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This review may contain spoilers
This is one of the worse short K-BLs I've seen. The premise is fine, but how they told the story in the second half made it fall apart completely. Did the people who were responsible not get feedback from someone else?What I liked:
* I loved the relationship between Yeong Woo and his father. Even if there are only a few scenes with them both, I have a distinct impression on how growing up must have been for Yeong Woo with this father, and for the father, raising is son to be an independent, and kind person. You see, it IS possible to establish how people feel about each other in just a few minutes of screentime!
* Stories not set in college or high school are always a plus for me. I liked that Yeong Woo was of a lower or middle class background. I also found it very relatable that he did not know what to do with his life.
What I did not like:
* The two main leads got too close, too fast for my liking. I've never talked to people I've only met three or four times about my most initmate dreams and hopes for the future.
* The show seems to follow the precept of "show, don't tell". The thing is, if you show only fragments, and we, as the audience have to guess what is going on, we won't be very satisfied. This becomes especially clear just before and after the time skip, where we only get to see disjointed scenes, sometimes without context. If we don't even get clues to guess, then it only becomes an exercise in frustration.
Some examples: Why the crying at the traffic lights? Where was Ki Jin during the time skip? When did Yeong Woo become a model, and how does he balance this with his delivery job? Where is his mother? Why is the friend also back? Did they ever talk about their breakup? What happened between Yeon Woo and the friend in the past? (Were they lovers? Friends? Rivals? Just classmates?)
I don't get why "follow your dreams" and "be with the one you love" have to be an either-or-decision. Long-distance-relationships? Talking about things and then compromising? That's apparently nothing that exists in this world.
All in alll, the drama feels more like an outline for the first few episodes of a longer story, not something you would consider complete and fit for release.
You can watch it, if you like, since the show is rather short, but I'd recommend to give it a miss.
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This review may contain spoilers
The premise is great; the runtime too short.
The idea to blend an office setting / a boss-employee-dynamic with a fantasy plot of reincarnation and curses which have to be broken, is interesting.Unfortunately, the boss-employee-dynamics with its inherent power imbalance is only kind of important in the beginning -- for me, Dong Baek was much too accepting of Yu Dam's story. But that may be because I did not feel a connection between the director and his employee. The director was so standoffish at the beginning, and then suddenly, he is concerned annd worried? The employee is confused and more than a bit uncomfortable, and then, suddenly -- love? A bit more time for character development would have been nice.
I think there's a lot of more character back-story and world-building here than we get to see; and this is what makes the whole series feel unfinished. It is as if we get an incomplete puzzle and are asked to fill in the missing pieces ourselves, and the pieces that are there are just the people, and none of the surroundings.
We don't know why it was so important that the "child of god" / "the kid who grew up in the shaman's house" not get a name. We don't know who it was who shot Dong Baek (looked like Dennis, maybe?) and why. We don't know what kind of curse it is and how exactly it can be broken. And we don't know how Yu Dam knows. We don't know who is was who possessed Dong Baek that one time. We don't know anything about Dennis, and why he thinks so lowly of Yu Dam.
The list could go on and on.
I don't understand why those who were responsible chose this story when it was clear that there's not a lot of time to fully explore it. Even a 10-episode drama of 25 to 30 minutes per episode would have been enough to at least explain the most pressing questions.
But if you know that you don't have the time, then why not choose a much simpler story?
As it is, most of the episodes felt rushed or disjointed (or both); which is a pity since the acting and most technical aspects were fine.
The ending .... is probably something people love or hate. It's open-ended bt hopeful; and I think it fits so I like it.
If you're interested and have the time, you could watch it -- it's short enough and certainly not bad enough -- and form your own opinion.
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this and the series version side-by-side. Apart from a few scenes that were switched around, both versions are identical; the movie feels more like a cohesive whole since it isn't interrupted every few minutes. If you want to watch this, you should choose the movie if you can.What I liked:
* the beautiful scenery at the ocean
* the simplicity of the story
* Han Gi Chan's acting
* Also, stories that are not set in highschool or college are always welcome.
* The Ex-boyfriend. It was a nice touch, not to know at the beginnning what to expect from him, and to discover in his third scene what he is actually like.
* The story didn't make use of the typical BL tropes, only standard romance tropes. The gender of the two protagonists actually did not matter much, which is always nice, if you want a light romance.
