Odessa Jones
American living in South Korea
I can't believe how few reviews there are for this distinctive show. If you focus on Noh and Phun's story, this is one of the best-written, most-likeable BL series out there.
Story: The first episode was disorganized and confusing. So many minor characters appear and disappear. Some of them will reappear several episodes later and you have no idea who they are. Throughout the series, it was hard to understand the secondary plot-lines. The only benefit of the side plots is they help us understand the world Noh and Phun live in, a world of really rich, privileged teenagers, who don't have a lot of parental supervision. These high schoolers spend a lot of time partying and drinking--and there's even a teenage girl who lives with her boyfriend.
But forget the side-plots: Noh and Phun's relationship is the entire reason for watching, re-watching, and forever adoring this show. It's a really sweet boys' love story. It starts with a weird contrivance, but the show doesn't rely on plot devices. It quickly becomes a character-driven story about two boys coming of age. The story is told in a relatively naturalistic way (for Asian TV), and feels believable. The end of the first season did annoy me, but the second season redeemed the show, and now I can rewatch the first season with pleasure.
Acting: As far as I can gather, all the actors and actresses in this show were pretty inexperienced when they were discovered in open casting calls. None of them were familiar faces and none of them expected to be stars. Their inexperience actually makes their performances really endearing. The actor playing Noh was 17 when they filmed season 1, and he looks very young. This isn't one of those series where the high school characters are played unconvincingly by 30-year-olds. And this isn't a BL show where the guys are beefcake hunks in their twenties (like Together with Me). These guys have one foot in childhood and one in adulthood, and that just makes me care about them more as a viewer.
Lots of credit goes to the director for taking these novice actors and helping them portray a variety of emotions. The actor playing Phun doesn't always convince me, but Noh--whose eyes we see the story through--is never anything less than fascinating. He makes me remember how scary it was to be 17 and dealing with teenage emotions.
Music: I don't remember anything distinctive about the music, probably because I don't care about the music in a show (unless it's super annoying).
Rewatch Value: I can't rewatch the side stories, but I'll definitely rewatch the BL edit focused on Noh and Phun. Their relationship is really well-written, especially in later episodes once they realize their attraction to each other. They react to their feelings in ways that match their personalities; and they alternately pursue and retreat from each other in totally believable ways. I particularly like that Love Sick avoids the manga cliche plotline of a smartass seme pursuing an innocent uke. Both these guys take turns being smartass and innocent. It doesn't take too many episodes for both of them to recognize their feelings, even if they aren't sure what to do. And season 1 sets the stage for a fantastic season 2.
Story: The first episode was disorganized and confusing. So many minor characters appear and disappear. Some of them will reappear several episodes later and you have no idea who they are. Throughout the series, it was hard to understand the secondary plot-lines. The only benefit of the side plots is they help us understand the world Noh and Phun live in, a world of really rich, privileged teenagers, who don't have a lot of parental supervision. These high schoolers spend a lot of time partying and drinking--and there's even a teenage girl who lives with her boyfriend.
But forget the side-plots: Noh and Phun's relationship is the entire reason for watching, re-watching, and forever adoring this show. It's a really sweet boys' love story. It starts with a weird contrivance, but the show doesn't rely on plot devices. It quickly becomes a character-driven story about two boys coming of age. The story is told in a relatively naturalistic way (for Asian TV), and feels believable. The end of the first season did annoy me, but the second season redeemed the show, and now I can rewatch the first season with pleasure.
Acting: As far as I can gather, all the actors and actresses in this show were pretty inexperienced when they were discovered in open casting calls. None of them were familiar faces and none of them expected to be stars. Their inexperience actually makes their performances really endearing. The actor playing Noh was 17 when they filmed season 1, and he looks very young. This isn't one of those series where the high school characters are played unconvincingly by 30-year-olds. And this isn't a BL show where the guys are beefcake hunks in their twenties (like Together with Me). These guys have one foot in childhood and one in adulthood, and that just makes me care about them more as a viewer.
Lots of credit goes to the director for taking these novice actors and helping them portray a variety of emotions. The actor playing Phun doesn't always convince me, but Noh--whose eyes we see the story through--is never anything less than fascinating. He makes me remember how scary it was to be 17 and dealing with teenage emotions.
Music: I don't remember anything distinctive about the music, probably because I don't care about the music in a show (unless it's super annoying).
Rewatch Value: I can't rewatch the side stories, but I'll definitely rewatch the BL edit focused on Noh and Phun. Their relationship is really well-written, especially in later episodes once they realize their attraction to each other. They react to their feelings in ways that match their personalities; and they alternately pursue and retreat from each other in totally believable ways. I particularly like that Love Sick avoids the manga cliche plotline of a smartass seme pursuing an innocent uke. Both these guys take turns being smartass and innocent. It doesn't take too many episodes for both of them to recognize their feelings, even if they aren't sure what to do. And season 1 sets the stage for a fantastic season 2.
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