It started off great then fell flat

I was very excited for this show because we were getting another story that wasn't highschool/college centred, and the BL genre needs more shows like that. Initially the series showed great potential but unfortunately it didn't fully deliver. The first half of the series was quite good. It was exciting, the characters were really intriguing and the chemistry between the main couple was excellent. There were some plot holes especially with the Singlehood rule, but they were things that could be looked past.

What the show really struggled with was pacing. Initially the slow pacing worked well to tease the audience but eventually it began to drag and felt like the director and writers were trying to stretch 8 episodes of material into 12. The most frustrating part were the main characters, Jin Yu Zhen and Shi Lei who both repeatedly continued to not make a move on each other. It became severely frustrating. Then when the show became uninteresting around the 10th episode, the writers tried to add a new character which initially did bring some interest but the plot continued to get weaker and less interesting.

Okay, so back to what I actually liked about the show? Again Aaron and Hank's chemistry was good and they are both so good looking. The side couples were sort of interesting, but not enough to cover up my frustrations with the main couple. The straight couple didn't really get much screen time but I still liked them and they were funny sometimes. The acting for me was excellent and the production quality was top tier. So I must commend those who were responsible for that.

I believe this series may be more interesting if you binge it. Waiting every week for 25minutes and seeing basically no progress is almost torture.

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A Repetitive Jealousy Story

This show really had the potential to be great but the execution of the story made it hard to love. I think the characters could have been very enjoyable to watch and at the start they all were. Unfortunately, after we got halfway through the series it started going downhill and from the ninth episode onwards it became a complete trainwreck.

Acting:
The acting in this show was absolutely amazing. It was really exciting to see all the actors from BLs we had seen in the past. We had BL royalty Singto, but we alsosaw actors from shows like Until We Meet Again, Love by Chance, Y the Series, Together With Me, Oxygen, The Shipper (sort of BL), and Lovely Writer. I really wish Bruce had played a bigger part in this show. The actors portrayal of their characters was fantastic and even though I didn't like some of the characters their chemistry was great.

Additionally, the chemistry between Singto and Tae was brilliant and it's probably the main thing I liked about this show. Yoon and Yacht were really great too and I wish they got a bit more screen time. It was great seeing Yacht acting in a BL couple as a more introvert person, as much as I love seeing him play more playful roles.

Camera Work and Editing:
The overall production was fantastic. The filming quality was extremely high. The show was beautiful to watch and the colours were fantastic. It was also great to see the beautiful art produced. The camera work was really great and helped in telling the story to the audience.

Writing:
The writing in Paint With Love was all over the place and is what I'm going to discuss the most. Paint With Love has a good premise. I love to see non-college BLs. Using art and painting as a big part of the storyline was very original. Initially it was meeting my expectations, Maze and Phap had the opposites attract thing going on and we also had an workplace story going with all the accidents. I was hoping to see both Maze and Phap make each other better people and see them tackle the work place. Unfortunately we didn't get that.

The writing really struggled to make me feel emotions that were trying to be conveyed. For example when Maze in episode 11 felt sad that Phap had left to Japan, it was almost like we were meant to feel sorry for him, but I honestly couldn't garner any ounce of sympathy for him since he treated Phap like shit for most of the show. Another example was Nueng's attempts to make Maze feel his true feelings by saying awful things about Phap. It really felt like an attempt to make him like some hero but he just came off as a prick and bully. Worse yet Maze never defended him.

Another issue I had with the writing was Maze's character was so inconsistent. He had three different personalities in this show - the professional stoic one, the kind sweet softie, the cunning guy (in episode 11). Also there was no development to each one. Basically the writers picked which ever one would serve their purpose for each scene. Unfortunately this lack of consistency made Maze annoying because half the time I was thinking why is he behaving like this now.

The misunderstanding conflict plot lines were the most annoying and overused part of the show. The main one being Maze and Nueng as lovers which was used countless times to drive a wedge between Maze and Phap, and Nueng and Tharn anytime any of these couples made any progress. Keeping the misunderstanding plot going, got in the way of any development of the romance and the characters. Maze was still quite a selfish prick even up until episode 10/11 and Phap had barely changed too. Any real development appeared to happen in episode 12 and this was limited. This made for an unsatisfying resolution when the couples did finally properly get together.

I think there would have been potential in the sabotage plotline a bit further and got rid of the repeated jealousy scenes. I still want to know who took out Nueng with that jetski.

Extra Note:
I want to talk about episode 11 because it was the most confusing. Episode 11 felt like a completely different director took over. We saw Maze and Nae break the fourth wall which was weird to me because the director hadn't chosen to engage the audience in any previous episode. Then we had this sort of deviation of Maze, Nae, Tharn, and Nueng tackling Pookie even though both were broken hearted. I have an issue with how transwoman are used in BLs. It seems all too common to vilify them. I was also disappointed that the way they took Pookie down was not by proving she is rips people off but finding out she sexual assaulted. It really ruined the suaveness of the Maze and Nae take down.

