Heracin

Despite a trope I love, disappointed by the writing, acting and production value...

This BL drama contains one of my favorite trope: the "master-servant" relationship, and here more specifically in a "heir-bodyguard" format. Unfortunately, it fell apart in many ways despite this very interesting premise. I was very disappointed by the series, in particular by its second half.

Story-wise, the writing is pretty bad and get more and more bonkers as the scenario unfold. The protagonists are making unlogical decisions most of the time for dramatic purposes and there are very little character's development. The dialogs are super cheesy but not swoony enough.

Acting-wise, it was such a let-down. Chemistry between the leads was okayish but I think it is the trope that carried their relationship for me (in particular in the first half). In terms of acting skills, I felt a relative disbalance: Phuwin really lacked nuances and mostly acted pouting/upset as the young heir. I enjoyed a bit more the acting of his counterpart Pond as the bodyguard...Overall, I feel that both really really need to work on their acting chops. They were not believable in the over-the-top dramatic moments. The story got very melodramatic / soap-like and it requires good skills to make a bad script appealing to the viewer...Here the acting prevented me even more to connect to the story. The side couple was not better, I love Perth but I could not get onboard with the secondary relationship portrayed in the drama.

Production value is pretty low: the sound, the fights scenes, the props, everything feels super cheap. Music did not leave a lasting impression on me at all. I think it was a bit heavy in terms of amping the dramatic elements, and it felt flat for me.

I would not recommend this to people because there are BLs out there featuring much better that kind of relationship (for example "Where Your Eyes Linger" with also "heir/bodyguard" relationship, or "Utsukushii Kare" for more a "master-servant" bond)...At first, I was full of forgiveness regarding the weaknesses in the production, the choppy editing, as well as the flaws in writing and acting...But it became so nonsensical that even a trope that I usually like very much could not save the drama.

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Pacing issue + unlikeable character made it impossible to enjoy, despite great acting of Lee Joon

I have very mixed feelings regarding this movie centered around Young Oh, a young rookie actor facing the tough reality of the entertainment industry as he rises to famedom. The story could have been interesting but I got honestly bored because of the huge pacing issues as well as the unlikability of the main character.

Lee Joon is truly impressive in the role of Young Oh, especially knowing that it is one of his first big role, and a posteriori, it feels like it was decisive in pivoting his career from idol to actor. Despite the fact that he delivers a solid and convincing performance, his character remains unlikeable all along the duration of the film. I blame the script and not the cast for preventing me to care and root for the main protagonist.

The directing of the movie had some real good ideas, there are a lot of scenes that mirror each other as well as help the viewer to see the unstable mental state in which Young Oh is. The first part of the story was interesting but it got very repetitive and slow because of the lack of suspense as it was very clear where the scenario was headed. The OST was average at best and the ending soundtrack was really an odd and bad choice.

I would not recommend this movie unless you are a big Lee Joon's fan and want to see the movie which really made him prove to the public his skills as an actor. Be aware that this movie can be pretty triggering as it is graphic, violent and with depictions of sexual assaults.

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A buddy cop movie with an atypical ghost element

This buddy cop movie is quite atypical as it features a fantastical element with this very interesting concept of "ghost marriage". It contains a lot of the usual elements of such movie with the investigation, the buddying up between 2 very different individuals as well as the comedic aspects but the LGBTQ+ topic approached in addition with the fantastical twist bring some freshness to the genre.

It is quite light and does not take itself very seriously, it has almost a parodic vibe. This makes it an overall fun watch which could have been even better with a tighter writing and a better pacing. The acting is quite good: I was more convinced by the comedic scenes than by the emotional ones...Still, I'm quite certain that it is more related to the script being a bit bonkers at times as well as the filmmaking a bit over-the-top than to the actors themselves.

The music did not leave a lasting impression on me and I'm not sure I will necessarily re-watch the movie but I had a good time watching it for sure.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a comedy with an interesting premise and like buddy cop movies. It is not very memorable, nor very deep, gritty or dark but it is quite entertaining and fun, which is sometimes just what you need.

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Pure fluff - cute but quite redundant with the main series

This really short episode of 25 minutes takes place at the end of the parent series. It was super cute: mainly pure fluff and not a lot of plot. Cherry on the cake: it focused on the main couple with almost no intervention of the secondary couple (who is much less interesting to my eyes anyway).

