A spectucular sunset of a show - vivid, warm, bursting with colour

Yeah, so this one is an absolute masterpiece.
I'm a complete sucker for slow, introspective coming-of-age/love-story hybrids so it's no surprise I fell head over heels in love with this show, but even my personal bias aside this series is, objectively, a damn triumph.
The cinematography, the frankly stunning performances, the recurring narrative themes, the sets... every aspect of this show is spectacular and the creators' deep love for their craft and their attention to detail is woven into its every facet.

Besides tackling the undeniable complex topic of disability, the show explores a variety of difficult and mature themes with great care and insight. It analyses grief in its various forms, complicated familial relationships and the nature of guilt and blame, as well as loneliness and isolation.
My absolute favourite of these themes, however, is the depictions of socio-economic differences and difficulties and the impact this has on every aspect of people's lives. Ever since watching Dark Blue Kiss it's been clear to me that P'Aof has a chip on his shoulder about the class divide in general and how it relates to queerness specifically and this is incredibly apparent here as well, in the portrayal of Mhok and his relationships to the people and world around him, as well as to the concepts of masculinity, queerness, and success. It may not be a main focus of the story, but a big part of Mhok's characters development stems from him coming to terms with his experiences of going through life as a former convict, society's view of him, and how this affects his perception of himself. It is nothing short of spectacular and I deeply appreciate the inclusion of these plot lines, however minor they may be.

And the characters... my god, the characters. If it wasn't already obvious from all my fawning in the previous paragraph, I am absolutely smitten with Mhok in particular, but quite honestly there isn't really anyone in the entire cast of characters whom I don't like or whose inclusion feels unnecessary.
Further personal favourites include Phojai - who is wonderfully multifaceted and deeply human character and whose relationship with Mhok means a whole lot to me personally - and Night, who is clearly a deeply traumatised person that carries his guilt around with him like a damn yoke but tries so incredibly hard anyway. His little tortured face will probably continue to ever so slightly haunt me for the rest of my life, to be honest.
And then there's Day who, in my opinion, is a surprisingly misunderstood and contentious character. I personally do not have any sort of significant visual impairment so take my opinions on the topic with a grain of salt, but I am firmly in the camp of "the disability rep in this show is really good, actually".
If I understand correctly, the showrunners made sure to get a lot of input from blind and otherwise disabled folks in order to depict the realities of their lives accurately and respectfully and it shows. The writing is never preachy or patronising, and Day isn't simply a tragic yet inspiring figure for the audience to project onto, no. He is a well fleshed-out, three-dimensional character with believable and deeply human flaws. His story is inspiring not because or in spite of his blindness, it's inspiring because his struggles with loneliness and isolation, with anger, resentment, and the complete collapse of his self-image are deeply relatable and pretty much universally applicable.
For further insight on this topic is especially in light of the show's ending, I highly recommend having a look at the "Some thoughts on the ending" topic in the Recent Discussions section, it might help anyone still feeling conflicted help sort out their thoughts :). Beware of spoilers though, obviously.

My one gripe with the story is how rushed the last episode feels in certain respects. The conflict feels realistic and makes sense for the characters, but really, couldn't we have brought it up just a few episodes earlier instead of keeping the dreaded episode 11 curse alive? I really think that showing more of Mhok's character growth as well as him dealing with his PTSD would have made the story feel more complete and well-rounded as well as helping to keep the pacing consistent.
In all honesty though, this is a relatively minor complaint compared to how fantastic this show is as a whole and it thankfully didn't even take away too much from my enjoyment of the ending.
I think I shed real actual tears when I saw Mhok had removed the little bandage from Rung's car so on the whole things balanced out for me.

In short, this is one of the most well-written, thoughtful queer shows in recent years. It is a timeless tale about hope and the resilience of the human spirit and if that sounds a bit too pretentious then let me assure you: it is, at its heart, a simple story about falling in love. Falling in love with people, with yourself, and with the world.
Go watch it already, you won't regret it, I promise!

