This review may contain spoilers
How I Would Rewrite This Story:
So I will be spoiling the basic plot of the story and then make suggestions for how to better this drama. First though, I do want to say that I overall didn't dislike this drama. I laughed a lot. I think though that this drama was heavily marketed as a BL drama when in reality it's about the BL Shipper Pan and her coming to terms with how her shipping Way and Kim stops her from realizing that there was true love right next to her all along. So, this story is pretty much a straight story with some BL themes.There was also that really awkward incestuous kiss where Pan, as Kim, kisses Khett, who is Kim's brother. We know that it's Pan kissing Khett, but still in the context of the bodies, it was a bit awkward to watch.
Plot Summary: Two girls, Pan and Soda, love shipping two boys, Kim and Way who attend their school. They write fanfictions about the boys and romanticize the relationship that the two may have. Then, Pan and Kim get into a vehicle accident. They both are in limbo. The angel of death says that she made a mistake and vows to send them both back. Pan gets sent back, but she wakes up in Kim's body. While living as Kim, she decides to help develop Kim and Way's relationship. Eventually, we find out Kim actually died, and Pan needs to decide whether to live the rest of her life as Kim or herself. She chooses to live as herself, and finds love with Khett in the process.
What I would change: I like body switching stories. I think they up until the part where they go to limbo was executed just fine. I think they should have both been brought back, bodies switched. It would have given the plot more to work with. While Pan is busy acting like Kim, she learns that Kim and Khett are brothers (this is already part of the story), but her purpose for learning it now is to help them repair their relationship, because Khett never discovers that Pan is in Kim's body. Instead, they play their parts well.
Pan in Kim's body spends more time with Way. At first, she's determined to make it happen even though there was implication that Way actually has unspoken feelings for Kim. By wanting the relationship to work, and by reading journals that Kim wrote, she helps them grow their relationship.
Kim in Pan's body realizes by speaking with Khett, how Khett truly feels about him. He regrets always ignoring Khett and by bonding with Khett. When he returns to his body at the end, he learns how to demonstrate to Khett that he does care about him a lot. He also picks up that Khett likes Pan a lot, so he helps nudge their relationship along at the end.
Of course throughout the drama, there would be a lot of tomfoolery because Kim being in a woman's body, and Pan being in a man's body of course would lead to funny interactions and awkwardness between the two. But those would be funny themes explored in the drama.
The overarching theme in this story though would be that after switching bodies, they learn things about each other, and help both grow as characters and come to their true self. Kim opening up about his sexuality and reuniting with his brother, and Pan discovering that she loves Khett.
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Had it Funny moments
It did have some funny moments to it, but nothing to brag about.I am 50/50 on this drama, as I only picked up because of Ohm.
The story was your normal basic, school girl with no self confidence in herself, protective boy and bullies. an angle of death mistake and switching of bodies. there was a whole lot going on in this drama, but the funny moments made up for the mess i think it was. The cinematography. The acting. The writing. The music. From a thoroughly dispassionate standpoint, Kim's death was really unnecessary in my eyes. I think it could have been handled differently.
Although seeing OffGun made me happy and seeing Ohm dance in the credits made me smile I don't think these two things are enough to save the rest of the episode.
Overall: This drama had way too many mixed signals and not enough of a good message in it.
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Overused, annoying trope in the story
Alert - spoilers ahead:The reason I scored this otherwise fun and well-produced series quite low is the annoying "Bury Your Gays" trope - while the general tone of story is light (so, you wouldn't suspect there's a tragedy looming ahead) and the straight couple goes on to live happily ever after, somehow the gay couple does not. It was already an outdated tactic back when Western media often employed this trope, 10-20 years ago, so it definitely shouldn't be adopted into Asian media now.
While sometimes a bit corny, the acting is overall good and the actors chosen portray their characters well. The transitions between the two actors which play Pan are very smooth.
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Loved it but low key grossed out
StoryThe base plot is good. Like the whole body switching thing was great. However the ending wasn't my favorite. The whole thing that the brothers had was weird. I don't like it.
Acting/Cast
Now while the story was not it First's acting was amazing!!!!! His crying scenes and how he portrayed a girl was great. It was amazing. I hope to see him getting another lead role soon. Everyone else was good but his stood out to me.
Music
I listen to the OST on replay it is such a fun little song.
Overall
Great!! A little confusing at first but otherwise I loved it!!! Go watch it.
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as sweet as sugar
surprisingly wonderful.. . ...to be honest I didn't expect this to be so much awesome cuse the rating was so low and the story was so repetitive ,but I loved the story line in spit of it....
also loved the cast's acting so so much (especially Kim's actor).....despite the fact that the story was too fancying, they turned it into something really believable and i just felt like everything made sense......
i was so longing to know what next episode is going to bring to me .....
i understand that it may be so dramatic and makes you cry a lot but it's worth it....
i am so glad that i skipped the negative reviews and decided to start watching this ....i loved it and i hope you'll all find it lovely and enjoyable....
thanks for reading this review...bye
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Don't rely much on reviews to determine which show is good or not
Yes, so like every other person I was skeptical about this show, but I had nothing to do and said okay let me try it.Believe me, if I say I was wasn't hooked I am a LIAR. This show was bomb!
