4
10
1
2
This review may contain spoilers
One Terrible "Family"
Overall: with a "family" like that who needed enemies? 8 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-CpzQszt3GyMqPTQVMO_rbvSt6-YUvAgContent Warning: non/dub con kiss, punch, manipulation, gaslighting, attempted suicide episode 8
What I Like
- beachy/relaxed setting
- sweet moments
Room For Improvement
- that "family" was total trash and they had zero consequences for constantly lying/gaslighting him
- a character swore he would be his memories and when he really needed to do that....he didn't
- open ending
- timeline/what was happening was a bit confusing in the beginning but it was cleared up in episode 1 part 4
- unethical doctor and terrible brother
- nonsense stuff: why didn't a main character have a journal or video diary right away, why wouldn't him and the other ML come up with a plan as they could have easily guessed what would happen the next morning
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This review may contain spoilers
unique premise
Overall: the confusing plot (though intentional) and distrust that the main romance was real made me not invested in this series. Major ending spoiler in the comments. Adapted from the book "Mystique in the Mirror" by Patrick III Rangsimant which I haven't read and this review is based on the series. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/mystique-in-the-mirror-episode-1-13h4cxtv8zg?lang=en_usContent Warnings: held against will (complicated), non con kiss (complicated), past death, death, grief
What I Liked
- a different premise
- that we couldn't see the ending/it was unpredictable
- fantastic finale
Room For Improvement
- the suspense was more confusing so it didn't keep me hooked
- since I doubted the main romance, I was never fully invested in it
- dubious medical ethics (I'm not a doctor, but some of the medical stuff felt dramalandish)
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This review may contain spoilers
brace yourself
Overall: I'm tried my best to see this through a fictional lens and the actors did a fantastic job, but I couldn't support the romance aspect which up until the end of episode 14 was about power and control aka abuse and not love. Adapted from the web novel “Si Mian Fo” by Su Erliang which I haven't read and I am reviewing this series based on its own merits. 15 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/41277c-to-my-shore (Americas, Europe, Oceania, India, Middle East, Japan and South Korea); GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6027/to-my-shore-2025-e01 (not in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, India, Middle East, Japan and South Korea) and Heavenly in South KoreaContent Warnings: past (deaths, bullying, unwanted outing/homophobia); current (sexual assault, manipulation, intimate partner abuse, drugging, non con video recording, violence, self harm mentioned and shown, PTSD/trauma, vomiting, intimate partner abuse, non con turned consensual, coercion, repeated rape not explicitly shown (this was coerced and not freely given consent))
Watch Suggestions (this will focus on sweet moments, but there are still visits to grave sites and other things)
- episode 5 watch 16:40-29:50
- episode 6 watch 3:30-15:35, 17:30-21:20, 21:35-27, 34:50-end
- episode 7 watch 6:10-10, 20-22
- episode 8 watch 7:40-15:30
- skip episodes 9, 10, 11 and 12
- episode 13 watch 26-39:30
- episode 14 watch 4-17:45 and 29:30-end (for a character to finally understand/apologize)
- episode 15 watch 30-end
What I Liked
- acting
- that they have a slightly more balanced power dynamic and one guy defends himself
- the obsessed chemistry vibe
Room For Improvement
- I cannot support a character in a romantic relationship, he abused/emotionally tortured the supposed love of his life and continued to do so until the end of episode 14. A few "I'm sorry" were not enough of a redemption arc. He consistently put his own happiness over the one he claimed to love. The other guy was not mutually abusive, anything bad he did was in response to the abuser's abuse. There was a time skip but as a viewer it felt no time had passed which did not help with the supposed redemption arc
- the crown was odd
- too much time spent on 1 character in the beginning
- odd music over a flashback
- multiple guys were obsessed with another guy
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grief, healing, love
Overall: it's a sweet story of grief, healing and love with a tinge of danger/mystery. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GMMTV's YouTube channel (not in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan) https://youtu.be/akIaydwc0Mk?si=lWlPxAJ42JNf5G51Content Warning: attempted murder, blood, past death, grief, manipulation
What I Liked
- the bickering/opposites dynamic