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Completely head over heels in love with this show

I cannot overstate the extent to which I adore this show. The first season was already fantastic, but season two has exceeded all of my expectations.
Without ever taking away from the comforting, delightful bond between Nomoto and Kasuga, this season introduces a range of new characters who each serve to further the story in their own unique ways.
In addition to further explorations of the importance of female friendship and the power of good food, season two also focuses on the exploration of queer identity and community, the difficult realities of living as a queer couple in modern day Japan, as well as the social and societal pressures and challenges women face in their day to day lives.
All told through the medium of bubbling hotpots and adorable desserts. Truly, it's magic.
I also greatly appreciate Nagumo's character and the different perspective on food and humans' complex relationship with it she provides.
Oh yeah, and did I mention there's ace rep now??
In short, just go watch the show already if you haven't, I'll be here on my hands and knees, begging and pleading for a season 3 in the meantime.

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A diamond in the rough? Almost! Kinda...

I have crawled out of my hibernation hole back into the weird and wonderful world of Asian dramas and what am I greeted by but this show - simultaneously a welcome surprise and a massive letdown. Let me explain.
Let's start with the positives:
While it is plenty obvious that the show didn't have a particularly high budget, the audio quality is occasionally poor, and the subtitles are sometimes just plain broken (this, to be fair, is not the show's fault as much as the studio's/distributor's), there is a familiar sort of cheesy charm to the series that the show-runners use to great effect.
The many flashbacks, soft filters, and extensive staring sessions that can be so deeply grating in lesser shows are given new life here, used as they are to tell the story of a man who is absolutely *haunted* by his first love and former best friend.
During the first episode particularly we see Ji being constantly bombarded with images and memories of Achi, desperately trying to escape from them only to bump into Achi by accident, meeting him again after a literal decade.
Cue the cheesy music, sparkly lights, and Achi's thousand watt smile.
Excellent use of time-honored cliches, this show has a Vision, it has Vibes, 10/10.
Later on these same tactics are used to showcase how much Achi has been haunted by Ji for these past ten years as well, which serves as a lovely balance for the first few episodes and provides deeper insight into the characters' motivations and general state of mind.
Furthermore, simplistic as the overall story may be, it takes the time to explore some real world issues - such as grief, loss, and some of the difficult realities of working in the medical industry - with surprising sensitivity and insight and even perfectly sets itself up to tackle complex topics like internalised homophobia and and the politics of para-social relationships ... only to utterly fail to follow through.

Yes, this is where we come to the negatives. This show was so close to telling a fantastically grounded, touching, and relevant queer story. So close and yet so far.
The series tiptoes around the realities of queer relationships , the complexities of self-image and social expectations versus internal desires and then just keeps tiptoeing, never committing to those plot lines even in a subdued show-not-tell kind of way.
Sweet as Achi and Ji's story may be, the lack of follow-through makes the resolution feel utterly anti-climactic, no matter how happy an ending we are provided with.
After a while even the previously so cleverly used flashbacks and filters lose some of their focus and effectiveness.
The show also tries to tell the side couple's story through the same visual tricks as the leads', which simply doesn't work.
Sickeningly adorable though they may be, these characters don't have a shared history, no complicated past between them to warrant such levels of cheesy drama.
You can't simply slap some sparkly effects on your show and call it romance, that's not how it works.
Then there are things like the completely unexpected and unnecessary parental abuse which rears its ugly head some time towards the end of the story and is then never addressed again.
Or the forced kiss in episode one which the show acknowledges as harassment only to then, once again, never bring it up again.
All in all, after I had finished watching I was left with a profound sense of... absolutely nothing. Of "Okay, and? Is that it?"

This is not say I wouldn't recommend watching this show at all. Give it a go, form your own opinion. For all my complaining I can't deny that it has lovely visuals, solid performances from the whole cast, a central queer relationship pleasantly devoid of hetero-normative dynamics, and some genuinely great portrayals of intimacy.
Also there is a very good dog if that tips the balance for you either way.
If you're looking for something sweet and light that won't take too much time to get through, then you might like this one.
Personally though, I'm just too hung up on what it almost was. Always the damn almost...

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A show that shoots for the sky - succesfully!

Oh but I adore this show! I expected to like it just fine, but I never would have thought I'd fall as head over heels in love with it as I did. Miracles upon miracles, it even made me start to care about basketball!

From the very first episode it's clear that this series is different from other Thai productions - the lighting and cinematography are absolutely gorgeous, the script is expertly written and feels true to life, and the pacing and editing are unique but utilised to their full effect.
I've seen a lot of people complain about the show's pacing and its use of time skips and while I understand why these choices weren't everyone's cup of tea, I personally think they worked perfectly and added a lot of nuance and depth to several important story-lines.
Even the sports aspects, which I expected to enjoy the least, are well thought-out and serve to establish and advance story and characters, as well as being very engaging to watch.

