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A highly polished production with only one flaw...
This was a pleasent surprise. While most GMMTV productions are the same old, same old this is different. I'm not a fan of the thai humor and the accompanying soundeffects, but it felt not that over compared to Ossan's Love (TH). The script was mostly good but with one flaw. I think PerthSanta was a late addition and they were just there for the fans and had not that much of an impact. Remember the first episode where PerthSanta had a fight, and Santa said to Perth "We speak later, wait at the car" - and of course that scene never came. So for me it feels like this couple was squeezed into the script without having a story to tell.You see Pond had the time of his life acting his overdriven self and Phuwin is also a stronger character compared to all the other series they did together. Only the kissing scenes were not perfect most of the time, they really need a kissing coach. The addition of William and Est as side couple (but without a kiss yet, in maybe special episode?) was of course also to gain more momentum for the show from their fandom and a calculated strategy by GMMTV to give the fans more "food" till their next series. And of course Est delivered! The addition of the two childs also helped to give this series a more serious touch.
While the PerthSanta story arc was weak, the rest was well written and well executed. To have the GMMTV president appear in the finale was a bit too cheesy for me. Besides that, production quality was top notch and you see they had a big budget to promote their most profitable ships in the menagerie of ships.
The humor is mostly not my cup of tea, but this fairy tale was what "The Next Prince" should have been. A fairy tale which is interesting to watch, which is a bit bizarre and a bit over the top, a touch of seriousness and lots of fun!
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sexualising toxic relationship, forcing the partner in an uncomfortable way all the time
This is a very hard series for me. The first scene started already bad, forcing a sexual contact. Red flag characters are not my cup of tea especially if they do not grow or turn 180°. The counterpart is too naive and too cliché and just let it happen, because he is especially horny. This is one the most sexualized BLs in history but without a story to speak of. While the NC scenes are based on reality, the toxic behaviour is not. I'm sure there are some relationsships like that, but I don't feel they are healthy.The side chars are extras, some as toxic as the lead red flag (yes, that girl) and some just stupid and some just "stiff". Why they had a cliché bitchy woman which turns lesbian is beyond me. Only the acting of the main couple is convincing. Both play their characters to perfection with nuanced facial expressions especially on Oats part. The rest is forgettable. There is no real story that needs to be told, but the production quality was superb.
The finale feels shallow and non-essential after the injection of needless drama in ep 11. Both Oat and Boat did a good job considering what the script has given, but overall it was just a bad series. Their acting increased my rating, otherwise that would be a disaster. The NC scenes are imho too much, if I want to see something like this I can watch any p0rn available and have not to ask myself WTF was that for or why does Jun allow this? Again, a disappointing thai show, but as I can see in the reviews some fangirls did this.
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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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A completely different vibe from Season 1...
Sometimes MDL drives me crazy. When you have a 24 episode Season 2 it would have been nicer to decide first if you want to split the three arcs in three seperate pages or not. If I had not seen this page by chance I would never ever had an idea I should do a review here too. (And if you say you wrote the same in the other review, of course I did, this stresses me out!)When "New Sijaw" is not directing the childification of any series disappears (even when he showed he can do differently too) which elevates this series in a huge way. But of course they could not pass on stupid soundeffects to make it a drama only, they always need some comedic relief.
The negative point of this story arc is the 2D villain father which comes straight from a trash detective novel. On the other hand we have a reunification with Phoons mom, which was a very nice touch.
After two years of being "together" I expected them to work out well and they did. Especially Tonliews ability to cry by a press of a button (I mean of course the call to "action") is incredible (if you see some of the BTS you see him laughing in one moment, then comes the scene and he looks like a very sad puppy crying his eyes out).
Central to the story is of course Phoons friendgroup, especially Ter and North pushing Phoon into the arms of Fah. Yes we would like to have such a friendgroup as well with undenying support always. The only sad point is that we don't see the 5th couple in this arc, after they very quite prominent in arcs one and two.
Production quality was top notch, except when they had to use on-body microphones which made it sound a bit muffeled in certain scenes. I only think this would be even better when they also went with 21:9 movie format.
Overall this was very nice to watch and so much better than most crap shows coming from Thailand this year. 24/25 we had Fourever You, Part 1 vs Your Sky and both were underwhelming equally, but this year, Fourever You, Part 2 vs Duang with You and the clear winner is Fourever You!
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low budget, but quite good except the final...
Sorry, I'm late for this review, because Weak Hero Season 2 took precedence in my time-budget :)Here we get four different love stories in one series. The first was typical what you would expect from a BL, childhood friends growing into love. The second one is the most interesting one as it involves time-travel. The third one was a very sad one and last one was so weak I asked myself why to include it and "ruin" the series with it.
