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This review may contain spoilers
Ok so I haven't finished the show because I still have to watch the last episode but I know how it ends and...wtf??? If you had asked me two weeks ago I would have said that in my heart the show deserved a 9 but in my head it was a solid 7.5. Now both my heart and head think the same: It's just not that good so I'm going with the 7.5. I'm pretty new to BL shows so I don't know what to expect from others after reading everywhere that this was probably the best drama they had seen. I really liked the story at the beginning, although Pete was a bit too much for me, and I was also very excited for Tin and Can because I love the ''enemies to lovers'' trope, but after episode like 9 or 10...eh? Things were going great for Ae and Pete, they were cute as always, but Tin and Can's plot was just so rushed (and Kengkla/Techno and Tum/Tar were nonexistent although I didn't care much about them tbh). I tried to enjoy the scenes that Can and Tin had together(even though they looked sooo out of nowhere lol) with hope knowing that if their plot was being rushed it was because they were going to be endgame...or not? Going back to the two forgotten couples (which had like 5 minutes of screen time), why would you include a topic as delicate as rape without giving it enough time? And Kengkla and Techno's storyline was very messed up too. Anyways, I know this looks as if I'm only ranting and didn't actually enjoy the show. I did and I invested a lot of energy in it so that's why I'm so mad. Maybe I was expecting too much from it because everyone was hyping it 24/7. If someone happens to read until here I'd say: watch it and reach to your own conclusion. It's nowhere near perfect but the two leads have good chemistry and most of the time they're quite nice and fluffy (I'm not super fond of possessive/extra horny Ae but whatever). Edit: I have tried to watch that last episode but I just can't bring myself to do it unless a second season is announced and that ending is fixed (which would be a Christmas miracle *sighs*). Fingers crossed and I'll wait for a show where Mean and Plan are the main couple and have a happy ending...please???
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Ok on to the story, I know some will probably find Ae and Pete's sl boring since they don't go thru much angst or except for 2 episodes, no real break ups since they become an item. I find it so refreshing that we have a couple on a BL series that actually communicate to one another, they listen and the fights they do have they fix them by actually talking to one another. Ae & Pete have to be one of the healthiest relationships on a BL series ever and for that reason I love them and Love by Chance so much. It's hard to believe these were Saint and Perth's first BL roles, imo they seem really comfortable with each other. I mean some of their S*x scenes are bordering on a bit explicit but I never doubted these two characters both loved each other and were hot for one another either lol. They had a lot of chemistry.
Also the writers did an excellent job in portraying a teen love story between two 18 year olds. Their dialogues sound exactly like what a teen their age would say when experiencing that first love. Kudos to the writers for that. I've seen other series where the dialogue makes me cringe sometimes but not here.
Ae's character is special to me, Not to take anything away from Pete's adorableness and cuteness, sweetness etc but Ae is a breath of fresh air. I like how he deals with coming to terms with his sexuality, he never once hurts anyone with his confusion and once he realizes what he wants he's confident enough to go after it without any shame or struggle to me that was something different that I quite enjoyed watching on LBC
Adding all this to the side characters like Pond, Tin, Can, Ping and Bow it makes this series one of the best I've watched when it comes to Thai BL series.
10/10 from me.
P.s I wasn't much of a Tin/Can fan but I see why people like them & I'm glad they were included they did make Love by Chance more interesting.
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•••
A punch is never worse than when not expected. This is the most heart wrenching and gratuitously cruel ending I have seen in years. It is beyond sad, beyond sorrowful; it is just plain upsetting.
The supporting characters, Tin and Can, eventually take over the drama while the main characters fade into the distance and turn rather insipid. But while the main characters achieve the cheesiest of romantic endings, Tin and Can end up in total devastation; one which caught me by surprise and really upset me because there was no anticipation, no purpose, and nothing other than a cruel knock out to what appeared to have been, at first, a movie about redemption and hope.
A drama that promised to be one of the best LB stories of the year turned out to be a nightmare of frustration and disappointment. Tin portrayed one of the most traumatized characters I’ve seen in this type of drama, one that could have taught viewers the values of recovery and redemption. But, instead, the writer opted to cave in and give prevalence to the cowardice of Can destroying any redemptive quality this ultimately very uninspiring plot may have had.