The acting...oh my, I must say that First, that guys is a freaking acting genius. The role he acted was..what should I say? It looked like it was simple but it wasn't? Anyway He gave the role another meaning. He was the person who hooked me from the beginning to the end followed by Ohm and the girl who played pan's best friend. I loved them.
The visuals were good too. I think the production did a good job in this one.
The story....ehn not so original but it was looking fresh with the way it was handled...the ending was not what we wanted but the show gave me a bitter sweet feeling I guess I could manage.
The show overall is interesting, the acting really was worth seeing and I highly recommend watching it, also I can see my self re watching this in no time. Hahaha.
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There's a lot to say
First I'll say that from a technical aspect, The Shipper is impressively well put together. Combined with good pacing, the show has a generally attractive and easy-to-watch style. Sometimes you watch a (GMMTV) show and are hit by a feeling of awkwardness or emptiness from a given composition, dialogue, or blocking. To its advantage, The Shipper is especially polished.For approximately 11 episodes, I honestly thought The Shipper was somewhat of a mini-masterpiece. I had my gripes about it from time to time but as an overall show it's funny, crazy, and engaging. I've seen people say that the humor was over-the-top but because I watched it with a friend we had a ball. Sometimes for a show like this, over-the-top and absurd is a good thing. You can't have a show about fujoshis and not get crazy with the comedy. It keeps a good ironic air about the show's themes.
The Shipper somehow also managed to get so sad in episode 11 that I was crying like I watched someone die in real life. I love devastating media maybe because I'm a water sign or something but a successful tearjerker is the best in my opinion. Even though I could already tell Kim was dead by the time The Angel of Death said it, hearing the confirmation was a mega DAMN moment. The following scenes with Khett and Way are something you don't get often in comedy. Kim's death not being a fake-out also isn't something you get often with comedy. Unlike everyone else I actually really appreciated that they had the guts to kill him and keep him dead. Adding that kind of realism to an otherwise over-the-top and absurd show is especially impactful.
I see a lot of complaints about the romance aspect of the show. First of all, needing to neatly categorize things as BL or not and judging a show entirely on whether or not it fits your idea of BL is kind of insane. Like you're just blatantly a fujoshi if you're at that point. I have seen a more rationally-based critique of Kim and Way's story and its tragic end, a well-known and much-hated trope within LGBT media. While I honestly understand this critique, I feel like The Shipper was just unfortunate that Kim and Way were the only same-sex pairing and the tragedy had to hit them. The relationship between the two was (miraculously) well-navigated for a show like this one. We dodged the bullet of Way being in love with Pan unknowingly, we found out that Kim also loved Way before he died, and the relationship between the two had proper dimension and meaning. I don't agree with the sentiment that The Shipper is another case of "fake BL" or "technical het", nor did it feel like a case of "bury your gays".
For me, The Shipper would maintain a solid 10 stars with all this considered. But there are some glaring issues that cause major deductions. It's fairly early on in the show that we find out Kim is in a relationship with his teacher for access to exam answer keys. This is handled ABYSMALLY by the show writers. Pan, albeit a teenager who is yet to have fully developed a moral compass and sense of nuance, irkingly brands Kim a terrible person because he's been cheating in school. Maybe, in some universe, the worst thing in the eyes of one kid is seeing another kid cheat, but in my universe where I went to grade school for 12 years and lived as a teenager, I can't say my mindset ever aligned with Pan's. This is so reminiscent of the scene in The Gifted where Namtarn finds out Wave was being groomed by a teacher who stole his intellectual work, and her first reaction was "You got her fired?!?!?!?" like wow what a takeaway. It's not a cultural thing either. Grooming in media, specifically the student-teacher thing, is too often portrayed as a non-issue or a minor issue. For the way Pan handled that situation, I was already ready to deduct maybe 2 stars from the overall rating.
Then there's what I thought was the most glaring issue in the show, but I never see it get talked about seriously. They legitimately had Khett kiss his brother's body. I can't ever describe the reaction my friend and I had to watching that kiss happen in real time. We really didn't think they'd do it. At worst, we thought they'd switch the actors out so it was Prigkhing standing in for First. But they didn't switch. Absolutely insane. For that alone I honestly contemplate giving the show a 1 star rating.
Honestly the biggest insult to injury was seeing that fucking teacher show up again at the end. She got a happy ending by finding love with someone her age, which the narration describes as "not making the same mistakes". She should have been dragged off screen in handcuffs. I cannot believe she showed up to that boy's funeral. The only acceptable ending for her was in jail or dead. I can't wrap my head around the way The Shipper portrayed what is, completely and absolutely, a predator. And the show was doing well in all other aspects for 11 whole episodes. I was even able to look past (albeit barely) the Angel of Death's creepy love for teenage boys, since a young audience has young taste and that's reflected in the ageless inhuman angel character. But episode 12 had the craziest double whammy that honestly ruined the show for me.
