Story of an immature brat

ForceBook chemistry is great, which made their interactions natural and sweet.

The OST is just decent and so was the acting.

It would have been nice to include a few scenes with Theo’s grandmother, considering the impact she had on Theo's life, which makes her a pretty important character in the series. Speaking of roles, I disliked Theo as a character. He made immature decisions throughout the entire series and acted like a spoiled little child. It was annoying to see Akk put up with all his drama, and made me feel like Theo did not deserve Akk at all. The plot was pretty annoying as well, and I didn’t see the point of it. The side characters’ stories felt rushed and there was little to no character development.

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Being queer is a choice?

This film is about teenagers finding themselves and maturing. We follow them throughout their journey, and I believe they all grew and became different people by the end of the film.

I loved the cinematography, especially in the countryside setting. The OST is beautiful and could have been used more often throughout the movie. The script is also great.

I think the contents of the movie were well thought through, although the message in some scenes can be questioned. An example is the drowning scene at the end, where Ito told Yoshida that he could "kiss a boy if he tried", implying that being queer is a choice (which it most certainly is not).

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Short but sweet

The main issue with this is the length. It’s too short for the audience to develop a connection to the characters, and relate to anything at all. And because of this, the story also feels underdeveloped.
Theres good chemistry and acting, with a nice flow in the dialogs, but they could have relied more on body language rather than speech in some scenes.
The couple was very cute, and portrayed the characters emotions perfectly on the limited time that they had.
The plot has potential, but again it’s displayed on such a short amount of time for us to really understand and feel what they are going through. It feels shallow.

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A bit incomplete?

The script and plot are both very good, but there were unfortunately some unnecessary scenes. I also felt that it was missing a few scenes as well, for example, they could have included a clip of Zi Xuan’s reaction to Yu Hao’s jump serve.

And as someone who plays volleyball regularly, I found that some of the volley scenes could have been more accurate.

The structure is good, with a steady progress in each episode, but despite this, the story felt a bit incomplete. I would have liked another episode where we could see their relationship after they became a couple.

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A film with a hazy message

This movie is packed with symbolism, and although there is some sort of meaning behind it all, it was to me, a film that simply lacked structure. The story is told in an unclear and roundabout way, which makes it hard to follow and understand.

There were numbers of dull scenes, due to the long duration of the clips. This style of filming is very common in old movies, but it would have been a lot easier to watch with more variations in the shots. There isn’t a clear conflict in the movie either. We know that there is some sort if inner conflict that the characters are each battling on their own, but it’s not clear what. The only time their emotions reached me, was in the final scenes of the movie with the last client.
There is also little to no character development. Shinichiro said he was going to quit prostitution, but never really did. Tatsuru never resolved the conflict with his family, and was unreadable throughout the whole movie.
So did they find what they were looking for at the end? No one knows.

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Hello? I can't hear you over the moaning

The chemistry in both couples are fire, but I did not enjoy the "baby talk". It was cringey and not my cup of tea.

The sound editing is trash; phone calls are weird, the sound is often uneven and the voiceovers were straight up bad. The editing in general is also questionable, with weird cuts and transitions spread throughout the series.

The structure of the series is ok. I liked how they focused on one couple at a time, but there were also a number of scenes that were repeated unnecessarily.
In terms of the script; there were many lines that felt forced and unnatural, and scenes where body language or silence would have been more suitable than speech.

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A bit disappointing

I expected more. This is just slow. The story progression is slower than a snail and it honestly just makes it dull to watch. I had to fast forward multiple times to get through the final three episodes.

And if you are watching it, expecting BL, then don't. The BL part of the story is at the last couple of episodes, and it honestly felt forced. It would've almost been better if they ended up as friends instead of lovers.

I finished the series because of Tane (he is such a precious angel). Yutaka was just annoying and made every situation awkward.
The dishes looked good tho.

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Pure art

My favorite part of the movie was definitely the top-notch cinematography. Each and every clip of this film could pass as a photograph. All the shots were absolutely stunning and well thought through.
The direction was great and so was the acting.
Loved the scenery and layout of every scene.
The music is great, and matched the vibe of the movie.
I liked the plot, but it could have been better. There’s quite a bit of stuff happening in the movie, so certain things are not that clear. For example, the relationship between Xiangdong and the aggressive guy at his wedding. I also had trouble seeing the red string that was supposed to tie the whole movie together. I couldn't really see the guilt that Liang Fei was carrying from abandoning his lover. This only showed at the end of the movie.
Despite the sort-of-lacking plot, I still consider this movie a brilliant work of art.

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Are dramatic beach montages all they can do?

