dark, disturbing, disgusting, but beautiful

Such a story makes speechless. It's a story of two man who suffered a lot, especially one character has a deep trauma because he was sold as a child to a sick man who sold him out to other sick people who sexually abused him. It's a story of two people changing each other and heal each other, first in baby steps but later their bond grows strong.

I can't describe what feelings go through you when watching this, It's the whole bandwidth from disturbing, disgusting, aghast, angst to beautiful when you see both getting closer together. Due to the theme it's not a fluffy, funnyy show, you normally expect a BL to be. This is not a BL but a drama where two man happend to be gay and finaly love each other.

When you can stormach such heavy stuff, this is a must see. If you are too sensitive seeing abusive scenes, you may watch with friends and help each other process the episodes one by one. It was extremly brave for the team to take on such heavy non mass compatible material. The actors did an incredible job, cinematography is top notch and we get an intro which does not spoil the whole series which is so common in many series. My respect goes out to all involved in this project delivering such a unique show.

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That was disappointing...

First, there is a "dog" cafe without dogs... that's strange as hell.
There is ONE dog in the whole show.
All Koreans understand Thai for some reason without translation devices or so it seems.
The story was soooo slow going in the beginning and then the ending was rushed. What did they wait for? Most of the inbetweens scenes did not much for the love story. The "traitor" was still in the final shot - I only thought WTF? There was a chance for an emotional outbreak for what he did, but nothing happend.
The production value was high, but for such a subpar story it was wasted.
The chemestry between the two leads was ok-ish, I guess a language barrier is not so easy to overcome. They still lacked passion and longing for each other.
All in all I could have skipped it and not miss a thing.

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oh sooooo boring....

While not really a bad show, man was it boring.
The writing was predictable, there were no real challenges and if you do food, why is the "super monster chef" just the jury verdicts?

At least one fresh face with Aungpao who did a good job but most were acting like highschool kids and not like grown up humans. I am also not a fan of the weird sounds used in Thai romcons, but at least they did not overdo it.

The kissing scenes with OffGun looked strange for me. I mean they kissed really well in other shows but here it feels shallow without the feeling of love or desire.

This show is a good downer if you have seen something like "Not Me", to calm you down and turn your brain off, because the story does nothing to challenge it.

The finale was an all around happy end, all the parents are soooo nice and so understanding especially Fire's mother. Of course grandma was always cool and always supportive but for the rest I would have wished a more rocky ending or more episodes to see them come to terms and less of the earlier meaningless stuff.

All in all this show was a disappointment.

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Not a BL

The most positive thing I can say is, it does speak about LBGQT issues but only very superficial without much depth. The show was not a BL nor does it include much of any romance. While the struggling of Idol trainees included some entertainment, overall it was very bland.

This show only makes the point that excessive alcohol abuse is a bad thing, but nobody needs a show to know this. And maybe that friends do things for their friends even if they don't like to? I am a bit confused about that. If someone is forced to do something he doesn't want and has an emotinal outbreak about it, but then decides to do it anyways because of his friends, I don't get it. Yes friends are important, but to self-sacrifice himself for his friends is not a good solution either and does not lead to his happyness overall.

As a BL fan u can skip this show for sure and for anyone else it does not offer much besides light entertaiment, but you won't miss a thing if you have skipped it.

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comedy missing the point...

While I can get Tongrak & Mahasamut story, I don't get the GL part... Is it me or don't you court someone you like with annoying requests and silly excuses? This irked me the most.

The characters in general are very one-dimensional, there isn't much of a development. Also all the drama elements felt a bit forced and cliché. Tongrak's buying sex-service is not a good point but it's life. The only thing which was clear from the beginning for me was that Mahasamut did not really do it for the money. He was interested in Tongrak from the get-go. But there's where the story almost ends. At least I understand why Tongrak acts as he does shunning is feelings but be overwhelmed by them anyways. This leads also into excessive sex-scenes due to Tongraks "buying" Mahasamut. While japanese BLs show mostly too few (with some exceptions), Thai BLs choose stories where there are a lot and this fan-service is appreciated as I can see from most reviews and rating here. In the end Tongraks overcomes his fear of love but it took too long of a time for me.

