Eliot_Rulez

Nothing exciting...

Unenthusiatically I brought this show to an end. Of course when it's GMMTV and "P'New" directing I expect nothing special, but that script pissed me off since the beginning. They made it so that "Yu" was planning on everything and it's so very unbelievable. They could have cut that out. The main point was that "North" offered money for a marriage on his whim and that would have been good enough. As it's typical with GMMTV and P'New one must play as "childish" as possible. If someone behaves like that I would say, he is not mature enough even to consider marrying anyone.

Tim & Pai had a better start, but even from episode 1 it was very obvious, that Tim already fell for Pai. So as usual the script was very superficial, the characters were not really thought out and of course we have a very strict grandpa. Then comes the marriage of Tim & Pai in the mall and of course all the woman Tim scammed are there - because no, it could have not been a closed event and everyone can come in. Cutting his grandchilds off the family fortune was predictable as it was not really interesting. Instead of letting them figure something out for themselves they had to go back to grandpa and dance to his fiddle.

Just because I'm not disappointed from a show I never expected anything from does not mean it was any good. I can't fault the actors, they did all their best, but the script really did put them into a straitjacket and there is not much wiggle room to let the actors shine. At least we see Ohm in a role were smiling is an option :) Production quality was very high and there is nothing to complain about that.

For me it was quite boring, especially the finale was nothing to write home about and generally this is not a show you need to see. It's not even entertaining most of the time.

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Slow as a snail, but the tiny daily life moments makes it special

We all know some JBLs are extremely slow, but this is slow to a standstill. On one hand we have Wataru who is aware of his feelings but to frightened to give into them and on the other hand there is Minato a steady, courages character who has his goal in mind all of the time and that is to be with Wataru.

What is especially mind boggeling is that the director of this show also did "My Personal Weatherman" and both shows could not be farther apart as they are. Weatherman is about miscommunication but both characters show a special desire to have sex with each other - not just for the sex because they do love each other. This time the countdown starts at 3698 days more than 10 years and it's a very slow process.

Especially for western viewers to watch this snail pace is a bit hard and frustrating, because it's not in our culture. While life is very fast paced in Japan, in Europe we have something called "life-work balance". Our goal is not life for work, but just work for life and enjoy life as much as possible and this contradiction also shows in this show. Minato got a job and left for three years not because he wanted to, because he needed to. This was also the point in the story where Wataru realized that he is really in love. But when Minato returns after three years he still denies his feelings and hurt Minato as well.

Of course, because of the title, we all know they will end up together, but it was a really slow process. I personally would have wished they would have packed all the eleven episodes in just eight with less flashbacks, which would have led to a better pacing. But even while it was slow they created a special atmosphere. There is no drama per se, there are many small moments which drive the characters, the glances, the intimacy in just doing little things. Also of note is the positive messaging even with grandpa who said "I don't understand it, but as long as you are happy, I'm happy" which pulls this show closer to reality.

Production quality was very good, except the "night scenes". I can see clearly that many where not filmed at night but done with not so good CGI especially the star night. And of course I wished they had the kiss-scenes like in "My Personal Weatherman". But besides that, there is nothing to complain about. In the times we live in this show gives us a little bubble to be happy and to slow down ourselves. I can only say, I liked it regardless of it's flaws.

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Another remake nobody needs...

What's with all the MAME (MeMind) remakes and do they even make sense? I really don't understand why they need to do a remake of every story. The BossNoeul pairing is imho the superior pairing to the japanese counterparts. While it's "only" the second outing for this japanese pairing, they still don't know how to kiss. Besides that the production quality comes nowhere close to the original. Many scenes feel lifeless, especially considering this is an university setting. It was a bit different with the "Love Sea" remake where the production quality was comparable and the compact format and some other changes made me enjoy the japanese version more. This series on the other hand is totally uncessary. The only highlight of this version is they changed the ridiclous end of the original, which makes the story in this aspect better, but on the other hand the compact format made some things a bit too compressed.

So, if you are into parallel worlds and other scifi/fantasy settings you should watch the original. This version is just there, just improving the end of the mom-story a bit, but not offer anything extra. The chemistry between the actors is marignal better compared to their previous work (Love in the Air Japan) but it's nearwhere close to the original pairing. Also the second couple gets less screentime and the younger looking one is the "Senpai" which makes no sense. Of course even the kissing and the nc-scenes are much better in the original, here it feels quite akward. Overall, you will not miss anything when you don't watch this.

