Nitiman (2021)

TOP TIER BUT UNDERRATED

First of all: don't expect anything extraordinary from this series. No landmark event or plot twists. Nothing special happens.

It's a series where the protagonists fall in love, feel the pressure to like someone, give into the feeling and then try to fit that relationship into their lives.

Despite being a very cliché plot, the production and script (and at times, the acting) lacked quality, NITIMAN was charming, which held me since the first episode.

PLOT 7/10: In the familiar environment of an engineering college, we met Jin. Beautiful, popular, passionate. A character read like a playboy and cheater (but this personality was actually never shown in the serie), has just broke up with Aim, a law student. Sad and unhappy about that, he believes that one of his ex's friends was responsible for their break up and resolves to face him.
Bbomb, on the other hand, not only has no interest in Aim, but he's actually in love with Jin.
In a mess of jealousy, bar bathroom encounters and many fractures at football games, Bbomb tries to show Jin that his feelings are real and make Jin arouse those feelings too.

The plot is simple, as we've seen in many other BLs out there, but anyone who thinks the story falls into sameness and that it's not worth the time, is wrong.
NITIMAN showed us real and extremely human relationships: Jin and Bbomb are sincere characters, who despite everything respect each other and know how to communicate.
Jin who despite letting Bbomb get closer, always warns him that maybe he couldn't live up to his expectations and develop feelings as he wanted.
Bbomb who asks Jin how he feels, who listens to him and despite wanting so much being his boyfriend, he doesn't go beyond the limit the two set to not get hurt.
Communication is the high point of their relationship. The space they give each other, how they express their insecurities, how they like each other's presence and miss each other when they're not together.  The couple who are dating not just because they live together, but because they think about each other all the time and want to be with each other all the time. Domestic, communication and partnership describe well Jin and Bbomb's relationship.

On the other hand, we have Jin and Bbomb's two groups of friends.  Characters that were unknown for much of the series (mainly Keam, our biggest enigma), were largely to blame for some mistakes in NITIMAN, but were also very important in the development of the protagonists. Despite this, there was no lack of stories to tell about them. They survive beyond Jin and Bbomb's storyline. Everyone showed different nuances during the episodes and it was easy to captivate the audience.

After all, NITIMAN is a great show if you don't want to stress out about unnecessary dramas. All conflicts were clearly justifiable and rationally resolved, something that is unfortunately difficult to find in most BLs.
NITIMAN was an innocent and raw story, with young men facing their insecurities in their own way in their pace, learning from each other how to have a relationship where they can both feel comfortable and happy.

also, I NEED A SEASON 2 OR AT LEAST AN EPISODE SPECIAL

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Stupid af

Honestly I was so hyped for this one after seeing all the good reviews and everything but literally just wasted my time watching this piece of crap. And I don't understand why a stupid story like this would get so much ratings and good comments.
Lets talk about the story first.. Was it something different? -No. Did it have some twist? -No. Was it based on the same engineering students bs? -fuck yes. But was the acting good enough to coverup for the basic plot? -Nope.
Honestly I don’t care if the story is about students and immature relationships. It's fun to watch if the acting is nice and if the actors have chemistry but in this case they had none.
Bbomb literally walked around like a zombie with straight face and no expressions. He kept on being over protective towards Jin which was really frustrating cause he Didn't even let Jin figure out his feelings. Every time he'd try to take advantage of Jin when he's drunk. Like haven’t we passed that stage after tharn type and Why R U? And isn't it rape of some sort? He was not even a good friend to his circle. All in all I didn’t like Bbomb at all.

Jin was nice. His smile.. So precious. He did his part nicely.
But no chemistry whatsoever.. I felt weird and forced to watch them together.

Another eye candy KEAM. We all know Keam stole the show with his looks and motherly attitude. But the amount of confusion he gave me. Like my guy please decide who you actually like at first lol. Also the way he would act broken for that somewhat creepy smile of Ball made my day lol.
Yeah that's it. The side characters were nice imo. They did Justice to their characters. JAY was such a cuty, also Ultra. I was hoping for more ships but they barely made one lol.
I don’t want a season 2 please. But give my boy Keam his own show. Maybe with Jin as his partner. That would be cute right?

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What..

In the end the only ones that end up likeable to me are Jin, BBomb, Bbomb's mom and Ball. I can't decide if i like Jin and Bbomb together tho considering everything (being vague on purpose.) The acting was good, love the ost and the songs within the series.
The story overall was just terrible what the source material is, not too surprising that it's a mess, it can be hit or miss and it was miss for me. The way many characters didnt get closure and the suposed 12 turn to 10 eps has me confused. Wouldn't really rewatch it unless I have nothing else to watch really. Give it a watch if you miss Kaownah and Turbo, Bhudis also Boss. Would love to see Jom and Noh in something else tho.

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Meh

Pretty underwhelming for something that seemed to have quite a decent budget.

