Reviews

SHOCKED, MOVED, GAGGED!! 3XS

Watching Zhan Zhao Adventures made me realize how much some earlier dramas this year struggled with recycling overly familiar plots, overusing romantic tropes, and delivering performances that didn’t always feel convincing. When compared side by side, those weaknesses became even more obvious.

This drama genuinely surprised me. It had the badass swordsmen, swordswomen, martial artists, and action sequences I expected, but what made it stand out was the humility and emotional restraint beneath all the excitement. The story didn’t rely on exaggerated romance or the usual “googly-eyed” love trope to keep viewers invested. Instead, it allowed the characters, writing, and atmosphere to carry the drama, and it worked.

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Besties to Lovers

Yu Wan Yin and Xiahou Dan are so chaotic 😅 I have watched a lot of transmigration series and I loved this one because they didn't pretend like they weren't from the future. I like that they were both smart about their actions too.
You will like alot of characters in this drama.
I got mixed up with Yu Wan Yin met Xiahou Po at the SOS flower garden. But I guess that was because the emperor and Xiahou Po looked exactly alike when he was a child.

Anyways LOVED Yu Wan Yin and Xiahou Dan their chemistry!

For the ending, I usually get disappointed because they dont do much other than meeting each other in real like and the end.

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10/10 Where you get best of everything

I have watched many bl/romance drama till now but I was lucky enough to stumble upon this masterpiece. I don't want to just label this as a bl drama, I would rather go ahead and say it's a romance drama. This is a story of two teenagers and we all must have seen/experienced such a story before but what makes it so exceptional is the acting, direction, cinematography, background scores, characters... I can go on and on!
Everything is polished here and sets a standard for entire entertainment industry out there. This is the first drama where I have re-watched episodes multiple times. I HAVE NEVER DONE this before for any drama except for Friends. If I start talking about the chemistry between the leads then I won't be able to finish this review. What I like the best here is the confusion/desire/attraction/love is all so innocent and real that it will make you cry and make you remember when you were 17.
If you are planning to watch this series then please go ahead because if you won't then you have missed watching a masterpiece.
The only best thing that happened in 2020 is "I told sunset about you"

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Amazingly Beautiful

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

It is always refreshing to watch a BL series with a more mature story concept. I also love how this BL series focused on many other underline themes about one’s own struggles. The artful simplicity of this script was incredible. Everything from the relationship development to the overall themes about family was well paced. The entire cast did an outstanding job with their characters. Unfortunately, there is one exception with the male leads which is very puzzling to me. The cinematography was beautiful and helped capture the undertone mood while the events unfolded.

Random Note:

I originally was undecided about watching this because the MDL series synopsis, which is very inaccurate, scared me. The one on GagaOOLala is much better.




******Potential Spoiler Alert******

The exception was the very inconstant chemistry between the two lead actors during the more intimate scenes. There were times that they were great, but then we get the standard dead lip kiss scenes that you usually see in Korean BL series. Although very puzzling to me, this was only a minor irritation.

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Brilliant, Heartbreaking, and Difficult to Watch at Times

I have such mixed feelings about this drama. A story can be brilliantly crafted and emotionally rich, but if the emotional cost—especially due to brutality or themes of cruelty—is too high, it creates an internal conflict.

As a whole, the drama is absolutely wonderful—powerful and introspective. The narrative is an odyssey of sorts, telling an epic story across timelines that brings you into the characters’ hardships and evolving lives. The misfortunes speak to your soul and make you feel deeply. And there are comedic pauses and beautiful cinematography that engage the senses so that the trauma isn’t overwhelming.

But what made this drama difficult for me wasn’t the plot, which centered on hate and revenge—it was how the main character, Siling, translated those elements on screen. There was never enough justification, for me, for how she enacted her malice. Though I understood, intellectually, why she felt hatred and pain—I wished her choices had been executed differently. I think she could have delivered the same wrath without the vicious brutality. And that’s where Siling, and Feud as a whole, lost me. It’s just not my cup of tea to watch people be that brutal to one another. That’s also why I’ve struggled with other dramas like Love & Bid Farewell and Goodbye, My Princess.

