9 Years of You

Best Friends are "Better Together" for 9 years and more...

this lakorn is one of the few outstanding I watched from the time I started into asian drama world, though unusually a miniseries for a lenght of thailand drama but enjoyable all the way for every 9 hours of it...

I think as a plot for friends to lovers or the romantic type of dramas, this is the best a thailand drama can be portraying in this decent show comparing how thailands lakorns evolved from two decades ago till now... I can see that there is progression in the execution of lakorns when it comes to the interactions and chemistry of leads, the story, cinematography, acting... the cast was so good and well chosen though I didn't watched any other dramas for any of these actors of this drama but they did a great job in this lakorn...

the time skip in the script going through 9 years made the story a bit lacking in terms of making an overall coherent story causing some plot holes but it was obvious that they would follow this style for a miniseries though maybe it could have been better if making this drama a bit more longer for 3 to 4 episodes but wasn't boring or draggy...

the chemistry as leads turning from friends to lovers is so good and firing, I can see that they couldn't hiding their crush for each others through all these 9 years, even when they chose at the start to follow this concept of "friends shouldn't dating" to not make it complicated if they will break up when leads concluded that after seeing their best friends going through it...

when leads were in a relationship with another partners, it was like an exam in life to test how much they are able to be apart and avoiding each others and it was the hardest for them to accept it when they turned out to have them being separated not interfering in each other like before but the events of story were in their favor to make them reuniniting together unable to give up on their deep love and bond...

the setback of the story and hardships that leads faced and hindered them from being together or arguing to end up being apart were disappointing in some places but the satisfying ending made up for all of this...

as the first drama for the male lead Aim, it was a great start for him and I think he made a nice performance in this drama, playing amazingly how he wanted to protect and standing besides Dao in all her times and for the female lead Cherprang was too good in portraying Dao but I think she could have performed a bit better but all her scenes with Ran were so brilliant and wonderdully done... so the first leads were so nicely paired together

the support characters of both leads family were all so splendid in acting... I like the supportive sister Duan and grandma of female lead and I think the actress playing mother of male lead was so nice and lovely for both of main actors, one of the best mom characters...

in the end it is a drama easy to watch and considered acceptable that what I expected to see in such plots of friends to lovers I found it... it was executed in a wonderful way and would like to strongly recommend it as one of the thailand lakorn that are worthy to try it and above than average... not forgetting the wonderful OST that added a lot of value to the show...

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A Light watch if you're in the mood for a good friends to lovers story.

This was a breezy watch. Way better than... well ALL lakorns I've seen so far.

PROS

1. I thought Aimm ( the ML) was great in this role and was surprised to see it was actually his FIRST role.

2. Chemistry was off the chart. I particularly liked the fact that once these two are together, they're very touchy feely unlike most dramas were actors barely touch each other unless when they're kissing. Here they cuddle, they naturally touch each other which is how a young couple behave when they get together.

3. No useless drama, no draggy plotlines.

4. Since basically 1 episode equals one year ( well not exactly per say but you get the drift) there is no lasting angst onscreen. We might know mentally time has passed and the angsty situation has lasted for a while... but we don't feel it because time is moving fast. Some might consider that it removes a bit of the emotional impact...which is true... but it also avoids any lasting annoyance with rival characters.

5. The "one true love" trope is more realistically portrayed. (See CONS for more details about this point).

6. Both leads are VERY EASY on the eyes so that does... err make it more enjoyable. (My God Aimm is just G.E.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.)

7. Great production value. Both visually and also in terms of sound. The sound is CLEAR ( a rarity in lakorns). The Opening is great.


Possible CONS:

1. Some viewers might be put off by the fact that this show takes a realistic approach to relationships. It's obvious these two have loved each other since they were very young ( and I'd say Ran was the first to fall, since it's obvious that boy is hitting on his crush like crazy) but both try to move on at some point... They meet and have relationships with other people ( and yes have sex as well) which is much more realistic than not kissing or meeting anybody else for 10 years.

Don't get me wrong, I personally love the trope of "keeping yourself for your true love"... but that doesn't mean this story is in any way less romantic than the usual "I never kissed nor had sex with anybody else" trope. Again, these two love each other, but they have terrible timing and hence TRY to move on. It's not that they don't have affection for their other partners... but it's obvious to us AND to them that these partners will never compare because they're just soulmates.

2. Character-wise, I'd say Ran is maybe a little bit too perfect, even his "mistakes" always come from a place of selflessness unlike Dao which appears to be more selfish. You still root for them to be clear, but Dao is a bit more layered and Ran a bit more one-note. It didn't bother me but it might some viewers.

3. The PPLs were terrible especially in episode 8. No subtlety whatsoever.

4. The "Mr Stone Face" Art was... terrible as well. It was very lazy art. Well better than using AI... This was obviously done by an artist... but err... I'm a bit puzzled over WHY they chose them. Sorry but that's not worth having a whole company backing you with dolls, products and I don't know how many fans ( also artists are rarely recognized in the street, the art is important not the person behind) and the success you got. It just doesn't make sense. I'm probably nitpicking here but as an artist myself... my eyes bled every time I saw that Stone Face character. It was always drawn with the same clothes in the same position. They only changed its position once or twice for a supposed art exposition but overall... If you're still drawing like that after that many years, you're just slacking off I'm sorry. Artists have to work at bettering their craft even when the style is cartoonish.
I don't know maybe a matter of cost... but this is one instance where I'd say, use AI to do it if you have not time nor money to pay a proper artist since it personally just took me out of the story every time I was supposed to think that a certain character had this huge success over... basically nothing of note. It was not believable in the slightest and broke the immersion in the drama.

5. Cherprang's performance was at times awkward especially her crying scenes.

6. There's a second couple which have their own journey. Could have been as interesting as the main couple but there was really no time to really explore their relationship in depth.

7. Episode 9 was a bit of a letdown focusing on a character we honestly didn't give a sh*** about. The series was always about these two WHY spend a whole episode on some last ditch drama on a character that had NO ROLE in their relationship? It would have made more sense to do it with the grandma for instance... at least she had rooted for these 2.


CONCLUSION

In spite of my list of CONS, I honestly thoroughly enjoyed myself without ever being bored or overly annoyed (well apart from the art but that's a pet peeve of mine due to professional reasons... I can't help it) so I'm not gonna hold them against the show.

Recommended if you're in the mood for a light sweet romance with gorgeous leads and a limited amount of useless drama with overly meandering nonsensical plot twists that go nowhere。

Suggested rating: 8

Personal rating: 8.5

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