The story though has some qusetionable parts:
* I have so many questions: Where does Tommy come from? What is his motivation in staying with Ba Da? -- Why is Tommy there, right behind the car, at the beginning? Was it an accident, did he get in the way intentionally, did he just lie down there? -- Why does a chef buy at the grocery store?
* The gap year -- Why should two adults not know to try a long-distance relationship? What did Ba Da do while he was not at his small establishment and why did he decide to come back? What was the motivation for Tommy to return, and why at this point of time?
Holland's acting is, unfortunately, not suited for his role. I'm sure he did his best, but it seemed stiff to me, and even after rewatching I'm not always sure how his character feels. Especially since we only get Ba Da's POV, and Tommy doesn't really talk about his life, we have to rely on body language. I didn't, for example, notice that Tommy actually comes on to Ba Da until I watched the story for the third time.
Overall impression:
This is a nice and simple story, that focuses on few characters, sets and a single storyline. It didn't waste time on too many flashbacks or scenic shots, just enough to set the mood. The makers obviously used what they had wisely and tried to make a good story within the short time of an average movie.
I still would have wanted more info, be it explicitely stated or implicitely shown, to understand the motives of both main leads. Things are often too subtle to see them during a casual watching, or did you notice that Ba Da says in minute 33 of the movie "I didn't come here to do this?" and probably means that he notices a certain kind of attraction to Tommy? I didn't, and there are some other points where I'm really not sure if we get the intended message.
That subtlety doesn't mix particulary well with Holland's acting style.
Still, it's a nice movie to spend a lazy afternoon or evening on, even worth a rewatch or two, if yu need to shut off your brain. It's not an outstanding masterpiece but certainly better or at least not worse than some het romances.
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This review may contain spoilers
It feels like the writer had four or more different ideas for a story, couldn't develop any of them enough to fill all the episodes, and then decided to just throw them all together like Dr Frankenstein when he created his "human being".The four stories are:
* A silly time travel story with supernatural elements
* A story of corporate intrigue
* An office romance
* A story about finding yourself and your place in life.
I loved the first episodes (Time-travel story with lots of silliness and over-the-top acting) -- loved many of the elements, such as the deities using modern communication, the inclusion of Covid, Ho Bo Wei's attempts to return to his time and the developing relationship between Ho Bo Wei and Hai Yi. I wish they had shown more scenes of Ho Bo Wei marvelling at the development of his hometown, of him using his ability to find anything and everything, and more of the supernatural elements (I would have liked the god's backstory and how the Jade Emperor reacted to his mistake).
But then this plot is (almost) completely dropped and the second story about the corporate intrigue starts. Both main characters seem to change their whole personality -- Hai Yi turns into a closed-off, workaholic person (which, at least, is explained later) and Ho Bo Wei is suddenly a whining guy, whose only goal in life is to get together with Hai Yi. The sexual tension that had been building up completely disappears in favour of one person lying and not telling important things and the other (of course) completely misunderstanding. These episodes made me dislike both of them, and I almost gave up.
This story, too, could have been something good -- but on its own, not in conjunction with the time travel part, and without so much one-sided lying.
It is only in the last two episodes that the first story is taken up again, and underwhelmingly "resolved".
Some other minor plot points that are dropped, and sometimes picked up again -- the god, who is responsible for this whole thing, shows up and disappears again; the girl disappears for several episodes, shows up briefly because they needed a female person who can play pregnant, and disappears again; Covid plays an important role in the beginning but then everyone just walks around without masks or anything -- except when it is needed for the story.
The parallel story of the second couple does not have this problem of trying to tell two stories in one, but I hate how the managing director lies to his future partner from the very beginning. He does explain his decisions at the end, but it still doesn't sit right with me, and I don't think it's a good basis for a balanced and trusting relationship, especially as there is somewhat of an age difference.
I think this could have been much better if someone else had a look at the script and made a more cohesive story. Or, alternatively, go back to the roots of the HIStory shows, and tell one story in just a few episodes, like in HIStory 1 and 2.
Since others seem to like it, go and try for yourself, but I won't be coming back to this show.
