Jinyoungie

I've put off watching this because I watched the promotional film for the novel first when it aired. It starred Benjamin Tsang and Stan Huan. Maybe because of the budget with the diff media types, but the script, directing, production, cinematography, music scoring were superior than this drama. Although it was 5 mins, it captured strong chemistry, tension, and angst between the leads even with just their gazes and little script.
With the drama, it fell flat. The angst with the mains fared weaker than the 2nd leads. Also, with an angsty storyline, everything was glaringly bright and flat to convey such depth. The promotional film did well in utilizing lighting and optics to depict emotions.
Now that I've finally completed it, it was decent. I'd rate it higher if I hadn't watched the promo film. Also I've liked the 2nd leads better towards the end. It's a rewatchable drama for me

Promo film link: https://youtu.be/SfAavpwtTJw?si=8-gEVESmeglVtt8J

They both appeared as themselves as a cameo in Love Class 2 btw. It 's in episode 9.

What a massive letdown. The start was already bumpy and then it got rushed and crashed. So many unanswered questions with the ending. It needed an epilogue to tie the knots. Maybe a plot-heavy drama is not for their budget. Sometimes, something simple works best. That's why A Breeze of Love was fine.

My reaction too haha. It's so funny too because it was commented 11 years ago and the OP is clearly serious and distraught for the actor's sexuality just bc of a kiss 😭

Damn imagine wholeheartedly supporting your brother in your lowest of the lows, but then he rejects you and kills your dream just because you love someone. :////

I watched one with mismatched and wonky subs, why did the lead get arrested??. Pls reply to me even if this becomes unanswered years later lol

2 years late, but with what i gathered, the brother/father was stunned and confused that's why there were seconds of the girl forcing onto him. He did not kiss back.

4 eps in and this is sorta cringe. The script is ummm.. not quite good. The actors talents are wasted on this slop, esp Tee. He needs to find better script. He has great chemistry with Masu, but it gets extinguished whenever they speak whatever on their script 😭😭. It's so frustating.

Kanata saying he couldn't control his emotions bursting out but then proceeds to do a deadfish kiss 😆🫠🫠

I can send a link of the raws to you if you want. Just hmu.

But yeah, CONTRAST is depicted in the story five times!
(1) The opposite personalities of the leads. Kanata is popular, energetic, talkative, sporty while Akira is smart, quiet, shy, and brooding.
(2) Kanata is portrayed to be always happy and cheerful on the outside, but is ridden with issues inside.
(3) Despite such, when with Akira, Kanata is an open-book. He lays out all his worries and does not hesistate to show his emotions and opinions. While much has yet to be seen from Akira with his mysterious aura. Akira prefers to keep personal facts of himself.
(4) As mentioned, the light fluffy romance between the teen leads and the dark heavy connection between two characters.
(5) The story starts out light and cute, but then shifts to a sad, disturbing, and dark drama. One moment you're gushing out on how cute the interactions with leads, then the next moment you're gutted with the sudden flip of emotions. The tension is unbearable.

I know that the tutor akira backstory was integral in the manga to depict "contrast" between (1) the light fluffy teen youth romance with kanata and akira and (2) the heavy dark connection with akira and tutor. and I know that jbls usually closely follow the original work. and I know that these kind of toxic issues and tropes are kinda prevalent in japanese bl mangas esp in older ones. BUT, they could have just revised that backstory stuff.
Pedophilia, grooming, and taking advantage of a traumatized, vulnerable, and depressed teen is not something to be normalized just bc the predator constantly asks the victim whether he wants to stop it or not. Ofc, the victim won't stop until he recovers from his issues and finds a new light duhhhh.

Also, Akira had that clark kent glasses lol, he looks kinda diff with and without those. 😆😆

The only gripe I have with this drama is that annoying denoise haze of a filter they put in some scenes. It's harder to see the actor's facial expressions and ofc their stunning visuals lol

I'd hate to be Taejun in that trio lol. It hits too close to home. All of a sudden your bsf distances from you and it gets downplayed by them saying 'it's unlike you'.

When Haneul was dreaming about their relationship on the sofa, before he woke up in bed with Saebyeok.

Saebyeok is said to be an actor with good acting in the drama,,,, how ironic 😆

I'm sorry but did they use AI for the young young kid childhood scenes? It looks uncanny to me and they didn't match the picture frame faces (even the pic in the picture frame was uncanny).
Also, I immediately clocked that LJW/Saebyeok is a bit awkward acting even in the trailers. But, beggars can't be choosers since I love enemies to lovers/ childhood friends to lovers trope smothered with angst so I'll stick around XD

edit: HJS/Haneul's acting is also a bit rough too lol

I'm not really confident with cbls and season 2 haha

I have not read the novel. But for those who did,,,,, given the pacing of the story with the first two eps, are 9 episodes sufficient to cover the whole story?