When viewers are tricked by an exaggerated twist of fate working alongside a false sense of hope the manipulation becomes disgustingly obvious and very irritating. I consider such manipulation a sadist approach to scriptwriting and a disingenuous sense of the dramatic: in other words, this movie is a bad high school novel written by a teenager. I would not recommend it to anyone taking film-making seriously.
I must mention though, that the fault lies with the writer, producer and director. The acting was beyond good; and on occasion it was, in fact, amazing! But the story and re-watch value are worth a negative number - something below zero... which, unfortunately, this site does not allow.
In conclusion, this drama is about Can caving into negative social pressures and becoming a closeted case bringing Tin down with him, who was painted in terms of exaggerated martyrdom for the sake of an audience of masochists (or suckers like me) who must have ended the series with a horrible taste in their mouths. A drama made for Xanax and in the service of the anti-depressant pharmaceutical industry, no doubt... XD.
I have made note of the director’s name to remove every single movie he has made from my watchlist - like I would any movie made by manipulative, frivolous, and callous writers with an exaggerated sense of the dramatic and a pitiful sense of resolution. Gratuitous pain is not welcomed; I find it trite!
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This review may contain spoilers
Like most fans, I've become addicted to Love by Chance. While it's not my favorite series, I've been thinking about what it is that makes me like it as much as I do.I like Ae (and he is a good actor). I think everybody dreams about having (or being) a head-over-heels in love superhero from time to time, and Ae fits that character. Other characters I like are Pond (he's so hilarious and really attractive), Tin (probably the hottest guy on the show and plays the jerk so well), the girl who plays Pond's girlfriend and Trump... yes, I actually enjoy him (although not his character, I realize he's the villain).
There's a good balance of romance, comedy and drama. While homophobia is part of the show (Trump; Tin), it's a small part, with a good deal of tolerance and acceptance of same-sex relationships. This is a good thing.
For me, the downsides of the show (not a dealbreaker) are the over-the-top-oh-so-cuuuuuute scenes between Ae and Pete... I like them but can we tone down the sugar overload just a bit? I know Pete is a fan favorite but, for me, his shyness/cuteness/weakness is so exaggerated that his character doesn't seem real. The Tum/Tar relationship bores me... possibly because the younger guy looks 12 and it's hard for me to imagine him in a serious relationship of any kind. Can makes me laugh (especially when he walks around blabbing to himself out loud in public), but his character is so weird... is he supposed to have some kind of mental disorder?
We're now 8 episodes in, and Ae/Pete are now officially a couple. Yay! They will have sex very soon (it's the big buildup right now) and probably move in together. Then what? If there's a Season 2, I'd prefer for them to be a "happily ever after" couple, and not the main focus, because that would mean a new set of intense drama for them. As for the rest of this season, I'm looking forward to what happens with Trump (you just know he's going to show up), as well as Tin/Can.
Edited to add: my review stands, but the ending absolutely ruined LBC for me. Hence, the reason for my somewhat low ratings. Because of the finale, I feel like I wasted my time watching it. It pains me to say that, because I really liked LBC.
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Starts off cute, but becomes disturbing -- romanticizes rape and abuse
Love by Chance, previously considered the reigning BL until 2gether joined the race, was quite a mess. Let me enumerate its main weaknesses and strengths below:Weaknesses
1) Boring, uninteresting and disturbing subplots
There are four subplots running simultaneously in LBC - PETExAE, TINxCAN, KENGKLAxTECHNO, and TUMxTAR, of which the last two were so irrelevant to the story that they can just be completely omitted and it won't change a thing. Obviously they were just included in LBC to serve as a "cue" for a prequel or a sequel, but they had no connections whatsoever with the main story - that of Pete and AE. There was actually another subplot, that of Tharn and Type, but the other half of that story did not appear in the series at all; there were just fleeting mentions of his existence.
