Not Much to Love

This drama was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were aspects of it that I really liked and a lot that I didn't.

Pros:
-The story of the main couple of Ae and Pete was overall sweet and endearing. Watching their relationship blossom was a treat and I enjoyed it very much. The actors had fantastic chemistry and made their relationship truly believable. I liked the fact that not everything was smooth sailing with them and appreciated the way they tackled the issues of jealousy, disagreements, and other obstacles in a relationship. I honestly wish there had been even more of them and less of all the side stories.
-Pete coming out to his mom and her acceptance was well done. I can only imagine how hard that must have been for him and for her as well, but her love for and acceptance of her son was just so beautiful. It was a very refreshing take since some dramas like to make the parents into uncompromising monsters.
-This drama dealt with a few tough issues, but the hardest one has to be the topic of rape. Those were some hard scenes to watch with Tar as he dealt with the aftermath and I think overall the show handled it tactfully and with compassion. Of course, they then negated a lot of that positive, but more on that later.
-Loved the OSTs, I have several of them added to my Spotify playlist now and enjoy listening to them still.

Cons:
-The sheer number of characters and side stories was overwhelming and hard to keep track of. Most dramas I've watched have the main story with the lead couple and maybe one or two side stories. This drama has more like three or four side stories and couples. The hardest part is that some of these stories/couples only pop up every few episodes if that and it was hard to remember who was who and what was going on exactly. Fewer characters and side stories would have been a huge improvement, in my opinion.
-There was a lot of misogyny in this drama. The way the guys talked about women, even their friends, was oftentimes flat out offensive. The relationship between Pond and Chaim honestly pissed me off because he was so incredibly misogynistic, not to mention his porn addiction. The idea of her falling for him was just too absurd especially since she seemed like an intelligent young woman. Along that same thread, the attempts to make Pond seem like a decent guy really didn't fly with me. Yes, he had a few moments where he was a decent human being, but there were far too many instances of him being an offensive jerk for me to ever warm up to him.
-I both liked and disliked the Can and Tin storyline. Once it got going, I overall enjoyed it, however, I keep getting stuck on the development of it. I still don't fully understand how they got together; the way it was done was a bit jarring. You have the two of them absolutely hating each other and then suddenly Tin has feelings for Can? There wasn't enough focus on them or on Tin's thoughts for me to find it totally believable.
-I mentioned as a positive how the show dealt with Tar's rape. That positive pretty much went out the window with Kengkla raping Techno when he was drunk and then essentially gaslighting him to be in a relationship with him. That whole sequence was just so disturbing to watch and the fact that Techno's own brother seems to have been complicit makes it even more so. This plotline should have never made it into the final show.
-Close on the heels of that last issue is the matter of incest between Tar and Tum. I've read other reviews that stated that they were stepbrothers, not blood brothers, but in the English translation of the show, there's no such distinction. Regardless, even if they are stepbrothers, its still toeing the line to an uncomfortable degree. This was another plotline that should have been scrapped.

Despite having far more cons than pros for this show, I didn't hate it. Ae and Pete's story was good enough to mostly redeem it and make it worth watching. That being said, there were some truly questionable and controversial issues with this show and a few storylines that never should have seen the light of day that really brought it down for me. I would say its worth watching at least once, just be prepared that its not all sunshine and daisies.

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Doesn't Add Much

This special episode takes place immediately after Episode 12 when Li Gong and Ze Shou get married. Ze Shou gets drunk and dreams about being back in high school with Li Gong. While both appear to be 18 years old, Ze Shou retains his memories of his current age and changes the way he handled several events in the past.

Its kind of cute, but also contains a number of flashbacks from the rest of the series that really weren't necessary. I also found it rather distasteful that Ze Shou got drunk at their wedding to the point that he has to be physically carried. I was honestly impressed that Li Gong was so unaffected by it because if that had been my wedding, I would have been pissed at my husband getting so completely drunk. But then again, he knows Ze Shou best and loves him regardless of his flaws.

