Well-Crafted, Practically Perfect Romantic Drama With Rom-com Feel.

I loved the strong female lead; both the actress and the way her character is written. The actress had great comedic sense and portrayed a wide range of emotions with nuance. Her eyes are very expressive. The male lead is well matched with her and they have great chemistry. He was good at acting stoic as the character with emotions underneath the surface. I couldn't always tell what the emotions were, but I could see they were there. I also had second lead syndrome (for the actor and the way the 2nd male lead was written) and I liked the way the triangle was sorted out in the end.

Consistent build of emotions and tension through all 8 episodes. Did not fast-forward through anything, even the third time I watched it. The blend of sweetness/cuteness, humor, desire, pining, love, and angst lead to a very satisfying experience. There's a lot of well done comedic moments, many of which nade me chuckle or laugh out loud. I'm especially impressed with the consistent undercurrent of emotional angst that was built on easily believable emotions, perceptions, and misconceptions based on story situations. Yet the plot never felt forced. The angst was so well balanced with feel-good moments that it didn't make the series feel heavy, even though there was a lot of it. It was satisfactorily resolved, so it hurt perfectly!

The ending is a clever twist on a common rom-com cliché and was very satisfying.

The mostly instrumental music fit very well and there were some beautifully shot scenes. The script and dialogue are very natural and didn't have any clichéd lines (at least none that I remember).

Ep 7 is from the ML point of view.

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Ruined By The Writers

Starts strong but became less enjoyable, then the writers completely ruined it in ep 10-12. (General spoiler on this at the bottom of the review.)
Gets more and more cheesy. It's also very heavy-handed and preachy in it's messages. After the two best friends start dating they keep having conversations about things like they're still getting to know each other, instead of having been with each other constantly for 20+ years! One of them doesn't know what the other likes to have for breakfast even though they eat together every day. But it creates a cute scene, so it's okay that it doesn't make sense, right? (Sarcasm) Ridiculous.

*It's like the writers didn't know how to continue with their own premise and so they resorted back to a generic relationship approach.* It was so disappointing. Also, the writer's style is more about 'telling' than it is about 'showing' through actions and interactions. This type of storytelling gets old fast for me.

The acting by all is good. Shi Cheng Xuan as Fu Li is especially good and I was drawn to watch him the most. Chemistry is also satisfying. I really appreciated the two fathers, they were written and acted well.

The secondary couple is cute/sweet but the fast-paced love-bombing by one of them kind of put me off. The family dynamic between them and the laundromat's kid is mostly sweet, but again, very fast-paced.

GENERAL SPOILERS:
The EXTREMELY CONTRIVED and NONSENSICAL plot twist in ep 10, PURELY for the sake of angst, was inexcusable. It was completely unnecessary angst that could only be achieved by making Fu Li act out of character and in the complete opposite to everything he had expressed previously. And then the end of ep 11 resolved it in a cliche manner and in a way that just swept it all under the rug. The whole thing was so inane it made me quite mad with frustration!

In contrast, the sweetness in ep 12 was so over-the-top it made me roll my eyes and cringe. So much so that I actually had to fast-forward through a lot of it.

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Mindless Fluff, Weakly Written

You might enjoy this if you like cute, mindless fluff and don't mind newbie acting. The main couple's "love language" seems to be bickering but their more intimate romantic moments are very sweet.

The chemistry between the leads is undeniable and they are most natural when interacting with each other. However, they are still newer actors and their inexperience shows (in line delivery and reactions). Joong's acting is a 5 and Dunk's is a 3 (out of 10).

The actors aren't helped by a weak script with stiff, contrived dialogue and a boring, poorly executed plot. I'm glad for JoongDunk that they are getting some experience (it's a great way to continue improving their acting skills), but I just got too bored by the end of episode 8. After pausing for a couple of weeks I decided not to continue at all.

Both the actors AND the writers could benefit from more workshops to work on their craft before doing another project. At this point, I won't be looking forward to whatever they produce next.

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Thought-provoking exploration of relationship dynamics. Lots of fuzzy feelings.

A wonderfully intriguing exploration of relationship dynamics. Sweet, cute, thought-provoking, and romantic with lots of fuzzy feelings.

