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Angst in pajamas

I really enjoyed this exercise in frustration. The love story between the two males leads was touching. The homophobic attitudes were appropriate for the time period. Fortunately, there were several instances of friends and even family feeling compassion and acceptance for their same sex relationship. It was heartbreaking to see how the prince had to constantly reject who he really was because of the expectations placed on him.

There were times I wanted to back slap several of the characters. The father of the prince needed a boot up his butt. I don't think he redeemed himself with his hypocritical excuse of caring about whether the prince was accepted as a homosexual. Thankfully the storyline provided redemption through some of the other characters transformative attitudes.

This production was very melodramatic and at times a little pretentious in how it approached the storyline. I honestly can't fault some of the side characters for being so inept in helping the two lovers escape their awkward and even dangerous situations. I'm not a very good sneaky person either. This was a little long, but I will definitely rewatch it at some point in the future.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the Korean version and watched it about four times. I viewed the ML with a lot more depth
than the comments about him being a playboy. As much as I enjoyed the Korean version though, the Japanese version was superb.
The FL had a quiet courage. The male lead had depth of character. His backstory was developed more than the Korean version. To me he didn't come across as a playboy. He came across as someone who was afraid of commitment because it was always temporary. His mother was selfish and had little time for him. He was devoted to his childhood friend and put his own personal interest aside to be with her when her diagnosis was grim.
There was a lot of angst in the female lead. She risked her heart and she was hurt. But in the last episode she went to see him and more or less let him go. This took a strength of character to show him she cared but she wasn't going to pine for him. He on the other hand had to see that commitment and love were worth the price even if they were not forever.
I really like the name " Nevertheless: The Shape of Love" because between the main characters and the secondary characters there are many nuances of how love develops and commitment to that love develops.
I very much agree with one of the comments that this movie had more of a poetic feel to it and that the cinematography was wonderful.
The main leads chemistry was off the charts. Ren's eyes could melt metal. His eyes spoke of deep emotion and strong sexual interest. The female lead was deeply drawn to him both in a human sense and a sexual sense. As often portrayed in the Japanese movies, the women aren't overly aggressive and are somewhat tentative in their approach. It kind of comes across like I'm really attracted to you and I want to do something, but the male lead has to take the initiative and be the one to actually do most of the work.
The ending came off as a little rushed. I like the comment that Ren had, "He was back." This kind of gave more of a hopeful and continuous story to their love. The FL's statue about forever also supported this theme. (Although just a side note, her statue was horrible. I couldn't see the artistic quality to it at all. It was bland.)

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Time and Persistence

I truly enjoyed the relationship between the two male leads. They developed a friendship and a respect for each other. Both were attracted to each other and supportive. Tien and Yang's relationship was a delightful one. Yang's support for his brother from when he was very young into his adult hood was admirable. The story had action, suspense, a slice of life and a sense of a moral compass. While I think the script was a little too long, the progression of understanding and acceptance of a less traditional lifestyle was very realistic. For such a lengthy script the series was fast paced and engaging. I would definitely watch it again. I felt compassion towards Tien and Jui. Their two characters make the series a definite repeat. On a side note, I am grateful for the BL and the GL series that provide insight into thoughts, feelings and cultures that are non-traditional. Overtime the exposure to several of the BL and GL series have helped me to develop acceptance of "people are people" and "love is love". As a mature individual it is refreshing to learn that thoughts and beliefs can be fluid. It's comforting to realize coloring outside the lines is a good thing.

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Top Notch

The two male leads were phenomenal! Their chemistry was riveting. They both could speak not only with their bodies but with their eyes. From my understanding neither of them are professional dancers; they learned to dance for this movie. In my estimation they're both geniuses! The choreography was superb!

This is sort of a slow burn romance with a masculine lack of verbal communication. I got the impression that the time frame of this movie wasn't 2025 but more around 1980's to 1990's. I could be misreading that, but there is a huge preoccupation with one of the male leads smoking continuously. Until recently that amount of smoking has been kind of frowned upon in movies. There was a somewhat easy acceptance of a male male relationship, but then a subtle sense of an awkwardness in pursuing an obvious relationship.
I don't know some of the cinematography seemed to indicate a time frame 20, 30, 40 years ago. At that time a gay couple would not have been readily accepted.

One male lead was rigidly controlled but you could feel the inferno under the surface of the skin that was clamoring to be released. The other male lead was extremely passionate and emotional and sexy as hell!
The dancing was magic!

This movie presented a different flavor to a BL. I would sort of consider it more of an LGBTQ movie than a BL. Overall the movie was entrancing and I am certain to watch it several more times.