Update: The special is the same as the original, so they passed up the chance to tell a different story which would have been much more interesting.

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No magic, just the same old recycled GMMTV concept.

When you already know in the first episode who the "bad guy" is, then I asked myself who did not see this coming? When you like to do a fantasy BL, then why not skip all the crap with the cheapo cliché bad guy? Of course they laugh in the end and are still friends even when the baddie tried to kill his "friend" but failed. That's fantasy of course, because in real life that would never happen in a span of a few days.

GMMTV is hyperfocused to give fans just the feel-good vibes without any depth. They want to sell their overpriced concert tickets and merchandise. They seldom do stories which are controversial or have a background from real life. Where are the times when storytelling was king and fluffy scenes where the cherry on top? Or: When was the last time a story made sense and you did not know what will happen next?

The second question is: Why bother with a second couple when this couple is just an afterthought? Yes they are cute together, but there was no substance, they just were there to look pretty.

Production quality was very good, because that's one of the most favorite ships in GMMTVs menagerie of ships. At least First had a nice time, because he could play the bad guy and he did a good job of that - as far as the script let him. While Sea can act, I would also say Jimmy improved again, but he is not even close to Sea. So overall, this is a brain off series with mostly good vibes and that's what GMMTV went for. They all look pretty, the camera framed them pretty and that's that. But for me, it was just predictable and most of the time boring as hell. Still, I can't fault it too much, because it's at least not bad. It's ok to watch and ok to like, but as usual the ratings are overblown by all the fangirls who do like seeing there ships hugging, kissing and in some NC scenes.

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GMMTV/Raiser Music outed themselves or so it seemed...

Wow, what a show, I thought in the beginning of this series... but as always with GMMTV the show gets gruadually worse... The positive of course is the chemistry between William & Est and also Nut surprised with good acting. The other memebers of the boyband are not at that level yet. A second positive we got was a very nice OST interpreted by the band. And the most positive: It was not an university setting again... boah is that overused nowadays.

The bad: GMMTV shows us how the entertainment industry work - and indirect how they work - the finale was especially lackluster with the "happy end". Of course this is a BL and the business woman is not that business after all which felt so insincere and unbelievable. We all know that idols and ships have slave-like contracts and such a series will of course change nothing. The break-up part (Pepper/Gam) was one plot to drive home that this industry is unforgiving and they will do everything to get their investment in their artists back.
After reading an other review, now I know in Thailand things are different especially with idols dating... so they just copied K-Pop style which is bad.

Overall for me: Strong beginning and weak ending. I give them cudos doing something different, but of course this is top notch marketing to present one of their boybands to the international fans and broaden their appeal and success which of course means more money for GMMTV. Because this is a BL, it's a fantasy and the finale would never play out this way in reality. If someone gets fired from one company it would be hard to get a contract with another company, because the companies talk to each other and there enough back-channels that they all know what had happened. So this leaves a bitter taste...

And because this review section is swamped with 10 reviews, I guess, I will get a lot of hate because I disagree. It could have been so much more but I have little faith in the big thai companies to deliver a good show from start to end, as usual I got disappointed. Believe what you want, but this show is very far from a 10 and my 7 (edit 6.5) is very generous because I admit that William & Est have a special charm.

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folklore meets BL, but it failed to deliver.

I like a premise where fantasy/folklore is part of the story and in the beginning they did well. Till episode 4 they had an animated intro which did explain bits of the tale which played out 1000 years ago. With ep 5 this part was gone and we had to wait till ep 9 where a lot of the background was explained. This episode was the best of the series, but I felt they should have given us more background. The part of the BL was also a long time in the background and overall I think the couples lacked the chemistry needed to "sell" it to us. It got better in the later episodes but imho it was not enough. I would have liked to have seen more of the past and less in the current time.

In the finale we got a quite satisfying happy end for the main-couple, but the side-couple was just a 2 minute insert without any details or depth. Overall I felt the series lacked a constant pace, some episodes felt a bit streched and genereally I missed the focus of both folklore & BL. We also have an antagonist and with his smirk in the last scene (and with a scene before), there is even an open end for a season 2.

