One of the Most Thrilling Kamen Rider Series of the late-Heisei II era!

I think it's no news to critics and fans of shows like 'Kamen Rider' and the long-running 'Super Sentai' series that both shows have become increasingly trite, bubblegum-cute, nonsensical outings that treat their target child and young adult audiences like fragile dolls who can't handle anything heavy and prefer just to binge on the latest toys advertised by the show. It can be somewhat distracting and annoying.

At first, I thought that Gaim would be another victim of this increasingly prevalent trend with these shows and was thoroughly prepared to hate the show, even more so when I listened to the opening song of the series which is not my cup of tea at all!

Color me shocked when I realized a few episodes in how mesmerizing and dark this show actually turned out to be.

This show utilizes the concept of fruit for the Rider designs and weapons and dance as its central themes throughout its run. It also delves into an interesting take on the Norse legends. name-dropping mythical names such as Yggdrasil and Helheim (the Norse underworld). The way they incorporated these concepts into the show was quite interesting, especially as they unveiled the master strategy of the various villains confronted by the Riders throughout the show.

The basic plot follows the exploits of the lead character, Kamen Rider Gaim/Kouta, who is a former beat dancer who ran one of the leading dance gangs in their city. He leaves the gang and helps his elder sister out by working part-time jobs and basically living life as a young adult. He is dragged back into the city wise turf wars between beat dance gangs when his close friend (and eventual love interest) Mai and other friends beg him to help their squad when their territory is threatened by a rival beat dance gang led by Kouta's rival, a power-hungry and vengeful young man Kaito. With the disappearance of their captain, Kouta's best friend, they are outmatched - due to the fact that the corporation that took over their formerly small village, Yggdrasil Corporation, has been utilizing the beat dance gangs as experimental subjects by feeding mechanized 'Lock Seeds' which have 'virtual' monsters that they use to fight for turf and reputation, egged on by the local DJ extraordinaire, DJ Sagara.

Kouta, Mai, Kaito, and other members of the gangs discover that these virtual monsters are actually terrifyingly real when they burst out into the real world and start terrorizing the city. Kouta is granted a mysterious driver belt that grants him the power to use the lock seeds to assume the mantle of Kamen Rider and begins to defend the city, which rapidly begins to become ungovernable as the schemes of Yggdrasil Corp. assume shape and even dark secrets concerning the Lock Seeds and the mysterious realm of Helheim come to light.

This show tackles classism, the obligations of those in power, trauma and the horrors it can induce in a population, the concept of what makes one human, and several other surprisingly heavy themes as the characters face increasingly terrifying odds that bring out the best and worst in each of them. There are several plot twists that hook into the show as it unfolds and it makes no bones about killing off characters when they want to, no matter how seemingly important they may be to the plot.

What I love about this show is the way that it launches the concept of the Rider War in the Heisei-II era of Kamen Rider (this concept pops up periodically a few times in the earlier Heisei period shows in titles like Ryuki, 555, Decade). Unlike Decade which had the concept but was more of an anniversary event than one specific to one show, this is probably the first proper Rider War since Ryuki.

All of the characters showcased throughout the show go through several traumatic events that warp them from their starting point to their ultimate fates, and several of the characters are not 'good' or 'evil' but are delightfully wavering through the various shades of gray. Some start off as heroes and end as villains, some remain antagonists whose actions impact the story for good or ill.

I love this show so much because it took one of the most nonsensical themes imaginable (fruit!) and crafted a thrilling story that hooked me from start to finish. It is one of the best iterations of the modern Kamen Rider that has been crafted and holds up so well, nearly a decade after its debut. It also showcases an element that I feel elevates Kamen Rider from its main competitor, the Super Sentai Series. Unlike Super Sentai which over the last several years (with notable exceptions) has become annoyingly trite and flaky, Kamen Rider manages to carry heavy social, economic and class-driven themes under the wrapping of the most ridiculous concepts. Gaim is a perfect example of their ability to follow the trend of pushing toy sales while telling compelling stories (but the most extreme example of this is a later entry, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid). Super Sentai has failed more often than not to capture the spirit of their Showa and early Heisei-era offerings, by dumbing down their shows to their audiences; one of the reasons why I find myself enjoying Kamen Rider more than Super Sentai more and more these days!

