Blkittykat

Luck in 10 digits

The most useless yet important thing I take away from this mini-séries is the fact that phone numbers are sacred. Not in the 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 kind of way, but in the 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 kind of way. I guard my phone number like treasure, no way I'm changing it for anything!

Hello, Is This Luck?' follows Na, a medical student and extern who faces nothing but bad luck. She's always getting overlooked at the hospital despite her skills, she's tossed about all the time by the universe which seems intent on hurting or irritating her, and her love life is an absolute mess. That's when her friend tells her that his life changed after a phone number change, so she decides enough is enough, and changes her number - in a bid to improve her love life. That's when things shift, and she finds herself caught in a love triangle between her original crush and a new love interest.

The premise is actually super cool, definitely got to be one of the two most innovative ways to merge technology and beliefs. There are also a myriad of ways they could've gone about the story, and for once, I'm not really angry with the way they chose to do it.

The actual problem with this series is Na.

The series would have been way more likeable if Na was written to be a better character. She's kind of selfish and rude, and does nothing but blame her circumstances and situations, without actually taking a look at herself and how her actions affect those around her. At the beginning, you think you understand why Na is so frustrated - she's so often overlooked at a job she's worked her entire life for, only to be reduced to the role of a pushover in the eyes of her peers, a rude intern to the nurses and doctors, and a person who fetches coffee to her superiors. Her personal life is also terrible because she has only two friends, and the cute guy she has a crush on can't remember a single thing about her, not even her name.
It's frustrating for sure.

But the walls begin to crack down the more you watch, and you realise that from the very beginning, she's not been the greatest person. And it's so ironic, because the very first thing Na says is that 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
And her actions definitely determined her life, but I guess her philosophy does not apply to her? Because everything that happens to her is not because of what she does, it's because of rotten luck.

I really just had the hardest time liking Na, especially considering that the other leads were much better people. Well.. other lead. Because Nine (Na's original crush) is not a very well developed character. He's cute.. and that's it. I didn't understand why Na, or anyone, liked him romantically but I guess there must have been some charm that we didn't get to see.

The lead we are introduced to finally was my favourite character. Leemhai is smart, sweet and sassy, and amongst characters who are not at all developed or very badly written, she is an exemplar of how they could have been. She's not some perfect epitome of humanity either, she did many things I did not like, but it was much easier to root for her than anyone else. Leemhai was initially introduced as a competitor of sorts, but to relate to her as a love interest, her character needed good writing, which I thought was done better than the rest.

But overall? Good concept and story, not great characters. Yes, it was probably played up for the comedy, but it is possible to write relatable characters and still have them be funny. It's especially jarring when your lead is the least likeable person in there. Watching the finale, it was easy to guess where the story was headed, in retrospect it was definitely headed that way all along - towards the journey of self discovery. It was always about Na finding and growing into herself and they kind of did it. Very unsatisfactorily. I'm all for becoming a better person but why don't we get to see it?!

I know this seems like a lot of negatives, but it was not all bad. There were some genuinely funny moments, it was really nice to see Leng on screen again and the chemistry was actual fire. My girl Janhae is finally getting her recognition, her acting was incredible here. And Jingjing has been a pleasant surprise in any production she is a part of.

So in conclusion
1. Don't expect too much comedy
2. Don't expect too much romance
3. Don't change your phone number

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Because you came looking for me, before I came to find you

Take notes because this is perfect execution on all fronts.

Choi Yi Jae, at the lowest point of his life as he sees it, chooses to end his life, only to meet Death who is angered with his flippant attitude towards her and is now putting him through a punishment of undergoing 12 reincarnations, each person on the brink of death, Choi Yi Jae is given the chance to save their lives. If he succeeds, he gets to live out the rest of their life, if not, he goes through his trial again.

And punishment it is because he has to not simply find a solution to prevent their imminent threats, but also go through the feelings of sadness, betrayal, pain, helplessness and more when his reincarnation eventually succumbs to their situation. Choi Yi Jae nevertheless goes through his lives with his personal agenda and goals, but with each passing lifeline, his attitude towards life slowly shifts as does his personal goal.

