Blkittykat

The Girl Next Room series strikes again, this time with a story about forbidden love. This was admittedly not one of the most popular parts, but it certainly holds up well against the rest and might I even say better than some. It’s modest and funny and seems very likeable, but all of these virtues do not hold a light to the way the leads are written. View Wiwa seems conceited and airy, but that’s just a character she portrays. Underneath all that, she is just a simple and down to earth girl, quite evident from the very first episode. Faigun. Man, Fai is honestly the best character I’ve ever encountered. He’s funny, smart, handsome, hardworking, truthful and so much more, but his most endearing quality is that he’s real. This is a couple you can honestly root for and rightfully so.

THE STORY:
So, View is an up and coming actress who moves into the dorm. Fai is this down on his luck character, who gets the security job at View’s dorm after saving P’Jam from a burglar. He also saves View from predators and she starts falling in love with him, but there is this evident gap between the two, causing cracks in what seemed like a smooth journey. Jealousy, a gap in financial income and societal status accredit to some of their issues. What will become of their love? That’s the main theme followed.

THE ACTING:
I’ve seen Gigi in a few other series ( Yes I’m talking about Pam ), but this is the first series of Kao’s I’ve watched and I can already say I love him. He just portrays Fai in a way that nobody else could. Also how cute was his intro?! Kao is one of those actors who just seems to thrive in every role. He has the acting chops to carry out those happy scenes as well as those serious scenes. Neo as usual is awesome.

THE PRODUCTION:
In my review of Richy Rich, I said that it had the best production, oh boy was I wrong. This one is right up there. I think it’s mostly because of Kao and the way he portrays Fai. Fai has been written as this sweet and innocent guy with an unwitting genuinity. Kao portrays him exactly as such. That’s what’s so endearing about this production. You can actually see the hard work that went into this. Also that reference to Kao himself in episode 4? Golden.

THE OST:
Still pretty standard stuff. Nothing different from the rest.

THE NEGATIVE:
The way View is treated by her manager and everyone around, no wonder the only person she is herself around is Fai. She’s being spoken for and one of the worst things you can do to a person is toy with their individuality. At this point she is being treated as a mere sexual figure and nothing more. Honestly, how disgusting do you have to be to demand sex from someone as a favour ? So frustrating!

THE ENDING:
What a cute ending! Remember the grilled fish shop Fai wanted to open? Well he did, and he set it up just like View asked him to, with the karaoke and gumball machine. ( Also well played GMMTV, with the Off Gun reference ). So now that she’s well established and so is he, they get back together and all is well. The rap at the end though. So cute! It gave us an update on all the couples after a year and spoiler, they’re all still together. A great ending to a great series.

I know this has been turned into a Faigun fan page, but don’t let that take away from the fact that this series is worth checking out. The story is cute and quite drawing. I hope everyone gives this a try because it’s worth the watch. Thank You!

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Truth or Dare? (I DARE you to watch this series)

Once again, the advent of the established pairing has brought along the loss of plot. Not that there was much to begin with, considering this was more And Then There Were None - with none of the nuance or intrigue. And you add to that two children with their pretend walkie-talkies as your leads? That's a formula about to blow up so quick.

The trailer made it seem like all the romance in the entire series was packed into it, even Joong and Dunk said so.. Now I know that they were made to lie! They said that romance was apparently only a tiny part of the story, the rest of it was a crime thriller. Their words had as much truth, as the story had mystery. And now I feel kind of weird having compared the leads - Kamin and Jade - to children because they behave more like teenagers. I hope the connection is made without having me spelling it out. Teenagers in love?

Everything in this story is BANG! BANG! BOOM! Including their attraction, which happens for no other reason but a shared trauma of hair in the eye. IYKYK, but if you don't, let's just say they never had to wear sunglasses because their hair provided excellent protection from the glare. They meet in episode one, are in love by episode four, and with just ten episodes, it's not a lot - but remember. This is supposed to be a crime thriller.

The writers clearly forgot that because having Joong and Dunk flirt on screen while all the other characters get killed off is.. well it does kind of sound like a plot I'd weirdly be into.. but no! There's a plot and time, and this wasn't it. The leads are introduced as two people dedicated to their jobs, it took them ten episodes to find the killer. Instead they just flirt inappropriately, everywhere they go. And you may ask, "But what is the place where you flirt appropriately?"
Not anywhere, anytime they did.

