Reviews

A thoughtful, realistic queer drama that is most definitely worth your time

This show is a masterpiece. That much cannot be denied. It is visually gorgeous, has an amazing soundtrack, fantastic acting, incredible writing, and one of the most realistic portrayal of queer experiences and relationships I have ever seen in a TV show.
The fact that this is not your average 8, 10-minute episodes K-drama is frankly nothing short of a miracle and if this is the level of quality we can expect from Korean film makers if they are given the resources they need to tell the stories they want to tell, then we can only hope and pray that this show is just a forerunner and that there is more to come.

I will admit, however, that this is a melancholy show. It feels gritty and real and just a little bit heartbreaking.
Now, I don't personally enjoy shows like that and I did have some significant trouble getting into this one, not matter how technically excellent it is on every level.
If you are someone like me, someone who prefers a lighter, more humorous approach to serious topics you might also have some difficulties with this. But I truly believe it's worth watching anyway.
Not only do I think this show is something so unique and well-put together that it has to be experienced at least once, it also has a wonderful, fiercely joyful happy ending. I found it so satisfying, in fact, that I was tempted to go and rewatch the entire thing immediately just to experience it all over again.
I promise you this show will not break your heart, at least not without putting it back together again.
Give it a shot, this story is very much worthy of your attention.

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A true genderqueer show? - Some thoughts from a trans person

Let me start off by saying I have extremely conflicting feelings about this one.
The production value is great, as is to be expected from most Taiwanese shows these days.
The casting is good as well, and the acting is honestly my favourite part of the entire thing and the biggest reason why I managed to watch until the end.

But none of that, to me, made up for the way this show approaches genderqueer people's lives and intersex people's experiences in particular. Now, I am not intersex myself so I recommend you take what I say with a grain of salt, but as a trans person myself I do think I am somewhat more qualified than the average viewer to judge the story's take on intersexuality and trans-ness as a concept.
I do highly commend the writers and producers for attempting to not only do something different from the average gay romance, but to address the struggles of a highly marginalised group of people that are almost never talked about in media.
But as good as I believe their intentions were, they completely missed the mark.

If we approach this show from the perspective that Amber is a trans man who, while he did get diagnosed as intersex, didn't claim that identity but rather chose to use the opportunity this diagnosis provided to start his transition, there are certain plot points that make a lot of sense.
Amber's family moving away, the endless doctor's appointments, the deliberate cutting off of all contact to his former friends, etc.
And there are, admittedly, one or two moments in the show that I really connected with. Amber tearing up over the orange cake he loved as a kid is a great portrayal of the complex, heartbreaking joy of a trans person reclaiming bits of their childhood that they thought they lost due to their transition.
But that's where the good ends. Nothing about the way Amber interacts with his friends and family, with his surroundings in general, and certainly nothing about the way his friends interact with him seems true to what life is actually like as a trans individual. Of course there is no singular, one-size-fits-all trans experience, but there is a difference between depicting an authentic trans character and depicting a character who is trans for plot reasons only.
The way Amber is constantly misgendered by the people around him after it's revealed that he is in fact Wen-Wen - that alone made me so deeply viscerally uncomfortable that I just can't feasibly imagine Amber as a trans man.
I know (since I was kindly informed by a commenter replying to this review) that this misgendering is due to choices the translators made, since in Mandarin there are no gendered pronouns, which does make it easier to stomach, but unfortunately still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Most international viewers (like myself) likely won't know about Mandarin pronouns and therefore have only the translations to go by and those, as previously stated, set an uncomfortable precedent.
This is not the show's fault by any means but should still be taking into consideration in my opinion.

