En of Love: TOSSARA (2020)

Don’t listen to the haters - Cute, forward and super funny.

If you’re looking for a combo of a short series and a quick BL fix, you’re in the right place. This is a story of a boy in love from a distance, who grows bold and unapologetically goes for what his heart wants. My biggest regret is that I read the “TOP” reviews and the comments saying this was trash, which made me put this series on hold, BIG MISTAKE, because I missed on the hype and I could’ve FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS SERIES MONTHS AGO! Now my review:

The only ISSUE I had with the series is with the actor playing Gun, he is still green but, clearly doing his best, because I could still believe him in all his clingy glory, and the cute moments with Bar always made me squeal like a little girl. LOL

Story-wise... What were you people expecting? This is an interconnected series, this is just the first part, and it pisses me off that people trash the series because supposedly “they didn’t flesh out the characters”, “the actors were garbage”, “the story moved too fast”... THEY HAD FOUR EPISODES TO TELL THE MAIN COUPLE’S STORY AND SET UP THE OTHER CHARACTERS... The focus of this four episodes was just Gun and Bar, plus seeing the people around them, and I believe they did an excellent job telling this part of the story. YES, if you keep watching the other parts of this interconnected series “En of Love” you will see Gun and Bar in the other series but, they are not gonna be the main focus and they had to tell their LOVE STORY here. I believe they did an amazing job and I cannot say anything bad about the story. Feels like the directing in some scenes could have been better and I don’t speak thai so I cannot judge the writing.

The opening is my JAAAAM, I love it. The show did a good job with the music during the different moments in the series.

I will definitely watch again. It’s not perfect, but is short, sweet, funny (I laugh sooo hard in every episode) and I sincerely recommend it. Nobody is paying me to write this review, I came here for the BL and stayed for the BL. Stay safe!

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When Cute is Enough

Don’t watch this series if you’re looking for a deep and rich storyline or exceptional acting. Watch this series for cute and cuddly. Think of this as a riff of Sotus and 2Moons (both of the series) in terms of theme but not as deep.

The storyline pacing was weird. It was like they hit the fast forward button through the meaningful character/relationship development portions of the story and then slowed down during the flirty parts. You’d think with 4 episodes of a larger trilogy that they would have spent more time developing substance. There was really no need to rush and I think it would have been more enjoyable had they slowed down a bit. There are several similar length series (any of the HIStory series from Taiwan as examples) that do a significantly better job.

Where this series works is when it’s cute and cuddly specifically when Gun and Bar are flirting/chasing each other. Their acting is fine. Their chemistry is awkward but actually works ok as that awkwardness lends itself well to their developing relationship. The dialog between the two is sappy, sweet, and borderline cringy but is so weirdly cute that you endear yourself to them so much that you overlook the lack of substance and awkward pacing of the series.

En of Love: TOSSARA is an example of a series where cute overcomes substance. With this genre growing more sophisticated with every new series, it’s ok to indulge in something that’s simple, pure, and frankly not over-ladened with a complicated storyline. At 4 episodes, it’s a worthwhile watch!

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I loved the cuteness of the characters and their story but I wish there were more episodes. It is to short to tell their story, it needed al least 3-4 more episodes(making it 8) to cover their story better and to make sure it wasn’t cramped into a short episode. The actors were great I can’t wait to see them in the future acting. Only complete other then it being so short is the character Doc. They made him seem so clingy and made him seem kind of stupid even though his really smart. I still don’t understand why they made his character they way they did. He could be unsure of himself but how they done his character sometimes made me uncomfortable.

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This is actually incredible

Firstly, I don't get why everyone is so against this. I absolutely love it. I didn't cringe at all, which is extremely rare as I cringe at everything. Anything related to feelings and I'm out the door in a jiffy. As someone who is extremely picky when it comes to appreciating dramas, and in particular the first episodes of dramas, I'm happy to say that this is the single greatest pilot episode of a series I have ever watched. It's just flat out incredible. The plot is fantastically well interpreted, the characters are phenomenally portrayed and the music is quite great as well. Overall it's a fantastic series and I'd recommend watching it to anyone and everyone. *Pay attention to the fact that I wrote this after the first episode. I've come to realise how bad it actually became over the next 3 episodes so this review is not about the whole series, but solely about the first episode*

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Gun Tossakan is literally a walking RED FLAGS!