Despite all the lovely scenes, I was a bit disappointed because I expected to see more of the couple life of the two main male leads. Instead it felt quite redundant as the story revisit the past already shown in the main series with some little changes. It is clearly not a sequel but rather a feverish dream with quite a bit of flashbacks of scenes already seen.

The music is still really sweet to the hear, it is catchy and romantic. Production value is similar to the main show, it was clearly filmed in the continuity of it.

I would recommend this to people that enjoyed the main series. It is totally dispensable but at the same time, it is super cute...and that can be enough for an enjoyable watch.

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Not only a BL romance but foremost an action drama providing some actual societal criticism

Most of the BL dramas I saw focus primarily on the romance between the characters and have for background a set up providing some narrative arcs around school projects, youth clubs or business prospects. Some might incorporate fights as well as a way to show off some cool gang scenes. "Not Me" takes here another direction with a story not just centred on romance but approaching societal topics such as social inequality, injustice, LGBTQ+ rights and how Art can be a way to criticize societal issues. Action scenes are intrinsic to the plot as a way to discuss how to make society change either through demonstrations or even violence to make a point.

The chemistry between the 2 main leads is great and totally believable, their relationship is building up gradually, it is a very good slow-burn. The twins plot is overall well acted and is a good twist to the romance, as it brings up a lot of angst and thrills to the development of the relationship. Overall acting of the secondary characters was pretty good with the exception of maybe some less enticing adults and enemies roles.

The production and directing are not the best: some jumping action sequences are too over-the-top to make sense, as well as some of the fighting scenes which are bit too cheap with some of the blood / make-up appearing rather fake. The editing is also sometimes all over the place with a few abrupt cuts making some of the narration kind of choppy.
Despite this, the drama remains all along highly entertaining and even riveting at some point as the plot unveil itself. The OST is really pleasant to listen to, not to overpowering and pretty balanced with the show.

I would recommend this to people looking for a more serious action packed story with some angsty BL relationships and a well-executed slow burn romance.

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Disappointing BL story. Lack of excitement and characters development.

I'm disappointed by this BL story. The romance was lackluster. It is a shame because the premise was interesting and could have led to some exciting relationship. However, I found myself utterly bored and not interested.

I did not found the chemistry between the actors believable. There were very few sparks until the last episode and I did not understand how they fell in love with each other. I could blame it on the short episodes but honestly there are similar sized series that do a much better job in terms of developing both plot and characters' depth. So for me, it is a total miss.

I would not recommend this except if you are an aficionado of BL romances. As the drama is quite short, it might be worth to test it and make your own opinion.

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Suffered the comparison with other titles exploiting better similar dynamic

This BL is centred around the relationship of Goto Naoya and Sato Takaaki. In a master-servant relationship in highschool (with one being on top of the school social ladder and the other at the bottom), their relationship shift and progress in their adult life as Goto is being crushed by family expectations.

If the dynamics between them really interested me at first, and that I truly appreciate the fact that the core of the story was the character growth arc of Goto, having to raise himself up after hitting rock bottom, I regret the lack of chemistry between the leads that truly prevented me to connect emotionally with the story. Maybe it is because I have seen this type of relationship done better in other series, but it really suffered the comparison.

Another factor of me not connecting with the series might have to do with the acting of Seto Toshiki (who played Sato), he felt pretty rigid to me and I had trouble with his character, which remained quite a bland canvas all along, with his role resolving solely around Goto needs but never really digging into his psyche more than at surface level.

I also found the pacing all over the place. Both for the development of the relationship and its evolution, as well as the way Goto grow, it was so fast paced at points that's again, I could not help to feel distached from what was happing on screen. Same for the ending of the series, which wrapped up (too) easily.

I would not recommend this as I feel there are better series other exploiting master-servant relationship. The pacing, the lack of chemistry did prevent me to really connect with the series, despite my initial interest.

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Oranges, youth and friendship: sweet coming of age story & slow burn romance

At first look, this high school BL could be seen as not outstanding among its peers, another high school BL...However, it felt so fresh and charming, and captured with such heart an era as it is set at the end of the 90s/beginning of 2000.

The chemistry between the two main leads was one of the strong point of the series. It was obvious and jumping out of the screen. They were portraying very believably innocent first love, full of turmoil and hesitation, as their characters are like magnets to each other. Their looks at each other, full of trust, love and resolve showed very well their relationship evolution. Overall, acting from the whole cast was a bit green at time but it also felt fresh and genuine.