So, the trans man theory is out. What else is there?
If we approach this show from the perspective that Amber is an intersex person who got diagnosed late in childhood rather than at birth, then there is an immediate, massive red flag that gets raised: the way Amber's transition is handled.
Yes, some intersex people choose to transition to a binary gender identity, but that doesn't erase the long, dark history intersex people have with the medical industry. To this day intersex children are often forced to transition to either male or female, mostly through surgical intervention - so-called "normalising procedures".
These experiences are extremely traumatising to the intersex people who go through them and the continued prevalence of such procedures is a clear human rights violation (and is even classified as such by the UN)
So the fact that Amber, who was forced to transition and repeatedly states how traumatic and agonising the entire process was for him, even if he is admittedly content with or at least indifferent towards his current gender identity as a man, has nothing but good things to say about the family who put him through such an ordeal and the show never so much as attempts to condemn forcible transitions, is at best a massive oversight on the show makers' part and at worst endorses the continued violence against intersex people.

I don't mean to sound inflammatory, but these issues are deeply serious. So even assuming that the show runners had nothing but good intentions, what their efforts resulted in is a show about sensitive queer issues written by people with little experience in such matters for an audience who are largely unfamiliar with these topics.
And while I do think that it is important for there to be shows about queer people's issues that are written to appeal to and be understood by non-queer audiences in order to educate them, this isn't one of those shows.

All in all I cannot in good conscience recommend this show. Yes, it has some good, even great, elements, but I believe that they are massively outweighed by its serious flaws. I'd suggest skipping this drama and, instead, looking for some genuinely thoughtful and well-researched stories about trans and intersex people. There aren't all that many, but they do exist and they are worth your time more than, I am sad to say, this show is.

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A real MASTERPIECE !

Storytelling, scenario, acting, direction and... were literally high quality and excellent.
With each episode that passed, the development of the characters, their relationships and the main story was formed more and better to audience.
The story of each cases was special and unique, the story was narrated as if we have known and lived with Guru, his father, uncle and Namu for years. I found a very beautiful and special view of people's death and their afterlife.
I literally cried every episode and I dont regret it, it all worth watching this gem.
This series is full of emotions for who can understand the main purpose of the series.
One of the most valuable series in my life really.

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Dropped it but came back after a few months

Okay, I've watched this series up until episode 14, Oh my gosh it was so boring so I decided to drop it. After a few months, I kept on seeing interesting clips of this series on Youtube and 1 comment that said it gets better after episode 12 or 13 so I decided to come back and try to finish it. I am on episode 16 now and it's still not getting any better. Anyway the male lead is what keeps me going, without him I would have dropped it again. What's up with the female lead so tiny but super strong. She can fight about 10 men at once without even getting tired. And the granddad that forces his grandson to take over the business the grandson that keeps running away, I mean can't they communicated.

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A compelling story marred by pacing issues

This series might take its time unfolding, but beneath its surface lies a compelling narrative that captivates with its central themes. While the acting leaves room for improvement, the series manages to resonate with viewers through its profound messages.

The storyline revolves around the two main characters, Kazuma and Ren, who cross paths during their school years. Ren's silent infatuation with Kazuma simmers beneath the surface, driven by the fear of driving him away. A tragic event separates the two, only to reunite them a decade later in the workplace. The rekindled emotions set the stage for their journey, though Ren keeps an emotional distance.

At a concise eight episodes, the series maintains an unhurried pace. It delves into the history of Kazuma and Ren during their school days and the reasons behind their separation through flashbacks. While the pacing leans towards the slow side, certain plot points, like the workplace sexual harassment case, the impact of Ren's separation from friends, family, and Kazuma, as well as Kazuma's life abroad in the US, feel somewhat rushed. However, the series earns merit for addressing important issues, albeit briefly. It sheds light on Ren's traumatic experiences as a 15-year-old ostracized by his parents and blamed for Kazuma's hospitalization, ultimately abandoned due to his sexuality. Furthermore, it introduces themes of workplace bullying, office politics, and sexual harassment, though their exploration is somewhat limited.

