The Shipper (2020)

Maybe the series was Mis-titled

Another great story with that forbidden plot twist. The premise of this story seemed a bit off where body switching was involved, but the execution was very well done. The story did very well to bring the confusion and uncertainty of life to the forefront. However, the end result was still a little unnecessary in my book. Simply because the title was Shippers, I didn't think they needed such a bitter sweet ending.

The chemistry between the Kim and Way seem to be almost natural, even before Kim's body switch. Their basic interactions always seemed to be what best friends are to be. Being their for each other in every situation, coming to a boil at even put their lives on the line for each other. I don't think I have seen the level of pure love that these characters have for each other achieving their happiness, in any other BL thus far. I mean they all have a love story, but having it totally unselfish where they actually plan to not be together because it is best for the other. That is real love...

The main cast, seemed to have a chemistry that was undeniable, making the high school theme work well, and while they had some odd aspects that I didn't understand, the high school drama wasn't much of the focus. Making the dynamics between the boys, not just Kim and Way, but also Kim and his brother, had me cheering for the boys to have a happy ending. The more we learnt about Kim's life made him more human and we got to see the depth that he cared for his friend and his brother.

Because of all of this, I think he deserved better, let the shippers have their ship and get to sail on it too... but if the ending is a tease about something to come, I hope it does come soon.

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Deceptively Cute, But With a Whole Lot More Depth!

Spoiler section will be clearly marked at the end of the review!

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I'm honestly so surprised by the low ratings this show seems to have! I had a blast watching this from start to finish. Yes, the ending was a bit of a shock and was very emotional for a variety of reasons, but I think it was the only real way they could end it. It was very unexpected, but I honestly feel like any other ending would have felt cheap— forced, even.

The show is so funny and ridiculous in the beginning, but it gains a lot of heart as the show progresses. I loved all of the characters so much— every actor was so talented and brought life to these characters in the best way possible. The story continually grew and expanded on all of the characters, which was really nice to see.

The shining star of this show was definitely the actor who played Kim/Pan-as-Kim, First. He was so talented! He was brilliant as Pan, playing her the exact same as the actress so it felt like the same character in a different body. He was also so great when it came to the comedy of the show— I don't know how he managed to keep from laughing through every take! His "EHHHH"s had me rolling every time.

The rest of the actors were wonderful, as well. Ohm, the actor playing Khet, did a particularly great job with the more romantic and sad moments in the story. But the actors playing Way, Pan, Soda, and the Angel of Death were all incredible, as well. I have absolutely no complaints about the acting in this show.

I also really enjoyed the editing and cinematography of the show! The pop-ups when Pan and Soda were writing their fiction, and the text messages on the screen were a really good visual aspect of the show. Social media and texting is such a common part of today's teens' lives, and they did a really good job representing that. The scenes where the actors actually acted out their ridiculous stories were SO well done and comical in the best way. And the points when Pan-as-Kim was speaking and the camera would pan behind something and then Pan herself was standing there? WONDERFUL. It was so poignant and really showed the points when Pan's personality was shining through or when she was feeling extra impacted by the situation. Plus, it was a good way to give the actress more to do than just lie in the hospital bed.

To be quite honest, the only real reason this got marked down at all was because of the rewatch value. I'm not sure how the process of watching the show would feel upon a rewatch, when the viewer knows the end. Maybe one day I'll give it a try, but I feel like knowing the ending will change the viewing experience too much. Still, this show impacted me more than any show has in a really long time and I won't forget it.

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SPOILER SECTION | SPOILER SECTION | SPOILER SECTION

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The ending of this show did throw me off, but in the end I liked it. I guessed around episode 5 or 6 that Kim was dead, but I didn't realize how much it would affect me when it was finally revealed. I literally sobbed through the entirety of the final three episodes. The scenes that got me the most were Khet fixing the RC Plane, the family photo, and Kim's final goodbye to Way. (Honorable mention was the coin flip!)