If I had to sum the atmosphere of the series up in three words I'd describe it as quiet, warm, and sincere.
Instead of comedy sound effects, we get an understated, often purely visual type of humour that I personally greatly enjoy.
Instead of dramatic plot twists and evil villains, we get a cast multi-faceted, flawed, yet deeply likeable characters whose personal journeys of growth drive the plot. There is no antagonist for the characters to go up against, there are no highly tragic outside circumstances they have to fight.
Any conflict stems from the characters' complex relationships - to themselves, to their dreams, to each other - which are all treated with an astonishing amount of care and respect.
Even the topic of cheating (a trope which I usually deeply dislike) is handled exceedingly well here without degrading or vilifying any of the characters involved.
Another thing this show excels in is its depiction of queerness. Instead of viewing its characters through a strictly hetero-normative lens and forcing them into rigid boxes and relationship dynamics, it depicts sexuality as something fluid and complicated. While it doesn't go into great detail on issues of homophobia or the complexities of labeling one's gender or sexuality and these topics clearly are not the show's focus, there is still a lot of care put into exploring the various difficulties young queer people face every day; from figuring out who you are, to coming out, to navigating a first relationship.
And of course there is Fluke - a trans character who breaks the mold by simply... being a whole, three-dimensional human being with their own goals, their own struggles, and their own personality. I won't lie, after the years and years of enduring trans characters depicted as nothing more than caricatures with no purpose other than providing comic relief, seeing someone like Fluke not only existing, but *thriving* was incredibly meaningful not just for me specifically, but for trans viewers in general.

So if you want a well-written, highly character-driven romance drama with beautiful camera-work, good music, and a whole host of lovable, authentically queer characters, then give this one a go.
I'd also recommend anyone who enjoys classic, sports-themed coming-of-age stories give this show a shot, I think you might just love it!

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Left me feeling anything but blue

This one is an underappreciated gem of a show!
Let me start of by saying I did not watch Kiss, nor did I watch Kiss Me Again.
What I did instead was watch a fan-made cut of Kiss Me Again (edited and linked here on MDL by the lovely Claudeville) which provided me with a solid grasp of all the characters' backgrounds and relationships and was more than sufficient for me to be able to fully appreciate DBKs continuation of the story.
Production quality wise, the series is excellent. The visuals are lovely, the music is fantastic (I am an absolute sucker for dramatic strings, so the intro is right up my alley), and script and performances are incredible.
I've seen some people take issue with the continuity errors between DBK and its predecessors, but personally I think the changes made were for the best.

DBK is still a soap opera, but it focuses heavily on the real issues many queer men have to deal with. The characters' overlapping relationships are complex and there is plenty of drama, but there is a sense of realism and authenticity to the story that is rare in this genre.
One thing the show does particularly well is the way it explores the many difficulties and issues surrounding a coming-out.
It shows the heavy relationship strain of one partner being closeted, the insecurities this can cause to arise, the resentment constant secrecy can breed. It highlights the painfully real social and financial concerns closeted people have to reckon with when they are considering coming out.
Where other shows main concern lies in whether or not their characters can find the courage to openly be themselves, DBK forces its characters to consider whether they even have the luxury to make that choice in the first place. Another user, Moonbyulie, elaborates further on this in their review, which makes for very interesting reading and I highly recommend having a look at that as well should you be interested.

Another strong point of the series are its characters. They are all (deeply) flawed, yet highly likeable individuals whose conflicting backgrounds and ideals lead to many painful clashes and whose individual journeys of character growth are both gut-wrenching and an absolute joy to watch.
They may at times make frustratingly poor choices, but they never stop calling each other out on their problematic behaviour and they never stop supporting and caring for one another.
Even Non, the show's ostensible "villain", is an incredibly complex character who walks the line between hateful and sympathetic perfectly.

In short, I highly recommend giving this show a shot. It's not perfect - some plot points certainly fall a bit short and some writing choices are questionable - but it also offers some of the most compelling and layered characterisations to be found in this genre.
If you enjoy well-written romance dramas that tackle real-world issues with skill and a good dash of humour, then this one is for you.
If you're in the market for a more serious and mature slice-of-life story which provides a well-balanced mix of romance and character study, then you will enjoy this series as well.

