Boy was I wrong.
The teasers all showed sport and excitement. Could the final product live up to that hype?
The good:
The actors are amazing! The sportsmanship, the comradery, the brothership all felt through their performances!
The stunts were totally believable! Sports can be dangerous, but these actors were actually in the action!
The action! Wow! From the opening scene there never was a slow moment!
The epic:
That soundtrack! Those emotional songs! Perfection!
The characters! Well rounded as 8 episodes can make them! They did not feel flat! Just the amount of background to set up their issues! Even the background characters become part of the team, they don't feel like fillers.
The story! Wow! Clearly set-up, well executed. Never left the audience wanting!
The creative use of the camera to create tension, slow motion, zooms! Superb! The director (can't remember his name) has produced amazing work in the past and it shows here!
All in all an amazing story, if short. Takes Thai Drama to another level and in another direction! Great start to the rest of Project S!
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The cinematography was highly commendable. The final volleyball match was spectacular and even just the ball being suspended in the air looked amazing. The tournaments looked legit to me. I read somewhere that the cast members were trained to play volleyball for one year. Great effort from everyone.
Volleyball as a concept for a drama show is not something new but the use of the sport as a metaphor to depict the dynamics among the main characters made wonders. It's not the sports series I imagined it would be. The plot and the twists were marvelous. It was beyond my expectation.
Even though I don’t understand a single word, the soundtrack 25 Hours is just beautiful. The music video might suggest BL or bromance but the entire series is way more than that. The moment it played in the series gave me goosebumps. It was way beyond BL, way beyond bromance.
For me, Project S is a progression from Hormones. The technicality and artistry just got better but the trademark is still there. Hormones has set the bar high and Project S raised it. I highly recommend everyone to watch it.
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Nearly Perfect
I watched this because it was on someone’s list of Best BL series. This is NOT a BL series. Despite one character indicating they could fall in love with men or women, there are no other BL elements. Might Puen be in love with Singha? Potentially. Might he have feelings for Than? Maybe. But all of that is left to the imagination of the viewer. Did I want BL storylines here? Yes, and I was hoping for multiple stories. I wanted ALL the boys to fall in love. Since I came in under false assumptions I spent the first 2 episodes wondering who the couple was going to be. Never happened. And guess what? I loved this series anyway.I guess you could call this bromance, but even thst seems to go too far. This is about friendship, family, friends AS family, teamwork, believing in yourself and pursuing your dreams. It ranks up there with the best sports movies ever.
Started crying in Episode 3. The family dynamics were so well established. When Than breaks down, you see his hopes crushed. You feel his desperation for approval and acceptance. It was heartbreaking. I cried repeatedly throughout after that. This script, the acting, the direction, the music... were all near perfect.
Big props to Bank as Than. Great acting here for such a young kid. Plus... gorgeous. I can see why he has had such a strong career. But truthfully, ever actor even in the smallest role does a Remarkable job. The director brought out the best in the entire cast. Well done.
I will say, for the BL FANS, plenty of cute guys all over the place. Enjoy the shower scenes.
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You don't have to live in the expectation of others. You live to do the things that will make you happy.
Gold medal doesn't really matter. Those people who believe in you matters most.
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This review may contain spoilers
Magic sorcery going on here!
I started it because of the possible Bi rep I was told about. I did NOT expect to walk away from it SO amazed by this short Thai drama.I don't like sports. Like, at all. In real life I detest whenever football season comes around and fans around me lose their shit. In school I couldn't for the life of me understand the appeal. I found basketball, football, tennis, etc, etc, etc, to be absolutely boring and pointless. "How could you enjoy this crap?"
So, when an anti-sports person like myself falls in love with a drama centered around/about sports, volleyball, you know it has done a damn good job. Seriously, by the end of it I was cheering and stamping my feet like I was one of those fans in the bleachers rooting for my team. I just have to note that the music is energetic as hell and only made me even more passionate.
This was intense, badass, subtle (I'll get to that), and engaging. And the comradery and bond between the teammates was so satisfying to watch. It's a 9/10 overall and an added .5 for making me become engaged in a sport. Because, how did they do that? Lol.