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Wholesome short series

This show was quite enjoyable to watch. It's a quick series (movie length long). The characters and plots was straight forward yet interesting. We got the classic opposite personality trope from the two mains, so don't expect anything too original. There was almost no real drama. It is a Chinese drama so obviously the BL is only subtext but I still really liked. It felt less queer baiting than Advance Bravely (maybe because I knew what I was in for this time). The characters all had their own past that had clearly attributed to their personality. Also, it was awesome to see the two mains grow in their relationship with each other, see there good chemistry, and how the two of them being together made them better people. I quite recommend this series if you're looking for something relaxing to watch. It is a maximum 1hr 45mins long, so there is not much to lose.

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Masterpiece... if the story was fleshed more

I really loved this show. It was so fantastic. The cast chemistry was so good and the characterisations were absolutely brilliant probably some of the best characters in a BL.

The characters were probably the best part of the show. I was amazed with the detail put into each character's personality and background and how that directly carried through into their actions. For example, Akk comes from a humble upbringing and every action he does goes to trying to make his parents proud. We see it from Ayan who begins to conform to the system because his boyfriend and we slowly begin to see him lose his steadfast values. The characters also beautifully develop as the show progresses and we see the effect each one has on the other.

The one thing I am impressed in the show is that the queer identity was really well told. I feel that a lot of BLs are written from the perspective of two straight guys who turn gay for each other, so it was nice to follow Akk's storyline. We saw him struggling with his sexual identity and and how difficult it was for him and the work that was required. It felt massively realistic and authentic.

If I'm going to be completely honest, the show did fall a bit flat in the story department. I thought the way the major conflicts - Dika's death and mysteries of the trouble makers was neglected throughout a significant part of the show where some of the romance and character storylines stretched out too much. The story resolutions were also a bit weak. The Dika's death and Eclipse storylines were somewhat surprising but didn't give the full satisfaction it should have given especially with how I felt like there was too many easy resolutions in this show. Firstly the short film decoy felt very weak to me and after the way Thua going to all this trouble to keep the curse up and vented his frustrations would agree to do the short film felt unusual. The resolutions felt very easy and minimised the seriousness of the conflicts that had depicted.

Overall it's a really good watch with a bit of a few weak storylines. I definitely recommend this to everyone watch it though and I hope to see more BLs like this.

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Annoying and Average

This was better than Hero but wow it again is such a weak story. Maybe because the show is so short, there isn't time to fully develop a good story. I don't to spoil too much but I'll just talk about the issues.
Firstly, step siblings dating is still weird for me. I could barely get past that.
However, the show was ruined the most by the fetishizing friend's behaviour. It was disgusting. I wanted to smack her face several times during the show. When being a wingwoman there is a massive difference between doing it because you genuinely care and doing it to fulfil a sexualising fantasy. She was the latter sadly. I mean she was rarely there to see the good chemistry between them. Giving that fake present was the worst part and is not how you wingwoman. At least she apologised though.

But yeah HIStory has sort of disappointed me so far.

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It was my guilty please

A lot of the reviews were written prior to the show ending due to confusion over how many episodes there were going to be. So hopefully this one will give a clearer picture.

This show was a straight up mess, but it had a certain charm that made me (and others) want to come back every week to see what new is going to be there. It was definitely my guilty pleasure. The story was not really original but the chemistry between the two leads, Nut and Satha was interesting and felt different to any I have seen on screen. The feel of the show in terms of filming style had a sort of polished amateurish feel to it.

The story was the major problem with this show. It was all over the place especially at the beginning. At the start there was a lot of nonsensical scenes. For example a teacher who had zero relevance to the plot, had a scene(s) that took ~30% of an episode. In that same episode we barely saw anything from the two mains. As the show progressed we got more of a focus on the main plot and the leads, but it is very strange the number of scenes and events that I can recall which didn't develop anywhere.

The acting in this show was not bad. Of course no one here will be winning an Emmy but everyone did a great job especially since quite a few were first time actors. The music was probably the best parts of this show. Tawan is a pretty good musician and pretty good looking. One other positive I want to mention is the actual queer representation in this show instead of the straight guy who happens to have a thing for this one guy. That is a huge plus and explore (for a tiny bit) coming to terms with your sexuality.

Do I recommend this show? Only if you have a passion for trashy tv. It definitely was a guilty pleasure show. I say give it a chance and if you don't like it you can drop. While watching it a lot of people fast forwarded through scenes so don't feel convicted to watch all of it. Anything to get through it!!

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Not a bad show

Hidden Love is probably one of the most original BLs I have seen to date. I would call it a mystery romance type show because of it's complex plot with a few twists and turns. Apart from Bad Romance I haven't seen anything similar in the genre and that's what makes this show exciting and interesting. It also, low key reminds me of Until We Meet Again where we go on this journey with the characters and find out about their past and what happened to them.

The acting in this show is pretty good. I have no major complaints. The two mains Kim and Tha did lack intimacy at times that to be honest, I couldn't really believe that they liked each other or that they were together (2gether 2.0). Wit and Win the ghosts were much more interesting and believable as a couple in this show and made the show. The show has a good amount of humour which worked most of the time. Other times it was corny but it was definitely a style the director was going for.

