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A "pick me up" mini-drama with bite-sized episodes, packed with humor and very entertaining
I had a super fun time watching this series which features two neighbours with a very awkward and then wholesome relationship. The plot is totally surreal and ultra parodic, with a lot of diverted staples in the BL genre. It is not really a BL but much more an humorous take on the odd relationship between two guys. Friendship or love, that's left to the viewer's interpretation for sure and that's not really the point of the series.The cast was quite good. I like a lot Choi Woo Shik and he did not disappoint here: he has an excellent comedic timing. Jan Ki Yong is an excellent discovery : his character is very dead-panned and attractive. Definitely an excellent pairing with his costar. Jang Hee Ryung is completing the cast. Without her character, I feel the comedic aspect would have been lessen as she is really the one creating the awkwardness and the laugh at the actions of the two boys.
Production value is quite modest in itself but good enough for the series. The behind-the-scenes were a nice addition to the watch as it clearly showed how much the actors had fun shooting this mini drama. The soundtrack of the series was pretty good as well, with a couple of songs that made me very nostalgic.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a fun and short watch. If you like parody and BL stories, this one will definitely make your day brighter and lighter. It is very short (maybe even too short, i would have loved to see more, I feel the concept could even have been further exploited) and totally worth a shot.
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The cliffhangers will keep you pressing play on the next episode button!
Pretty gripping and entertaining gameshow : it was intense and different, with a lot of twists. Not all the games were as interesting and the level of difficulty truly varied. Collaboration was a key element: forming and breaking alliance was the most important skill to foster. I liked how the production made the participants live together : it was just one week but it clearly helped them in creating relationships and therefore some interesting moments for a few of the departures.I felt sometimes frustrated to see bright candidates leave early while people with seemingly less capacity in developing strategy and finding solution were kept and protected, while mooching on the strongest players. At the same time, while frustrating and seeming unfair, it is definitely a very important soft skill to be able to have enough social intelligence to be part of a group and win thanks to the team rather than solely on your own strengths.
The cast was varied enough, I did not know most of them but I quickly got some favorites and I am very happy with the winner who had a great storyline. The set were pretty good with the game area and living area, and I think the production team managed to make the game quite understandable thanks to clear visuals.
I would recommend this if you enjoy game show involving strategical alliances. If you enjoyed shows such as Elite League, it might be right in your alley. The second season has just started and I will for sure watch it as well, hoping for stronger participants and less moochers (even if very sympathetic).
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Very short and still felt like a loss of time
This drama had so many challenges playing against it. The most noticeable was the recasting of one of the main lead, right in the middle of the series. For such a short length series, that's already a huge challenge in keeping the viewer onboard on the relationship after the cast switch. The writing was another big issue : the script tried to do too much. Given the run time, the scenario should have chosen a sole issue for the characters and focused on it rather than mixing additional elements, distracting without bringing anything to the development of the relationship.I would not recommend this to people. There are too many issue with the overall writing and the cast shift while unfortunate and probably not a voluntary choice, made it very difficult to really be onboard with the romance. To finish on a positive note : I like the starting idea of the characters being apart because one is a trainee that failed to debut while the other debuted. The idol context was really an interesting background for a BL drama and it is a shame it was not exploited more.
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Despite a good start, it very quickly became bland and repetitive
This survival show features 36 participants with the objective of debuting a new boy group. The cast is made of trainees that don't belong to any agency with the premise of the show being that the participants are just "regular boy". It is more or less true, as some of the contestants had some previous training at an entertainment agency or have even participated in previous survival show. But well, overall indeed, the cast seems to be quite fresh and with a lot to learn.Unfortunately, past the first half of the show, I quickly lost more and more interest. The episodes -while relatively short- felt more and more repetitive. I enjoyed the introduction as it allowed to discover the participants...But very quickly there were almost not personal focus, making it very difficult to feel invested in any contestants (except a few ones). Still, I liked some of the contestants, despite the lack of screentime and featuring of individuals' personality, and I hope to see in another context (or even in an upcoming survival show) the ones that I liked and did not made the debut group.