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Good people can love

Frankly if not for the good reviews this series had I would have stopped watching it during the very first episode. The ML and FL were so grim. However, I persevered even though the slow burn romance plotted along. It was a really good story with some good human interest items. The lives of the three siblings progressed with each developing and following their dreams. The ML and FL eventually developed an abiding love. Watching them love each other with their eyes is probably one of the highlights of the series. The theme of forgiveness and restoration made the series something worth watching. I'm skeptical that the ML's mother's desire to live a better life was genuine. More than likely it was really just a ploy to evade punishment for her selfish and criminal actions. I stayed with the entire series just to see the love between the two main characters. I probably could not watch it again because it was so dreadfully slow.

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Life is worth living even when it's tragic

Overall this was a very depressing movie. That doesn't mean it wasn't a worthy movie to watch. It did contain some very violent and tragic content. It's really sad that poor marginalized people can live a life that's challenging and hopeless. The twin that sought revenge for the violence perpetrated against his disabled brother was a brave and conflicted person. I rather agreed with his comment, "Why do the victims have to forgive?" The plot twist at the end of the movie tied together so many elements of the movie. The awful evil supposedly kind teacher deserved to die. He raped that poor disabled boy weekly. Then on Christmas Eve when he discovered him brutally beaten, raped him again. There was no justification for such evil! Then the POS selfishly said that he had had a bad day! Evil-- pure evil! It was a difficult movie to watch. The story, the acting and every element of the story was excellent. The low score for the rewatch value is simply because this was a tragic exceptionally sad movie that would be difficult to watch again.

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I watched mainly because of the ML. This was somewhat like a Cinderella story. There were funny moments and tender ones. The FL lead was naive but very competent. I found it a little unbelievable that the ML was so physically impaired. He was so strong in many aspects but prior to FL acquaintance on the verge of major decline. He was just too stronged-willed for that to have happened. The female lead was a skilled martial artist and Chinese medicine doctor, but yet had no personal ambition. The story was funny in places but would have liked to see more development of FL awareness and sophistication. I very much liked the 2nd couple. The younger brother was mentally ill and needed a spanking or two when younger so he wasn't such a spoiled brat. What was done to his role was unpleasant and psychotic. I binged watched this and enjoyed it for the most part but wouldn't rewatch it.

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Impactful

This heart wrenching movie is a gem! Definitely contains some adult scenes and material. This was a coming of age movie highlighting a kind intelligent gay young man. By the end of the movie there are tears. Even though our world is becoming more accepting of the LGBTQ community, it's frightening and disconcerting to realize that the homophobic attitudes are still strong. The casual indifference and irrational hatred portrayed by adults and bullies was disturbing and unfortunately not removed from reality.

On a different note the progression of the two ML 's relationship added complexity and eventual warmth.
The movie is not a BL but more of a bromance. It's a story that needs telling if for no other reason than to make you question your own attitudes.

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Forbidden romance

This was exceptional! The cast was perfect. The angst of young love was strong. I'll have to watch UIL story again. I didn't remember Dong Hee and Ho Tae from that story.

There was a sense of dissatisfaction about the ending. But, 6 episodes really was too short! We need a season 2 with the ML's as adults.

Frankly I get perturbed with the reviews criticizing Dong Hee for leaving for college instead of staying for "the love of his life". Contrary to what one wishes gay relationships are still controversial and unaccepted in conservative Korea. An unease about persuing a relationship is understandable ín light of family expectations and socialital acceptance.

Hopefully, a season 2 will allow them as adults to make choices that as minors would have been too difficult to develop.

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Revised Vampires

This vampire story was innovative. It was a refreshing perspective of how vampires came into existence. The cast was excellent. The ML was a beautiful man. His character had more humane qualities than the actual humans.

I got more father/daughter vibes than lovers vibe from the 2 main leads though. I actually think revising the whole plot where Milan eventually falls in love with Situ would have been more effective. They both had a youthful vibrancy and a sense of purety.

There was emotional connections but the only real romantic and passionate love was on Jin Jing's part. Liang came across as mentally twisted by his past and even when Jin and he connected there wasn't any sense of real warmth on his part. Liang was more emotionally invested in his male friend he grew up with.

Frankly the main ML came across as a little dense since he kept getting trapped repeatedly in obvious situations . On the one hand he provides a sense of decency and integrity to his character but the angst he feels in using his supernatural powers is a little sporadic and ill timed for his own self preservation.

There's a lot going on in this drama and I enjoyed watching it. I just think the plot development and character interaction could have been developed differently. The ending sucked....big time. While every drama may not end happily, the ending seemed abrupt with Milan left adrift and hopeless. I actually had a hard time breathing when the sun arose.

The ost and the cinematography were superb.

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