To My Star (2021)

Sweet, beautiful, yet a bit confusing (at least for me)

This would be a dual language review - Inglish (Indonesian & English) lol

You should definitely watch this!!

Pantesan gue merasa nggak asing sama mood dan vibes-nya To My Star ini. Ternyata director-nya sama dong kayak Where Your Eyes Linger -- my favorite Korean BL web series. Well, I guess this adds to the list.

-- STORY --
Typical Korean enemies to lovers plot. One is cheerful, playful and spontaneous while the other one is strict and more tsundere (haha). Ceritanya simpel banget, refreshing, fun and sweet (in a good way). Walaupun durasinya pendek, tapi asli deh nggak kerasa kecepetan atau diburu-buruin. Gue nggak merasa terlalu lambat juga. Pokoknya, pas banget. The pace is just well-thought and well-written.

Progress hubungan main couple terlihat sekali. Their relationship was gradually progressing. From strangers, friends, then finally lovers. Plus, chemistry Kang-min (Ji-woo) & Woo-hyun (Seo-jun) natural banget. Sebagian besar clue kecil di awal episode yang bikin gue bertanya-tanya, dijelasin di akhir.

Pengambilan gambarnya juga MMH cakep bener.

-- ACTING/CHARACTERS --
Hm, nggak main-main deh. How they portrayed their own characters is just amazing. And how they displayed their characters' emotions is quite impressive. I mean, I can really saw when Hyung-ki (played by Jae-hyun) looked pissed, nervous, and frustrated.

Tapi, yang paling membekas bagi gue adalah acting koplaknya Jae-yeong (Pil-hyun), micro-expressions-nya Kang-min, & how convincing and beautiful Woo-hyun's acting is. For real tho, every little expressions was well-executed--the shyness, the sadness, the angst, the annoyance, everything. OH! Except one thing, sorry. I was a bit turned off when Ji-woo's crying (ep. 8 i think). Hm, menurut gue kurang meyakinkan aja ekspresinya. Kecuali itu, acting Kang-min oke.

Talk about Kang-min and Woo-hyun's chemistry. They really comfortable with each other. No awkwardness at all. No cringey act also. Even their little interactions made me smile like an idiot. It's just *chef's kiss*.

-- WHAT MADE ME CONFUSED --

Apart from every great things that i love about this web series, are some things that don't sit right with me. Seperti di atas gue bilang, ada segelintir hal-hal kecil yang bikin bingung (plus penasaran) akhirnya dijelasin, semacam plot twists kecil lah. Ada juga beberapa plot yang baru gue ngerti setelah nonton 2 kali. Ada juga yang masih belum gue paham dan menurut gue ini kurang penting dimasukin kalo memang nggak akan dijelasin di akhir cerita. Here are a few things I'm wondering:

1. What's with Ji-woo's expression when the customer lady mentioned study-in-Italy thing? Uncomfortable? Jealous? Why, tho?
2. The same thing happened when the customer lady, Seo-jun, and Hyung-ki were talking about Seo-jun's parents and Italy (again). Both Seo-jun and Hyung-ki glanced at Ji-woo. And Ji-woo looked away. What's up with that? Sad? Why?
3. How did the USA reporter figure out what was Hyung-ki about to do with the photo? Are they close? Old friends? What? Maybe he told her when he took her camera? I don't know.
4. What place did Ji-woo visit after he left the house after threatened by Hyung-ki? A restaurant? A house? Whose house?

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I am the one who didn't pay attention while watching this.

Overall, I really really enjoyed To My Star. I'm glad they showed how brave Seo-jun with his feelings. And how the couple looks confident about their feelings as if nobody's opinion matters. Also, the kissing scene at the end was beautiful and sweet. It was not just a peck, but it's rather a deep one.

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To My Star is worth the watch, and also the rewatch…

Here’s the thing about Korean BLs, I wouldn’t say they are the best in the industry when it comes to others from differing countries of the genre, but I will say this, they are the BL dramas that I come back to and rewatch the most. And To My Star is a great example of this, at least for me. It’s not groundbreaking or ahead of it’s time or anything like that, but it’s still just really good. I find myself thinking about it and wanting to watch it again on the regular. In my consideration, TMS, both seasons, are essential viewing for BL fans, and I will stand by this opinion. It doesn’t even matter how many times I’ve viewed it at this point, because I know I will come back and watch it again and again.

