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Blueming korean drama review
Completed
Blueming
5 people found this review helpful
by kimco
Apr 2, 2022
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Refreshing, tasteful and mature, more than just BL. ITSAY vibes without the melodrama

I absolutely loved this. It's so refreshing in many ways, especially if you’ve watched your fair share of BLs. These characters act like real people who organically like each other without the need of a love triangle or extenuating circumstance to push them to admit they like each other or god forbid, that they like a man. There’s no cliché oops I fell and kissed you, no evil ex partners etc.

Story: There’s a distinct element of sincerity to this story. It’s a simple love story without the standard BL tropes wasting screen time. For a South Korean BL web series with short episodes- this one doesn’t have the jarring pacing or lack of depth that most other KBL web series suffer from. It really comes off as more of a well-paced movie if anything. You don’t feel like you’re missing anything and the only time where I felt like there was any moment that could even be considered boring or filler was in the last episode as the main conflict wasn’t one that needed a lot of screen time, so they bulked it out a bit more than needed.

There’s real people with complex relationships with their families in this series, which I found quite relatable as well. It’s rare in BLs these days where I find some value to the story outside of the BL component. These non-BL scenarios usually come off more like filler and aren’t that deep in most BLs. But in this one they actually add to the story. I LOVED Si Won’s plotline with his mother as that was so relatable to me and their pinnacle scene together where their feelings come to a head was more realistic to what I think would happen in most families in real life- rather than being an idealized happy ending moment where everyone says sorry and admits their faults.

There are real kisses in this, especially top tier if comparing them to a lot of awkward KBL kisses. They look like they actually want to kiss each other. The scene on the beach stole my heart with the innocence and realism to it. The love-making scene isn’t something I would even call a NC scene like I would with most in Thai BLs for example- because it was legitimately a romantic, genuine, mature and beautifully shot scene.

Acting/Cast: Both male leads were fantastic. Their interactions with each other were so fluid and believable. I loved every glance, smile, conversation and kiss. Looking at the actor’s profiles, I think this may be due to the fact that unlike a lot KBLs these days- they went with actors rather than KPOP idols. Where I feel like a lot of the idol turned BL actors don’t commit as much to the role and are clearly awkward with the kissing scenes. Even the side characters in this are enjoyable, they can all act well and for once I enjoyed all the side stories rather than wanting to fast-forward through them.
This was filmed beautifully and had a lot more visually interesting shots than say 80% of BLs. This filming style and the music reminded me of ITSAY as it had that kind of more artsy, thoughtful style too it. Although I enjoyed this series a 100% more than ITSAY as the melodrama of ITSAY was too high for me where this story was more realistic and enjoyable IMO.

Music: The music is great in this. There is not one song I found lacking and each perfectly fit with the scene.

Rewatch Value: There aren’t many BLs I rewatch- but I will rewatch this one in future. It’s just beautiful in my opinion. The subtle and natural looking interactions between the MLs is enough for me to rewatch- seeing how much Si won makes Da Un smile by just being who he is. Their chemistry is lovely.
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