LightHouse74

Was Better Than the Last GMMTV Vampire Series

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

Overall, this was an enjoyable series. Was the script perfect? No, but it did a better job keeping me interested in the storyline and characters. As for the positive, the script did a great job grabbing my attention. It also had the perfect balance of a dark, moody comedy. Although somewhat predictable, I still liked the little twists and turns. As for the weak areas, the script started to unravel a little by episode 5. I love supernatural storylines, but there were many things in the second half that really stretched the concept of suspended belief too thin. For me, episode 9 and 10 was just too bizarre and had things that did not make sense. There were a few characters that had inconsistent development, especially with Elise. The entire cast did an incredible job. This also did a better job with the fighting scenes and CGI. For the most part, the special effects make-up was good. There were a few times it could have been better. This had a nice sound track and well-placed background music, but there were some miner audio problems in episode 2 and 10.

Random Note:

The opening credits are visually stunning.

I love when GMMTV does cross merchandising of their own productions. For me, it was funny to see “My Golden Blood” in episode 1 considering I couldn’t even finish that series.

Various rooms used for Punn’s house and Ramil’s hotel room was also used in the series “Only Friends” (Boston’s house and Top’s hotel room).



******Potential Spoiler Alert******

Although it had a weak ending, at least it was happy.

Elise starts off as a diehard “All vampires must die” mentality and then drastically changes to “Let’s help end the feud” mindset. There was no real smooth transition with this.

I had a feeling that Punn was one of the hunters, but not a master hunter.

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Office Romance Done Right!!

The movie/series: This was a really charming series with an awesome script. I will admit there are some weak aspects, but they were only minor. The cast was great and did a wonderful job with their characters. My only complaint about the series is how some episodes start off completely different from the previous episode which was slightly bizarre. However, it made more sense in the movie format.

The movie: They did an excellent job editing the series into a movie version. The only downside is it eliminated one of my favorite things about the series which was the gaming scenes at the end of each episode. However, I understand why they had to edit them out.

Random Notes:
So far, this is the only BL office romance in 2023 that was enjoyable to watch.

(Added on 9/29/2023): After thoughtfully considering which one to watch, I strongly recommend watching the series version. This is because I really love the gaming scenes at the end of each episode and missed them in the movie version. Although the editing between the episodes were bizarre, It’s not that bad.

Once again, the synopsis on Viki does not accurately describe the movie. It gives information that does not happen.

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Another Unnecessary Sequel

I was hesitant to watch this series because it obviously would involve some type of break-up (We all knew it would when the sequel was announced), but I still gave it a try. It was ok but there really was no point for this sequel. However, I appreciated some of the topics it introduced.

The positive: The cast was great and did a great job considering the material they were given. I also liked the sets and the locations they used throughout the series.

The negative: Although I think the story concept was good, the execution was not the greatest. Episode 1 started off strong but the script goes down hill quickly by Episode 2. I started to see the script’s many weak elements. It also introduced a lot of random unneeded issues for the main characters to deal with. The sequel also made me dislike one of my favorite main characters from the first series.

Random Note: This would have been better if it was a stand-alone series without any ties with To My Star. I probably would have enjoyed the series more.

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This was a very entertaining series. Although the comedy aspect was minimal, the script was great. There was a slight romance element, but it was not overpowering. I love the analogy of work life and the zombie apocalypse. The main theme is to enjoy life and not let work make you into a zombie. It had a wonderful cast which did a great job portraying their characters. The cinematography, special effects, and FX make-up was outstanding.

Random Note:

Warning! There are some gory scenes, but it’s not that bad. However, my tolerance level of gore is pretty high because I grew-up watching horror films of the 80’s and 90’s.

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Another Good BL Series from Taiwan

This had a really good story concept. Once again, it was nice to watch a mature BL series that involved working adults. Some might find the pacing slow, but I think it was just right for this series. The script overall was good, but there were a few week elements. One example is the last story conflict with Yuki and Ying Ze (don’t worry no spoilers). This last conflict to me seemed very week and made no sense. I love the cast which did an excellent job with their characters. I also loved the various guest appearances with actors from various BL series throughout this series. You can basically play six degrees of separation with how each actor is connected with the different BL series.

Random Note: As usual, the synopsis on VIKI is not accurate. There are many different aspects in the series that are not included in their description of the series.

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Charming

I placed spoiler alert at the end of this review.