Ignore the lower rating of this show. I don't know why its rating is only 8.0, but it deserves to be at least an 8.5 if not higher. Definitely one of the best Kamen Rider shows of the last decade.

Rewatch: I rarely rewatch shows, but I have rewatched this one a few times. Its themes are heavy and can contain some disturbing content that might lower one's willingness to invest in watching the whole thing over again, but it's definitely one that deserves to be revisited from time to time!

Rating: 9.5/10

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The Most Underrated BL Lakorn of 2018

Words cannot describe the love I have for this drama series, which is a hidden gem amongst the recent plethora of BL Lakorns that have been produced in the past seven years. I decided to review this because of the negative review that I saw about this (and which I will address) and the low rating that it has on this site.

This drama deserves at least an 8.3/10 as an average rating!

On first blush, the story seems typical: Boy has a rivalry/hatred with another boy. Boy loses his girl, gets other boy to be his fake boyfriend. They fall in love, and get together for real. Sounds familiar?

The story starts off with Mork- the typical badboy whose father owns a local barbershop. He's a delinquent, sells porn and is a general menace to the class. A prank by his classmates leads to the beginning of his rivalry with his polar opposite, Tee. Tee is popular, rich, a top student, member of the Cheer team, a local idol at the school and in a relationship with a beautiful girl who is also wealthy.

A school requirement forces Tee to get his hair cut at the barbershop owned by Mork's father, Muad. His dad starts the cut but rushes out due to unexpected news, leaving Mork to mind the store. He decides to get revenge by deliberately cutting Tee's hair badly, and later on fractures Tee's relationship by his lie that Tee requested illegal gay porn DVDs.

This leads to them clashing multiple times and eventually punished by their school. They're given the task of cleaning all of the toilets in the school for a period of time. Later on, Tee returns to the barbershop and Mork's dad fixes the mess his son made of Tee's hair. Then once again, he leaves for a reason.

Up to this point, you kind of have a general idea of where the story is going. Enemies slowly become friends, becomes lovers. Again, a story we've seen multiple times right?

Wrong.

It's at this point that the story pulls an amazing plot twist that based off of the first episode and most of the second, no one would have seen coming at all. They also created the greatest Thai BL scene that has ever been produced (the only possible rival being the harrowing scene in TharnType when Type opens up to Tharn and reveals how he was sexually assaulted by one of his father's workers when he was only a small boy).

Mork is tasked with washing Tee's hair while his dad runs off to do what he needs to do. Reluctantly, Mork obeys his dad and he begins the process of washing Tee's hair. That's when the plot twist comes to light:

Tee: Why did you pretend that we didn't know each other?

Mork: It's better this way.

Tee: It's been three years...how have you been?

Mork: Shut up.


While the budding sexual attraction was a given, it turns out that the story is not of enemies becoming friends becoming lovers, but friends who were already falling in love with each other are thrown together after years apart and complete the transition from friendship to love.

I suspect that this is one of the 'plot holes' that another review on this site is referencing. If you pay attention however, the rest of the season unfolds the story of how the two leads became friends 3 years before and developed a strong friendship that was torn apart by an incident that challenged both leads' perception of their orientation and a series of misunderstandings that led to them treating each other as strangers.

Then the story really takes off as Tee, already half in love with Mork suggests that he become his fake bf in a bid to re-establish his relationship with his now ex-gf. Mork decides to do so, but their pretend relationship quickly morphs into a genuine relationship as lovers as their feelings (as well as the schemes of his brother and friend) take off.

What follows is an amazing rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows as they become lovers and deal with their parents' reactions to their relationship, their challenges as a budding couple, friends and the threat of being forced apart by circumstances beyond their control. They laugh, they cry, they face scandal and sickness and through it all, keep a hold of their love for the other.

One plot point that to some might seem contrived is the illness of Mork that seemingly manifests out of nowhere near the penultimate episode and in the finale. He faints and is hit by a car and is later informed that he has a congenital illness that might take his life in a matter of years. This seems forced and out of the blue, but actually it's been set up since the first two episodes. Mork has a habit of getting nosebleeds in high stress or high emotional situations (like getting horny), that at first seems like a nod to the anime trope of horny people getting a nosebleed when they see a sexy person or situation, but is later revealed to have much more serious connotations. Again however, if you're paying attention to the episodes, it is easy to understand once the big reveal of his illness is revealed in the last episode.

