I loved this! Must watch!

I mostly watch Thai BL, but stumbled across Gameboys last year and enjoyed it immensely. So I decided to try another Filipino BL story. I am so glad I watched this series. Like I mention a couple times below, this story hit home a quite a bit. Mando and I grew up in vastly different eras, different countries, and different cultures yet so much of this felt similar to what I went through growing up. So whoever wrote this probably was drawing from some personal experience here.

Just to get this out of the way, I think Alex Diaz and Kokoy de Santos are gorgeous. And they do a very good job acting for being somewhat newer actors, or at least somewhat newer lead actors. Kokoy in particular does a very good job with his emotions, and making everything seem very realistic. And good for him that he doesn't shy away from playing LGBT+ roles. Mando's coming out scene to his father felt very familiar to me, and was very authentic feeling. I was the same blubbering mess many ages ago. And kudos to Alex for embracing being out especially under the circumstances of his outing. I think both of these guys will go far in the industry if they want to.

In fact, all the actors and actresses did a pretty convincing job in this series, I am not sure I would have cast the series any other way. Even the antagonist girl role, Krisha, didn't annoy me like they sometimes do. And I while we are discussing Krisha, I am of the opinion she brought on most of the heartache herself. I feel a tiny bit sympathetic to how she found out about Mando and Barry, but she was so wrapped up in being a couple with Mando she missed every clue that was right in her face. She was pushy, and I think she pressured Mando a bit too much into the relationship. Again this was familiar to me, I had a "girlfriend" back in high school that did the same thing to me. I would have never dated her or even gave her a second thought if she hadn't been so assertive. And like Mando, I dated her to fit in and see what happened even though I knew I was gay. And I was just as uncomfortable as Mando was in the resort kissing scene with Krisha. If left on his own without Krisha's interference, I think Mando's story would have played out a lot differently. Mando and Barry probably would have had a more natural courting and dating experience. But hey, then we wouldn't have had this story!

The story itself is good, but I would have loved to see a couple more episodes as to go a bit deeper into things. It was a nice change of pace from the engineering student who trips, and ends up falling on and kissing the straight guy who is only gay for one person. This series does seem to leave a few things out here and there (Barry's mental health and recovery, and there is a whole Summer before the last scenes as a couple examples), but overall the pacing was very good. It keeps your attention thought. In many Thai series, they would have had 14 episodes of one hour each to tell this same story, so to get through this in 3 hours is pretty amazing. I would love to see a part 2, and have these the lead actors explore their relationship further.

I just wish that this and many other series were more readily available on Youtube or elsewhere for international audiences. I don't like using shady sites to watch these series, and would love to be able to watch on official sites so the production company and everyone else gets the views and revenue they deserve. But when they restrict viewing by region, or when they have no way to legally watch the content, it is very tempting to find somewhere else to watch. In the 21st century with the internet and the world in general being connected. I find it a very odd decision to limit your audience like many of these companies do.

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This is worth watching, it is a great film.

This is a short movie that is very cute and has a nice message. The story is to the point and without any drama, fights, 3rd wheels interfering, and so on. It is just a simple love story. The two guys start out by not getting along so well, but things quickly progress.

The actors are gorgeous, and they did a terrific job for this being one of their only films. I hope to see them get additional projects in the future.

The whole thing is less than 20 minutes long, and there is no filler. The last scene is adorable, and I would love to see another episode to see where this led.

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Interesting series totally wrecked by bad subtitles.

This was a cute series turned bad by lousy production, specifically the atrocious subtitles. It took this from what could have been an enjoyable series to one where I struggled to follow along at times. My low rating is mostly due to this. I barely made it to the end, I almost dropped this series a couple times.

I have watched well over 150 BL series, and none were this bad for subtitles, not even the ones done by volunteer or amateur subbers that you find on those sketchy websites. There were delayed, missing, and inaccurate subtitles. Also ones that flashed across the screen and promptly disappeared, and other times were overlapping on other subtitles. I even put this off for a few weeks hoping they would fix the subtitles, but nothing seems to have changed throughout the series. They also even named one of the titles of the series wrong! (EP 11-4 is titled 10-4) This is either laziness, or incompetence, not sure which.