I did love most of the show. I honestly thought it was excellent. There are just some things that I can't forgive morally. For that reason I can't even recommend the show either. It was the most disappointing case of ruining-a-perfectly-good-thing I've ever seen. That being said I don't regret watching, so all things considered I give The Shipper 5 stars.
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Funny but has a crappy ending
NOT A BL. THIS SERIES HAS POTENTIAL BL COUPLE BUT IT IS NOT A BL SERIES. It has few cute scenes but he drama focuses Pan than Kim. Story is not something new. It is like any other soul swapping drama. I liked how this drama portrayed friendship between Pan and Soda. I became fan of Ohm right after watching Make it right. He never fails to amaze me with his acting. He did a great job in this series as well. If you were not looking for anything series and don't mind watching dramas with sad endings, go for it. Personally, I was really disappointed with the ending. Sad endings ruins my day. This is definitely not my cup of tea.Was this review helpful to you?
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The ending was kind of dissapointing tho...
It started off as an interesting story but it ended not in so good way.They could do the ending diffentrly in so many ways but it is what it is.
The only thing i really liked about this series in the acting. That is smth so good in this series that is actually worth watching it.
I mean the story wasnt that bad i was just excepting more of plot ig.
It was interesting how Pan got in Kim's body but Kim never actually got in Pan's body so can you actually call this bodies swap? I hoped to get to see more of real Kim's character actions but we only got to see it in like 1st ep.
Almost always we face the problem of annoying, childish, cringe female characters.
Than we have some fights scenes like they were beating the shit out of each other's faces (Way and Off) but there werent any brusies or blood (sometimes. When Way was attacked by Off with knife. And way pushed Off on ground and started slaping/punching his face).
And the ending seemd rushed. The way we got to see the funeral (and what was Way's ex doing there? Why was there so little ppl). The way they all moved on so quickly. Nah the ending could be so much better even if it would stay sad as now.
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Its a beautiful and heartfelt story full of laughter and tears.
This series has quickly become a favourite of mine and for good reason. I addicted to its music track & casting.
The OST honestly slaps. It’s sweet and light hearted. And also the acting is perfect. Each character is beautifully portrayed and written. Every single member of the cast is perfect as their character and even out of them.
Despite having low viewing and not much exposure. I hope everyone gives this show a try. The cast and crew deserve that and more.
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I’m glad I didn’t love the ending
This series is not horrible, but at least half of the show is not good. The biggest problem with the Shipper are the plot lines that are either bad or don’t get developed enough. The show is helped a lot by some strong performances by Ohm and First. Jennie is also good as the Angel of Death.I’m glad I didn’t love the ending, because around episode 11 I was getting worried that I’d have to say that I liked this show. The fact that I don’t love the ending doesn’t me it doesn’t make sense or that it sucked. Kim wanting Way to go on his own path, even though it would take them to opposite sides of the world, makes sense. It would allow both of them to make their own decision and be free for the first time. That’s the real love.
I’d say the last 2 episodes are actually good, but not enough to make the first 2/3 of the season a good watch. The only big redeeming quality of the first half are the visual effects. The Kana/Bii story is very bad, even after you learn why Kim did all that. Actually, even after you learn why Kim acted the way he did, I don’t feel like it’s satisfactory enough. Most shows try not to paint the main character in such a bad light as a way of making it easier for the viewers to like them. But this show did the opposite. Once you realize that Kim has been dead the whole time, and not coming back, we understand that he show doesn’t need you to root for him, you just need to understand the message he left. Live life today.
The real true love in the show is really between Kim and Way. We don’t actually get a “he loves his brother and family in secret”. We see via Way that Kim doesn’t hate Khet, but we never got a real sense of him liking or taking care of Khet. He knew about the hair salon but never did anything. He also knew that Khet blamed himself or their broken relationship but never did anything either.
Unrelated to Kim, the hair salon is a big problem to the show, it doesn’t make sense. How did a 15 year old learn to do hair well enough to get a job doing that? Did Khet only do it to find a hair treatment for Pan or that’s just a bonus? In the end, is Khet still missing class to work in the salon?
Overall, I feel like this show had good ideias for the ending, but the execution and early story was weak.
PS: I don’t think this show did well enough for the story to continue from that extra Kim scene in the end.
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i came back after almost 3 years
i remember watching this series when it was airing but i dropped it back then because I didn't really had much time.now after so much time i came back because i wanted to see more of First acting (i actually became his fan because of this series) and god was it my mistake.
until 11th episode i was so happy and loved it but oh my frickin god how i hate bad endings. i never liked stories that had soul exchange as a plot but i really wanted to give this another try (and in some twisted way it was worth it and i love firsts acting so much).
this is honestly the first series that made go on ao3 and look for another ending stories because im fuckin in shambles, crying mess.
but if you like angst then go for it!! the acting is good and even thought its sometimes a bit second hand embarrassment worth i still think that its a good series, its just that the ending (and main point of the story to be honest) is not for me.
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