The saving grace for me was the guest jury, often made of idols that I like and it was fun to see them commenting on the performances. Other than that, the storytelling was very flat : no evil editing but certainly nothing really exciting happening. Overall, they work and repeat choreography, present it to the permanent dance judge and/or vocal judge that tell them to improve...They work a bit more and get better...And that's the whole trajectory of most of the episodes. That's why honestly, all the performances blend together with too few outstanding. Finale episode are rarely the best part of survival show, and here again no exception. It felt particularly empty with just 3 performances : 2 original songs really forgettable and the signature song which was clearly badly lip-sync.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people as I feel there are better / more exciting survival shows out there. Unless you are fond of one of the contestants (or of one of the guest jury), I think it is lacking in too many ways. A more exciting editing, bigger budget as well as better original songs would definitely have helped the show. Too bad !
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More a queer vlog than a dating show : good cast but production could have been better
This Japanese dating show is quite different in its approach from some of the other dating show I have seen. It has an almost vlog feeling which is good in a way, because it feels relatively low scripted and it root the show in reality. Indeed, participants have jobs they need to attend to, they have a life and discuss about it... At the same time, the slice-of-life element make also the show feel slow and quite repetitive.The editing is kinda horrendous, it is difficult to understand some of the production choices. They filmed the participants for one month long, they had hours of footage but they edited the show in such short episodes that it left the viewer hanging, feeling like knowing very little about the relationships between the cast. It is like despite all that time shooting there were not enough content for making it really interesting and that's why they edited the episodes that way, with a pacing that still felt sluggish at time. The way they cut the episodes was so strange and odd, especially with the comments of the panel which was useless. Indeed, the commentators broke the pace of the show even more with a lot of rather bland comments and middle-of-the road reaction. Either they needed to be more insightful and charismatic, either they needed to be removed from the show completely.
I like a lot the cast, they had a good variety of profile, with a lot of sensitive individuals that bonded in a believable way. Some had more screentime than others, but I feel that the choice made sense in the overall picture and trajectory of the romances. I wish there had been more dates, the coffee truck seemed liked an interesting idea at first but there were not a lot of interesting things emerging from there. Some of the participants had a journey full of little bumps but also with growth which I appreciated: and even if I would have been exhausted in their place, I was satisfied with their storyline.
I would recommend this to people looking for a different kind of dating show, more slice-of-life and feeling very cozy. Despite production and storytelling flaws, maybe bound to happen as it was a first season, with showrunner trying to find their marks, I will be watching the season 2 which is planned. I hope the production team will adjust a bit the format in order to foster more romantic moments between its cast and less repetitive points.
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A live action that missed the mark on so many points, not true to the original source material
This movie was such a disappointment as I love the manga. It is certainly not an easy story to adapt as it was foremost published as comedic vignettes / Otaku slice-of-life format rather than full chapters (at first at least, as the story progressed, the storyline became more full fledged in the manga but the short comedic pages kept being what make the salt and fun of the manga).Still, despite the fact that it is not so easy to adapt "as such" that kind of work, I feel the adaptation choice were done without understanding what was the main point of the source material. It was about friends-to-lovers but also learning to accept yourself through the eyes of characters sharing the same passion, even if it is deemed as strange / out-of-touch with real serious adult life. It was not just about romance, it was much more than that : fun and heartfelt at the same time.
I have 3 main criticisms:
1)I don't understand the choice of making it a musical. The main actress sing pretty well but it was not the point of the story. The various songs made little sense in the context of the manga. It feels like a cope out to make characters sing their feelings rather than having dialog and directing driving the point.
2) I also felt that the directing point of view lacked of love for the Otaku culture. The humor which worked so well in the manga, did not work here. It felt almost critical of the quirks of the characters, showing them as flaws for the relationship rather than taking a more tender approach, underlining how well they fit together which is too bad.
3) In the source material, the main couple interact with another couple also deep into Otaku culture (even if it is quite different for each of the 4 main characters) and here the second couple was totally set aside, while their dynamics was so good in the source material.
I would not recommend this to people as it was such a disappointment for me given the fact that I love the source material. Even my huge appreciation for Yamazaki Kento cannot redeem the movie to my eyes.
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Not worth the time, pretty bland and forgettable
This movie is about as forgettable as it could be. It features very classic shojo manga tropes. Sometimes a well made classic can be of course highly satisfying, especially if it showcases some interesting twists. Here, it was unfortunately not the case.I did not feel the chemistry between the main actor and the main actress...And the romance felt unfortunately very lacking. I found that the female lead was overacting, which was part of the point as her character lives fantasies in her head...But I found that pretty poor. The male led should also have been more swoony, instead he felt too bland.
