This review may contain spoilers
promising start that fell apart
Overall: I laughed several times in the first episode but the plot just fell apart as it went on. This is based on a web comic (of which I read the beginning). Aired on Viki and GagaOOLala (SE Asia). Eight episodes total, about 15 minutes each.Content Warnings: manipulation, non con kiss
What I Liked
- the sense of humor and funny moments
- good intro credits
- the female editor was funny and I was okay with the fiancee as well
- that they re-cast the glasses guy and re-shot stuff
Room For Improvement
- they changed something from the web comic and it makes no sense here, why would the assistant make all those demands if he really wanted to work for the artist??? Wouldn't he have zero demands and just agree to whatever working conditions the artist wanted? Why would him acting cold make the artist fall in love with him???
- way too much of the short screen time was spent on the "friend" with glasses (who can't recognize his feelings for 10 years??) speaking of dumb dumbs
- that assistant was super stupid, why didn't he ask the artist what his relationship was with the editor? Even after she was giving them finger hearts and left them alone he thought they were dating????
- in episode 7 the whole confession felt really stiff and the artist was looking in the wrong direction
- bad kissing (aka dead fish lip presses)
- they were dating, since when? the final episode really jumped/skipped around
- I dislike silent simp characters so that letter actually made me mad
- the stereotypical effeminate/trans character at the bar in the beginning (this did not add to the story at all and they could have used that time elsewhere)
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*Inserts the reversed horse drawing meme*
It started as a cringe is the best way possible. I cannot believe I enjoyed something that brought me so much 2nd hand embarrassment. And yet, I liked every second of it. All the awkward situations that have no place in reality, but that put a smile on my face. All the moments that made Seon Ho question his sexuality, and me question my sanity. If only the show stayed on the path of silly comedy and did not venture into the miscommunication and misunderstanding hell, burning both the souls and brains of all the viewers.It’s not like the plot did not have a potential to be a really fun and light BL. We had all the elements needed to deliver a perfect mutual pining romance with some over the top, but enjoyable comedy. So why, oh why was most of the show based on the most ridiculously easy to explain misunderstanding? Mental gymnastics the writer had to go through to come up with the ways for the characters NOT TO find out the truth deserve a golden medal in the Olympics.
Still, there were things I enjoyed.
First of all, Seon Ho was a great character. Sweet, caring, hardworking, honest and open minded. He had a cute puppy-like demeanor and it was impossible not to like him.
The few scenes between Seon Ho and Gu Mu Yeong that were not focused on the misunderstanding were also truly fun. The way Mu Yeong gave a few soft smiles because of Seon Ho was just cotton candy warm marshmallow sweet. I even enjoyed Han Joon Seok and thought he would serve as a better reason for the conflict than what we actually got.
The acting was also nice. I was not thrilled with Ko Chan Bin’s performance, but overall the character was such a mess… How does one even deliver anything decent based on that writing? Song Seung Hyun, Lee Do Ha and Seo Min Seo honestly did well in their respective roles.
One thing though - even Park Shin Hye had more realistic kisses in the beginnings of her career...
Production value had its ups and downs. Overall, the quality was good. A bit over the average for the short k-bls. One scene in episode 7 thought… If you watched the show you know which one I am talking about. Who thought that was good enough quality to be included in the final product?
Overall… It just left me feeling disappointed. I went from hyped excitement after the first 2 episodes, to complete resignation after the last two. It got progressively worse with each episode and if it was a full length drama, I would definitely drop it half way through…
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Total waste of time
This may win the award for worst Korean BL. I'll start with the positives:...
...
Well, one of the guys takes a shower and he has a nice body. There's that at least.
On to the negatives.
The main characters have zero chemistry. Actually, it's below zero. It's a black hole of chemistry. They're so uncomfortable even hugging that it looks like they're sexually harassing each other. Their kisses are the worst I've ever seen.
The plot is cliched and nonsensical. Again, one guy has been in love with the other for most of his life, blah, blah. I don't even need to say the rest because you can predict everything from there. The story is based entirely on totally implausible miscommunication, lack of communication, and downright taking the opposite meaning of what someone says, jumping to conclusions with zero evidence and 100% the opposite of what is totally obvious or explicitly stated.
One can say directly to the other "I like you and want to be with you", and the other's voiceover says "He's obviously in a relationship with his female editor who he can't possibly be dating because I'm with him 24/7".
Speaking of voiceovers, whoever adapted this forgot it was live-action and not a manwha and so EVERYTHING is voiceover. I suppose it has to be because the acting is so bad.
This feels like it was a porn story that was stripped of sex and is left with something as meaningful as the dialog with the pizza delivery boy before the sex.
I wouldn't waste any time on this - it's just frustrating and boring to watch.
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Giving it 1* because I cant give 0. Not all webtoons need to be adapted
I read the webtoon. It was okay. Not good, but not bad either..... just, okay. Then came the news of it's adaptation. Some stories translate well into live-action, some dont. This one doesn't. The basic premise of the webtoon is that an ero-mangaka (a guy who draws 18+ comics) and suffers from erectile dysfunction because of his job, starts getting hard-ons and wet dreams because of his assistant (an openly gay man who happens to be his fan).Because this is a 15+ live-action, some things were toned down, other things were changed outright. And that didnt make sense to the story.
