Heera

This is pretty, like the blue sunset, perhaps.

Ryu is the kind of man who helps, hugs, and shelters those in need, without hesitation or fear. He greets the world with a sunny smile, while Jo Han, an orphan and a relentless boxer, struggles to care for his sister, Sua, throughout his childhood. This responsibility has drained him of hope and strength, making it difficult for him to seek warmth from others and ultimately leading him to give up on himself.

Their meeting felt like alchemy, with Ryu touching Jo Han's heart and cherishing him to protect his soul. Ryu, who was ready to end his life, was saved and brought back to spirits by Jo Han.

As the frames unfolded, it was like watching the slow, factual, fragile life of people. Two individuals who are neither rich nor excessively in a rush to seek success, but to pursue the happiness of life.

The genuineness in the series I highly remark on is how Jo Han's yearning hobby of manga was actively diminished. Additionally, it portrays the lives within daycare centers—showcasing the experiences of older individuals and young babies who require extensive help, time, and patience. It also highlights the employees who work there and the immense pressure that daycare centers face. It is raw in the representation of the stress, the focus, the care, and the burden—how it lingers at low times, grabbing one's strength, playing, and almost quivering one's motive in life.

I was so sappy seeing the love of their friendship. Ryu's quirkiness shines through in his tendency to spread his arms wide and stand up for those he cares about, including Jo Han and Sumiko. Sumiko's a lovely friend. Though at times I felt like she could have moved out after her baby grew to a certain age, and with her salary, I was stunned to see Ryu planning his marriage to Sumiko just for her baby. The amount of love he showers on the baby moved me. He and Jo Han are the golden godfathers.

I monitored how they shifted Arata's character from Ryu's life, vividly, to Jo Han's. What happened to Arata was sad, and I am grateful that he has become well. Maybe it could have been beneficial to provide a little time where we could have had Ryu open up about what he felt after the conversation with Arata before moving from the hospital.

Jo Han's there like a constant pillar; he and Ryu have exchanged messages and calls and have been together before and after Jo Han's military service.
That's when it has clicked: their relationship isn't like any other bonds that were made on a random meeting, which gradually fade. It's a bond that doesn't need a name or label; it is strong, healthy, and stays.

The little details in the series, Jo Han's drawings and their accents, are carefully shown; they have both the Korean and Japanese styles.
I was mesmerized by the ending. I don't think it was strongly sad, as I felt it was more real, pleasant, and peaceful. Ryu's acknowledgment of Jo Han's health condition and those few minutes of backdrop to Jo Han's life established pride in me that Jo Han had come all the way. He has struggled and kept on earning, not giving up.

And the pause when he talks about how people who give up and drift through life don't feel pain anymore. His thinking of Ryu as a strong person, who let others into his life, and how his own self is scared of getting hurt, and he left after that one single night drunk argument because he doesn't want Ryu's happiness to be taking care of him. And alas, the way he wished for Ryu to be his last sight in the world.

The little vulnerable confession, "Why are you here? If you're here…it makes me...want to live longer."

And Ryu's vision of loneliness: "You said to me, 'You have a lonely look on your face again.' Loneliness is an incredible invention because feeling lonely means there's someone you truly care about. Someone you really want to see. That's truly amazing."

INCREDIBLE. INCREDIBLE LINES.

I am happy that they confessed and have enjoyed this so much. <55

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A beautiful picture on time travel

I've really enjoyed this.

It started not so heavy; it was balanced, aesthetically pleasing, and more active.
JJ's effortless acting made me want to binge-watch more episodes. I believe this time-travel Thai BL has satisfied me enough; throughout the finale, it has resolved and closed every loop and unveiled many mysteries. I don't see any plot holes, nor find the plot boring even in the slightest.

It took Nakun two full episodes to settle into the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and that was the most realistic. While some may find it over the top, I daresay it accurately depicts a 21-year-old travelling back in time from 2023(?) to 400 years ago.

