SOTUS

At first I also disagree with the harsh hazing system, and tbh, still think it was too harsh, at least on the outside. However, it's very in line with Arthit's personality: tough on the outside and soft on the inside. Dude gives out crazy punishment and lets Kongpob get away with not even doing 1/4 of the laps; why can't you ease up a little, you tsundere. He still needed to find the line between uniting people through a common enemy and being the most hated senior on campus.

Prem and Wad interaction was actually hilarious when they -awkwardly- got along.

The romance is bittersweet and very well done. Great acting and production as far as I can tell.

Read More

Don't expect romance as the series mostly delves on engineering students

If you are looking for a series showcasing romance between the 2 main leads then give this one a miss as the focus point of this show is not that. I have no particular gripe with the story but this should not be tagged under romance as there is hardly any of it. Although there is a lot of unrequited love for most of the episodes

As usual with many Thai BLs, this one takes place in an Engineering college where Kong and his group of friends enter as first year students. The college has the tradition of SOTUS where the first-year students have to perform gruelling tasks forced on by their seniors under the guise of teaching them respect and unity. The leader of these “hazers” is Arthit who appears to be cruel to the young students but has a heart of gold (at least that is what the series wants you to think). Kong stands up to Arthit multiple times and suffers punishment. In the course of the hazing, he starts having feelings for Arthit.

More than half of the series is around SOTUS and how Kong keeps on getting in to trouble by winding up Arthit. Can’t fault the series for it as its in its name “SOTUS”. However, what we don’t see is any character development or the story moving ahead. Each day, the first-year students gather to be yelled at and humiliated by the seniors. Kong’s hero complex takes over causing Arthit to lose his mind and punish him. Rinse and Repeat. We are made to feel that during the course of this Kong is starting to have feelings for Arthit but why? Because he is kind sometimes or may be because he likes pink milk (that is a different story on its own).

In fact, the story introduces two very interesting characters, Prem and Wad. Prem is a senior who is obsessed with getting respect from the juniors to the point of even being violent with them. Wad is a first-year student who despises authority and is vehemently against their treatment by the seniors. Prem and Wad bump heads against each other due to this but all is well when Prem helps Wad while he is attacked by a group of students. Seemed like the series might have another budding romance or even a good friendship but to my dismay Wad simply disappears from the series only to be shown briefly in the last episode as one of the hazers. That to me seemed weird as it would go against his morals of being anti-authority.

In fact, after the SOTUS activity comes to an end what we get is different characters just eyeing their love interests and when one confesses to the other there is nothing but heartbreak. Even if I consider Kong falling for Arthit, there is no reason for Arthit to reciprocate those feelings. In fact, he is still harbouring feelings for his friend. Kong has no qualities for Arthit to be interested in. Its only in the penultimate episode that Arthit decides to accept Kong and then immediately with in a few days keeps him at arm’s length in order to make Kong go after another girl. Such absurd thoughts can be expected from Arthit since during one episode when he realises Kong’s true feelings, he tells himself to act normal around him. But what he does next is contrary to that. He starts ignoring Kong in college, stops answering his calls and texts and even speaks rudely to him. How was that “acting normal”?

In conclusion, the series spends too much time on hazing instead of showing the romance between the characters and abandoning a great plot between Prem and Wad that could have elevated the series. The actors in turn did a great job although this was their first series. Can’t speak about their chemistry together as there is hardly any “togetherness” to start with.

Read More

Sotus was probably the first Thailand drama I had ever watched. At first, I wasn't expecting much from it, since I had never seen Thailand dramas and didn't want to have too high hopes. I also wasn't sure about how the gay romance would be portrayed. I'm so glad I watched it though.

I really enjoyed how there was a slow buildup to their love and the confessions didn't seem out of place or rushed. The two protagonists started off with a kind of hostility (ish) towards one another, but their friendship slowly builds up in a beautiful way through various scenes and dialogue which was honestly perfection. I have to say I witnessed some of the most romantic scenes I've ever seen. The two protagonists, Kongpob and Arthit just had really good chemistry and a great performance.

I also like how the show took the time to develop other relationships. Although they weren't all necessarily explored as well as one might want them to be, I liked how they worked. Not every side relationship was a romance one, with the case of Waad and Prem being more of a "I got your back" kind of thing.

I think the music was really on point, especially the ending song. I skipped over it the first few episodes, and then at some point I just let it play after one of the emotional scenes and it really got to me (I almost started crying). I am so grateful I did.

I honestly think people should watch it. After watching a lot of other Thai dramas, including some BL ones, I can say this is probably my favourite.