Regarding representation, it was everything I could have hoped for and so much more. Throughout the majority of the drama we get basically no clue as to Puen's sexuality (until near the end). He's focused on playing volleyball, and so are we. We don't think to stop and ask that question. We are given hints that Jern has feelings for him though. During one episode (6) she has a moment alone with him where they get talking about relationships. She asks him if he has a type and he says "All's okay." Then she proceeds to ask about height, weight, skin type, etc. And he just repeats what he said before. Then, she asks, "Girl or boy?" And he gives her the same simple smile, shrugs like it's as easy and inconsequential as the other questions she asked, and says "If it feels right, all's okay." So, Pansexual, not Bisexual. My jaw dropped from how easily and casually this was done.
This is a drama not centered around romance and yet they made the conscious decision to include this scene with these lines. They didn't have to do that, but they did it anyway. They included a Pansexual ML in a non-romance drama who doesn't have a kissing scene or a confirmed partner by the end. Am I happy? You bet I am!
Now, onto the subtlety I mentioned above. That would be Puen's feelings/potential romance. Because that is something where if you blink you miss it. So, don't blink! Whatever you do, don't blink! Blink and you're dead! If you get that reference I'll love you forever. Lol.
Singha and Puen are shown to be best friends who are incredibly close. Only during the last few episodes are we shown that, at least on Puen's part, there was something more there.
During Ep 7 there is a parallel shown between Jern's confession to Puen, she said her type was him, and a flashback scene with Puen and Singha where Puen seems to give a confession by saying, "You're the one whom I really wanna be with." Both of these characters make a confession that the other person doesn't understand because they don't see them as more than a friend. Like I said, if you weren't paying attention you wouldn't see this.
Then, during the finale we get a scene between Puen and Than that parallel's the scene I mentioned with Puen and Singha but specifically regarding their body language. Puen and Singha had been sitting on the court and when Singha leaned back a bit more their hands touched. Puen was the only one who acknowledged it. He looked down at their hands, back up at Singha, and then smiled and looked into the distance thoughtfully. During the finale, Puen and Than are sitting on the court and after talking they both lean back, smile at each other, and the angle widens to show their hands are quite close but not touching. Fade to black, roll credits, and the drama has ended.
Okay, enough of the parallels. Who do I think feels something for someone? Well, I think it's safe to safe Puen was in love with Singha, but it was one-sided. And, through many many subtle hints and moments from our main ML's and also from other characters, one specifically being Jern seeing Puen and Than interacting and her face/reaction being very telling and another being Singha's lines to Puen that felt very coded to put it lightly regarding Puen and Than's relationship, I think there is a romance brewing between Puen and Than. If we were to have a second season I would not be surprised if it would show they had just started dating.
Needless to say, there is a shit ton of subtlety regarding Puen's feelings/possible romance! And, I'm not even covering half of it really! I'd keep going with my observations but we'd be here forever. And, my wrists are starting to ache from typing. Lol.
So, in conclusion, this was fucking amazing. If you like romance and you don't mind extreme subtlety that keeps you on your toes, you'll like this. If you like dramas about strong friendships, you'll like this. If you like dramas about sports, you'll like this. Basically, just go watch this fucking drama and please come rant positively with me about how good it was and how you felt so amazing when you were able to put the pieces together from subtle moments! I have so much more I could say!
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Love that dares not say its name....
Not as good or as heavy as Skate Our Souls and Side By Side which dealt with serious mental health issues, this instalment of Project S series is a worthy part of it. It deals with the issues of abandonment, violence, self-worth, family pressure, friendship and love through sports. After skateboarding and badminton, it is to volleyball to be put forward as the means of healing and personal growth.The writing and the acting are stellar as usual but the intensity of the other two series is missing. I am probably watching these out of order (I saw the trailer for SBS at the ending of this drama's final episode!) so the mounting pressure is not there. Spike is more in line with ordinary teen dramas: the angst, the discovery of love and the fragility of friendship are all the usual topics of such dramas.
I needed to keep reminding myself that this was made in 2017 because the bromance was romancing c drama way. Maybe there was a bit of romance there between the boys but it was never openly said. Unless you count as the indication the moment when Puen, the main lead, jokingly says to his best girl friend that the gender is not important for him in love, crushing all her hopes...Am I seeing a BL story where there is none? I am not sure...
I guess I was looking for romance in this one because the mental health issues were not the topic here. Puen had to deal with the abandonment issues since he was little but sports helped him overcome it and gain confidence. This was all explained in a short flashback.
The songs' lyrics did nothing to make me think differently: it was all I love you, you are the most important person, you make me better etc.etc. whenever the scene was about the three particular boys. A burgeoning love triangle if I never saw one...
An excellent drama! I only hated Puen's haircut! The rest is a great watch!
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