Phop was the loveliest character whom I sheerly enjoyed from the very start to the end. Net has done a fantastic job capturing Phop's kindness, warmth, and nurturing nature, embodying such gentleness in the accent and action.

This lovely series has been made lively and enjoyable by the supporting characters Chuai, Sai, and Khong. I haven't seen a film with such a compelling storyline and outstanding actors in a very long time.
I was taken aback by Kim and Latte. They surprised me with their divine acting. It was my first time watching them on screen, and the way they depicted their strong, quivering roles enthralled me.
Kim's so pretty; I had thought I'd miss his beauty by the periodical manly attire; however, his role did stand out and speak.

(Is it just me who finds both Chan and Hyunjin in Latte? ><)

Even though I enjoy the show, I think JJ could do a better job acting in some of the more poignant (sad) and romantic scenes. Although I find some of his frames unsettling, he did a good job in his roles. I am looking forward to his upcoming projects. He made this series so much fun.

The marriage felt a little lacklustre, but it ended well, and I'm thrilled that my Phop has his beloved at last, hehe.

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BROMANCE? MORE LIKE BOYS-ROMANCE!!

SKYNANI did it again! With their INTENSE CHEMISTRY!!!

Pete, a young unfortunate lad who has lost his career and fallen broken to life, carrying a fragment of a demon's soul, meets Niran, a mysterious shaman who can sense Yao.
Together, they venture to solve mysteries and try to capture Yao and face dark forces.

The plotline was slightly thrilling, hooking you to the essence of nature: heaven, earth, and humanity. It grounds you with its utmost moral of how life actually is and how humans could be. It teaches you that even if life is crazy—empathy, trust, patience, hope, and resilience could shape our future and us better.

KRIST did remarkably well in his evil role. I couldn't even guess it was him at the start. I loved his character regardless of anything. When he was killed by his own master, Qui Rong, whom he served with gratitude and pure worship, hoping he would take him only to face the reality of his lord's temper, I must say I was quite satisfied. It's the realness right there. No superior is capable of showing mercy, the show concluded.

Upon that, as Niran believed sealing Qui Rong was their only way, seeing him not fighting against but understanding what Qui Rong felt and respecting him was unpredictable.

"Be that heaven or demons, they're no different."

The quiet tranquility of this show is that it mentioned the crisis of evil political leaders. When there's a demon, heaven will deal with it. But when there's evil in the leader of a country, the whole country will eventually fall apart. Niran's strong, diligent nature impressed me as he further insisted on saving his country amidst danger.

There is no way I didn't love Niran and Pete's duo. Their friendship is what you could call EVERYTHING (Yes, that too! >0<) The amount of trust and support they have for each other is so honorably gratifying. They're the SOULMATES; one could give up their life for the other, no kidding.

"When someone I loved is in danger, be that my friend, my sibling, or my buddy, I do need to save them." - Pete

Their backstories are pretty potent, each moving from their doubts and diffidence. And as they deserved, each being each other's confidence in life, believing in who they are had me sobbing.

And hello, is this what they call a bro thing? Is sitting on your friend's lap, playing a silly fight with your so-called work partner whose souls are so deeply intertwined that they FEEL each other wherever they go and are, IS IT COMMON?
NAUR HECKING WAY IT IS!
(wdym I get to see NANI'S WAIST AND THEIR GIGGLES??? *crying loudly)

On the second thought, even though the CGI could have been a little better with the fog, it still entertained me.

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The chess game of parasitic obsession and fragile egos.

'Notes from the Last Row' is a masterclass in psychological manipulation that left me completely torn between admiration and disappointment.

Heo Mun Oh, a failed, greedy, wrecked writer and Korean literature professor, meets Lee Gang, a talented writer from the last row of his class. Upon the brilliance and intelligence of story narration of the younger, Mun Oh offers one-on-one classes to Lee Kang for improving the younger's knowledge and his own curiosity (to win something in life).

As the story unfolded, it was not just about teaching classes on literature to improve Lee Kang's writing skills but utilizing them to unveil someone's life in literal words, in several prescriptions, and in descriptions, without consent.