They sort of had me in the beginning, but it gradually got worse as the story progressed. It got boring, and the plot is kinda shit.

This might be a matter of genre and target audience, but I think that the time they spent running at the beach and playing with water, should have been spent developing the characters and their stories on a deeper level.

It would have also been better if they leaned more towards the psychological part of the story, but they rushed it, and even completely brushed it off in some cases, where they could have dug deeper into it.
Jo Taehyun is such an interesting character, with a traumatising past that still haunts him in the present, and yet it feels like his story was cut short. An example is the flower pot scene. They could have made a bigger deal out of the incident, or even dramatized it.
The plot had potential, but a lot of things were simply executed badly in this series.

And would it kill them to show a little skinship? Okay, they spend the final episode going on a trip together, after yet another time skip. And if I’m not mistaken, they are now a couple. So why are they avoiding physical contact, and acting like they despise the thought of touching each other? Is this a matter unfortunate chemistry, or bad directing?

Cinematography was basic and nothing special, and so was the OST. Would not watch it again.
It felt like the creators left a huge stuffed luggage unpacked, and that really bothered me.

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Lack of intimacy, but did not disappoint

This was legendary. It was a cute, romantic, funny and packed with tons of scenes that will leave u feeling more single than u felt before (TT).

The cinematography and camerawork were both in high quality, and I loved both the acting and castings.
The scenery and unique settings were very nice. I especially liked Taejoon’s house, which was a very nice touch that helped set the mood in the scenes that were shot in the location.
The script and OSTs were both very good. The characters were all unique and had great dynamics between them.

I wish we could have seen more of the second couple. We never really got to know how their relationship turned out in the end. There was also a disappointing lack of intimacy especially with the main couple. For instance, they hugged a lot in scenes where a kiss would have felt more natural. In addition, all the so-called kisses were simply “pecks” with zero movement. All the hugging also made many of the scenes awkward and stiff.

Nevertheless, it's still one of the best Korean BL's out there. So go give it a watch, because I know I will be watching it again soon.

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Why the forced ending? This is not a Disney movie!

Everything was unexpected from a Korean BL. There were no clique k-drama scenes, only well crafted scenes. The plot is good, although it would have been nice to include more of Jaewon’s father to fully understand his situation.

The chemistry is on fire, and both leads did very well in the acting aspect. I'm also fond of the characters. They were all unique (Joon Pyo, Aeri and Yoon Won are so cute).
There were some interesting camera-works, where they played around with reflection, angles and blur which was very fun to see. The quality of the clips were also very good, despite the questionable editing here and there.

Now this is going to be a long one, but it's worth mentioning, so please bear with me:

One of the few things I really disliked, was the way they forced the “happy ending” at the end. It’s ok to leave some fights unsolved if someone did something unforgivable.
Throughout the series, it was always brought up that Jaewon hides his true feelings and tends to play the good guy. In the end he apologised to all the people who did him dirty, and this really weakens his character development.
I admire that the creators resisted the urge to add too many unrealistic scenes, but nevertheless I think that Jaewon deserves to know the truth. If he knew what Eunji and the boys of the surfing club put Jihyun through, would he still say sorry and act nice towards them?
I also don’t think that Taehyung should be considered a “friend” of Jaewon. Jaewon mentioned at the end how he admired the way Taehyung treated everyone equally, and I really disagree with that statement. There is a difference between treating people as equals and bringing people down simply because of jealousy. He verbally abused Jaewon throughout the entire series and said incredibly insensitive things about his family and private life. He also asked Jaewon if he felt sorry about punching him, as if all the horrible things he said to Jaewon were equal to a well deserved punch after he yet again said something insensitive about Jihyun’s near-death experience. Honestly, what a jerk.

But despite this, it's still a really good series that's worth the watch!

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A classic masterpiece

This was very fun and entertaining to watch. The plot is very original and the overdramatic-ness is hilarious , although it tends to be too overdramatic sometimes, in a way that it's giving anime in an overwhelming way.

I didn't find it realistic to involve all the characters in each and every episode. There is literally no point in having 27+ high school boys running around the city and getting involved in their teacher or classmate’s private business.

The characters are all unique and well crafted, which make the interactions engaging and entertaining to watch. Each episode left me wanting more, and it was definitely worth the watch. A bit sad that we never got to see if Shin and Yamaguchi ended up together (my ship!), and it's even more disappointing to see that Matsumoto Jun is nowhere to be found in the setlist of the other seasons (TT).

Gokusen is packed with cliques and scenes that will give you second hand embarrassment, but despite all this it still somehow manages to make me laugh, tear up and cover my face all at the same time. Truly a classic masterpiece.

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