Read More

as someone who finishes shows very quickly, i tend to watch whatever i can find. when netflix recommended sotus to me i was like, "aw why not," but i was still wary from the plot description, which basically described arthit as a bully. while in the beginning he was not necessarily my favorite character, the watcher begins to fall in love with him as kongpob does. when the nuances of his character are revealed, it adds so much more to him that makes him so much more likable. while the story is simplistic, a freshman who always seems to piss off the head hazer falls in love with him, it's that simplicity that makes sotus so endearing. to anybody looking for something to watch, i could not recommend this show enough.

Read More

Brings up a lot of negative emotions in the viewer

Never have I ever come across a less sympathetic male lead in a BL than I have with "Oon" Arthit. He is truly one of the most obnoxious and toxic characters I have ever had the displeasure of coming across. I really had to force myself to get through this show because I was getting triggered left right and center and all over the place by all the UNNECESSARY and incredibly toxic bullying by the seniors.

Early on in the show I had absolutely no idea how they would redeem the horrendous character of Oon, and then I saw their strategy. Just make the other seniors even more horrendous so that all of Oon’s bullying seemed tame in comparison!

Perhaps it’s because as a gay man myself I was constantly bullied in school and just harassed to within an inch of my life that I find these storylines of bullying so triggering and incredibly off putting.

The fact that GMMTV puts a disclaimer at the start of each episode to say that instances of hazing is exaggerated for dramatic effect notwithstanding, I was just too nauseated by all of the shenanigans going on. These seniors who are charged with helping and leading their juniors did no such things. They didn’t haze them in good spirits. It was obvious they hated the juniors. Their hatred of the freshmen jumped off the screen nearly as badly as their disdain for their physical and mental wellbeing.

The actor who played the lead in Not Me was what initially attracted me to this incredible hot mess of a show, but I’m sad to say his character was a bully at heart too.

Listen, all these gripes is not to take away from the good merits of the show. It’s GMMTV after all, even if it is in its infant 2016 stage where BL in general was still taking baby steps. The production value is great, the acting is top notch all around (that’s the problem, these problematic characters are so well portrayed that you can’t separate them from the actors.

I love a good enemies to lover storyline, really I do. But Jesus, the character needs to be redeemable and likeable at least. I’m also the first to jump on an antihero train, but Oon’s character just absolutely ruined the whole show. Couldn’t buy into this relationship because I despise one of the leads. Horrendous and so disappointing

Read More

Stole My Heart From the Beginning!

This show— god, what a wonderful show this was! It was one of those quiet ones for me, where I didn't realize how much I loved it until I was head over heels. It sucked me right in and made me fall in love alongside Arthit and Kongpob.

It took me a little while to understand the whole SOTUS-hazing-thing, mostly because the concept of hazing is very different in the US. It did take me a bit to stop cringing when the terms 'hazing' and 'hazers' were used, just because of the stigma of hazing that I'm so familiar with. The hazing in the show isn't nothing, per se, but it's nowhere near as dangerous or problematic as the kind of hazing I've heard of before. If that's something that is deterring you from trying this show, I highly recommend you try it anyway.

I LOVED the giant cast of characters in this show. Though Kongpob and Arthit are absolutely the main characters and their story was the most gripping of the show, the supporting and side characters were so fleshed out. It was so easy to care about them all and enjoy their time on screen, which is something that I can't say for many other series I've seen. I would have loved to see even more of any of these characters– that's how much I enjoyed them all.

The soft moments made me ache, the funny ones made me laugh out loud, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself from start to finish. Krist and Singto had great chemistry, making their love story so believable and overall a wonderful time. I can't wait to rewatch this show in the future because I absolutely will rewatch it sometime soon.

Read More

This definitely wasn’t what I expected. I expected the usual university romance and little more but as it turned out, it was actually a story about friendship and traditions, about learning how to be respectful and how to cooperate with other people. All the characters were great, the writers actually paid attention not just to the leads but to the supporting ensemble too! I’ve rarely cared about a Thai drama as a whole, not just about one specific storyline, before but here I did.

I watched the series mainly for New Thitipoom, my Thai bias, who played M, the lead’s, Kong’s, best friend. And I loved how his character turned out, he was just precious, sweet and goofy and so nice! He made me root for M and May and it was too bad that after M’s love confession, May simply disappeared from the show, M was just seen talking to her on the phone and that was it.