It's such a great beginning honestly, not just with the story, but the execution and the cinematography. And most importantly the cast. Wow. Seo In Guk is honestly such a good actor, plus each of the actors who play one of the reincarnations is brilliant at picking up on the little quirks that Seo In Guk brings to his character so that it looks like each of them is actually Choi Yi Jae. Just the guest cast is stacked, Choi Si Won, Sung Hoon, Kim Kang Hoon, Jang Seung Jo, Lee Jae Wook, Lee Do Hyun and that's just the first part. I haven't even gotten to Park So Dam yet, every expression and dialogue of hers carries the weight of her character. Every single one of them just brings something great to the table.

This was a really good 4 episodes, the plot honestly wrote itself and I can't wait for the next part.

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Stalkers and Mindreaders V2

The inherent problem with watching a remake of an adaptation because you want to watch the "remake", is that comparisons will be commonplace. Yes, maybe it's my fault for watching it because it's a remake, but curiosity + simping = bad decisions.

And if you've watched The Boy Next World (TH), you'll know what I'm talking about when I say this isn't really a story that you watch and go °wow°
The story is pretty bad, you're thinking plot twist but beneath all that it's just lousy writing. Yet, the wonderful thing about remakes is that you can everything that the adaptation did wrong, right. In this case, it's definitely the story. And it's so funny how they chose to keep in every bit of the trash writing that was in the Thai drama, not even toned down, just reduced in runtime.

Every single plot point is exactly the same, I was hoping they would make some changes, but except for the single one at the very end of the series, zero. By doing that, and reducing the runtime, they had to cut something out and the thing they chose to cut hurt me deeply. Because it's important to remember that the main couple in this series are kind of.. eh. They're not bad (I'll get to why later on), but I'd very much argue that in terms of dynamics, the second couple are so much better. And because I'm a simp, everyone will have to believe me when I say Jin was objectively the best character in there. Come on!

In the remake, they drastically cut down on his role in the story and the screentime my sweet cloud prince and his "Tiger" got was ridiculously low. The remake just lacked - and I can't believe I'm saying this - the charm of the Thai adaptation. Charm is a stretch but we get the point. It felt very lackluster, for the reasons above but mostly because of the following one.

The chemistry? The reason Cirrus and Phu worked for me was because of the chemistry between Boss and Noeul. Without that, well. It's basically this. Again, the leads here do have chemistry, but I'm missing the easy flowing one. That also extends to the interactions with their respective friend groups, each other's friends, etc. Even the interactions with the "villains" felt so bleh.

That's where we circle back to the story, because I think cutting down what I would usually consider "filler", actually made me like it less. The heart and the humour of the Thai adaptation was missing here, that one was equally egregious, but I had so much fun with it.

The Boy Next World is definitely not at the top of my recommendations list, but I would say my preference is the Thai drama. Objectively, this one for the concise story and okay chemistry, Thai drama for good chemistry and an expanded story, and not at all if you're not really looking for a story that's going to leave you with more questions than answers.

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Jumanji meets the complexities of human nature

Jumanji is absolutely one of my favourite movies so imagine my delight when we got another dice/board game themed production, very along the lines of the original plot yet promising more danger and deep fangled insight into the human psyche - of complicated emotions like the guilt of actions, the delight of praise, the need to feel wanted, the threat of jealousy and much more.
We got barely a drop of this.

The Dark Dice, on paper, had a great formula. Eight strangers, some of them familiar, some of them friends, all get stuck in a game after an accidental roll of a dice. They discover that they're playing a game called Djuhety, a game of wits that will grant the winner a wish. They obviously have no choice but to play the first game since they're stuck in a parallel dimension similar to their own and realise that finishing the game is the only way to leave. There's no trust between most of them but they somehow get through it - and you get the sense that this is how the story will move - teamwork, discovering the secrets of the game, complicated emotions causing rifts and betrayals, your usual tropes.

