What were they even thinking?

I was reflecting whether I should write this review as many fans might find it insulting, but screw it!

To summarise in two words: AWFUL SEASON. Now let me elaborate more.

Legit I do not understand how they decided to go on with this season. Numerous of people had to agree to the final approach for this season plot. I wanna know who in the world agreed to have 6 recap episodes for the first season in a 13 episodes series. Why? Are we, the fans, a joke to them? We did not watch the new season to remind us what happened in the first season. We can rewatch it if we want to remember what happened.

I do not understand how MAME agreed to this approach and the changes in the story. For example, in this season Pete already left from Bangkok and left Ae behind, but at the same time Tin and Can have not met each other. WHAT? I am trying to watch a bl series not to understand the end of Inception. I do realise that there were not able to work with Saint due to previous drama between them, but dude you can not defy the laws of time in the series. If you can not work with Saint, then we do not need scenes with Ae being shitty and drunk, in a series that focuses in TinCan. I feel that they just had Perth in the series for the fans!

Instead, of giving Perth that much of a screen time, they could focus more on KlaNo. LIKE DUDE IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE THIS COUPLE DO NOT MENTION IT FROM THE BEGINNING. I felt that this couple was used as an intermission and as a chance to change the mood from Ae's and TinCan's story. Moreover, the couple had approximately 20 minutes screen time in total, and for some reason No was getting softer for Kla in every episode. WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE LAWS OF TIME? YOU CANT DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THEM. Tbh, I don't like how KlaNo's relationship began in the novel, but you have to show more of what Kla did to win No over. You can't show two scenes were Kla gives No snacks and expect us to believe that this shit is ok.

This leads to my next point. ENOUGH WITH THE PRODUCT PLACEMENTS! I know that you have to find sponsors to produce a series, but there were many scenes that only existed for product placement and had nothing to do with the plot. You could use them in a more discreet way rather than showing Kla giving No those snacks and him eating them. I do not know how the rest of the viewers feel about product placement, but when I see a product being placed in this straightforward way, I usually hate the product.

Now moving on with the acting. Was it bad? Yes! I really enjoyed Mean's acting in the first season, but thanks to the plot changes I felt that what I was watching was not Tin but someone else! You can not have an actor establish a role's character in the series and the next season make him change that. As for Plan, well he was cute in the first season but he was must softer in this season. I repeat: IF YOU WANTED TO USE THE SAME CHARACTERS YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED THEIR BACKGROUND! Now as for Perth, I felt that in the first season he was amazing (taking into account his young age), but in this season he was acting bratty and as an asshole. I know that this is how Ae behaved in the novel, but at some point I grew tired of watching the same scene over and over again. So, for the last 4 episodes I always skipped Ae's scenes. You are sad about Pete leaving you. WE GET IT! NOW GET OVER IT AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE WORLD HAS SERIOUS PROBLEMS! However, I feel that Gun's acting has improved. In LBC he was awkward and had no flow what so ever, while in this season he was still awkward but at least not that much. As for Mark's acting, I thought that he was the best actor in LBC, but I can not compare with this season as HE APPEARED ONLY 4 MINUTES IN TOTAL!

To summarise, I feel that MAME and the producers created this season just to make us shut up! They had 2 years to prepare for this series but in the end we got something awful. Tbh, after finishing this season I hoped that we did not get this season at all. For some reason, I believe that MAME and the rest of the team, bet everything in TharnType and in order to please us for TinCan, they just wrote the script in two days with no revision and gave it to the cast a day before filming.

I think that the wisest thing to do is to always ask a fan's opinion prior the decision of a script approach and production. I know that they might worry for any plot leak if they share their ideas with fans; however, they could find someone to trust from the fanbase and let the fan help them with continuous feedback. I feel that if that was done then we wouldnt get 6 recap episodes and the plot would be more fast paced!

P.S. STOP INTRODUCING TOO MANY NEW CHARACTERS IN NEW SEASONS!
I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO INVEST IN THEM AND KNOW THEM BETTER. I WOULD PROBABLY END UP HATING THEM!

That's it! A chance to love was shitty. Change my mind!

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Really good series but why it isn’t that popular – an analysis!

I want to be clear from the start so I am going to tell you that Tae Darvid is my ultimate Thai person, so I will try to be as objective as I can. However, if you feel that I am playing favourites with him please let me know! Now, let me take you on a journey. I am going to review the series and point out some mistakes that didn’t help the series to be more popular and have more people talking about it. But before that, we must acknowledge the elephant in the room, and sorry for the following microaggression, but…

Can we all agree that the so-called rooster was a fuc***g CHICKEN? Like wtf? Do I not know animals? Is this an intended joke? Why didn’t they use a rooster? Plz help me… Don’t get me wrong I love Teriyaki (the chicken-rooster) but it must have an identity crisis. Here is what I think Teriyaki is thinking 24/7:

«Phap says that I am a rooster that knows how to have a slow-life and crows at 10 in the morning to wake everyone up”, Teriyaki thought. “But at the same time, they are eating the eggs that I lay”, Teriyaki continued his thinking and started to question its own existence. «Am I a rooster, or am I a chicken? »

CHARACTERS

Our main couple is Maze and Phap. Maze is the president of his company, is a money motivated person, and mainly uses his head to make choices. As his social status suggests, he has an extravagant lifestyle, wearing expensive clothes, living in a luxurious apartment, and driving a costly car. In addition to other rich BL characters (from other BL series), he is greedy with money and will do anything to have a bigger profit. He doesn’t carelessly spend money, and most importantly he will take advantage of every situation in order to gain anything. On the other hand, Phap is a carefree artist that specializes to abstract paintings. He is the exact opposite of Maze and uses his heart to make decisions. He is not rich, he believes in himself and his capabilities, and he loves nature and animals. He loves animals so much that he has three animals’ pals, Poco – a lizard, Steven – a cockroach (yeah, you read that correctly), and Teriyaki – a chicken-rooster with identity crisis.

The second lead couple is Nueng and Tharn. Tharn is an actor and Maze’s best friend (along with Nae). He cares for his friend’s emotions and is rather mature, soft spoken, and kind-hearted person. He is the balance between Maze and Nae. While Nueng is… Is it too soon to make this spoiler? Well, I am not going to tell you who is Nueng right now because it’s a massive spoiler, and you might not want to know that. However, if you keep reading my review you will eventually learn who he is. YOU WERE WARNED! Anyway, for now I will tell you that Nueng is a handsome actor, with a calm aura that everyone is jealous of.

The other supporting characters are the “As You Wish” gang, the employees in Maze’s company. The leader of the pack is Nae, Maze’s and Tharn’s best friend. She is not a company’s employee, but she is sth like an investor – or vice president, according to her – who helped the company when they were in need. Next, we have Noona, the mother of the gang; she has a colourful personality and is loud (“I am soooo confuseeeed”); Ruj, the workaholic one, who is complaining that has too much work, but always delivers on time; Kuea, the talkative one, and Elle, the quiet one, who becomes talkative when drunk.

Last but not least, we have the managers. Phueak is Nueng’s manager, and Pookky is Tharn’s manager. Between these two a “hate” relationship exists, as both do their best to promote their talent. However, Pookky uses “dirty” ways to get Tharn more famous. I loved and laughed with every scene with the managers.

PLOT

In the series we follow the storyline between our main and secondary couple. After a weird event sequence, Phap (played by Tae), the carefree artist, ends up being in debt to Maze (played by Singto), and to pay back his debt he is hired in the company. However, their polar opposite personalities and lifestyles, make their everyday friction difficult… at first! The aversion for each other could be seen, as they don’t address each other by their name, and they don’t use the honorifics “P” or “Nong”. Instead, they mainly use the informal way of saying “You” in Thai.

