Tale of Thousand Stars or Bad Buddy?

I've been in this same doubt for weeks, I had to reach a consensus that would give space to both.
So I classified them as: TOTS is my FAVORITE of the year and BB is the best of the year (probably if the story keeps going up). :'D

I don't like ATOTS at all. I think the moral of the story is quite problematic: Tian and his family committed a series of crimes and they didn't pay for it. Tian should be sent to jail since he was not only the owner of the car, but he also gave it to the driver knowing he would commit a crime. His family bribed a lot of people to get him away from jail, then his father stole the heart of the victim, probably killing a person who was in the transplant waiting list. Tian decided to go to the village to pay his karma, but what he did was not enough. Charitable works are not a substitute for accountability to justice. The moral of the story is: rich people can get away with their crimes if they do some social work. I don't understand how people can support this kind of plot. It is socially insensitive. 

And I didn't talk about how they portray the villagers as stupid people who need help from "enlightened" rich bangkokers. I could write a lot about it if I had patient to analyze all episodes. 

If you think I am overreacting, let me tell you something: it is very common in Thai society the kind of story we saw in ATOTS. Some years ago a rich teenage Bangkok girl killed nine people after her car crashed into a van. It was reported that she was talking on the phone and at high speed. She was never jailed. Her family is rich, they could avoid a fair trial. Her influential parents were able to please the judges by performing some charitable work, exactly the same thing Tian did in the show. 

We had another famous case in Thailand. The Red Bull heir run over killed a cop. His family donated money to some social work projects supported by the police and that's it, no jail. 

In my opinion, ATOTS is the kind of show whose narrative reproduces and reinforces this type of social injustice.

This is a topic that I've contemplated for some time in my mind because I can't quite understand my mixed feelings for ATOTS.

Objectively ATOTS has so many great qualities: a well developed plotline/script, beautifully aesthetic cinematography,  powerful overall acting, charming main /side characters, and a nice OST.  I remember watching it and continuously complimenting how fulfilling the storyline was without needing to rely on the romance. As someone mentioned earlier, the bl narrative seemed secondary to the theme/plot of the series and  was executed well enough on both the character development and romantic fronts.  

However, at the SAME time, I often felt bored and detached while watching. The main characters (Phupha and Tian) weren't exciting to me and I found Tian's character development and village transition more  enjoyable than the romantic development. In fact, I didn't care for the romantic aspect even though I watched it because it was a bl.  Phupha x Tian aren't on my list of fav bl couples and I honestly have no plans of rewatching ATOTS any time soon even though it's top 3 on my bl list based on all qualities excluding the romance.

So then here comes Bad Buddy which isn't as equally strong to me in some aspects, but also has some great qualities: great mood setting cinematography, realistic dialogue/script, top tier acting, AMAZING lead chemistry, and also nice OSTs. The storyline is a bit recycled and the tropes/cliches are obvious and by default not exactly refreshing. However, despite using a lot of basic tried and true bl formulas, the execution, acting, and directing transform this series  into something special. There is a subtle charm about this series that builds and captivates me. Not only that, but each EP has a really high re-watchability. In fact I've re-watched every EP at least 6 times and have memorized the ENG trans lines for many scenes. I don't even need subtitles any more. There was not one EP of ATOTS that pulled me to the extent that Bad Buddy has.  Nevermind that Pat x Pran are #1 on my bl couple list.

In the end I like ATOTS...just not for things related to it's romantic plot. However, I LOVE Bad Buddy.  The things that Bad Buddy excels in beats ATOTS to such a degree that it makes up for less strong aspects. Sometimes things don't always have to be perfect in every category to be a favorite. In the end, I'm drawn to things that pull me in and Bad buddy has done that in ways that I can't understand. Bad Buddy for the win. :)

 Irisco:

TOATS and BB are siblings periodt

But BB is smarter, more attractive, and better at sports. :)

So tough. I loved Mix in ATOTS but I was never a big fan of Earth before it, whereas I shipped Ohm and Nanon since Blacklist so its different levels of excitement. I think Mix really did a great job for his first BL, but I think Nanon is doing a better job in BB for his first.

Earth and Mix have great chemistry because they've been friends for so long, and I think in some parts in ATOTS it was that Friendly chemistry vs an in love chemistry that you get from BBS.

I think the plot in ATOTS was better because the source material was better.

The Kiss scene in episode 5 of BBS was without a doubt better than waiting for the finale in ATOTS.


I think for me its going to come down to re-watch value. And I've re-watched BBS way more per episode than ATOTS.

BBS for me, but not by much. If it wasn't OhmNanon I probably would have picked ATOTS.

I can't compare ATOTS and BB, they're far too different.  I would compare BB to Fish Upon the Sky.  In that comparison, BB is better.

 Sjay2101:

ATOTS for sure! I found ATOTS very unique for multiple reasons (no university trope, interesting locations - village, no jealous girlfriend trope, forest rangers -teacher, the main character's development was well-done, a slower paced relationship, etc). It had so much more than romance like self-growth, realizations, and learning to forgive yourself. 

Unpopular opinion - I didn't really care for the BB series just because I was not able to get into the story even though I wanted to and I've gotten sick of seeing university tropes.

Agreed on both counts.  For me, ATOTS is a masterpiece.  (I didn't want to come out and say that I don't like BB all that much, for fear of being tarred and feathered by its uber fans, lol!)

Everybody wants to talk about plots when it comes to ATOTS when the plot was nothing special. The premise of story was different but all the events manufactured to make leads fall in love were the same lol. Very unrealistic too. People like to say BBS has a basic plot but it actually has a relatable plot more so than ATOTS. And the chemistry is loads better not just because of the kiss but because of their acting and their development of the relationship. The couple in ATOTS faced nothing which real life people face. It did have good cinematography but side characters are honestly forgettable and the conflicts are foolish.