You are assigned to a high prolific murder case, where the victims are literally being picked off like flies, yet! It's the perfect time to play boyfriends and buy each other terrible fridge magnets.

Of course, to make up for the lack of any plot, we get weird segues to drug cases that, may or may not be related to the murders, no, that definitely was not an attempt to get Joong shirtless or have Aou and Boom make a cameo (the best part of the series by the way). (The cameo, not shirtless Joong, we got a lot of shirtless Joong).

To cap it all off, by all means, the big reveal was so hilariously predictable, I was actually gagged at how badly done it was because no way I was able to guess it in the second episode. Yes, I have watched my fair share of thrillers but ask anyone, I'm not the best as putting the dots together. If I was able to get it, we know the writing was laughable.
And after all of that, the conclusions for every single character made me so furious, genuinely, I haven't gone into the details of the "thriller" much (because again, it's not really a thriller), but the characters involved in that part of the story were actual trash on earth, and none of their actions got any consequences that we could see. Instead we got the hallmark of BLs, a beach trip.

I'm not even angry or disappointed, because in retrospect, that neon yellow poster told me everything I needed to know. They clearly tried to take this way too seriously and I say they should have leaned into the silliness. If it was truly meant to be as silly as it was, I would have loved it! (that's a lie, but who cares). But if you're going to be talking about serious topics or dealing with sensitive issues in your story, at least have the people dealing with it take it seriously. There's a lot going on this story, like I said, it was insanely fast paced, with many characters but no one really managed to make an impact. I actually called the leads by their actors names until the very end, that's how bad it was.

The writing, editing, all choices made here were definitely not done with any consideration.

Maybe there is something to be said for Joong and Dunk's chemistry though, they've had good chemistry for a long while but not enough that I believe your first meeting has you at odds and by the second encounter you're practically salivating at their thought. I did not buy the romance, or the mystery, anything they were trying to sell me.

Because again, I'm not angry or disappointed, I'm just. Numb? I got a few good chuckles and an Aou Boom cameo out of it, and I'll take it, even though it's not enough. And even if you enjoy buddy cop comedies and you've always shipped the buddy cops, I wouldn't recommend this to you.

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I guess spring does show up after winter. A lOOOOng winter

If I had to pick one word to describe this part, it would be - complicated.
Complicated relationships, complicated men, complicated love stories, in a surprisingly simple plot.

I'm also confused. About whether I liked this. Because it was fun, no denying that, I'm just not sure it was.. good, lol. Lately it's Winter Season.. had a lot going on. Oh! Another word (more like three) to describe this show - friends to lovers.
Friends to lovers, teenage mafia members, football matches, e-sports, I think four couples, terrible parents, teenage angst, there's a lot going on here.

The mainstays are Suea and Nao, no doubt about that, and they were the most realistic part of this show. Their friends to lovers arc was adorably awkward, heartfelt and relatable, and was definitely my favourite part of the eight episodes. I did think they dragged it out a schosch too much - just everything about their relationship - or atleast I didn't get enough yearning or angst that the long drawn out friendship to relationship warrants. But other than that, no real complaints.

Another aspect I really enjoyed was the friendship between almost all the characters and the family relationships, especially sibling relationships, we got to see.

The rest? Kind of a mess. It was just hilariously messy that I went along with it and I do think the key was leaning into the absurdity. I think it genuinely helped lol.

I'm still lost on whether I like it though, if I'm being honest, the payoff was a little dissapointing, considering we've been waiting since S1, and it was kind a weak way to end the trilogy, atleast for me. But aw, I still really like Suea and Nao, and it wasn't exactly a terrible watch. Maybe just, don't go in with too many expectations lol.

6.75/10

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The Sun and the Star

The most unrealistic part about the eight episodes was not the ghosts - it was Arthit's dad being extremely cool with him just quitting med school. Yeah, that's not how it works!