I can also describe these four ships as "disturbing." Let us start off with Pete and Ae. Ae starts off as that sweet, protective boyfriend, but midway into the series, he starts to show his abusive side: he gets mad at Pete for talking to other boys, he literally drags him around, and he dictates what Pete should and should not do.
Tin and Can's relationship is not based on love but rather an exchange of needs. Can is "poor," and he gives in to Tin's demands in exchange for material things. Can is a very impressionable, carefree character and is generally unfamiliar with the concept of "love" until Tin came along. He is the complete opposite of Tin, so it's a mystery how and why these guys were paired. It's like pairing a child to a fully grown man.
The story between Kengkla and Techno romanticizes rape. Kengkla obviously took advantage of Techno and even conspired with the latter's very own brother so that he can take him to bed. Kengkla even pinned the blame on Techno and basically blackmailed him into becoming his boyfriend. It was NASTY.
Tum and Tar are step brothers who have developed feelings for each other. I am not sure how it goes in Thailand, but in other countries, such relationship is generally frowned upon. These two characters do not interact with anyone else in the series (except for very few scenes each of them is talking to Type).
2) I am not a big fan of characters that are introduced in one episode and then completely disappear from the series afterward. LBC has three of such characters --- Trump, Money and Chompoo. Trump's conflict with Pete was left unresolved; I was actually waiting for him to appear somewhere in the end to bring closure to his subplot but there's nothing. Money appears around EP 4 to invite Pete to join the cheering squad. Pete accepts, but not a single cheering scene can be found throughout LBC. Why mention it then? It was so pointless.... Chompoo never knew that Ae was in love with someone else. She just literally disappeared, so her purpose of making Pete jealous was also pointless.
3) Underutilized characters: Good, Bow and Ping. These characters have so much potential and, along with Can and Pond (the latter of whom was thankfully given a bigger part!), they are the only source of laughs in the entire series. Sadly they have been pushed aside in favor of much less interesting characters such as those I have mentioned above.
4) BS sponsorship scenes: The first 8 or 9 episodes of LBC had no plugs from sponsors, which is an admirable feat that I have never seen in any of the Thai lakorns I have watched. So I was disappointed at the last few episodes when LBC started showing pointless scenes that are specifically built for its sponsors.
Strengths:
1) I want to single out Saint, Perth, and Yacht from the rest of the cast because they played their roles so well. Saint completely embodied Pete (him saying "krab" so many times was cute!), Perth played Ae without reservations (however I think there are scenes where he played him too well---remember that humping bed scene, anyone?), and Yacht was all around great. I can even say that without Yacht's portrayal of Pond, I would've rated this serie much lower because he brings the series to life without fail each time he appears. I think it is unfair that he was ranked as a "supporting character" even if technically he plays a big part in Pete and Ae's story.
2) There are so many "conservative" Thai BLs that can't show anything else beyond innocent pecks on cheeks or two lips merely touching each other, leaving straight and gay fans disappointed. The creators of LBC apparently understood this so they went all out: multiple scenes of boys making out, having foreplay, showing near nudity, and talking dirty, so in terms of fan service, LBC excels in all counts. However, not every member of the audience is interested in this kind of stuff...
3) Music --- a very trivial point, but I loved the sounds in Love by Chance.
LBC was a messy show all in all. There are two followups to this series (TharnType and A Chance to Love), but I think I'll just put them aside for now given the many cons I have observed from this show.
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This review may contain spoilers
Please pay no mind to the star ratings for this review. Because I admit it, I am one of those people for whom this series has nostalgic value. When I first watched it in 2022, this was only my second live-action BL drama (and my first encounter with anything Thai), and I was *fascinated*. I had been reading Japanese BL manga in the early 2000s and I have been a voracious reader of slash fanfiction for more than 25 years now -- but I never knew live-action BLs even existed until 2022. So, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed, and this makes me feel more favourable towards this series than it deserves.
Because, if we are being honest, apart from Pete and Ae's love story, this drama is not very good.