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This review may contain spoilers
Cute cat-boy story about a lonely man finding his family
If you're famiiar with "cat boys" and all the tropes that come with it, you'll already know how Meow will be portrayed: as a naive and innocent, sometimes childish, always playful, very young-looking boy with a slight build and a smooth and soft face.If these stories about cat boys (whether in fan fiction or in manga/manhwa/manhua) do not devolve into straight-up porn, they usually stay light-hearted, soft and very, very cute. This one stays consequently on a PG level of intimacy, there's some toe holding, hand holding and one cheek kiss (where the kisser has no romantic intentions).
Content warning for some animal abuse, although we don't see any bodily harm.
First: The acting is okay. We are used to the newbies in Thai productions. and this is a bit above average. The main characters' actors, James and Gap, are more than above average, Gap did well in portraying his change from lonely artist to overwhelmed room-mate to a guy who is very much in love. James is a perfectly innocent cat-boy, showing every bit of his emotions very clearly, but without more exaggeration than the genre needs.
Second: The intro song is annoying, but bearable, the rest of the background music non-remarkable.
Third: I liked the sets, the locations and the editing. Not outstanding, but never empty and always realistic, fitting to the genre.
Fourth: I would have liked the ears to look a bit more realistic, and there were some instances when the actor's earlobes were visible.
Regarding the story, the series shows its manhua roots -- I did not find much about the original material; it seems that the manhua is at least 68 chapter (or books?) long; the few episodes of the anime version that I found were only a few minutes long. I suppose (and I just extrapolate from other manga and manhwa) that the oringinal material is one of those episodic endless manhua that never go anywhere, have little to no character development, and have no "ending", because if the couples would become official, the seres would be over. I guess that this is the main reason that this live action series's ending is more open. (Also, would anyone call someone their lover if their relationship is still unclear? Of course they don't.)
I would have loved to see more backstory for Meow, and I'm unsure if it's because of time constraints of the series or if the original did not provide more info? I do wonder why Meow is more childish than other members of the Ear People -- he's obviously slower to learn, but it also seems as if he's been sheltered from the wider world by his adoptive family? There's been some allusion to mistreatment as a little kitten but that doesn't explain everything.
Considering all the couples have the potential for power imbalance (adult / child-like cat boy, student / teacher, boss / intern) -- there's no need for concern here. The partners with more power never misuse this to push anything. The female couple is the most balanced -- while one is the bss, the other's compliments and clear adoration always melts the boss's heart. The second male couple also has its balance -- it's the student who would like to have more intimacy and tries to get closer. /Also, I think that Evan is more of an assistant than a full professor?)
Considering the main pairing: Even though Dermden (the adult artist) feels some kind of attraction in the first episode already, which evolves into love, and even though he would very much like to have a romantic relationship with Meow, he never acts on it. He even avoids situations where he could potentially cross boundaries, to Meow's great confusion. In the end, Dermdem is just happy that he has Meow in his life, and he'll take anything he'll get.
Overall, a nice and light watch, if you can accept all the tropes that come with cat boys and if you like some innocent romance.
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This review may contain spoilers
I should learn that the first episode in Korean dramas is never helpful in deciding which plot and tone the other episodes will have.What I liked:
* I liked Wie Dae Han's character and its development throughout the series. He's a man who once had a very clear reason for going into politics but has lost it -- and is struggling to find it again through much of the series. That makes him a very flawed character, who are the best in dramas.
* My favourite character by far was Kang Joon Ho though, who had struggles all of his own -- who has to decide if he'll put his personal integrity above his familial ties.
* I also loved the supporting characters, foremost the aide, the Jung family, the kids, and the young ex-trainee. All of them were not only there for comic relief but also for the plot.
* I liked that on the politics side of the plot, the elements fit together and made a whole.
The whole drama is very much about personal values, and what it means to be a family and a good family member to the others, I think -- not only Wie Dae Han and Kang Hoon Jo have to learn but also the kids' father (I forgot his name), Kang Kyung Hoon, Han Tak...
What I did not like:
* They could have done away with the romance. Love triangles are overdone anyway, and in my opinion the romance did not add anything to the plot or the character development. Jung Hyun Soo could easily have remained a friend and colleague (she had enough reason for engaging with Wie Dae Han's daughter all of her own). Kang Joon Ho had more chemistry with Wie Dae Han than with her -- why not play up the rivals-since-school-days-angle instead of a lacklustre romance? Regardless who she ended up with, I really was not interested. I hate that writers think they have to force (het) romances into their stories.