But factual accuracy aside, this was a genuinely sweet and innovative addition to the Four Directions universe, certainly my favourite of the parts until now. Who knew that actual plot could help build a good series? (I'm not saying anything, but we know plot is always good)

Dao and Thit are one of my favourite couples - there's no faking of anything in their relationship, what you see is literal what you get and I'm glad we got to see exactly how they figured each other out. During that time, we got an actual story with Dao and his spirit - seeing abilities helping not only Arthit with his mom, but also several ghosts he lives with (this is also a neighbour/proximity love story, which YES)
In that period of five or so episodes, we see a lot of both the leads and their respective personalities. And for once, there was no terrible parent or insane trauma on our screens. Thit and Dao are both flawed individuals but their struggles don't feel ramped up for drama. I liked how they each had things to deal with, but none of it had to with physical, mental or emotional torture or manipulation.

And then, once we and they get to know each other well, that's when we get the romance. I will admit, once it switched to just romance, the pacing became dismal (as with the rest of the other parts) but I was just so charmed by Arthit and Dao that I didn't really mind.

I suppose this is not much of an informative review as I'd like it to be, but honestly, I have no real complaints except for the pace and some questionable behaviour by Arthit at times. Ngern and Oat did a wonderful job, they had so much chemistry and I really enjoyed their dynamics.

Honestly, if anyone very badly wants to watch any of the Fourever You stories, this is the one I'd recommend. Every character feels more fleshed out, familiar and new alike, the main couple is amazing and the story is really good.

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The funniest horror movie I've watched

Oh my god this was hilarious even without comedy being one of the genres, because it was so bad! Towards the end I was in full on tears from laughing because what happened there?

Let's start with the positives, because the horror - was horrifying. Lots of jumpscares, a decent amount of gore, I'd say it was better than movie two as far as the scare factor goes.

Another thing which I've always appreciated about this series is the emotional bondage to the characters - which, once again, they nailed. Good on them, because if they hadn't done this properly, the movie would have literally no redeeming factor. The family and their extended family is what keeps the plot interesting even when it isn't.

Because the plot, wow, the plot - if the last part was two movies in one, this was like 10 in one. So much happening! Seriously, I was clutching my stomach reeling from laughter the more I watch, it wasn't even scary after that. Just for reference, the first film worked because it was set in a single location and focused entirely on their family, not despite. Granted, there was more interaction between the siblings in this one than the last, it was still not enough. You don't have to go on adventures every other movie to make things interesting.

One minute they're at home, the next a forest, abandoned village, horror cave, I don't get it. There are so many new "one-and-done" characters who add nothing to the plot, and the explanation I've been craving for three movies was laughable. Lady is out here haunting because she hates love?

The story was so incredibly weak, I couldn't explain how all over the place it was even if I tried. It's not a terrible movie by any means but watching the last two has given me newfound appreciation for part one. If you must watch for continuity purposes, you can do it, but I'm sure there are other scarier and more coherent horror movies you can watch. I've learned that horror movies are never completely logical or coherent, but I've got to say, there's definitely got to be ones better than this.

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The ghosts of the past

I'm not really sure if this is a recurring theme - and I don't really want to re-watch some of the last few parts to find out - but there seems to be some common connection between one part of MuTeLuv, and the part that came before it. In this case, it is - a love triangle adjacent and a lead who has some growing up to do.

Love Lock follows Phayu, who is constantly haunted by visions of his ex-girlfriend May after she broke up with him on their third anniversary. He believes the reason he's seeing her is because of an Ema plaque she dedicated to their love in Japan, and decides to go there to remove it from the shrine where she has tied it. Only problem? There are 90+ shrines, and one broken ankle, because as soon as he lands in Japan, he meets with an accident when Thai speaking Satsuki almost runs him over with her scooter. To make up for injuring him, she agrees to go around with him and help him find the Ema plaque, in exchange for him not reporting her to the police.

Love Lock is more about growth than it is about comedy or romance. And I really liked that about it. Yes it did have a few funny moments and was a story about romance, but the common link from the last part? It's a lead that needs some character development, and these four episodes follow his journey of realisation that he in fact does need some.

Bit by bit, we see Phayu recall his relationship with May as he searched for the elusive Ema plaque, and see just how he could have been a better boyfriend, and maybe just a better person. That is quite literally the entire story, with him moving on and gaining closure, and finding a new love interest, but it was quite heartfelt. I would not have minded if it had zero romance but I think I focused more upon Phayu and his journey than the romance so that may be why I feel that way.

