Eliot_Rulez

More "punch" than love...

Thanks to two people translating it, I was able to watch this :) Domo arrigato! 🙇‍♂️

I did not expect anything from it, but it feels a bit flat. My biggest critisim is, they lack some chemistry and there is not much focus on the love-part of the title. I don't mean the fluffy stuff but Mitsuru does not appear to really pursue Madoka. I can't fault the actors but the direction which did also bit focus sometimes too much on comedy for such a dark background maybe in the hope to balance it out, but it feels inappropiate at times.

On another positive side, Madoka is "out" and nobody cares :) I wish that would be true for Japan as a whole. But it makes this watch more enjoyable, because regardless he has the support of anyone, including his brother.

Fighting choreography was also not bad and we get an even an halfway decent kiss in the end which is an improvement to many JBLs. Overall quite nice to watch, with some good serious talking scenes, nice fighting but a run of the mill storyline and a lack of the "love" part.

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OMG, why are most JBLs/JGLs/JQLs sooo fn dark?

Most shows in the queer spectrum from Japan have a dark undertone and this one is much darker then most.
How to articulate all the feelings I have in a not rambling way?

After watching this I'm still a bit overwhelmed. What starts as a coincidal meeting of two young women, where one of them takes the other home, gets weird after just 8 minutes into the show. I won't spoil anything to you here, because the show will only work, if you don't get spoiled imho.

Kotoha has a dark secret and bets that Megumi can't guess her real name. Because her name is curse or fate or both. This is a novel concept and makes life for Megumi difficult. She has to explore here true feelings and she needs to confront Kotoha.

The only little downer I had in the finale episode, it was a bit dull in the end and I expected more. But overall the arc was interesting, the acting was very good and the cinematography more artsy as in many other shows and it captures the angst, the love and all feelings inbetween perfectly.

I did not expect much from the show and I stumbled over it by chance, but alone the title intrigued me.
So, if you have no fear to go to dark places this show is for you. But don't expect fluffy scenerios but there is some light in the dark places. And this show is truly outstanding.

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condensed story meets bland and chemistry free MLs

This is one of the disappointing JBLs in 2024.

What was the most lacking is the chemistry between the couples and that for me "Kai" does not work as a freshman. "Kai" looks much too old for his role. Besides that, they only had the "bad stuff" culminating at the same time compared to original and they do bike races instead of cars. Other than that, they cut out a lot of fluff and some persons like the silblings of "Fuma".

The chemistry is so lacking they can't convince anybody about their feelings. "Fuma" beating up the "bad guys" alone was also unbelievable, they cut the friendship part between Arashi and Fuma in such an important scene. Also in the original series the organizers had a much bigger role which made the setting much more believable. So they cut too much and they did not invest in any fluff between the couples. Cutting out the scene where "Fuma" calls his mom to ask about how to take care of a sick person is also crucial to the story.

Overall the worst JBLs in 2024, with no creativity or spin on the original story, lacking chemistry , no fluff at all and feeling very sterile. So if you haven't seen it, forgo it and watch the "original" which has more punch to the story, is believable and doesn't miss the fluff of a BL which you would expect in such story.

Update: Ep 9 and 10 are "special" episodes. If you think it will get better, you are wrong, it went worse. Don't waste your time with it.

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Speaking cats are not my cup of tea.... A show with a bitter aftertaste

When the president of GMMTV is the executive producer of series, I know it can't be good.But I bet if they made a series where FirstKao reads the entries in the telephone-book (you remember the books you got every year in ancient times?) the reviews would be flooded with 10. So I will not be surprised when I get review-bombed (again).

Kao knows how to act, but a weak script can't save him. The show leaves an bitter aftertaste because of course this is the last show of the WinnySatang couple. They did not have a romantic storyline but just the finale revealed that they will be happily ever after. Besides that we got cringy "cat-voices" which did kill the show for me.

The recipe of most GMMTV productions is a feel good show, nothing serious, a bit fluffy and also nothing really keeping me hooked storywise. It's all just plain and simple and for me quite boring. The storyline with the mom was the highlight even when it was quite sad but besides that it had not much to offer.

Production quality was impecable this time around. The best thing I can say: the cats were adorable and I'm happy the show is over because regardless of cute animals and a cute couple, nothing could safe the series with such a lame script.

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The most cliché redflag/good guy "romance" ever...

After "Bad Guy My Boss" I hoped the next thing should be better, but no it's still a pile of crap. The worst thing is GagaOOLala picked this diarrhea up and polluted their content.

It starts with an narcistic egoistic asshole meeting a good guy and of course the good guy falls heavily for the asshole regardless of warnings previously given. And when the inevitable happens he has to cry himself to sleep. But of course the asshole gets a miraculous redemption arc because - the script says so. Yeah of course love can move mountains but people are not mountains. 🤣

I don't know why girls dig such shit, because this series still has a rating of 7.1... WTF? What's wrong with you people? This series is so awful it's not only a waste of your time, it's a waste of the money that was invested. Of course it's a tad better compared to 4Destiny, but it's just a different taste of shit. Could they please stop making such series? Nobody needs them, because they only thing which was watchable where all the nc-scenes because fanservice is king or so it seems.

