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Hear me out
It was definitely not fantastic but i will say it was NOTTTT horrible at all! I felt the need to make a review because I saw so many bad ones really making people not want to watch it when I believe this show deserves a chance so heres my short review of ‘Close to you’.The story between the brothers is weird and low-key high-key toxic I don't wanna get into it cs ill go on for dayyysss. I did like the 2nd couple though. A lotta cliché and cringe scenes but also a lot of cute and funny ones. The characters are unique in their own way and they all have great chemistry with each other so that was nice to see. The acting was good and the music wasn't bad. There were so many sexual assaults, i think that was my main issue with the show. Overall its a good watch if you’re bored, so don't go into watching it thinking it'll be a masterpiece. Nonetheless, i really enjoyed watching it. A lot of time and effort was put into making the show and you can really tell. I give it an 8/10. Watch and see if you like it please don't form an opinion based on the bad reviews or even the good ones over hyping it :)
take care x
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"It's okay guys, he did it for love !"
Some dramas know how to mix a big dose of darkness and grit with a healthy dose of levity and humour. This drama does not.On one side, we have the "best friends fall for each other while trying to pass as a couple trope" which can only be humoristic and on the other side, we have the "step-brothers not related by blood" trope, which could be played either with humour or completely seriously. Guess which they go with...
What that gets us is a group of 3 supposedly best friends who work together composed of the goofy couple and one half of the serious one. Talk about a tonal issue! The goofy couple are goofy all the time and the serious big bro feels completely out of place each time they are together. That's one part of the problem.
The other one is the introduction of the the little stepbro. For some reason, he is introduced to us as a menacing figure, stalking his big bro and he even assaults one of his big bro's friends for no other reason than because he didn't like him. His unlikable behviour notwhistanding, that's just setting him up to be hated.
And after that we have the famous drunk scene with the stepbro. That's when it stopped being even a little interesting to me. That's where I stopped watching. However cute we are supposed to find the little stepbro, these questionable years of preparing this "plan" (those who have kept watching will understand) make him a psychopath.
At no point is it even a little romantic to plan to do that to someone whatever your motives are. We all know big bro will forgive him - they are one the two main couples, how could he not ! But the writers are asking us not to take too seriously a story that they present to us with a serious tone. The set-up is unbelievable. The actors are not at fault here and they make the best of what they're given. The writing is questionnable.
I don't care that they are step-brothers. That's a common BL trope and I find it harmless enough. I care that they are premeditating abuser and victim. Yes, that's also a common BL trope, but this one is not harmless. That's just lazy writing and the incendary reviews are well deserved.
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This drama is probably meant to push your moral buttons
I don't know where to start... so far this drama has been knocking hard on the glass and viscously shaking my moral compass. First off a friend pretends to be gay and into BL to get the girl he lovebullied as a kid.. which is pretty dysfunctional but he keeps smiling through it all like a crazy... then there's his friend who goes along with it.. who is equally confusing as to why... and then there is the third friend who has yet to come out to his father and probably never will, and he is trying to deal with his step-brother whom has got some unmedicated issues for us to deal with, and he is totally in love with him. So third friend willxhave to deal with his step brother's Limerence syndrome (or his filial imprinting idk which to choose), his Othello disorder and his over all bipolarity or borderline personality.... to put those ilnesses in easy terms; the step brother basically a love sick jelaous stalker...Now, this is not my cup of tea. But because I always finish something I begin. I will watch this story through. The acting is great the boys are selling jt for sure! But you know. My moral compass is fighting with the plot scenarios... A LOT.
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You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Anyone who enjoys watching something so harmful and disgusting shouldn’t be allowed to consume LGBTQ+ media. Too many horrible tropes, like fujoshis, rape, incest, and the romanticization of it all. I’m sure there are more that I haven’t mentioned.Gay relationships aren’t your little toy scenarios to play with. Of course we want representation in the media for other types of love, OF COURSE WE DO! But negative and just creepy and overused portrayals like this are not what we need. People need to stop romanticizing toxic behaviour— there’s a difference between dramatic and heavy topics shown within media and just plain romanticization of toxicity. There’s also a way for films and shows to clearly highlight very toxic things within relationships and friendships without putting them on a pedestal and labeling them as cute or desirable and OKAY.
I expected more from the History series. I guess the departing of the screen writer or whomever that woman that left to write We Best Love instead really damaged everyone else’s heads. This isn’t cute. It’s shameful.
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Messed up at times but still good!
This drama is messed up with the stepbrother storyline. It is cringey with stalker brother being all sorts of crazy. At the same time, i do love it with the main couple storyline, who are so cute and hot, too. Teng Mu Ren is my favorite -he suffers no fools and he knows when things are wrong re: consent issues yet he is still supportive of his friend's choices. Plus he is so cute, I'm waiting for a happy ending for him in particular. I would kind of like to see the stalker step brother in jail, but we'll see what happens. Above all, this is certainly entertaining even if at times it is truly messed up with the stepbrother storyline. But i do love the history series so much that i am giving then the benefit of the doubt for now. I am hoping for a good ending!Was this review helpful to you?
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This does not fit in with all the other amazing History series.
