Unpopularopinionbydemand
watching BL in the corner of my room
This review may contain spoilers
Wasn't a Huge Fan
I guess I'll have to act as the anomaly here and say I wasn't a huge fan of this one. Not because I think it was bad, but just because I felt like I was constantly confused and had to look at comments to kind of get a sense of what was going on, or just to give a guest-ment and hope I was right. Nonetheless, the acting was stellar in this, including the overall concept that's unique to the genre and one that I can appreciate.
Let's Dive In.
This concept is absolutely genius. Myungha is stuck in a virtual reality game with stakes, and objectives, and missions in order to get Yeowoon, a stoic track athlete out of his slumps and make him happy. I loved the little pop-ups, the errors, the objectives, the countdowns, and whatnot. It's a very neat idea, drawing in on video game tropes, leaving Myungha with very high stakes, sometimes some that I myself was finding hard to choose. The conclusion that I've drawn up since the end of this series is that the male that Myungha kept talking to in the bar was some type of god or guardian angel, and by that time, Myungha had already died. When he wakes in this virtual world, he has a mission to achieve, but so does everybody else. From my observation, it seems that everyone in this universe has died in the real world and this entity has placed them in this virtual one to give them a sense of peace, which is why Myungha sees his grandmother who already died in the real world; the entity gave her another chance to be with her grandson that she missed dearly in this new world. Again, this is why this series is so creatively good, you can draw on so many ideas and analyses and none or all of them are necessarily wrong or right.
Now, this is why this series still kind of didn't hit the nail for me. It was very slow. It took me longer than I'm willing to admit to finish this 8-ep series, and that's because some episodes felt draggy and slow with nothing high-stake happening. By the end, it definitely picks up more, but first, you have to go through lots of filler and it's boring. Another reason is because I kept staying confused as to what was going on. Multiple times I'd have to pause to come here to remember names, read in the comments what was happening and how we'd somehow gotten to this conclusion. On top of that, the editing was extremely choppy at times. Like one moment Myungha was crying and looking devastated and in a split second he's in a different location looking completely fine in some car with some lady. It was whiplashing to say the least. Some of the character arcs aren't so clear. Like especially Sangwon who just became besties with them after bullying them?? I feel like I definitely missed something. Kyunghoon should've ended up with his online dude, or maybe even gotten with Sangwon, but whatever.
The acting in this is stellar! I'm not a fan of Myungha and Yeowoon's relationship, but that doesn't mean they didn't act their asses off. Individually, these two were so complex in every aspect, in backstory, and then their overall development. Myungha's story is tragic, and it might seem beautiful that he's in this new world, but to me, that also seems tragic and will always have that underlying "this is kind of sad" energy. Yeowoon smiles and I'm like, "Yes". What a gorgeous actor, who I hate comparing looks to other Korean entertainers, but my lord, did he look like TXT's Soobin at some angles. When it comes to their relationship, there was a lot about it that just didn't a hundred percent work with me. The chemistry was weak, perhaps not as bad in the beginning, but for sure once Yeowoon starts being fond of him. They really did look more like good friends than two people together -- I liked that Myungha got comfortable around Yeowoon, but it didn't look like it was much more than that. The kisses weren't as bad as I was expecting, but still pretty bad.
Ratings:
Story: 8/10 - Great creativity! Loved the inclusion of lots of aspects in this. I think at times it was confusing and a little slow, but nonetheless, really entertaining.
Acting: 9/10: Great! Taevin (Myungha) did amazing, with everyone else falling immediately after.
Music: 6/10: Didn't pay attention to it, but it wasn't distracting.
Recommendation Value: 7.5/10: I think the concept is really cool, but the BL part of this is lacking for me, so it's not the first K-BL I'd recommend, but it's not the last either. But both actors are beautiful, so I actually might recommend this to you earlier.
Let's Dive In.
This concept is absolutely genius. Myungha is stuck in a virtual reality game with stakes, and objectives, and missions in order to get Yeowoon, a stoic track athlete out of his slumps and make him happy. I loved the little pop-ups, the errors, the objectives, the countdowns, and whatnot. It's a very neat idea, drawing in on video game tropes, leaving Myungha with very high stakes, sometimes some that I myself was finding hard to choose. The conclusion that I've drawn up since the end of this series is that the male that Myungha kept talking to in the bar was some type of god or guardian angel, and by that time, Myungha had already died. When he wakes in this virtual world, he has a mission to achieve, but so does everybody else. From my observation, it seems that everyone in this universe has died in the real world and this entity has placed them in this virtual one to give them a sense of peace, which is why Myungha sees his grandmother who already died in the real world; the entity gave her another chance to be with her grandson that she missed dearly in this new world. Again, this is why this series is so creatively good, you can draw on so many ideas and analyses and none or all of them are necessarily wrong or right.
Now, this is why this series still kind of didn't hit the nail for me. It was very slow. It took me longer than I'm willing to admit to finish this 8-ep series, and that's because some episodes felt draggy and slow with nothing high-stake happening. By the end, it definitely picks up more, but first, you have to go through lots of filler and it's boring. Another reason is because I kept staying confused as to what was going on. Multiple times I'd have to pause to come here to remember names, read in the comments what was happening and how we'd somehow gotten to this conclusion. On top of that, the editing was extremely choppy at times. Like one moment Myungha was crying and looking devastated and in a split second he's in a different location looking completely fine in some car with some lady. It was whiplashing to say the least. Some of the character arcs aren't so clear. Like especially Sangwon who just became besties with them after bullying them?? I feel like I definitely missed something. Kyunghoon should've ended up with his online dude, or maybe even gotten with Sangwon, but whatever.
The acting in this is stellar! I'm not a fan of Myungha and Yeowoon's relationship, but that doesn't mean they didn't act their asses off. Individually, these two were so complex in every aspect, in backstory, and then their overall development. Myungha's story is tragic, and it might seem beautiful that he's in this new world, but to me, that also seems tragic and will always have that underlying "this is kind of sad" energy. Yeowoon smiles and I'm like, "Yes". What a gorgeous actor, who I hate comparing looks to other Korean entertainers, but my lord, did he look like TXT's Soobin at some angles. When it comes to their relationship, there was a lot about it that just didn't a hundred percent work with me. The chemistry was weak, perhaps not as bad in the beginning, but for sure once Yeowoon starts being fond of him. They really did look more like good friends than two people together -- I liked that Myungha got comfortable around Yeowoon, but it didn't look like it was much more than that. The kisses weren't as bad as I was expecting, but still pretty bad.
Ratings:
Story: 8/10 - Great creativity! Loved the inclusion of lots of aspects in this. I think at times it was confusing and a little slow, but nonetheless, really entertaining.
Acting: 9/10: Great! Taevin (Myungha) did amazing, with everyone else falling immediately after.
Music: 6/10: Didn't pay attention to it, but it wasn't distracting.
Recommendation Value: 7.5/10: I think the concept is really cool, but the BL part of this is lacking for me, so it's not the first K-BL I'd recommend, but it's not the last either. But both actors are beautiful, so I actually might recommend this to you earlier.
Was this review helpful to you?