~Story:
Mama, let me tell you something: I don't know what the hell is happening inside the heads of this people to think such a dull story deserves a whole drama. It is well written and coherent (for the most part), but there's literally NOTHING here that someone could find appealing for a drama unless the drama is about the dull life of dull college students. Then this is perfect.
Usually, a drama is a straight line that raises up when there are important events happening and that goes down to its original straightness when said events are resolved -- kind of like a roller coaster; well, regardless of what event is unfolding here, that line never goes up or down. It always remains straight. There's genuinely nothing. It's like looking at a wall for fifty minutes non-stop.

~A couple of things I want to point out:
As a gay man, I found so aggravating that everyone was pretty much forcing the poor guy, Jin, to fall in love with Bbomb. Red flags coming up! You DO NOT force allegedly heterosexual men into a homosexual relationship. That's how they start hating on us. It was such an irresponsible thing to romanticize that I was automatically against this pairing. No matter what the outcome was at the end, such thing is WRONG to partake in.

Also, Bbomb's manipulation. More red flags! I said it in my Tossara review and I'll repeat it once again: "if you have to manipulate someone to fall in love with you, then that's NOT real love." And the worst part is that Bbomb had the damn audacity to get mad at Jin for giving him fake "illusions" when it was his (Bbomb) own fault in the first place for manipulating Jin into giving those illusions. Really, manipulators are some of the worst kind of people I know. Get. That. Man. Out. Of. Your. Life. Sis!

~Cast:
This drama got some great talent but, unfortunately, all of them were undermined due to the dull plot.

~Jin/Bbomb: These two reminded me so much of the "Until We Meet Again" main couple, Pharm and Dean. One is cute and smiley and the other one dead inside. However, unlike Pharm and Dean, these other two were the complete opposite in terms of chemistry. Not even once I felt love coming out of them but, instead, it was very socially awkward. It looked quite forced, which makes sense since that's pretty much how this relationship started.

~Song: This actor, Kao, is to me one of the current BEST actors in Thai BL. He's such a natural that his roles are something to look forward to every time. I mean, look at him and then look at the mains and you'll see the difference in acting skills. Genius, can't wait to see him leading a drama.

~Ball/Keam: ????????? I mean, ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! All this building up for nothing. These two had better chemistry than the mains, yet it was completely wasted.

~Aim: Honorable mention because she is SO beautiful. I couldn't stop looking at her. I do admit that her acting here was more successful than in "Oxygen." Good to see she's improved.

~Editing and pacing:
Like I said before, this drama looks like it has a decent amount of budget to the point that the camerawork, sound and editing were really good. Unfortunately that doesn't make up the fact of how boring it is. This is quite a slow drama due to events getting dragged for too long with little to no outcome so, even though the pacing is good, it is still tedious to follow.

Sis, this show has everything: Chaotic relationships, forced relationships, manipulative relationships, dull relationships, rumors, friends you can't even trust and, what is sexual orientation any longer? I don't really recommend this, but I don't hate it either. You do what you want with this info, jush.

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Why have I rated this drama higher than I should have?

Idk.
For one, it's got a bizarre mix of awkward stiff acting and natural chemistry. I don't know how to explain it so I won't, it's just strange.
The characters are at all times either eating, talking about eating or on their way to eat. I found that kind of funny and entertaining but don't watch the drama hungry!
It's not very problematic, which is always a plus.
No actual side couples but a lot of potential ones. I guess they were throwing bait for a second season?
Keam is an enigma and I love it. I've never seen a character that confusing before. You honestly cannot tell what's on his mind for 90% of the show, it's great. He's the perfect target for the "do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?" meme istg. I wish we got more of him and Ball ngl. Ball is ADORABLE!

Yes, it's filled with clichés BUT unlike most of these shows, the clichéd arguments don't get dragged on forever and just get resolved almost immediately, which I'm a fan of.
The stares tho... Now, there's Kdrama stares and then there's this show. Half the time I was wondering if the actors just forgot their lines. We could have had a solid canon second couple if they just cut the empty time wasted in silence and useless staring and used it for gay instead.

Also, bonus points for being based off a GOT7 fic. I mean I'm not a fan of real people ships/fanfiction but idk why, that fact cracks me up.

In conclusion, I just liked that it was an easy and smooth watch, without long and loud but ultimately dumb and unnecessary drama, and that the couple actually treated each other well, which you'd think would be normal but not in drama world. It didn't attempt to assassinate me with cringe either, which I appreciate.
It seems very self aware I guess; it knows it's nothing spectacular and it keeps to its level without trying to be more, and I can respect that.

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Started out good, but was so poorly written

Like the characters were so bland even for a cliche, its like they didn't put any effort into it. So many confusing side characters I kept waiting for their purpose/storyline, but it never came. The main couple had potential but legit it was so bad and hard to get through. would never rewatch, but probs will forget the show and disappointment and then accidently rewatch it and first 10 minutes recover the disappointment.

Normally don't write reviews but was so disappointed, good plot premise but confusingly done and script was so bad and bland, even good actors couldn't save this

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I Loved This Quiet Series

What I loved most about Nitiman was how gently and quietly it progressed.
After watching the whole series I started rewatching my favorite episodes again… several times.