In the series we get to see how Phap is the first one to open up to Maze and how he does everything that he can to get the other person’s attention. Maze and Phap throughout the series learn more about and from each other. The artist teaches the young boss that relaxing is mandatory, that relying on other people is not that bad, and that living in the moment is important. However, the most crucial thing that Phap helps Maze with, is Nueng (more for that on “My opinion” section).

ACTING

I would like to start with Singto. To be honest, I don’t follow Singto that much. I have only watched SOTUS and SOTUS S with him (fun fact SOTUS was my first Thai BL series). In SOTUS, I was fascinated by his ability to use his facial expressions, and boy was I not disappointed in Paint with Love. For me, this series bring out the best of Singto and with the combination of funny scenes we have an amazing result. I know that I might not be in the position to say this because this is only the third series that I have watched with Singto, but this is my favourite series with him. He was sassy, angry, confused, mad, sad, and desperate when he needed to be, and trust me when I tell you that I believed him in every scene.

Moving on with Tae, I know that I said that he is my ultimate Thai person, but dude I am not a royal fan. The only series that I have watched with Tae is 2moons the series. DON’T CALL ME A HYPOCRITE! I really like his personality in real life that is why he is my ultimate. I was really happy when I learned that he would finally have a lead role, and I was not disappointed. In the series he plays a character that is quite different from him in real life, and I must admit that I really enjoyed his acting here. He portraits a handsome, goofy, confident, and a straightforward character, in a comedic way, which I loved. However, there were a few scenes in which his character was sad, and I was like “TELL ME WHO HURT YOU BABY!!!!”.

Regarding the second lead actors, everyone did an amazing job. Yoon and Yacht were able to captivate me in their story and you could see them grow together, be more open about their true feelings, and try to distinguish their work and personal life. You could see and feel Tharn’s (Yacht) internal dilemma on whether he should be honest to Maze about his feelings for Nueng, but not wanting to hurt his friend… Yacht did an amazing job there!!! As for Yoon, he was able to share his worries, concerns, and feelings for both Maze and Tharn. To be honest, I felt that everyone had a great chemistry with each other in the series, which is amazing! I think that my favourite for the other cast was Maengmum. Honestly, I love her! Her acting skills are off the roof, and she deserves every award ever! PLEASE GIVE HER A SERIES ALREADY!

MY OPINION AND THE MISTAKES THAT KEPT THIS SERIES FROM POPULARITY!

As an overall, I have a positive opinion for this series. The first thing that I really liked (beside the casting), was the fact that the story wasn’t developed in a university. I don’t understand why the majority of Thai BLs need to be in university, but I really enjoyed the change of environment. Now the second thing that I really liked, was the fact that even though Maze was rich, he was actually greedy and didn’t belittle the value of money, in addition to other series where usually the rich person doesn’t care about money at all. While another thing that I really liked was the lack of product placements! You don’t understand how much I despise straightforward product placements in series; however, here we have none of it, which I loveeeeeed!!!!

Another thing that I really liked, was the real interaction between the main couple. You know, something that I disliked in the other BLs is that they present false expectations on how two people flirt. The other series portray the couples in a cool way, and they only show us the handsome, jealous, confident, side of the characters, while in reality this is not true. In addition, in Paint with Love, we get to see how an emotional and touching scene could be “changed” by one of the characters. For instance, there is a scene in which Phap and Maze are talking about squids, and you hear Phap saying something deep regarding catching squid and how he does not enjoy doing that. For a moment you can see Maze softening up to Phap and looking at him with puppy eyes, but when Maze gets to say something to Phap, the later eats a squid and destroys the moment and atmosphere between them. Don’t get me wrong, but I love it. I feel that this behaviour is closer to reality, and I love it when it is shown in series. Take your always right, and correct behavioured characters, I will stay with the truer moments. Furthermore, you could see the dilemma that Maze had. He really liked Phap but he believed that the artist was someone lame, who wasn’t at the same social status as him. That is why he couldn’t openly say that he liked Phap and that he wanted to be him. Occasionally, he would bring up a wall between them and making more difficult for Phap to bring down that wall. In my opinion, Singto’s acting was on point in every scene. You could see his emotions through his eyes. He is an exceptional actor. Well done!

As for something that I didn’t like, was the story changes. I must admit that I haven’t read the whole novel, because I couldn’t find it anywhere with an English translation, but I must say that there is a huge difference in the novel and the series storyline. Before I elaborate more on the difference between these two, let me make the huge SPOILER right now. Nueng and Maze are stepbrothers since they were young boys, after Maze’s father married Nueng’s mother. That was the spoiler. Honestly, at first, when I was only watching the series, I thought that Nueng and Maze were ex-lovers, but I was wrong.

Now, let me go back to the main difference in the novel and the series. In the series, the two brothers fight with each other at an older age (when Nueng is trying to apply to university), while in the novel the brothers fight at a younger age, when Nueng was in Junior High School, after his mother’s death, for which he blamed Maze for. I feel that they should had followed the original approach and show us the true fight between the brothers, because this would explain Maze’s acting in front of Nueng in their adult years. In the novel it was stated that the two brothers were very close, and they cared for each other. Especially Maze, he adored Nueng, and he loved spending time with him; so, when Nueng blamed him for his mother death (whom Maze loved like his real mother), he is devastated and due to his really young age he cannot entirely understand what happens.

As someone with an older sister, I can tell you that I understand Maze’s actions in his adulthood. He is awkward, goofy, and trying too hard to be liked and acknowledged by Nueng. His true feelings come to surface when he is drunk, and he asks for Nueng’s approval and attention. Those are true actions. I remember when I was younger, I was doing the same thing and I was trying desperately to get my older sister’s attention. That is why I feel that they should have kept the original fight reason between them.

Now the second thing that I didn’t like was the lack of accessibility to the series. Actually, in my humble opinion, I feel that this reason was the root cause of why this series wasn’t that popular. You could only watch the series in GagaOOLala, by having a subscription, or in illegal websites where the episodes were uploaded in a few hours. However, there were cases in which an episode could take up to 4 days to be uploaded in any site with English subtitles. All of you know for which episode I am talking about! Episode 6…. It took approximately 5 days for the episode to be uploaded in Dram***ol. That didn’t help the series to build a momentum and have a loyal fanbase. Now, don’t get me wrong, but when I learned that the series are only available to a subscribed website, I knew that it wouldn’t be popular. I don’t want to use other Networks or Companies names, but it is important to look at what your competitors are doing in order to create your business and strategic plan. I believe that in this case this step wasn’t implemented. The majority of BL series that are currently on air, are offered for free on the official Youtube channel of the company that created the series (e.g. Bad Buddy was available with English subtitles, every Friday, on GMMTV’s youtube channel); while Paint with Love required a subscription. That was mistake No. 1.

Mistake No.2 was the lack of promotion. Pffffff… This series could have so much potential! The company could have created a promotion campaign to make this series more popular and to have fans to anticipate for it. They could use social media on their advantage, and arrange live streams with the actors and interact with the fans, or they could create funny compilations with behind the scenes videos (at first they did upload a few behind the film videos but they were too short), or they could have the actors appear to multiple shows (TV shows, radio shows, or social media shows) to make the series more known to the public.

