My Dear Gangster Oppa (2023)

My Gangster OPPA

This is a very bias review. I loved Meen since Love by Chance 2. He is really young but such a good actor. I like Ai Long Nhai even though it was a trash series. The reason is because of Meen. I liked Ping but I’m not delusional to think he has any acting skills besides being annoyingly whiny and being cute AF about it. Even I can admit Meen’s acting wasn’t good. Given the material and who he is playing against.

With that said I still had high hope for this series. To start off, Meenreally leveled up his actin in the series. He did exceptionally well in the second half because I can clearly see his acting being so stalkingly good with Ping loosing the plot of the story. I cannot take him as a serious actor when I think he is worst that Dunk. What is it with these boys whining and crying so hard? That scene in bed in the last episode was so poorly directed and edited but Ping’s acting good it to another level of bad. You can see that Meen was really focus on not laughing at it. He was so serious which makes that scene so funny to watch.

I don’t like the character Wahl but the actor did a great job portraying it withthe redemption arc. He was definitely different in the book. In the first half I really want to yeet Wahl out the the series. However once he discovers his feels he wasn’t as cringey.

The story took a completely different turn than the webtoon. But overall despite the poor Ping acting which really shine through in contrast to Meen and Winner. Hell everyone’s acting was good to great except Ping. But I’m not mad about it because he’s so cute. This is why I am giving it a 7.5. It’s completely bias.

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SIMPLE STORY, ACTUALLY A GOOD DRAMA

STORY
I was really wondering why some reviews about this is bad because for me the drama as a whole was really good , the story was easy to understand , I did not had any problems with the scripts, it was what I was expecting it to be , It was fun in total.
I liked the chemistry of the leads , I prefer this kind of drama than of those with long episodes but nothing was happening than kissing and having sex. I just salute Guy here because he did not gave up with P'Tew when he shut him off and sent him away .. but actually following him all along .. maybe he knew even P'Tew was not showing himself. he was actually around and looking over him and he even saw it multiple times. I really feel bad also with Wahl because he deserves a second chance .. he was not ready after all at first and was not really sure of what he likes .. but when he was sure it was too late that Guy met P'Tew already.
I liked the part when Guy did not want to send P'Tew to fight again against Kenji , the way he cried , I really felt that he loves P'tew , and also when Guy followed P'Tew when they were eating outside with the game squad on the parking lot .. P'Tew cannot last trying to keep himself from touching Guy. I also liked when P'Tew sent Guy away .. the acting was intense ..
The only thing I did not understand in this drama is Kenji .. it was seen and made clear what he wants and the suddenly changed .. he was an eye sore for me at the drama , but it means he really did a great job for it
The Drama was about Mafia things, and the presentation was really good but not heavy enough , not dangerous looking enough , and the fighting scenes was a bit lacking of I don't know what . but it was okay , I really liked it how they presented it , the drama was just a light drama after all I guess not a heavy one
Boss and PTull HAHA I liked the both of them < I was actually expecting more part of the drama for them but not really that many .
All in all I liked the story, I liked the presentation, the characters was portrayed great .. It was a light drama and worth of my time
ACTING/CAST
Meen and PIng did great in their acting here, and Wahl I liked it that they seems to really went to the being of their portrayed characters , I enjoyed seeing them
MUSIC
I did not really listened to the songs of this drama but the sound effects was okay
OVERALL
I can say this was like a korean drama , well from the title itself , HHAHA I was just wondering why P'Tew was an OPPA , he should be HYUNG not oppa because Guy was a guy right ? HAHA anyways .. I would probably re watch this again , it gave me a feeling of can't get enough of seeing the leads lovey dovey .. like I did not want to watch any dramas yet for a while. The last part scene was really good , I really liked it the way they are a lovey dovey .. until they closed the window of their restaurant . two thumbs up for this , I will miss them so much ! I hope Meen Ping will have many more Dramas in the future

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Entertaining but Ping needs acting classes

Why Why why??? Does Guy just is ready to fall for anyone ,who just comes and gives him a bit of attention. He just jumps from one person to other in a matter of seconds and is ready to kiss the other person right after his breakup and then telling that he still loves is ex. I mean is it only me who finds it hard to digest....

I mean it would make sense for a character like Guy with low self esteem and introverted personality, to have feelings for someone who gives him attention. BUT is that true for every person he meets..... Come on Boy, just make a decision of whom you actually love.

I am sure a lot of people will hate me for saying this but, I seriously think that the actor Guy(played by Ping) seriously needs some acting lessons. I couldn't just feel any emotions from him when he acted. Mostly when acting for emotional scenes his depiction of sadness barely touched my heart, rather just brushed off from the surface. I have seen him in AiLong Nhai and it was the same him playing the cute annoying character.

