Very cute, but... (well done spoilers)

TL;DR - If you're wondering whether to watch this or not, I would still recommend you to do it, but be aware that it has some questionable elements.

Let's break down the story first. Actually, let's not do that since the writers already did that. By this I mean that the story is one of the things which I found pretty odd. The plot of the series is very simple. Two childhood friends who live in the same house avoided each other before they turn to lovers. A classical trope, which I'm here for. Where this falls flat (or, more accurately, odd) is in the delivery. There are just too many plot holes for this scenario to work. They've been living together for like 10 years, but they avoided each other the entire time? Sounds pretty unreasonable to me. In fact, not only did they avoid each other at home, but also in school, too? Up to the point where not a single soul knew they lived together? Not even the ML's best friends? I really had to suspend disbelief on this one (and many other things like this). Also, the subplots rarely made sense and some of the scenes felt really weird - to be precise, a lot of the times the story would jump from one situation to another without a thread connecting them. That being said, not all is bad. There's a decent amount of fluff which deepens their romance (before and after they get together), the story does progress beyond high-school, which was nice and kind of unusual to see, etc. The scenes that follow the main storyline do progress the plot, and the romance HIGHLY influences the character arcs, which I believe is the most important thing in the story.

Characters. MC is the cutest little bean for whom, even though he may be a tad too meek throughout the story, you really want to root for. A huge part of that I attribute to the actor's talent. I think his acting skill fascinated me the most. He does "grow up" into a more independent, mature adult, which is lovely to see. Also, this couldn't have been the case without the ML's love for him, which I think is the only way the romance should influence a character's growth. The ML is your standard popular guy in high school, who acts like he doesn't care for the MC, That is, until he learns that they will be separated after the MC turns 18 and leaves his house. He then jumps on the mission to befriend him (again?) and to cultivate a romantic relationship between them. We learn pretty early that he is in love with the MC, and he was really vocal about it, which was refreshing. I hate when the MLs brood for the entire series only to "reveal" they've been in love with the MC since forever. The ML also has a nice character arc, which is basically bonding with his mother (who he doesn't feel the real, motherly love from; which he kind of doesn't). Again, this transformation would not be possible without the MC supporting him. Now onto the negatives; it isn't all peachy, unfortunately. Pretty early they confess to each other and even kiss, but under the influence of alcohol, only for the MC to not remember it the next morning and for the ML to be furious about it. This results in ML literally assaulting MC, which I despised seeing. I cringed so hard, especially because MC was bullied in the school. Luckily (I guess?), ML immediately realised his wrongdoings and apologised, but it still left a bad taste. Also, the mother's "arc" was just not believable. She literally shipped them from the get-go, but when she learned about their relationship, she flips out, attacks them, and starts drinking heavily for literally no reason. Everything we've seen coming from her until that point could only lead us to believe she would accept them instantly. She literally saw them sleeping in the same bed together and was like "yass queens" only to tell how the world would not understand their love 3 minutes later. It didn't make sense, but, oh well.

Overall: Even though there are some shortcomings in the story and the characters, I really quite liked the rest of the show. The fluffy scenes are particularly well done and you would absolutely believe that these people love and care for each other. I like seeing them go from kinda-strangers in teenage-hood to lovers all the way into the adulthood, which I rarely see. I'm not sure if I want to rewatch it again, but I'm glad that I watched it this one time.

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Nonsensical, corny and, worst of all, toxic (well done spoilers)

I decided to watch this on a whim because the episodes were short enough for me to binge this for an evening. And, boy, was it disappointing.

The series started off with an interesting premise - Won, a renowned athlete, loses his drive for running marathons and he finds it through a junior of his, who is a literal sunshine. Oh, wait, he manages to do so in the first episode. Huh... Okay, well, at least we have that same junior, Sang Ha, who had been adoring his hyung ever since he saw him running for the first time in high-school, aaaaand... what's his character arc again?