Ze Shou's dream contains some cute moments, though the jealousy aspect feels a bit weird considering these are all events that occurred 10 years prior and they literally just got married, but it also doesn't really add anything to the story. I honestly lost interest partway through. But it's only a half hour long, so I can't really complain. I can't say whether or not anyone should watch it, but you're not missing out on anything if you skip it.

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The Siblings Are The Only Thing That's Handsome

Going into this drama, I thought the title was cheesy and gimmicky, but the summary made it sound very interesting. If only it had lived up to its potential. This was honestly one of the hardest Chinese dramas I've ever watched, as in it took me months because I would get so fed up with it I would stop watching it for weeks at a time. For all that the title is Handsome Siblings, there's really not all that much time devoted to the siblings together and is far more focused on their individual adventures and such which is massively disappointing because when the two of them were together, they absolutely stole the show.

- The story had such potential: two brothers torn apart at birth and raised to be enemies and kill each other. It sounds so good, but the delivery just wasn't there. The brothers don't even meet until almost ten episodes in and after that their scenes together are few and far between. While the first part focuses on Wuque searching for Xaoyu and Xaoyu subsequently seeking to evade Wuque, the latter part of the drama has them making a pact to meet up in three months and then splitting up. Rather than waiting until quite literally the very end to reveal that they're brothers, I would have liked them to have found out sooner and seen them build their relationship as brothers. As it is, we get none of that, just repeated comments that they're best friends and it sucks they have to kill each other. Knowing that they were brothers would have put a lot more at stake and would have made the knowledge that they're being set up to kill each other far more conflicting and devastating. There's also just a lot of repetition, the same thing happening several times but with slightly different circumstances. I've found that most Chinese dramas struggle with this. They honestly could have cut the length down by ten or so episodes and nothing would have been lost. The pacing also left a lot to be desired. There'd be several episodes where things were really happening and then there'd be a slump of just filler episodes and then several more interesting ones and then more filler. It just never felt consistent, never found its groove, so to speak.
-The casting was, for the most part, absolutely spot on. Chen Ze Yuan and Hu Yi Tian both gave solid performances as Jiang Xaoyu and Hua Wuque. They felt a little bit rocky starting out but quickly ironed out the flaws and were fantastic for the rest of the drama. They both devoted themselves to their roles and the few instances when they were together, they played off of each other very well. They were also solid on their own and frankly their relationship and the build up to the big reveal that they're siblings was the only thing that kept me watching. The supporting characters were, for the most part, great but I especially enjoyed Liang Jie's performance as Su Ying. Frankly, I'm disappointed they didn't bring her in earlier because she was just so fantastic. She and Xauyu were made for each other. Their interactions were always fun to watch and she's just so darn cute but also an absolute badass. I adore her. Mao Lin Lin and Meng Li were also delightful to watch as Yaoyue and Lianxing. I honestly wish there had been more of them because they were just so good and so interesting to watch. More insight into their relationship would have been helpful, I think. The only actor I wasn't overly thrilled with was Vicky Liang as Tie Xinlan. She was very one note with all of her expressions and she made the character boring.
- The characters themselves were overall good, if not overly developed. Most of them were interesting and nuanced. With such a massive cast, backgrounds for the characters were obviously going to be thin, but for the most part it worked. I really enjoyed Hua Wuque's character development from the cold, naïve, perfect puppet to a genuinely good and kind man. I appreciated though that his naivety wasn't completely done away with as I felt it made him more realistic. I really wish more of the story had been devoted to him because I found him so much more interesting than Xaoyu. He was a bit more of an enigma and I would have liked more screen time focused on his character development. Xaoyu is a mix of good and bad. Like I said, I wish more time had been devoted to Wuque and less to him. It felt like he had far more screen time. Overall, I liked Xaoyu, he was funny and interesting and certainly clever, but I felt like his character development was a little more all over the place and less coherent than Wuque's. I also felt like his storyline was a lot more repetitive which got old fast. Honestly, I was rolling my eyes the fourth or fifth time he used going to the bathroom as an excuse to get away from someone, it just got to be increasingly annoying. The fact that characters who had experience with his tricks repeatedly fell for them was equally frustrating. He did grow as a character which I appreciated seeing and he did add a lightheartedness that was needed at times. I also have to admire his bravery and his kindness and sincerity. He could be a brat, but he was a good-hearted brat. As I said before, I adored Su Ying and wish she'd been brought in far earlier. She was the perfect foil for Xaoyu and I loved that she could hold her own against him. She was clever and resourceful and I liked the fact that they didn't give her any martial arts skills, it was kind of refreshing. I do have to give this show a shoutout for, with one notable exception, featuring strong, badass women. It was so nice to see that when, a lot of the time, women in these kinds of dramas are just downright useless. It was nice to see strong women who were equally capable at kicking ass and using their brains.