* I would have loved to see more of the kids' stories instead. Han Tak was a really interesting character, and also Song Yi and her anxieties ould have been interesting to learn more about. Or what about the boy's need for eating and jumping around? There's more story there.
* I think this would have made the drama more interesting -- it was rather lengthy from episodes nine to eleven, which is where the romance subplot was most apparent. It was decent before, when it was about Wie Dae Han and the kids, and after, when the race for the election picked up.
* All in all, I was again disappointed by the female characters. The girl had spunk in the beginning but the got reduced to her role as impending mother, Jung Hyon Soo was overly emotional, the female journalist was a strange mix of ambitious and passively accepting the men's plans.
Overall, it's okay to watch. The ending was rather predictable -- but still I liked the character development we got to see.
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This review may contain spoilers
The drama's main theme is a small, declining business with a tradition of 100 years that fights against financial pressures, the bank, a behemoth of a business rival etc. etc. There are some earnest speeches with a lot of pathos and "ganbarimasu" -- I feel as if every main character has a similar story of failure (a patent that has not been picked up, a declining business, failed interviews, sports injuries) and it's a story about being the underdog who takes second chances they don't actually have.
It's very David ("heart and soul", the people are what's important, hard work and tenacity makes you successful) versus Goliath (money won't make you happy and shouldn't be your goal in business life), and the general outcome is quite predictable.
The acting was top-notch, and the overall quality great; even after just a few minutes of the first episode I started to care about the little tabi factory and its people, which made me watch the entire thing. Nevertheless, I found that the episodes were structured too similarly, so they got a bit repetetive, with one or two main obstacles, that are solved during the episode, and at the end there's a joyful "We made it", at times with an added a glimpse of the next problem. There were about three musical pieces that were mostly uplifting in nature, which also got a bit boring.
Something I liked is that there were more people in their fifties than younger characters.
I was annoyed by the implicit misogyny -- none of the female characters had any role but to say supporting things to the men; anything that pushed the plot forward was done by men. And, when the older son doesn't want to inherit the business, nobody even asks if maybe the daughter might want to?
One thing that I found rather unrealistic:
A person, who invents a whole new material and builds the machine to produce it with his own hands, and then holds a patent -- wouldn't he rigorously test his invention early on, to understand which influence all of the variables of production have? It seems that after Iiyama had invented one working verson procedure, he called it a day?
(Also, a mechanical engineering, material engineering and electrical engineering are different fields of expertise! Does Daichi have three degrees?)
I was also some other plot points I found a bit strange. For example: There's a fire, and a machine is destroyed -- and there's no insurance? Not even a small one? Also, why do neither Iiyama nor Miyazawa ever try to negotiate when they get offers they don't want to take -- only in the second to last episode Miyazawa gives a counter offer.
All in all, it was entertaining, and I'm glad to have watched an example of the dramas based on the successful Japanese "business novel" genre. If I do watch another one, then maybe a story by another author though.
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Not even Pond could save this
I will admit it, if not for Pond Ponlawit, I wouldn't have even considered starting this, and I could have spared myself hours of bored suffering.I do like the occasional Thai college BL; and didn't even expect much in the way of originality. But this one has several points I don't like, and in combination these are deadly for a series: stereotypical "top" and "bottom" characters, nonsense story, bad directing.
This will be somewhat of a rant although I tried to write it like I would for any other drama, so if you loved "Fourever You" and/or North and Johan's story, go back and stop reading *now*.
The four (potential) couples very obviously follow every stereotype there is: Each of the "tops" is older, richer, more popular, more into sports, taller, more masculine in looks than their "bottom" counterpart. The "tops" are also stereoptypically cold on the outside, while the "bottoms", at least the two we saw most of in the first episodes, are childishly over-the-top emotional.
That alone is a warning sign for me -- I do know that a lot of people like these dynamics.
