Hormones (2013)

Guys I'm gonna get a little -maybe, too much- nostalgic while writing this review... So here I go!

Ok, let's talk a little bit about the story:
It mainly focuses on the relationship of nine students from the fictional Nadao Bangkok high school where they course 11th grade.
The drama tells us several stories step by step, focusing the attention on every character and not giving too much importance or relevance to an specific one.

Something that I really loved about this drama is the pace it follows. It is divided into 13 episodes but each episode tells a different story focusing in one or two and sometimes 3 characters per episode and their individual stories. Of course it also follows a main-central story but what makes this drama so good is each character and what they have to face, we'll encounter several teenage problems like sexual orientation, confusion, sex, pregnancy, first love, alcohol, parties, school, stress, family, future, friendship, love and first times... For example the first time going to a concert or joining a band or the first time having sex or falling in love, the first time cheating on a test and so... And, who didn't have a “first time”? We all had a first time doing whatever, so we'll be able to relate with the characters.

The reason why I loved this story so much and the reason why you'll probably love it too, is that we can identify with the characters. When I was watching the drama I was all the time like “omg I already lived this”, “I did this too when I was at school” or -I also was in a band-....This drama manages to connect with the viewers because of that.

Hormones undoubtedly took me 4 years back in time, the time when I was still 16 years old and was at my last grade at school and everything was new to me... *sigh* My teenage days...
This show put a smile on my face all the time, and sometimes it almost led me to the tears, I remembered my first time going to a concert with friends, or my first time falling in love, and the exciting feeling of experiencing something new, the feeling of growing up and the feeling of getting mature and independent and also the pain of that process... This drama made me realize how beautiful my teenage years were and how much I enjoyed them, and I’m sure it will cause the same effect on you.

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First I need to say that it was not as disturbing or provoking as I thought it would be and that's why I could enjoy it even more, for example I think Gloomy Salad Days which deals with Taiwanese youth ( basically same theme as Hormones) with their own difficulties and issues was way more provoking and darker but it was less enjoyable not because it was more somber but because the characters were not enough developed which is not the case with Hormones, we got to see them evolving and see them making their own choices, changing and trying to becoming a better person and In GSD we don't see that unfortunately.
Plus I need to say that every character has its own appeal and no one has more screentime than another and that's cool, cause generally it's not the case. And also I have to say that it was a very addicting drama, I just couldn't stop watching it and always wanted to see the next ep.

Of course this drama is for a mature audience but in my opinion everyone above 13 could watch it without problem but I would rather watch it alone than with someone though ;D

The characters Honestly they are all relatable, we all have experienced something similar, especially family or friendship issues and I loved seeing how they were constantly dealing with their main family issues while being a student and trying to hide their problem to others.
I have three favorite characters:
-Tar ( the Guitarist) he is so kind, funny, mature, adorable and most of all carefree but not in a bad way, then
-Toei the girl who is simply normal and whom many other girls of her age can relate too, me first and that's why I love her the most, she's normal and a bit closer to the guys than the girls probably because sometimes it's easier talking with guys and I can totally understand that and for me she was so cute with Tar, I shipped them so much together,
- Kwan is my third favorite, the most intelligent girl of the school, very mature who always says the right things to the right person, who cares a lot about friendship, always there for her friends but also a very sensitive and I love seeing that despite being a brillant student she has her own flaws and shows them to others cause no one is perfect on this earth.

Other 6 main characters were interesting too and I love seeing their development as well especially Sprite's character who maybe grew the most throughout the show, then Mhog and Pu who is very conflicted about his feelings and also Win who's a very tortured soul I felt so bad for him in the end and at least for him I have to watch second season cause I can say everything I want about him, how irresponsible, brainless and unsensitive he can be, he is very lonely and I think he needs more support but for that he has to change too anyway even if at first I did not like him and couldn't understand all the fangirling about him I admit that his character is really well written and also quite intriguing.
Others were present too but I don't have special feelings for them (Phai & Dao), simply their characters were less interesting for me.

I totally recommend this drama not necessarily to everyone but for those who need change and want to watch a mature drama about youth and the obstacle teenagers have to overcome.