I see Heo Mun Oh as an unreliable narrator-character at the start when he bulldozed with Lee Kang's plan of cheating, helping him slip answers to examination questions, just to let Lee Kang continue his assignments, scratching away his own commitment to responsibilities.

Mun Oh's relation with people around him seemed distant and often appeared to be coated.
His bond with his wife, unstable and unlovely, lasted to the end. With his co-workers, he's off on various bases.
I couldn't quite understand how Mun Oh's wife, Cho Hyeon Suk, a psychologist herself, didn't perturb over her husband's distance despite the writer's block, given her own sufferings over many miscarriages and a long period of an unshaken, unconcerned husband.
(Although her emotional exhaustion, keeping up with Mun Oh, is an acceptable coping mechanism.)

I admit that the second episode had me hooked.
Kim Su Hun, a popular writer, had a history of friendship and dreadful moments with Mun Oh, who held the main lead in a long slump of captivity for years.
Nonetheless, it didn't seem like a tragic story to me. Instead, sadly, it looks like Mun Oh destroyed his own career for a friend's derogatory remarks. (I believe there could be more, many more events in his life that might have sparked his ink once again, but only if he allowed himself to sway that way, without lingering, crippling in sulking past.)

The later episodes quite annoyed me and almost tested my patience.
Mun Oh's obsession, thrill, vengeance, and deliberate invasion of Kim Su Hun's life show his desperation and dark yearning to achieve the youthful career he could have had, but the cerebral path he ventured on after the inferior remarks he received is on him. His constant gaslighting and erratic decisions to Lee Kang hindered his progress. Shaped his broken future.

Lee Kang's a menace; his actions, his steady moves, took a toll on the rest of the show. It was not discreet, as Lee Kang's intentions are somehow on the plate, right in front of the nose; one could try to expect his reasons on the whole story of Kim Su Hun, although it was displeasing and troubling at times for the exaggeration of a 20-year-old to keep on imposing himself without a warrant of decent regard, but it was a splendid surprise to realize everything was just his play, a backspace to the real characters we have known—Kim Su Hun, An Eun Ju, Kim Se Yun, and Seon Min Hui.

I had absolutely immersed myself when An Eun Ju got highlighted. It was thrilling to see the new perspective of each character and their little story in the whole play.

Mun Oh at one point blurred his own ethics, responsibilities, and humanity with his perpetual greed, envy, and jealousy.
It wasn't shocking when he asked Lee Kang to write the end of the story, even when they were still unaware of it.
Given how unstable he is from the start with Lee Kang at certain things, denying at the initial stage only to accept and give in to the venturing broken pride of his.
As if, and really as Lee Kang was waiting for the exact call, he used the moments to his own satisfaction, writing a special story and making Mun Oh taste the bittersweet of reality.

However, it didn't meet my expectations when I became aware that Lee Kang's whole doing was just for the mistreatment of Mun Ho 12 years ago. I would have loved to see much more depth and growing insight into the psychological behavior of adult Lee Kang.

I liked Choi Hyun Wook's dynamics with everyone in the drama; regardless of a huge age gap, his unwavering chemistry bonded the strength and quality.
Still, in disappointment with how Mun Oh wasted his years and career, along with his wife's, the ending with his wife satisfied me, but the to-be-continued felt unnecessary. But as of now, as pleasing as it is to see Hyun Wook in a thriller concept and not all stories need pure suspense, I still welcome it.

This story exposes the dark side of creative writing and mentorship.
Not every teacher-student bond is healthy; it can be toxic. It opens the truth of reality, how unresolved trauma and fragile egos play a huge role in lives.
As Mun Oh thinks he is using Lee Gang to live out his successful writing career, he never had, while Lee Kang acts as the ultimate manipulator, feeding Mun Oh's greed and desperation.

The psychological depth of this story is that when you let envy, jealousy, and past insults write your future, you end up destroying not only your own life but also the lives of everyone who loves you.

Kudos to the cast and the team for this amazing show!

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