The amount of comfortable and very close skinship, cuddling and snuggling, hugging, and petting is maybe the highest of any show I've seen. And it is so cozy, comforting, heart-warming, and satisfying.

I loved how the dynamic between Sumire and Momo managed to be mostly balanced despite growing into codependency. They are both capable people yet they feel better when taking care of someone other than themselves and they feel more grounded when they are needed by somebody else. She needed him just as much as he wanted to be needed by her. Sumire is extremely bad at self-regulating her emotions and Takeshi is really good at helping her with that even though he's 10 years younger. The balance in their emotional maturity made their age gap a total non-issue.

Their master/pet relationship didn't come across as a power-play dynamic to me. There were moments where an imbalance of power would bubble up during arguments (with Sumire being the home owner) but that can happen with any couple.

This was so close to being a 9 out of 10, but the screenplay choices in the last couple episodes let me down in terms of character development and resolution. The ending was still moderately satisfying, the plot just gave into clichés at the end, which was disappointing and a waste of potential (further explained under the "specific spoilers" section at the bottom of my review).

The actors were great, especially Shishon Jun as Momo. He was also completely believable as a professional-level dancer.

FYI: Extra footage!
During the end credits of each episode there is a background video that is repeated and then a smaller box with scenes that change. At first, the small box shows repeated clips from that episode, but when the background video goes from the dog under to bedsheets to the drawer of shirts, the small box starts showing things unseen before! There's no audio, but it shows little snippets of scenes that could have happened to the characters in that episode that are otherwise unshown to the audience. There are some really cute and/or steamy-ish moments between Momo and Sumire that are fun to see as a little bonus.

SPECIFIC SPOILERS BELOW

My critique of the things that disappointed me in the last few episodes. (I had no other notable issues with the otherwise wonderful series.)

... ... ...

HASUMI & FUKUSHIMA:

I felt like saying Hasumi was "weak to seduction", like it was a character trait, was a bit of a cop-out. I think he was weak to being needed, just like every other main character was! And when Hasumi misses Fukushima and realizes how much he wants to be with her, I wish the screenplay had highlighted more than it did. There was repetition around her sexiness and big chest, her good cooking, and being weak, but I think there were more differences between her and Sumire that drew Hasumi in. Not only did Fukushima show vulnerability (often times faked or exaggerated as a seduction ploy), she showed Hasumi a wider range of emotions period! She showed excitement, happiness, eagerness, and desire to be with him. Hasumi could feel secure in her affection and be himself, instead of constantly and nervously trying to navigate the potential minefield of inscrutability that was Sumire. Fukushima allowed Hasumi to feel relaxed in a similar parallel to Momo and Sumire.

SUMIRE & MOMO / TAKESHI:

- I wish Sumire had at least made a decision to hold off on marriage to Hasumi and moving to Seoul, if not breaking up altogether, BEFORE she found out about him and Fukushima.

- The whole point of Takeshi not contacting Sumire first after he leaves is because, as he previously told Fukushima, Sumire doesn't go after what she wants. She may be greatly effected by losing someone yet she won't ever go after them, which is part of why he has never truly left before. So what was really needed was for Sumire to go after Takeshi. Maybe not right way, but to show her calling him first, to visit him first, to finally show her feelings in actions and words while supporting and encouraging him from afar while he pursued his career goals. NOT just WAITING 3 years in stoic silence for him. And while eventually it shows that Sumire has received letters from Takeshi, there's no indication that's she's reciprocated in any way.

- And then after 3 years she actually goes to a performance of his in Japan but leaves flowers without trying to see him! WTF? So in the end Takeshi is the one who, yet again, has to come to her. Sure, she accepts him romantically this time, but her lack in character growth negatively impacted her worthiness of him, in my opinion. So the resolution was far less impactful, meaningful, and satisfying than it easily could have been otherwise. It felt like the writers wanted a specific final scene of them meeting in the rain and sacrificed character integrity while resorting to clichés to make it happen.

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Memorable. Ep 1-4 are very thoughtful & Ep 5-8 are more melodramatic.