I get that people don't like that there was no happy ending for Way and Kim. I get that it's a disappointment, but I do feel that with how the show was set up— with the fact that Kim never woke up in Pan's body— there wasn't another way. It would have been a happier ending, sure, but it would have been more forced for Kim to just pop back up and be totally fine.

I am really intrigued by the end credit scene— Kim standing alone in the afterlife, and an ominous voice saying they have a proposal for him. I really hope there's a sequel series— perhaps Kim gets a second chance at life, but ends up in someone else's body? And he has to find his friends and family in his new body and figure out how to get back to his old life? I don't know what the whole story would be, but I want it.

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An Acquired Taste

LOL me finally getting around to writing a review for this (mostly for myself) even though I finished this like a month ago > <

Disclaimer: This review is not for someone who has not watched this drama…unless you already know the basic details & possible ending like I did when going into this!!

But with that being said I overall thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama!! It had its funny moments as well as its weird ones where you start to question what the heck am I even watching…but yet you just cant stop clicking next episode LOL. Its like a bad addiction, but a good one LOL at least for me. Usually, school settings are somewhat of a hit or miss for me depending how the storyline plays out however I felt this one worked really well and really embodied the different situations and realities of school life but adding a twist of "body switching" without it being cringe or over the top. It incorporated the pressures of parents expectations, sibling problems, friend circles, bullying, love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

The two mains, Way and Kim...ok Kims acting ISSS PHENOMENAL!! The way he can act like his regular self but also nail the role of a girl being inside his body…sooo convincing, like wow!! I feel like usually id get annoyed by the overdramatized acting but it somehow works here and its not that dramatized where I felt a disconnect between the character. And Way...omgg haddd me swooning, just his presence in the show mesmerized me…dont ask me why I have no clue, I just knew that every time he was on screen my eyes were glued. His facial expressions and the emotions he was able to emit just through his eyes alone…got me all in the feels >< He was like the most selfless person in the drama i just loved his presence the whole time. Their love confession got me…idk I thought it was really beautiful >< and they deserved so much better!!! PETITION FOR THEM TO BE IN ANOTHER DRAMA TOGETHER WITH A HAPPIER SETTING PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!

Even though this wasn’t a BL, although “labeled” as one…the overall story was interesting enough for me to be engaged!! However, I will say that I wish there were more scenes of Way and Kim(real) together....i feel like as a viewer I didn’t get a chance to know their friendship well enough, prior to the accident…meanwhile the drama kept focusing on Pan than the actual Kim…which bothered me since he seemed more of an important role...like I wanted to know his story, his perspective on life, his relationships but instead we only got Pans perception of Kim...and not the actual him...which kinda defeated the purpose of what seemed like one of the messages in this drama. To not judge someone based solely on what you think you know and what you see….Expectations vs Reality. I mean the whole time she’s just assuming and judging Kim based off of what she’s seeing...whether she was viewing from afar orrr physically being in his body…nothing changed…and as a viewer we dont know what to think because we dont know the whole story behind it besides knowing there’s more to it than meets the eye. And even when we did get a better understanding of the real Kim…again it was through other peoples eyes…his brother and Way (which I mean it can still help in understanding the person he was since they knew him really well, but it just would’ve been nice to see more of Kim through his own eyes….

And before I end this…I just wanna rant a little more because I know many people loved the Angel of Death…but honestly she annoyed me and seemed like a wasted character because I couldn’t understand her purpose besides being a comedic relief…She didn’t deserve her title as Angel of Death in my personal opinion since she couldn’t even keep track of who was dead and who was alive it seemed. Throughout the whole series, we had no clue what was going on with Kim besides that he was “unconscious” until near the end. But regardless of some quirks in this series, I still think it was still a pretty entertaining watch!! I don't regret watching it and I think its a good one if you're bored and just wanna watch a short series thatll make you go through some waves of emotions!!