As for the characters, even though we barely see much of her, May may have been my favourite. She was smart, kind and mature and she did make a great impression. Jamie played May very well and Kucci was also good as Satsuki. But I think I'm most impressed with Dew because Phayu was the character who carried this story, and he did so well. He's really grown as an actor and it was nice to see him in a more comedic role.

I really liked the major themes of this story, they were ones I always appreciate and they were done quite well in four episodes. The story was not the best, but the characters were likeable, the cinematography was really beautiful and it was, all in all, an enjoyable watch.

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A decent horror that relies on jumpscares

I'm trying to dip my toes into the genre of "serious horror", aka, movies that will definitely give me nightmares, ensuring my sleep cycle is ruined. And Netflix has been on me about watching Death Whisperer and I said why not. I want to watch more horror movies despite the fact that they are evidently not great for me.

To the horror end - Death Whisperer is a very good movie. Tons of jumpscares, extremely scary looking ghosts and ghost adjacents, an incredible cast who've done a great job at pretending to being scared and actually scaring me. Plus, tons of gore (which I was not prepared for so that was a nice surprise!). It's a classic horror formula I've seen lots of times.

The story - is okay. I expected a bit more. I wanted a good setup and some decent explanations but going scare heavy, the plot was all over the place, and we got no real conclusion (rectified, hopefully, by the fact that there are three more movies in the series). I know it's based on a novel based on real events, but I can't but feel a little let down. This is an occult based story and I don't usually expect them to have a detailed backstory, but some would've been nice? We got, "it's been happening for centuries, now it's happening to you".

The characterization - that was the worst part. Again, I know it's a real event, but this is a fictional version, no matter how true to the original event it is, and I think they could have done a bit better there. Characters do things that are completely out of.. well character. And the explanation is that the evil spirit made them do it. There are more than 10 main characters here, which ensures that you can't really develop them as characters, which is okay. But I refuse to believe that in what should have been moments of desperation, these people were so cavalier about stuff?

Overall, this is a decent horror movie. I'm hoping to get more out of the sequels because the story here left much to desire - but I would recommend it if you're in the mood for something pretty scary.

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A photo in the pocket

I like indecisive leads and indecisive plots as much as the next person, granted they do not like it at all.

Checkered Shirt is about a checkered shirt.. in the beginning because buying one catapults Jeong Woo and Hangyeol into each other's lives, and they're attracted to each other and the story picks up from there.

I can handle my indecisive leads, Jeong Woo is on the greener side of things when it comes to being an indecisive lead - he is kind of a jerk but he actually apologises and he seems like a standup guy in the little we see of him.

Hangyeol on the other hand is actually quite a well written character, especially when you factor in the fact that a lot of his backstory is yet to be revealed in S1.

Indecisive plots though? It's like they wrote the first seven episodes, and only then remembered the plot they established in episode 1 and at the very last minute, pivoted towards that. Which is not that frustrating knowing the second season is already out, but still a little irritating.

I'm hoping S2 provides better context and characters (not a fan of a lot of them here), but this was an okay story that made a panic jump at the last moment to be something good.

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Legends and non - linear logic

If you want a recommendation for a BL that gives Indiana Jones × Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes, do I have the one for you! Let me point you to this. It's not as good though but it's there!

The lore is this - there was an ancient city called Tambralinga, founded by four element benders - Wind, Water, Fire and Earth, that has been lost for centuries now, ever since one of the four founders of the city declared a rebellion in order to gain full control of the city and its neighbouring regions and by an extent, just absolute power. Knowing this, the three other founders managed to lock the soul of the fourth in an enchanted box and hid the city in the mountains of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
In the present day, there are multiple people and groups looking for the city, because inside it is a lost treasure that could help each of them with their pursuits - personal gain, a longtime dream or fulfilling a prophecy.

The story basically picks up from zero, with no real context and we get three seperate timelines - one of the founders in the past, the second of a past where some secondary characters tried to find the city and finally, the present, where the leads themselves hope to find it.

I'm always an advocate for a well written story, honestly, consistency over innovation for me because the faux - pas with having complete originality is that you often lose track of what makes it so. Even then, I have to give some points for the story they came up with, it was truly innovative and had some semblance of originality to it - but in trying to make something exciting they completely messed up the execution.

The most coherent timeline of the lot is set in the ancient city, even though the actions and motivations are inexplicable nonsense, it makes sense as a timeline. We get the backstory behind the fall of the city - including details of all the romantic pasts of the leads and supporting characters and a glimpse into what went down between the four founders as the city fell. It's not the most fleshed out but yes it made sense.