General spoilers only. "You can't help if you fall for a boy or a girl, or someone else." About multiple characters who feel different from "normal" in various ways. Characters experience a lot of yearning and pining (a lot of it is romantic in nature though characters also yearn to fit in or to find their place in life too), internal struggles and insecurity, and waivering back & forth.

The two main characters are blood-related siblings, so this is best watched with a non-judgmental approach, otherwise you might want to skip this one. There is also an openly gay secondary character and a tertiary character who loves their step-sibling (not related by blood).

There are great messages explored throughout the screenplay about questioning societal norms, mores, and expectations (especially when it doesn't hurt others- the people who feel like outliers are the ones that are hurt by trying to conform to other's opinions), deciding what's right for one's self, not being passive in one's own life, and more in that vein.

Nothing is handled lightly, by the story as a whole or by the individual characters. Various concerns about each character's feelings and their situations are explored. There are voice-over thoughts from multiple characters.

This is NOT a spicy story. There is some skinship but not a lot, two light lip presses, and one brief scene near the end that only implies the two lead characters slept together.

Technically I would rate this a 7.5/10 overall, but there were a few things I loved about it, and it engaged my thoughts and emotions enough to be quite memorable so I'm giving it an 8/10.

The first half is well crafted and thoughtful. I would give Ep 1-4 a 9/10. The second half gets more melodramatic in ways that I found excessive at times and I would rate Ep 5-8 a 6/10; the plot starts feeling less realistic and increasingly stretches credulity. A couple of actions or reactions didn't feel quite in line with a character's previous build. Overall I still found it pretty satisfying though; it helped that the show starts at the end before going back in time so I already had an idea of how things were going to work out. That allowed me to mostly shrug off the frusterations in storytelling and character actions as I watched things unfold in the second half.

All of the actors (except the mother) were very well suited for their rolls. Suzuki Jin, Yamashita Mizuki, and Ito Asahi were especially enjoyable to watch and almost immediately got me invested in their characters. The mother, on the other hand, is extra in a way that is not written or acted particularly well. Which makes her even more annoying. Luckily she's not around much.

General Spoilers below.

The number of times people dramatically drop to the ground (in faints or illness) is ridiculous. I could handle one, but after that it breaks credulity.

I loved one of the internal thoughts of a character with unrequited love. The character being daunted by the difficulty and hopeless pain of it was so relatable; "You want to be best friends forever? Then I can't tell you forever."

FYI SIDE NOTE ON SUBTITLES:
I could only find this streaming in the USA on KissAsian (as a last resort) in February 2024. Ep 4-8 all had lagging subtitle issues. It would be fine for about the first 15min of every episode and then the rest would lag behind by multiple sentences.
So I recommend checking if this is going to happen in whatever platform you find it on before starting to avoid frusteration.

Edit: I ended up downloading the video and subtitle files on my computer in order to re-watch it properly.

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Main couple is fun in 1st half, but best romance is the second couple's in 2nd half.

Good for one watch. Fun premise and some interesting characters.

Very slow start but otherwise Ep 4-20 were great, Ep 21-29 were okay, and Ep 30-40 were mediocre. Despite the weaknesses, there was an addictive quality and always something that kept me binge-watching to the end, though I did fast-forward more and more in Ep 30-40.

Fun premise. A few unlikable characters that do have character and moral growth. Melodramatic in a mostly fun way. Had more of a soap opera feel in Ep 30-40.

The chemistry between the leads wasn't great. A lot of that had to do with the way Ling Cen was written and Eugenie Liu's portrayal. She was bland and flat. It was okay for the first half but in the second half, her character became irritating because there wasn't enough emotional depth to keep me invested in her character. It didn't help that I watched this immediately after Lost Romance in which Marcus Chang had fantastic chemistry with that female lead and that actress had great emotional and expression range.

The sister Jing Fan and Yu Quan were always awesome. Great characters, great acting, and good chemistry and romance. They were what I was most invested in for the 2nd half of the show. Loved them.

The girl's parents were well written. Their concern for their kids was well balanced with trying to respect and support their own decisions.

There were some positive messages about queer love too.

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Gentle and Genuine Strangers to Friends to Loves. Comfort Show.