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It lingered with me

This one is a real gem of a time travel romance. Ironically, I actually found the world-building and time travel aspects more interesting than the romance at times, but I'm going to put that down to personal taste.
The production quality for this show is truly excellent, the cinematography, music, and editing are all absolutely wonderful and serve to create that romantic and melancholy atmosphere that seems to have resonated with so many viewers, myself included.
The performances and script are absolutely stellar as well; you can tell just how much love and effort was put into this entire story.
The characters are all interesting and complex and their sheer likeability makes all aspects of the story more enjoyable and impactful, from the romance, to the humour, to the tragedy and drama.
Personal favourites of mine are James and Mei, but I honestly would happily watch an entire drama dedicated to pretty much any one of the supporting characters.

A lot of folks have praised the show for the varied and diverse relationships it depicts, as well as for how unflinching and brutally honest it is in showcasing the realities of life for servants, the lower classes, women, and queer people in 1920s Thailand - and rightfully so! The show-runners do a fantastic job of highlighting the social and systemic oppression these marginalised groups used to and still do face to this day in a way that is both realistic and relevant to story.
However, there is one aspect of these depictions that I take some issue with, which is the sheer amount of rape scenes included in the show. Don't get me wrong, they are very well done and brutally effective in how uncomfortable they are to watch, but some of them felt unneeded and borderline gratuitous. I don't think any of them are intended to be outright voyeuristic or titillating, but some of them end up unfortunately somewhat coming off as such, at least in my opinion.
If nothing else, I feel it's necessary to give potential viewers a heads up about this, so consider this your trigger warning.

All in all though, I really loved this show and can't wait for a potential season 2 to pick up where the finale left off (and shout-out to the kind souls in the comments who explained the ending more thoroughly than the show did). Seeing all the character dynamics change and evolve in a present-day setting would be an absolute delight and I hope we get to see it.
Meanwhile though, I would recommend this show to anyone looking for a beautifully shot, beautifully realised historical romance, or to any enjoyers of serious, yet wonderfully charming queer love stories that feel almost time-less.

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So wholesome and sweet it almost sent me into a diabetic coma

Aww hell, they really got me with this one. I wasn't expecting to like this show as much as I did but they won me over alright.
Plot-wise My School President doesn't really bring anything new to the table but through a combination of good writing, genuinely clever humour, and the occasional trope subversion it manages to make the story feel fresh and entertaining.
The young cast all deliver incredibly solid performances and the characters are all deeply charming.
Not only are the relationships depicted (romantic, platonic, or otherwise) wonderfully healthy and realistic - an absolute highlight for me personally are Tinn and Gun's respective relationships with their parents - the show also gains an edge by focusing on the more difficult aspects of teenage life as well as just on straight-forward fluff.
It explores how hard growing up can be, the difficulties of trying to find out who you are and what you want to do with your life, grief, failure, and the realities of being a young queer person in today's society.
It addresses all these topics with great care and and insight without ever getting too heavy or preachy about it.

I also really appreciate how uncompromisingly the story allows its main characters to take their relationship at their own pace. What starts off as a fun spin on the classic nerd/jock trope quickly develops into a slowly yet steadily building bond filled with mutual respect and fondness which the show uses to analyse the often blurry lines between platonic and romantic love as well as the differences between physical and emotional intimacy.
This all works together to paint an achingly sweet yet grounded picture of first love that had me, a grown ass adult, grinning like a fool much more often than I'd care to admit.

The show isn't perfect of course, it does have its flaws, but most of what I disliked about it was entirely down to personal taste. The sound track, for instance, did not work for me at all and the auto-tune hurt my soul a little bit, but a lot of people seem to genuinely love and appreciate this series for its music so you might really enjoy it as well.
It also has to be said that I am clearly not the target audience for this show, it's aimed at a younger demographic, so it's honestly a very pleasant surprise just how much there is to enjoy and love about the show for someone like me as well.

In short, MSP is a show that I would have loved as a tiny high-school baby gay, but which is still highly enjoyable even as an adult queer person. If you're in a the market for a well-written, deeply wholesome high-school rom-com with a good dash of realism as well as clever jokes, then this one is for you.
And if you're an old cynic who needs their cold heart dusted off a little bit, then this show might be just what you need as well.

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The boys are back! Kind of...