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Blown Away by Way

THIS REVIEW IS A SPOILER AT THE FIRST SENTENCE: Normally I'd scream, "They killed their gays!" but in this story it worked. It wasn't about him being gay. It was a really creative well acted-out story, and though you could have had a facinating ending where P'Kim was always in her body alive. This still is a great story. And I wasn't suprised at how good Ohm/ Khet's acting was, but I loved how different his role was from all his other roles, and he was just as incredible. (Equally as incredible as he is in hus current role in Best Buddy, just because of how different this role is, it shows the depth and breadth of his acting skills. But what I was blown away (pun intended because the Angel of Death is my BFF and deserves a standing ovation) was P'Way/Fluke Pusit's acting. I definitely judged that book by it's cover, his character's cover at that, but by the end of the show, he was the one that had me crying. Not anyone else. And I haven't cried for a show since going on meds.

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The Most Unpredictable Show I Watched.

Story / Plot and Cast: The Shipper is the most unpredictable show I have ever watched. The show is one of its kind, and only comparable to itself.

Kim played a “double role” in this show. Before the car crash, he played himself. After that, Kim’s soul was probably still in heaven (?) and so any conscious Kim afterwards is expected to have the soul of Pan. I must say that his acting is excellent. He can be very “normal” and then shout at Khett. Throughout the 11th episode, I find it difficult to determine if the Kim is really Kim or Pan. The actor of Kim, First Kanaphan, is eye-catching.

Pan has, technically, not a lot of screentime. But her “soul” played a large part in the progression of the story. Some mentioned the issue of making decisions for Kim when Pan is still inside his body. It can only be said that if things do happen in real life like this, the person indeed has no choice but to decide for the displaced soul for practical reasons. Pan is played by a very talented actress, Prigkhing Sureeyares, which gave the character her own style.

Khett is also another interesting character. He is not directly involved in the soul-swapping exercise. However, he is still closely related. Khett is the younger brother of Kim, and he also has a crush on Pan. Obviously, he has quite a smart personality in this show, as we can see he tried to test (at the beginning) if the Kim is real Kim. I probably don’t need to mention that Ohm Pawat played Khett, as many would have known him from previous shows.

Way has questionable chemistry with Kim. Don’t get me wrong - he is good. I think the chemistry between them is just a bit lacking. Nonetheless, the conversation between Way and “Kim” (and probably Kim, too) does teach something to us. I have to also point out that Way has so little chemistry with Phingphing that they don’t look like they are together! I don’t know if this is supposed to be good or bad for the audience and shippers. With all due respect, the actor of Way (Fluke Pusit) may have to add more facial expressions to make the whole thing less monotonous.

Why do I say this show is unpredictable? There are several major twists. First, Khett is “suddenly” known to be the brother of Kim (Pan does not know this before). Then, Pan discovered, as Kim, that Kim held copies of the exam papers and so suspected that Kim has been cheating to get a good result. This is only partly explained near the end of the show (to help Way to get a better result). (The real Kim never got the chance to explain, too bad.) In the middle, several unusual ships happened like Soda said Khett might have a crush on “Kim”, “Kim” trying to scare off Soda but ended up making Soda like Kim, the previous relationship of the teacher and Kim (not “Kim”). Also, Pan’s soul returned to her body accidentally for once, and then returned to Kim’s body intentionally (when Off, Khett and Way were fighting). The second time she wants to return, it failed. There is still no plausible reason for why the first time succeeded but the second time failed. The end of the 10th episode focused on the motorcycle for no reason. Unfortunately, the motorcycle seems to mean nothing. Of course, the most unpredictable of all is probably the fact that Kim is actually dead.

I am not sure if this is a “happy ending”, but at least it conveyed several messages. For example, the real Kim seems to be much stressed. Someone in the comment pointed out that the soul of Kim probably doesn’t want to live, because Kim stepped forward first when the Death Angel told them to come forward, etc. There is, of course, also no explanation given for this.