So sweet, thoughtful, and heart-warming in such a gentle and earnest way that it's 100% smile-inducing without being saccharine-sweet or cringworthy. There are multiple thoughtful messages explored with the story and a couple poetically worded lines.

Very slice-of-life with low angst that does get resolved. Yutaka and Minoru (with Tane) positively effect each other and Yutaka and Minoru show growth in other parts of their lives because of it. They are very caring and supportive of each other.

There is a lot of care and love in this friendship that grows into more. It's gently and realistically romantic. This is *not* a spicy BL, and it wouldn't fit the story well. The desire of the leads to be in each other's presence and the appreciation they have for having the other in their lives is the focus, and it is palpable. And it is not just platonic; fairly early in the story Minoru is aware of his growing feelings for Yutaka and that he yearns for more than friendship. The actor, Hiroki, is so expressive with his face and eyes that his emotions are easy to comprehend.

There is not a lot of skinship, but when it happens it is meaningful. Later in the story, the hesitancy and awkwardness in direct touches is completely in character, especially for two inexperienced 23 year olds. The desire to connect despite their nervousness is there, and it's romantic in a soft and heart-warming way.

Every actor was perfect. I loved the family dynamics and Minoru's Dad is the best! He gently and deftly encourages Minoru to follow his heart but let's him handle things on his own. He genuinely just wants his son to be happy. The younger brother was written his age and the actor was very natural. Every character was totally lovable yet very distinct.

While there is a lot of eating, it's more about the company one eats with than the food itself. Food appreciation was done much more naturally in this than in other food-focused JBLs; people actually take a moment to taste the food before saying it's good, and while there is enthusiasm, it's not over-the-top.

The gentle pacing, to me, was perfect and every episode felt satisfying while holding my anticipation for the next one.

This has become one of my go-to comfort shows, and it would be a good one to see with other people too.

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Adorable, well acted, & feel-good short film.

An easy, adorable, feel-good, 60 minute film. Actors are comfortable with each other and skinship and intimacy are believable. I won't rewatch often, but probably will at some point.

The three uknown, young male actors are really impressive; they are natural in line delivery and interactions and convey emotions convincingly. At first, Sun seems rather flat as a typical happy puppy-dog personality, but the script does give the actor a few more layers to work with further in.

All the boys are convincing in the attraction they feel and it's completely believable that Earth and Sun are falling in love with each other. The make out kissing scene is really realistic for teenage characters. Both sweet and passionate.

I was pleasantly surprised with the whole production. It has some weaknesses, but over all it's very smile-inducing.

GENERAL SPOILER about the parents:

The biggest thing that didn't work for me was Earth's parents; they were written and acted flatly, as caricatures. Their complete turn around in how they interacted with Earth was SO not believable. At all. My annoyance with how the screenplay handled this situation is continued below.

Earth's responses and growing frustration/resentment WAS realistic and believable though!

SPECIFIC SPOILER about the parents:

...

Also, it was probably unintentional, but the film seemed to promote running away from home to make parents change (they not only said we'll let you do guitar, but we'll let you do "whatever you want", and Earth even got a car shortly after). The result was very unrealistic, thus, not a great message for kids stuck in a similar situation. Sometimes moving out early is necessary for one's own preservation, but there are other things to try first. And a severely controlling parent is more likely to crack down harder at a large sign of "rebellion" (like running away for a couple days) than they are to become unconditionally supportive.

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Good For 1 Watch. Missing Some Emotional Stepping Stones.

Very general spoiler on the ending only. Definitely good for one watch but I may not rewatch as it wasn't very emotionally engaging for me. The fight scenes are great, intimacy is fairly realistic and there's more of it than the average Korean BL, the acting is strong (9.5/10 for the two leads, 7-8/10 for everyone else), and the plot-twist is surprising. I was glad I watched it but didn't feel completely satisfied afterwards, even though the ending is happy.

The review by Rent343 on MDL puts into words some of what I was feeling (my own notes are below this quoted excerpt): https://mydramalist.com/profile/Rent343/review/63835
"...I dunno, it felt like I was reading a sparknotes summary for a great novel. I got all the big facts/ plot points but the delivery took little to no time to make those facts emotionally significant..."