So while I was immersed and highly engaged in the beginning and end, episodes 17–27 made it hard for me to imagine watching this again. And for a drama to make it onto my top watch list, my personal criteria is that I must be able to rewatch it. With that said, the performances were phenomenal—especially from Bai Lu and Zeng Shunxi. The supporting cast also shone, with many carrying the main storyline at different points. The show wouldn’t have been the same without them.

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The long journey of "Fourever You" finally comes to an end

Nao finally accepts Tiger's feelings, and after so many episodes of waiting, they officially become a couple. Tiger's overjoyed reaction is both funny and heartwarming, while Nao's shy response makes them an adorable pair.

The finale also gives satisfying conclusions to the stories of both brothers. Watching them choose love over expectations made for a warm and happy ending.

To be honest, Season 1 wasn't really my style. It felt slow, overly sentimental, and very much like a classic Studio Wabi Sabi production. However, Season 2 improved considerably. I especially enjoyed both the Arthit & Daotok arc and the Tiger & Nao arc, which had much better pacing and stronger chemistry.

If you've already watched Season 1, I think Season 2 is definitely worth continuing for.

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Ehhh

Danger Dolls flirts with high concept ideas but, regrettably, never commits. Its world and premise are mildly interesting at best, yet the film does little with them, leaving both its themes and characters underdeveloped.

The action is solid enough, but without emotional investment, it lacks impact. Combined with a noticeable but underutilized low budget, the film ends up feeling like a generic action movie rather than a thoughtful sci fi story.

It is not bad, just underwhelming. You can see the better version of this film, but it never fully comes together.

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Comfort Detective Show

This is a comfort drama set in 1920s Shanghai. The male leads are an investment banker turned detective and a gangster turned cop who really needs the help. The female lead is a reporter and also the daughter of the head of a large and powerful gang (and that gang leader is effectively the boss of the cop).

The cases are weird and resolved within 2 episodes of the crime, so there is a bit of a Scooby Doo effect here. There is an overarching narrative, generated by the setting, Shanghai in the 1920s.

It is a pleasant watch and the cases are unusual enough to keep the viewer interested, but this genre is usually not that challenging. I may be the one person here who thought the romantic relationship was telegraphed pretty early on, and the silly arguing and insults were an immature way to flirt. It helped keep the show light, which seems useful to me given “lots of murders in 1920s Shanghai” could be bleak.

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Tragically beautiful — sometimes two words are enough

There are series you finish and immediately know you'll carry with you for a long time. This is one of them.
Two boys, a rural taekwondo hall, a father who makes home feel like something to escape — and then a boy from Seoul arrives and quietly changes everything. The first love that forms between them is tender and fragile in the way first loves are, and when it breaks it breaks before it ever really had the chance to become itself. Twelve years later, a funeral, a reunion, and all the wounds that never properly healed still sitting exactly where they were left.
What I find genuinely rare about this series is how it handles blame — or rather, how it refuses to distribute it neatly. People hurt each other here not out of cruelty but out of circumstance, out of silence, out of not knowing how to do better with what they had. That's a much harder thing to write than a villain, and the series pulls it off with real maturity.
Korean productions at their best have a particular relationship with grief and time that I don't think translates easily across cultures — a willingness to sit inside pain without rushing toward resolution. This series has that quality completely. And it still leaves you with something warm at the end, which feels almost like a small miracle given everything that comes before it.
Tragically beautiful. That's all it needs to be.

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The kind of series that makes you sit quietly afterwards and not want to speak

I'm going to struggle to be articulate about this one, which feels appropriate given what it did to me.
Ji Hyun arrives in Seoul from a small town, can't find his footing, can't find his people — and then Jae Won walks in, older, freshly back from military service, and offers friendship with a directness that catches Ji Hyun completely off guard. The attraction between them is immediate and mutual and neither of them follows it, for reasons that feel earned rather than manufactured. Jae Won who pretends nothing happened after a kiss. Ji Hyun who carries his brother's death like something he deserves to carry, while Jae Won — with this tender, almost reckless devotion — keeps trying to reach him anyway. That dynamic broke something in me in the best possible way.
What this series does that I find genuinely rare is make you feel the weight of two people finding each other at the wrong moment and choosing to try regardless. The surfing, the city, the quiet scenes between them — all of it adds up to something I can't fully explain but felt completely.
I don't hand out scores like this lightly. This one earned it.