The other two - not so much.

The present is the timeline that is most important, it is a culmination of all the actions undertaken by different characters landing upon the heads of the leads, leaving them to deal with the consequences. We have Siwat - who is looking for the city because it was his father Michael's lifelong goal, because he believed there was something in there that could help Siwat. There's Khun - who wants nothing to do with the city because it was in pursuit of it that his father died. So when Siwat shows up asking for his help, he immediately refused and asks him to leave. Because it was by helping Siwat's dad that his father died.

This past - with both their fathers - is the worst one. It has no fantasy elements, it is simply a means to provide more context to the inner conflicts and motivations of the leads and other characters. But it makes no sense. They say they found the city in one episode, they say they didn't in another. They say that Khun clearly remembers that it was during the mission to find Tambralinga that Siwat's father caused Khun's father's death, and in another we find that Michael was nowhere near the country when it happened and the mission was called off at that point?? None of it made sense.

The story is non - linear, jumping between the three timelines and incredibly confusing. There are over ten characters who seemingly play an important role in the story but from the beginning that it's just the plot that's convoluted, but neither it nor the characters have any real depth.

We have a bunch of villians - Siwat's step mother and her lover, and an evil tweed wearing professor Thakoon, who very clearly come off as cartoonish. The only thing the evil professor didn't do was twirl his faint mustache while deep in thought, otherwise they read as Looney Tunes characters.

Then the protagonists. With Siwat and Khun we have Thara and his mother (in the present), and both their fathers (in the past) who are all presented as the absolute good who can do no wrong, and though I was pleasantly surprised to see some cracks in the stereotype, all of the writing just felt very one - dimensional. Things happen because the script said so - there's no internal conflict (when there clearly should be) and they missed a massive chance to make a romance of epic proportions because Siwat and Khun? Yeah, they're reincarnations of Wind and Fire elementals, along with Thara, the Water elemental.
I know this was a soulmates kind of story but it's unacceptable that the plot moves along because they've recognised that fact. There needs to be depth there - pain, anguish, the push and pull between past and present feelings and events. Maybe it was because Thara was salty about being the third wheel in both timelines but we got a severely watered down version.

The character motivations are one - dimensional when they shouldn't be, the story is both extremely clear but the logic is not clear enough, it's all a very rich tapestry. There's no huge plot twists, it all moves along for the sake of it.

The romance too, most importantly, it moved along because it needed to be moved along. I love a good soulmates story but falling in love just because you were in love centuries ago doesn't work. The chemistry between the leads was decent but again, if you want me to believe they're in love, I need to see it develop, even just a bit.

That ending though, worst part of the series by the longest shot, it was laughable because you do not write endings like that that for stories like this. Maybe you do but with this particular kind of execution it was entirely unexpected and unnecessary, I mean I'm not even angry, I'm just.. well maybe I am. That should have been such a sad ending but ooh boy, it was just incredibly bad - so bad it actually made me bring down my rating.

But there's no way they manufactured this series intending for it to be as unintentionally hilarious as it was, it was mostly fun and a nice glimpse into what "could be", but there's still a long way to go as far it comes to blending myths and legends with fiction.

6.75/10

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Found family trope done well

I quite enjoyed this movie, between the found family dynamics and the well executed visuals of ice sculpting, it was a nice watch.

The show starts off in a juvenile detention centre where one of the instructors Chom, is dissatisfied with her job and wishes to go visit her father in Japan, the person she looks up to most. But the way to get there is through an ice sculpting competition for which she recruits four boys in the centre - Jab, Toom, Win and Jo - who along with another instructor, Boy, all try to gain a scholarship and fund to travel to Sapporo and participate in the competition.

Through the movie we get to see the group grow closer, and move forward from their pasts while training for and participating in the competition. It's got all the tropes you would expect of a found family story, and perhaps that's why it didn't make as much of an impact on me as I had hoped it would.

But I really enjoyed the bond between the six of them, it was light hearted yet deep, and despite stemming from a place of enmity or spite or selfishness, it grew into something incredibly beautiful.

It was a nice movie overall, a good one time watch.

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It's not bad

Yeah.. this was better than the original.
In terms of story atleast which seems like an outright outlandish claim, but hear me out.