The two actors who headline this drama are so amazing. They also seem to have a good working relationship since this is the first of several projects in which they are paired together over the past two or three years. You'll find them in 2gether the Series, it's sequel, Blacklisted, and the followup to 'Cause You're My Boy', 'Our Skyy'. This is I believe their first series together as a pairing, but the chemistry that they have is so amazing and it shines the brightest in this story. Some claim that the acting wasn't that good, but I respectfully have to scoff at such a statement in utter disbelief. The sheer depth of the emotions that are shared between these two actors in every scene, the dialogue, their facial expressions, the tone of their voices is hard to comprehend and is magical to watch on screen. There's a reason why nearly every single followup project that they star in together has them paired as a couple. They are glorious to behold.

The production level is not the greatest admittedly, but I still rate it near a 10 because it carries a lot of the nostalgic vibes of Love Sick season 1. Unpolished a bit, rustic maybe, but super affecting and genuine. The sets don't look fake or deliberately staged, and the story truly seems like it could have actually taken place in a high school in Thailand. And the editing is much better than several other dramas that have been given higher ratings on this website which tend to have terrible transitions music wise from one scene to another, or have issues with the sound quality when transitioning from music to spoken dialogue.

Altogether, this gem of a series has cemented it's place in my mind as one of the Top 5 BL lakorns that have been produced in the last seven years. I've seen dozens of BL dramas over the last few years, but this one has a special place that few currently in existence can rise above.

It isn't as overtly melodramatic as some other lakorns out there, but it has plenty of drama, and an overload of intimacy and romance, not just for the main pairing of Mork and Tee, but also the supporting characters of Mork's baby brother and his best friend, Mork's friends from his school. I can so easily re-watch this over and over and over again and never get tired of seeing their love story come to life.

I so wish that this drama could get a second season, but I'm satisfied that at least more is explored about their relationship in the anthology series, 'Our Skyy' along with some other popular BL pairings that we know and adore. Watch this drama! You won't regret it! Never mind the naysayers, they have no clue about what they're talking about. This is a real good drama. Only the series TharnType (and it's new sequel) could rival this series in my mind.

My Rating: 10/10.

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A Thrilling Look into the struggles of Thailand's Youth...

Just wanted to share my thoughts on this amazing drama. I know a lot of viewers came to this show expecting another BL drama, especially considering that so many of the actors in this show have established reps in multiple BL lakorns (Love Sick, 2Moons, etc.). What I love most about this show however is that it isn't exclusively focused on the BL scene. Despite that, it did more than even the most thrilling BL lakorn to showcase not just male same sex relationships, but lesbian and bisexual individuals in a wholesome and entirely natural way (for example, the interactions with Hall's mother/father). Such a rare breath of fresh air, this is an element that so many other BL lakorns can stand to learn from.

The strength of this drama is that it gives a more faithful portrayal of what life could be like for the youth of Thailand struggling to fulfill their dreams than any other drama produced in the last several years. It showcased the daily life or what I call the slice of life of the average joe. Sure, there were rich characters in this drama, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Rather than strictly romance, it focused on the relationships between friends, co-workers, and family, which I enjoyed thoroughly.

This also showcased in a way that few other dramas of the BL variety do, the cultural aspects of Thailand that is woven into the very soil, water, and air of this amazing country. I love seeing the way that the characters interacted with the religious path of Buddhism and how it informed the way they interacted with the world and with their fellows.

The actor who plays Mong is of course famous for his BL roles in Love Sick and Waterboyy, but I think that his role in Part Time is one of his best performances as a character that wasn't gay or bi but straight. The story of his character's struggles to survive and thrive as a young adult with no family to help him or to support his dreams was so inspiring to me.

Despite the fact that this drama is not strictly a BL lakorn, the BL vibes are strong in this series. Like most viewers, for me the main BL attraction was the budding relationship of Hall and Tee (and possibly Q, if that last scene in the series is to be believed). The character development of the two characters with their families and separate financial situations and how it slowly but surely began to meld together as they grew closer and became better for their interactions together was breathtaking. They were so good at what they do, and their talent (the actors playing Tee and Hall) is off the charts. I've seen the actor playing Hall feature in more recent BL dramas. He's amazing in those projects, but I will always love him best in this particular drama. I really hope that the actor who played Tee is featured very soon in his own BL drama or just any drama in particular. He is crazy gorgeous and has serious talent.

