Nitiman (2021)

AKA boys on crutches

AKA so many confused bisexuals

This one gave me My Engineer vibes from the start, only with a better main couple, but much weaker side dishes. This is OLD school Thai uni BL. It felt like it was meant to come out in 2018 but I was grateful to get it in 2021. It went up against GMMTV’s FUTS without the same level of production or quality control and STILL knocked it out of the water (or sky, as it were).

Neither offering was strong on story but Nitiman had more redeemable and sympathetic characters, a great tsundere uke redemption arc, and a fantastic pining seme who yearned without bullying, grooming, or gaslighting his uke.

It was very much a university drama in that there were lovable surrounding friendship groups for both main characters with their own relationships, issues, and nosiness. I really like it when uni BL feels socially collegiate.

All that said, absolutely nothing happened in this BL. And I thought Oxygen lacked drama. I enjoyed it but it felt a bit just like really good vanilla ice cream, I was left rather scrabbling for the missing peach cobbler. In other words… was there a point? Do I care to eat vanilla ice cream for it’s own sake when I consider it the condiment of the dessert world? I honestly don’t have an answer.

You’re gonna have to watch it for yourself and decide if it’s you flavor.

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Averagely Above Average

Idk how to describe this but somehow it was an average series with a twist. It wasn't too cliché or basic and I didn't get bored. It did kinda get stretched out a bit but nothing to steer me away. It's a simple show, but nothing you should dismiss. I wanted to smack Jin a few times, but what's a drama without some emotion? lol I think all the cast has potential to succeed and this show was a great start! It's pretty underrated but please give it a watch. I'd recommend to anyone new to BL as this isn't too cheesy or dramatic with pretty decent visuals. There's one ship I wanted to set sail but it failed which is ok (I guess).
Enjoy...

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UNDERATTED!!!! (Its pretty enjoyable)

UNDERRATED
It's one of the underrated BL. I am watching right now and It's really good and people are questioning Jin's character but people like Jin exist.
REVIEW
Yeah, it follows another college theme BL trope so but we have a lot of BL series with this trope so why not this one too.
It's pretty good people had watched TharnType and 2gether without these complaints.
So yeah lots of people didn't like Jin's behavior but it's common if you had options you might be confused about whom to choose. So yeah Jin at first thought B'Bomb was the one who caused his Breakup with Aim. But later he found out that B'Bomb likes him and then B'Bomb starts to court Jin. Then Jin started to develop something for B'Bomb but Jin is not at all sure. Jin is confused about why not he would be he started to develop feelings for a guy so it's obvious yeah I was also a bit annoyed with him but people like Jin are confused but put yourself in Jin situation you always thought you are straight and suddenly develop feelings for a guy you would confuse as Jin. Jin then slowly falls deeper for B'Bomb and I really enjoyed that how their chemistry is really one of my favorite couples, and I like the ending that how Jin became so sincere towards him and he even comes out to Bomb's mother and Jin even made it official. So yeah it's really good for me at least even though lots of though it has some plot that B'Bomb and Jin having miscommunication issues, but they solved it in the end. But my problem was the intention of Kaem was so confusing till the end but lets me just think that his character was like that. And the director was the same as Sotus so that's why Side characters have zero screen time,
Acting-wise
Jin actors did a pretty good job and I really liked him
B'bomb actors did what he told to do
Other actors were also good
Overall it's 8/10 for me
SO Story-wise it's not too slow or not too fast a good-paced drama we need relationship development in a series and we are getting in this series and the acting is really good I could feel the emotions and feelings. And so far it's pretty good but so you should definitely watch this BL
and my only drawbacks were the side couple either they should not be including with much less screen time or they should have not have shown about them in the trailer but I actually really like the main couple so I don't care much about the side couple so yeah I would highly recommend this. (And the director is the same who created Sotus that's why it's really similar)

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The best thing about this series was the hilarious comments that were made week by week.

I must say that few times I have seen series that are so bad and uncomfortable and cringe in practically every second and at the same time these elements made it so captivating, I don't know if because of the discomfort or simply because I needed to know when else they could repeat the same episode and again.

The story itself is very basic, nothing we would not have seen before, two college students who are attracted to each other, but the way everything is handled is so weird that we need to talk about it, why the Editing this series is so uncomfortable? from the beginning it gives you the feeling that there are disconnected scenes in the same episode, they do not follow a clear narrative and there is no consistency between one fragment and another. Each and every one of the episodes follow the same structure: exaggeratedly uncomfortable conversations between friends that we are not plausible, soccer, bars and alcohol, Jin drunk, BBomb picking up Jin, they go to sleep in the room of the first, then they fight over something that nobody understands or because of jealousy and in the end they reconcile, end of the episode. All the episodes are the same, over and over again, nobody bothered to write a story, a script, a development, something.