Music: The opening theme of the show is a cute, adorable song. The song is แคร์ไกลไกล (Care from Faraway) by La Ong Fong. The ending theme is a moving song with a strong beat. The song is ฉันเป็นของเธอทุกวัน (I am Yours Every Day) by Ford Arun.

Overall, the show will be remembered for its unpredictability.

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The Shipper worth to watch but not to rewatch

You'll know why it's not worth to rewatch if you'll watch the whole series, its not because it's bad, just go watch it for you to find out. The Shipper is a good series, at first it was a chill, comedic series but then it went ~ didn't expect the ending though :'( but still love it. The cast's acting was fine although sometimes the girls made me cringe but overall it's all bearable to watch. P'Jennie's character was iconic, I love her. Also First, he was really the reason why I watched it and second is Ohm. I love their chemistry but then there character's relationship is a bit complicated. WayKim really deserved more, I'm sad.

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what a delightful surprise! (no spoilers)

When I started watching this series I wasn't expecting anything big, I thought it was just a silly series (witch wouldn't be a problem since I enjoy silly series) but it wasn't. it was that and SO SO much more! The more I watched the more I got invested in the story and in the characters!
If your a BL fan or a hopeless romantic it'll be very easy to identify with Pan and Soda and they're view of Way and Kim. All the main characters are very well written (maybe at the start you might find them a bit 1 dimensional but as the series goes on you get a glimpse of they're lives and are given a chance to connect very well with them)
The plot is just amazing, you get to find out secrets, explore the fictional world, see the characters get into funny misunderstandings and catch feelings up until the very end (It doesn't get boring). Also, switching body's with one of your ships? how crazy is that?? Anything could happen, there is no way to guess what's going to happen next because this is not like any other switching body's series you've ever seen!
I 100% recommend this series, its so funny, heartwarming and just everything! This is without doubt the best thai series I have ever watched :) And the acting is actually really good! (I'm sorry to say this but the acting in most thai series is not very good... not the case here!)

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Best series of 2020

Because this series has really surprised me in a positive way, I wanted to write a short review for everyone who isn't sure if they should watch it or not. My answer is a definite YES!
When this series started, like many others, I wasn't sure what to expect from it. I usually only watch BL series and didn't know if this was going to be BL or not. The first episode seemed a little cheesy to me, but luckily I kept watching and as the story advanced I couldn't care less if it was BL or not anymore, because I began to like the story for what it was.

The Shipper has a very well written story. Every episode is exiting, surprising and unpredictable. It plays with your expectations which makes it a lot of fun to watch and never get boring.
The acting, as far as I can judge that, was also superb. I especially liked First's acting, because he managed to believably portray a girl in a boy's body. Fluke's acting also stood out to me, but maybe just because he was so cute in the series. Overall I couldn't name a single actor who didn't do a great job in this!
I would definitely rewatch this series as I want to know how many new things I'll notice now that I know the outcome of the whole story!

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A pleasant surprise

I was not expecting much from this, honestly. It initially seemed like a silly, over-the-top comedy show with immature, high-school characters. But The Shipper is so much better!