If I was ultra convinced by the main romance and the friendship among the group of friends, I was less convinced by the two secondary couples. They grew on me overtime, but I also think that one additional couple would have been plenty enough.

I also wish the show would have addressed more the challenges of being gay for some of the characters because it was a non-issue for all the guys, which felt a bit like a missed opportunity in terms of storyline. It was clearly a scenario choice to focus more about the feelings evolution and their impact on the friendship than to question how socially it could impact the characters, which I am not mad about. But I am pondering if it could have brought something interesting to the table to have at least one character struggle with his sexual orientation, especially looking back at that period of time.

I would recommend it to people that are looking for a teen slice-of-like who encapsulate with a lot of heart and nostalgia that end 90s/early 2000 era. Both the friendship and the coming of age parts are done really well. It is not without flaws but the central romance is so good, the slow burn so effective, that I can quickly bypass any small defaults. If you enjoyed series like I Told Sunset About You, I truly recommend to give a shot at this one.

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Messy in its outcome, pretty brutal in its build up & showcasing a fair share of individual talents

I had very minimal names/faces recognition but I did know some things about TREASURE before starting this survival show, because there were quite a bit of controversy around their agency YG and the way they debuted the group as the show was filmed just before the eruption of the "Burning Sun" scandal. It is sometimes strange to watch, like an uncanny capsule of time. Given how messy and delayed their debut was (the survival show ended in January 2019 and they debuted in August 2020), I'm very happy that the group ended up to be successful.

This survival show has almost a documentary vibe, showing the viewer some of the reality of the producing behind the survival show. Of course, it is catered for and audience and polished, but it does really show the cruel reality of the competition.

Contrary to some agency led survival show featuring a quite limited amount of trainees, YG decided to gather a relative big amount of participants forming various units. The units were not necessarily competing between each other but rather there were forming a mix, the agency searching the best combination for the group. The way the competition was set up was clearly showcasing individual talents that then would be assembled into a coherent ensemble. Even if not all of the participants have equal screentime, it is showcasing enough to make room for a lot of potential lineup, pushing the viewer to play the assembly game with the main producer (YG).

Not going to lie, the show was really rough on the participants : YG had a real gift at traumatizing his trainees. It seems that the underlying objective of the production team was to have at least one or two people crying by episode. They also did one of the worst thing in my opinion for a survival : not announcing the full lineup during the finale of the survival but rather organising a live announcement on a platform post finale, that needs to be looked up separetely to get the full picture on the group.

I would recommend this survival show to people that want to learn more about TREASURE and its genesis. Once you have watched the outcome, you might need to do further research to really get what happened between the announcement of the group lineup, some subsequent announcement and then the launch with a reviewed lineup.

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Creative and memorable metaphors

This rom-com could be described as lighthearted smut with an interesting and different dynamic. Given the topic at stake, the production team managed to keep it fun and cute. I was quite impressed by all the hilarious metaphors they made the characters plays to illustrate the sex life of the main characters. The production team was super creative, and while the drama never was very explicit, they managed to successfully make all the points come across to the viewer.

The main actress and actor were very convincing. They had chemistry and good comedic moments. The secondary casting was more forgettable but no bad acting in sight. Like mentionned the making and directing was creative with fun metaphors and I also enjoyed the cute song in the opening generic.

Why not an higher rating? Maybe because of how light it was and also because of the very low stakes overall. Once you get to a certain point of the story, it stays at the same level, without much high and lows. Still even if there is a lack of peaks and valley in the story, it remains constantly good and entertaining.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a cute rom-com, pretty fun and exploring a different kind of dynamics between its leads.

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Unfortunately, a total miss for me

This movie is a though one to review : it is not really a romance, much more a slice-of-life and life commentary, pretty dark and bleak. If there are quite a bit I can appreciate from an intellectual point of view :
- the symbolisms spread out through the movie,
- the overall esthetics and production value,
- the purposefull soundrak,
the story in itstelf was not enjoyable to me at all. I had difficulty to be grabbed by the plot with its slow pace. It is not really a romance but it features romantic bounds that where a bit difficult to grasp my head around and connect with.