Lastly, mistake No.3 was the inconsistency in the English translation. Before judging me and telling me that I should be grateful that we even have translation for the series, I will tell you that I know, and I am grateful for that. But please don’t underestimate the power that international fans hold. If I don’t perform research on the target audience on the BL series, I won’t be able to know for sure where the watchers are coming from; but from small research in the comment section of different BL series that are posted on youtube, the majority of watchers seems to be international fans. While watching Paint with Love, I felt that there were many scenes that didn’t make any scene, due to the poorly translation, and that kept me from fully understanding a point. I am not sure if I am the only one who had this issue with the English translation, but again something was not feeling right.

BONUS MISTAKE: I am not sure if any of you felt that way, but there were some scenes that didn’t make any sense because there was no built up. I just felt like they said, “Okay this is what we wanted to say in this scene, now cut!”. For example, in the business trip were Nueng was injured, we see that Phap was also injured but he didn’t say anything to anyone. And that’s it... There was no outcome from this incident. Why didn’t he say anything to Maze? Why was he so sad that day? He was the one who helped Maze make it up with Nueng. Did eventually Maze learn about his injury? WE DON’T KNOW!!!! And that’s bothering me! Another example is when Phap took a bunch of bananas to the office, and he handed them to Nae. THAT’S IT!!! NOBODY ADDRESSED THE BANANAS EVER AGAIN! WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR THE PLOT? WE DON’T KNOW! DID THEY EAT THE BANANAS? WE DON’T KNOW! For me a scene should have a purpose; an introduction, a climax, and a connection to future scenes! Anyway…

That’s it! Please let me know if I missed something, or if you disagree with my review! It is a shame, but this series could have been more popular than any other BL series that were aired at the same time!

P.S. GIVE THE STYLIST A RAISE!!!! EVERYONE’S OUTFITS WERE ON POINT AND I LOVED EVERYTHING! THANK YOU P’STYLIST!!!

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A cute love story with no drama

Jitenshaya-san no Takahashi-kun is a soft romance drama that you could watch it to relax. The drama is rather small, approximately 25 minutes per episode, and someone could watch it in just one sitting.... like me. What we learn in the drama is that you can't judge a book by it's cover.

CHARACTERS / PLOT
In the series we follow the life of Ryohei and Tomoko which seem to be total opposites, and we understand how they develop their relationship. In one hand, we have Ryohei who is working at a bicycle repair shop. His rough looks, piercings, tattoos, dyed hair, and the fact that he always speaks his mind, make people around him to think that he is a scary person but in reality he is a rather soft hearted that pays attention and cares for the people around him. On the other hand, we have Tomoko, a 30 year old woman who is working in a toxic environment with an a**hole boss. She is shy and rarely turns other people down; and due to that, she gets to do things that she doesn't want to do.

Moreover, we have Koki who is working at the same company as Tomoko and at first he courts her and asks her out. Koki has a bright personality, is the same age as Tomoko and both him and Tomoko come from Tokyo - which Koki uses as an excuse to get closer with her. Moreover, in the same company we have Sato, who is Tomoko's best friend and always has her back when they have to deal with their toxic boss. Furthermore, we see Masaya and Teruyuki who are friends of Ryohei.

The storyline is rather simple with no major drama in it. At first I was afraid that they would follow the following story path: Tomoko and Ryohei get together --> people are saying that Tomoko should break up with Ryohei because he is a deliquent --> Tomoko breaks up with Ryohei --> crying --> they back together.

Thankfully I was wrong. They showed us how the protagonist got in a relationship - and if I may add, I want to say healthy relationship (because Ryohei didn't pressure Tomoko on having s*x for the first time) - and we follow their lives around their relationship. We see how both of them grow in their own way and how they overcome their problems.


ACTING
I enjoyed everyone's acting in the series. In the past I have watched other drama with Suzuki Nobuyuki (Ryohei) and Uchida Rio (Tomoko) and I have to admit that they keep up the good work and deliver their roles in a splendid way. Moreover, the support actors didn't have anything to lose from the main actors. Everyone in the series did a very good job and the overall outcome was amazing.

MY OPINION
Maybe something that bothered me, was the fact that we didn't get closure on some topics. For instance, why did Ryohei have such a love-hate relationship with the old man (which I assume is his granddad)? Even though we saw Ryohei's father I am not sure if they ever resolved their problems. If not, why didn't they invest more in their relationship? I would have liked it better if they also provided us some further background information for these stuff. Because in the series we see Ryohei expressing himself towards these two people in a rather aggressive behaviour but I am not so sure why.

This is a spoiler, but what I really liked is that by the end of the series Koki admits to his grandmother that he might be gay and after the grandmother said something old fashioned ("I know a good doctor that can cure you"), we see that Koki explains to his grandmother what he truly feels and that he maybe cannot fulfil her wish to see great-grandchildren. I really liked this part because Koki in the end decided to be true to himself and to his grandmother and he came out of the closet and in the end his grandmother understood.

As I said before, it is a rather small drama that could be watched in one day. If you ever have the need to watch something fluffy and no complex this is a good drama to do so :)

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Good start, poor finish!

To be honest, I didn't know from the start that we would get this series. I found about it in a random way, but when I saw that Gun had the main lead, I was super excited. When I watched the first episode, I felt that they would provide us with the sth different that the rest typical Thai BLs. Boy was I wrong....

Quick summary: A good start that led to a crappy finish.

CHARACTERS

Our main lead couple is Sun and Sky. Sky, who is portrayed by Gun, is the rich son of a ethical mafia boss. I know that "ethical" can't describe a mafia boss, but bear with me. On the other hand, Sun (Boat) is an orphan man that was put under Sky's father guidance since he was young, for a weird reason. After some incidents and as Sky's life is in danger, Sun is appointed as his bodyguard and follow him 24/7.

Our second lead couple is Pitch and Bank. Bank (Tenon), is the goofy childhood friend of Sky, and is familiar with Sky's background, and he attends the same university as SunSky. On the other hand, Pitch (Sugus), is a senior of the three boys. On an unrelated topic, Sugus has a powerful eyebrow game. That dude can do anything with his eyebrows.

Lastly, we have our two females in the series, Juno (Apple) and Toktang (Jane). Both of them are classmates with our trio and friends with Pitch. Toktang is a shy and down to earth girl and at first she seemed to be the love interest of Sky, as he seemed interested in her; while, Juno, is an honest girl who was openly interested in Sun.

PLOT

I am sure that most of us when we read the description for the series we already had an idea of what the plot is going to be like. Honestly, what I thought about the series was true. Every assumption and stereotype that I predicted was true. Bodyguard and young master are falling in love, their statuses won't allow this relationship, they fight, they reunite, happy ending. That's it. Okay, sure, for once the real villain in the series isn't another love interest, but it is an unethical mafia boss that wants to sell drugs on Sky's father territory, but he refused. So, the bad mafia boss tries to kill the son of the good mafia boss.

Though, I have to admit that the first episodes were exciting and I thought that finally we found a thai series that won't have stupid clichés. Well, as I said earlier, I was wrong. One cliché after the other, people falling in love with the other person in a spam of a second, fights between the couples for the silliest things, unwanted jealousy, and happy ending.

ACTING

Well... I might be an asshole... but... the acting... was bad....

First of all, let me say about the role of Gun. I was glad that in this series they didn't make Gun's role as the typical non-good-looking character (e.g. LBC in which everyone pointed out how plain and ugly he was); and instead he played for once a confident role. Even though I liked Gun's role, I didn't like his acting that much. I believe that he is better of with a comedy role. In the series, there were many scenes that required him to either cry or be sad; and for me it just didn't work. That being said, in my personal opinion, I feel that Gun's acting is getting better as the time goes by.

Moving on to Boat's performance, I have to admit that this was the first that I watched with him in the cast. I found that his expressionless face was kind of fun in many cases, but again I don't think that I liked his acting. One of the main reasons, is due to the script. I believe that as an actor he has many things to give, but he needs the right script and plot.

