Light on Me

Enjoyable watch but not the most riveting story

At the beginning of the first episode, the protagonist says that one of the three people he is photographing is his first love. That's a nice introduction to the series because it is all about who the "first love" is--and since there is a "first love," is there also a second one?

The one who the protagonist will end up with becomes rather easy to guess quite early on (even if one is really unable to guess, one could just look at the list of actors and make a guess). And yet, the story quite deftly maintains the possibility that it's possible for the first love to be the other person.

Yes, there is a love triangle, but I'm glad it's hard to simply hate one of the three guys in the love triangle. The four main male characters are each lovable in his own way, and the main source of tension comes from, what else but a jealous girl. Then again, the girl doesn't turn out to be that bad. In fact, no one turns out to be that bad, which is either good or bad for the story, depending on whether you prefer fluff or a more realistic storyline.

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Best Tsundere Ever!!!

Re-watched this today and got reminded of why I loved this show in the first place ...It's such a breath of fresh air with great writing, really likeable characters and a swoon-worthy ML in the form of Shin woo!!!
I also got to appreciate Namgoong and Da On much better than the first time I watched as that time I was too busy being smitten by Shin Woo!!
Da on is a representation of everyone who had to give up on something they really loved and cared for because they didn't have the courage to openly accept it in front of others at that time!! It's a struggle most closeted people go through and is heartbreaking to see him lose the one person who really loved him!!
Namgoong is just a sweetheart!! A friend that you need by your side in both happy and sad times....a friend that would do anything for you...he is a pretty jolly person in general but becomes a fierce force who is ready to take down anyone who dares to hurt his friends !!
Coming back to one of my all time fav character ....other shows should really take note on how to create a non-toxic tsundere so efficiently!! he is one of the most likeable and well written characters I have ever come across...he loves deeply but is not possessive and for him the happiness of the person he loves is more important even if it means losing that person to someone else. He is a great friend visible from the fact that he helps Da-on figure out his feelings of liking someone from the same gender as he knows how confusing it can get and he doesn't want Da-On to suffer the way he did and though this means that he might lose Taekyung he is ready to do that as long as Takeyung finds happiness with the person he likes...where do you find such rare gems in real life ? the fact that he sent so many messages to Taekyung showing his concern despite knowing that Takeyung might probably never read them just shows that for him Taekyung's well being matters more than him actively flirting or courting Takeyung !! get yourself a man who is ready to dive into a pile of trash for you !!! I can go on and on about Shin woo!! Boy you have my heart!!
Also another wonderful aspect of the show is the OST!! The 2 songs just highlight the emotions of every scene that they are played in !!
This is definitely a must must-watch!!!

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I had a rough start with the show and didn't get over it

Somehow I felt not really exited when I started to watch this drama. I don't know why, but it just feels a bit off. Right after the beginning I knew with whom he would end up, so I basically sit through 16 episodes, being 100% sure to know who will be the endgame - and I was right. So the whole show was really predictable for me, which..of course.. minimized the fun for me.

There were some things I appreciated, but I feel like, these things I pointed out in my episode reviews are the same things again and again:

+ Namgoong is a really great friend. Loyal, wise, gives good advices, acts like he doesn't know something to make the other person not uncomfortable, but gives still the right advice and he's funny!
+ The teacher is a gem! I think there were hints to his story for a second season? But..honestly..I am not really interested, unfortunately. (By the way: if someone remembers seeing this actor in another drama: please tell me! It's driving me nuts, because I am sure I saw him somewhere else, but I can't find any information on this, lmao)
+ The show brings some important topics on the table, just like being ready to coming out, being a pushover, first love, unrequited love etc. etc.
+ The soundtrack is great!
+ Character development is definitely present. I like.

But I feel like the flaws overshadow the little good feelings the show gave me. I'm sure I will remember this show, because the soundtrack found it's way in my playlist, but overall I don't feel the need to rewatch any scene of this. Some scenes were really awkward, so it was hard to watch, even when they made me laugh (but I'm also a person who laughs when something is uncomfortable, so..nevermind, lol)