The basic plot was exactly the same
Beach - NC scenes - City - Unnecessary drama.. and what would come here would be "rushed ending to the actual emotional core of the story". But here, as a pleasant surprise, it didn't feel quite so rushed.
I'm going to say that's because they managed to get a concise plot from the mess that was actually Love Sea.

This version was much better balanced, five episodes in an island setting and the rest in the city - and while I still carry the complaint that an abrupt tone and genre shift will bog things down, the reduced filler scenes actually helped make a more continuous plot. Again, it's the exact same story, just executed better.

The chemistry was not bad either - not better than Fort Peat though (their chemistry was pretty much the sole thing that saved Love Sea for me), but not bad I guess.

Even the side couple was much more palatable in this version, a lot of unnecessary scenes and characters were cut out or had reduced screentime.

Add to that the only constant in all possible version - beautiful beach and ocean cinematography, always a win in my book.

So yes story, okay chemistry, not a bad production after all.

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The kings of romantic chaos return

No one does chaotic comedy like Japan, and no one can seamlessly combine chaos, comedy and romance like I Became the Lead in a BL.

Now certainly this is not the show that is going to stick with you for a long time or anything of the sort, chances are, you watch it and it's almost forgotten in half an hour.
But this is the kind of show that can captivate you every single time you watch it, no matter how many times you do.

I was clutching at my sides laughing at Akafuji and Hajime return as their chaotic selves, and the comedy and romance were at a peak. It's kind of insane that the entire premise of season 2 was silly panic, but on brand, they made it work.

It's just good fun, you laugh, you kick your feet in pure bliss because they're a joy to witness on screen and you revel in the happiness that this quirky chaos has brought, of course I loved it and I hope you do too.

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The thrills and tribulations of being a teenager

Being an actual teenager, it is no way perfect - but that's exactly why it is perfection. And that's exactly why Boys in Love is a perfect ode to being a teenager.

The story didn't quite catch on, at least for me. As I see it, there was no real plot - the entire series was based around being a high school senior. Not saying that it's not a good prompt, but I like it when my stories have a direction. The series sort of chronicles that weird time between being a student in school and a university student called 12th grade, but even just as a diary/journal series, I think the plot could have been better explained and executed.

But the true charm of Boys in Love lies in nostalgia - that feeling of first love, the stress of studies, the smallest of achievements that felt monumental and the stakes, which in retrospect, were not all that high. You're transported to those days when you were taking pictures with your friends when you could because phones weren't allowed in class, when you had all your plans neatly co-ordinator on your journal or pinned up on your poster board. It just feels incredibly transportive, even if the things the characters are going through in the series aren't the ones you personally went through, the emotions are the same.
Those moments of growing up, of change and confusion that made you happy, sad, angry - seem wonderful all the same.

Now, this was primarily a romance, even with it's moments of the life of teenagers, so coming to the actual couples:

Shane and Kit - they were really cute. Started out with a classic enemies to lovers storyline and by episode 12, they actually had quite a bit of depth to their relationship. They communicated quite well, but they are teenagers after all. And because of that, a lot of their relationship was focused on the eventual outcome of things. Ton of emphasis on the outcome of their relationship, the outcome of their studies - it was always about an end goal in all their conflicts and honestly? Understandable. Every decision made during that time feels like a "this is it" decision and I like the way they had both Shane and Kit be unreasonable but still have the strong sense of wanting to move forward and grow. Their love story reminded me of so many people I know, but their relationships were a little more dramatic than Shane and Kit's.

Mon and Kim - they had a decent start, a very cute love at first sight - strong infatuation love story, but beyond that, I just felt it to all be very surface level with Kim and Mon. They were cute, of course, but unfortunately, their arc didn't do much for me. They had some great moments, for example, there were plot points about being more open and trusting, about being more self sufficient in a relationship. The thing is, a lot of it was Kim and Mon growing as individuals, not really as a couple. And I love individual character growth - I do, so unbelievably much, but I didn't really see their dynamics as a couple grow, they were literal teenagers in love and I wish I enjoyed their love story more than I did. It was all in from minute one, and not having the opportunity to see how their bond developed was a bit of a disappointment.