The acting performances by Sakurai Yuki and Takamatsu Aloha may come across as amateurish, but the child actors deliver commendable portrayals. Furukawa Tsuyoshi's role as Ren's friend, despite limited screen time, hinted at the potential for deeper exploration of their friendship.

In conclusion, "April in Tokyo" possessed the potential for greatness if it had addressed pacing issues, focused more on character relationships, and perhaps reconsidered the limited treatment of the workplace harassment subplot due to time constraints. Nevertheless, it deserves a watch, as it distinguishes itself from typical BL series by incorporating substance and depth into its storytelling.

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Queer women, queer friendship, and a whole lot of charm

Finally, I've found it! A drama centering around queer women and their lives and actually has enough episodes to develop a story and allow the audience to really get to know the characters.
I really love this show. It's got great writing, amazing acting, and a sweet, uplifting story with an emphasis on how important community and safe spaces are not just for queer folk in general, but for queer women in particular.
You can absolutely tell that this show was written by queer people for queer people and I love it for that alone.
The story focuses on friendship rather than romance which I personally loved, but there are several tooth-rottingly sweet romantic subplots as well for all the rom-com lovers out there.
There really isn't all that much left I could say other than: This show is amazing, it's wonderfully charming, and just a plain joy to watch. I can't recommend it enough, go watch it already.

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Not for me, I'm sad to say

God, I feel really mean giving this show the lowest rating out of all the shows I've reviewed, but this just missed the mark so thoroughly for me.

I usually love slow-paced, character-focused stories with an emphasis on human connection and the varied queer experience, but personally I got none of that from this show.
I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, as sweet and harmless as they are.
The visuals and music were alright but nothing specifically stood out to me.
I didn't really like the pacing or any of the character arcs, they all just left me feeling indifferent at best and dissatisfied at worst.

But it's not like the show particularly does anything wrong either. Almost all of my gripes with it come down to taste and what didn't work for me might just be perfect to someone else.
And I'm really glad that this show seems to have a small but dedicated audience that clearly got a lot out of the story and really seem to love it with all their heart. It genuinely makes me happy to know this show is making someone's life a little better even if it did nothing for me personally

So if you like sweet, low-drama high school romances or Thai dramas that don't feel like an endless parade of product placements (not to rag on those types of shows too much, they've got their perks too) then I'd suggest giving this a shot.
There's clearly something worthwhile hidden in this show if some people adore it this much - who knows, maybe you'll find it even if I couldn't.

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This was really sweet.

The story had a lot to give, but I don't think the writers/directors made the best use of all of the episodes. They're are things I think they should have included and other things I think they should have left out. Overall our was still good though. Some decent lessons on relationships as well.

The acting wasn't top tier, but then I looked at the release date, thought about when filming wouldn't been and I realized that some of these actors would've been incredibly young when they filmed this!! This released Sept. 2020, so they most likely filmed during the second half of 2019. At that time the car would've been:
Marc: 17 (Itt)
Pawin: 23 (Pai)
Fiat: 23 (Pure)
Aun: 16 (Folk)
JJ: 18 (Waan)

It wasn't a first time acting for any of them, but it was the first "main role" for three of those five actors. Previously they only had guest appearances or smaller support roles. I've seen most of them do other works since this and they've all improved greatly.

All that being said, I still think they all did the best they could with what they were given, and I still enjoyed this. It's not an all-time favorite, but it was still good.

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So good!

I was not planning on watching this drama. I clicked on the first episode just out of curiosity. What I wasn’t expecting is to be hooked since the opening credits.
I absolutely devoured ‘Unhating You’. The chemistry is amazing. The male lead is ridiculously handsome and the female lead…, this woman can act! Watching both of them interact was a treat.
Thankfully, the plot is not overly dramatic like lakorns usually are (which tires me quite a bit) Still, it has many twists and turns that are very fun to watch.
I highly recommend it! I am probably going to watch it again at some point.

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*sigh* Oh the wasted potential!!