Production quality was very good, which felt a bit of a waste considering the script. I think the actors did lack chemistry with each other. They did kiss, the side couple landed in bed together (but we did not see what happened there), which was fine, but I never felt a longing for each other. So I'm a bit disappointed with the outcome of this series, because they have tried to do a good show, but I think the script was too weak to do so. For me it's an ok show but not a show I will watch again, except if there is a season 2 to refresh my memory. This show will not leave a lasting impression.

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This is akward...

First of all, the reincarnation tropé is nothing new, but to have that in an instant when the body of the grandpa dies is so strange that I could not comprehend that for a second or two, because I understand that Yuan did like the outside of Ze Fang, but I can't understand that he is quite in love the moment the souls switched. That the other soul is the hetero grandpa is the cherry on top which makes this ridicilous.

Production quality was good, cinematography was ok, but overall I did expect more. This is a again a taiwanese show which does disappoint.

I will not rant further, because storywise this was dumb. When I consider we have 2025 and there is still the hetero to gay tropé - a tropé which is sooooooooooo outdated and should not have a place in any BL. When I remove the obvious stupid parts of this story, it's a decent BL with no heights and quite everything is standard. It's pleasant to watch cute/handsome actors but that's it. Because of the story I have to downrank this show, because it makes no sense for me. If you like it, good for you, but I do expect more and of course, I'm not a girl. 🤣 I was never invested in the characters, so when I rate this as medicore, than it's because they went not the GMMTV/Domundi way which would make all worse... Watch it, if you have the time, skip it if the story is important to you.

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Shallow, without substance and no direction....

This show was a fanservice for the fangirls. The story was shallow, Sant, the main, was a prick and Mark (the actor) was underutilized, because he can do much more. The show did not have a direction to be either a comedy or a drama. So they brought us the worst of both worlds. It was forced funny, the drama was short and resolved in two episodes.

There was nothing which is rememberable from the story. It was just meaningless without any substance. The actors did their best, but it's still not even a medicore show. The only plus point of course is their chemistry and intimate scenes, but that's almost a given by any GMMTV show.

So in essence it was not very bad, just shallow and forgetable. If you have to watch it, you can, but as usual I have no idea why there are so many high ratings.

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Typical toxic chinese BL...

It ended without much fanfare... While it was interesting in the beginning, it was overly toxic and the redemption arc was not well done. I felt like Mr. Toxic doesn't want to change for real and he still behaves like the asshole he is to anyone not connected to his love-interest.

I can't complain about the production quality, that was very high, even when they used too much blur for my taste in many scenes. So it felt a bit artificial. OST is excellent and the best point of this show.

Besides that I have not much to say. The kissing was lackluster, there aren't any nc-scenes and many say it's an adaption of another work but altered so they don't have to pay for a licence to use it. So that also leaves a bad aftertaste. Overall it's too plain and too ordinary to leave a lasting impression, it's average at best. If you are into the toxic tropé there are much better chinese series than this.

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what a messy story with unnecessary drama...

Hmmm... on the one hand for some this was entertainment pure, for others, that series does not make much sense and is frustrating. I lean to the group who thinks, the whole series was unnecessary when Iljo had talked in the first episode. Then maybe the could have expanded on how to bring Iljo's brother down. Iljo wallowing in the victim role was a bit much at times. Of course SeoJeong is not free of fault either. While under pressure from his father he does not know how to express his feelings at all. I think he did not receive any love from his family at all, but I would have prefered also to see some backflashes in his childhood.

Overall this is a mixed bag. You may like it or you may hate it or like me, it's more positive then negative but the story is messy. Production quality was good, but it was not a high polished one. It has raw edges, but what works is the chemistry between the leads. Both did a very good job and together they did even better. So, if you like it toxic, this is a show for you!

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Too short and a bit creepy....

Sukfilm is obviously the master of cliché plots. It's not like all clichés are bad, but when the story centers around it, it makes things a bit akward. "if you make me upset I need to punish you" - WTF? - and then forcing a kiss. That's a red flag for me - kissing without consent is really not ok, even when the other person does like it. But with only three episodes roughly six minutes each, there is not a lot of time to tell a comprehenisve story.