Khru Tan and Khru Nut - looking at me going from not appreciating two teenagers in love to raving about two adults who behaved like two teenagers in love. I loved these two together, they were awkward and sweet and watching them in a series about twelfth graders didn't feel out of place because it genuinely felt like they were each other's first loves and were figuring out romance for the first time. There wasn't much we saw of them (they were not one of the main couples), but what we did was two individuals grow more confident and self sufficient, while developing a relationship - which is where they nailed it. Even though I would have liked for their story to be more fleshed out, I did appreciate their cute and weird bond.

Per and Tar - weirdly enough, my favourite couple was the couple that wasn't a couple at all. They had their cute romantic moments, they were the epitome of old married couple and they stole the show everytime they showed up on screen - almost literally not a lot of times, but boy did they steal the show. Their friendship was absolutely beautiful and it wasn't smooth sailing, Per and Tar's entire thing was a "will they - won't they" situation, which even they seemed to recognize. Their's was an established friendship, so you could completely understand where the strong bond came from, and even when they had some misunderstandings, they talked it out very maturely while still maintaining their adorable banter and easy dynamics. They were my absolute favorite, a couple of friends, with the old married couple vibes and a few romantic moments.

Genuinely though, this made me happy. Even without a plot, this made me happy and that's all you want sometimes, to just smile through a drama and I guarantee this can do that. I hope the review convinced you to give this a chance because it's worth a watch, just go for it ♡

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With great responsibility, comes greater respect

I was all prepared to go ballistic when I finished the movie because I saw the plot twist coming ten minutes in - but I sat through it, because I could feel that I was in for something that was truly worth the watch.

It did not disappoint.

The story is pretty straightforward - Bambi, our lead, is an OFW in Taiwan who returns home for her birthday and to her family who have been documenting the home she's asked them build in her stead with the money she sends home. Only, no new house and the family's spent all the house money on other projects.
A bunch of mishaps take place and somehow everyone believes Bambi is dead, but when they discover she's not, the entire family decides to scam the insurance company out of the life policy under Bambi's name.

The narrative is kind of here and there, they went hard on the comedy in the first half, heavy with the emotions on the second, a thing I've noticed in quite a few Filipino titles. The comedy was decently executed, I found myself chuckling a bit at times but it was the emotional second half that really got to me.

We get bits and pieces here and there that clues us in on the complicated family situation the characters have going on - five siblings who all have different visions and needs for their lives, and a ton of baggage amongst them are suddenly under one roof, but we never really get the full story. Until, of course, this huge blown up argument between all the family members that lasted around 20 minutes.
Every grievance they have against each other is all out in the open and it's kind of information overload, but it doesn't really matter, because they deliver on what they banked on while writing the script - emotions.

The story relied heavily on the audience sympathizing with the lead and maybe even the supporting characters, and they nailed it. Especially since all the actors delivered in aces. The acting was actually so incredible that I was moved to tears.

A couple of things that could have been worked on? The choppy narrative and I did think the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, it would've enriched an already great movie.

This was a genuinely good movie, perhaps not something quite so innovative, but certainly worth it if you're looking for something emotional and melancholic.

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The best biology lesson I've gotten

Biology was one of my favorite things to learn when I was learning biology and stuff, but this may be the single best lesson in biology and the human body that I've gotten. Helps that it's a movie that's got the quirkiest anthropomorphic characters and a surprisingly emotional storyline, but it still counts.

Especially since it didn't really shy away from the theory or the details, I always say this, but titles from Japan never shy away from the technicalities of it all, and while they were present here as well, it wasn't too overwhelming for a movie, nor was it glossed over considering this is a movie that's literally about "Cells at Work"!

I haven't watched either of the animes the movie is based on, but just off a general sense I could tell that a lot of hard and passionate work went into making this. Whether the storyline was true to the original or not, I can't say, and it doesn't matter much either because this one was funny, emotional and heartwarming.

All of the actors did a great job, just the right amount of quirkiness and seriousness to balance it out and bring out different sides in the characters, and the cast is filled with so many wonderful actors. The CGI was pretty good as well, and once again, while I cannot vouch that all the scientific facts were correct (it's me, I don't have all the facts and details), I can say that the facts I know were in the movie, and all of them were right! Points for technicality and research as well.

This was a fun, well made film that is definitely worth a watch, and for anyone wanting a science lesson, or looking to do some revision, it would be especially useful! Have fun watching!

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