A welcome change in plot and great direction
To my shore is a welcome change in many aspects… story, direction and acting!When the story is of a love that is borderline or beyond redemption it needs great story telling to be convincing. The direction is commendable considering that. Both the director and the main leads convinced me that there is all shades to love when the star crossed lovers are as extreme as, yu shulang and fan xiao. One, kind and sunshine like and the other devious and dark. Their journey of self realization, acceptance and redemption was towards not just to each other but most of all to themselves.
The story had a raw edge of grey that was life like…
Both the leads had great chemistry and you don’t need a lot of skinship or NC scenes to translate their passion convincingly. I really enjoyed the episodes when they were falling for each other.
Ofcourse there are gaps and areas that can be improved upon, I chose to stay with the positives of this drama for it was an overall great attempt by the cast and crew! Kudos!!!
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Binge watch worthy!
Pond for me is an actor who carries the character he plays like a second skin. He is very versatile and I absolutely support him for the fact that he is not paired with one partner and typecast into similar roles … he seems to be selecting roles that are multi faceted. I enjoyed watching him as wang in 180 degree longitude passes through us, someone with the innocence of youth and struggling with his age of awakening. Hill in fourever you, an emotionally complex role is again another one that was completely different from the others he had played prior, which led me to reset. And I was waiting for it to finish airing to binge watch it… and I am glad I did. Surprisingly, I watched the series for Peterpan/Tada as he was the one anchoring Ponds character Armin throughout the series. He gave context to Armin in the story… like he conveys from the beginning, he will be there to support Armin by his side to fulfill all that he desires… and in that he gave Armin… who had been betrayed by everyone, the one thing he had sought the most unbeknownst to himself, “unwavering love”.The director and all the key actors conveyed the story well… I keep in mind that though it’s not a short series, a lot of story was told in 10 episodes of over an hour each… so no unnecessary time was spent in plot development or typical tropes as fillers… editing was crisp… I didn’t have the urge to fast forward sections of the series considering I was binge watching. But some effort could have been put on the final climax involving thiwthit. All in all an excellent work from the cast and crew. So many scenes are framed so beautifully I kept wanting to know more about the cinematographer. NC scenes are tastefully done, just enough to give context to their passion and longing for each other. Pond and Peterpan’s chemistry is beautiful… BL or otherwise this kind of effortless chemistry makes stories so relatable, especially when it transcends lifetimes.
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This review may contain spoilers
a slice of life paced take on romance…
Countdown to yes… unlike the name suggests there is no drama no cliff hangers no tension, in this countdown.. its a mix of emotions of coming of age and reality of adulthood.Minato and Wataru were cast well… the actors portrayed them beautifully for me, so fresh yet matured acting for their age.
It has very few support cast yet they all gave context to the leads so well. Snippets from the flash back though felt too many initially, effectively bridged the youth and adulthood of Minato and Wataru over a decade
I understand why many felt that it’s slow paced, however for me I enjoyed the details that elaborated on why the hesitation from both Minato and Wataru held back at different Phases. This is a drama without drama for me… it sat somewhere balanced, Not too heavy on romance or not too raw
Spoilers:
There is no doubt for both of them that they are gay or
There is no question if they both love each other or not
The real question was that, can they commit to each other or not and risk their friendship
I felt the pain and confusion of Wataru, when Minato leaves after college for work, I understood why he felt conflicted about MInato wanting to move back in 3 years later, the acceptance that his overflowing feelings cannot be held back but how will he deal with another separation or abandomment from Minato
Minato works hard towards coming back to Wataru since the time he realizes his feelings for him, and the passion with which he pursues him after he comes back captures his longing for the lost time.
Minato however pauses and hold back and not gives into his feelings to respect Wataru’s wishes of wanting to maintain a platonic relationship. ( the scene where he is holding the flowers behind him intended for a confession, But instead says that he is ok to go back to being close friends, Wataru captures it in a selfie and later reflects on it while washing the film) that’s subtle way of portraying the same emotion which Wataru explains earlier to the child about sometimes being an adult is taking care / respect others feelings. Like this, there are many other things that kept looped in to heighlight, like the conversation of Minato and Wataru’s Mom where she says how considerate he is of others feelings to a fault like enduring things he don’t like. Like how during a conversation with grandpa Minato shares how he and wataru are like grandpa and grandma, a quiet yet enduring love over the years of taking care of each other and witnessing and clocking eachothers life… how grandpa and grandma’s relationship was showcased to show how Minato draws that parallel towards him and Wataru.
In that there were no breakups and makeups… no back and forth for the sake of it, For the first time the countdown to yes over 9 episodes to say yes was justified.
They are shorter episodes of under half an hour so 9 is not too long. For me this drama was a hidden Gem that I binged. And I will be rewatching it again in future.
I am writing this review because had I relied only on the reviews I might have not given it a go and ended up missing it!!!
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