- sweet and caring moments
- mystery element
- working thru grief
- they had some good communication
Room For Improvement
- pacing was a bit slow in parts
- villain was obvious
- ex was unnecessary
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Fah was the best character (watch suggestions)
Overall: the other three characters annoyed me at various times. 10 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on Viu and GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6115/love-alert-2025 (not available in Thailand, Japan or Korea).Content Warnings: slap, manhandling, blackmail, non con video recording/picture taking, intimate partner emotional abuse, manipulation, intimate partner physical abuse off screen, manipulation, vomiting
Watch Suggestions (to focus on sweet/steamy)
episode 1 start at 20:15 minutes-38
episode 2 watch 20-21:30, 24:20-26:30, 32:30-32:15, 42-end
episode 3 watch 19-25, 38:30-end
episode 4 watch beginning-7:30, 34:50-38
episode 5 watch 10-11:45, 13:45-15, 25:05-26:05, 37:45-42
skip episode 6
episode 7 watch 10:30-14:35, 34:20-35:50
episode 8 watch 36:20-37:20 side, 45-47:30
episode 9 watch 25:40-28:50
episode 10 watch 22:30-26:15, 30-34:40, 42:30-end
What I Liked
- Fah
- easy to understand premise
- some things were so ridiculous they are funny (like massaging the meat was supposedly sexy lmao)
- visuals
- characters didn't shy away from intimacy
- non cliche love rivals
Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward and then went back to 3 months before
- writers wrote Jimmy as more than just a jerk, he was abusive so I didn't want him in a relationship with anyone
- the redemption arc of Jimmy becoming an alcoholic, crying all the time and manhandling when he was apologizing was insufficient
- I needed Toh to have a villain era
- music did not fit some scenes
- time spent on love triangles
- odd how the younger brother said the older brother couldn't date (update, as the plot went on I could see where the brother was coming from)
- how the younger brother didn't just tell another character what was happening in episode 4
- Teh hated a character and suddenly was nice to him?!!!
- (neutral) comedy sound effects, they weren't as bad as some other series
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one of my favorites to re-watch
Overall: this is mostly a fluffy coming of age romance. Originally aired on Youtube. Later available on GagaOOLala in the vertical format https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/verticals/7116/location-2024What I Liked
- sweet moments
- good intimacy
- the ending was both realistic and cute
Room For Improvement
- there is the cliche saw something and then assumed/ghosted
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sweet quirky ensemble series
Overall: I hope we get a season 2 and more romantic development. 12 episodes around 10 minutes each. Aired on Eggknock YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpb6V1lHbY0riPy9cjNAnrDS6h7FxkQkk&si=bCahkWrkf6WZphbfWhat I Liked
- likeable/realistic cast of characters
- chuckled a few times
Room For Improvement
- this was a slow burn, wish we had a bit more for the final episode
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The Scheming Subordinate Waits for the Night.
1 people found this review helpful
way to a man's heart is through his stomach (vertical series)
Overall: I enjoyed the younger guy's personality and approach. 30 short episodes. Aired on GagaOOLala.What I Liked
- the scheming subordinate, liked how he didn't resort to blackmail
- age gap romance
- the coworker was not a cliche love rival
Room For Improvement
- could have used more than a forehead kiss in the finale
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This review may contain spoilers
lackluster vertical series
Overall: note that this is not a BL series, there is a small BL part to it. I was annoyed by all of the lead characters at various points. 50 short episodes. 1-5 for free on the Shortime app. The rest you can watch for free by watching ads. My referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus.Content Warnings: intimate partner abuse/violence (including choking), manipulation, mental health struggles, likely more that I'm forgetting
What I Liked
- the gay couple, though there was very little of them
- character growth with the lead guy
Room For Improvement
- all of the lead characters were annoying at various points
- it seemed the abuser and the professor would have some consequences, but I wanted to see him in jail which I realize is unrealistic but at least in fictional media jail time for an abuser would be nice to see
- the stupid jingle at the end of each episode including some that were very serious
- "comedy" sound effects
- odd camera work
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what was the point?