Unfortunately, much like a lot of titles I've watched of a similar genre, it's strikingly clear that there are only two or three leads in this. The eight players is a red herring - the story focuses on its chosen players, and they're not even for the sake of continuity in most cases.
Samut, Aom, Mamay, they're clearly the main characters. Kaen, Mark, Pie, Don and Benz.. they're there to expedite the healing process of these characters.

And for the same reason, the games also work in a way to highlight the stories of the three of them. Which would usually not be a problem.. but I had the hardest time liking any of the characters. Literally any of them. Sure we want growth, but they began the series like they ended it, no real growth.

Besides the fact that no character had any impact on me, the story itself was such a rollercoaster. Exciting sure, but when it dropped, it was a steep drop and it only picked up slowly before engaging in another another steep drop. They chose to focus on three characters, but none of their arcs got a satisfying ending either!! Not a single one. The explanations, the reconciliations, the conclusions, something in each of them left me feeling a little.. bleh. The explanation regarding Samut's backstory involving Atom was used a means to get the audience to sympathize with Mamay. Mamay's reconciliation with Kaen, who she used and manipulated throughout their relationship was brushed aside because she helped him during one of the games. And the conclusion to Aom's story - the story which played a huge role in the latter half of the series - was the worst of the lot. I can't even consider that as something that occurred within the series.

The games themselves were good, I really enjoyed the different types of games and the gameplay involving strategy, trust and (unavoidable) manipulation - but the purpose behind the games was really convoluted.

Overall, depth is not what you want to be looking forward to starting this - it's has it's exciting moments, some decent acting and just kind of okay everything else. I wish all of the characters had equal focus, or atleast the chance to explore their backstories a bit more. But as it stands - this was a good thriller, but just an okay story.

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So, I have to admit I was very excited for this because it was a long time coming after Love Mechanics, but man am I disappointed. This was not the only En of Love series I have a problem with, all of them were rushed and not upto the standard of some others, but this one is just meh. That’s the problem, it’s just meh. Now despite the fact that there were only 4 episodes, quite a bit of story was able to be told and I can appreciate that, but something was just off about this series, from the very first episode. This series is not problematic, but seems to be riddled with problems, if you know what I mean.

THE STORY:
Just like the others, rushed. I understand that there was a need to fit a huge storyline of three novels into 11 episodes, but this series would’ve benefited greatly from creating something like 2moons2. By that I mean making a twelve episode series, with each couple getting their dedicated screen time. This would’ve allowed us to maybe make more sense of the fact that all the relationships moved at the speed of lightning. Neua and Praram are cute, but that’s all. The fact that half their relationship unfolded on a public forum doesn’t really help their cause. Do these people really not know the concept of privacy or private chats?! Besides all these, what was the need to bring in conflict in the last episode, just to have it resolved in seconds? I will say though, Em and Pralak would be a good couple.

THE ACTING:
Despite the fact that they had an episode dedicated to the fact that Prom and Benz underwent acting classes, the final product is underwhelming. The acting mostly fell flat and comes across as akward, owing to the storyline of episode 2. I will admit that they do have chemistry, but that’s not always enough. Benz is a special case. As Pralak, he is awesome, but when he’s playing Praram he just seems so... stiff. Once again the supporting actors stole the show. That seems to be the theme with this series.

THE PRODUCTION:
As specified before production would have benefited from having twelve episode with equal airtime for each episode. The casting I can’t complain about. The actors all fit their character descriptions and that’s a positive.

THE OST:
The OST actually suits the theme of the series very well so props.

THE POSITIVE/NEGATIVE:
What can I say. This series is like Goldilocks. Not very good, not very bad, just existing in the middle. There are no problematic aspects, but that’s just about it. The story itself is very short so it comes across as something ordinary that could have been better. Now that’s not bad at all, just not noticeable enough.

THE ENDING:
Once again, what is with the conflict solved in sixty seconds?! Not just that, but what was that ending? Like everything in this series, it was also just meh. Also who says congratulations for a birthday? It’s like saying congrats on being alive for so long! Sorry, it’s just been a very tiring episode, but good news, they did get together. ( What am I even saying? ).