I love the history series a lot, they are so great and amazing to watch, but this one fell short and major disappointment of all the history series.Let me start by saying there is no chemistry between these two characters that said relation. They looked better as brothers. It was very disturbing to watch them grow into a couple. Clearly, there is something wrong with the whole family. Ye Xing Si and Fu Yong Jie are NOT a good match at all. It was really sick to watch them. I am fine with the idea of step-brothers turning lovers and getting together, but this was not healthy at all. Fu Yong Jie clearly has a lot of anger, mental health, and has emotional issues. Clearly, he should not be in any relationship where he is steaking and obsessed over his brother, that is not love. The fact that he had to rape his brother because he did not feel secure about being honest with his brother is wrong and then to have a video and show your parents is plain nasty. He should have been taken to a mental hospital . The ending only made it worse with them getting together and the family being ok with it. This storyline was just WRONG in general.
Xiao Li Cheng and Teng Mu Ren pairing I loved the setup and the emotion and growth it had. they should of had the big grand magical ending that the other couple got. I love how you see them grow from where they started and build slowly on it to come together, each realizing their passion and love for one another after all those years. They were amazing and the chemistry was great.
The actors were amazing but the character of Fu Yong with his lack of emotion for his family and care for anyone for me was more like a villain than a love interest for the series. I could do without the office drama too, was not needed and over the top when there was a lot going n already. Secretaries also need to be fired clearly instead of being allowed to have office gossip and drama.
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Amazing BL
All I can say is don't let anyone discourage you from watching this, it's worth it, it's a great drama and the storyline works with the name it's all abt being close to the one you love.Sure it has it flaws but they make up for it as they improved, people just jumped to conclusions about this series before giving it a chance and that was where the issue began.
Licheng and muren relationship is just fucking amazing, cute , funny, hot and they did great.
Fu yong je and xing si relationship had a rocky start but when you chose to understand where their love is coming from you would understand why it had to be that way from the start
Overall this drama is great watched it twice already 😊, I miss them already.
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Not because this series is not worth watching, but if we look at another histories before this, both of them have a huge quality that is far above of this series.
The recurring story about the love affair between siblings, with simple conflicts between the main characters, makes this series seem like a fad.
This series is saved precisely thanks to the professional-looking acting of the main leads, because even from the musical side, this series doesn't seem to have the slightest good side.
In Indonesian:
Ekspektasi saya sepertinya terlalu tinggi terhadap history 4, sehingga sekarang yang saya rasakan begitu kecewa terhadap series ini.
Bukan karena series ini tidak layak ditonton, tapi jika kita melihat 2 series history sebelum ini, keduanya amat sangat memiliki kualitas yang jauh diatas series ini.
Cerita yang terulang kembali soal percintaan antar saudara, dengan konflik yang juga sederhana antar tokoh utama membuat series ini nampak seperti iseng saja dibuatnya.
Series ini tertolong justru berkat akting para pemain yang nampak professional, karena dari sisi musikpun series ini nampak tak ada sisi bagusnya sedikitpun.
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Disappointed!
-Neg:1. I dont liked Teng Mu Ren Facial expression. I wanted him different from his Behave. (Relaxed and little more manly)
2. That Teng Mu Ren ran away from his feelings and met with Xu Shao Fen. (instead of talking to Xiao Li Cheng) I didn't like that.
3. Too few love scenes. I wanted to see a little more wild love scenes of the Two couples.
4. Too few kisses
5. When some love scenes got exciting, the scene was suddenly changed. That really bothered me a lot.
6. Too much talk from episode 9-10 to 20. that could have been reduced.
7. Where Teng and Xu slept together but still had their underpants on. I was disappointed.
8. It was a pity that Xu Shao Fen didn't stay sexy and manly. That suited him best than the childlike behavior.
+Pos:
1. It was funny often. I loved it.
2. The Characters and Couples.
3. The Music
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very good
I have to say this was an excellent showI have seen it twice now and it doesn't disappoint, the acting is excellent and and so is the script, the story evolves quite naturally and floes, no one lets this show down, for me its a must watch.It does help that the guys are very hansome, I have enjoyed quite a few Taiwanese dramas over the past few months, well done to all involved.
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Incredibly good!
Two episodes in and I am addicted! The first episode set up the story and introduced all the characters. The acting of the four main leads is fantastic. It would be hard to say which actor I like the most as they are equally good. The chemistry between the actors makes it so believable. The storyline is sooo good...and funny. I can't wait to see each episode. Although I watch it on viki.com, I wish I could pay to see the whole series at one time. It would be worth it. Every scene is important and leads the viewer further into the story.Was this review helpful to you?
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Cliche and morally problematic
I generally support the BL genre and LGBTQIA+ representation in Asian film/media; however, this drama was ridiculously problematic and very uncomfortable to watch (despite only watching four episodes fully). To start, the 腐女子 coworkers. It's one thing to know those types of people exist in the world (sure), but to seem them portrayed in a BL drama to add nothing more than, well, drama felt tasteless. The male lead taking the advice of his 腐女子 coworkers in order to get closer to the female coworker he had a crush on led to some really awkward and borderline harassment situations.Apart from that, I can look past the step-brother unrequited love arc, but I draw the line at this drama romanticizing rape. Not only is one of the male leads an obsessive stalker, he also assaults another male lead who seems "too close" to his stepbrother whom he is pining for. Take that a step further when he intentionally gets the stepbrother drunk and rapes him—let's not forget the jarring choice of music which would have you believe the sexual encounter could have been consensual. What really got me was how the characters talked about what happened post-rape and how either being "1" or "0" could have changed the situation. The fact of the matter is that one character took advantage of another one and violated them.
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