Another character that stood out to me was Murong Jui. I went from hating her to actually getting quite invested in her story and where she ended up. It was not what I was expecting at all and I really enjoyed seeing her growth and development and I'm glad they didn't do away with that when she got her memory back. Her relationship with Hei Zhi Zhu was also quite adorable. Of the Ten Great Villains Xuanyuan Sanguang was my favorite. He was just so entertaining to watch and he had such a good heart, he always made me smile. Speaking of the Ten Great Villains, I found them to be interesting but not particularly villainous until the end. There's a bit of twist with them that I did not fully see coming and which, while it pissed me off on the one hand, I also really appreciated because it gave their characters more depth. They way things ended for them though felt sloppy and rushed. I was not impressed.
In terms of villains, I found the sisters to be far more interesting and threatening than Jiang Biehe. While the actor was certainly striking in appearance, his reasoning for why he did what he did just seemed thin and generic. And then a full explanation for why he did what he did wasn't given until one of the final episodes and even then, it just seemed kind of meh. Honestly, if they had delved more into his past and why he had such conviction to become a hero, I think it could have been pretty great and a more solid story. But, per the usual, all the big reveals were left to the end and it just didn't have the punch it needed. Yulang was frankly just an ass. I get his father was evil, but I didn't get a good feeling as to why he was such a horrible person other than like father like son. I felt like a lot more could have been done with him and he could have been more interesting and developed, but he wasn't. I did find his ending extremely satisfying though. I really would have liked to have seen more of the sisters as they were a more compelling and nuanced threat. Yaoyue was clearly just unhinged though incredibly smart and dangerous because of that and it made the reasoning for why she pit Xaoyu and Wuque against each other more palatable. She also had a fitting ending. Lainxing was even more interesting because she always seemed so conflicted about what they were doing, even though it was her idea. I was sad things ended the way they did for her, because I think she could have been a genuinely good person away from the influence of her sister. As a pair, I would have liked more of their history and the conflicts that shaped their relationship.
The only character that I really did not like was Tie Xinlan. I liked her in the beginning although the whole thing with her pretending to be a man was, per usual, extraordinarily lame. I'm assuming this is a cultural thing though I honestly don't know, but I always want to bang my head against the wall because it is so obvious its a woman. Anyway, I thought she was going to be a far more interesting and useful character than she turned out to be. For all that she was trained in martial arts and had supposedly mastered the berserk thousands fists or whatever and carried around a sword, she was completely useless. She was constantly having to be rescued, never seemed capable of defending herself and there just wasn't much to her other than essentially stalking Wuque and forcing him to constantly save her. She got boring real fast. And her relationship with Wuque didn't feel organic. I honestly couldn't figure out what he saw in her aside from a pretty face. The fact that basically every other woman in the show was awesome, does help make up for everything she lacks.
- The cinematography was gorgeous. Honestly if it wasn't for the scary government, I would happily move to China and live in some of those mountains. Absolutely stunning.
- The OST was overall quite good. The opening and closing songs were fitting and worked well with the overall theme. The rest of the music for the most part fit with what was going on in certain scenes and fit the mood. There were a couple times where it just didn't quite work and felt off, pulling me out of the drama instead of pulling me in, but those instances were few and far between. For the most part, I quite enjoyed it.
- The visuals were a mix. The CGI was terrible, per the usual. For some scenes, why they didn't actually use rats who are very intelligent and trainable, I don't understand. Costuming was amazing as always. I enjoyed seeing each character's style and the various ways that style was expressed. Xaoyu's costumes were the most interesting to me just because they were so much more colorful and flamboyant that everyone else's. It very much fit his personality and character.