I usually say that you should try it out at least once, but this series is totally upto the viewer. So may like it, others may not. All I can say is if you find the synopsis interesting give it a try. I can’t promise you will love and neither can I say you will hate it. At the end of the day it’s your decision. Leave a comment about your thoughts. Thank You!

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Beta version of a good series

To be completely honest - I have no clear idea on how I would review this objectively. Mostly because I feel like they had the perfect formula and somehow executed it perfectly as well - but a lot of it just didn't hit the way I expected it to.

This series had both a game design plotline and a workplace romance, and they somehow seamlessly blended them both to create a single story. Every new character introduced contributed something to the story, between the moments of light hearted humor or the sweet romance we got moments of surprising depth, all storylines had a proper conclusion - yet, there's something missing.

Perhaps it's a me thing, because theoretically, there's nothing missing from this story. Even the romance felt complete, for both the main and side couple. The actors did a good job, all of them managed to sell me on their chemistry by the end, and I guess what I'm trying to say is they had a good concept on paper, they executed it well on screen, it was just missing that bit of heart for me.

I guess that's what was missing - a bit of heart. Hopefully any other full launch of series about game design manages to fix this one bug, but as far as beta versions go, it was quite good.

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You're so annoying (⁠｡⁠♡⁠‿⁠♡⁠｡⁠)

The three words you most want to hear out of the mouth of someone you love.. "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨"
That's the most romantic thing you can hear in the right context and this is that context.

Love Me If You Swear follows Tum, the leader of the Nuea-In gang who's been having a streak of rotten luck lately, topped off by the utmost embarrassment when his gang's insignia is stolen by the leader of their rival gang, Oh Pathumphaisan. Realizing that all this is a result of his unfulfilled vow which he took to become the gang leader, he sets off to visit 9 temples to erase his bad luck. But who else does he run into but Oh, who is also on the 9 temples circuit. Now the two of them reluctantly and somehow enthusiastically set off on this journey, and end up finding that maybe their "𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺" isn't so bad after all.

Usually this is the kind of plot I'd expect 10 episodes for, one for each temple and a final one to resolve all plotlines, but I am so impressed by how well this was done within four episodes, without compromising on any aspects.

The plot and premise are impeccable, ergo, so is the writing. The 9 temples aren't forgotten in erstwhile, there's no sudden pivot into a plotline that doesn't belong. Of course, credit to it being just four episodes, but keeping it tight while also exploring character dynamics is not an easy job and it was brilliant.

Speaking of character dynamics, I know very few dramas where I love both the characters who irritate each other and that usually only happens because they don't have strange power dynamics and they have a lot of depth, as individuals or as a couple. Check on all of that here. Tum and Oh are both extremely complex characters with an equally layered relationship.

Their relationship is the majority of the story - how it develops from their initial meeting and I thought it was super well done. It was a little messy and a lot romantic, and huge props to Surf and Java. They were.. oof! That chemistry is going to keep me up at night, it was scary good.

But of course, to have a balanced drama, you need other aspects as well, and here it was comedy. You already know I loved it. Not just the scenes between Oh and Tum, but all the supporting characters as well. All the actors served, even the actors who had one dialogue! Very well done. My standout comedic performance was Louis though, he and Surf as Messy and Tum had such a cute friendship, I loved it.

Good story, romance, friendships, everything about this was perfect. I had such a great time watching it and this may find it's way onto my re-watch list. Where else will I find a scarily accurate representation of boys fighting? (Seriously, scary accurate, I could not stop laughing)

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A Sea of Dissapointment

Not quite sure what happened, but going from strong start without any real story to weak ending with an actual story seems outlandish.

I don't understand because, this started out with as many NC scenes as there were panoramic views of the beach, scenes of them eating and drinking and diving into the ocean.. “what's the story there” was my thought as I watched the first three episodes and would you know it, I was hooked. There was essentially nothing going on, just a whole load of chemistry carrying it through but I wasn't complaining. Great scenery, good banter, it had summer romance written all over it.