Let's start with: the relationship between Jin and BBomb is a disaster, I really don't understand why they are a couple, it is true that BBomb is interested in Jin from the beginning, but the latter seems to only accept being with BBomb a victim of circumstances, since everything your environment is in charge of manipulating your relationship; there is no one who does not come between these two, and it is difficult to tell if Jin's feelings are genuine or not, we have chapters where he talks about being ashamed to be with BBomb, others where he treats him badly or ignores him, only when he leaves him or does not answer his calls, once, then if we see him upset, but I think it is worth asking if it is really love or is he just being dependent on it, I think it is clear from the beginning that Jin is someone that you need to be in a relationship to be happy and he like to have the admiration of others.

BBomb is not a better character, he behaves like a child all the time, he does not have any maturity and does not evolve in the least in the whole series, he is capricious and has a crush on Jin because of a stupidity, he really does not even know him; His jealousy is ridiculous, if someone breathes close to where Jin is, he already doubts his relationship, gets angry about everything and refuses to face the problems head-on, not even at the end when he should seek to talk to Jin and reach an agreement, instead he decides to flee and be offended without giving explanations.

Also, it seems so implausible to me that the series insists that Jin and BBomb sleep every night in the same room, but they tell us that nothing has ever happened between them, and at this point I do not say that it necessarily has to happen or that the series has to show it far from it, but we are talking that they are young, normal, healthy adults who love each other and do not even have moments where you feel that they have that attraction for each other; It is not necessary for them to kiss (because their kisses were so uncomfortable) but at least in their looks, in their gestures or expressions, it would be expected that they were there.

Friends, they are probably the worst group of friends I have ever seen, their intentions are not good or honest, they are not doing their best for their friends, they are only getting involved in their lives because they have nothing better to do and they do it from the worst possible way, behind his back; also individually they do not contribute anything, they have no personality, their stories do not matter and the only thing the series does is give us an aspect of them and exploit it throughout the series: the friend who is a stalker, the one who fights with the girlfriend, the one who is sad knows why, the one who is angry, those of music that only serve for that; they are the flattest characters and without jokes that I have seen in a series and I do not know why they tried to emphasize their love relationships so as not to get anywhere at all with that and for that I am only going to take Keam as an example, he is a character unintelligible, at first it seems that he has feelings for Jin, an issue that remains nowhere, then he seems to have feelings for Ball, an issue that remains nowhere, there are a lot of chapters where we see him to drink and suffer like a condemned man and nobody knows why he is after that and his friends do not care exactly the same, I do not understand that you need to have a lot of characters, if they can not even write one that is decent.

Alcohol in this series is a serious issue, it seems that the characters have a serious problem with it, grated in addiction, it cannot be that each chapter we have them drunk and filling up bars and not because it is condemned that this happens, but because it makes no sense within the "universe" where the characters are supposed to exist, they are college students and can go to bars and parties every night and it has no consequence or impact on their lives, literally the characters spend more time drunk than sober in the series; this applies to everything else we see them do, everything except being students, they have time for everything, soccer, shitty plays (I'm not saying that when you're in college you don't have time for these things, of course you do), I saw a comment that said that they represented well what it was to be a young university student and the reality is that no, the series does not raise one of the conflicts that involve living that stage of life and having to balance their personal and love relationships.

There are very few series where I dare to say that the performances are bad, almost always chose to believe that when the performances are uncomfortable it is due to bad direction, but in this series I cannot justify what happened, the performances are horrible, they feel so uncomfortable and unnatural at all times, that it is painful to see, especially of the main actors on whom the whole weight of the series falls and from whom a quality of work is expected at least within the average; both Jom and Noh are rookie actors and I understand that the series had a limited budget and script, I hope that in the future if they follow the path of acting they can deliver better roles, Natty is probably the only one who will save a little from this trial is within what is much more effective in her role, she feels more realistic and her dramatic scene convinces. What happened with Kao and Turbo seems to me a topic that we should touch on, honestly they are only here because they have some fame for their supposed relationship, which I do not know if it is true or not, but it does not matter, it does not matter if in life they are actually a couple or not, the important thing when creating a series is that the characters you have fulfill a function within your story and not only serve to create hype, it seems to me a very cheap trick on the part of the production.

As for the rest of the elements of the series, it is noticeable that the budget was not exactly large, the series is made in few locations and the assembly elements do not stand out in any respect, but when you have these limitations your efforts should go to build a good narrative and a credible script things that failed here spectacularly.