The first couple -- Ter and Hill -- is at least mostly balance in their power dynamics, but that gets offset by Ter's 13-year-old mentality, which creates drama where there shouldn't be none. And where Ter is over-the-top, Hill is exceptionally bland; after six episodes with them at the center, I know *nothing* about him, except that he seemed to be in love with Ter since forever, and that he's quite well-off and does well in his studies. Their story is quite nonsensical -- we get told their backstory in short flashbacks; those are not shown chronologically, which would be fine on itself, but if we put the information together, it doesn't make sense! It seems that Ter thought Hill was dating a school mate at the same time as he had a crush on Ter's sister. Up to epiosde 8, we also saw two short scenes that don't fit into anything else. Maybe those wil be picked up again later, and I would love to know how this is explained, but it's not worth it to suffer through North's and Johan's story.
Because the second couple (North and Johan), which I have heard is beloved by fans, has the same kind of power dynamics that made me drop "Perfect 10 Liners" earlier: The "top" has some kind of power of his love interest, and abuses it to make him do things he would never do, like spending time with him, doing errands, making life decisions. Here, the power imbalance is a (fictional) debt of several 100 000 Baht North has to pay back to Johan, and it's made worse by the fact that North makes it very clear that his livelihood depends on the money he gets from his part-time jobs. Of course, super-rich Johan doesn't care, and keeps North away during working hours, which could have cost North his job. And no, Johan, buying your love interest an iPhone does *not* make up for your abusing your power.
So, I can deal with boredom, I can deal with nonsense stories, but I cannot nor will I ever be able to see how a mutually respectful relationship can ever come from a starting point like this.
And as a last point, the directing.
As I said, I started this drama for Pond Ponlawit. I noticed him first in "The Death of Khun Phra", and in "Century of Love" -- and after that I saw him in "180 Degree Longitude" and "Reset", as well as the short edutainment series "Criminal People 5G". In each and every one of these, I was blown away by how *different* the characters are. If not for the same face, I would never have guessed that this is the same actor. I wanted to see what he would do with a standard Thai BL "top" character.
So, I *know* he has talent. I *know* he has the ability to pull it off. But it seems that not even he could make a bland character without personality into something interesting.
And, watching him, it felt like Pond was directed to forcibly stop himself from acting -- sometimes there are slight movements of arms or the whole body that he stops, and then he goes back to an awkward stance with his arms hanging down at his side. This can only be because the director wanted it to be like that, I cannot think of another explanation. Maybe the director had a vision of the character that unfortunately the script didn't support (as I said, Hill has no personality at all)? I wonder what Pond would have made of Hill, if he could have acted the way he wanted under another director.
The same goes for Earth Katsamonnat, who also has shown his abilities in previous productions, although his character is already written as if Ter is a 13 year old girl, so he didn't have much leeway. And it's also very obvious that Bas Hatsanat as North did his best to give his character a well-rounded personality.
Which brings me to my last point of contention: This is one of those BLs that are very obviously aimed at very young teenaged girls, who can identify with the "bottom" roles and crush on the "top" roles -- which might make money and might also honour the heritage from Japanese BL manga -- but makes for such unrealistic behaviours that it's really hard to watch, especially if the rest is already making me want to drop it.
Was it good?
The only saving grace of the first five and a half episodes was Pond Ponlawit trying to make the best out of a character without personality.
Did I like it?
No. The drama uses stereotypes I hate, and doesn't even try to give them a bit of a twist. Once Hill became a background character, my interest droppped sharply, so I dropped the drama.
Who would I recommend it to?
I don't want to recommend this at all.
Okay, maybe to hard-core Pond fans.
And maybe to people who also liked "Perfect 10 Liners".
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Every meeting means there will be a parting
Time-travel stories are always tricky, especially if you have, like here, several "travels" back or forth in time. Not only needs the fictional world keep its own internal logic -- who knows what, what has influence on what and so on -- there's also the question of whether to explore "timelines" and "alternative realities" and all the technicalities that come with time travel. "Absolute Zero" does this relatively well, by making the time travel a magical one (implicating that there are unknown forces at work) and not attempting to explain how it all works. Some questions remain a bit unclear, especially the "Where did it all begin?" and why the third time someone travelled worked differently than the other two.But overall, the story is quite obviously not about the logistics, it's much more about meetings and partings, love and loss, and the hope to meet each other again.
The drama also caught one of my weaknesses: I love it when the same part of a story gets re-told from different perspectives or when it explores a "What if this one thing is changed?". "Absolute Zero" has both, so the cast and crew would have had to do a lot of things wrong for me to not like it.