*I tried to write down my thoughts in an orderly way but I think it all came out as an incoherent rant so I apologize!! *

WOW! Just WOW! This writer is just amazing and deserves to teach a class on how to create and cast the perfect ML (AJH was so perfect for this role), a FL that was strong and fisty and between the two develop one of the best and most healthy relationships , and as a new day/age Nero set it all in flames and watch it burn to the ground as the viewers watched and screamed in horror!!

In the first episodes I was amazed as to how much I was enjoying a weekend drama!

I was so happy to see two mature people grow organically and get closer, have distinct personalities and for almost 30 episodes have the best communication! Since the basis of their relationship was a contract, both were so open with each other and communicated well. They always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else, especially the villains, and that as a viewer was so satisfying to watch! But around episode 30 the show changed completely! It seemed like the writer only had material for 30 episodes and after that he was grasping at straws so much so that the show and the characters personalities did a 180 and changed completely. He took a loving mother-in-law and turned her into this screaming shrew, he turned what was once a fisty, strong independent FL and reduced her to nothing more than a weak, unopinionated pawn having two men fighting for something she should have total say in and made Haneul feel like a prize for two men to be won!!

There were so many storylines to be explored:
• How YD met JH
• How JH met SJ
• YD going back to work
• TK and SJ history
• TK and Gramma bonding time – I mean during the unnecessary time jump they could have kept in touch and maybe continued the Hangul lessons!
• SJ & CW road to parenthood (writer gave up on this mid-way). They could adopt, they gave up on that at the beginning based on how Granny treated TK but at the end I think they could revisit the option! I HATED that they did not baby at the end!
• Granny’s history with SJ and her family
• SK and DM and her birth mother

But instead, we got JH’s bloodline ark!! I mean towards the final 3rd of the drama it felt that we were watching The Joon-Ha Show and everyone else was a supporting character to his story, including the 2 main leads.

Another thing this writer does not know how to execute is redemption and story arks in general!! The two main antagonists deserved no redemption, but they were given one none the less! And not just that but at the end they were collecting apologies and thanks for just doing the bare minimum to fix what was their fault to begin with instead being at their knees asking for forgiveness!!!
JH is probably one of the most toxic drama land characters out there. That sad excuse of a human never apologized for anything but still we were supposed to feel sorry for him because the writer loved him!

He was probably redeemable at around episode 30 but after that he was just the worst, but somehow they threw him a pity party and Ohh no, poor him, he is crying, lets forgive him,.. but thankfully (most) viewers didn’t buy that! And get pity for what??

At first we were led to believe that he is an orphan and he grew up alone and was self-made, only to find out that he was actually adopted (and he didn’t even know that) into a loving family, loved more than the actual biological daughter of the family and he was orphaned at what.. age 16?? If anything, TK went through everything the writer wanted us to believe JH did! Raised poor by a single mother, adopted at age 16 by a family that hated and bullied him and worked hard to become a doctor and he never relied on that family for money!

I kind of see where the writer was headed towards the end but you cannot just have someone going around cheating, bullying, threatening and harassing everyone and then just with a scene or two expect everything to be ok! That was some lame ass excuse of a redemption!

The only character that had steady development and good character ark was Yeon Soo Jong, the sister-in-law of TK. She went from an “antagonist” to one of the main couple’s most loyal supporters than never wavered! With the exception of the two Main leads, she was the only one I cared for and wished for her to get what she most desperately wanted and I was so annoyed that they did not! I mean I would have loved for her and her husband to at least be Haneul’s godparents, but I could not expect from that horrible writer to have thought of that! Other than that, no other character had a clear development (not even the Male and Female lead) nor any story ark was completely and clearly explored, leaving viewers with a sour taste in their mouth!