I simply loved how determined and persistent Be Bomb was in his pursuit of Jin's affections although, many times during the series Jin really annoyed me with his seeming lack of interest. What I loved most, were the scenes where Jin would wake up hugging Be Bomb.

My favorite scenes were:
-Jin getting drunk
-Be Bomb getting drunk
- Be Bomb getting assistance in the "affection department" from his friends
- Jin's sisters paying him a surprise visit
- Jin sleeping with his head in Be Bomb's lap
- Be Bombs song to Jin in episode 6
- Be Bombs mother and her treatment of Jin

I also loved the side romance that started developing between Keam and Ball. I truly hope that the producers will turn their romance into a full series. It was adorable to watch.

Overall this is a wonderful watch. I love it.

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I wanted to like this, but morals tell me otherwise

On one hand, there were definitely some positives. The main leads had good chemistry, and the usual tropes everyone has problems with are not present (SA, female “villains”, toxic shippers, homophobia). And there were definitely fantastic scenes that made me laugh and gush. In theory, it would be great for fans of 2gether and My Engineer.

However, the underlying plot propelling the relationship forward was super toxic. I think they were trying to pull a Together With Me grand scheme moment, but they went too far. The friends could not trust that the mains will figure their relationship out on their own terms at their own pace. And so they invented and played on insecurities - ones that in real life will last throughout the relationship. There’s even a roofie incident that was thankfully saved by the mains having a good sense of boundary setting.

Beyond this very major problem (which i suppose some people may and have looked past), the side couples were all pretty weakly established. Their relationships were barely shown, muddled, or even misleading.

I do hope to see more of these actors, in another series or a better-written sequel, but this is definitely not a model series and feels like its lagging behind all the positive changes that have been made by the industry recently.

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It's good please watch this one but...

It's certainly worth the watch and I did get a lot of entertainment value for this series. As with so many BL's, my biggest concern is with the main characters. Not sure if it was the actor or the script but I felt the character Jin was weak in a lot of areas. I really did like Bomb but thought his script could have been better sometimes too. I was always yearning for more of the secondary characters. Keam for sure was very strong and under utilized. He could use his own series or can have a main part in season 2 (hint-hint) Song, Ball, Singh are again, came across on my screen as more interesting that the main characters at times. I actually felt that way about all of the secondary guys at some part, even the str8 characters which was a plus for sure. I did give the series an 8.5 and I don't think that's high. 7.3 is too low for sure. Director Jane please do some more BL's. You are on the right track. The big picture here for me was very good. I did enjoy the series and wanted more episodes.

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Painfully Average

I read a lot of reviews saying this series was underrated and I can see where they are coming from BUT there are a number of qualms I have overall.

Things that were odd -
- Jin treating Bbomb like a doormat and Bbomb being controlling, his lack of trust in Jin dominated the majority of the series and honestly I'm unsure why Jin ends up falling for him. Probably because Bbomb will do anything for him at the drop of a hat. I think Jin's most used phrases were "I'm hungry, come pick me up" and "I'm drunk, come pick me up" the amount of times he answered the phone like this, without even a hello was almost hilarious.
- Undeveloped side characters. I would have loved to know more about Aim, Kooper, Song, Jay, Keam and Ball! Maybe they will be explored in another drama but I have minimal interest in watching another series because the storyline centred around the main couple to much.
- Both the main couples friendship groups, honestly I liked the individual characters but they would have the most bizarre ideas while together like spiking drinks. Always a big no no.
- Typical University setting where one character fell for the other long before they knew each other. Please let this storyline die, I beg.

Things I like -
- Jin is such a social butterfly, I loved it! But it was also his downfall.
- Pace of the drama was good
- Some of the characters were super cute like Ball. Also, Bbomb's friends who were in a band together were super cool on stage which is why I've scored the music in this drama pretty high.
- The acting overall was really good but the actors playing Jin and Bbomb could have upped the intimacy a bit, by that I mean hand holding, eye contact etc. Like, Bbomb stayed in Jin's room every night but apart from a few awkward hugs there was no intimacy. Maybe this is the directors fault rather the actors but it made me think that the main characters weren't into each other all that much.


Overall an okay series to pass the time but there is a lot of dramas out there that are similar and a lot better in my opinion!

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BL writers need to do better!!!!

This reminds me a lot of TharnType. Has that similar one sided love story between college classmates living in dorms, subpar acting, lazy writing, with mediocre dialogue and awkward cringey scenes. The kissing and love scenes  however in TharnType were next level probably the best of any BL. With all that being said 😅 Nitiman wasn't all terrible. There were a few cute moments here and there once you got past all the corny ones. I loved whenever Jin was on the screen, he is too freaking cute, can't get enough of him. I will say though that this series should've been cut down to about 5 or 6 episodes. Nearly every episode was stretched and filled with a bunch of boring filler scenes with robotic dialogue and acting that lasted an eternity. I'd much rather quality scenes that actually added to the plot than 20 million drunk bar scenes or watching Jin and Bbomb's friends be jerks and try to sabotage their relationship for the 100th time for no reason at all. Overall a low quality BL with cringey acting and lazy writing but semi watchable thanks to Jin and Bbomb's cute moments.

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