If you are a fan of Cutie Pie, you will apricate the main point of this miniseries. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. It was great to see the cast stepping into their characters which they did a great job with what they were given. Unfortunately, this miniseries also had very little character development. The script was ok, but had some missed opportunity with some of the side characters. There was one editing problem with a backwards time jump in the beginning of the first episode that was not clearly noted.

Random Notes: It really depends on how much you like Cutie Pie if you should watch this.



******Spoiler Alerts******

The main point was to show the fans Kuea Keerati and Lian Kilen Wang’s wedding and stress the legal importance of same-sex marriage.

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Very Boring

I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.

I usually wait for the movie version before I write a review, but this could not wait. This series was very underwhelming. The storyline used for the series was nothing new or exciting. This is not a bad thing if it had a great script. Unfortunately, this was not the case because it had too many weak elements. The main culprit is the lack of communication between all the characters. Using misunderstandings as a story element is nothing new, but this series takes it to a ridicules level. Another problem was very little to no character development with the whole cast, exception with Seon Ho. See spoiler alert at the end of this review for more information. The acting was ok, but nothing groundbreaking. The cinematography was good, but there was a weird editing choice in episode 7 that affected the mood for the next scene. It does have cool opening credits.

Random Notes:
This is one of those series you can wait to watch until you have some time to kill and have nothing better on your must watch list.

******Spoiler Alert******

I appreciate they did not use the “gay for you” story element. It was very refreshing that they had Seon Ho question his sexuality. After all, there are more than two types of sexuality.

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Nice Collection of Short Films

The good part about this series is none of the episodes are linked together. Each one is basically a short film which means you can skip one with no worries. Warning, don’t watch if you are not a fan of gore. It didn’t bother me, but I grew-up watching the classic horror films of the 80’s and 90’s. With one exception, the episodes had a very good story concept and a great script. It has an outstanding cast that did a great job with their characters. The special effects were great with the exception of episode 5.

Random Note: I would just skip episode 5 (Headless Teacher). This was just weird. It’s not scary or suspenseful. I guess this was supposed to be the comic relief of the series.

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Everyone has Family Drama!!!

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was a great series from start to finish. The script was outstanding with the exception of one aspect. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The overall theme is that families are complicated, including the ones you create for yourself. The actors were outstanding in this series and did such a great job with their characters. This also had beautiful cinematography.

Random Notes:
I love watching series/moves that are set in a different generation. It was cool how they incorporated the Y2K millennium bug scare.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******

I personally felt the minor romance storyline between Keg and Bung was unnecessary. It would have been cooler to just see them form a close friendship without this. However, the good thing is this was not overpowering and doesn’t take up that much screentime.

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The Next Stop is Forever Hopeful

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was a great series with an interesting storyline. I think the pacing for this series was perfect and was hooked from the beginning. However, you may want to skip this if you are looking for a fast pace, high action drama because this series is not it. The script was very well thought out. I love how they interweaved the passengers and their loved one’s stories throughout the series. It had some farfetched elements but there only minor. I thought the three main characters (Kayashima, Shirahama, and Hatano) were well written and helped counter balance each other. The script also had a nice balance of personal storylines with the other supporting characters. There were some romance elements between multiple characters, but it was not overpowering. Some individuals may have a problem with the ending. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The cast was excellent and did a great job with their characters. The cinematography and special effects were amazing.

Random Note:
This has an underline theme about society and how we should never judge a book by its cover.

This is listed as Pending Train on Netflix.

********Spoiler Alert********

There is a somewhat love triangle between the three main leads. However, it’s not that bad and does not become the main focus of the series which I consider a good thing (I hate this type of storyline).

You will not be satisfied if you need a clearcut happy or sad ending. This ending is open to your interpretation. For me, it’s an ending that has hope for the future.

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I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was an interesting series, but the script was lacking in some areas. Although slightly confusing, it started off really good. However, the script unraveled a little bit towards the end and did not fully explain some things. I was also not a fan of the romantic storylines. It was clear the main focus was the music which definitely outshined the script. The cast did an outstanding job making this script come alive and creating very engaging characters. This also had visually stunning cinemaphotography.

Random Note:

My major complaint is the ending which was very abrupt, well for me anyway. It almost gave a hint of a second season.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******

I’m slightly confused about Naoki’s medical condition and its link to him staying in the music industry.

I understand this was adapted from a novel, but I felt the love triangle between Naoki, Akane, and Kazushi was unnecessary. This already had a lot of other story elements to make this interesting.

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Well, at least it was interesting.