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The final season which may not be final...

I can't help myself, but I liked this season the most. While normaly not so much into the bizarre overdriven japanese humor I felt, this season they dialed it back a bit and made it more "compatible" at least with me. Also the opening song this final season was by far the best imho :) Because it was not just silly I felt the acting was improved and the plots more interesting... but of course in the end, he failed to defy the world of BL.

As they are teasing a sequel, I would wish for them to show us the everyday life of the "background" lead (yeah, he does not have a name or if it was mentioned once I forgot) with Hatano in a "normal" series. Production quality was excellent as usual and I had a lot of fun watching this. So, if you have nothing to do and enjoy silly stuff, it's a recommandation from me :) (To understand the story with Hatano you need to watch the season before, but to understand all, all four seasons are required.)

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Low production, cute/handsome actors

Sukfilm is known for their short series with few actors. While I feel some tensions between the actors, it's not the best chemistry. The series is partly steril. That's the fault of the settings. Even the bar feels lifeless. The locations besides the appartment are not choosen well and as always they can't fill the void with extras.

The story is cliché as usual. Childhood friends reunite and at least one of them is (still?) in love after 15 years! It's a bit much imho. I can't say it's bad, but it's also not good from a story telling view. It also makes the story not believable when you have no background at all. The clumsiness of the "writer" is partly cute but partly annoying. So I'm divided on this series. At least it felt not cringe or childish. You have to deceide yourself if you like this series or not, at least it felt not a waste of time.

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What a mess...

This series did not know if it would like to be a serious drama or a comedy. So they cobbled all of that together which of course does not make sense in the slightest. The comedy parts are overacted and cringy and the drama parts sometimes gives us a glimpse of what should have been possible and often they feel forced. The plot is also a mess, even when the core itself could have been good and interesting, but they butchered it. For eight episodes there are too many story elements not brought in a coherent form, jumping from one place to the other. It would have been better just to concentrate on the main & side couple.

I have no idea how the director of this show thinks he did a good job. What a mess. Of course MDL would not be MDL if even this crap (overall) gets a rating over 6... 6 means in my world at least medicore to decent, but the only decent thing in this show are the actors doing their best with a wacky script.

If you are time-constraint, just skip it and if you are not, you should skip it as well. Cute faces alone is not a reason to watch any show.

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to be connected to be alone....

I'm late to the "review-party" because I had to binge-watch the series again to make sense of it.

The style of cinematography with it's wide angle shots was often used to tell us, all the characters are connected but not really that close to one another. Also the communicated more via videos/chats then in real life. That felt very dystopian and scary in a way.

Only two characters had a romantic interest, while the other two compensated to fill a need they didn't know they had. Especially Bua was very manipulative to even offering sex to get the closeness he seeks but not understanding that his behaviour hurts anyone around him. F4M was also an ass as soon he saw Chian he completely ignored Baabin and while Baabin is sensitive to the feelings of people around him, he's too scared to confess to the person he loves. He was also the truest character of all, always advising in a soft or harsh words depending on the situation and never hiding his feelings except hiding his love for F4M.

This love-quadruple can drive some viewers on the brink of insanity. As everything unfolds Baabin says something racist to Bua to protect F4M feelings even when he already had feelings for Bua. So overall all characters are shitty in their own way but they do it not knowingly or in Baabins case out of an misunderstood feeling to protect someone.

There is also bad in the show. The story spans two years, but the time-jumps are often not obvious enough and the choppy subtitles (out of sync, missing sentences) do not help. If each episode would start with a time-jump it would have been easy, but there are many time-jumps in one episode.

The acting was very good, but for me F4M & Chian could not represent a teenager (16-18). They looked too old, so this aspect irked me a lot regardless of their performance. The first two episodes are also a bit too boring, it's really a slow burn and not much is happening. So they could even made that six episodes and cut a bit more, but maybe that should highlight the dystopian feeling for the viewers. But also showing an other side of Bangkok was refreshing.

Overall a very unusual show and something we should see more often, even when the romantic aspect is not really a focus of the series. Fluff is very rare, the story is an angsty teenager coming of age story where teenagers seek attention on social media instead in real life. Their friendships are more superficial then in depth but in the end they learn and overcome the struggles albeit with hurting a lot. If you think, I did not like the show you are wrong. It's a very good show especially considering it's from Thailand, breaking the normal school/university tropes, showing the characters in a raw unfiltered way.

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Simply cute & meaningful

People with disabilities are under-represented in the world of the entertainment-industry. Rich kids are overused in many love dramas. But here it was a bit different. The deaf "kid" was not a helpless stereotype and the rich kid is not a shallow one-dimensional character. Both leads did an amazing job in bringing to life the vision of the creators. The side couple is a typical stereotype but not in a bad way.