- In my opinion, they spent way too much time with TK and Daon.
- Because of that, it feels weird that TK switches so fast to Shinwoo. Dude looks like he's just the second choice, because Daon can't stand up for himself and Shinwoo is there for him. Especially in the last episode..I don't really understand what this one scene in the beginning is supposed to mean. It makes it even more looking like TK isn't really over Daon. (Am I the only one who thinks that it's weird they keep wearing their partner-bracelets?!)
- TKs monotone acting was really hard to sit out. I love dry humor and straightforward characters, but after a few episodes it's really hard to endure.
- Imho this crashed the whole chemistry. I saw similar characters in other dramas, but they had great chemistry with their partners because they could act really well and adapt to show feelings and a reaction when it was needed. But here..idk how to explain it. It just kills every spark that could have lighten up, because TK looks zoomed out most of the time. He doesn't use a lot of face expressions, his eyes are nearly dead, so hooooow tf should I be able to tell any chemistry in there. T_T
- Wtf was this disappointing kiss in the end? Shinwoo did great!!! But again, TK looks so distant, it feels like Shinwoo is harassing him. x.x

I feel so burned out that I can't handle my disappointment any further, lmao. At this point, I will just say, this wasn't my kind of drama and I agree to the other critical reviews and just spare any more words to not waste more your time reading things other explained way better than me. :'D

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Not super memorable

There aren't a lot of k dramas with queer romances. I can't really think of any aside from this one and I think Semantic Error. That being said, while I appreciate that this is one of few, I didn't really love this. It's clearly low budget - which isn't a knock on the show per se, but it did affect how small this world felt. There aren't a lot of scenes that take place outside of school. The humor was very muted, in my opinion. A lot of the acting was very muted, to be honest. Aside from Da On, who stood out as charismatic and charming.

It's an interesting situation where, while I feel that the guy chosen at the end was the nicer guy, I didn't really feel like the ML had chemistry with him. At least, not more than with Da On.

I liked the music. I immediately added the main song to my playlist.

So, since there aren't a ton of k dramas with queer leads, anyone looking for one will likely watch this one. However, I was not impressed.

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Cute!

I loved that this South Korean BL was actually a lot longer than most S. Korean BLs: ~30 minutes and 16 episodes! It's a full-on show! Not only that, but the sweetness of high school crushes and the bitterness of the truth of being LGBTQ+ in S. Korea was a really nice, realistic balance. I liked that they reacted in realistic, high schooler ways. Not only that, but we got an HE!! I didn't expect to get a kiss, and I was okay with that, but we got TWO kisses at the end, which was amazing. I loved this entire show (except for Lee SoHee... I feel like her character development didn't make sense) and will definitely rewatch in the future. I'm not normally a huge fan of love triangles, but I think they did it well here. Hope we get a season 2!

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Honestly Blown Away

I'm not really into BL dramas because so many of them aren't made very well or are rushed. You never get to connect to a character and many of the side stories don't add flavour to the show, it just adds some time to make the show longer. (Personal opinion)

However, that being said, this was one of my favourite shows and I really have to commend the writer, director and cast. They all did such a good job of telling this story and got me emotionally invested. It was well paced and they put effort into telling the story of representing the difficulties of coming out in Korea as well as genuinely representing LGBTQ+ love as a real love story.

The only reason why I haven't been a fan of BL is because they put 10% of the effort into BLs as they do on straight love dramas. My point being, I already want to rewatch this and relive the happy, sad and heart-fluttering moments. This is an absolute gem and I hope more shows like this, representing LGBTQ+ love correctly, will come out in the future.

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One of the only examples in BL I can think of where a love triangle is done right. 99% of the time, we know exactly who the main character is going to end up with - Light On Me did a great job with both of the potential love interests being likeable and rooting for both of them for different reasons. All of the three characters involved were mature about the love conflict and not messy - which was probably not realistic for high school students - but it was refreshing to see.

The issues I have with this drama are a variety of little things that add up. Why were Da On and Shinwoo so interested in Taekyung? He wasn't particularly interesting, nor did he have much personality. There was no background on any of the boy's lives whatsoever, except for a tiny bit with Da On, which made him one of the more easy characters to understand. By the later episodes I was ready for resolution, which felt anti-climactic and like it took too long to get there. Why did we need the only prominent female character to be a villain? How on earth could Taekyung have possibly won the prince competition? Did they ever actually do anything for student council? There was just a lot that didn't land for me.

Also, Namgoong carried this series. It would have been so much drier and more boring without him. Not only was he the comic relief, but he was the most rational and relatable character. There were times while watching I basically just waited for when he would show up and lighten things up.

Side note - if you enjoyed the ending song "Spark", STAN A.C.E! Extremely talented and underrated k-pop group that deserves the world.