This special feels like someone wrote 50% of a good follow-up to The Eclipse, someone else wrote 50% of a pretty bad The Eclipse fanfiction, and then they stitched it all together, electrocuted it, and produced whatever frankenstein-esque script spawned this show.
Seriously, I feel like I got whiplash from how tonally dissonant so many of the scenes here are. Some of them are genuinely good, enjoyable to watch, and the actors clearly had a lot of fun filming them.
The rest of them are uncomfortable, extremely out of character, and just plain weird. They really did my boy Aye so dirty with this, it's almost offensive.
That being said, if you're willing to stick around despite the bad, there is still a very sweet epilogue to the series to be found here. The final scene especially made me tear up with how lovely it is, so for that alone I'd suggest watching at least once.

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I may be biased, but this show is also objectively excellent

This show holds a very special place in my heart. Is it perfect? No. But it does have an intrinsic understanding of what it means to be a queer teenager in a rigidly hetero-normative environment that I have rarely, if ever, seen in a drama.
Through a combination of beautiful visuals, effective editing, and absolutely stellar performances we are told a tale about suffocating, oppressive "normality" and the strict rules in place to ensure preservation of and adherence to the status quo; a delicate structure which is disrupted by the aberrant yet deeply familiar allure of queerness.
With Suppalo high school, a perfect microcosm of society at large, as its backdrop, the story explores themes of mental illness, identity, freedom, and abuse with incisiveness and care.
The way these struggles for individuality and freedom of expression are depicted may not exactly be subtle, but it is incredibly effective and analyses the complexities of these systems and issues quite thoroughly.

The highlight of the series, however, are doubtless the characters.
There is Akk, who is so terrified of himself and his wants that he fully devotes himself to being a perfect part of the system, but no matter how strictly he enforces rules on himself and others, he just can't kill the part of himself that's different, unruly, queer.
There's Ayan, who has learned to weaponise his "otherness", his queerness to great effect, but who is also genuinely vulnerable and fragile.
Thua, who tries, in vain, to survive through keeping his head down and enduring, and Khan who is endlessly torn between defending his friends and ideals, and distancing himself from them so as avoid any association between himself and queerness.
And of course Wat, Sani, and Chadok, who are all highlights in their own right.
The complicated and slowly-changing relationships between these characters are what drives this drama and what elevates it above many other entries in the genre. From the romance, to the friendship, to the power struggles, I simply cannot overstate how truly excellent it all is.

Of course there are missteps, most notably the depiction of a forced outing late in the show, which is brushed aside with barely any consequences for either its perpetrator or victims.
The plot also becomes somewhat rushed and muddled around episode 11.
All in all though, I personally find the good of the show far outweighs the bad and the ending is so wonderful it balances out most of the previous episodes' mistakes.

In short, this show is more than worth your time. I personally feel quite a deep connection to the story and have a lot of strong opinions on it as a result, but even if you watch it "only" for surface level enjoyment, there is a lot to love about this series.
If you enjoy tender slow-burn romances with flawed but lovable characters, brilliant acting, and just enough charm and humour to balance out the angst, then this show is for you.
If you like queer coming-of-age stories that show how being a teenager is actually pretty damn hard, or even if you're just looking for a fairly decent mystery with lots of gay sleuthing, then this show is also for you.

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A queer twist on a classic crime thriller

I liked this one! It's different, intriguing, and on the whole pretty good fun.
The acting, cinematography, and pacing are all solid and make for an enjoyable whodunnit thriller experience.
The murder mystery is, for the most part, very well executed and fun to guess along with and is balanced quite well with the romance elements.
The characters are largely well-written and feel fully fleshed-out and three dimensional. My personal favourites are Sorawit and That, my beloved itty bitty gay sleuths, but the rest of the cast is, if not likeable, then at least interesting and compelling to watch as well.

This show isn't perfect by any means; in keeping with classic crime drama tradition it is more concerned with aesthetics and style, as well as making the viewers *feel* something rather than with telling an entirely logical and coherent story.
This to say there are several plot holes (although how bothersome these are is entirely subjective) and the story side-lines character development and gets a little too wrapped up in its own twisting, turning mystery for my personal taste towards the end.
I also wish there had been more plot-relevant female characters who don't wind up dead or otherwise disposed of, but for what it's worth the women of this story all get plenty of screen-time and agency, which sadly isn't a given in many male-centric queer media, or even in crime dramas for that matter.