What surprised me was how soft Arthit turned out to be. He as the head hazer seemed so hard and vengeful, a real bully, only for us to find out about halfway through the drama that he actually hated his role, he hated shouting and being so harsh to the freshmen, it just didn’t sit well with him at all. That was a really nice surprise.

Read More

The ost may not be in my best interest but the series got me hung up waiting for new episodes every week and I’m just writing this review now and idk why. I like how the story is developed from beginning til the end. I think this series started the pink milk tea. Then afterward I start seeing other series using pink milk tea too. I love a story when 2 main leads doesn’t get along at first but as time continues they get to know each other more and then start to develop their feelings slowly. I’m not really into story that rush to the scene where the main leads get together that quick in just 1 or 2 episodes. I rather take it slowly. If you are interested in this series, go check out the sequel. It shows more of their after university life and how Arthit learns to develop more love towards Kongpob but he take his time to do this because there are conflicts he have to face.

Read More

This show is bad. Even if we ignore how incredibly toxic SOTUS is as a concept, which I'm glad is banned in many places, the show is still mediocre. We didn't have enough interactions between the leads to believe that there is genuine love between them, which is ironic since this is pretty much a slow burn, the chemistry was not that good, the characters were badly develop and I was never able to fully connect with them, the show's is so very badly done, the use of colors is terrible and the sound it's somehow even worse and I hated most side characters but the worst part is how liked is this show. Arthit as a character might be the only things that I actually enjoyed, not the couple itself, Kongpob lacked development and also I don't know if this is on purpose, but he seemed kind of creepy sometimes, the way he carried himself, idk. The soundtrack was.. I have no words to describe it, there is only one song I actually don't mind listening to

Read More

Kongpob's Evolution and Arthit's Emotional Development

For me, the series started well. I had no expectations for the series, good or bad. I liked the Kongpob character very much right away. I watched the general story with love and pleasure. But after a while, the progress in the relationship of our main couple decreased so much that it started to make me feel like I was watching a youth drama instead of BL (at this point I started to be unhappy). After all, I came here to watch BL. If the system, school events, etc. are not too disturbing, I usually don't care. I look at the realism and passion of the love presented.

In the first episodes, Kongpob's rebelliousness and small-scale flirtatiousness and secret anger was what excited me, but this gradually started to diminish. He started to become more of a normal, good student. I wanted it to get deeper. We should have seen more details about the character.

Arthit's suppression of emotions in the first chapters and his hiding that he was affected by Kongpob amused me, but after a while this progress stopped, as if there was no increase in his feelings.

Imagine that you are in control and everyone is afraid of you.
A first-year university student challenges your authority: REBELLIOUS. The favorite of the whole school, everyone who knows him/her loves him/her a lot: POPULAR. Probably the teachers will like him/her very much: STATUS. You insulted him/her, and now he/she is using that insult against you and flirting with you: ATTRACTIVE. Has excellent grades, hardworking: INTELLIGENT... This list can go on and on.

When you have such a person in front of you and this person respects you, you fall in love very seriously with jealousy, anger and feelings of total possession that accumulate inside you. This is where Arthit was supposed to take on an obsessive character and desperately crave Kongpob, but it didn't happen. In short, it was supposed to be Arthit, not Kongpob.

So how to say, the story is very suitable for being much more passionate and intense. But overall a good story especially the first half but the series is not memorable for me.

Read More

oh but love grows where my rosemary goes

The music goes absolutely crazy. This was really goddamn good. It doesn't get enough hype now because it came out in 2016, but this was crazy good. Arthit and Kong's dynamic was good, in the last few episodes, the tension between those two went crazy. It was so good, and the kisses became more and more emotion-filled and really good. The first few episodes were kind of repetitive, and not a lot of romance happened between our two main characters. Arthit was getting on my nerves; I was getting really mad, so the acting was good. I will probably watch some scenes, but I won't rewatch this whole thing. It was good. I enjoyed it; the average was an 8.6, so I made it an 8.5. good drama overall and good acting. Okay, bye. The wheel chose this one, and I am glad. the wheel chose until we meet again next, so let's do this.

Read More

SOTUS is amazing

SOTUS is amazing. It was the 3rd BL series that I have watched since I started to enter the Thai BL world. The acting was so pure even though some scenes are not true to life, especially some parts of hazing (which was clarified at the beginning).

It never gets old for me. Krist and Singto have this unexplainable charisma and chemistry with each other. I believe they have played their role excellently, but of course, room for improvements must be considered on their side.

I recently rewatched it last week after 6 to 7 months. It still gave me the chills while I watched it. I really hope that there will be season 3 for this.

Read More