The only downer for me was the finale, where I thought "really"? Are there no other option of conflict resolution with his cousin? And the conflict with the rich kids father was not solved either. It's nice to have a happy end but I felt a bit underwelmed by the story while all the other episodes were more thought out. I don't think it was necessary to put a GL part in it, but it's ok as it is and the bitchy fiancé was not a typical "bitch" as portraied in so many BLs.

The stand-out of this show is the chemistry of the leads, the training which went into learning sign-language and an overall "sunny" touch on the cinematography. Also most NC scenes had a place and didn't look forced or out of place or just fan service which is typical in especially thai shows.

Overall that was a very enjoyable show with great leads, with dark undertones on a light story. Also to give a minority of a minority a representation is important and meaningful.

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slow burn with emotial conflict and a cliffhanger

Why I do love slow burns, I am not a fan of mutliple couples, especially of the grown up sort on the side.
Two teachers are in the same boat as our MLs, but they know each other for more than 10 years and have not found the time to confess their feelings much much much earlier. This is a big downer of the whole show.
First I (and many others) assumend that both teachers where together, but much later on, we learn, that's not the case. That's also the reason why the female teacher has so much screen time.

Tians conflict is not really revealed. If you don't know the book, you don't know that he is a homophobe. The flashback in episode 11 shoulkd teach us that, but (!) it does not... yes he is disturbed what he has seen, but I would never have the conclusion that it makes him a homophobe. He also does not react as such in the two kissing scenes. So something is either lost from the book or lost in the script.

Other than that both characters are what you expect in a BL. One introvert, the other one an extrovert. Both with emotional damage. The character building was nicely done, You see that they are caring for each other and they are growing togehter. But they don't make the step to confess even when both feel the same. So the cliffhanger for Season 1 was done in the nicest way possible for the MLs, but the teachers were a disappointment.

So I personally have to disagree with "best BL 2024", I think that "Unknown" was better. It's a good show, with good acting, very good cinematography but the story is nothing we did not see already. It also has "Addicted Heroin" vibes but they resolve such a story in an other way. We get an unsatisfying ending because it looks like it was designed to have two seasons. Now we have to wait and see if we really get a second season, which is not a given.

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not enough romance, too many characters and Keen saves the world...

I wish I could like this show more, but I can't. The romance part was over after 4 episodes without romance in the remaining episodes, besides few of the side couples. But this is the point of a BL imho. There are too many "baddies" in one show, even the men who should be good are bad. And the best acting was done by the bad overlord and the trainers son which is also a big minus in my book. While the MLs are pleasent to look at, their acting is medicore at best.

It started strong but the more episodes the more it disolved in a hot mess. But Keen has the answers for everything and he saves the world or so this series made you believe. So you can say it's more Anime style than based on reality. The only plus were the fighting scenes, so the actors really did train for that.

Overall, I'm disappointed but at least it's not a really bad show which coming from WeTV can also happen. So for the fangirls there are lots of NC scenes which are quite tasteful staged but the writing is quite weak.So, if you like you can watch it and if not, that's ok too :)

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Again very very overhyped...

The problem with many thai shows is, they try to wrap very dark themes into a comedy and I don't like it. Not everything must be funny or everything must have a cushion to protect the viewers from sad realities. And why is "Sammy" always cast as a comic relieve? Her friendship (and the friendship of the other teacher) would have had so much more impact if this role would have been serious.

For Santa this must be have fun even when he had to portrait two characters. I would think this is a challenge actors gladly take to improve their acting overall. Also Perth did a good job. Production quality was high, at least there was nothing to complain about.

I had my troubles getting into the series... the start was very weak but the longer the series run the better it got. That's a big difference compared to many other GMMTV shows which start strong and then falling off a cliff. But it's still not enough to hype this series to a 9 or even 10... For me this show is better than average but still not good enough. It could have been so much better but as usual GMMTV fails to put a serious drama on air, especially when such a theme comes with the warning of the start of every episode and a help line for people in mental duress.

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cute but a dull main character...

What could have been a very interesting story, turned out to be in the wrong setting all together. The most thing that irked me was that the main character is a grown up man (27), still acting like a child in his puberty. Had this been a school/university setting it would have made much more sense. I understand that some people are a bit slow, but he was slow for a decade which is bit unbelievable for me. Also the barista is more of a side character not a lead, because we have no clue how he fell into love with mr. dull guy. Yes, the guy was always there getting his coffee but there were no memorable interactions between them.

While the last two episodes were the best of the series, it's a bit sad that Mr. team leader had no positive ending. I would not have been against the team leader get together with the barista, but the barista will end up with his trainer and Mr. team leader will be alone :( Maybe because he was the most mature of them all. But the shyness in the end scene is also a bit akward... if you are together for three years you won't get flustered just because you see a bare body... that's too cliché for my taste.

So, this series has a bit a split personality. The lead character was a bit dull and slow, the triple fighting for him were the more interesting people but the setting was also not ideal for this kind of a story. The acting of the three was very good, but I would see them more in an university setting. It's still easy on the eyes and it's cute to a certain point but it is missing something. Production wise I can't fault the series, it is high quality but the script is lacking. Overall a nice watch, but nothing special which is a bit disappointing.

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