It starts with the technical side:
The colours are strangely subdued (for a Thai production), without there being a narrative reason for it. The background noise is at times overwhelming (especially in a scene where Pete, his mother and Ae sit near a fountain) -- although at other time I find it charming to hear university life going on in the background. We can hear clothes brushing over microphones in some scenes. Props are not quite what they should be (thereare props from IKEA at rich Pete's house, and school bags are often obviously empty. In some scenes the actors look as if they had to do their own hair and make-up.
The show obviously had a rather low budget; but not everything about it is bad. I love the messy dorm room -- a bit icky, probably hot -- and both the flat colours and the background noise give the university grounds a realistic vibe -- watching the young people in the canteens, on the walkways and on the football field, surrounded by the noise and heat of Thailand, I always feel that this is just one of many stories happening on the campus. It's nothing like most of the newer airbrushed and clean BL drama, which are painfully obviously set in drama-land.
If we're looking at the acting and the directing, the series is mediocre: Some scenes are full of awkward acting -- some are more watchable. Since most actores were complete newbies at the time, I can understand it -- but better directing could have helped here. There are some scenes that are outstanding though. One of them is the beautiful coming out-scene in episode 1 -- the hesitation in the beginning, the way Pete's mum suppresses her own feellings and turns away and towards Pete again and again, the tentative questions and the short but reassuring answers, until both are in tears, the hesitant acceptance in the end -- this is the kind of coming-out scene I miss in newer BLS, where acceptance often is immediate and coming out is no big deal. (And while we here, I love that Pete describes himself as "gay", and doesn't only use descriptive terms.)
And an upopular opinion, maybe: I wish they had cast someone else than Perth for Ae. Don't get me wrong, Perth does a good job (especially considering his age)! But Ae is time and again described as short, stocky and dark -- Perth is none of these. Ae's appearance is an important part of his character though, and one of his sources of insecurity, and I would have liked it bo be more obvious. Alos, I would have liked to see the visual difference between a dark, stocky and short Ae and a light-skinned, tall and lanky Pete.
And now to the most obvious flaws: the storylines. We have five couples here, which is aready too much for a fourteen episode series, and half of them are not what I'd call good romance.
The one with the least screentime is also the worst -- outright rape, and subsequent victim-blaming, which is only played for laughs? Yeah, this is where it becomes very clear that this is based on a MAME story. Since this was a Wabi Sabi production and aired by GMM25, there must have been people in charge who worked independently from MAME and should have been able to cut this from the drama? I really don't want to know what the producers and screenwriter were thinking.
The story of Tar and Tum is very flawed -- I don't really mind that they are step-brothers. Two consenting adults can do what they want, in my opinion, as long as there won't be any children (the risk of genetic diseases is just too high). The thing is, there's no consent here in the scene where Tum tries to assault Tar. What I don't like about this subplot are two things: a) the story neither begins nor ends within the series. We don't know the background if we don't know TharnType, and the story does not stop at a satisfying point. And b) Tar's trauma is not handled well. If he's still victim-blaming himself-- then why is he not still in therapy? Why does his brother not know anything about it? (He doesn't need to know details, but it's quite obviuos that Tum is completely in the dark here.)
Putting the Tar/Tum story and the No/Kengkla plot next to each other -- why? We have a guy thoroughly traumatized by rape and in the same drama, rape is supposed to be something funny? Doesn't compute at all. Why did nobody notice?
Can and Tin, well. This is a mixed bag for me. I strongly dislike the "top pressures the bottom into sexual situations" trope, so I was not enamoured with their story at first, or later. Can is clearly not in a mental place where he is ready to enter *anything* remotely romantic / sexual, and Tin is only trying to get someone so he won't be alone any more, so his pursuing Can is not about Can, only about himself. So, I was really happy with their ending -- Can got a good character development arc, where he ends up realizing what a romantic/sexual relationship could mean for him, understanding that he does not want it at the moment -- and consequently rejecting Tin. Go, Can!
I did love Cha-Aim and Pond. I love their constant bickering, love how she always pushes back at Pond whenever he gets too much. I love a woman who knows her worth, and can clearly communicate her boundaries and her wants. Pond comes across as this slightly icky, sex-crazed porn addict (and I don't love his slightly homophobic attitude at the beginning). But as we get to know him, we can see that behind his "Three S" behaviour, there's actually a guy who cares about his friends deeply, and who never judges people for who they are.