Then why is that the minute some real story started to creep up, it felt like the writers just threw up their hands and went “we'll just have Mahasamut sit around and look good, while Tongrak  does the same, and maybe add a dash of drama every now and then that will end up having no real impact on the viewers or the characters themselves?”
Episode after episode of scenes that added no real depth to the story, and all of a sudden, a couple of episodes where a very heavy backstory is unraveled all at once, only to be resolved all at once and much too weakly.

The major thing they had to unpack though, the very basis of the complex relationship between the leads, they conveniently left that up to the finale until it felt like a lame attempt to create the drama that never came in the previous episodes just so they would have a reason to separate. What should have been an intense and complicated arc based on traumatic experiences Tongrak has gone through his entire life was reduced to something of a childish outburst and was, of course, resolved much too quickly and weakly.

So many characters who were, to put it quite bluntly, useless. Their sole purpose was to either come onto the screen to irritate us and the leads, I mean Tongrak's cousin? What did she do other than cause drama?
Or some characters like Palm, Mahasamut's brother were reduced to comedic reliefs when I would have much rather watched a character like him as opposed to Rak's cousin.
A villian who's scenes actually made for good character development for Tongrak, which was then immediately subjected to whiplash by everything else that followed.

That list would be incomplete without Vie and Mook though, because why? Just why-
As characters, they added the bare minimum, but as love interests? Why? Their pairing is one of the worst I've ever seen, in terms of romantic connection, friendship, just as two human beings, the equation between the two of them annoyed and appalled me endlessly. Just.. why-

For all they didn't really manage to do well, the series got one thing right. Not the series, Fort and Peat got it right. They had chemistry in spades and laid it all out on the table. This could have been pulled off perfectly with just Fort and Peat, just saying, because every scene that didn't involve them, didn't really have my attention.
And I guess they got two things right, only halfway on the second one though: the scenery. Just beautiful. The island setting really did elevate the experience.

It's a shame though because when nothing was really going on, they reeled me in, and suddenly they had way too much going on without anything really happening, giving us something over - dramatic yet boring. It ended weakly despite starting strong, and it's a whole lot of wasted potential.

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Pobmek, Solar and the ray of Sun ☼

Sometimes in the rush of being an adult, we often exclaim how great it would be to be a child again, carefree and happy. But maybe as adults we do tend to romanticize aspects we don't really recall or don't want to recall. And then we realise that that child had just as much to deal with as an adult self does, and maybe it's not so bad that the only thing we remember is the happy image of that kid. Wouldn't hurt to emulate them at times either.
I did not expect it to get that philosophical or emotional, but I'll be honest, the series did take me on some strange kind of discovery journey, even if I didn't want it to.

Emotional revelations aside, it's weird when a drama surprises you in the aspects you expected it to disappoint, but then ends up dissapointing you in other aspects anyways. No, I'm not going to pretend the constant switch between an adult man and a seven year old child did not freak me out, from minute one to the last second, it absolutely did. But honestly, what should've been the worst part of the show was one thing that was handled decently. Not great, but decent.

From the outset, this was a strange concept for me. Your boyfriend reverting to a younger age but constantly switching between his two identities is something that needs to be handled with care and sensitivity, especially since with the implications of something traumatic underlying all this. For that part, they handled it well. It was never a one and done deal - because Solar constantly reverting to Sun, and Pobmek's reaction to all of it was a huge part of the story.
Even their romance was well done - mostly restricted to the audience seeing flashbacks of how they met and fell in love, because the present is mostly scenes of Pobmek with Sun.

The series talks about a lot of things besides Solar's past and Sun's identity, delving in Pobmek's past and his relationship with his mom, adult friendships, hardships of being a teacher, the difficulties in relating to children, even pressure that children face. So much, they discuss and bring up so many things and it's both wonderful and part of the problem with this series.