Tongrak's niece was the highlight of the show giving it a bit of flavour uncommon to most BLs. I don't find it surprising a 13 year old girl said that uncles new man is sexy, that should not surprise anyone, that's also normal nowadays.

I would have purged the script of all the silly comedic scenes, have either skipped the GL or altered it into something mature, to have a contrast to the dark outlook from the BL. Then this show could have been done in 6 or 8 episodes. Why did the producers choose to have a dark story for the MLs and to contrast them with mostly silly comedy for the GL? For me It breaks the flow and since episode 1 everyone should have to understood there is something wrong with Tongraks. But maybe the writers wanted to be close to the source material or they thought that this is the way to go, I don't know. For me it was the wrong way.

Production quality was high with beautiful shots of the island which were too few imho. The ML did a good job overall especially Peat, the GL were good in serious scenes. Due to the handling of the story, this is a subpar show. Good chemestry does not save a bad BL, sensual sex-scenes don't either. It's sad that people don't invest time to think about the story and understand what's wrong with it.

But as the ratings show, sex sells, so it's again a sad day for Thai BLs with declining quality plots, writing and execution. This year seems to be a new low for Thai BLs with a lot of crap shows and a lot of medicore shows. As long as people like such shows, they will produce such shows and the quality will diminish further.

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highly overrated

First, I don't like that every couple in a BL has to be BL couple... How stupid is that?
Second, the last two episodes are extremly rushed. While 8-parters are nice to binch-watch, they do nothing if the story does not fit.
I did not read the webtoon, so I can only review what I saw.
And the story is a mess and unbelievable. Only Ji Ho Geun and Kim Jung Ha made me believe in their characters. From bully to lover was unblievable as well in just one episode and to cast an idol for a main role was just a financial decision.
The last two episodes where rushed as f, for a better understanding at least four episodes have been needed,.

While the premise of the show started strong, the story falls of a cliff. The kisses shown were mostly just touching lips which is lame. "Song Joo Ha" could have kissed on the cheek to convey his feelings. A kiss on the lips would have not been needed, but maybe the director/writers thought the do need fan-service.. Also Han Tae Yi forcing himself was a stupid thing to do, especially when he does have feelings for Seo Do Yoon. While the first six episodes are ok, the last two are a total mess. Song Han Gyeom looks "gay" -(but which idol doesn't?), he does not fit his role at all. Sometimes you can feel he tries but his own personality is in stark contrast to his role and he does not manage to do it. With all the 10 ratings of several people I think they are fans of eyecandy but not thinking about the story which is maybe because our world gets more and more superficial. And to make all couples gay in a BL, is not what a good story needs. If they had only focused on only one couple the eight episodes might have fit. For me this series is disappointing especially because the first two episodes are the best and the last two are the worst.

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OMG did it go bad in the end

While I expected the show to be good after watching the first two episodes it went downhill from there. The story has no logic and no cohesion.

First, why does Lin have a crush on Ryu? I have no clue and why does she not try to help her father much earlier? It's not ok, for team members to risk the club, but it's also not ok, to publish it without consideration for all the other members. Maybe going to the director first would have been a better solution, so the club does not get disbanded because of the actions of a few.

Second, why did Ryu not ask his mother many years earlier to watch a match? I don't get it, when BLs create "evil" one-dimensional parents.

Third, why did they need Atom to make a love triangle and do things, you don't do, when you know your interest already is taken? To have Atom kiss Zen head was appalling.

Forth, the gangster arc was interesting in the beginning but the ending was beyond stupid. Why is Que not in prison? Is the police so incompetent that they did not get it?

Fifth, while they struggeling for money, nobody gets the idea to sell their Samsung Flip phones which costs around $1000-$1300. Especially Zen and his grandma could never ever afford such a luxury item and here we also see, that in that case the director should have stepped in to say, Zen can't have it, Atom should have it, because his father looked well off.

So overall the story was a plunder as always. The MLs had a bit more to act compared to their previous shows, but they still don't shine because their roles are quite one-dimensional as well. The finale was cringe as well. Why did Zen return? What happend in Phuket? Nobody knows and the writers didn't want to know also. Such lazy writing is incredible. It's a waste of time to count more of the negatives, because there are some positives as well. Cinematography was excellent especially while the actors played basketball but in the later epsiodes the quality declines. Maybe time-constraints because Golf had to direct two shows which aired at the same time. Of course there was some fan-service but nothing eath-shattering and no sensual scenes imho. The fuck scene in the finale was over the top as well. I don't think the grandma is "poor" - she had headphones ? and with her support for them, it's a non-issue. Yes, grandma was the best. And why the club still existed after they lost - nobody knows as well - it's stated in the script I assume ?.