All in all, this is such a great show, as well as being one of the longest running lakorns in recent history with 26 episodes (most only have 8-14). Even so, I felt that they could have expanded the episodes to 30 in order to give more in depth looks into the exploration of the possible relationship triangle between Hall, Tee, and Q; the exploration of the dynamic between Jin, his girlfriend and her brother who has now realized that he's falling in love with the guy he constantly pushed to court his sister. They only teased out that storyline in the last two episodes. It definitely needed more time to breathe. They never really explored the fallout of the relationship of White's brother and his boyfriend of 2 years and how it would be viewed by his family that he's been concealing it from.

I hope that someday in the next couple of years, they'll be able to assemble this supremely amazing cast (or as many of the original cast members as possible) and make a follow up to this series, or even a spinoff. Such a great drama and definitely deserves to be rated much higher than some here have elected to rate it due to their various reasons. Check it out! It's not as dramatic as some of the other popular shows out there, but it is so worth the time and effort needed to get through all 26 episodes. Can't wait to watch it again!

Rating: 9.5/10

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One of the best Korean historical dramas around...

As someone who is very particular about historical based dramas (or pseudo-historical), I've always favored dramas from China compared to Korea. Aside from the depth or lack of depth of the story itself, the quality of the production tends to be far superior in China than in Korea. The sets seem to be much bigger, and the interior sets tend to be more intricate than the simplistic designs that tend to populate Korean dramas.

I'm pleasantly surprised to say that Ruler: Master of the Mask is a notable exception in everyway to the typical Korean historical drama. The sets were opulent, albeit more simple compared to the sets from most Chinese historical dramas. The cinematography was excellent, and the story was surprisingly good and had a good ending.

YSH is the ML in this drama and he shines. I love his portrayal of the royal Yi Sun and felt that he really carried the performance well. His acting wasn't too exaggerated, but it hit all of the right notes. FL was ok, she did well in her role. The second FL was a surprise. At first, I hated her character (though the acting was good) and how uppity she was. I was really glad when it was revealed that she was the secondary character rather than the main love interest of Yi Sun. Then as the story progressed, her character became far more nuanced and by the end of her arc, I was wishing that she was the main love interest after all. Props to the actress who portrayed the granddaughter of Dae Mok.

The concept of a secret society who manipulates the nation from the shadows is not a unique plot, but it was used to great effect. I was especially glad that it largely avoided the melodrama of the typical historical drama focusing on the royals: Queen Mother or Queen is secretly in control of the party seeking to gain ultimate power and attempts to manipulate the young king/prince, clashing with the virtuous maid who becomes the future Queen/main concubine. The main villain of the story was cunning, vicious and menacing, making his society a palpable presence and threat through the drama. Of course the writers later reversed course and dragged the character of the Queen Mother down to the dogs. A shame, since before the reveal that she was as usually portrayed, trying to gain the ultimate power in the imperial court, her role in the drama was actually refreshing: the woman who had the maturity to accept the concubine of the king and their child and take the child as her own, fighting for the child and the people from within the palace. She was a good foil for the villain and thankfully, they managed to take a couple of twists to her arc that makes it unique from other dramas.

I'm of mixed mind about the second ML. The actor was amazing of course, but as much as I loved the character at the beginning of the series, by it's end I was thoroughly sick of him and cheered when his final fate was unveiled. Of course the backstabbing friend angle has been done before, but this drama did it better than most and I applaud them for it.

There were some characters that I felt were completely unnecessary to the plot, and a bit too much humor throughout, but it wasn't as egregious as Haechi or other historical dramas that on the surface appear to be more serious thrillers but turn out to be muddled trash. There was for the most part a fair balance between the more serious themes and the humor.

All in all, I highly recommend this drama to anyone interested in this sub-genre of Korean dramas. It is definitely among the top 10 of my list of historical dramas and will be one that i will view again soon.

Rating: 9.5/10

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