No. No. No. Just no! I found it harder for me to convey my feeling and what I want to say in English, I'll to give this review in my language.. Tiada perkara yang elok untuk diperkatakan mengenai drama ini selain daripada how creepy watak bernama Gun Tossakan. Seorang yang possessive; menganggap Bar seperti sebuah piala yang hanya layak menjadi miliknya sahaja sehingga menghalang Bar daripada melepak dengan kawan, dan berjauhan dengannya. Kau gila? Belum apa-apa dah mengawal serba-serbi. Bukan itu saja, kita boleh lihat bagaimana cerita ini memaksa kita menerima cinta seseorang itu hanya kerana lelaki itu sering memberikan kita hadiah walaupun lelaki itu kelihatan seperti seorang pemangsa, 4 episod yang penuh dengan bendera merah tetapi penulis cuba untuk menunjukkan yang semua itu adalah sesuatu yang comel dan normal.

Lakonan yang penuh dengan derita.
Dalam banyak-banyak pelakon BL baharu pada ketika itu, mereka memilih seorang yang terpaling kayu untuk mendukung watak utama. Pelakon Bar dan Gun sepertinya tiada kimia di antara mereka. Saya bersetuju dengan komen di atas, mereka seperti membenci satu sama lain di belakang set, dan cerita ini dihasilkan dengan penuh paksaan. Hasilnya, sebuah karya yang cringey dan tidak layak untuk dipertontonkan. Untuk melabel drama ini sebagai sampah adalah satu kejian terhadap sampah itu sendiri. Bayangkan! Berbalik kepada lakonan, mereka memaksa kita untuk melihat Gun sebagai seorang lelaki yang terpaling hensem, terpaling popular di universiti tetapi akibat kekayuan dan ketiadaan aura pelakonnya, segala itu hanyalah tinggal di dalam mimpi pengarahnya sahaja. Mungkin inilah sebab mengapa kesemua pelakon drama ini kembali ke dalam drama Love Mechanics 2022 tetapi tidak mereka berdua.

Mungkin salah saya kerana tidak membaca review sebelum menonton mana-mana drama terlebih dahulu (kerana saya tidak mahu bias berlaku kerana terpengaruh dengan review yang ditinggalkan). Tetapi kepada yang membacanya terlebih dahulu, sila jauhkan diri anda dengan drama ini.

Sekian, terima kasih.

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Sometimes I forgot this is the real story and not a parody

The key is to watch this without high expectations and just see it for what it is. Comparing this to Love by chance or UWMA is absolutely out of question, even though it's the same production. Clearly the production budget wasn't high, since they're more likely to invest into something else (probably Love by chance 2) and this series isn't their priority.

You can see that Folk (Bar) would be great character in storyline with more depth since he can act and if guided properly, he could use his acting capabilities even more. On the other hand Win (Gun) not so much. He was acting weirdly and had one expression for the whole story(and that expression wasn't even enjoyable on top of that). Also he was okay looking, but not to the point of how they portrayed him. I mean in comparison to for example Sarawat (2gether) or Bohn (My engineer), where you clearly can see why everyone go so crazy for them, Gun is nothing too special. And I definitely don't mean it as an insult, in my opinion he just doesn't fit the role. And I would say that his acting is a really big part of why I can't really appreciate him. As viewer all I find interesting about him is his tallness, which is a sign of poorly written character, because he really have nothing much going on about him. He's dull, uninteresting and at times almost unbearable.

About the plot - sounded like cute, cheesy romcom in description, but was executed rather terribly.

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It was kind of dry

Story
The story was pretty much a cliche but I give it points cause I like cliches. However the story was still sooooo unoriginal. I really wish they added some flair. Something memorable.

Acting/Cast
Honestly the acting was also kind of blah. I don't know I think the two main actors have some chemistry but it was a very dull flame they sparked. The other side actors were pretty funny though I will give them that.

Music
Honestly the music was really nothing special. I listened to again to see if I could picture the couple or the story but nope.