I think it is clear after all this criticism that Nitiman is a series that I do not enjoy and it is the truth, I understand that there are people who like it and found it compelling, but I cannot put aside everything in which I think it fails, especially in the edition, I think that the series must at least have a certain quality to be able to be transmitted and this one does not get it, even so I finished watching it because I wanted to see how they were going to handle the series without evolution or plot and enjoy the process of discuss and complain about this with my friends every week, there is nothing wrong with you liking this series, tastes are subjective, but we must recognize and demand that we deserve better quality series.

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Typical BL, but Not???

Yes, I won't try to act like this wasn't the typical engineering BL, but for some reason this felt way better than the others ones?? Nititman made this overused BL style feel more authentic and proficient. It brought along the cliché BL tropes, and some repetitive plot devices, but it was also a really nice love story that felt like you had seen it before, but with a few differences.

Let's Dive In.

This was a Thailand BL for you, the most thrown in plot devices you can think of mixed with a few side character problems and singing. Nititman felt like a mix of UMWA (y'know, without the suicide and stuff) and what My Gear and Your Gown wanted to be. It was pretty much just cuteness overload with the little slice of naughty cake and a scoop of comedy and angst to go with it. The only thing this series missed out on was character development. There was no change in anyone except feelings and that was it. Not saying that most engineering BLs do this on the regular, but it would've been a nice touch for this one.

As for production, it was decent. There were time when the lighting was nicely done and colors were used to show subtle moods and I loved it. This was another BL where I didn't see many ad placements, if any at all. The songs were actually really good and I found myself not skipping, so there's a bonus.

But no BL is perfect and this once can attest to that. Let's start with this whole "trying to get Jin and Bbomb to f*ck" situation first. I don't need to go on and on about how terrible this was, cause, you know, don't drug your friends?? At least Bbomb didn't act on those feelings much, and when Jin said no he listened, but something that Thailand BLs do and do only is take serious matters and make it laughable. Not funny?? at all??? At least U had enough sense to see that what they were doing wasn't okay, but of course, he was the anomaly in this situation so his feelings didn't matter. Moving on, The receptiveness of plot devices was astronomically pestering. How many times did Jin need to "break" his foot? How many times did someone need to be jealous of another? How many times did they need to be drunk? I mean, this list goes on, but my golly, I can't do it. I felt like I was watching the same episodes over and over again. There's no need for the repetition of these things, once is enough, and maybe had they done that, Ball and Keam could've gotten at least two more minutes of screen time.

Surprisingly, I didn't have too much of a problem with the overly-obsessive BL fans except for them posting it online. Find a life, I beg of you. And STOP WITH THIS GOD-AWFUL TROPE. It's okay, we can have a mlm love story without outsiders pinning for them. I think I didn't mind it that much cause I LOVED Aruy. He was HILARIOUS and I don't think this series would've been the same without him. (found out the same director here did Oxygen in which was even worse with Yaois, Lawd)

Onto Jin and Bbomb. While their start up was a little iffy, their execution was pretty nice. The one thing they did so good on was actually looking like they liked each other. Even with the way they laid in bed together, how Bbomb spooned Jin and even how he caressed Jin's hair when he was laying on his chest. It was the small things like that that attached me to this couple. Jom did a pretty good job, he was able to actually cry during sad scenes and his smile didn't hurt either. This was Noh's acting debut, so I'll forgive some of his very stale acting and one-and-only facial expression in the hopes that he'll do better in future projects. (But his character didn't have much of a personality other than liking Jin and being good at everything).

Let's move onto the biggest problem of the series, KEAM AND BALL. Ball was a ray of sunshine, and Keam was literally running away because he was too fucking cute. THEY NEEDED WAY MORE SCREEN TIME THAN THEY DESERVED. Ball was on maybe 4 or 5 episodes, and it felt like we were getting somewhere until nothing happens? We got a two-minute something at the very end of the final episode, but that was NOTHING. We need a second season, precisely for Keam and Ball to do literally anything.

They teased at Jay and Song a lot, and I loved their dynamic, so Imma need some more of them if we get a next season. U and Ultra seemed like they could've had something, even Singh and Jack had a little smidge of maybe something that could of happened, but they both had their own girl problems, so probably not. If anything, they had a great on-screen friendship that I really liked. Their comedic touch lightened the already lightened plot.