Overall, this was just O.K. It was interesting, but didn’t have the same horror magic as the first movie. The first one had the perfect mix of horror, comedy, and drama with an underline meaning. This sequel did not have this and added a weird romance element too it. This also had a slow start and could have done a better job with recapping all the information from the first movie. Although it got better 30 minutes into the movie, there were many aspects that didn't make sense (like the island). However, I do appreciate it was not a complete copy of the first script and they tried to change some aspects. I just wish the script was a little more fleshed out because I felt like I was not getting the complete picture. Another problem is we did not get enough backstory of the characters to make you care about them. I understand time is limited and I’m not asking for complex backstories, but some of the characters were just there. The main positive aspect was the excellent cast. They did a great job with their characters with what they had to work with. Other positive aspects include the amazing cinematography, special effects, CGI, and FX make-up.

Random Note:

Warning: There are gory scenes which were not that bad, but I do have a high tolerance level of gore.

Only watch this if you really want to know the meaning behind the very last scene in the first movie. If you are cool with movies with an ambiguous ending, you can skip this sequel.

The newspaper picture of the little girl used in the very last scene of the first movie is different from the one used in the beginning of this movie.

There is one more scene at the end of the credits with a a hint of another sequel which I’m going to pass on.

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The name says it all (but in a good way)

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

First off, don’t let Viki and MDL’s synopsis scare you off. I know this should be part of the “Spoiler Alert” section, but there is actually no stalking element in the series.

Overall, this was a cute series and not too dramatical. As much as I’m not a fan of the misunderstanding/miscommunication story elements, I thought it was done very well. I also like how each episode ends with a scenario that is not quite right which helped emphasize the series title. The cast did a great job portraying their characters. Their acting was very good considering many of them are new. The graphics they used were cute but disappeared at some point in the middle of the series. Now for some of the negative parts. The first episode was a little confusing and did not do a great job introducing the characters. However, it was a good sense of confusion because it got me wanting to know what was going on. There was a slight problem with the editing. There were flash back and forward scenes that were not clearly marked. If it was not for random lines in the series, I would not know a week was actually going by. Another minor problem was there is a lot of wasted screen time in the last few episodes. The good aspect was the series didn’t have any opening credits to add to the wasted time.

Random Notes:

You don’t need to watch the parent series “Bluming” because the only connection that I know of is the main character (Do Ba Woo) is in it (played by a different actor). However, it’s been a long time since I watched that series.


******Potential Spoiler Alert******

As for the stalking part of the show description, this was just one of a few misunderstandings in the series.

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I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

I love doing comparison reviews when a BL series is edited into a movie. It’s just bizarre I had to wait over 1 ½ years to do this one. What is even more bizarre is I had to use a VPN to watch the movie edit of a Viki original series on GagaOOLala. This is especially weird considering that Viki released three other Korean BL series (one of them also a Viki original) after this series which all were quickly edited into a movie within the same year of its release.

The movie/series: This had an interesting storyline. The script was simple but good. I love how they used Woo Jae’s web-based novel to mirror the main couple’s situation. This helped explained both main characters’ feelings. It had nice cinematograph but the flash back scenes in the beginning was a little confusing because it was not clearly marked. The acting was good with the usual exception often seen in Korean BL series/movies.

The movie: The movie has a different starting point because they edited out the opening credits and the first 2 minutes from the series beginning. Overall, the move version was ok. They did a great job editing it into a cohesive movie. However, they made a few poor editing choices with the scenes they cut out. I know this was probably done for timing purposes, but the storyline did not have the same pacing it had in the series. On a good note, it did not affect the relationship and story progression in anyway.

Random Notes:

I strongly recommend watching the series version (on Viki if you can) because the pacing had a nice, even flow to it. Another reason is the movie’s English subtitles on GagaOOLala were very bad (I did not take points off for this).

(Added on 2/14/2025): The movie version is finally available on Viki, well in my region. The English subtitles for the movie are definitely a lot better on Viki than on GagaOOLala.

******Spoiler Alert******

Although it was a bit extreme, I get why Woo Jae left. However, I don’t fully understand why he showed such hostile anger towards Yeon Woo. Especially considering he is the one that left without telling Yeon Woo.

The usual exception of course were the kiss scenes. I don’t need the actors to suck each other’s faces off, but at least kiss with some emotions. if the actors are not willing to do a proper kissing scene, have them kiss each other on the check or them hugging. Again, not every BL series has to end with a big make-out/kiss session.

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