I can't fault the actors who did a really good job and look appealing. But as usual it's the same fake locations which do not feel very convincing. So, it's a cliché centered story with not much depth because there was no time to tell it in a good way. Bonus points are awarded for the visuals which were really on point. But besides that it's more or less medicore.

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Not my cup of tea...

I don't like the mixture between comedy and drama... either do comedy or do drama but not both of them. The abusive use of the accociated soundeffects did not make it better. While Huey, Dewey and Louie are mostly fun, the hysterical girl was annoying as hell. I guess it's a trademark for BLs to have to include an annoying girl/woman in every production and that is so cliché and should not happen in 2025. But what they did again was lazy writing, because the three boys get lost im the end and did not get involved in anything... even the boy/girl-love story is left unexplored. So the pacing of the whole series is choppy at best.

The actors did a good job, even when I don't feel the main couple. I don't know what it is, both are for sure nice persons and in their way cute/handsome, but together they don't give me a spark.

So all in all a typical BL which did nothing new, played it mostly safe, had of course stereotypical baddies. Also the "ex" was an asshole but everyone forgave him in an instant, not very realistic in my book. For me, not even a medicore show, while some comedy was ok, the storyline was flat and didn't get me emotionally for most of the time. You may watch it and like it, but I did not.

As usual a "cut" version gets a 0.5 de-rating, because they may also cut important story elements, because in this series there a no NC scenes worth cutting...

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A tourist ad with less sex compared to Kiseki Chapter 2... and overall awful!

OMG, I did not write a review for that... and many reviews I saw are way way way to positive. This show was boring as hell... While the Kiseki crap had a lot of sex scenes, they cut down on them in this series... The only thing nice in this show is the nature, but of course it's a tourist ad for Shimane/Japan.

Other than that, the story was extremely thin, extremely boring and I have no clue why such stuff is financed at all. Each episodes goes over an hour and nearly nothing is happening besides some banter and useless dialoge. Even the background music feels boring...

The best I can say, it does not have an overly stupid story, but there is not much story to begin with. It's just dragging on for ages... and of course we have the typical cringe thai "comedic" bits which are neither funny nor helpful, especially with the sounds, The actors are the poorest of them all. We know that Tontae can act, but the performances of all of them were just bad.

Kissing and NC-scenes don't make a good BL. This is an awful show and you should avoid it!

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"Toxic" is too mild...

First of all I will not dive too much into this series.
You have lot's of reviewers who will explain any detail for you, but I can't be bothered.

While the acting was amazing all characters in this show do need psycho-therapy. All of them. While "psycho professor" & "angry director" do need it most, the other two need it too.

To have a BL where love is regarded as "business" leaves a bitter taste on my tongue. Also the co-worker who at least does not care about Daons background has also a problem with accepting a) rejection and b) listening. I find it quite annoying when characters refuse to listen.

And then there is the lackluster finale... Because it's a BL we get a happy end. Oh would it be so much better if Co-Worker just died and that would be the end for all. But no, he must get his Daon so all the fangirls are happy. Also the final kiss was not that good compared to the scene in his apparment when he was drunk...

Cinematography was top notch, all the details were amazing... but imho it was quite wasted on such a story imho. I liked the beginning but it then spiraled out of control especially with the "angry director" and the "psycho professor". Also who would go for a presentation when the co-worker got stabbed? Would you not inform the attendence and scrap it? Or is it a work-related thing in Korea, that business must go on regardless of what happend? That did not make much sense to me. And then Mr. Director appologizing? Nah, unbelievable, you can't reflect in such a short time on the 11 years you did all the crap.

So overall I'm a bit split about this series, even when I don't mind toxic storylines. It's an above average show, but the story will not be to everyones taste which is a plus in my book but the finale was disappointing for me.

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Good story, good acting, but no conclusion and not a BL!

That is not a BL, it was just a queer story, with bullying and hardships for many youngsters. The focus of the story is not the love (interests), it's just to form a volleyball team. And that's why there is an open end and no conclusion. We don't know who ended up with whom or even if the friendship between J and Uno got where it once was. This is the bitter taste after you watch this show.

The story was good, the acting was good, the production was good, so this is really worth a watch. But any fangirls will be disappointed because there is only a semi happy end. And it's not a happy end in a romantic sense. So I hope, you can enjoy also a queer story which is in contrast to almost all BLs out there.

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