The premise is unique, a guy who cannot eat alone. That plot is one I don't think we have seen before. It has some interesting cameos by many BL actors. This series is (or would be) a good filler for in-between a more "serious" series. It is light hearted, clean, and inoffensive. There isn't much more than a hug between friends, so it isn't even a BL series, just a story of friendship and loneliness. It is neat that Diew always wears a certain color clothing. And the other actors have their favorite colors too, watch for that.

Some comments were made about how Diew needs psychological help. Maybe that is true, and they did address it a bit throughout the series, but that sort of misses the point of the series I think.

Also note the cameo of the apartment building where TharnType and a few other series were set. (Diew/Mix apartments) That building needs to have billing in the credits, it appears more than some actors have in BL series!

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The plot of this is ridiculous, but not in a bad way.

The fabricated plot here is that Tay tries to set up Jenny on a date with his friends. This is just a very light hearted and fun series with lots of joking around between Tay and Jenny as well as the guests. Tay and Jenny are hilarious, and have great rapport. There is no romance or drama or much of anything like that, so move on if you are looking for that.

The whole series is pretty much a commercial for Est cola, and some Thai restaurants. There are some very corny ads for Est cola in various places throughout the shows, but they are not anything like a Western TV commercial, and not obtrusive. The restaurants and food are interesting to see. The food looks yummy, I would love to be able to try some of these restaurants someday.

Overall I would say it is a great filler while you are waiting for a longer or more serious series to become available. I would compare it to TayNew Meal Date, or OffGun's Mommy Taste series if you have watched those.

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After reading these reviews, I think some are a bit harsh. Sure this isn't a full-featured Hollywood production with their budget and production values, but it is fine for what it is. I have seen many popular soap operas from USA and Mexico that had worse plots than this. I think most of these Thai BL movies all have similar plot holes and "why did they do that?" moments, and this isn't really any worse or different in that regard.

I can see where people might want the amped up drama, but some of these series are way over the top. This was more of a sweet story of boys falling in love without too much frivolous melodrama or crazy sound effects. I like how this was different than many of the Thai BL series which are centered around school. In this series there are a lot of real life, day-to-day type settings and situations . The story didn't seem all that out of the ordinary for teenage boys and how they talk and interact in real life.

The actors are cute, and Mork/Tee and Morn/Gord have good chemistry. Acting was pretty good for young inexperienced actors. I hope to see more of all these actors in the future. There were a few racy/sexy scenes, but no actual sex which I think is nice compared to American TV where they seem to jump into bed within 10 minutes of the opening. I seem to see that trend in many of the Thai BL series which is refreshing.

There are some production quality issues, and oddly they often seem to be worse in the later episodes. Sound quality is poor at times, but luckily I am watching English subtitled so that doesn't affect things too much. I feel sorry for the translators though, it couldn't have been easy deciphering the dialog. The story could have cut a few scenes and expanded a few others, but overall I get where they were going with the plot.

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A slice of life

Some may not have liked this, but I did. It is a more realistic view of life than a lot of dramas, and some of it is almost too realistic. This series takes the boys from young kids (grade school) to college age, then working adults. This isn't a pure romantic novel, but there are relationships and love throughout the series. Every one of the main characters has their own flaw, and their own weakness. It was neat to see (and remember) all the technology changes, the various apps, devices, and so on. I grew up in this era that they would have, so when they said stuff like Messenger, or Blackberry it was like a flashback to all the changes I have seen in my lifetime.

There was one odd thing I noticed. According to the cities they named, they appear to have grown up maybe 50 miles (80 km) from Bangkok, not too far from the BKK airport. Yet they never seem to visit home once they go to college. They act like it is thousands of miles (or km) away when it it should be maybe a couple hour drive at worst if you were to run into traffic. Maybe we are the odd ones here in my part of the USA, but we drive longer than that to work or to go grocery shopping in many cases. I know many people who have a summer cottage that is 3-4 hours away, and they drive there every weekend.

*Potential Spoilers Below* The characters like I mention above all had their issues. Just like everyday life.