Well, and Pete and Ae? Their love story is the one reason I can't give a lower rating than I did. This is a wonderful teenage love story, with a lot of "firsts" for both of them. I usually don't like the top/bottom dynamics, which are extremely strong here (Ae is rough, strong, possessive, while Pete is meek, soft, and very shy). But with them, it fits -- here, it feels as if they are two halves ot the same whole. And while Ae is extremely possessive, he is also someone who doesn't feel as if he deserved Pete (and seeks reassurance from Pete!). Yes, Ae is clearly the dominant partner -- but as a good dominant partner should, he always chacks in with Pete and tries to be aware of any boundaries. Even the "gay for you" trope works here, since Ae hasn't had any sexual desire before.
Like with any good teenage romance, both Pete and Ae grow in the course of navigating their relationship, and are more adult in the end than in the beginning.
So, can I recommend it?
Not really. There's so many good BL series nowadays, that it's really not necessary to watch this one.
On the other hand, Love by Chance *is* one of the classics which laid the groundwork for following works. And Ae and Pete are just adorable. Should you decide to try it, you should be aware of the show's many flaws and prepare yourself for a rather explicit rape scene in episode 14. Or you can just fast-forward through all of the scenes with Kengkla (No alone is okay) and with Tum or Tar in them. You won't miss anything.
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Holy Moly
I really don't know what to say for my general feeling on this drama. There were some strong points but a lot of weak ones as well. It's just a real mess.Story:
Pete and Trump's conflict was kind of interesting? I mean, I wasn't that convinced of the situation and just saw it as a way to show Ae in a heroic way, but how could they just completely forget about Trump? He was the only major antagonist in Pete's life so I don't understand why he was underutilized. Also, I found Pete's character to be very weak. He's shy, nice, handsome, and rich (had all the Apple products and matching pajama sets lol). He wasn't very compelling to me, and it didn't help that he was always a damsel in distress.
AE. I fell in love with Ae's character. He was the realest character to me with how multifaceted his personality was. I could genuinely feel his confusion at having to deal with feelings for a person for the first time, and his flaws also added to his realness. His possessiveness was a bit concerning to me, but Pete obviously didn't mind it. I really just admired how honest he was throughout his relationship with Pete.
Other characters that I liked were Pond, Cha-am, and Good. Pond is probably really accurate in representing a college-aged male and could be quite distasteful sometimes. However, he was such a delight and showed some redeeming qualities. He pretty much carried all of the humor in the drama. I especially loved him and Cha-am together because she really brings out his more gentle side. As for Good, he reminded me of a sloth. His mannerisms were just so cute and his interactions with Can were interesting. He's iconic.
I didn't find Tin and Can's relationship all that enjoyable. Can was extremely petulant most of the time and he also looked really young to me, too young to fit with Tin. There was a lot more they could've done with Tin and Can's storyline as far as Tin's family interfering in Tin's life. It was just such a missed opportunity to cause more drama from Tin's brother especially as well as the fact that they have different lifestyles.
Tum and Tar felt very irrelevant in Tharntype (until the end) and the same can be said here too. You could watch the whole drama without them. Their relationship is also very taboo, and I don't understand why this isn't being questioned by the other characters in the drama. However, they barely interact with Tum and Tar so it makes sense.
I think everyone agrees on how terrible sexual assault. There's just something about selling your brother to your friend and allowing your friend to molest your brother, hmm. Anyway, Kengkla and Technic were unnecessary and their behavior was downright disgusting.
Acting/Cast:
A lot of it was average or kind of rough.
Saint is probably a really good actor, but his role as Pete was just so subdued. He also is very manly compared to Pete in the way he speaks and acts which is very interesting but he's acting. Understandable. He also reminds me of Jin from BTS, lol.