MY NOTES:
That's what I felt too- like it was the Sparknotes to a greater story. I missed the romantic build of the connection between the characters (both by text before they met and then after) so when conflict came, the stakes didn't feel as high as they could have. They still felt like a few-dates-old crush. I mentally knew they were in love because the audience was told so, and they were certainly cute/sweet to watch, but I didn't feel it emotionally. I was rooting for them and the plot-twist scene did tug at my heartstrings, but I kept feeling like too many chunks of the story were missing/skipped to feel fully connected and satisfied.

It didn't help that there was absolutely no sense of time. It felt like they had only known each other for a few days, which is why their love confessions didn't feel that strong. It's possible multiple weeks passed, but who knows!

Some side threads are annoyingly left in the air, like the reason behind the plot-twist. A character says they will tell another everything but the audience never gets to hear it!

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Psychologically Intriguing. What Voids Can/Can't Be Filled?

Psychologically intriguing and emotionally haunting; a seemingly "happy" ending on the surface but in actuality very precarious as it was hollow. The story lingered in my mind and I really wish there was more of it.

21 minutes long. The script and directing/editing was smartly done and to-the-point. Acting, cinematography, and music supported the storytelling well.

The 11th SungKyu wants a nice home and family so much that he stands in to fill the voids the other family members have. But he is a shell of a person himself, can HIS void be filled? Maybe over time, but we don't get a clear-cut answer, and that's why my thoughts on this short film keep percolating and drive me to dissect it.

It's well done and good for one watch if you're in the right mood for it.

SPECIFIC SPOILERS below!
... ... ...

I can easily understand SungKyu learning how to interact, and puting effort into play-acting, with the mentally fragmented mother (who can't accept that one of her real sons is gone).

I feel sad at his decision to be physically intimate with the brother, SungWoo, though. Sad for both of them because it seemed the result of individual desperation. Maybe they both end up being what the other needs and have a healthy future together, but that seems a fragile hope. More realistically, SungWoo may develop feelings while SungKyu's interest would remain in question; does he really care, or is he trying to fill his own void, or is he just maintaining his place in the family?

And whatever drove SungKyu in that scene, it doesn't seem to have given him much. The next morning, SungWoo feels accepted and is noticeably lighter and happier but the smile that SungKyu returns slides off when he's not being looked at, and his eyes remain vacant throughout. SungKyu said he was "nobody" and seemed to remain empty himself even as he filled in what the other family members needed.

For me, it's really hard to leave the story at that moment because I crave more emotional resolution, so I likely won't re-watch. I am glad I saw it once though.

I found Bearr's MDL review good and insightful too.

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Slow. Sky and NC Scenes Are Reasons To Watch.

The sceenplay is weak and slow. You could probably watch Ep 1 to get started then skip to Ep 5 or 6 without too much trouble because Ep 2-5 are repetitious and extremely slow burn. Ep 6 is when things start to get somewhat more interesting and emotional. I'm speed-watching about half of this and don't care that much about the two side couples.

The screenplay should have spent more time on the backstory because there's not enough weight and reason behind the brief flashback we get to believably be the crux of Venus's fallout with Sky.

The actor Tod playing Sky is surprisingly good, noticeably better than everyone else once the script actually gives him something with some layers to work with. He's got micro-facial expressions and nuances in face, body, and voice, especially when things are more emotional. He successfully tugged hard at my heartstrings even though the script is not well written. He has potential and I would be interested to see him act again, especially with a better script.

Once Sky and Venus get together there's even less plot but they actually act like boyfriends (unlike a lot of BLs where one partner acts disgusted by anything physical). Sky is in love and horny and they have a lot of sex. And a lot is shown. Someone commented somewhere that the show could have just been called "Sky in Venus", lol.

The two actors are pretty comfortable with each other but the chemistry feels one-sided; Tod successfully conveys attraction and desire (outside of intimate scenes as well as during) but Cheque struggles with this.

Cheque as Venus is pretty flat. It kind of works for the character (who's cautious and has his defensive walls high) but it's obvious that he's a newbie actor. He's not awful, but because he's lacking nuances he gets boring.