The series however is entertaining I didn't have much of a expectation from it but it was a nice watch overall. I think 8 episodes is enough and did justice to the series. However, they gave Whal's character too much screen time. It would have been nice if they cut some of his scenes and given the time to show the relationship developement of the main leads (or just some sweet boyfriend moments).

Overall an entertaining watch and Binge-watch worthy.

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Wasted Potential

Such a good story overall but lacks in writing and script many scenes should at least have more screen time, especially for the first 3 ep for more depth in the overall storyline.

I think that they wasted the last 2 episodes, they put many cliches in the series' plots that make it so-so. Many potential storylines can be put in this EPS.

Acting can be more perfect if they do at least push the acting workshop a little more, the chemistry is there but the acting doesn't help.

Overall, I like it and enjoy this series as expected, don't let the negative comments stop you from watching this.

Might rewatch it again.

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Ridiculous but fun!

One thing is certain: bls and mafia do not mix well together! This latest example is just so ridiculous that I really do not understand why they are still making this type of romance dramas? Trying to ride on KinnProsche's coattails? That one was already ridiculous enough but at least it was slick! This one is ridiculous and cheap looking.

Guy is a student who's had a crush on his only friend since highschool. On the day he planned to confess, his friend introduces him to his girlfriend. Sad and lonely, he goes into the fictional world of on line games where he has friends he's never met. They decide to meet in real life and one of them is Tew who turns out to be a mafia henchman. He falls for Guy but the mafia boss is reluctant to let him be free.

While the university, regular life parts were done correctly, the mafia bits are outrageously ridiculous. The writers must have said: everyone does mafia like this, so it must be the way it is. Allow me to doubt! And even though it is probably far from being realistic (and I am NOT looking for realism in a BL) but at least they should make it credible. The prime example is Kenji, an over the top mafia rival of Tew's with his silly hair and outrageous and grimacing behaviour: too cringy for words! Tew on the other hand, is cool, tall, elegant and taciturn, the complete opposite! While Guy is your typical, ordinary student!

The story is basically a love triangle : Wahl, Guy's best friend likes having Guy under his thumb, unwittingly, perhaps, wanting to control his life. When Guy finally manages to break free, Wahl is upset and tries to regain control. Unsuccessfully! Meeting Tew did wonders for Guy and he grows as a person. Wahl is ultimately shown as a creep who eventually learns to let go!

The online group of friends are a mixed lot, cute and fun to watch whether they bicker (Tom and Pim) or obliviously put their fut in (Muffin)! The least likeable character is Boss, Kenji's spy, and a weird, sleazy guy!

Fortunately, the chemistry was there! Meen and Ping are very much at ease with each other and it shows!

Production was a bit clunky and on the cheap side. The exception being the opening credits which were a mixture of webtoon and real images of actors: nice and original. The voiceover was a nice touch, giving us insight into their thoughts and feelings. The music was forgettable, though I noticed the usual, ominous, heavy on the percussions music in mafia scenes. The "action" scenes were iffy to say the least: the most violent bits happened off screen or were hidden by furniture while the fist fighting scenes were unconvincing, well choreographed but badly filmed and slow so it was obvious that nobody was getting really hit!

In conclusion, this was another miss for the mafia genre so I wholeheartedly hope they will stop making them! Nevertheless, because it was short and easy to watch, I give it a pass: not too bad!

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Cringey

I was cringey so hard at some scenes especially the crying ones. The storyline was also pretty plain and predictable. I’m so bored of the storylines where they break up with their partner cause it’s “dangerous”. Even if it was a plot like this make it more interesting at least. The random quitting and going back caught me off guard. While guy was hanging out with wal acting all fine and then starting crying about it I was so confused. Wal was also such a bad person and then turned around to be “caring” all of a sudden. their chemi wasn’t the best either. I don’t get the random scenes and I think this drama was just a flop.

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Not horrible but not good either

There is not much that can be said about this drama - it is unfortunately one of the most mediocre series I've watched. I don't feel enough to hate it and I don't feel enough to like it either.

If you're watching for the plot or acting, you've come to the wrong place. There are so many areas for improvement in terms of acting and writing. Pacing feels very off, there were a lot of plot points that needed to be fleshed out more and some that needs to be shortened. Acting is subpar, which is a huge shame because this isn't their first rodeo. I don't think being able to cry well is a huge ask in the acting world but the emotional performances in this series really fell flat and felt amateurish.

If you're looking for eye candies, however, this drama might be it for you. Meen looks especially good in this so my 5.5 rating is mostly off the fact that he's hot. Also I've gotta say, the guy playing Whal kind of stole the show for me. I was full on rooting for him and Guy to get together instead because he kinda nailed the internalized homophobia, pining, and hesitance look.

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Interesting spots but lacks romantic chemistry

Thiu the mafia guy and Guy the college students have interesting storylines separately, but the romance as written just doesn't click and the acting is not strong enough to override the lack of romantic chemistry either. It's more fun to see them with the gaming squad than it is just the two of them, which being the core of the story is pretty detrimental.