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Disappointing BL story. Lack of excitement and characters development.

I'm disappointed by this BL story. The romance was lackluster. It is a shame because the premise was interesting and could have led to some exciting relationship. However, I found myself utterly bored and not interested.

I did not found the chemistry between the actors believable. There were very few sparks until the last episode and I did not understand how they fell in love with each other. I could blame it on the short episodes but honestly there are similar sized series that do a much better job in terms of developing both plot and characters' depth. So for me, it is a total miss.

I would not recommend this except if you are an aficionado of BL romances. As the drama is quite short, it might be worth to test it and make your own opinion.

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I wish there were more episodes!

This is one of those realistic stories that really suit my taste. I like when the characters react to events or think as real life people would. I love light, soft stories with sparkles and all, but I always see something more in stories like this. It feels more relatable and possible, which makes it even better when everything ends well. You see it's a real effort and it somehow inspires you too for your goals.

This story is very good and the actors did great! Perfect choice for the roles and very good acting. I liked it a lot, especially because I'm a big fan of couples with totally different personalities. It would have been awesome if there could be more episodes, because the plot really could have been extended a little and enriched with events.

Anyway, overall, it was very good. Totally recommend!

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so enjoyable

pros:
- the chemistry . their relationship thats it.
- they had so many cute moments that werent generic/repetitive, it felt realistic
- the kiss scenes arent awkward to watch !!!! kinda rare for bls sometimes lmao
- side characters were relatively interesting which is uncommon for short webdramas
- both of them are so endearing (esp seojoon hes so warm - loved the way seojoon learned from what jiwoo said, learned from his mistakes and bettered himself

cons:
- some aspects of the plot felt unnatural, and like it didnt flow smoothly
- it felt like they grew interested in each other really quickly, there were no hints for how much time had passed

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Made me smile

The people who wrote this script, a big salute to them. A slice of life love story without going overboard in any aspect - no cringe moment, no lasting sadness, no dramatic angst, no "how does that makes sense! " moment. They portrated it quite realistically - the romance feels a bit rushed , but I have seen romance happening faster in real life! The story was quite fitting for a short drama and really heartwarming at moments. I have not seen the actors before but there couldn't have been any better ones for the lead roles. Their acting and chemistry felt so natural, and when I finished watching it, I smiled for no reason for several hours after . Good one.

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Great BL Drama

It's a bit slow at the start, but quickly pulls you in to a great story to follow. Both actors, Woo Hyun & Kang Min seem to have a spark between them from the beginning, but it definitely takes a while to warm up to Kang Min's character Ji Woo. He does a great job as keeping his character boring and sad until it's necessary to open him up.
Once you get the feel & background of these two characters, you realize this should work out for a happy ending. Saying that, it's kind of shocking how the sequel (To My Star 2) begins.
A good "feel good" BL to watch. The Sequel is just as good, if not better than the original.

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uma boa surpresa

depois de anos acompanhando sobre a série na internet e salvando vídeos aleatórios na esperança de um dia assistir, o dia finalmente chegou e eu estou meio gag. era de se imaginar que uma série tão comentada mesmo passando anos de sua estreia teria uma certa qualidade mas estou surpreso com o que eu encontrei.

apesar de achar que as coisas operam em um ritmo acelerado a série faz uma outra coisa com essa mesma característica: faz a gente se apegar aos personagens e ao enredo muito rápido também. a construção da narrativa e do personagens é tão gostosa de se acompanhar que ao final de todo episódio surge a vontade de assitir aos próximos. estou apegado aos protagonistas pois ambos tem personalidades distintas e acharam uma maneira de conviver da melhor forma possível entre si ao ponto de desenvolver um romance dessa relação. um outro ponto positivo é entender as camadas que envolvem os personagens (como traumas antigos e inseguranças) de uma maneira muito evidente, a série não se preocupa tanto em desenvolver esses dilemas mas você consegue perceber de forma clara que eles existem e a maneira como eles influenciam no jeito com o que os personagens se relacionam com outras pessoas.

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