All in all though, Manner of Death, despite its shortcomings, represents a step in a new direction for the genre and likely helped pave the way for later shows to deviate even further from well-established tropes and plots and for that alone I appreciate it greatly.
So if you're interested in watching a little piece of queer film history, or are looking for a well-paced thriller that is neither afraid of exploring some very dark topics nor of casually incorporating queerness into its characters and plots, then you should definitely give this show a try.

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Be Gay, Do Crime, Change The World

Yeah so I think this show permanently broke something in my brain and I have absolutely no regrets. Its reputation as a masterpiece is well-deserved; from the cinematography, to the music, to the acting... it's all absolutely fantastic.
Gun is obviously brilliant as both Black and White, but I would like to give a special shout-out to literally everyone else on the cast - they all deliver absolutely devastating performances that genuinely left me breathless on occasion.
The story is a perfect blend of action thriller, political commentary, and queer romance which feels suspenseful, believable, and thoughtful all the way through without ever becoming repetitive or preachy.
It addresses power struggles, systematic exploitation, oppression, and the politics and logistics of revolution unflinchingly and highlights the practical and moral complexities of these issues.
Even non-violent retaliation against an oppressor can have far-reaching and often harmful consequences for the people being oppressed.
Solidarity and community are one of the most powerful tools for enacting change.
Art and satire as acts of rebellion can be both entirely inconsequential and immeasurably impactful.
Revolution often cannot happen peacefully, change demands chaos and force.
In other words, Nuchy went straight for the jugular with this show, and to devastating effect.

My personal favourite thing about the show, and I think perhaps one of the main reasons it has resonated so strongly with so many people, are the strong themes as of art as a vehicle for change and revolution woven through the story.
Eugene's dancing, Namo's murals, the protesters' songs, Unar's street art, Yok's Proletariat Expressionism showcase (which was an absolute punch to the gut for me personally and made me want to jump up and race to the nearest art museum) ... the ways in which the series showcases art as rebellion are myriad.
But the most impactful of them all is clearly Unar and Yok's storyline. Not only is it beautifully told and deeply emotional, it also lends a lot of depth to the show's uncompromising ACAB stance by showcasing the fallacy of trying to change a corrupt system from the inside out and how oppressive power structures can do almost as much harm to those they benefit as to those they exploit. A sort of nuanced "the patriarchy hurts men too"-type look into police brutality, which I personally appreciate greatly, even if I do wish they had explored this subplot and topic more in-depth.

In short this show is, unironically, a revolutionary work of queer cinema which, while it is not entirely without flaws, is more than worth your time. I highly encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to go and watch it right now.

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It really grew on me

When I first started watching this show I only liked it fine until somewhere around the half-way point when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I'd not only become invested in the characters lives without realising it, I'd also wholly fallen in love with the entire story.
This series has its flaws to be sure, but it also features some incredibly compelling story-telling delivered through beautiful cinematography, solid editing, and fantastic performances by the entire cast.

The set-up may seem contrived at first, but quickly paves the way for some fascinating characterisations; the story at times feels like a character study more than anything else and I personally really enjoyed that aspect of it. The characters are all given a lot more depth than strictly necessary for a light, romantic drama, as well as the agency to sometimes act outside the simplistic bounds of black-and-white morality.
Yu Zhen, for instance, is shown to be clearly aware that his "Single Rule" is not strictly legal, he simply bets on his employees being too invested in the company's continued existence to report his wrong-doings to any authorities.
Similarly, Shi Lei's meddling in the affairs of a client proves to be largely successful, but it is also made clear that his actions are ethically questionable.
And of course there's Yi Zi Tong, whom viewers appear to either despise as an unnecessary addition to the plot for the sake of drama, or appreciate as a necessary instigator of Yu Zhen's character development.
His addition to the story may in fact not have been strictly necessary, but he is a very complex and interesting character. He appears out of nowhere as Yu Zhen's self-styled saviour, presumably out of some lingering sense of guilt over how their relationship ended, and thoroughly derails the leads' budding relationship. He has nothing but good intentions, he's correct in a lot of his assumptions about Yu Zhen's mental state, but for the most part his actions seem to cause more harm than good.

It's these small, unusual elements that, to me, elevate the story way above the level of a silly rom-com.
Yes, it makes liberal use of tropes and cliches, but the characters are three-dimensional, they are flawed, likeable, often genuinely hilarious, and feel like real people, which makes the relationships depicted feel real and believable in turn - a personal highlight for me is Qiqi and Gang's relationship, which is a wonderful depiction of a healthy age-gap romance. Their age difference isn't ignored or put off as irrelevant; their different life experiences lead to differences in opinion and relationship expectations. This in turn leads to conflict, which the two then resolve through open and honest communication and compromise - it is truly a joy to watch.