As for Tenon, I found him a little awkward in many scenes and I thought that his expressions could be improved. Taking into account his age, I think that in the future we would see more of him. Last but not least, we have Sugus. That dude he was a master in controlling his eyebrows. What the hell? I found his flow and personality better than the rest of the cast. However, he also had some awkward scenes.

I may point out the negative parts, but as an overall, I believe that the four actors could give us more, if they had better script on their hands.

MY OPINION

I know that nobody cares about my opinion, but whatever! To be honest, the description was pretty descriptive so I do not know why I am so disappointed with what I watched. The thing is that this series seemed to be different from the rest. We didn't have any cringe/stereotypical scenes in the first two episodes, we had a manly main lead, and a story that could give us many things. But then the third episode happened.

WHAT THE FUCK? It was the cringiest and the worst episode that I have ever watched. We have two people, that in the beginning Sky doesn't like Sun, but when he learned that he never relaxed or went to a nice place, he would take him. LIKE A DATE... DUDE!!!! Sky who doesn't like Sun, I REPEAT, takes Sun for a date, and they share their drinks, their food, they wear matching funny hats, take pictures, and Sky buys them a matching heart necklace, that each of them has one part of the heart. DO YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING? Dude, that was so cringy to watch. wtf? I haven't read the novel of the series, so I'm not sure when they were supposed to develop feelings for each other, but that was so tough to watch.

That leads me to my next point. As someone who was only watching the series, I wasn't able to understand when our main leads developed feelings for each other. It was like some scenes didn't make it to the final cut, and we were left with half the story. We don't get to know why Sky's and Sun's blood was so important till the last two episodes. Why? Moreover, if Sky's life was in danger, and many assassinations happened against him, why did he still attend the university and the university activities? Lastly, where is the police in those type of series? Sky was almost killed in the university's bathroom but nothing happened after that? WHAT IS GOING ON? I think that the screenwriters wanted to create more tension for the couple and just used everything they thought.

Also, I want to touch the topic of product placements. As you may have noticed, in the first episodes, there is no product placement. As someone who hates how the products are being showed in the thai series, I was happy with the absence of them. Until that fucking episode came. You know what I am talking about, the one in which they leave for the camping. DUDE! DONT! DO! THAT!

Anyway, that's it. It's a shame that it didn't work out in the end, but I didn't have any kind of expectations for this series.

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Need to love and feel loved - A bitter reality

Honestly, I was not sure if I should watch this drama or not, as the provided summary doesn't appropriately describe the true plot of this series.

CHARACTERS

In the drama we are following the story of 5 woman that seem to be related in a way. Yuki (portrayed by Yoshikawa Ai) is a 19 year old university student who is working as a Rental Girlfriend in order to make ends meet. When she is working and meeting with clients, she seems like a sweet, cheerful, and kind girlfriend; however, we get to know that in reality she has been through a lot and she carries a secret from her childhood that holds her back. Rina (played by Yokota Mayuu), who is Yuki's university friend, is a colourful, smiley, and cheerful girl that everyone likes and wants to be with her. In addition to her cheerful outside looks, Rina is a rather lonely girl that seeks attention and confirmation from people around her.

Ayano (played by Ugaki Misato) is working with Yuki at the same agency as a Rental Girlfriend and is mainly focusing on the outside looks of the people around her. This obsession with looks came from her bitter past when the people around her made fun of her due to her outside looks. The fourth protagonist is Moe Maya (played by Yanai Yumena) who is classmate with Rina, with low self-esteem and self-confidence. People around her call her ugly and she can't seem to belong anywhere, even though she is trying. Lastly, Yua (played by Saito Nagisa) is a cute girl that is a regular in a host club and is only visiting a specific host. Later on, Yua takes Moe to the host club that she is regularly going.

PLOT

The main plot of this series is to show how every person needs to feel loved and appreciated, in any way, from their peers. However, for me, the plot focuses not only the need to feel loved by others and love other people, but how important it is to love themselves. It is a rather bitter series which shows how shallow our society is, what are the expectations for women, and how easily women can be manipulated into doing things they don't want in order to fulfil the needs of their partners.

For example, in order Yua to help her favourite host (Haruki) in the host club, she is working in the adult world and she is meeting with clients that she can't refuse. She does that in order to help her favourite to rise through the rank and keep his sales high. Moe follows a similar story. Moe was a full time university student who after she started talking with a host she decided to drop out from her university, and in order to request for the host (Kaede) during her visits, she decides to also enter the adult world and do things that she doesn't want to.

MY OPINION

Honestly, this is a drama that is worth watching. Just a heads up: this is not a typical Romance series. Don't expect to find cute and colourful moments among the couples. This is a close to reality type of series. Unfortunately, there are many people who belittle other people's feelings and take advantage of them, and there are other people that are trying to survive in this world with noone beside them. I don't understand why the rating is relatively low. The rating here is not representative of how good the drama is (in my opinion!).

As an individual, I related mostly with Moe, as she and I share some common things. Since the moment that she answered Kaede's phone call, I knew that this is not going to have a happy ending. I was really routing for Kaede's feelings to be true towards her, but as we show in the end Moe was just a client to him. Even though, seeing her being depressed over him was sad, I was clad that in the end she was able to overcome her obsession and she took her life back to her hands.

Anyway, this is a good drama to watch, SO WATCH IT! BYE!

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Who's it gonna be - Oya's full-time Leader!

In the six episodes we are following the storyline in the Oya High School. The series begin with the introduction of new first year characters that admire to steal the position from Todoroki's hands, and become the school's leader for the full time students. This incident takes place, after the fight containers of the High & Low movie and during the Kuryu groups casino plan.

At the meantime, while the full-time first year students are trying to prove themselves, Murayama's group are betting who is gonna be this year's leader for the full-time students. Will someone win over Todoroki and be the next leader? Who has the highest changes of become the one to rule over the full-time students?

Todoroki (Maeda Goki) is in a position that he has to defend his position, from the people who want to take it, with every available tool. Nakagoshi (Kamio Fuju) is a first year who declares that he would become the new leader of Oya high school; while Yasushi (Sato Ryuji) and Kiyoshi (Uekiya Satoshi) are not only threatening that they would take the leader's position, but they also invited the potential candidates for the position to a fight. One of the people who are invited in this fight is Tsukasa (Yoshino Hokuto), however, this second-year student, has no interest in the position.

Even though, in general the plot is rather fast-forward, I have to admit that there were a lot of flashbacks from the main story. I do realise that we needed to establish the same timeframe between this series and the parent story, but we don't need to be introduced every time what SWORD is and is the current story.

I am not going to analyse their acting, as there are too many characters; I will say only two words: amazing acting. For the whole franchise, people with good acting skills and ability to express themselves through their emotions, were picked.

I know that I might be biased, as I said that I was not going to analyse their acting; but I have to point out how amazing Yamada Yuki was. In my humble opinion, he was the best actor in the series, as he was able to execute the peculiar character of Murayama and his questionable sanity. Hands down to his acting skills.

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Expectations vs Reality

I know that I might be harsh with my rating for this series but please hear me out!

The plot is a typical thai bl plot, a rich smart person and a not that smart and poor person. Leaving behind the main concept of this series, I would like to point out the slow paced story development. I do realise that we need some time to understand who the characters are and what their environments are; but seriously I don't think that we needed 7 episodes with them in high school. They could tell us their high school days in just 3 episodes. I felt that they were trying to expand their year as seniors for no reason. I mean you only have 12 episodes to tell me your story, do not spent 7 of them being in high school. But to be fair, when the university chapter began, the series became more interested.

