Meow Ears Up (2022)

Very Mediocre

If you want something that's just sweet and is kind of silly, this might be okay for you. I know a couple of people who enjoyed it for that. I went into it curious due to the cat thing, but although I kind of enjoyed it for a while, I wound up disappointed. How much can you watch a guy swat at a cat toy?
The wigs. It may just be me, but I hate it when they use wigs in BL's. It never looks good. I think they even had a wig on a little kid in one scene.
The cat MC seemed way too innocent to be in any kind of a relationship. By the time the series ended, I was actually happy nothing happened between them, even though MC1 said he was in love with MC2. Because...ick factor. I couldn't even imagine them kissing.
The secondary romance. One guy had a brain injury that prevented him from showing emotion. This made it pretty much impossible for the romance to develop. I mean, we could never tell what the guy was thinking.
The girls didn't interest me at all, although the hamster thing was cute for about a minute. Add in the beach scene near the end, which was forced as hell, and the whole thing pretty much bombed for me. BUT! If you want cute and sweet, don't care that they MC's never get physical even for a kiss, and have some time to kill, go ahead and try it.

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Cute cat-boy story about a lonely man finding his family

If you're famiiar with "cat boys" and all the tropes that come with it, you'll already know how Meow will be portrayed: as a naive and innocent, sometimes childish, always playful, very young-looking boy with a slight build and a smooth and soft face.
If these stories about cat boys (whether in fan fiction or in manga/manhwa/manhua) do not devolve into straight-up porn, they usually stay light-hearted, soft and very, very cute. This one stays consequently on a PG level of intimacy, there's some toe holding, hand holding and one cheek kiss (where the kisser has no romantic intentions).

Content warning for some animal abuse, although we don't see any bodily harm.

First: The acting is okay. We are used to the newbies in Thai productions. and this is a bit above average. The main characters' actors, James and Gap, are more than above average, Gap did well in portraying his change from lonely artist to overwhelmed room-mate to a guy who is very much in love. James is a perfectly innocent cat-boy, showing every bit of his emotions very clearly, but without more exaggeration than the genre needs.
Second: The intro song is annoying, but bearable, the rest of the background music non-remarkable.
Third: I liked the sets, the locations and the editing. Not outstanding, but never empty and always realistic, fitting to the genre.
Fourth: I would have liked the ears to look a bit more realistic, and there were some instances when the actor's earlobes were visible.

Regarding the story, the series shows its manhua roots -- I did not find much about the original material; it seems that the manhua is at least 68 chapter (or books?) long; the few episodes of the anime version that I found were only a few minutes long. I suppose (and I just extrapolate from other manga and manhwa) that the oringinal material is one of those episodic endless manhua that never go anywhere, have little to no character development, and have no "ending", because if the couples would become official, the seres would be over. I guess that this is the main reason that this live action series's ending is more open. (Also, would anyone call someone their lover if their relationship is still unclear? Of course they don't.)
I would have loved to see more backstory for Meow, and I'm unsure if it's because of time constraints of the series or if the original did not provide more info? I do wonder why Meow is more childish than other members of the Ear People -- he's obviously slower to learn, but it also seems as if he's been sheltered from the wider world by his adoptive family? There's been some allusion to mistreatment as a little kitten but that doesn't explain everything.

Considering all the couples have the potential for power imbalance (adult / child-like cat boy, student / teacher, boss / intern) -- there's no need for concern here. The partners with more power never misuse this to push anything. The female couple is the most balanced -- while one is the bss, the other's compliments and clear adoration always melts the boss's heart. The second male couple also has its balance -- it's the student who would like to have more intimacy and tries to get closer. /Also, I think that Evan is more of an assistant than a full professor?)
Considering the main pairing: Even though Dermden (the adult artist) feels some kind of attraction in the first episode already, which evolves into love, and even though he would very much like to have a romantic relationship with Meow, he never acts on it. He even avoids situations where he could potentially cross boundaries, to Meow's great confusion. In the end, Dermdem is just happy that he has Meow in his life, and he'll take anything he'll get.

Overall, a nice and light watch, if you can accept all the tropes that come with cat boys and if you like some innocent romance.

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Cute watch to pass some time

I thought this was actually a cute show.
Even though the story itself might be somewhat ridiculous, the idea was a good one.
I'm a (crazy) catlady and can definitely appreciate anything related to cats.
The interactions between the characters were sweet. I liked Dermdem and Meow's little relationship. I wouldn't really call them a couple though. Mostly because Meow's behavior (and knowledge) was very much like that of a small child (kitten).

I think all of the actors did a great job. Considering that for most of them this was their first show.
Also, I was very happy to see James in a sweet, innocent and happy role like this after watching him in "The Effect". I know how capable of an actor he is and I needed to see him like this to heal my heart after he totally broke it back then.
I'm looking forward to seeing him in other projects as well.