It also didn't help that the leads had zero chemistry and were generally uncomfortable during physical scenes, like hugging, let alone dead-fish-lip-touching, coz I can't, in all honesty, call it "kissing".
Honestly, KBL has gone the ThaiBL with quantity taking away from quality, and every tom dick and harry actor jumping onto the BL train
because it's easy to succeed, without realising that acting in BL means that they have to, at least passably, fake being in love with another man. If you are uncomfortable "acting gay", please dont accept the role.
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This review may contain spoilers
Very Boring
I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.I usually wait for the movie version before I write a review, but this could not wait. This series was very underwhelming. The storyline used for the series was nothing new or exciting. This is not a bad thing if it had a great script. Unfortunately, this was not the case because it had too many weak elements. The main culprit is the lack of communication between all the characters. Using misunderstandings as a story element is nothing new, but this series takes it to a ridicules level. Another problem was very little to no character development with the whole cast, exception with Seon Ho. See spoiler alert at the end of this review for more information. The acting was ok, but nothing groundbreaking. The cinematography was good, but there was a weird editing choice in episode 7 that affected the mood for the next scene. It does have cool opening credits.
Random Notes:
This is one of those series you can wait to watch until you have some time to kill and have nothing better on your must watch list.
******Spoiler Alert******
I appreciate they did not use the “gay for you” story element. It was very refreshing that they had Seon Ho question his sexuality. After all, there are more than two types of sexuality.
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This review may contain spoilers
No, no, and no.
The show holds up until the fifth episode, then it's a total disaster. Long story short, save your time.[SPOILER ALERT]
All the characters make a 180° turn up at one point, totally out of nowhere.
○ His crush confesses he's in love with him, but Ko Mu Yeong holds the lie of a fake boyfriend because he thinks Seon Ho is dating PD Lee. Like, what?
○ Han Joon Seok has already a weird relationship with his fiancée, letting her down many times to catch up with his best friend. Then, he kisses Mu Yeong to create jealousy, when instead he wants to kiss him. And finally, he becomes even more selfish, asking for Mu Yeong to take care of him after the incident.
○ Yoona (poor girl, I feel so sorry for her) has every right to be pissed off, but the threaten to outing her ex bf shocked me.
○ Shin Seon Ho was a cinnamon roll and I fell in love with him immediately, but then he begged Mu Yeong to leave his boyfriend to get with him. And in the end he also gives him an ultimatum between himself and the friend. I get he's pissed, but that's a bit overdramatic.
People in real life is selfish, however I think that's too much even for real people. But wait, there's more:
Mu Yeong confesses he has lied to Seon Ho for days, and Seon Ho only reacts saying he was pretty hurt. Man, he should have lost the trust in him. And here they had to "force" the "break up". Apparently, he's so in love he's okay to be treated like shit.
Then, when the hell do Mu Yeong and Seon Ho become boyfriends? Again, out of nowhere.
Last question: Korea, are you okay?
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absolutely not
Every character in this show is a piece of shit. When I first thought of this sentiment, it was mostly a joke. However it's just not a joke now. This has to be the dumbest, most irritating, agonizing and childish group of adults I have ever seen. The lack of communication at their grown age, the lack of critical thinking at their grown age, the assumptions made AT THEIR GROWN AGE has me so mad I spent my time completing this series that I think its the worst kind of passion I've had towards a drama since I started watching them. I would recommend this show to nobody and I mean that. In fact it was so bad of a show that I spent the entire last episode waiting for it to be over so I could leave this review. Its unfortunate because at the start of the show I really did hold out hope, but I just can't get over how trashy the entire cast of characters is along with the storyline. If I could give it a 0 I would.Was this review helpful to you?
The story pointed out is nice though but its getting bad and nonsense as it progress. The characters are a bit annoying and their actions is so stupid and it was not in their roles to portray, it is just bad and lazy writing.
The acting is just meh. I don't really have a connection to them, except sometimes for the actor of the author seon ho. I like the guy he's funny sometimes and natural.
Overall, it was just light. nothing special. They wasted the potential.
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This review may contain spoilers
KBL Ruined by Lazy Writing
Oh! My Assistant has one of the strongest starts to a K-BL that I've ever seen. Budget-wise, story-wise, production-wise. Everything was great. Finally, a K-BL that's labeled rom-com and I'm actually laughing. The first two episodes had me on my ass laughing, having to pause and replay just so I could laugh again. And I wasn't laughing because it's cringey, I mean I was genuinely laughing because the scenes were set up so perfectly for a comedic moment. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, a buzzkill tsunami hits, and everything is flooding in forced lack of communication and pitiful conflict.Let's Dive In.