My last words will be for the OST which I simply loved, the BGM are so good especially the opening theme, I'm just so sad there's one instrumental I love but I can't seem to find it and I think I won't be able to find it either, and I love the ending song so so entertaining <3

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I love these series from the bottom of my heart. This series are so close to reality and so properly portrayed and put up. So many things to learn and new stuff to understand even from a Drama ! - This is what the drama tells us

LGBT matters are so well displayed showing the problems and telling the society to not turn a deaf ear to children, making society realize that some problems rather than being exaggerated, should be solved calmly. Such a lovely series and worth at least one time watch

WELL I AM RE-WATCHING THESE SERIES because it has touched my heart completely.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for the people thinking to watch or not :)

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reccomend to watch it till the end

ok so.
Hello everyone, I re-watched the series in 2020, that means last year. I really advice you to watch it not too early because I remember watching when I was younger and I didn't understand much of it and thought it was kinda boring.
So here is my review 4 years later:

In the overall I would give an 8.5 out of 10

(first of all for the BL side story in it, it is slowly getting to something so I advice you to follow both seasons)
- I would start saying that the story is very well elaborated, I really liked it. I would have thought at the beginning that it was maybe too much, but it was actually well balanced on the content. and as I said it is not for youngers under 14 (that s my thoughts)
- The actor played well their role, as for some you can tell they still lack of some experience but it is very good if we look at it on a bigger point of view.

my only big problem is that (even after 4 years) the story was a little bit slow, it took me time to get into it and to finish the drama. I still think it is very good and well elaborated. I wouldn't re-watch it a second time. I would probably watch the second season even if I'm not still quite into it because the plot twist are very interesting.

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Although I skimmed through some parts of this drama, I really liked the chemistry between some of the characters. I feel that something is still lacking, I wish that some of the relationships worked out better. I was also really frustrated of Phoo's character...he is inconsistent and does not quite know what or who he wants in the relationship. I thought that some couples weren't meant to be, however, in the end, I am content. Overall, I recommend this drama, it really explores the part of youth that are often overlooked and neglected. However, it is one of the better thai dramas I have watched and i encourage you to watch Hormones 2 if you complete the first season. The actors and actresses are so handsome and pretty uwu

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Provocative for a Thai drama

I can see why this was such a hit- it's hella provocative, well at least from a mostly straight Thai drama with young actors/ actresses. Took me the first 4 episodes to really get invested but once I started I couldn't stop. Literally just finished the final episode and started the sequel right after.
It's always weird for me to see young stars after watching them in adult roles so this was a shock for me (I'm looking at you Tor, Punpun and Fon) but it's nice to see them as newbies.

The story is nothing new to a westerner like me who grew up on Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, or Degrassi but from a Thai perspective which is much more conservative I could see why this would cause such controversy. Young kids who are in that weird stage of not yet adults but are growing out of their kiddie ways just resonates to everyone because we have either gone through it or are currently goring through it. The portrayal from everyone was on point but special shout out goes to Tor and his Phai character- it was a major transformation and I was thoroughly impressed. Fon's Dao was also a standout character from where she started to where it ended.
The music was nice as they introduced Thai rock which I have never heard of before and it's a nice change to the slow or pop songs I tend to hear in lakorns.
Overall I would recommend this but like with any drama that has the MATURE tag- if you don't like/ can't handle adult situations then this might not be the drama for you. Regardless that it has kids as the main cast, they are dealing with real world adult situations that might make some uncomfortable.

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My first lakorn ! The beginning was difficult for me. It's really different. Many characters, everyone has their stories. I like Toei and Tar, the couple of this drama for me, even if it's not like that. One episode = one character, and it was frustrating for me.
The themes of this drama are trivial : hazing, sex, friendship, one way relationship, pregnancy, alcohol, fights, disrespect of authority, homosexuality, ...
For me, it's difficult to see school dramas, because high school seems far away.
Thailand is a very respectful country, very strict with the outfits in school. It talks about the homosexuality gently.
A drama to see at least once !

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This is all meaningless conservative propaganda. If you're different then you're the villain lol seriously the only people with any integrity were Win and Sprite and they were both not shown in a positive light. Tor's character had integrity too in the beginning when he was with Sprite but then he becomes .. wait for it... A LITERAL MONK and joined the rest of the self-righteous clan. Serious WTF storyline. And the BL story like most characters in the show they act on a whim, you don't feel them actually bonding mostly because of the lack of a good script and shoddy direction. So I couldn't care about any of the relationships because there was no chemistry, nothing. No on screen bonding especially for the BL story. It's like the creators saw SKINS (my favorite show btw idc what you think) and wanted to make it edgy and dark but they don't really understand anything because this is clearly the work of an immature mind. And okay I always say this, I 've always had a problem with SOTUS 'bullying is good for you' bs but I still don't rate it low because the couples got chemistry and the couple's parts are done so well and the script and direction is good otherwise. Because yes Hormones could have become SOTUS but the COUPLES WERE ALL SO BORING. I had to keep myself from falling asleep lol at least Win Sprite and Tor in the beginning were interesting characters, the other characters TOTAL SNOOZE FEST. And i know Hormones gets compared with Gloomy Salad Days so I'm going to tell you what I think. GSD is nuanced, and has heart. Hormones isn't even guilty pleasure ecxept for a few scenes. GSD might look low budget but it feels like a cult classic whereas Hormones is just shallow and unremarkable. Okay there you have it. Sorry to everyone who liked it, I know im being harsh.

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