Overall
I think it is a great show but it is really basic. It is kind of dry but not horrible. I think that is the actors worked together more and that the story line was given more flair than it would be great. But I still recommend watching it though.

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There's indeed nothing all that special about TOSSARA, but the story is fine and the delivery is acceptable.

Gun has been in love with Bar for several years, but he has never dared to confess to Bar until Bar loses his engineering gear. (Yes, there are several nods to SOTUS, which unfortunately invites comparison with a classic BL).

A lot of people are unhappy with casting Win as Gun because he doesn't look the part of the handsome, muscular guy whom lots of girls in his university go crazy over. I can understand this, and I partly blame it on the make-up department who could have at least given him a nicer hairstyle and image. But I find that he is pleasant looking (he looks better in an interview than in the series) and has played his role well enough. I originally thought that the element about Gun being a very handsome and popular guy was unnecessary for the story and should have been modified after Win was chosen to play Gun. However, it does become quite important for the story, particularly in the freshy competitions scene in which Gun publicly expresses his love for Bar and asks Bar to be his boyfriend.

Win actually plays the part of an infatuated Gun rather well even though it is a bit of a stretch to imagine him as this handsome, muscular popular guy. After a while, he does look fairly compatible with Folk who plays Bar. Folk, on the other hand, is cute but his acting is inconsistent. He doesn't seem able to convey Bar's underlying affection for Gun when Bar is putting up a tough front.

Bar's change from being reluctant to let Gun hit on him to feeling affection for Gun also seems rather sudden. We see that he has fallen for Gun but we don't see why or how this happened. In fact, Gun merely flirts with him for a week and suddenly he seems to be in love with Gun.

The series is not an example of a great BL series, but the couple is rather likable. Both Gun and Bar may get unnecessarily jealous, but the ultimately have rather human concerns and genuine affection for each other. Not a bad watch if you have run out of BLs to watch.

One thing that could certainly be better is a stronger exposition of the characters that would be the main characters in Love Mechanics. I watched Love Mechanics first, but watching TOSSARA hardly makes me understand Love Mechanics better.

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Actually quite nice and sweet

I had been putting off watching the En Of Love... series for quite some time now, but there was a slump in good BL dramas so I thought why not give it a shot. I was actually pleasantly surprised! The leads seemed to fit quite well together and although it did not crackle and sizzle, I felt quite a bit of chemistry. The gradually falling in love of Bar because of Gun's unrelentless but super sweet wooing was believable and there was start, middle and end to the story. Was there a real plot? No, but that is not always why we watch. Sometimes we just want romance and cuteness. And that is surely what we get in this one. Butterfly lever about 6 and quite re-watchable on another slump :)

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Cute story worth watching with some small flaws

I honestly enjoyed this short story more that I thought I would. Reading the reviews and seeing what the show was rated my expectations weren't high when I starting watching the show initially. Watching the show I found Bar and Gun to be cute together and I enjoyed the consent between them and the way they were able to have conversations with each other like adults. I also enjoyed seeing the growth of Bar's character and how he became more open and accepting with his relationship as well as affection for Bar. With this being said the show wasn't perfect and had some small flaws. The show was short and this led to the development of Bar and Gun to be rushed at times. Also the acting isn't the best I've seen. The actor that played Bar had better acting than the actor that played Gun. His acting needed a little bit of work, but it wasn't to the point of ruining the show for me. Besides the acting at times and the pacing of the story I didn't really have any other problems. I may be in the minority of my review of this show, but honestly I think reviews are a bit harsh and the story was pretty good for only having four episodes to work with.

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The story of this 4 episode series is effortless. It doesn't have an elaborate back story nor a complicated twist, it just shows how Gun and Bar developed as a couple with minimal character development. That makes it easy to watch, at least for me.

I find the actor that played Gun, good looking but not as much as the story is trying to portray. I don't want to be mean, but casting is very important part of the story telling. It's his first series and I hope he will continue to improve himself. Even though this is just a small seriea, they managed to have a lot of supporting characters, which I find enjoyable to watch. Vee is cute. Beam is cute. Lol

I don't know, but I like TOSSARA more than Love Mechanics. But they are equally good series.

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