing the whole song and we have flashbacks. Also, I'm really not sure they are the one singing and the instruments used in the series don't correspond to the ones we hear from the audio. It was really poorly done.

Overall, it was an ok series but the end really made me angry and disappointed (it is a happy ending but I hated some elements). I would still recommend watching the series if you have nothing else to do but once is enough!

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Surprisingly really good!

I didn't quite expect it (mostly because of the 7.4 rating that is not THAT good when we consider that a lot of shitty shows are overrating on this website) but I found myself really liking this series.

The story is quite original - losing the hearing when it rains - and, even though, I wasn't really convinced of the you-can-only-hear-and-talk-to-your-soulmate-when-it-rains thing when it first appeared, I quickly forgot about how weird that was and went on with the show.

I also really loved the maturity of the characters. Although the actors are young, they managed to make me believe they were qualified to work in their field (especially the vets). I was especially surprised at Pee's performance. I have to admit that I wasn't very convinced with him when I saw the trailer for this series - I mean... his previous roles were in sh*tty shows like YYY and Y-Destiny in which he had the crazy/funny-type character, if I remember correctly - but he plays a complete different role in La Pluie and he is shining in it! He looks really mature which makes him ten times more handsome than in the two series that I mentioned and he really delivers. I was convinced by his performance. As for Title, I already knew he was a good actor as I watched Remember Me before.

My only complaint would be that the end was rushed. I think they had enough materials to make another episode. Especially because they wasted about 10 minutes on Tai looking for Patts in Chiangmai... They even gave us a flashback of characters that were just introduced and that we didn't care about! And that cliffhanger...! Does it mean there's going to be a second season?

Anyway, as a whole, it was a great series.

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