Especially Ping is locked in a character-set, either a pushover or a diva or just annoying - or a combination of all, so not a chance of growing with his acting even when his third outing was better then the previous ones. For Frank it was new territory and he did play his role well and we all don't like him. Of course Meen is booked for the cool and rich one, but also his character is always similar in all the shows and some of his parents are always "evil". To summarize, the show started strong with the first two episodes and fell of a cliff because the writers had no clue what to do. You have four writers and don't manage a coherent story - that's really sad.

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More disappointing as expected and as overrated as expected

Cherry Magic (Thai) was bad enough, but it can get worse with this remake.
I don't get the forced comedy with it's stupid soundeffects and the over-acting. This series has the charm of a bulldozer. The most annoying thing was the overall childish acting in most scenes. There are only some scenes where you can think, this could have been a good show, but sadly it wasn't.

I don't need to compare to the japanese "original" verison, because on it's own merrit this show is not good, but fangirls are fangirls and they overrate as hell because of two actors they like. I also bet my review will be downrated, as it happened with Cherry Magic (Thai), but I could not care less.

Objectively this show is not good, the characters are mostly one-dimensional and childish. The actors had no script to work with which couldn't challenge them in their acting. Besides that, also the chemestry between the MLs was nothing to write home about. "My School President" had a good story, good acting, good chemestry and an grandious OST and all the other things a good BL should have. This series had only lot's of advertisments up your face (again). I don't get it, why they need to do that. Are the actors that expensive or are japanese rights much more expensive compared to thai novels? Even compared to Cherry Magic (Thai) the production quality was not top notch, so I guess it's just maximizing profit.

Other reviews will depict the show in more detail but I'm too lazy for that. It was a grand disappointment and I would wish the fangirls would objectively rate such shows, because as long it is upvoted that high, such crap will be produced again which is sad to the whole industry and unnecessarily lowers the quality of such shows. You should skip it and watch "Only Boo" instead which is not brilliant on the acting but makes up with cuteness and also a very good OST.

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At last ... it ended.

I start with the first part of episode 1: A rich boy is in love with a boy who he met on a dating platform. Today is the day to meet and the "office worker" met the rich boy at the most elaborate and expensive location imagable. Because the rich boy is not especially clever, he never asks himself how the office worker could afford that. Of course the "office worker" is also a rich boy....

That's how the story begins and that's the quality the screenwriter put into their script. How this got funded is beyond me, it was boring as fuck, unlogical as fuck and the drama was there just to have drama in it.

At least camera work was stunning, so this gets a bonus point for that, but even with that, it's one of the worst Thai shows we have seen this year. I am just a bit sad that all the actors/actrresses had to put up with such a show.

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Not a BL (again), coming of age and discovering yourself

While many of us not understanding japanese have gripes with some of the subtitles, the second negative was the wig. It was a distraction in the whole series. It's not such projects are done overnight, so after casting they could have told him to grow his hair and use extensions.

The third negative is the ending for one of the characters, keeping in the closet, being at least gay and denying himself to be truly happy but getting married for the "family".

The ending for Mishima could be closer to the manga where you see him living with Fujimoto together as a happy couple.

Other than that, the team removed some of the harshest scenes from the manga and tuned it down for normal viewers in contrast to "Happy of the End" which was raw. Other than that, the story was very close to the manga, the acting and cinematography was really good.

Mishima grows after enduring mental and sexual abuse, also with help of his understanding mother. The change of Fujimoto from bully to lover was also nicely done.

Overall a depcition of the harsh reality in a rural area in the 1990ties which is still common nowadways where especially boys who do not conform to expectations of society are still bullied without reason and due to bad parenting. There should be licence to be a parent imho, because it's a lot harder than driving a car.

When you find a service which offers good subtitles, you should watch it, but don't expect a BL, because it's a gay series which is a trend I wholeheartedly approve of.