I loved quite a few more aspects. What hooked me in the first episode was the use of colour and light; I also loved the sets which looked both cozy and down-to-earth. I liked that the story takes its time to explore the emotions, even if that made the pace quite slow. The pace and the way it is filmed, combined with the surprisingly high acting quality, took me in, and I cried with the characters when they cried, I hoped with them, I laughed with them. But really, there was a lot of crying -- in the end, "every meeting means there will be a parting" (paraphrased from the DVD shop grandfather).
One thing I wasn't so sure about right after watching, was whether I liked that it's not quite clear if this universe is a deterministic one, i.e. if everything is fixed and unchangeable. The first two thirds make it seem like it is -- but then, the ending seems to imply that it's not, that the writer wants us to know that with determination, we can change our fate. But it's also not made explicit, so maybe it was their fate to end up like they did?
After a night of sleeping over it, I now believe that it's a good thing -- that the author doesn't make a clear decision made me question my own stance on it. Would I like to think that these two men are "soulmates", destined to find and love each other no matter what? Do I want to think that the universe wanted to help them? Or do I want to believe that it was their own strong desire that overcame their pre-written destiny, that only with their sacrifices were they able to overcome their previous destiny?
I love it when a story can make me think.
That said, not everything was great. There are some (minor) aspects that could have been better, many of them would be major spoilers, but I can give you some non-spoilery examples:
* I think the drama could have been tightened up in places. Not by much -- because I do think that we needed the time to explore the characters and their dynamics, as well as their developing emotions -- but maybe by two or three episodes.
* I would have been nice to learn more about adult!Ongsa before the first time-travel. I think it would have made the diferences between teen!Ongas and adult!Ongsa clearer, as well as the difference between pre-story!Ongsa and post-story!Ongsa. This would have also had the effect to have more material for flashbacks, so it's even more obvious that Soon loves both the 18-year-old that Ongsa was and the adult Ongsa he will be in equal measures.
* More variety in the music and its use would have been good. I could predict when which kind of music (a capella, non-verbal vocalisations or instrumental) would be used down to the second. It was also always the same music. So, that got on my nerves by episode 9 or 10.
But these are really minor criticisms -- the drama did well in taking me through an emotional journey, and after finishing it, I felt both full and empty, which is one of the best outcomes for this kind of story.
Was it good?
It was, for the most part. The internal logic worked, and I liked that there were things left unanswered in the end. Actors were excellent in making me feel with their characters, which is essential for a character-driven story.
Did I like it?
Yes! I loved it, even with its flaws. It hit a favourite way of mine for story telling, so I am positively biased.
Who would I recommend it to?
To those who love soulmate fics, who love stories about yearning and the pain of loss. To those who can get on with slow-paced dramas.
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What I loved most:
... regarding the story:
* I loved the characters -- except for a few of them who were hopelessly inhuman in their emotions, all characters have strengths and weaknesses to them. These are not always explored into the minute details but very much obviously there. The characters feel like people.
* All fights for the truth, all struggles for justice are not 100% successful. This is not a fairy tale, where the good guys win and all the bad guys are punished. The system stays firmly in place. Maybe some have learned a lesson, but not all of them.
* And still, things are looking up, at least in the personal lives of the "good" side. There's hope, as long as we are living.
... regarding the technical side:
* The actors are amazing! Facial expressions, body language, all perfectly controlled -- especially hard for the more multi-faceted characters.
* Loved that we get to see the progress of time via the background nature. We start in the bleak winter days and end at early summer -- I wonder if this is accidental or if we may read it as metaphorical.
... regarding the rest:
* No romance! Always a plus for me. Yes, there are two or three scenes, in which there are interactions which could be seen as light flirting or something, and once some short and good-natured heckling, but all of them can be easily ignored and nothing is ever openly acknowledged.
* For a S.Korean crime drama, there are astonishingly few scenes of senseless or exaggerated violence. There is violence, of course, but it always serves the plot in its intensity.
Recommended!
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Light, soothing, slice-of-life
This is an absolute gem among family-themed series. It's feel-good, light and easy to watch on a hectic day with its short 15-minute episodes.Let me highlight some of the things I loved:
* I am most impressed by the child actors. It's no simple feat for a child to portray a character so consistently as they do.