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10/10 i missed bl dramas like this

10/10 i missed bl dramas like this…………………..…..…………………………………
It's been so long since i watched a bl drama that naturally treated gay romance. There are no tiring, fetishizing (sub)plots, no silly drama and no exaggerated characters.
The simplicity of this drama is its strength. Simple gestures, just like akira buying kanata a bracelet or their conversations on the rooftop, make this drama feel so intimate and tangible.
I know the drama is still ongoing, but i just had to leave a review already. The japanese bl industry has been feeding us well with directors that treat their projects as art and not just content.

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A comfort series I keep going back to — and AouBoom need their own show immediately!

I've rewatched parts of this multiple times already and I'll probably do it again. That alone tells you most of what you need to know about how I feel about it.
What genuinely moved me about this series beyond the couples is what sits at its center: healthy male friendships, the kind that are affectionate and present and unashamed, and the idea that friendship itself is worth celebrating as the foundation of everything else. That's not something BL series always remember to do, and I found it quietly powerful here.
Yes, it's a little ridiculous that essentially everyone ends up with someone. I made my peace with that early and simply followed PondPhuwin and AouBoom, which was more than enough.
PondPhuwin's physical chemistry felt more natural to me here than in Never Let Me Go — something about Pond being allowed to be a little bolder, a little less passive, seemed to free up the dynamic between them in a way that worked. That's a personal read, but it's a consistent one across rewatches.
And then there's AouBoom. Aou's character is a lot — genuinely, unapologetically a lot — but sometimes full-volume cheesiness is exactly the right energy, and Boom matches it perfectly. They secured a permanent place in my BL heart here and I will stand by that. They need their own series. Someone make it happen.

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09/10 Fluidity

09/10 Fluidity…………………….:………………………..
Everything flows in the movie. Everything is fluid. Fluid professions, fluid nationalities, friendships, sexualities, relationships, values, priorities. But the flow is bridged with gentle grace, even with the most ruthless realities.
I really wanted to wish all the characters the very best, but I needn't bother - because they seem quite capable of gritty survival. Most of them. All in all, it's about sadness, wistfulness, resignation, persistence- all captured in the lead's eyes. Good movie.
P.s - I really hope people don't straight-wash the male bonding and intimacy. It definitely adds to the film, and I hope it isn't hijacked.

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Less like a BL series, more like a quiet film that breaks you carefully

I came to PondPhuwin through a Zach Sang interview, decided I needed to see them for myself, and started with what everyone said was their best work. That instinct was right.
What surprised me immediately was the texture of the series — it doesn't feel like typical BL. The production, the atmosphere, the pacing all lean closer to indie film than genre television, and that distinction matters. This is a show that takes its time and trusts its silences, and for most of its runtime that approach pays off completely.
The story earns its heartbreak quietly. There are moments in this series that genuinely sat with me — not because they're loud or dramatic, but because they're devastatingly considered. The kind of scenes where a character makes a choice out of love that causes pain, and you understand completely why they did it even as it breaks something. I won't say more than that.
Towards the end a few story decisions landed less convincingly for me personally, and the intimate scenes occasionally carry a tension that reads as uncertainty rather than chemistry — understandable given how young both leads are, but noticeable. Neither of those things undoes what the series builds in the hours before.
This one stays with you. That's not nothing.

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The car scene. That's all I'll say.

I'll be honest about something that might sound petty but anyone who watches Korean BL will understand: I went in with low expectations for the physical chemistry. Korean productions have a reputation — earned or not — for kiss and intimate scenes that feel stiff, disconnected, like two people pressing faces together rather than actually being present with each other. That was not this.
These two knew what they were doing. The car scene alone is worth mentioning by name, even if I'll leave the details where they belong. For me personally it was a genuine turning point in how I think about Korean BL and what it's capable of when the actors are actually committed.
The series also carries that very specific K-drama flavour in its storytelling — a particular kind of dramatic tension that exists almost nowhere else and that I've grown to appreciate on its own terms. It works here.
My one personal gripe is how polished everything looks. The locations, the interiors, the people — all of it has a slightly sterile quality that kept me at a slight distance. And the drama does pile up at times in a way that tested my patience a little. But that's very much a matter of personal taste rather than a flaw in the series itself.
Overall — genuinely good, and a reminder of what this genre can do when it commits fully.

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