Parts of the show did drag out a lot and there were quite a few replay scenes that weren't necessary. I honestly think it could have been done in 10 episodes instead of 14 and it would have made a greater impact. There also quite a few plot holes one of them major one which made me wonder if I missed some scenes where the characters lost their memory. Some scenes/episodes felt quite disjointed from each other where what was established changed in a weird way.

Also, people did complain about the special effects but to me it was good and served it's purpose, especially for the budget of this show.

I don't want to spoil anymore but I would recommend this show if you're looking for something that's less feel good but not your average BL. I wasn't blown away by the BL portion but nonetheless it's satisfying show.

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A really solid show

This show is simply fantastic. They got the balance right with this one. A great story that is unique in the BL world, good humour, excellent love interests. What I really love about this show is that it's something I haven't seen before. It was really enjoyable. I am so use to Thai cinematography, the Japanese style and culture was refreshing for me.

The portrayal of the characters is a core reason why this show is fantastic. Adachi the nervous quiet guy. Kurosawa the overachiever. Tsuge, Adache's friend both have similar personalities. It's one of the first times I've really believed two people are friends in any show. Sato who is a confident but shy girl and pure hearted. Also, we got some back story into why they behaved the way they do.

Adachi and Kurosawa's relationship is fantastic, and we saw it evolve into something mature. Their chemistry was different and I love it for that. It's weird to describe but at times it felt more of friendship. It didn't feel sexual but of course that element was present. I felt they were attracted to each other because of who they are and how they made each other feel. I also loved the scene where they talked about their relationship that Adachi also wanted Kurosawa to enjoy the dates and do things he likes to do, not solely concentrate on making Adachi have fun. The scene showed a beautiful example of communication and them becoming more vulnerable with each other.

Definitely give this show a watch. It really is a beautiful and hilarious one.

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A Good Amateur Production

Friend or Lover was quite sweet and well done. It does have a number of flaws but because it's a small production I am very impressed with what has been achieved. For the amateur production sphere, I would actually give the show an 8. The show follows 4 friends at university and as we start to learn about them, we realise that two of them have mutual feelings for them. Sadly, both have a back stories with crime which could prevent them from actually being together. Part of the show explores this and how their struggles to understand and accept their feelings.

I thought the acting in this show was decent. It wasn't perfect but the actors were able to convey the story well enough that I could be invested watching it. For the actual plot and writing, it was a bit over the place, but it did come together in the end. If it was a longer show, I did wish it visited more stuff it introduced like jealousy in the friendship group and the stories of the other friends.

I really appreciate the efforts of the actors and every else involved involved in this production and I really hope we get to see more BL content from them. I recommend this show if you're looking something sweet to watch on a Sunday afternoon. It is total ~50mins which is not a huge investment.

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Lacked substance

I thought this show really lacked any substance. It was 8 episodes long but if you asked me what happened, it would just be shy guy was obsessed with new artist guy. Shy guy finally meets when gets signed at the label he works for. He then disappears after shy guy kisses him. Then some how they end up together. Idk how they ended up together? It just happened no build up it felt very disjointed. It was weird how they built up this story of the guy becoming a new artist and then boom his dad who own the parent record company, doesn't want him being an artist so he can't. He then just settles for making music with shy guy. Happily ever after; the end. I felt there could have been more important things to concentrate on.

Production wise cinematography was beautiful, acting was quite good, it was only the story which was seriously weak. To My Star which was also made for Viki had the same short format, and a lot of unanswered questions but as a show it felt complete and was quite beautiful.

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Actually really good

When I first started watching this show, initially I was like this is a dumb a BL. A girl who switches back from a guy who is trying to impress her crush in guy form but she doesn't want to be a guy. This is gonna be a repeat of The Shipper (which ended up being terrible), but after the first episode I was so intrigued. It is probably one of the top BL's I've watched in terms of an interesting plot. Warning though the BL portion is not the centre fold of the show. One thing I really liked about the show apart from the reveals and suspense is the depth each character had and how real and relatable they were. I honestly feel like I learnt a lot from this show, which I can't say that about many shows.

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What a mess

Chonlatee was honestly a mess. The show had a strong start. Interesting characters which had their quirks. Na (Neo) was my favourite so adorable and funny. Production wise the show was pretty good. I had no problem with the quality of filming. The script started off alright but unfortunately went from worse to disaster by the end of the show. Quite bad pacing. Character's unrealistically changing or accepting situations no mad person would accept.

What completely destroyed the show was the ending for me. It was as bad and problematic as you can get. The resolution to Ton's homophobic father is finding out he just wants an heir, so Miriam has a baby with Ton as sort of a surrogate to satisfy him but Ton and Chon can be together. It's honestly fucked up. Also Chon is the god father??? Like idk what sort of family they are planning to raise the kid under and the relationship Ton and Chon would have. Who will parent the kid, Mirian, his parents, Ton and Chon??? It is framed as a happy ending but honestly some deluded person thought this is an uplighting way to end a comedy. I would have preferred Ton and Chon not end up together honestly or they could have adopted when they were ready to have kids??

There were many other issues but I've seen other reviews cover them.

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