Regarding the acting. Well, I don't know how to describe it and not sound like an asshole... The acting is bad! I believe that both Win and Marc have potential, but in this series they seem so stiff and awkward. I know that the script does not help them, but from the episodes that I have watched I feel that they have no chemistry. There are a lot of moments of silence between those two. Tbh, I do not see them as people who have feelings for each other; actually, I do not even get the vibes that they are friends.

On the other hand, Fiat is amazing here, I mean there are some scenes that are awkward for me, but still I feel that he is the best in this series. His bi role is implemented in the best possible way. Moreover, JJ is really good here. I like the friendship between Waan and Pure and how Waan values their friendship! Also, Aun has a great potential with acting. He is still young and he has a lot to learn but if he invests in acting classes then in the future he would be one of the best actors.

I have said it before about the product placements, and I know that it would be in vain pointing it out again; but please stop with those placements. I start to think that companies are producing bl series just to have product placements.

I feel that this series had really high expectations, as GMMtv was involved, and it was the first bl series that was aired after 2gether. Everyone, was, maybe, expecting something similar to 2gether and in the end we got something monotonous. Do not get me wrong, I think that 2gether had a lot of flaws and I did not really like it, but at least it was funny and had colourful scenes!

I feel that we would get another season as the script is so slow paced! Again this is my assumption, do not take it for granted!

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An amazing outcome

When I was looking for something to watch on Netflix, I came across this series. At first, I was actually sceptical, as the description made me angry. However, I gave it a try, as I had too much free time ( I know, I need to get a life!).

From an artistic point of view, this drama is amazing! The colours, the lighting, the framing, and the camera angles (the cinematography in general), were actually to my liking. As for the plot, I must admit that I was frustrated with it. I do realise that its in the Japanese culture for women to focus on wedding and having children before a certain age; however, I find it rather harsh for having this type of mindset now. Women should do whatever they want, and if they don't want to get married and have children then that should be legalised! I don't understand why there are still people making women feel bad about those things. We did not come to this world to fit in the norms that other people have. Anyway, I am going to stop talking about this matter, as it really bothers me.

The acting was really good. All of the actors (lead and secondary) gave their 100%. However, I have to admit that I found the female lead as a weak and creepy character. I want to point out again how amazing the acting was, Tokunaga was able to express how miserable Wako was and how she tried to fit in the status quo. Now let me elaborate more on the plot.

Wako, is a 31 years old woman who is not happy with her life and how her relationship with her boyfriend (Fu) is. To be honest, she was right to not being happy with her boyfriend. He was someone who did not respect her, who belittled her, who took her for granted, who did not realise how much work and money she invested in their relationship. Did he deserve to be cheated? Hell no! Even though they tried to show us that Fu was indifferent towards Wako, I still believe that he loved her. His way of loving her might not have been a romantic one, but he was in love with her. Unfortunately, I feel that she was not in love with him. She was repeating that she does not have get to choose who he will be with, so when Fu came, she should be him as she might not get another chance. Her way of thinking is idiotic and she disrespected Fu's feelings for her. She was only being patient with him, as she wanted to get married.

That's when she meets Yumeaki, a handsome high school boy. This is where the real issue starts for me. Even though she knows his true age, and their big age gap, she still makes a move on him. In a way it is understandable, that she wants to fill the void from her relationship with her boyfriend; but he is underage! I felt that she tried to prove herself, through those actions as Fu was not taking care of her. What she did was wrong. In a way she seduced an underage boy and gave him a type of pleasure that he experienced for the first time. There were multiple times when she promised that she would end things with Yumeaki, but she always got back to him.

Someone could have been jealous of her, as a handsome young boy fell in love with her; yet, I think that this situation is not a jealousy worthy one. The difference between the maturity and the generation gap between them, could be seen. Yumeaki, had his friends at school, while Wako was feeling lonely at her new place. Furthermore, I felt that Yumeaki, was getting crazier as the episodes went by. He was possessive over her, he did not trust her talking to other guys, he feared that she would cheat on him with another man, and he was acting like a spoiled child that could not get what he wanted. However, the way he behaved was the consequences of their relationship.

For me, by the end of the series, Yumeaki changed from a handsome high school boy to a maniac boy who does not know how to comprehend the true consequences of his actions. This is a perfect example of "be careful what you wish, cause you might get it". Yumeaki was not longer who he was.

What really bothered me though, except the unrealistic expectations for women, is how Wako was never punished for her crimes. It was a crime to be in a relationship with a minor, and the only punishment that she got were some rumours at her workplace. No! It is illegal what she did. Love has nothing to do with that. He was 15 years old, she was 32. But, I felt the sexual scenes were needed in order to understand their feelings for each other and establish the character development of Yumeaki.

Love and Fortune, is a rather controversial series. You do understand why Wako is doing what she is doing, but that does not mean that you agree with her. This series presents a great ethical dilemma and puts the watcher into deep thought. Would I have done the same thing if I had the chance? Would I approach my problems with my current boyfriend different? Would I let the age be an issue with a person that I liked? It is a good series to watch in one go, as it is a rather short one.


P.S.1. To be honest, I am not a fun of an open ending; I prefer to be given an ending by the director, rather than leaving the ending to my imagination. I wanted to know what the end was really like.

P.S.2. I was rather invested in the movie that was shown on the last episode. I would totally watch that movie if it really existed.

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Sad reactions only - Gather around guys another honest review is here!

When I heard the news that Dori would be the main lead in a drama I was excited! I was waiting for 3B no Koibito to come out. However, now that I am in the 7th episode I am a little disappointed. Go grab your popcorn, and bring a napkin cause I will spill the tea!!!

Quick summary: One romantic cliché happening after the other.

CHARACTERS

The only female lead is Kobayashi Haru (played by Baba Fumika), who is a heartbroken person as her ex-boyfriend did not tell her that he was married. She found out about his marriage when she was getting ready to marry him. After that incident she decided to stay away from men and have some "me" time. But karma is a bitch and she gets to stay at the same house with 3 handsome men, the so called 3B. Poor her!

The first B is Shintaro (Nakahara Hiroshi), a beautician with a colourful personality and a social butterfly who is not afraid to show physical intimacy with the people around him. His personality usually creates misunderstandings among him, multiple female customers, and Haru. The second B is Yuu (Kamiya Kenta), a band vocalist who is the badass and the cool of this gang. He is mysterious and always speaks his mind when he has something to say. The third B is Yoshi (Sakurada Dori), a bartender with a mature and sexy aura around him. By his looks and his personality everyone believes that he is a cold-hearted womanizer.

PLOT

As I said at the quick summary, this drama is just one romantic cliché after the other. It is a typical early-adults romantic story. I have to admit that from the plot and the dialogue I got the feeling that I was watching a drama from the late '00s. I assume that the main point of this drama was to rout for one of the boys with Haru and be jealous of her as he has three handsome men around her. Every episode is a new story that we get to see the boys going after Haru and it ends with all of them growing a little. That's it. That's the plot. We are trying to understand who is going to win Haru's heart and if she would be able again to trust a man and be in a relationship.

ACTING

Well I don't know how to say this and not sound like a huge asshole...

*coughs*

The acting is not good! There I said it!

Well to be honest, my biggest problem is with Baba. I find her acting pretty monotonous and expressionless. I feel that her character is pretty shallow and has no true value to the whole story. I might be harsh with what I just said, but I find her acting forced. Honestly, I haven't watched any of her other drama, so I can't say that I don't like her as an actress; I just don't like her here.