* I love that the two families are not your picture-book families (Mum, dad and their two kids). One is a family of four boys, who live their lives without parents, the other consists of a divorced mother with her two kids who live with their grandfather. Both families are shown as full of love for one another, as they navigate typical problems with school, growing-up, parenting etc.
* While it might not be very common that four boys continue living with each other after their parents passed away, the difficulties in the drama are real-life problems that most of us have had at one time or another -- I think viewers of all ages can find something to relate to here. Problems are always resolved by good communication and assuming that the other person acted not out of malice but well-intentioned.
* While most of the episodes lean into a more comedic style, and there's plenty to laugh (with the characters, never at them) -- the loss of the brothers' parents is not once taken lightly. There were several scenes that made me cry.
* All of the recurring characters are fleshed out, with their own story to tell -- and they are accepted the way they are by the others.
In some episodes, you can clearly see the manga heritage -- there are a few that are more supernatural in nature, which some viewers might find jarring, and there are some episodes that are clearly over-the-top.
I admit, at first, I wasn't too enthused that this is another drama about four male characters -- but after a time I noticed that a) there are more than enough well-rounded female characters with their own story, b) with a girl in the family some dynamics would have changed, and not for the better, and c) it takes the opportunity to gently subvert gender tropes. The oldest brother takes on household chores (cooking, cleaning etc.) willingly, and does them really well without outside help, and the younger borther pitch in. Except for one instance, nobody doubts that a man can care for his younger siblings. The divorcee neighbour is a police officer and while she is at work, her father cares for the kids (and the youngest brother).
Overall, this is a gentle and soothing series, perfect to watch if you need something that makes you feel happy.
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This review may contain spoilers
I usually don't like cats. But the picture looked cute and the series is short, so I thought, why not?What I liked:
* I loved the male lead's acting -- his face was so expressive, and made his emotions, whether spoken or not, very clear to the audience, without being exaggerated.
* Loved the best friend and the editor -- they were supportive and gave some much needed comic relief at times.
* Bok Gil's voice acting was spot on.
* All of the actors were great, and they all did what they could with their roles.
* I also liked the general idea of the story -- a young, traumatized man who finds solace in his pet and during the development of the story the ability to move on. I also loved how during the first six episodes, everything seems to go wrong, and the male lead has to juggle all of these demands plus his worry about his cat. In this, the series is a wonderful slice of life drama. And for the most part, things fit well together -- with the exception of the female lead.
So, before I talk about her, let's count for a minute. When the traumatic event in male lead's life happens, he is a high school teenager, so between 16 and 18 years old. A year later, he finds Bok Gil and lives with her for seven years, until the present day. So, he is probably between 24 and 26 years old. He definitely has finished his university education. The female lead is, according to her, the same age as him.
And now to the "What I did not like" part of my review:
I think who ever wrote the script did not do well in writing the female lead's character.
In the first half, or rather, three-quarters, she is dramatically emotional, clinging to every cat she sees and bawling her heart out. She does not know boundaries, courteous distance or privacy but rather barges into the male lead's life, even though he tells her to stay away several times. This behaviour would have fit better with a teenager, not with a woman in her mid-twenties. If she had been a teenager, I would have liked that better than what we got. It would have fit the story better, and the writers would also not have forced another lukewarm heterosexual romance down our throats.
(They could have left out the romance aspect regardless, since it only played a minuscule role in the story. I really don't know why writers think their dramas must have a (het) romance.)
One explanation for her behaviour could be that she was so traumatized by her illness and the disappearance of her own cat at the same time, that she now acts that way. If so, the show should have gone deeper into her past, into her life and that could have given her a real character development. Instead, she mainly serves as the catalyst for the male lead's character development instead of getting her own character progression, which unfortunately happens all too often in all kinds of dramas.
All of this, plus the completely uneccessary love-triangle, made this drama hard to watch. The slice-of-life storyline was nice, and you'll probably enjoy the cat scenes, if you are seriously into cats.
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This review may contain spoilers
Most of us who have already passed the age of fourty will probably concur that this age does feel like a threshold. Whether your kids are starting to leave home (or will do so soon) or your parents start to need your help (or pass away even) -- suddenly, you notice that you are no longer young and chances are that the years ahead will be fewer than the years already behind.Add to that the comfortable days you are living -- you finally settled into your job and know your role, days have a predictable routine. You think you know yourself, what you want and what you fear.