I would not recommend this movie to people as I feel there are better high school romance out there. I have not read the original material and honestly, this live adaptation did not convince me to give it a try.
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Slice-of-life meet-cute at a cafe : not a lot to see
Let me preface this review by stating that it is not a bad short movie...This just flew right over my head. I understand the concept of the main character investigating his romantic options at the cafe. But the result was so evident to me because I felt the main lead anticipated it already that I did not get why it took that turn to finally circle back to the obvious. If the main protagonist had felt more conflicted and surprised, that might have worked better.The main actor playing the customer at the cafe was very charming and the three barista were okay as well. Nothing outstanding but sufficient given the simplicity of the plot. Production had a limited budget but was effective in featuring a calming place and smooth atmosphere.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people because I don't think you get out of the watch anything special. It is quite soothing in a way but very mundane as well.
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Just fun and entertaining - quite bunker at time
I liked a lot this zombie movie. It is not subtle at all in the message it tries to convey but I found it quite relevant in the current society. A job that transforms you in a zombie and that traps you despite of you wanting anything but that. I like the bucket list of the main character and the way he faced head on the situation.The cast did a good job carrying this rather unserious story. Maybe it could have been better for some of the emotional scenes. But well, difficult to do much more with all the craziness that was happening at the same time. It was clearly aiming at comedy rather than horror. I was never scared at any point. And I will always remember a particularly dumb action plot in the aquarium.
I would recommend this to people looking for a fun action movie. Was it absurd at a lot of time ? Yes. Did I raise my eyebrow more and more as the plot progressed ? Yes. Was it entertaining? Yes. It is much more a comedy than anything else, it has a cartoonish feel to it, so if you are looking for something scary and serious, this is definitely not the movie to watch.
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Not my cup of tea : it went above my head
The story is very simple but I think the title of the YouTube English subtitled video for this short movie spoils a bit what might have been left as an interrogation point for the viewer. Not sure what were the intention of the writer regarding that aspect of the story. Overall, it is a gloomy and dramatic story which did not really interested me.The internal voice of the main character was I think supposed to be poetic with a juxtaposition of saxophone and piano music. But it absolutely did not work for me. I felt totally detached of what was happening on screen and what the character was saying.
I would not recommend this to people. I found the story pretty bleak. It is a very short movie of 13 minutes, so you might want to give it a shot and make your own opinion on it.
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Some excellent ideas not developed enough, I could not connect to the acting
The premise of this series is great : the news get public that an asteroid is estimated to hit Earth in 10 days, wiping the human race. With this imminent threat on the life of the characters, the stakes could not be higher. It leads as well to some self reflection on what to do when all hope seem lost. What would you do if you had only 10 days left on Earth in a context where it is the same fate for everyone ?Despite this excellent plot idea, I unfortunately was unable to connect with the acting. Most of the emotional scenes felt quite cringy...The main issue for me is that I found both main leads really unlikeable. I could not manage to get invested in them and their relationship. The acting I resonated the least was done by Seto Toshiki playing Nishina Masumi, the hero that as the viewer your are supposed to empathize with and support. I just could not do it !
The production value was okay overall. Some nice sets in nature but also some special effects sequence that felt a bit cheap. The soundtrack was alright with a really nice song which might have felt a bit repetitive at some point if I'm honest.
I would recommend this to people that are looking for a very different kind of BL story. Given the fact I found the context in which the characters evolve super interesting, I was in overall disappointed by the drama. I felt the writing did not exploit well enough the doomsday setting. The ending felt also a bit like a cope out even if I understand why it concludes that way. My main issue is with the acting as well as the writing of the main characters. It prevented me to empathize and support the characters as well as to connect with the emotional scenes who felt cringy.
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Less good than season 1, felt a bit monotonous at some point
I found this season 2 of the Physical 100 show that put in competition 100 candidates in top physical shapes less exciting than its 1 season. It might be linked to the fact that the novelty effect from the first season is not there anymore and there are some aspects relating to the mechanics of the show that are repetitive. Some of the challenges get monotonous and lack variety.The production value though is very good: the set up of the challenge, the industrial set in which the contestants are evolving led to a lot of impactful images. The way the camera film the physical exploits is also very good. I wish we get to know better the participants in between the challenges. It felt lacking in terms of interactions. Other than a few famous faces from the South Korean grand public that the production seemed to advantage in terms of screen time, there are very few participants that made a lasting impression on me.