As for Hiroshi, Dori, and Kenta I think that they are in a better situation than Baba; but again, I feel that something is lacking at their acting in this drama. The positive thing about them is that they get a chance to express their feelings and show us multiple sides of themselves.


MY OPINION

I know that nobody cares about my opinion, but whatever! To be honest, the description was pretty descriptive so I do not know why I am so disappointed with what I am watching. I think that the writer could approach the same plot from different perspectives and write a dynamic female lead. But we don't have that here. Even though at first I really thought that she would stay true to herself and have some time to overcome her previous relationship, she immediately gets fascinated by the 3 men when she meets them.

I don't understand why there is not one powerful and dynamic female character in the romantic dramas. Is it that difficult? Am I asking too much? Maybe! But I would love to see a woman who loves herself more and can be without a boyfriend for some time. Moreover, I felt that the romance between Haru and the men is forced and I can't sympathise with any pair. I get it that Haru is beautiful but we aren't given any chance to understand why the men start to like her. We just see them flirting with her.

Even though I have so many issues with this drama and I don't really like it, I am still gonna finish it. Why you ask? I cannot drop any series that I start. My OCD sucks (insert Rhett's and Link's song)!

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Every fujoshi's dreams

Me no doku sugiru shokuba no futari is a rather light series. We follow the life of Oto-san who is working as an accountant in her company. Oto is a rather serious person and devoted to her work; however, she has a small secret. She is secretly shipping two of her colleagues. I don't want to get into too much detail because I think that I would spoil all the fun; but, in this jdrama we are able to see how the mind of a fujoshi works and what is reality.

Even though it has 25 episodes each episode is only, approximately, 5 minutes long; so, you could watch that in just one sitting. The two male actors have a good chemistry and that makes it easier for the audience to sympathise with Oto and understand her fujoshi thoughts.

Maybe something that bothered me was the open ending. In every episode we could see that there was an explanation for the interaction of the two actors, but the end is open to what could and might happen. I think that there are planning for a new season. If not, then I will be very disappointed with this kind of ending.

But anyway, it is a cute series, with no drama, that is ease on the eye. Watch it :)

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Cute... but toxic?

Honestly, I was happy when it was announced that we will have a second season of Utsukushii Kare as I really enjoyed the first season. I believe that it is one of the best japanese bl series that we have up until today.

CHARACTERS

In the series we follow the story of Kiyoi and Hira and their relationship. Hira (Hagiwara Riku) is now a senior university student and is still obsessed with Kiyoi, while Kiyoi (Yagi Yusei) is working hard with his acting career and is making small steps towards his goals. Both have the same master/slave relationship. Kiyoi is still shy towards Hira and his only way of coping with those feelings is to talk harshly to the other person (e.g. “You are gross”) or physically hurt him; while Hira is still following Kiyoi everywhere he goes and as the time goes by he is severely obsessed with the other person.

Kazuki (Takano Akira) is also a recurring character in this season who is doing his internship and is also the president at the photography club at the university. We can see that he and Hira have a friendly relationship and Kazuki even helps the other person with getting a part-time job. Even though it seems like Kazuki still has feelings for Hira, he doesn’t make any move on the other person; instead, he takes the role of the supporting friend. Moreover, we are introduced to a new character Anna (Nimura Sawa) who is a popular actress that works in the same company as Kiyoi. She and Kiyoi seem to be getting closer as they are experiencing similar love issues.

PLOT

The main plot of this series is the relationship between Kiyoi and Hira who are now living together. It is not stated in the series, but if we take into account that in the first season Hira was a second year (?) and now, he is a senior in university, they have been in a relationship for 2 or 3 years now. Kiyoi is working hard towards his ultimate goal on becoming an actor. On the other hand, Hira is still following Kiyoi whenever he goes and on his free time, he is watching the drama and special episodes that his boyfriend took part in. However, he is struck by reality when he sees that people around him are getting a job and they are working hard for their dreams.
Overthinking, overanalyzing, and not expressing themselves bring them in a tight spot. In the four episodes we see their attempts to adapt into the new environment and grow in their relationship.

MY OPINION

Honestly, this is a drama that is worth watching. It is a good continuation of the first season. However, if I must admit as I was watching the series, I was thinking that their relationship is toxic. Since they are together for some years now, I thought they would have already grown and become more confident in their relationship but in the drama, we see that Hira still considers himself lower than Kiyoi. I don’t know… I think that I am not fond with this approach.

I am not against when we see them act jealous and shy towards each other though. For example, in the first episode we see Kiyoi getting jealous when a girl hits on Hira. We have seen something similar on season 1 with Kazuki and Hira, but now Kiyoi stood his ground and showed to Hira his jealous side. I am onboard with this type of behavior. It’s cute. Kiyoi is self-aware that he likes Hira and is not afraid to act jealous in front of him.
My issue comes with Hira. I think that he hasn’t grown at all while they were together, and his life revolves only around Kiyoi. I do understand that Hira believes that there is a huge difference between them and that’s why he still addresses Kiyoi as a “King”, but shouldn’t he grow out of it?

Moreover, even though Hira tries to play the victim all the time by bringing this high wall between him and Kiyoi, I still feel that the one who has it worse is Kiyoi. Hira’s misunderstandings and misinterpretation of Kiyoi’s feelings and actions are very painful for Kiyoi. Even in season 1, even though he doesn’t say it verbally, I got the feeling that Kiyoi liked Hira more than Hira liked Kiyoi. Even though we are always seeing Hira going after Kiyoi, I still think that the one who feels more in this relationship is Kiyoi.

I don’t know how to explain it simpler or if you get what I mean. But, in episode 3 when the two people were talking about Hira’s parents, you could clearly see the fear, anxiousness, and nervousness of Kiyoi – but Hira, instead of making the other person in front of him feel more relaxed, said that Kiyoi will never meet his parents so there is no reason to worry about it. I just feel that Hira’s stupidness hurts Kiyoi a lot. He did the same thing in season 1. Instead of working together with Kiyoi, Hira still stays behind him and whenever Kiyoi wants to take a step forward Hira holds them back. When Kiyoi said “You prefer unrequired love, right? Then just stay there (…) I’m sorry that I like you”, I felt sad… Hira isn’t worthy of Kiyoi’s love.

But don’t get me wrong… It takes two to tango… Hira is not the only at fault! Kiyoi is at fault as well. The dynamics of this couple is not good. In one hand we have Hira who misunderstands everything and who believes that if he Kiyoi’s wishes would come true then the other person will never leave him. While, on the other hand we have Kiyoi who doesn’t speak his mind but at the same time is seeking his forever from Hira. How did they even manage to be together? Communication is key for every relationship and in this case, it doesn’t exist… However, we see Kiyoi making small steps and expressing his feelings to the other person, but Hira doesn’t receive the message and we have Kiyoi being sad and mad by himself…

Am I thinking too much regarding the relationship of two fictional characters? Yes, yes I am! What are your opinions? Is Hira’s behavior expected after all these years?

Anyway, this is a good drama to watch, SO WATCH IT! BYE!

P.S. In both seasons we have only seen a jealous Kiyoi. I would love to see a jealous Hira as well. But not from Hira the Fan, but rather from Hira the Boyfriend. I am assuming that as things are right now Hira will never get jealous of Kiyoi – not because he doesn’t like him, but because he would think that he is not a place to be jealous of Kiyoi. I hope that in the movie we will see an actively jealous Hira the Boyfriend and claim his boyfriend from the predators ?

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One of the best Jdrama for 2021 (at least so far)

I know that it is too early to make that kind of statement, as it is only March, but I think that this is one of the best romantic jdramas for this year.

