I watched the Japanese version right after this was announced, and while I loved that one, this was equally as enjoyable. I think the characters were spot on and the actors did them justice with their own little touch to it. Atom was fucking adorable just like the original Aoki, and Kongthap was handsome as fuck like Ida. I'm going to be slightly biases with this review as I watched this show weekly during a stressful period at work, and it was the comfort show I needed at the end of a horrible week. I enjoyed it more than most, but even as I watched this show, and let it marinate a bit more, there were eye rollers.

First, the good stuff:

PETITION TO HAVE GEMINI WITH HIS HAIR UP MORE CUZ I WAS GAGGED. That black and white outfit with his hair like that for their first date had me on my knees. Man was so handsome in this series there are no words in the dictionary to actually express how I feel.

"It's not as fun as when we are not together. It's a lot better when I have you ...is this what you call love?" Watching Kongthap figuring out his feelings/how to tell his feelings to Atom was an adorable mess. He's so neurodivergent coded and nothing can convince me otherwise. Like man don't understand or comprehend human emotions, and was trying his hardest to figure out his feelings, and him taking everything so seriously and always thinking about Atom was so endearing to watch. This boy was legit born to be a green flag in every universe, but the patience he has with someone like Atom is astonishing. "I'm sure he can make it. Even if he can't, he will be fine because he will still have me." -- Yes, I screamed. HE IS EVERYTHING!!

And Atom. This boy had to be the most relatable motherfucker on the planet. His self-deprecating one-liners were the funniest things ever, and I wish we had more of those. But watching him grow confident in himself and in his relationship with Kongthap was honestly one of the best things ever. They way he constantly chose to be forward and always tried to better himself so he can stand by Kongthap's side was one of the sweetest and amazing things I've watched. IN EVERY UNIVERSE THIS MAN WAS JUST MEANT TO BE BY HIS MAN'S SIDE. Just please let him have a father. Like seriously, why is he always fatherless? But at least he always gets a supportive mother in return, so I guess that works out. And his acting? This series let his acting shine so much, and I'm so proud of my boy.

Mudmee and Half's story was cute to watch as well. Mudneee embodied Hashimoto's soul into this, and that slap scene was the best part.

The bad stuff:

This series could have benefited from an 8 to 10 episodes rather than 12. The Japanese version had only 8 eps, and all had a duration of around 25 mins give or take 5, and they were able to tell a full story without anything unnecessary. And now, considering GMMTV always does 45 mins or over for every ep, they could have done the story in a 8 to 10 ep time frame. Some parts felt dragged out, or not enough content to pat out the whole 12 eps.

And don't get me started on the editing. Honestly, the editing was so off putting at times, and it jarred me more than expected when I noticed it. There was genuinely so many plot lines that they could have fleshed out more. Like Atom realising his feelings could have come an ep or two later, and we could have explored Kongthap and his mums relationship dynamic a bit more. I saw some of the clips that didn't make it into the show, and the fact that we didn't get Kongthap's crying scene with his mother got me so angry. And there were other parts as well that could have been used in the show instead of all the MSP references.

Yes, I too love and absolutely adore My School President. I too loved seeing the refences and loved seeing Chinzhilla's surprise stage in the last episode. But this isn't MSP. I went and checked who the director was, and yeah, they were the same person for both shows. It's like they saw how successful GemFourth were because of MSP and decided to incorporate that into this. What was the need for the musical numbers? They didn't need that many! Yes, MSP were one of their best characters, but that is a completely different show to this one. This is about to awkward teenagers navigating their love, not a kid aspiring to be a musician with the support of his bf. And apparently the director didn't see that.

Overall this was an enjoyable experience, and the three GemFourth kisses was everything I needed. I genuinely wasn't expecting them to kiss, and I replayed every single one of them. Legit looked forward to Fridays so much, and this was the highlight of my day, especially since My Stand-In was airing during then as well, and this was the only thing keeping my sanity.