I also never saw a writer that hated his 2 main leads that much! He seemed to actively want to put distance between them. I mean they always spoke to each other using honorifics and their names. Not one single Yobo, chagia.. nothing!! HW and JM were a couple that at the beginning was going through a divorce, at some point decided that it would be ok to see other people but still called each other yobo and chagia! At first, I got it they didn’t know each other and had an “expiration date” so they used it to put some distance between them, but after they got back together, and they got married it made absolutely no sense!! We got almost zero scenes with them being a happy, in-love and affectionate couple. It was like he thought that if they spent more than 5 minutes being happy or affectionate the world was going to come to an end.

I would have rated this lower but at least the acting was good and consistent throughout the drama no matter how horrible the writing got and I honestly really did enjoyed and loved the first 30 episodes, before the writer had a mental breakdown and people around him didn’t stop him from writing.

As mentioned above AJH was the perfect choice for this. I loved watching him in NJTTW and the variety show with Na PD in Na PD’s YouTube channel, but I was never blown away with his acting. Here he proved me wrong. He ate the role of TK up and left no crumbs! He also looked heathier than ever, and it made me so happy to see! I really hope he is back for good! Another plus for me was how comfortable the baby was when he was holding her. I have been around many babies to know that that is not a given!

Drama MVP YD’s uncle. The only consistent and logical character in this mess of a show!

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A sequel that completely stands on its own

I will be honest, I have not watched the first love class. I never saw anything about it that drew me in so going into this, I was prepared to be a little confused plot wise. Luckily, that wasn't really the case and I was able to enjoy the episodes completely. In order of couples, I was really having trouble picking a favorite. I loved all of them. I geuss I'll put Sungmin and Joohyuk at the bottom because their story is my least favourite. The synopsis of their story is completely wrong, which is why I must have been so let down at the start. I am not really into the drunk hookup trope but I thought it would be kinda fun for them. They had chemistry, that NC scene had me in shock, so I felt like it could have worked for them. But instead, they made Joohyuk an ass and had him threaten Sungmin in order to get a date so they could then drunk hookup. Post hookup though, I really liked them. I wish it'd started different but I really liked where it went. My second favourite was Maru and Minwoo, I'm a big sucker for unrequited love. My main, and only, issue with them is Minwoo slut shaming Maru. I get he was upset and Maru had deserved to be lectured but calling him a slut was WAY too far. I wish he'd gotten a little more lecturing but he did apologise and seemed to know that what he'd said was wrong. That aside though, I adore them. I love jealousy (done correctly) and I was living for Maru when Minwoo and Sa Ra were pretending to date. His reactions were everything, I loved it. And now, my favourite couple, Kim An and Lee Hyun. I loved them so much, they had a good plot line and their chemistry was good. My only qualm is the kisses were not good. Especially when you compare to the other two couples, who were doing very well with their kisses. I don't really have any excuses for lip presses anymore, don't join a drama that has kiss scenes if you can't commit to kissing.
Overall, this drama is good and it's worth the watch. You don't have to watch the first season, I didn't, so if the couples interest you than please give this a watch

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ambiguous ending

I was honestly expecting so much from the drama. I haven't watched the original Taiwanese version of the drama but I saw on the reviews that it was better, so if you wanna watch this, I think it's better to watch the original version.

I had too many questions left unanswered at the end of the drama. Like what happened to the original Koo Yeon Jun's soul if both of the souls in the body belonged to Nam Si Heon? And they showed only the place where Kwon Min Ju soul hid when Han Jun Hee took over but what about Oh Chan Hee? he was the elder brother but in the past, the elder brother's body had Oh Chan Yeong's soul.

The time loop was confusing and ambiguous. I liked the direction that the story was meant to go, but I didn't like the way it was shown in the drama.

We also didn't get to see what ending Jung In Kyu and Kwon Min Ju got. I mean, if they really ended up dating, then did the two best friends end up dating doppelgangers with the same face or what?

I liked the songs and the acting , and I felt like Ahn Hyo Seop had more chemistry with Rowoon than Jeon Yeo Been. I was invested in their cameo story.

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