PLOT

Just to acknowledge the elephant in the room, this is a typical shoujo drama. However, this series doesn’t focus only on the relationship between the lead couple, rather it focuses on the relationship between the female lead and the male lead’s sister. Are you confused? Let me help you with that.

Here we follow the story of Suzuki Nami (Kamishiraishi Mone), that decides to find a job in Tokyo, after her male childhood friend moves to Tokyo, due to work, to be with him. She believes that her childhood friend would be the person who she will get married to; that is why she follows him to Tokyo.

On her interview day for the equipment department in a company, Nami gets to meet Horai Junnosuke (Tamamori Yuta), under a weird interaction that took place on a bench. This meeting changed their lives and in the next few months, they would become close with each other. A small detail that neither of them knows at first, is that Horai Reiko (Nanao), is Junnosuke’s older sister and the “devil” chief editor that Nami is assistant to.

CHARACTERS

Suzuki Nami is a rural girl that all of her life wished to have an average life. That means getting married, have a family, and looking out for them. Even though she interviews at a company for the equipment department, she manages to get the job of MIYAVI’s fashion magazine chief editor assistant. Her personality is bright and she gets to make people like her due to her honesty and kindness. On the other hand, we have Junnosuke who is a handsome, kind, calm, and prince-like photographer. And rich. He is super-rich. Did I mention that he is rich? Even though he wants to continue to be a photographer he has to inherit the successful company from his father. Poor him! He doesn’t want to abandon his dream but he understands that the jobs that he has as a photographer are due to his father’s influence and network. Junnosuke doesn’t like that, he wants to prove his worth without the help of his father.

Junnosuke is in a tough spot as his mother arranges a meeting for him to meet a potential wife because soon he will inherit the company. To make his mother cancel this meeting he tells her that he has a girlfriend (but he doesn’t), and asks Nami’s help. He believes that if his older sister believes that he and Nami are in a relationship, his parents will believe them. However, one thing that they didn’t know is that the devilish chief editor that Nami is assistant to and Junnosuke’s sister is the same person.
The fourth main lead is Nakazawa Ryota (Mamiya Shotaro). He is a serious and cold-hearted (at first glance) person, who is an aspiring editor and wishes to be a chief editor in the future. In reality, he is a tsundere that in the end he would do the right thing and would help the people around him. At first, it seems that he is bothered by Nami’s incapability to fulfill her tasks, but he tends to help her with what she needs and helps her learn more about the fashion world.

ACTING

Let me start with the female leads in the series. This was my second time watching a drama that those two have a role in. As for Kamishiraishi Mone, I have to admit that her role in this drama was the same thing as in Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Doko Made mo. She was loud, bright, clumsy, and honest. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed her acting and I believe that she was able to present Nami in the best way; I just think that she has done that before. I am afraid that she be stigmatized and I would only see her in those types of works. On the other hand, we have Nanao whom I loved here. Previously I have watched her in Last Cinderella where she played the hurt and depressed older sister, but here I understood the great acting skills she possesses. She was great at portraying the cold-hearted and hardworking person who helps others become better.

Moving on with the boys firstly is Tamamori Yuta. Well, Yuta here was … very handsome. I am afraid that in this series his acting skills were not used at all. His role was to be a handsome adult who despises his father’s network. He has only a few scenes focusing on his inability to cut off his father’s name from his work. Usually, he is viewed as too good to be a true bachelor that any woman wants to be with him. It is a pity that he had to act as the handsome boyfriend because Yuta has proofed before that can act and show many different expressions and feelings. As for Mamiya Shotaro, I liked him. He was able to implement the sadistic senior role particularly. I was fascinated by his flow and not the top performance. I hope that he would be cast in more series as the main lead.

WHAT BOTHERED ME

Those who know me, know that I studied HRM and the first thing that bothered me in this series was how an inexperienced person (Nami) got an assistant job. NOW HOLD UP! Do you know how difficult is to get a job for that position? It usually requires work experience, working under pressure, problem-solving, and multitasking. As we get to meet Nami we do understand that she doesn’t have those types of skills but she was offered this position. I know that I shouldn’t focus on the details and just accept that she managed to get that job, but I can’t do that.

The second thing that bothered me was the lack of interaction between Nami and Junnosuke. (THIS IS A HUGE SPOILER!) By the 9th episode Junnosuke proposes to Nami and we have to believe that they are a couple that managed to get there. There was no familiarity between them. Even though I liked their interactions and acting, I have to admit that I couldn’t think of them as two lovers. I thought of them more like good friends that have platonic feelings for each other. For example, I thought of Nami and Ryota as two people that could fall in love.

The third thing that bothered me was how at the start of the series we saw Nami worrying about spending a huge amount of money on clothes as she and her family couldn’t afford them; but as the series was going on, we could see the change in her wardrobe. I do realize that as she works in a fashion magazine, she needed to change her clothes, I don’t think that it was realistic the many outfits that she was showed wearing in the series.

Whatever!!!!!!! WATCH THAT SHIT! IT’S GOOD!

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Fantastics - A fake documentary

In this fake documentary we follow the lives of Fantastic's members, and we mainly follow their activities inside their dorms which take place prior and after their work schedule.

STORY

Honestly, there is not a lot of story in this documentary, it is fiction and reality at the same time. There are some made up scenes/stories in the documentary that we follow. 6 members of the group are living together (Sota, Natsu, Natsuki, Keito, Yusei, Leiya) while Sekai and Taiki visit them frequently. Sota and Hori Natsuki share a room, and Leiya and Yusei also share a room and we see them grow together and spend their time together.

In this fake documentary we can see some of the struggles that the members come across trying to maintain their private life. For example, Hori Natsuki and Leiya are in a relationship and we follow them as we see them face different problems. While, Sawamoto Natsuki with the help of Sota and Keito are trying to develop the most cost-effective recipes with the existing ingredients. Lastly, we also see the close relationship of Yusei and Leiya (wink wink).

If you already know the group and know their story then this is a good show to watch with them. You will have fun. If you don't know a lot about the group (more of that in the MY OPINION section), you might get confused of what is happening and where reality ends and where fiction begins. But in overall, it is a good show to watch if you need more material with the group :) I hope that we will get a second season, as I want to see more of Sawamoto Natsuki with his assistants trying new recipes and then eating together.


MY OPINION

I know that it would be in vain to express my opinion but I need to know if other people think that same as me. Firstly, I would like to share a thought about Fantastic's activities in general. I don't know who is responsible for handling the schedule of the group or who decides in which shows the group would appear or who creates a new show for the group; but they are not that good with their job. I do realise that the main fanclub of the group is in Japan and they are highly promoting their activities in the country (honestly, not only Fantastics but I have this issue with every Exile subgroup), however they cannot belittle International fans.

It was extremely difficult to find this show online and even when I found where I could watch it, there were no Eng subs. I am not referring to official English subtitles; I couldn't find the episodes even with fanmade english subtitles. Instead, I found the episodes online with Chinese subtitles, I downloaded the chinese subtitles and with an online tool I translated them to English, and then I uploaded them on the video. Sure, there are some sections that don't make sense but that was the only way to understand the episodes. In general, I know that it is difficult to easily find a japanese show in the existing sites where we watch Asian Dramas and Movies but this is ridiculous. Due to this inaccessibility of different shows with the group and the lack of English subbed content the group cannot grow their fandom internationally and become more popular.