- First of all, great production value! The budget seemed to be quite high, the product placement wasn't too aggressive. The series had good cinematography, a varied setting and a really wonderful soundtrack. The work of the film editors was particularly noteworthy, creating many surprising moments with a clever use of flashbacks and jump cuts.
- The series provided us with a wide range of characters: the inconspicuous nice guy, the mean girl gang, the involuntary bad boy, the perfect student with secrets and the two naive shipper-best friends. The actors portrayed them well. I obviously have a soft spot for Ohm Pawat, and he did not disappoint; even his age didn't seem too far-off for a high schooler, which is mindblowing, actually. Little details in the various relationships shown really made this series above-average. The mean girls writing about each other in various chat groups were hilarious, for example. Adults were not very present, but especially Pan's uncle had some very touching moments. Oh, and the Angel of Death was pure comedy gold, thanks to Jennie!
- After the first few episodes, the character development got (in most cases) surprisingly deep, sometimes in sharp contrast with the overall comedy. We learned about a difficult siblings relationship, about strong bonds of friendship, about unexpected first loves, and about parental pressure. The whole yaoi phenomenon wasn't as present as the title would have suggested, but it was used well to portray the girls' naivete when it came to love. And I loved the audacious gender-bender concept, making all kinds of relationships between the characters possible, disregarding gender stereotypes. I am a little mad however that they went with a male love-interest for Soda in the end.
- I will end with some critique. Generally speaking, the series didn't always get the tone right. By that I mean that over-the-top comedy and very serious issues (sexual misconduct, violence, death) were sometimes clashing too harshly. Leaving the boys' locker room porn crime at the beginning largely uncommented was a very bad move. The Angel of Death's role sometimes ridiculed the concept of death in itself, which is questionable, since this touches upon the very dignity of human life. And storywise it was certainly surprising that Kim was actually dead the whole time, but it ultimately made a lot of the story appear pointless. I appreciate that they tried to fix that problem with the post-credit scene though, maybe we will get a second season (I certainly wouldn't mind)!

If you are looking for a hilarious comedy with great characters, a surprising story and enough emotional depth, this is a total recommendation! Once again a female director saves the day.

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this is actually amazing !!!

STORY- okay when I first watched the trailer and read the synopsis I wasn't planning on watching it, but I wanted to see if it was actually bad and wow its good. Like the idea is so weird but it works for some reason.

ACTING- I mean the acting is really good (side note I love the teacher for some reason), but nobody had been wowing me besides Fluke who portrayed both characters well, and I feel like whatever character Ohm portrays he does a great job.

MUSIC- I mean no comment I did not notice it at all.

REWATCH VALUES- YESYESYES! I am definitely gonna rewatch this, I like how different it is.

OVERALL- If you like thai dramas/ BLs you should give this a try because it is better than you think it is.

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Do Not Go Into This Expecting A BL. It Isn't One.

The title of the show is "The Shipper." Using what you know about titles, it can be assumed that the main focus will be the shipper, Pan. Thus, Way and Kim (the shipped) are still important, but Pan is more important for the story.

Acting: The acting is really good and it comes to no surprise since it has Ohm, First, Prigkhing, Jennie, etc. I would really love to applaud First for being able to act as Kim AND act as Pan exactly how Prigkhing would. The transition between Pan being played by Prigkhing and Pan being played by First is seamless. I had never seen Fluke act before and WOW he's really amazing, especially at crying.

Story: I'm gonna make a separate section about the ending so we'll just ignore it for now. But this show made an otherwise boring concept interesting. I hate body-swapping, but in this show, it just felt so nice and natural. The synopsis makes this show seem to be some weird fetishizer's wet dream, but it isn't at all. This show does really well at showing how shipping real people can be taken too far and the consequences that could happen when it does. The weird incest-feeling moments are eh~~~, but thankfully they don't last long.

Ending: Did I expect Kim to die? No. Did I want him to die? No. Am I angry he died? No. I'm okay that he died. I loved the ending surprisingly. Maybe that's because I had felt that the show was not as happy as it tried to seem. Some people in the comments of this page felt that Pan should've "been the ultimate shipper and sacrificed herself for Kim," but this would've gone against the main lesson of the show: "Everyone deserves to search for happiness." Kim himself even says in the show that Pan deserves to be happy just as much as they do. It also would cancel out the wonderful message of shipping gone too far. Yes, the straight couple gets a happy ending while the gay couple "doesn't" but that doesn't erase WayKim's feelings for each other at all. Just like Kim told Way, even though they are far from each other, they still love each other and that shows how strong their love is. Do some aspects of Kim dying make sense? No, but I'm not too bothered by it.

I would like to end this by saying, if you're unsure of if you want to watch, try to make it to episode five. If you don't like it by then, drop it. If you're coming because you wanna see boys kiss, go somewhere else. I find this show to be worth it, I hope you do too.

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