4
16
Heracin
An unfinished controversial Chinese BL, worth the watch despite its shortcomings
This BL Chinese drama felt very indie to me being in its filmmaking, script and well as its music choices. It has a lot of qualities as well as shortcomings. One of them being that unfortunately, the show is unfinished: it stops after 15 episodes of 20 minutes, right in the middle of a narrative arc.
My understanding is that the series was cancelled due to the Chinese Government censorship regarding BL stories. Here indeed, the show does not shy away from its nature: it is clearly standing out as a romance between two guys rather than a blurry bromance leaving room too interpretation. It is a shame that the show was not allowed to complete its course but I am still glad to have watched it as I think it is an important piece in the BL genre.
Despite the characters being not really likeable and the romance having some deep toxic roots, I was totally invested in the relationship forming between the two main male leads. There are not stereotypical protagonists and they felt very real to me with their raw and dry personalities. In addition to the romance, there is a strong family component to the script: it is more or less inspired but at least provide an interesting and spicy background for the relationships.
It is a shame that the secondary characters felt not correctly exploited, it seems that the writer was planning something for them but their journey never really started. It is also really too bad that almost all the female protagonists are awful: they are the antagonists and nothing more, which I found really lacking nuance.
I would recommend this to people looking for a more raw BL romance in a high school. The romance is kind of toxic but captivating to follow. And there is a real indie feel to the show that I found really attractive. As stated above, you need to be aware that because it was cancelled, it does not have a proper ending with most of the narrative arcs are left unfinished. I still think it is really worth a watch just to see the development of the romance which has some really enthralling peaks and valleys.
My understanding is that the series was cancelled due to the Chinese Government censorship regarding BL stories. Here indeed, the show does not shy away from its nature: it is clearly standing out as a romance between two guys rather than a blurry bromance leaving room too interpretation. It is a shame that the show was not allowed to complete its course but I am still glad to have watched it as I think it is an important piece in the BL genre.
Despite the characters being not really likeable and the romance having some deep toxic roots, I was totally invested in the relationship forming between the two main male leads. There are not stereotypical protagonists and they felt very real to me with their raw and dry personalities. In addition to the romance, there is a strong family component to the script: it is more or less inspired but at least provide an interesting and spicy background for the relationships.
It is a shame that the secondary characters felt not correctly exploited, it seems that the writer was planning something for them but their journey never really started. It is also really too bad that almost all the female protagonists are awful: they are the antagonists and nothing more, which I found really lacking nuance.
I would recommend this to people looking for a more raw BL romance in a high school. The romance is kind of toxic but captivating to follow. And there is a real indie feel to the show that I found really attractive. As stated above, you need to be aware that because it was cancelled, it does not have a proper ending with most of the narrative arcs are left unfinished. I still think it is really worth a watch just to see the development of the romance which has some really enthralling peaks and valleys.
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