Overall: 3 guys are all inexplicably into another guy who then has relationships with all 3 at the same time??? (but not in a consensual together way like a poly relationship) 39 episodes about 2 minutes each. Aired on Shortime, my referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) .What I Liked
- visuals
- easy to understand premise
Room For Improvement
- how was I supposed to root for any relationships as it seemed like cheating???
- did not feel chemistry, the 1 sided kissing did not help
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This review may contain spoilers
fell flat
Overall: I didn't take off points for the ending, but the way they accomplished it made me feel nothing, it didn't hit like it should have. 44 short episodes, 1-7 are free to watch. Aired on the Shortime app. My invite link (you get a bonus) is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i). If you do all of the rewards it will take about 2 days to watch the series for free.Content Warnings: death, illness, manipulation
What I Liked
- the dream in episode 33
- brother kind of redeemed himself
Room For Improvement
- not enough romantic relationship between them, I think one scene was more of a dream
- showed a side character as the stereotypical handsy/comedy character
- if he grew up with sight and then recently lost it, I think his eyes would track where someone was speaking from
- choppy between 33 and 34
- with the 1 guy having a girlfriend/ex girlfriend it felt like a gay for you trope
- no idea why his eyes would be blue at the end? (I looked it up online and it doesn't make sense)
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better than the series
Overall: the original series was about 200 minutes. They cut stuff out and this is 96 minutes. If I had edited it, I would have made a few changes and given it an 8 but their edited movie version I'm giving 7.5 https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6179/sweetheart-service-the-movie-2025Here is my original review, most of which is still true https://mydramalist.com/profile/blcompilations/review/453724
Content Warnings: coercion, punch, stalking mentioned
What I Liked
- they cut out the bloated/slow plot and made it focus more on the MLs which was good
Room For Improvement
- they should have cut even more of the brother being oddly possessive
- they cut out the scene of them getting the key chains, but then showed them several times
- if they had had any footage of scenes with the side couple flirting, they should have included them and tried to develop that relationship more (didn't take off points for this though)
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didn't feel the chemistry
Overall: 8 episodes about 8 minutes each. Aired on Lovememory YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwW9ZsuS2FnYxGa2hkgRv7hMGCneDNfdA&si=XMjQlQBH_K9FXIr_Content Warnings: manipulation, manhandling, college professor/student (did not bother me)
What I Like
- a forthright character
- a character talked about something right away to get answers in episode 3
Room For Improvement
- did not feel chemistry
- some awkward kissing
- why did a character lie about his feelings? it didn't seem that he had that low of self esteem
- the line "you can use me and throw me away"
- hopefully it was a mistranslation but the line in eps 6/7 that all female students were pitiful
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This review may contain spoilers
start at episode 44
Overall: I did not find the actions/approach of the ML romantic. You can start at episode 44 to skip that. 50 episodes about 2 minutes each, 1-5 free on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LvtMmuuDqE Aired on the Shortime app, My referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus.Content Warnings: non con kisses, manhandling, non con picture taking/sharing/outing, punch, fight
What I Liked
- supportive sister
- visuals
- tried to clear something up right away
- good kissing (when finally it was mutually wanted)
Room For Improvement
- the non con/ignoring boundaries
- quack noises
- several times jumps
- that a character didn't recognize another character
- love rival
- too many flashbacks
- the "I don't like guys"
- fought over him like he was an object and not a person
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This review may contain spoilers
enemies to lovers vertical series
Overall: this is an over the top vertical series and I judged it based on vertical series of a similar style. Aired on iQIYI app, 1-6 free, 50 total episodes around 2 minutes eachContent Warnings: beaten up, non con touching, sort of kidnapping, slaps, non con video recording/sharing/outing, sexual assault, attempted murder, manipulation, drugged, beaten up
What I Liked
- the dad
- apologized for what his family did
- admitted it, didn't try the noble idiot trope
- helped each other
- I did laugh a few times
Room For Improvement
- comedy sound effects
- "I'm supposed to be the top" and doing it when being drugged was involved
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