Like usual, I judged a book by its cover, its terribly edited, cheap-looking cover. If someone gave me 30 minutes and two shots of tequila, I could've come up with something 10 times better, I'm sure. So I went in thinking the budget was going to be lower than I'm used to, but to my surprise, and in less than 10 seconds into the series, the settings and the shots we're seeing are gorgeous. And I understand where they were trying to get at, with the series mimicking the setup of a manwha, but it just doesn't work for me. Anyways, I went in thinking this wasn't going to be very good, but then I turned out to be pleasantly surprised and fell in love with the first two episodes. The perfect balance of plot setup and comedy, the sorting of feelings and character structure on point. And then it's completely ruined when the writers run out of creativity and decide they will do the laziest writing ever and just have Muyeong and Seonho have terrible communication skills and numerous misunderstandings.
Tell me Muyeong, why would Seonho confess to liking you if he were in a relationship with Minyeong? And if that was your consensus, why not -- I don't know -- ask? It was incredibly infuriating, along with the pretend boyfriend, and the half confessions before the actual confession -- urgh.
I believed Muyeong and Seonho's chemistry in the beginning, but like most K-BL, they show a teensy amount of physicalness, and it's ruined. Their kissing, their hugs, all of it, negative ten out of ten. Then after that, it's just completely unbelievable that these two humans like each other. But also, Chanbin's (Muyeong) acting seems to get worse episode by episode. He's a beautiful human, amazing lips, gorgeous eyes, his height's everything -- but that's about all he has.
But besides the bad, like I said the comedy in this is handled perfectly. the settings are gorgeous, and so is the color palette they use and even the music, which I rarely pay attention to, but was pleasantly surprised by it.
Ratings:
Story: 6/10 - It's so good at the beginning, but it collapses into itself and the lazy writing ruins the series. I sped through the last three episodes full of incredibly agonizing conflict that isn't real, genuine conflict. But besides that, and the comedy, I actually liked the side story that was going on with Muyeong's friend. Part of me wanted them to get together, just because they've been through so much life together, and I'm a sucker for friends to lovers.
Acting - 8/10: I think everybody's acting was great, the only person's acting that struggled was Chanbin's. It might've been the writing, but he had one emotion and an impeccable smile every now and then and that's it.
Music - 8/10: I liked it! for once I made sure to pay attention not it.
Recommendation value: 5.5/10 - I'm sad I'm giving this such a low score, cause I really did like this in the beginning, and the rest of the series wasn't so bad to the point that I didn't at least enjoy it a little bit, but if you're asking for my recommendation, there are just so many other K-BLs out there that do it better. But if you want something short, cute, and funny, I might recommend this one.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not really bad
I actually enjoyed this one overall although it isn't exactly impressive.I don't quite have a great reason for my enjoyment. Perhaps it is because of the likability of the characters, perhaps it is because of the great looking actors playing the leading roles, perhaps it is because the execution is pretty decent in general.
Muyeong's belief that his love for Seon Ho is one-sided is portrayed sensitively even though the situation could be clichéd and even silly. The flashbacks to Muyeong's experiences in high school help to make him a character we can feel for. Of course, the fact that we know that Seon Ho is attracted to him too makes the scenes quite lighthearted. There is something to appreciate about how the series is generally lighthearted without degenerating into utter banality.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the series is the last episode. The main couple did end quite well, but while the characters have been generally lovable, Seon Ho suddenly turns a little toxic in the last episode, threatening Muyeong that he (Seon Ho) would never see him again if he goes off and look for his friend. Muyeong's friend, Jun Seok, is also a little off character in the last episode, suddenly becoming a little manipulative. Additionally, Jun Seok is an interesting but underdeveloped character. His feelings for Muyeong are hinted at fairly early on, but the ending does not leave one satisfied.
Despite its flaws, this isn't a terrible BL series. It is likable but the story is somewhat weak.
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Better than expected
This series seems to have triggered a lot of reviewers. Quite a few complained about how unrealistic this is. Duh. Is anything in BL realistic? The lack of realistic adult communication is what makes it all so entertaining. Of course, real adults who had some idea of what they were feeling would communicate some of it. But the point of a lot of BL is to emphasize what happens when the miscommunication is ramped up to the max. And BL uses that to illustrate human struggles with self-confidence, fear of failure, fear of rejection, etc. In a world where LGBTQ will always be a minority, the risk levels to being honest and forthcoming are much higher. Also, there is great comic value in misunderstandings. Is this series perfect ? No. But its definitely good and an interesting variation for Korean BL. There is some unevenness in the last few episodes which could have been done better and perhaps it misses some things from the original. But it certainly deserves more love than its getting. Extra points awarded for dealing with Bi issues in a sensitive way, and for showing the damage done to others by not being honest with yourself.Was this review helpful to you?
Main leads interaction was funny, but there's almost no romantic chemistry between them. They looked uncomfortable during skinship scenes. Their lack of communication is so silly. They're adults they could've just talk it out, but instead they keep assume the worst and lying, it's kinda frustrating. Then the ending was also really rushed. It feels like there's few parts went missing.
I like the comedy, PD lady, and the OST.
The PD lady definitely the character that got me through the whole show, she's just really funny. Btw the flashbacks part was good though, it gives a good explanation of the characters.
Overall
I thought I'm gonna hate it, because most of the reviewers says it was really bad. But after watching it... It was shoddy, but not that bad. I probably won't rewatch or recommend it. But it was entertaining.
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