Well, if you're looking for any character development from these two, forget it. Instead, be prepared for a plethora of completely disconnected plot points whose whole goal is to add the unnecessary drama and odd backstory elements, which are sprung out of nowhere and sometimes even seem to contradict the characters' behaviours. Sang Ha has a whole "my-parent-dies-so-I-must-pay-their-debt" subplot, which I'm not mad at, but it's executed so badly that I cringed the entire time. The bad guys literally abused him before crying tears of happiness for him in the end and wishing him well in life. What the actual fuck? There just wasn't enough time to integrate such a heavy topic in a well manner, and it showed. Won, on the other hand, for being such a smart person and knowing not to enter a hot pool before taking a cold shower, has literally zero sense about why Sang Ha didn't buy new shoes even though Sang Ha spelled out his debt situation to him.

The fluff was cute, and I enjoyed their moments of closeness, but they were completely shadowed by the horrible dynamic between the two. Won is such a toxic person who always yells to Sang Ha's face for literally every single thing the guy does. Not to mention that, when they matched again after being separated for a while, his first instinct was to punch Sang Ha in the face! WHY?! I DESPISE any kind of toxicity, and I could not forgive this. Sang Ha is not better either. In the middle of explaining what happened to him, he decides to emotionally manipulate Won by sprinkling suicidal tendencies while telling him how his happiness and only purpose in his life is to be Won's pacemaker. I was thoroughly disgusted, which, in the end, left me saddened since I very much like the cast, and the actors did a great job portraying the actually romantic stuff in this "romance" series.

Finally, when they got together in the end, I prayed they wouldn't start running on their date. And guess what happened? THEY DID. ON THEIR DATE. IN SHIRTS AND PANTS. I feel so bad for the actors that this will be permanently in their catalogue.

At least the OST was perfect.

Overall - Save yourself time and don't watch it, unless you are a romance writer who wants to learn how to avoid writing toxic relationships & corny endings.

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This is the perfect BL series (rare spoilers)

I'm not joking when I write this - this is the perfect BL series, and the best one I've watched. Even though some people will dismiss this review as being biased and written from a perspective of a fanboy, I'll still write the following TLDR - every aspect of this series is done flawlessly and I'm here to dissect it for you.

Let's start with a romance. The story's premise is set around the trope that I don't necessarily enjoy: enemies to lovers. I guess my fascination for this show is partly due to the fact that they've taken a trope I'm indifferent toward and done such a good job that it blew my mind. To that I say - fair - if the series had managed to make me take interest in something I previously didn't like, it should be praised. The number one reason why this worked really well is that it is devoid of any subatomic shred of toxicity. While, yes, Jae Young was tormenting Sang Woo for a few days, I argue that it was more playful than anything else. Wearing red clothes and buying all coffee from the vending machine is miles away from verbal, physical, mental and sexual abuse I'm at this point nearly accustomed to. Nothing of the sort occurs here, and the playfulness quickly turns into adoration, which leads to a blossoming relationship between the two.

The characters are very interesting and multi-dimensional. The way Yu Na has a chokehold on my heart as a person is insane, and she's just a side character! These actors have done such an amazing job at portraying these characters, they feel like actual people I would hang around with. Of course, that is also part to the very well written dialogue. Also, we see their virtues, their flaws, what ticks them, what drives them... It's all there for the viewers to soak in.

When it comes to plot, I say this is quite a simple plot, but it's pretty well done. The standard three-act structure is there, with moments to keep you on your toes at all times, wonderfully intertwined with the character development and, of course, romance. Everything feels remarkably plausible. There wasn't a single moment where I yelled at the characters making stupid decisions or at the left-turn external obstacles which make absolutely no sense. Short, clean, concise.

Overall: If there's only one BL series that I could watch for the rest of my life, it would be this one. Please, don't have doubts over watching it. On the other hand, I hope I'm not setting too high of an expectation for you. In the end, this is a live action series of 8 episodes, 25 minutes each, so bear that in mind when watching it.

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This was a rollercoaster (medium rare spoilers)

This was my first Thai drama and, jumping into it, I genuinely hadn't had a clue what to expect of it. In the end, it gave a very k-drama vibes, which I was used to at that point, so I decided to continue watching it. In order for this review to make any sense at all, I have to separate the two stories which this series covers, though they are fairly intertwined. Actually, let me just mention that I really haven't seen the idea of taking two couples and intertwining their stories like this before and I must say that I quite liked it. Usually, we would follow a main couple, and then some side characters would get a romance, too, but the story would scarcely focus on them. This was not the case here and I loved it! Now, onto the two stories.