I find it sad that we will never get english subbed content and shows accessed in common platforms for international fans (e.g. youtube), as I really believe in the groups potentials. The group has all the talent to succeed, not only in the music industry but also entertainment industry, but they don't have the right substructures to help them grow. You have the older member/leader that provides wise advises in the group (Sekai), three sunshines (Sota, Taiki, Keito), the "mother" that takes care of the group members behind the scenes (Natsuki Sawamoto), and lastly you have the seemingly closed people (Yusei and Leiya) that when you get to know you understand how warm they are. The dynamics of the group have great potentials if they were used efficiently.

I think of myself a rookie fan of the group. It has been only a month or so that I follow the group's music and activities. I knew about the group (since I am a huge Generations fan), but I never followed Fantastics; however, after My Beautiful Man, I found myself searching for more shows with them to watch. During an episode Sekai refers to the relationship between Taiki and Yusei, which Taiki said that in the past he had publicly said some bad things for Yusei and that he didn't like him (at least that's what I understood with my broken Japanese and the online translation). When I tried to look for this incident, I couldn't find any video or comment regarding this issue. That holds me back from knowing more about them and it would always give Japanese fans or fans that have ease access to the group's content an advantage and a gap between us (international fans) and them (national fans) would always exist.

What do you think? Am I over dramatic and I exaggerate too much?

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The most Korean-like JDrama that I have ever watched

To be honest, after reading the description of this drama, I was not that interested, but I decided to watch it for two reasons. Firstly, because I really like Nakamura Tomoya, and secondly, because I have a lot of free time (I need to get a life!). In the end, I was happy that I watched it. Now, let me explain what I mean.

PLOT

The first thing, that I found fascinating, was the plot. I felt that this series did not follow the standard Japanese-plot norm. That is why I thought that they were mainly influenced by kdramas. Honestly, this is the only Asian drama in which I liked all of the characters. I found both the lead and the secondary roles to be interested and I wanted to know more about them.

To be more specific, we have a handsome and rich person (Asaba Takumi), who does not enjoy eating sweets, that gets to meet under a weird coincidence a loud and pretty female (Inoue Kiki), who loves to eat sweet things. Asaba is the CEO of the company that Inoue works in one of the company's convenience stores, and they meet by accident before knowing who the other person is. Due to some strange set of circumstances, Inoue leaves the convenience store and is being placed at the Production department of the company, in order to create new sweet recipes. We experience their everyday lives and the difficulties of creating low-cost and tasteful convenience store sweets.

CHARACTERS

Asaba is a cold-hearted person (at first glance), that seems indifferent of what other people think about him and is goal-oriented. However, in reality he is a sensitive person that always takes into account how the people around him feel, and he is a warm person with strong ethical personality. He works hard and faces every obstacle that comes in his way. On the other hand, Kiki is a young female that had experienced failure in her life before. She is afraid when other people have high expectations of her, as she believes that she will fail once again. Asaba was the first person that not only believed in Kiki but he also needed her honesty and creativity. As she was feeling needed and appreciated, feelings started to develop towards Asaba.

Two key supporting characters are Makoto and Riho. Makoto is a childhood friend of Asaba, and works as a vendor at the company. His personality is bright and joyful. He seems a bit childish, but the truth is that he is a mature person with kind feelings. While, Riho, a kind-hearted woman, is working at the Production department of the company, and is the ex-girlfriend of Asaba. In the series there are 3 more characters that is mainly used for comic relief, but I loved them. I personally call them “The Three Stooges”, as I found them funny and I liked it when they had screen time. The Three Stooges, are consisted of the Manager, a Chinese girl, and an early adult man. What I really liked about them was the chemistry that they had.

ACTING

Let me start with the main leads. As I have said before, Nakamura was the reason why I decided to watch this series. I am a fan of his acting and the roles that he usually portraits. I enjoy it when he gets to play a tsundere role, and that is why, I loved his acting in this drama. He was able to execute the role of the capable and innovative CEO, greatly. Moreover, he was able to present the mixed emotions he was feeling, and the consequences of his action, in an amazing way. What I am going to say next, has nothing to do with his acting, but when he wore glasses and the turtleneck, I found him really sexy. Also, I love it when he is laughing and smiling.

As for Mori Nana, it was the first that I watched with her as the main lead, and I was surprised by her acting. Taking into account her young age, I believe that in a few years she would be the talk of the town. She has a bright future! She was able to make me feel her sadness and sorrow when she was feeling down; but I was also feeling excited and motivated when she was excited and motivated. This might be just my personal opinion, but she reminded me of Inoue Mao, the female actor who had the main lead in Hana Yori Dango. If she invests more on her acting, she would become one of the best Japanese actors.

In addition to the strong main leads, the two supporting actors had nothing to be jealous of! Nakano Taiga, was able to execute the role of the person who is in love with someone that does not like them. Moreover, every time that he showed his caring side to his friends and the person that he loved, I wanted to meet him in person and be friends with him. I get the feeling that he is who would take care of the people close to him and would never betray them. As for Ishibashi Shizuka, I thought of her as an amazing actress. At first, thanks to my previous drama experiences, I thought that her character would be a pain in the ass and she would create problems; however, she was actually a strong-willed individual who knew how to behave when she won or lost. Ishibashi, was able to perform her role in an elegant way.

WHAT BOTHERED ME

I will rephrase something that CINEMASINS say: “no drama is without a sin”. There is no perfect drama for me. I would always find something that bothers me. For instance, in kdramas what usually bothers me is the difference in the social classes that the main couple have. One has to be poor while the other is rich.

In jdramas, what usually bothers me is the fact that the main couple does not have much familiarity with each other. They do not help me, sympathise with the couple and understand their feelings for each other. That is what happened in this drama. Even though, I enjoyed their acting, I have to admit that I did not think of Kiki and Asaba as two people in love. I thought of them more like friends and colleagues, rather than people who have feelings for each other.

The next thing that bothered me was the unexplained use of time skips. I do realise that I am watching a series and that I don’t have to think a lot about this; but please do make it believable. For example, processes that would usually take many days or even weeks to be approved, were implemented the following hours. THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS. As an individual who has studied management, I could tell you that the steps from forming an idea and actually implementing that idea, is a long path! But, in the series they made it seem like they could do whatever they wanted, when they wanted.

Another thing that bothered me (THIS IS A HUGE SPOILER), was how Asaba made a move on Kiki, while she was in a relationship with his best friend! OHANA MEANS FAMILY! You can’t do that to your best friend, to someone who was always there for you, someone who has your back all the time, someone who is ready to fight for you. That’s just wrong! I do not care how much you love the other person; friends are irreplaceable!

The last thing that bothered me was the elevator. There were a few scenes, that I assume where shot, in an outside glass lift. I was rather bothered, and a little worried, with how fast that elevator was. I do not know if this is a standard speed for the lift in Japan, but I was sincerely worried about the people in them.

P.S. I want a series that focuses on “The Three Stooges”. I BEG YOU!

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Wow, that was boring!

I might get a lot of hate for saying this, but the Thai version was so boring.

I have already watched the Japanese version of this series and I liked it very much. The reason why I believe that the Thai version is boring, is because they tried to adapt the whole series in a thai environment and honestly I don't think that it worked out.

In my personal opinion, when you have a ship like TayNew, casting them for this type of series is wrong. I don't know if I am too mean, but I just believe that these roles didn't match their BL aura. Give them something like Dark Blue Kiss. Hell yeah! That's something that they can, 100%, pull off. Casting them for roles that are too shy or quiet, it's just something that I am not a fan of.

I don't know how to further explain why I found it so boring. Maybe it's because I had higher expectations of a series that we would have again TayNew as the main leads, and it had to be this series. I personally believe, that there were other actors that could have been a better fit for this series, but here we are.

Well, that's it. Bye!

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