Thiu's story going from an happy go-lucky engineering major gamer living in a loving household with his sickly father who straight up shoots a guy who shot him and joins the mafia after his dad dies and is good at it, is very intriguing. As soon as he starts being into Guy though, he no longer thinks with his big brain and making really dumb decisions including not coming up with a plausible reason to placate his boss who he JUST told that he bought the restaurant for to claim more mafia territory and now is saying he wants to quit the mafia to run. The actor who plays the mafia boss has good gravitas to be believably menacing and the 5 bullet Russian roulette is also plausible exit as is the beatdown, even though the beatdown was way too light, but I'll take it as he was a pretty good guy to them so they took it easier on him. I also really enjoyed Thiu's friendship with his underling Tul, who is really his only friend. Thiu talking about his relationship woes with Tul was so funny and cute and it was a badass moment when Tul showed up injured to the restaurant. He went through the roulette and beatdown to quit and run the restaurant with Thiu. I think he probably had just one bullet, but that's still pretty horrific to experience. Thiu should have let Tul nap behind the register, especially if his comfy napping chair is still there instead of cleaning the graffitied and trashed store. Kinda silly they didn't destroy those giant glass doors, but I guess the production didn't want to spend on that lol. It would have been nice to see at least one more scene of their friendship at the end.

Guy's toxic friendship with his best friend Wal and guy who he was obsessed with for years was frustrating but interesting to see where it led. Wal want Guy's full attention all to himself even while he has a whole girlfriend and gets jealous when Guy branches out to pursue his own interests and friends of his own, which good for Guy. It's revealed that Wal had been attracted to Guy from the beginning but never made a move, taking Guy for granted to be mooning after him forever. He still doesn't make a move toward the end of the story when he had TWO chances to kiss Guy and Guy was ready for it, only trying to kiss Guy when they've both drank and Guy is not into it. He failed hard at every step of the way. Guy was already learning to distance himself from this bad situation. His game friends are pretty fun, equal game and shabuholics. It's too bad they didn't get more development individually with Guy and basically just used to move certain plot points along.

Kenji really brought the soap opera energy to drama and unfortunately not in a fun way. Thiu never taking him out properly when he had the chance over and over and over again was ridiculous when Thiu has gunned down a guy before and probably taken a lot of people out in his years as a higher up in the mafia. Kenji not so surprisingly keeps going after Guy over and over again. It was so dumb when in the final battle Guy just walks up into the enemy's clutches without even a weapon. He didn't even have a plan as to how he was going to help Thiu except get in Thiu's way and distract him from survival. He called Phai over, but she didn't show up with the rest of the cops until everything was long over. It was so unnecessarily useless. He ends up being a whiny child when he's with Thiu, their maturity/serious levels never matches up at any point to match what is necessary to make their pairing cohesive.

I think Meen was the better actor of the two leads in this drama, but even he's missing a lot of pathos as a mafia guy. This drama is another in the billionth examples of how I wish Thai bl dramas were cast based on who fits and can actually act the roles rather than ship pairings. Just because they had chemistry and ability to portray certain characters in one production does not mean it will come across for every character and productions.

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Don't watch for the mafia plotline...

I almost wish I could rate this lower. The "gangster" aspects mostly involved a loose mafia plotline, complete with poorly choreographed fight scenes and a rivalry that made no sense. However, despite the lackluster gangster oppa plot, I found myself enjoying every single episode WAY more than I expected.

This show is fun. It's light, an easy watch, and unintentionally goofy. There's not too much drama between the couple over the course of the 8 episodes, which is ideal in a show like this. Tew (Meen) and Guy (Ping) meet while playing online games together and decide to meet up. The two totally hit it off and start hanging out together more regularly, which of course leads to them falling in love. However, Tew's attempts to hide his "gangster" identity don't go well, and this could put Guy in danger. I find mafia BLs to be hit or miss, especially when it comes to the action scenes. I don't typically expect a lot out of Thai BLs when it comes to that, but if you're going to do a gangster concept, I do think that's pretty important. While it may have missed the mark there, it made up for it in the cute and fun romance, which is worth watching.

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Not the Master piece but worth watching

Series was so good, Thier acting was good i would surely recommend itt. So let me be honest here MeenPing has been one of my favorite bl ship since Ailongnhai. Lol the story was so good even though the series only had 8 episodes in total they could have been portraying the story so well but they kinda rushed it lmao which got kindaa messed up and confussing at times. Even though that gangster kinda vibe didn't suit our Meen(My opinion) he still played it well tho. The character GUY loll i felt like even he wasn't sure about his feelings at times(that really pissed me off) Ping played his role so well his acting was on point. Well well overall i loved this series even tho i loved this series and MeenPing has so much of potentiallll rooting for them <3

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