While the budget was low, the episodes short, the acting was good except the last one but overall miles ahead of most of the thai BLs we "have" to watch. So even the independent small studios can produce a good series with a low budget. I would suggest you skip the last two episodes and enjoy the first six episodes.
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Short but great :)
Kiba-san works in a welfare-type facility for children with disabilities, where children who cannot live with their parents due to various reasons live together. One day the little boy Ritsu arrived who has been neglected by his parents, who does not speak but is drawn to Kiba. After some weeks of happy living Ritsu has to go back to his mum...Overall a heartwarming movie, based on a true story, about a social worker who does care about all the children he is responsible for. Jun of course acts believable and he's heartbroken when Ritsu has to leave. I won't spoil the end, but it's not a bad one. So, if you have free 23 minutes, watch this short-movie!
Edit: This silly site has no way to add a youtube link, so if you are looking for this short-film:
https://youtu.be/mII6nUlTNZk
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medicore show with a good vibe
OMG, was 2024 a hard year for thai shows. Many shows were childish, immature and poorly written with forgettable storylines and often boring as fuck.What this "university" show did different: It was not as childish, it was not that immature, it had a 2:1 screen ratio (loving it because I don't have a TV since forever) and the vibe compared to all the similar shows (yes I mean all the GMMTV/Sabi Wabi crap) was miles ahead. I can't explain it really, but when watching this, I had a smile on my face regardless of some clichés & forced drama (ep 11) and some cringe scenes. And of course they did polish the presentation to new heights. Not only are the actors cute/handsome as fuck but also the cinematography did everything to perfection especially in the emotional scenes.
Makes this a good show? Of course not. The story is still poorly written without hights and with forced drama. But everything else was executed in a very good way, had a good vibe and was still enjoyable to watch. Overall I expected less and got more :)
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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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cliché story, bad lip-syncing, bad sound-effects, no happy end
I thought, that could be nice, but it isn't. Even indoors they do not record the original audio, they lip-sync everything which ruins the flow and on top of it, they add foot-steps and other effects as well. The story is quite easily told. The older "boy" "adopted" the younger one - but of course a child can not adopt anyone... it's not really explained. But for arguments sake we asume the younger one was adopted and the older one took care of the younger one and they grew up together. And because they are so close the younger one falls in love with his brother, but is refused, even when it's obvious he is also in love.That is quite similar to the series "Unknown" but with a big difference. The story was way way better and made sense, the older brother confronts his own feelings even after he refused him also. Also a difference, the older one was not styled as metrosexual or gay... at least for me he had more gay vibes compared to the younger one. So to run away from his brother and ask for a date with a girl was weird to me.
Overall this is not a series to recommand and the weird audio made it even worse and imho ruins the acting, which was not bad. If you can cope with a "bad" ending, you can watch it, but it would be better if you watch something else.
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One of the Taiwanese shows which disappoints...
This show started with one of the worst openings in BL history...Force one of the boys to do things he doesn't want... It's just rape but mentally. Even when a show gets better after this, it can never ever be a good show. It was simply disgusting, regardless if it's a "fantasy" or not. It should not have a place in any drama imho.
As always the side couple is the more interesting one but their inability to communicate was a bit annoying. The rest of the plot was more on the boring side. The actors did the best with the script but Mr. Chang was not really believable,. The cinematography was the best of this show.
While I thought this will be a nice show, it's not. It's just banal and boring and you could have done something more interesting than watching this.
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It's raw, it's dark, it's light, it's depressive, it's happy, it's sad - it's the full spectrum.
As usual I went into this "blind" - I did not watch trailers or read about it, I just knew it's playing in a tumult time for Thailand. Of course this is a drama and it does not represent historical accuracy, but it depicted quite accurate what the gist was. There were protests, there was political killings and there was a revolution (a bit later). Thailands military still has more power over it's goverment than any democracy should have.This series is partly hard to watch. Not because it's bad, because it's so acurate, because the acting is so good and of course because it's so sad - in a good way. The company said this is not a BL, it's a gay story - and it mostly is. They did not disappoint in their description. There is only some fluff but mostly it felt really realistic.