Youth seems like a dim memory, something you are no longer allowed to have.
But Kozue is lucky. He gets a Togawa, and is able to rediscover his own self, and find new passion for life (and for love). This story is told concisely, never rushed. No scene, no line of dialogue, no gesture is unecessary. Both leads and the supporting actors act with precision.
Browns and greys, shades and dim lighting are contrasted with bright spring greens and the lovely crisp spring sun -- Colours, light and shadows play an important role in this drama, if you care to look for it.
Follow the colour, the sets, the acting, which gets increasingly tight, tense and even oppressive -- the tension rises, until Togawa reaches his breaking point -- and it seems as if things are broken. Everything is grey and brownish again, but changed. Spots of light and colour show how Nozue's life has already changed -- but wouldn't it be brighter and livelier with Togawa in it?
Even after watching this lovely series more than a few times, I haven't found anything that I don't like -- it's that excellent!
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Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store
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Most of the scenes are relatively unconnected, there's not much plot development (and certainly no character development), and apart from the last episode, most of the scenes could have been swapped around without any detriment to the whole.
These unconnected skits remind me of the best of British comedy of the 1960s to 1980s in the heritage of Monty Python. The absurdity rivals skits like "The Cheese Shop" or "The Dead Parrot". It certainly wouldn't have been out of place in shows like "Not the Nine o'clock News" or "Fry and Laurie", only that the humour is, of course not in the English style but very Japanese.
The characters -- obviously caricatures -- are excellently done by the actors, and, if all of them did not have the great comedic timing they have, I'd suspect a lot of ad-libbing, this feels just so fresh and spontaneous.
You might find it too weird if you're not much into the surreal and absurd side of life, but if you are, you should give this series a try!
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Kabe-Koji-Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to Be Recognized
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This review may contain spoilers
Don't let yourself be fooled by the comedy
This is one of the queerest BL dramas I've watched so far, a hilarious comedy with two people who find their way to self-acceptance. [more on that with spoilers below the ***.]The comedy is strong in this drama, so much so that I was completely thrown when things got much more serious near the end of episode 3 when I first watched it. It has the Japanese-typical style of acting for comedies, wonderful side characters, and a lot of funny moments. I love how they decided to put strong manga elements in -- like the onomatopoeic word like for the ringing clock, or certain style elements like the extended bellies after overeating. Also, though not part of the comedy side, I loved how the flashbacks are initiated by "opening" a manga-like panelled page.
All of the characters have their comedic moments -- best of them all is, the bearded beauty, who is just so kind-hearted that even Mamoru can't help but to like him.
The script and the directing is very tight -- there's not a second of irrelevance in this drama, it's either for a comedy element or for the plot development. I liked the use of light and darkness to accentuate the feelings of our protagonists. And the intro song has become one of my favourites!
Acting is great all around. Even after several rewatches, I've not found a flaw. Especially Issei's facial expressions are so spot-on,that I just looked at his face for a whole rewatch -- when does Issei use a fake smile, when a real one; when does he stop smiling, and does he look relaxed or menacing when he does that? Really, I've only seen one actor use smiles of a similar calibre, and that was in Beyond Evil.
***
And this is the spoilery part, but also where I explain why this drama goes much deeper than I thought at first:
Mamoru, who is our main character, has felt like an outcast since ... maybe forever. He is a gay man with a love of drawing gay erotic muscle doujin -- both things that define him and which he feels are to be ashamed of, to be hidden.
And which queer teenager hasn't at least once felt like that? (Well, minus the gay muscle doujin, perhaps.)
Only, for Mamoru, this feeling of being alone, of being someone with a shameful identity -- this feeling transforms his whole sense of self. Only during the ComiKing, where he can sell his work alongside same-minded people, and only when his work sells well, is this dark cloud lifted for a short time.
He is not able to understand that his family's indulgence is not indifference, that Yamada is not just someone who likes reading his doujin but also his friend, and he is not able to hear that Issei's "I like you" is not the same "like" as in "I like my fans".
It takes a journey through dark days for Mamoru to accept who he is and what he loves.
I love how this drama tackles how living in our world can impact the sense of self of queer people -- and that it shows us that maybe, if we dare to tell the world who we love, light will fill our life and we can find happiness.
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