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This show couldn't match the japanese charm and acting

Again a dispointing GMM-TV commercial with some BL show inbetween.
No elegance in the characters, all is very smooth and plain.
Reading some of the reviews, it looks like people do like shallow shows with outstanding production value.

Why we did need a third couple, I have no idea, but when u write superficial scripts, you need to fill the time with something. I also don't like BL actors playing hetero in a BL even when he and his "girl" were the best characters of all, which is sad for a BL, "Jinta" was stupidly over-acted because it's a thai "comedy" and the rest of them did not leave a mark.

Some fluffy scenes don't make a good BL, This show is highly overrated, but you could have watched a worse show. Still, I would recommand to watch the japanese version and you won't miss anything if you skipped the thai version.

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While a nice genre, I could not enjoy it due to the bad writing

For me the story felt crude. The final fight was also a bit strange, if you have the upper hand, there is no reason for a one on one. The "General" felt like a bad guy from a dime novel.
In the beginning there was a bit of mistery around "Patrick" but that was the only highlight story-wise. To have several couples in a show with only 8 episodes is not enough time to develop a real story and formost no time to develop the characters and their feelings. The main couple did transport some glimpes of affection, but everything felt shallow. The side story around an engaged couple with the body swap felt unrealistic and much much too fast to be believable.

While it was not totally bad, I consider the storyline really bad and unrefined. The actors could only do the best with the material they got but there was no way they could shine or had a challenging role. I had much more expectations from the genre type but was disappointed. It is not even a medicore BL show, it was boring as hell, the funny scenes were not funny (for me) and as usual with most shows it starts stronger than it ends. So, all in all, you should pass it, when you have not watched it yet.

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this was boring as fuck...

There is no real story... it's just inconsequential and irrelevant. Nothing happend for 1h 15mins. The BL and the GL go together on the island. The BL returning home and the GL for a vaction. They chat about nothing, have some dinner, some walking and some kissing and that's it. I was bored out of my mind. The best of this episode are the shoots of the nature... Then there is the obligatory kiss under water (which was filmed in a tank and not the ocean, because in an ocean that's nearly impossible to do).

I can't even say it's bad. To be bad there must be story, but there was nothing. If you are bored you can watch it for some eyecandy and some nice landscape shots, but you can leave the volume off, because nothing they say is in any way interesting.

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a very well handcrafted show

Some people are pissed because they axed the BL part. I have not read the original story (which was not BL), neither the novel (which was BL), but I can't understand why people are sooooo dumb on concentrating only on this aspect. I guess they had a spot on the china market and when money talks you don't have a choice if you need financing of your project. But who really carez, everyone should judge a show on it's own merrits.

We got a great show. The story was interesting, the dynamics between the different people where interesting and the vibe of the show to have a gangster improving the lifes of the people around him was great. The side characters like the chairman, the "witch" and the four boys did not leave a mark for me, they were neither very prominent in the scenes (except in the beginning for the four deliquents) and we did not get a good background on them.

We see a character developing which is not seen often nowadays especially for Se Kyung, Jae Min and even his mother. We also see a redemption arc for Jae Min and great chemistry between Se Kyong and Deuk Pal. You feel the admiration and tension between both leads. The production quality was good as well even when they did not have a big budget, the OST was nice too.

Even with some flaws this was a refreshing drama depicting real world problems like bullying, abuse of power, depression and non existing parental skills. I also liked the light scenes inbetween a quite dark story. Overall I can recommand anyone to watch this show.

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Not a BL but worth every penny the taxpayer spent....

Of course this is not a BL, it's a drama about a gay man. We see a real depiction of gay life in Korea with all the harsh realities Korean society (and many other) offers. There is no pink-washing of reality, there is just reality in an unapologetic way. Of course we wished for Ko Young to have a happy life. But life is tough, espeically as woman or gay man. I am glad the Korean culture ministry spend tax money on this show, because it's an important piece of education too. And because it's not a BL, we don't get the happy end Ko so much deserves.

One of the best gay shows ever produced even when some parts of the story were not perfect or not expanded and explained in a way I wished for (mother/son for example). On the plus side is the great acting, especially for the MLs who never played a gay character (and went into it giving 110%), and the stunning visuals.

So overall I can only recommand everyone to watch this series, 400 minutes worth spending!

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