Gun has a huge crush on Golf, and has since they were young. But he is afraid Golf won't like him for who he is. So he lies to Golf about his history and who he is. Later, after Golf is working full time Gun feels neglected. So that causes a bunch of drama. Meanwhile, Golf has also liked Gun since they were young, but has never officially met him. He is suspicious that Gun is his boyhood crush, but isn't sure of it due to what Gun told Golf when they do eventually meet in college. Golf does neglect Gun, however Golf has a reason to do so -but hasn't discussed it with Gun.

Name saw a traumatic event as a kid, and stopped talking to everyone. It wasn't until a second traumatic event happened that he had the courage to speak. It was hard on everyone around him, and even Name was so stressed out about not talking that he was thinking of doing the unthinkable. When Em was away at college, it was very stressful on Name, he didn't have any other friends. Name's Mom meant well, but did some things that weren't so nice. Name's friend Em didn't realize what he meant to Name. Eventually, they both resolve their feelings, and things are much more clear to both.

The playboy Nan falls in love with Chompu, but she has a secret. Nan thinks he is being helpful, but it is too much for Chompu, she thinks Nan is pitying her rather than loving her. Later they reconnect, and attempt to resolve their differences. It is a rough road to get to that point.

Poor Champ is so stressed out about everything. He worries about pleasing Grandpa, he worries about work, school, and everything in between. On top of the stress, he lets anger get the best of him. He won't even take time to visit family, friends, or have a lover because he is too busy and too angry to do so. Eventually he softens his views, but it takes him decades to do so. It seems he might be happier at the end of this series, but unless there is a follow up, we may never know.

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I thought it was OK, but not terrific. Lots of bad writing, editing, and directing.

Dislikes:
I didn't like how they rehashed things so much in the beginning. And it wasn't even just filling in the blanks of their story from the first series, it was like an entirely different timeline. So it was repetitive. a bit boring, and at the same time confusing. Like I sorta have seen this before, but not really.

I wonder why they couldn't they have broke this into two parts. For the first 2-3 episodes they could have kept the same basic storyline from the first series, filled in a lot of backstory and even some new content about that time. They could have even used some footage from the first series. Then for the remainder of the 10 or so episodes, bring Ae back into the story, tell about the breakup, and move forward from there. It would have made more sense than the way this actually happened.

And there was just too much crying from Ae, I get he was heartbroken, but 11 or more episodes of him sobbing was a bit much. Poor Perth must have been dehydrated from all the crying! Again, this is mostly due to the way they altered the timeline. If they would have stuck to him being dumped starting in episode 3-4, it would have made more sense.

The Tum and Tar story didn't make sense either, they butchered that timeline as well. Poor Earth deserved a much larger part, he is such a good actor. I don't know why he agreed to do this series, I am not sure I would have if I was him. And such a weird ending to that story. We are supposed to ignore their other series now? Or did something happen in between times? This would have been a great way to "burn up" some time by filling us in here.


Likes:
The side couples were great! The Tul and Hin story was terrific! This couple and their story carried the show and I hope we get more from them in the future. Yacht and Sammy are always nice to see, they should have had a larger role. Same with the other side couples, liked seeing them, and they could have expanded their roles too.

I thought that Mean and Plan did a good job with their roles. Some have described them as stiff or maybe sort of awkward between each other. I thought that kind of fit the story though, Can was confused about things in the first series so I can see how he might be awkward (at least at first) with Tin hitting on him and being new to being loved by a boy and all that.

Conclusion:
If this would have been titled something else (not LBC2) it would have been a good story. But as a sequel, it did not quite fit with part one. And I think that is what makes this bad. The scriptwriter or the original author (not sure which) just did not do a good job tying these series together or creating a sequel. The director or editor could have done a much better job with the timeline and pacing of the story.

Overall it was just sort of sloppy and not well thought out. I did like watching it (I am a sucker for any Thai BL series), but it is one of those throwaway series that was good filler more than anything else. There was nothing remarkable either way about it, except the TulHin plot. If you can ignore the whole first series, I would have probably given this a 8.5. But as part 2, it is nowhere near that good.

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