Tanwa (played by Mile) is a typical end of 1960ties free spirit (they would have said hippie at the time), but without a direction. Trin (played by Apo) is more or less the opposite, he knows what he wants and he knows what he stands for. This two worlds clashes and after the traumatic events where Victor (played by Peter Deriy) died, Tanwa find the courage to move on by his mothers unreleased book (given by his father he was at odds). Then we have a second couple, the colonel and the journalist - a poetic love which could not be fullfilled, because the colonel decided to protect his love and sacrifices himself for it. I have read comments that say Dhevi is the villain, but of course she is not. The colonel used her (and her family) to advance his career and he had to pay the price for his decision. This also saved the live of his love the journalist. Is it nice? Of course not, but such were and are (sometimes) the realities we live in. It was quid quo pro - he gained social status which made him go through the ranks of the military into a powerful position and she gained just the man she loved even knowing he has no feelings for her. And in contrast to most BLs: She got not furious and made no scene. It's just realistic.
All the cast were really amazing. When you know that Tencent in the form of WeTV financed this project it's absolutly stunning that they did all that what they can't do in China with such a controversial story. Of course this is a hurtful story, this is not the typical BL fluff you may expect. This is raw, brutal, repulsive, sad but also poetic, happy and beautiful.
For me this is a 10 (for the uncut version), because besides the realistic approach, a good story and the production quality, it's the right step for Thai's entertainment industry to not just cater to the fangirls. The story is the star of this show and not just some actors. So, if you have not seen it, it's a must watch for me!
As usual a slight derank for the cut version because this version should not exist at all!
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A bit childish, a bit cringe, a bit forced, a bit fluffy and a bit mature
Not sure what to write, my headline says it all. There was lazy writing, there was not so good execution and there were lots of flash-forward on the start of each episode which did nothing for the flow. It maybe an art style but it confused more than it helped.The problems of the chars are a bit forced, a bit over the top and unresolved for too many episodes, especially regarding the "older" couple. And then it's easily resolved and everyone is happy which feels forced too.
Again lazy writing and not so much character development as needed. Also I think you could tell this story in just eight episodes, especially if they would have cut the unnecessary drama. The premise was interesting but they did too less with it, they could have shown how the couples and all of them grow together in a more meaningful way.
A nice touch was the inclusision of the follow on show MLs in the finale.
It's not a bad show, it's not a good show, it's a bit cringe, a bit fluffy, a bit silly, a bit childish, a bit mature and a bit fun. You could have watched worse.
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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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Two shows in one... and a big spoiler in the beginning...
This is qute hard to explain, but I feel like we have seen two completely different shows... The William and Izaya arc was forced on to us with endless screentime and nobody can tell me, that there were not other important scenes in the first month. The only redeeming quality in this arc was Kazuyuki with his struggle which made me feel quite sad for the most time.After William and Izaya were gone - thank you very much - we get a new show, a more dynamic show and a show with deep conversations, talk about gay life in Japan, talk about coming out and all the fears and uncertainties which will come with it. Especially Ryuki and Tomoaki grew with this show. That was the highlight of the show for me.
Point deductions go to Netflix for spoiling all the couples in the first scenes of the first episode - WTF? Why do you do this? The charm of such shows is, we don't know who will end up together. So they took away an important part of it. While the people on the panel are sure all nice and well - I don't need a panel to explain to me what happened or to explain to me how the person in the scene felt - I do know myself. They did cut it down a bit compared to Season 1, but it's still an annoyance for me - and I skipped them most of the time.
When you see Huwais and Bomis social media, it seems they are still together, but Netflix: Why did you let the people wait for SEVEN fucking months till they can reveal anything about the show? We know it was filmed from February to April 2025. It took so long to edit all the stuff? I don't believe so. I think it's cruel to let the couples hanging in the air for such a long time. Many did struggle with coming out and if they do come out and are happy, they can't even tell the world that they have a partner which makes them happy? Of course this is also a rating deduction for me!
Overall I will not be too harsh with my rating because the people in it moved me - a lot. It was a good experience but I'm still more a fan of how "His Man" is doing it. If you have the time, it's still worth a watch!
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Short, to the point, dark but without unnecessary drama
This is an example of what japanese productions do better than most. They do take a medicore, sexualized manga and make it into one of the best BLs we can wish for. The story is straightforward, there is no fluff in the beginning but the actors understand to portrait their characters to perfection with nuances in their facial expressions and glances.What this production also did right is, we get real kisses and real NC-scenes which is not as common for JBLs as we could wish for. Cinematography is on point and production quality is high (besides the walk to the grave where a continues error appears). There is nothing to complain about. Of course this BL is not for everyone because it starts very dark. Yakuza are not the nicest people on this planet. And because it's dark, it's not fluffy at all even when Kataoka always tries to lighten the mood. He knows exactly what Odajima is up to, but he takes it as a given and does not care. But Odajima grows and realizes that all his hate was a misunderstanding and he finally finds peace with his past.
So overall, this is a perfect BL to binge-watch and just enjoy it.
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