Overall, I honestly loved this series. Yes it was typical, yes it was cliche, but I loved every single minute of it. This is the BL that BL is all about. No actual act of importance, stupid lovey-dovey tropes, and singing. what more could I ask for? I do recommend for anyone trying to get into BL, it's an easy watch and entertaining one too.

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Slow And Dull The Series

Honestly this was one of the most boring BL's I've ever seen. We started off pretty slow and it never really sped up. Not gonna lie I had to watch this sped up lol or else I would've never gotten through it. We're back in the engineering genre, which is okay I don't mind those too much. I liked seeing Lhong from TharnType in another series! Bbom was cute and a badie with the drum kit. I would say episode 3 things kinda started to happen, but lord it took too long . There was way too much unutilized time that could be developing characters or plot wasted on scenes with eating, drinking alcohol, sleeping or just a bunch of nothing. This was this series downfall and it never stood a chance.

Other things that bugged me was why there gotta be crazy BL fans or whatever in these shows!? Like know your audience,that's just stalking. As well as, Jin is kinda a user throughout the series, and just a lame character. He knows Bbom likes him and he's using him for food and transportation which isn't cool. At least by ep 5 after the kiss Jin is admitting he has some type of feelings going on but he just doesn't know what he wants to do with them. Dude hit the jackpot having Bbom in his bed all the time but is too dumb to realize it. He also gets hurt playing soccer multiple times lookin like a fool. And I didn't like that he lead on that one girl on either, she liked him and he's so not into it. At least he told her eventually but it should've been before the date

Keam and Ball seem hella cute. But again, these men need to stop leading women on in this! They also didn't really pan out at all so what a waste.Continuing on. I swear to god if I had to hear Jin say one more time that he doesn't know his own feelings Imma scream! Dude cut the crap, and then 2 seconds later he's like "I'LL DATE YOU!" Then we get cutesy stuff and then cut to them spooning half naked in bed. Wtf the whiplash. Why would anybody put up with Jin for so long? I'm honestly curious lol because he's so boring and indecisive. There's no emotional benefit to the relationship for Bbom and sure as hell isn't a physical aspect to it. So why?

Okay another thing. I don't know what kind of f***** up friends Bbom has but you don't dose someones drink EVER and what makes it worse is that they pressure him to finish it before he's about to drive. Awful AND if that's not enough they slip a condom into his pocket, implying he should "get laid" while hes going to be clearly not sober. I did not enjoy this show very much at all lol and I don't know how anyone did. The best parts of this are literally the theme song and some of the other music. As well as, Bbom as a character was good. Skip this one or just watch his scenes.

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Weed plants, drunk scenes and many more dull, borderline nefarious scenes things are happening here

Edit: I have completed this drama because I don't drop anything to maintain a clear graph and guess what? This is still trash.

The points made below still hold. There are also some dub-con scenes which I disliked. I wish I had never started on this.

There is no development, no change. It's s stagnant as a scum-covered eutrophic pool of water.

New rating: 2.0.

-

If this drama were available on YouTube, it would be one of those which I watch at 2× speed and skip every ten seconds. If I'm looking for something mindless and puppy then I turn to university bl series like this, but I see several problems in “Nitiman”.

The basic story is that Bbomb, a law student, has been crushing on his senior, Jin, an engineering student who is supposedly the most handsome guy on campus. The drama revolves around them and their romantic debacles. I'll just list the basic reasons why I dislike this show:

1. RANDOM SHOTS OF WEED
First and foremost, this is something I specifically noticed in episode3, everytime there is a change of scene, the drama incorporated the most random shots of weeds. What were they trying to do? Was it supposed to be scenic? I just ugly laughed when it happened three times in a row on episode 3.

2. EVERY EPISODE HAS A BAR SCENE
No, like seriously. Every episode has a bar scene where Jin or Bbomb gets drunk and then they end up in Jin’s room. How convenient.

3. WHAT'S WITH THE TITLE?
The word 'Niti' means law in both Thai and my own language. Bbomb is a law student. Big brain moment. Is there any other significance to the title then do let me know and I'll readily remedy this.

4. THE BEGINNING JUNGLE BEATS
The intro to the show sounds like a badly done version of the Tarzan. Like seriously, it's jungle beats.

5. BADLY DONE HUMOR
I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of every badly done comedy in this show, I'll elaborate on a particular incident in episode 3. Seeing Jin in a curled up position while sleeping, Bbomb takes it upon himself to straighten his posture so he lifts him up while simultaneously making while scrunching his face. Jin’s brown plush toy is positioned at his groin to resemble his d***. Let's just say that I did not find it funny.

Also, comedy at the expense of a ladyboy or transgender character is something I have developed zero tolerance for.