But holy moly, Perth carried the drama with his acting. I already praised Ae's character as being so real, and this wouldn't have happened if Perth hadn't been casted to play him. Perth absolutely sold me on every feeling Ae had. He could just convey so much with his eyes, and I could feel the love he was portraying toward Pete. It also helps that Perth is a cutie. My only gripe with casting Perth in this role is the fact that he was doing all of these scenes at the age of 17. I know the age of consent is different in Thailand but still. It just kind of weirded me out even though I'm around his age. Anyways, he's an amazing actor, and I'm definitely looking forward to his other works. (He did great in UWMA.)
Music:
The music in these dramas aren't that great, the background tracks in particular. But for some reason, I really enjoyed the music. The little techno instrumental was funny.
Rewatch:
The only thing I would rewatch is the Pete and Ae interactions. Everything else can go.
Overall:
The drama lacks good conflict and also has a ton of questionable/abhorrent behaviors portrayed in the show. I enjoyed very few characters. I mainly stayed for Pete and Ae's relationship.
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This review may contain spoilers
So I just finished this series and created this account just for this. Until the episode before the last everything is okay. But then in the last episode everything rushes to an end and things will even leave you with a heartbreak. My advise to you is to just focus and cheer on the main couple and the drama will please you.
SPOILER COMING UP NOW:
I hated Tin and Can's ending, it left me heartbroken. The other ships weren't even clear to me, except for Pete and Ae of course. They could've done way better on this, I'm dissappointed and left with may questions.
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Severely Underdeveloped
Kengkla and Techno were based on one sided love and the lack of consent which was a questionable desicion if you ask me. Complete waste of a really good character, Techno. It seemed to be a couple that was just thrown in last minute without any thought or purpose.Tum and Tar are literally step brothers so explain that? 🤨 The only thing holding this couple up is Earth's acting. Why can't they just be loving brothers? Why do they have to be in love? Why is this even a thing?
They missed such a good opportunity to show the importance of sibling love and the importance of family. But noooo instead they decided, "You know what this story needs? Some good old incest to spice it up."
Tin and Can are by far the most tolerable couple which is saying something because i dont like this couple either. It was like a failed enemies to lovers type scenario. Can is whiny and cringy at times, he acts like a child, which i guess makes sense if he was a child, but he's literally a college student so i dont really understand what happened there, and Tin is just... hot lmao. Like i cant tell if i like this couple or if i just think Tin is really good looking. Regardless, they had some cute scenes, followed by some really weird scenes, followed by unnecessary angst, followed by another cute scene to patch up the weird angst.
Moving on to the main couple. Pete and Ae are... boring. Which is dissapointing considering that i love the actors playing these two. I don't really have much to say on them. The 18+ scenes were... strange, and i skipped almost all of their scenes together.
I don't know Pete just really rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. He's just so weird i dont get it.
Anyways that was my review. Boring plot, weird characters, and underdeveloped relationships with no meaning.
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This review may contain spoilers
*Potential spoiler section is marked below*Ahhh, the series that made viewers fall in love and then broke their hearts! Putting aside the unfortunate news that Season 2 is unlikely, I still think this is a good drama and recommend adding it to your watch list. Just get your heart and tissues ready before watching the final episode (and make sure to watch the Director's Version so you don't miss anything).
The plot was interesting and dynamic, with each episode moving the story along nicely. Beware that we are introduced to a lot of characters up front, and for me at least it was a little challenging keeping track of who was who and what their relationship to one another was, but with the help of a cheat sheet and a couple of episodes later, I had each one down.
The acting, for the most part, was pretty good. Although some actors in the beginning felt a little stiff, I did notice it improving as the series went on. Saint as Pete was absolutely adorable, and he somehow managed to exude both shy innocence and sexy naughtiness. As others have noted, it was so refreshing to see that this character was gay and not gay-for-you, which occurs frequently in BL pieces. Perth as Ae was caring and doting, and his loyalty to and protectiveness of Pete was charming. Tin and Can--ugh, my favorite couple and the favorite of probably a majority of fans as well. Can (or Cantaloupe, as Tin likes to call him *my heart*) was so cute: young, naive, and pretty much drama-free until resident tsundere Tin decides to make Can the target of his affections. Once it became apparent that they would become a pair, I waited impatiently for the upcoming episode to see how much further along they would get. I just loved the side of Tin that Can brought out, and seeing Can get so flustered with Tin as he tried to work out his emotions towards the other boy was so charming and well-done. And that last scene with Tin in the shower, wow. Surrounding circumstances notwithstanding, he really shone in that scene. It was so beautiful and so raw and probably the best-acted scene in the entire series, in my humble opinion.