I love the trope of a bimbo "cutiepie" and a caring "bad boy" bumping into each other (not literally in this case, but still) and the first couple did the trope pretty well. At first, Payu may seem like he would be a walking red flag, but he's actually very sweet and cares for Rain. Rain is so dumb and I laughed hard at every scene he had. Payu is also involved with some mafia guys, which introduces turmoil in their relationship, but I think it's handled really well. I hadn't had any particular issues with this couple in particular (well, except for my personal distaste for smut scenes, but, oh well), and if this series focused only on them I would have loved it.

Now that sentence might contradict what I said earlier about intertwining stories of two couples, but it doesn't. While I liked the idea of it, it can only work if I enjoy both the couples, and I definitely did not enjoy the second one. Prapai and Sky as characters were great. Their romance, and the story, was far from it. One of the biggest pet peeves I have when it comes to romance stories are the miscommunication plot points. It is SO TIRED at this point, and I really cannot consume it no more. The only thing that are more played out than that are coming out stories, which I just skip entirely. You cannot tell me that a person which knows they're being loved, or ADORED, by other person would CHOOSE to keep their attraction to themselves? It is so unreasonable to me that I simply cannot relate. I believe the screenwriters probably wanted to make a comment about juggling past trauma in a new relationship, but I don't think they've done a good job there. Prapai was literally bending at every possible angle to ensure Sky was being taken care of only for Sky to keep to himself even though he obviously love him? Please... I get that trauma is difficult to handle in general, but it wasn't as prominent in any other part of his life except for the relationship, which I find hard to believe. Also, the trauma itself and the events at the second part of their story was so shocking and abruptly shown without proper foreshadowing that it nearly left me traumatised. It was just poor writing that ruined what could've been an amazing romance with commentary on PTSD and how a healthy relationship can help one move on from it.

Another prominent problem that I had with this series is the acting. It was so over the top and at certain points I thought they are camping it up on purpose. However, this was clearly not a parody, so I just couldn't forgive it. I'll say that Payu's actor probably did the best job out of the whole cast, or at the very least, it was palatable in comparison to the other actors (main and side ones!).

Overall: Even though I discussed most of the negative sides of my experience watching this show, I would still recommend BL fans to watch it. If you cannot stomach certain things, I'd say sticking to the first couple's storyline and dropping before the second one starts developing will probably yield the best viewing experience. I would rewatch the first half of this series for sure.

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Would have been amazing had it not been dragged out

This was the first Chinese drama I've watched. I was drawn in by the fantasy premise, beautiful costumes, and knowing to expect a turbulent romance. And I got it all. The story was very interesting, especially the worldbuilding elements. As a fan of aristocratic romances, I really like the idea of gods and relationships between them. A plentiful cast of talented actors (though some of them were overacting at times) with colourful characters, each with their own personality, albeit one-dimensional at the time. In regards to the plot, it was very well thought out, with multiple twists over the course of the story to keep you from being bored. However...

The biggest problem I had with this series is that it was just... too... long... Was it really necessary to have 63 episodes, each 45 minutes long? I'm sure there was a way to tighten the story a bit to make it more appealing. It dragged out for too long, which ultimately, led to other elements suffering from it. At certain point, I've started counting the number of times the same plot points were being repeated over and over again, bringing literally nothing new to the story. I would actually love to rewatch this series at least once again, because I love the romance between the main couple, but I just cannot bring myself to do that. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending (I just don't enjoy resolutions like that), but this is strictly subjective opinion (and mostly acts as a note to my future self that rewatching it might end up wasting my time).

Overall: I recommend watching this drama if you like slow burn romance - kike, the microwave is off and someone is blowing hot air behind it-kind of slow burn (thanks, Katya Zamolodchikova, for painting a perfect picture of my feelings toward this drama) - also fantasy elements, really cool cinematography & fierce costuming.

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