Acting was quite good for the overall cast but with a slight miss :
- Moon Sang Min did a great job but I still couldn't help to found funny how he was cast as a character aspiring to study contempory dancer because of the numerous Music Bank interview he made where his dance talent was really limited and awkward at best. I therefore had to got wit quite a bit of suspencion of disbelief in the very few scenes where a dance, even if the directing mostly filmed in static position. Other than those scenes that felt unconvincing, he did amazing in the other parts.

I would not recommend this movie as it was definitely more a painful (and even boring) watch than an enjoyable one. If you manage to connect with the story, I still think it is pretty impactful and worth giving it a shot, to make your own opinion.

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I was expecting more from the production

This survival show is quite forgettable in itself even if I'm quite happy with the outcome as my faves made it into the final group. In terms of production value, it is pretty flawed : poor editing, low budget, putting non stop the participants into traumatic events for seemingly the single purpose of making them cry, unmemorable stages... There is not a lot of grace to be found about this show if it is not the participants themselves.

It is more on the lower budget / self produced by the company itself type of survival show. Indeed, it is a lot more like the ones that led to Stray Kids, Nexz, &TEAM, TREASURE than the ones that led to ENHYPEN, ZEROBASEONE, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, CLOSE YOUR EYES, AHOF... In itself this is not an issue because some of those lower budget survival were better than some of the ones produced by TV companies. However, this is not the case here. It truly seems that Hybe Japan put less care into this one that the one that launched &TEAM.

Despite binging the show pretty quickly, it is not one I would recommend given the poor production value and overall forgettable stages. It is quite a short watch (comparatively to other survival shows) and the overall final line up made perfect sense, even if it is frustrating how they traumatized all these boys repeatedly but without ultra rewarding moments. Knowing that it is under Hybe big umbrella, you could / should expect more from the production and making.

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WTF ? Super entertaining and unhinged !!! Worth it despite a flunked ending

This drama is simply a fever dream : a lot of ideas all meshed together in an unhinged way. If the last arc was a bit a downer, with the hero becoming too tame, all the road to get there was highly entertaining, and worth the wild ride the series take you on. Maybe the writer throw a bit too much on the paper for everything to stick, but it was for sure a memorable drama !!! I truly think that trying bold choices with sometimes mixed results is much better than producing a tepid and moderate already seen middle-of-the road show.

The romance was central to the bonker plot, with some hot and gripping moments between the leads and a great secondary romance. Both had moments that took my breath away as well as brought me a lot of emotions. Overall the cast did a good job, even if the main actress could have done better at portraying some of the most emotional scenes.

Production value was a mixed bag, I wished the main roles had better haircut and makeup, and that the edit was less all over the place. The drama had seemingly quite a pretty limited budget, with some scenes that were so poorly excecuted that it was (unwantedly) funny. However, it was overall good enough to depicts most of the crazy ideas featured in the script and even impressed me at times.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for an unhinged and deeply entertaining hot romance. It is crazy and never boring, even if its last arc does not hold a candle to the remaining of the series because of the way the main relationship evolves, making it less exciting. Despite the production doing a commendable job at executing the bonker plot, I wish that they had a bigger budget because I would have love to see a more fully fleshed making of some of their ideas. I would also have loved to see the core concept of the series with the Ren / Yin relationship even more explored because of how interesting it was.

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Good bromance, messy writing : a lot of muscles, not so much brain power

This action drama is very Netflix thriller coded : it has a gritty and dark making, some good production value, and the episode all ends in some kind of cliffhanger, in order to entice the viewer to press play on the next episode.

However, I must admit that past a quite gripping while also pretty classic introduction, featuring gangsters, slush fund and good guys with heart wanting to save scammed poor people, I was not blown away by the story. Indeed, the scenario fell apart with a messy writing, characters having a lot muscles but not a lot of brain. The poor writing might also be explained by the way the female lead was awkwardly edited out of the series, which was a downer for sure.

The cast did a great job, with the bromance between the characters of Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi being the best part of the series. Huh Joon Ho, Park Sung Woong, Kim Sae Ron and overall the whole ensemble cast did a good job. All of them were pretty convincing in all the fight scenes.

I would recommend this to people looking for a quite classic action drama or that love Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi. Seeing them fighting shirtless and skillfully at multiple times did certainly improve my watching experience, which was tempered by the overall poor writing with characters making numerous bad decisions. I am still happy to have watched it and I might even give a try to season 2 because the characters and their dynamics have a lot of potential.

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