So if you're looking for a rom-com with great acting, lovely queer representation (there is even a very touching coming out scene, if that sways you either way), and a very sweet slow-burn romance which has some bite and intelligence to it, then look no further.
If you just want something light and easy to watch that's perfect for a lazy weekend on the couch, then this series will deliver as well.
I will say, however, that this is a show best enjoyed in one or two sittings. The slow, gentle pacing best lends itself to binging rather than to watching one episode at a time :)

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Quiet, sweet, but nothing special

I actually really like this show. I'm not going to claim it's a particularly *good* show by any means, but it is very pleasant to watch.
It's got a very calm, gentle atmosphere about it, a sort of warm mellow quality that I really enjoyed.
The plot is paper-thin, but the characters are charming and believable to the point where the actual story almost doesn't matter - you just want to keep watching these people living their lives.
The story could have explored alcoholism and Korean drinking culture and it is indeed disappointing that it fails to live up to that potential (oh the things that could have been).
Personally though, once I lowered my expectations a bit, found a lot to like about the series just as it is. The friendships depicted are wonderful, the humour is often understated but works very well with the story, and the pacing and relationship progression are absolutely perfect.
There is no huge drama, no pre-finale curse, there's honestly barely any conflict at all. I can understand why a lot of people lost interest in the show because of this, but I find it a refreshingly realistic take on a budding relationship that makes for a good palate cleanser from more intense dramas.
If you're interested in a low-angst, slice-of-life type drama about people appreciating good food and good company, which features a very wholesome, gentle slow-burn romance, then I'd recommend giving this series a shot.

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An oldie but a goldie

This movie is so aggressively 2000s in the best way possible. The hair, the fashion, the flip phones! An absolute delight.
It also happens to tell a genuinely lovely story about a queer relationship which goes through rocky times but ends up stronger and better than before; a delightful surprise, in other words, especially considering the time in which the movie came out.
The story itself isn't particularly unique or intense, but there is a quiet air of sweetness and gentle joy about it that makes the whole thing feel groundbreaking in its own right. And it kind of is. It's a feel-good movie about a respectfully and lovingly portrayed relationship between two men in 2000s era Japan - that's quite a rarity.
All in all I feel this movie has stood the test of time; apart from the camera quality most of the technical and story-telling aspects hold up very well.
So if you're looking for a short, easy watch that's a bit different from most modern day entries into the genre, or are simply in the market for a romantic dramedy chock-full of 2000s nostalgia, then this is the movie for you.

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Nothing can erase my love for this show

The show starts off by informing the viewer they're about to watch a "slightly silly love story about good natured, hard-working high school kids" and I think that's probably when I fell head-over-heels into crazy, stupid love, because boy oh boy does the series ever live up to its promise!
Everything about it is excellent, from the writing, to the acting, to music... it's all spot-on.
The humour is genuinely clever, often a lot subtler than you'd expect, and had me gleefully cackling more times than I'd care to admit. The plot may be nothing new but it depicts young love in general and young queer love specifically with such care and respect I was genuinely blown away by it.
And that's the magic of this drama, I think, the sheer amount of love so obviously put into it.
Not only are the characters deeply lovable, but their relationships to one another - romantic, platonic, or otherwise - are also incredibly healthy and there is huge focus placed on the importance of open communication and being honest about your feelings both with yourself and with others.
This portrayal of deeply earnest kids learning who they are, what they want in life, and how to speak to the people they love is hugely impactful in its simplicity and, quite frankly, offers some valuable life lessons which are important and relevant to audiences of all ages.
Furthermore, the show skillfully addresses more serious topics and issues facing young queer people every day such as prejudices, outward pressures to conform, and even internalised homophobia. None of these things are used for shock value, nor do they skew the lighthearted tone of the show towards the me angsty, but they aren't trivialised either, far from it.
This story may be very tame and PG but you can tell the show-runners wanted to create something truly worth while - a genuinely good piece of queer media for young people to watch and feel seen by - and they absolutely outdid themselves in every single aspect of that endeavour.
This show is an absolute triumph and a beloved classic for a reason. It will always be very near and dear to my heart and, I suspect, once you've seen it it will quickly claim a spot in your heart as well - just go watch it already.

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