When you talk about so much in the span of ten episodes, you can hardly dedicate a good portion of screentime to each individual topic. They come and go so fast that they never stick, each time an issue is brought up, it's resolved within the episode (rather unrealistically as well). And while much appreciated, I wish they would've done more with it.

But overall? This was actually a very decent series. I liked a lot of things they talked about, and most of how they handled difficult conversations. The cast worked really well together, every single character was extremely likeable and Perth and Santa's chemistry, as always, was incredible.

I would recommend this, it's a very nice, feel good show that is short enough to not feel tiring and is very easily bingeable. So give it a try, I'd say it's worth a watch :)

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Frozen Fist Frustration!

I am a little disappointed in this one because despite the actors being at top form, it just completely failed to deliver - as a comedy or a romance or even a heartfelt story.

Fist Foot Fusion follows Khlairung, a Tik-Tok boxing influencer who has been at odds with Sunshine, an influencer debunking influencer (he basically goes around "exposing" people's online presences). Sunshine says Khlairung is a fake boxer, so he asks for help proving that he's a real boxer from the shrine of a former Thai traditional dance teacher, by promising that he will dedicate a performance to the shrine. But when he forgets to do it, his fist is frozen into place. So to fulfill this promise, he enlists the help of Malai, the teacher's granddaughter who is an aspiring idol.

And that's it. That's the story. They say so and so has to happen, it happens. Done.

I loved all the performances - acting and dancing. Sky was his usual best, I actually enjoyed Prim's performance, Mark just gets better and better, and though we don't get to see much (or as much as I wanted) of Piploy or Thank, I think they did a solid job.

The script just let me down though. Everything felt like a half attempt. Hingeing on a few reactions for the entire comedic plot. The romance not really hitting the spot. And I think there may have been a encouragement/heartfelt try at writing but it fell flat.

It's a nice little addition but definitely the weakest of the anthology (until now) for me. The other three until now had a balance of heart and comedy and/or romance, but Fist Foot Fusion tried so hard to have all three and ended up with almost none.

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The heart always remembers

The title clued me in but I was not prepared for heartbreak.
Because even in knowing how the story ends, there's no way to balance out the emotions that came along the journey.

The Last Goodbye follows Heart and Xavier, high school students who are both positive, energetic and bubbly individuals - both carrying deep pain and a story in their hearts. They don't let that get in the way of their lives though.

Heart and Xavier slowly become friends and soon develop feelings for each other. And much like all young love, they face their hurdles - whether it's her father or their future. They manage to cross all of them, but their last goodbye comes sooner than later.

This movie was a reminder of so many others I grew up watching - the ones that introduced me to a romance so strong, it could move the world, with a story so simple, it could move you. The nostalgic look back to a time where love seemed like the purest of emotions, and the genuine way it was presented in the story made the movie what it was - heartfelt.

Daniela and Matt did a wonderful job as Heart and Xavier, it's been a long time since I've watched a movie that depicted a love this silent yet so loud, and their portrayal of the leads only amplified the emotions of it.

I highly recommend this movie if you're looking for a love story. Everyone's definition of a love story is different, but no one can deny that this isn't the love story. But keep some tissues on hand - it is a tearjerker.

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When I First Met You

Before everything else, let me clarify some stuff. I know this is a remake, and I have not watched the original or any of the other remakes. I do not know why I decided to start with this one.

I knew the entire plot before I even started the movie, not because it's predictable, but because I found out what the entire plot was a while ago, around the time the Thai remake came out. So again, I do not know why I decided to watch it.

But I watched it, and it was pretty sweet.
Though the love story left me unfulfilled, not the ending, their love story itself, more often than not there's a bittersweet tone to first love, full of unfulfilled promise and the longing look of yesteryear.
That's what this movie felt like, a nostalgic lens on your first love, which doesn't quite leave an impact as itself, but does make you look back fondly on your first love.
That's a win in its own way.

The actors did a good job, it's the first time I'm watching either of their works and I know Jin Young has acted before, and that it's Dahyun's debut, and they both did a very nice job.