Is this a drama I am ever going to watch again? Absolutely not. As I said before, I literally slogged through this drama, it was hard and painful to get through. What's so disappointing is that it could have been great. They had a good cast, they had an interesting story idea and it just flopped because they failed to utilize any of it properly. There were moments that were really interesting and gripping and then it fell back into repetition and tedium that just dragged it down. The last ten or so episodes when things actually start happening and explanations are given were the strongest, the rest was just such a hit or miss. I really wanted to like this drama but in the end, it just didn't live up to its potential.

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It Doesn't Quite Take the Cake

I was interested in this drama because of its unusual nature. The vast majority of BL dramas are about young adult men. This one about a romance between almost 40-year-old and an almost 30-year-old, peaked my interest. That being said, it didn't quite take the cake for me for a variety of reasons.

First, it felt very dry to me. Nozue's life borders on depressing and its obvious he's not happy in it, but I didn't feel like his emotions or mental state were well represented and there overall seemed to be a lack of emotion. So I really struggled to get into the story and really care about any of the characters. It also doesn't help that the drama is so short, five episodes all under a half hour. I don't think it had a chance to really spread its wings and give us a chance to get to know Nozue and Togawa as individuals before getting to know them as a pair.

Second, while I appreciate what the drama was going for with a more unique couple, I think that was part of its downfall for me. I felt like the characters needed to have more background and more depth to really allow people to be invested in their lives. While I'm at an age where I can understand the grind of work life, something about the way it was portrayed, I couldn't fully relate. Mentally I appreciated what they were going for, but emotionally, I never really felt drawn in and I think that's so important in a drama like this. With younger BL dramas, you can get away with a lot more fluff, I think. This one was going for more substance and it just fell flat, for me at least.

Third, I found the whole anti-aging process to be awkward at best and downright uncomfortable at worst. The whole premise of anti-aging felt off to me. I understood what Togawa was going for, but I felt like anti-aging was just the wrong wording for it. There is nothing wrong with getting older and I felt like that aspect of the drama was pushing society's view of younger is better which I hate. That is such a toxic message and I really wish the focus had just been on experiencing new things together and getting Nozue out of his shell. On that same thread, the whole pretending to be girls was very weird to me. Again, I understood what they were going for, but I don't think it was executed well and it times it was just uncomfortable to watch.

Fourth, and here lies my biggest issue, is at the end when Togawa says, "Having an age gap or being a minority is the same as having different hometowns or cheering for a different baseball team. It's nothing." I get that he is trying to tell Nozue that their age gap and being gay won't be issues or will be minor issues at most and something they can work through together. On the one hand, I can appreciate that and appreciate his confidence in their ability to essentially take on the world, on the other hand, though it also comes across as horribly out of touch and insensitive. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan, homosexual couples do not enjoy the same legal protections that heterosexual couples do. To say that being a minority is nothing, to me, minimizes the struggles and persecution those people have to deal with every day. That quote really disappointed me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Now that's not to say it was all bad. The acting was overall quite good. The cinematography and visuals were well done as was the OST. That being said, they were good, but I didn't really find any of it memorable. What I did appreciate is the theme that you are never too old for love.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from watching this drama. As short as it, its worth watching whether you're interested or not. It's not one that I have any real urge to re-watch, it just really didn't hit the mark for me. Its not bad, but its also not good. I really do appreciate what they were going for, I just don't feel that it was well executed which is disappointing because I think it could have been a really unique story.

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