I may watch the intimate scenes here as a bandaid of sorts after watching an unsatisfying BL series with disguised homophobia (any where the "boyfriend" thinks physical, or even romantic, intimacy is gross).

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Good Acting, Mediocre Script.

You might enjoy if you're looking for something that doesn't require a lot of brain power, has multiple sweet moments, and with a little insight/commentary on the BL industry. There are multiple good hugs and passionate kisses.

General Spoilers below.
The two lead actors did well with what they were given, especially Gene. It's slow and awkward in spots and tension comes and goes. There are a lot of side characters that rarely held my interest. I fast-forwarded a lot throughout the series. I almost dropped it after Ep 8 but the story grew more interesting again in the last couple episodes. The kids kind of falling for each other when they were 6.5 and 11 years old was very odd though.

I did appreciate that it showed in practice various toxic things about BL fans and the BL industry catering to their delusional demands on actor's real lives. I also appreciated that more time was spent on the families working towards acceptance of their gay sons. It felt more realistic and nuanced than I was expecting.

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Epic Friendship More Than Romance

Overall I enjoyed it and I would recommend it, just know you'll be watching for an epic friendship more than a romance. As a story it's an 8, as a romance it's a 6. A good ensemble show.

The sci-fi element was really well thought through and there were no plot holes or threads left hanging. Everything stayed true to the "rules" that were set for this world. There were quite a few moments I laughed outloud and only a couple of spots I fast-forwarded (either because it felt slow or because the messages were repetitive to what I've seen in other shows).

All of the characters were written and acted like real people (no 2-dimensional caricatures), except for maybe the main character Kawai who was borderline a little shallow as a character. Kawi did have some character development but he was often annoying and rarely acted his age (both in how he was written and acted).

Krist and Fluke (Gawin) have best friend vibes but not romantic chemistry. Fluke was believable as a gay character who is somwhat attracted to Kawi and wishes for more, but it never feels truly reciprocated. Krist has difficulty acting attracted, and the writers and director didn't help by making his character freak out and avoid physical affection apart from a few kisses.

Even after they've been together for many years Kawi seems put-off by touching, teasing, and sweet words. This trend in BLs is so unrealistic, annoying, and frustrating to me. It's like disguised homophobia that is supposed to be viewed as "cute". It's not, and it negatively affects my satisfaction with the series.

There are a couple of catchy songs, one of which I added to my playlist.

Great for one watch but I probably won't see it again.

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Touching, Mother & Son Navigating Coming Out.

I was surprised at how emotional it made me when it's only 16 min long (got a little choked up)! The focus is really on the relationship between the son and mother and the story is relatable from both character's perspective. The story overall is sweet.

On the Blued YouTube channel (in the USA).
The review by Giuca is also good and summarizes the details well.

GENERAL SPOILER
My rating is reduced due to the scene that starts with the schoolmate forcing himself on the lead boy, which is brief and not at all graphic but trivialized with a light-hearted attitude. The lead boy has invited an anonymous boy from online to try things out with but changes his mind when he sees it's the school bully. The bully turns out to be very sweet to the boy but the way they start is problematic and didn't need to be written that way.

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Cute & Sweet With Earnest & Thoughtful Characters.

Edit Jan 2024: increased my ratings after re-watching with proper subtitles after the international release. These two boys do actually put effort into communicating with each other, and keep trying even though they are interrupted at almost every turn. I think the only thing that didn't interrupt them was an animal, lol.

A simple but very well done childhood friends to lovers story with good acting, soft cinematography, and no unlikable characters. Lots of mutual uncertainty and sweetness. All angst is resolved by the end.

An easy watch with eight 20min episodes. Also known as "I Cannot Reach You".

In the USA, I first watched it in Nov 2023 with fan subtitles, which were obviously awkward but better than nothing. In Dec 2023 it was released internationally and became available on Neflix and I re-watched it. The proper subtitles made a big difference! It noticeably increased my enjoyment and satisfaction with the characters, their bond, and their efforts at navigating their complex feelings with each other. Though I tried to give the dialogue a pass in my initial review because of the circumstances, I have now raised my rating a full star (to 9/10). I will watch again.

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