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A love triangle that was actually good

I have to say Light on Me is still one of my favorite BLs even though I’ve seen so many I still think this is one of my favorites. I really loved the character Taekyung because he kinda reminds me of myself of being an introvert and very quiet and I just loved his throughout the series. I feel that this was also one of those enemies to lovers concept, but it is one of my favorite ones since of how they became enemies. There may be spoilers so be aware.
I really loved the plot of Light on Me which was Taekyung is the total definition of an introvert and has no friends until the student council adult who was Haetbit and he invited Taekyung to come meet and join the members of student council and he already met Shinwoo by sticking a plastic thingy in his butt which was absolutely hilarious, but also embarrassing at the same time and then Taekyung met Da On who is the president and Namgoong who is basically just their. Overtime Taekyung develops feelings for Da On and it grows stronger each time he sees him, but Da On made it seem like he could really careless about his feelings and instead made Sohee carry her feelings for him and he payed more attention to her. While Shinwoo has feelings for Taekyung and while Taekyung felt that Shinwoo hated him, it was how Shinwoo shows his feelings because he’s like a black cat that shows no emotions. I really loved the scene where Taekyung accidentally opens the door so hard that his head starts bleeding and once everyone saw it Da On was going to help him until Shinwoo grabbed him a cleaned his wound. My other favorite scene was when Taekyung was nominated to be the person who the class votes to speak on stage and promote that one class, and when Taekyung froze and didn’t know what to say until he saw Shinwoo wearing a flower in his hair that’s when he started to gain confidence to talk on stage just by seeing Shinwoo even though Da On thought it was because of him. Also can we mention how good Taekyung looks in that beret because I want to look as good in it as him. Also Namgoong and Sohee are actually a good couple that if I saw them in a drama I think I would watch them. Overall I really loved Light on Me and it’s a show you cannot miss that I would literally watch over and over again because it’s that good.

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A hollow show where nothing ever happens.

What I liked: The love triangle was well done, quite heartwarming, and somewhat realistic. Didn't fill me with frustration like the trope often does.

Why is it a 5: I feel this show is somewhat a compilation of all the worst aspects of K-Drama.
It does the weird thing of making you feel like the story is progressing, the characters evolving, and the plotlines thickening. And then, after finishing the episode, you look back and you realize absolutely nothing has happened. The story is stuck in the same mud. The characters are the same depressed ghosts.
The whole show feels completely hollow. I do not believe for a second that this is a real group of friends, they quite simply never seem to be having fun with each other. For the entire first half of the season, the entire friend group is convinced the MC and ML hate each other and the whole atmosphere is decidedly bleak. Yet they act like they're having fun, and continuously force the two characters to make up. They were never friends in the first place, just stop trying so hard - noone is having fun!
The characters are all far too well-behaved. They speak only when spoken to, never interrupting each other. They all have incredible posture, not moving or fidgeting even slightly. They keep to their timelines impeccably and do all their chores. They even volunteer to do many extra chores. And when teased, or pushed to do something against their will, they all just resign to their fate.
And then of course, when they finally get together, they are together for about half an episode. The kissing is fake, the chemistry is non-existent, and the whole show has been for nothing. What a waste of time.

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Slow, slow, slow

Maybe being a western bl follower, I am expecting a faster development from each episode...I have written before that I am tired of the highschool trope...other more mature series, like trapped and to my star, are about young men in their 20th or 30th, with working careers and real life, not stuck in uniforms (with the exception of ' where your eyes linger' which was a pleasure)..as to ' light on me' I find myself loosing patience with the weird ( yet actually smart...) Main character wondering about what each gesture of the other students mean...it's true the triangle makes me
want see more, but on the other hand, I have resigned myself to binge watch it when it will be more advanced.
I am surprised at the high rating from other viewers, but it really may be due to different expectations or cultural differences re: speed of developments in hormone driven teenagers...lol.
Anyway, I plan to finish watching it in installments of 3-4 episodes at a time.

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Be a Gentleman and acts nicely and Love may come.

1. Korean web series are getting better (plot+ acting) esp this drama comparing to dramas of those national television networks (KBS, MBC, and SBS) which are heavily advertised and turn out to be disappointment.
2. These actors are not famous but their acting is so on point
3. Each line is meaningful
4. Time of each episode is enough to keep you yearning for the next episode. They can be 1 hour long like mainstream dramas but trust me you will feel they dragged the show and skip scenes or even loose interest in watching if the editing is bad
5. People usually blame actors for bad drama but director+ Screen writer+actors (main and supporting roles also) must work well together. After all it's the director decision if a scene is NG aka No Good or not
6. This drama give positive feeling during These Challenging Times dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
7. Shin Woo doesn't let own feelings turn him into a vindictive person towards Da On or manipulate Tae kyung by giving him "bad advice". You can see in episode 9 that Tae kyung believed in Nam Goong who gave his "words of wisdom to those who have never dated"

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