I know a lot of people didn't like this show but I suggest you give it a chance. It's far from perfect but it will be relaxing to watch and might help you recover from emotional damage you got while watching other shows.

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Cute friends being cute - Silly BL adjacent fun

Easy to watch, light-headed ridiculousness- the series. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this considering how silly it is and the fact that I am really not into cat to human stuff at ALL. There are quite a few cringey acting like a cat scenes, but once you get past those in the first couple episodes mostly- there's a simple, sweet story there. Nothing really bad happens, every character is understanding and nice to each other. I really thought I'd hate this, but I actually looked forward to new eps for something nice and cheerful to watch. Cute people being cute too each other basically. Honestly I took points off this because it's not true BL- it's PG level BL adjacent as everyone is just good friends in the end LOL.

There are three couples here:
Couple 1 - Catboy meets orphan. Dermderm has an absolutely atrocious wig on for the first several episodes (think Sin in UWMA level bad wig). James (playing catboy 1-literally called "Meow") is cute and dedicated to the role- I'll say that. I was surprised to see him in this after the brutal sadness of his story in the Effect. But honestly it was nice to see him playing a silly, happy catboy after that. I wasn't that into this couple and tbh they were the only couple I was glad had no real physical intimacy in the end because I feel like it would have been weird. Mostly due to how juvenile James is made too act and look- he literally comes off as a kid. It would have been weird so I'm glad they didn't go there.

Couple 2 - Cute catboy 2 meets emotionally vacant but really cute boy. My fave couple! Evan is really cute and I can't wait to see him in something else where his character is actually meant to emote- I wanted to just see him smile so bad! Even despite that- I thought this couple had chemistry and I enjoyed all their sweet scenes.

Couple 3 - Delightful GL couple! They have to be the first GL couple I've genuinely enjoyed watching in a BL series. I love their dynamic so much!

Acting/Cast: Fine enough- let's not pretend there was any real serious acting required in this series lmao.

Overall I enjoyed this but the lack of any real BL conclusion (even a cheek kiss would have been fine for the second couple) took it down a few pegs for me in the end. There wasn't a real conclusion.

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Were you "Team Jacob"?

I wasn't, so it took be 5 episodes to come to terms with the premise alone, but I powered through in the name of torturing my group chat pals.

Once I was like, "Well I ignored Bella and Jacob, I can ignore this!" they threw in a hamster girl. I wish I was joking.

Silliness aside, I haven't read the full manga, but I did watch the anime mini series. The anime was adorable and I felt that it better explained Meow's back story than this show did. Once I got over the whole cat shifter romance aspect, I realized that wasn't what was primarily bothering me. What bothers me is Meow's extremely child-like mind, personality, and behavior. I think this show definitely confused cat-like and child-like which made this super weird at times.

Again, I didn't read the full manga so I'm not sure if he was also child-like in the og story. I am glad they aged him up in this adaptation though because he was 16 in the anime. He fit the cat stereotype in the anime and it's explained that he suffered an injury that made him unable to control his shifting between human and cat, so depending on his mood he would change (like when playing). It was funny and cute in the anime, but this live adaptation thought having an adult man play with cat toys in the floor was a better move. ?

Overall I can't lie, I did enjoy watching this. I had a lot of critiques throughout, like that intro song is PUTRID, but I may actually rewatch this one day.

I didn't care for the side couples. But like the anime, this is more of a one sided, perhaps read between the lines BL, rather than an outright romance. I perceive this more of an open ending with future potential rather than everyone was "just friends". I believe the author is on hiatus and may not have finished this story (don't quote me, it was hard for me to track down what little bit of the manga I did read), so I think the ending aligns with the original source material.

I'd recommend it if you're looking for something super different, low angst, and dare I say... cute. ?

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When just cuteness isn't enough

Excessively childish story, there is no kiss from any of the couples, there is no chemistry between any of them either.

The main character's wig is simply ridiculous and unnecessary.

The story has no foot or head.

Both the relationship between the main pair and the relationship between the two women is only hinted at as being about something other than friendship, while the other relationship between the two boys conveys zero emotions as one of them, due to an illness, is unable to smile or facially express emotions. .

If you're hoping to watch an overly cute children's story without any kisses, go ahead

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Cute and fluffy but not much plot

I personally really liked it! It didn’t really have a plot but just cuteness overall! If you like comedy, fully bl you would enjoy this a lot! The actors were good considering this was most of the actors first drama! I liked the chemistry between the couples but wished they all had more scenes together instead of having them all at one spot towards the end! My favorite couple has to be manni and jiny! They were so cute especially manni she is the cutest!! I wish they had more scenes!! + quite happy at how they weren’t any bad characters! The ending was good and wholesome as we got a beach scene and everyone was happy together but I wish they all confirmed they were dating! They shouldn’t have rushed helping the orphanage scenes because I was expecting maybe we’ll get a jinymanni scene there! Nonetheless I really enjoyed it and it was a good 3 days spent! You should give it a watch if you don’t like heavy plots and like to lean towards more comedy, heartwarming bls!