I would recommend this to people that enjoyed the first season. It is less good in my opinion and I hope they will improve for season 3 on the elements that were a bit lacking.
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As I love the group that debuted thanks to &Audition, I had to rewatch it again this year <3
This survival show released on YouTube in 2022 has for objective to launch the first Japanese Boy group of HYBE Labels Japan. It can be seen as a Japanese sequel of the South Korean survival show "I-Land" (which aired in 2020 with Enhypen being the resulting debut boy group at the time). Indeed, the competition includes 4 former participants from the prequel who did not debut at the time and who are now participating in the program as part of the debut group. During "&Audition - The Howling", those 4 members already part of the debut group will be working in team with 11 other trainees. Some of the trainees will be able to debut with the 4 members as part of the new group.Casting-wise, I was super happy to find back the 4 former participants from "I-Land". I absolutely adored one of them and I grow to love a lot the 3 others. It was also particularly satisfying to know that those 4 will be debuting in any case and that the objective of the program was more to complete the group with additional trainees than to make those guys suffer once again. The program leaves the room open for the group to not debut at all if the team formed is not strong enough (at the appreciation of the producers). But honestly, this threat does not seem very credible and the level of angst is low regarding the future of those 4 participants, which I appreciated.
Regarding the 11 trainees, their future is much more uncertain as the number of members being part of the group is not known at first and it seems unlikely that they can all debut with the already selected 4 members. I found them overall quite likeable, I had some favorites such as Yuma, Harua, Gaku and Hikaru while some others did not leave a very strong lasting first impression on me. It is mainly due to the fact that the episodes are quite short overall, with the focus being on performances and teamwork but not necessarily in highlighting individuals talent and characters. There are very few storylines and the drama is kept at a minimal level with no fight between the participants.
Regarding the missions itself, I don't have necessarily performances that I would want to rewatch a lot (maximum a couple of those) but I enjoyed them as well as the original songs and covers they did (most being HYBE songs of course). I also liked the few cameos we had from other HYBE groups members. Some appearances felt a bit forced and artificial, but I appreciated it in any case. The Japanese judges were also part of the team training the candidates and if at first they felt a bit cold to me, by the end it was obvious how much they liked and cared for the boys, which was really touching.
I would recommend this to people that enjoy survival show with relatively lower stake and drama. There is still candidates eliminated as well as difficult to understand voting rules. But overall, no real evil edit and if you liked in "I-Land" some of the cast members, it is very pleasant to find them back here. Obviously, if you are a fan of the group that has debuted from &Audition, this survival show is a must watch to see how the group was created and witness their first interactions and performances together.
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Felt like the trailer for a cute GL Chinese historical and fantasy drama - they should make it
It is a super short movie (3 minutes !) that almost feel like a trailer for a cute GL Chinese historical and fantasy drama. Of course, given the short length, it felt a bit disjointed, but the compilation of scenes was enough to give a very good idea of relationship arc between a Fox demon and a Priestess and what could be a series around them.I would recommend this to people that are looking for a cute short (very short - 3 minutes) bite of GL Chinese historical and fantasy drama. I'm left to wish they would make it into a full length series because there is a lot of potential in the relationship featured between a Fox demon and a Priestess.
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A short queer story : interesting point of view but too short to really leave a memorable impression
This very short movie (a bit more of 15 minutes excluding the outro generic) is centered around a delivery guy from a Chinese restaurant who has a crush on one of his customer.The story shows in snippets of life experience of the main character how difficult it is to be gay and accepted in South Korea. The intentions are good but it is too short to really get deep into the discrimination details and it remains at a quite superficial level. Similarly to the story, the characters are very simply brushed up, not for lack of care but rather because of lack of time to deepen them more.
I don't think the cast did a bad job but neither is it very memorable. I found the camera work quite sluggish and maybe a bit too slow, which dragged the storytelling.
I would not recommend this to people because I have seen other short films that impacted me more around similar thematic. I feel here it remains at a relatively superficial level which prevented me to really connect with the story.
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