There's not much else to say, it was a nice flashback disguised as movie and it wasn't half bad.

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A sweet show that always had me confused

I've never watched a casting show that felt so much like a dating show, let's just say that. The show is to find a new pairing amongst the eight contestants so they can star in a BL together but this is a show that truly must be watched to understand just what I'm talking about.

There isn't much to say when it comes to variety/reality television, you're mostly hingeing on the charm of the contestants to pull through and on some occasions, drama. This didn't have drama, which for me was a huge plus (not a fan of unnecessary drama). Actually, there were some dramatic moments and I did not like how they were framed, but for the most part, both the series and the cast were calm and chill.

The cast were awesome, they were nice and friendly individuals who actually seemed to develop some great bonds with each other through the show and I love to see it.

The Auntie Squad was amazing.
A good panel always adds something great to a show and they were brilliant. Accurate representation of each person watching the show and the interactions between them just felt so natural and fun. I do wish Poom had live translation to help him seamlessly talk to everyone, but that's also great because towards the end you could see that they could understand each other without the translation, showing just how much they had gotten to know each other.

Overall this was a very nice, albeit confusing concept for a show but this is the first time I'm seeing such a basis, so I can appreciate that and recommend it as well, because it was a very nice watch.

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A tale of youth, friendship.. and love

This show had me in my feels, I'm not going to lie.

Above it all, this is about real people and real feelings, and I appreciated just how well that came through. As the hosts put it, “people tend to be drawn to the dramatic side of reality, but their stories were beautiful.”

Each of the participants were endearing in their own ways, a mix of different personalities, with different life experiences, thoughts and views. Living together, working together, sharing responsibilities, discussing finances, it tends to bring out all different sides of people, and despite being a dating reality show, they depicted all of this in good detail.

The romance didn't take a backseat to this though, it was up and down, and toyed around with the minds of everyone involved and the viewers but don't believe me if I say I didn't find it adorable. It was adorable. Whether I was frustrated, or confused, or ecstatic, these were relationships worth watching, seeing them grow into themselves and grow their romance.

My favourite part though will always be the friendship. The kind of bond you develop living in such close quarters and dealing with such big emotions can't quite be described coherently, or at least I can't, but I will consider that this may be one of the biggest and best things they'll all take away from the experience. The way they could all talk to each other openly, give advice respectfully, take another person's feelings into consideration.. there are so many moments I can point out where the kind of friendship they developed simply warmed my heart. Through all the confusion and the heartbreak, the bond never wavered and I loved it.

I must also mention the hosts, who were wonderful. They were watching it as we were, and their reactions were so similar to the way anyone watching would react. It was also very interesting to see their perspectives and thoughts, to see them discuss everything with thoughtfulness and sensitivity.

It's strange how a reality show can leave you wanting more, but between the lack of the dramatic drama and the general wholesome vibes of the cast, it's understandable why this feels as genuine as it did. And I appreciated it all.

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Not sponsored by the Japan National Tourism Organization

I just watched over three hours of a tourism advertisement for Japan. Four guys roaming around Tokyo, hugging trees, eating food and singing. Of course, making out, unnecessarily.

I've watched a handful of movies and dramas where a lead travels to find themselves and unexpectedly ends up finding love, no, no, this isn't that. This barely came close. I genuinely love those kind of stories because they find a way to move you, bring out certain emotions, but this was nothing.

Two friends (one living in Japan, the other visiting him) meet two brothers and the four of them somehow end up living in one person's appartment for the duration of their stay in Japan.
They go out, eat food, visit tourist spots, sing all the time and.. that's it. It's just a repeat cycle of eat/drink/play a game/make out/go out. They also talk a lot, but most of it was inconsequential, nonsense conversations. And the ones that were supposed to deep and emotional didn't really feel that way.

This was just bad, and I have no way to assess what I actually feel about this series. I know I don't like it, so I guess that's something. At least the episodes were short, because I don't think I would have handled more of this well. I didn't handle what I watched well in the first place.

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