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So sweet my teeth hurt!

SHORT REVIEW BC IT HASN'T FINISHED AIRING!!
Also, slight spoilers along the way. Read with caution!
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If you told me a month and a half ago that I would fall in love with a show about a cat-man living with a real man and their life together introduces them to feelings unknown... I would've believed you. Easily. Because that premise alone is everything I could ever ask for. But so far, this show is much more than that. Let's get into it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Story? 8/10
Meow Ears Up, begins with the introduction of Dermdem (Gap), a dejected artist who lives alone. Orphaned at a young age, he welcomes solitude much more than happiness. But when he brings home a stray cat one night, and that stray cat turns into a man, silence and sorrow no longer exist. In fact, it is because of this cat-man named Meow (James) and his playful tendencies, that the dark clouds hovering above Dermdem's head dissipate.

Apart from their budding affection for one another, we also get to see something develop between Meow's brother Faiyen (Bright)--who is also a cat-man-- and Evan (Bodo), a professor?? teacher's assistant? as they bond over basketball and learning English. Now we have two love stories to follow (three, if you include the mouse-girl, but I'm not really following that progression) that are quickly filling with good memories.

Acting/Cast? 8.5/10
So, the good actors are everybody except for Bodo (and sometimes Gap). Ugh! I hate writing this, because every character has filled my heart with so much warmth that I can't imagine doing them dirty, but man... Bodo cannot act. At all. To the point that I get second hand embarrassment, because Bright is so much better during their scenes. But!! It's his first job, and he's as sweet as can be, so I'll let it slide.

Everyone else is doing a terrific job, though! This series is made more enjoyable by the lighthearted atmosphere these actors are able to emulate with their characters. Well done. :)

Music? 6/10
Have y'all heard that title track?

Rewatch Value? 9/10
AS IT STANDS FROM EPISODE 6... I most definitely will watch this show again. It might even become a comfort show for me. HOWEVER, anything can happen in two episodes.. so I'll keep y'all posted.

Overall? 8.5/10
So far, this show has been enjoyable and wholesome. Genuinely good for my soul. It's not too serious, and the characters actually have their own personalities and goals. I hope to keep memories of this one for a long time! :)

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Loved this

This was one of the cutest series I have ever seen. I can’t believe the low ratings. I’m not looking for love making in every series I watch. This just didn’t need it. it made me feel good from start to finish.

As for the main actors, they were fantastic. This was the first series for Gap and, my Lord, is he beautiful. I can’t wait to see what’s next for him.
James is just the cutest thing and made me happy with his sweet and innocent face and smile. Those ears were adorable.

Don’t pay attention to the bad reviews. Watch it. Apparently some people only want to see steamy love making scenes and passionate kisses but this was just too sweet for that. And it was obvious who ended up together! I will definitely was this again. ❤️❤️❤️

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Bromance

Não tenho muito a dizer sobre a série, exceto o fato de que não gostei dela.
A série mistura fantasia e realidade, numa ficção onde existem raças além da humana, de animais que podem adquirir nossa forma e conviver entre nós.

Primeiro problema: Idade. Não acho que diferença de idade seja um problema sério, mas nesse caso, além de Meow ser um animal (não se sei isso foi problematizado), mas qual a idade dele? Suficiente para consentir? Não achei interessante isso. O ideal é que o "dono" de Meow (Derdem) tivesse uma idade mais próxima da dele para evitar maiores questionamentos. Embora existam momentos fofinhos, mesmo ao fim da série não entendi a relação entre eles.

Mani se aproximou de sua chefe, para depois ficarmos sabendo que elas já tinha visto a chefe antes. Ela deu duas versões diferentes, em eps diferentes sobre a forma como a viu a primeira vez, não sei se foi falha no roteiro ou proposital. Tinha espaço para um GL, mas não veio aí.

O terceiro casal, o professor com cara de paisagem e o outro Meow, pensei que pelo menos eles teriam algo a mais, mas no final, a série virou um grande bromance com casais que não definiram suas situações.

A série tinha bons atores, um roteiro fraco e sem lógica, porém tinha ost coerente e algumas coisas interessantes, como os efeitos sonoros e as vezes em que apareciam os quadrinhos era bem legais.

Enfim, não curti a série... não vou dizer que não indico, mas não gostei.

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