6. DRUNKEN KISSING
Nope, not two drunk friends kissing each other in a moment of passion. This is Bbomb kissing a drink Jin (who is has at least not passed out). Not only was it drunken and sudden but it was HORRIBLY DONE? I was gagging behind the screen when Bbomb just pressed himself against Jin–like boy no, just no.

7. WHERE'S MY TURBO AND KAOWNAH AT?
I came to know about Turbo and Kaownah during Lovely Writer and I was excited to see their chemistry in this series. Well, their screentime won't even amount to 1% of it. Also they gave them a TinCan storyline with Jay (Turbo) saying that Song (Kaownah) is too dirty to be allowed into his house and then Song rubs his shirt on Jay. Needless to say I was disappointed.

Same for the other side characters. Unless Keam is a polysexual bi/pansexual, I have no idea who he is supposed to be dating. If he is then he's dating everybody here. The side characters don't have any agency or purpose except to serve as a foil to the mains. I suppose they'll be brought in during episode 9 to 10 when Jim and Bbomb are at a good point in their relationship and then yeeted out during episode 11 (when the curse of episode 11 will naturally make it's appearance).

8. DIALOGUE
There's a couple here, Ultra and U, and whenever they make an appearance the only dialogue they use is “Okay, we're leaving first.” Like seriously, that's the only dialogue they had to rehears up till now. Jim and Bbomb’s dialogue has transcended to a level of cringe I cannot tolerate.

9. THE FANS ARE GOING TO BUY IT ANYWAY
If this show is any slower...if I ever got my hands on the script and was made to read it I'm sure I'd get a headache. The script was hasty, direction was plain bad, the acting was subpar (even for a university bl) and everything looked like a collage work. This show reeks of “the fans are going to buy whatever we sell so just churn out 12 episodes”.

10. POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITHOUT CONSENT
Keam sending pictures of drunk Jin to Bbomb, Jack streaming their 'romantic' moments and crazy shipper fans—i am so done with this show.

11. LOVE PRISM
This is where the SOTUS rip off becomes a bit obvious, there are multiple threads of 'he likes her, but she likes him, but he likes him and he likes him too’ going on here.

12. ACTING
Behold, I am about to begin the rant on my favorite topic (apart from the weed thing), the acting was horrible. I can understand that Noh was probably asked to act like a cardboard pop up as Bbomb but sometimes when he's showing emotions it looks like he's really trying but he just can't. I saw people comparing him to other characters like Kao in UWMA but Kao has a way of communicating with his eyes. Bbomb’s character just fell flat.
As for Jom, he looks so uncomfortable as Jinake sometimes, or perhaps he was asked to act like that. It reminds me of the main couple from 2moons.

I wonder how the acting workshop went, sometimes I feel that these series don't even conduct proper workshops for the actors. A little bit of icebreaking can solve so much. There was a complete lack of chemistry, the actors were just throwing lines around and others like Kaownah who looked like they could pull it off, were sidelined.


Dropped. Trashed. But just to be fair, this is a review up till episode 4. Since this is a dropped title, I WILL NOT BE RATING IT. Of noteworthy mention (because I like ending things on a positive note), Jom has an exceptional talent. The way he bit off half of a whole ice cream like that—my sensitive ass teeth could never—

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When is season 2

I loved this show but i thought it was 12 episodes so I was blind sides when it came to an end at 10. There's a lot of unfinished stuff for the other couples sooooo I'm hoping for a 2nd season. I had a lot of laughs and there were some useless scenes but I couldn't wait for Friday's for this. Bomb's mom was a nice touch in the ending and her acting was spot on. I was just about to that she's a *itch to Jin and shouldn't treat him that way but now I think she's wonderful and one of the best moms a kid could ever ask for. Also remember when she didn't speak to Bomb for a month for choosing to study law and then he promised that his partner would be an engineer. I guess he keep his promise.

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Standard College BL

Not much to recommend this. No real chemistry or affection between the leads. I don't see them together at all - no idea why Jin agreed to be Bbomb's boyfriend, and Bbomb is not a good boyfriend, jealous and withdrawing, so why stay? I don't get it.

Bbomb has a longstanding crush on Jin, but doesn't act on it, and then becomes arrogant that Jin will like him when he does start to pursue him. Then after Jin agrees, Bbomb is insecure about every friend and interaction Jin has. Which I guess makes sense since there's no real reason that Jin likes Bbomb, he just sort of accepted being his boyfriend.

The friends had potential but were completely wasted. They have no lives of their own, are just there to serve the leads. I mean they are literally in the plot just to get the leads together.

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