There are two other BL couples to speak of, though they don't get nearly as much screen time. The first is Tum and Tar, step-brothers who harbor complicated feelings for one another and one of whom hides a dark secret. The second consists of Kenglka, a high school student crushing on his best friend's brother, Techno, a university student who is friends with Ae and Can. Though short, I feel that Tum and Tar are given sufficient screen time to tell a complete story and leave you with a bit of closure. But I was a bit disappointed that KlaNo's story got barely any development. The most significant thing that happened between them occurred in the last episode, and it felt more like the beginning of something that would have been explored further in Season 2. I did hear that P'New was going to make a spin-off for these two characters, though we'll see if that's still going to happen now. I hope that he does, as I'd love to see Mark and Gun breathe more life into these characters. Though they only had a few minutes together as a couple, Mark did so well in his role as Kengkla, and I'm curious to know how KlaNo's relationship develops.
Characters aside, in terms of story line, from what I've seen, P'New stuck pretty closely to the timeline and events in the books. Thus, although I got a little bored with Ae and Pete's story, preferring to see more development in the three side couples, I appreciate the director's faithfulness to the original text. This also helps explain why the other couples didn't get as much screen time, especially TumTar and KlaNo, as I don't think they played major roles in the book (with Tum and Tar playing bigger roles in other books from this universe). And, without revealing too much, this may also explain why one of the couples got a sad (read: heartbreaking) ending. I think the series just ended in the wrong place in the books.
***BEGIN SPOILER***
Speaking of that ending, because I have to get my thoughts down . . . . Sadly, Tin and Can do not get a happily ever after. At least, not in the series. This, coupled with the fact that Season 2 seems unlikely, is the source of disappointment for most people. One the one hand, I respect P'New's rationale that it makes the series more realistic: not everyone gets a happy ending. I can also see where Can's rejection was somewhat supported by his earlier actions. Tin was the more pushy one, and Can struggled with his feelings throughout the entire series. He was still struggling when Tin confessed to him, trying to figure out the difference between liking someone as a friend and liking someone as more than that. But on the other hand, Can also (perhaps subtly) seemed to be warming up to having Tin as a boyfriend, which I think gave a lot of viewers hope and made the ending even more surprising. We saw Can get jealous when he though Tin liked someone else, and we also saw Can ask for more kisses when hanging out with Tin earlier. Again, it may just be that Tin confessed too soon, before Can had a chance to work out his feelings, and because of that I can see how P'New would construe the confession scene, and its consequences, the way he did.
***END SPOILER***
Overall, this was a really solid start to what could have been a few great seasons, and I'm sad to see it end the way it did. I'll keep my fingers crossed that things will get resolved and we'll get a Season 2 or maybe a couple of spin-offs, but I thin right now P'New needs a break from the real-life drama. On the plus side, I heard he's cleaning up some unedited footage with plans to release it, so at least we'll get one final treat. I'm also now impatiently waiting for the English translation of the novel to be released to I can get that happy ending I'm told exists. :)
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I only watched for Earth Katsamonnat.
I actually really liked this during the first half. Ae and Pete were two characters I liked and got invested in their story. I happily shipped them and had no queries with their relationship.But as the episodes went on and they became less of the focus, I just stopped caring. Almost all of the side characters were annoying af and I did not get invested in their relationships at all. There was just too many side couples who had little to zero development and lacked any likability.
I ended up skipping the majority of Tin and Can’s scenes as I just did not care at all and by the end I was so glad it was over. I was so disappointed as I really enjoyed AePete, but the rest of it ruined it for me. And then the ending happened, and they weren’t even together in the final scene. It all just felt like a waste of time.
I wouldn’t bother with this one if you’re thinking about watching it, there are so many better shows you can spend your time on.
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