It's not bad, but pretty forgettable.
I really thought something was wrong with me today, after seeing all the rave reviews and comments, and I just wasn't seeing what everyone else was seeing. I even read 9 chapters of the webtoon to see if that would solve it. (More on that below).The actors are competent, but they seemed to be directed to under-emote, Thai style, which de-Koreanized the series a bit, which is a pity. But still, they were solid, and this was beautifully shot. All the side characters had good actors too.
But the story didn't make a lot of sense emotionally. We never get a sense for why Siwon was so hostile to Daun - I kind of understood why, but it wasn't really demonstrated. And then his turnaround is sudden and unmotivated. All of this made it a little difficult to invest in the romance, and it didn't help that their chemistry was not very heated.
I think part of the issue is the original story is a comedy, and they turned it into a drama, and in the process stripped it of everything unique and interesting. In the manwha, Siwon is an outrageous, OTT narcissist, and Daun is an even more outrageous and more OTT narcissist - Siwon is already funny enough, but that Daun suffers from such severe narcissistic delusion that even Siwon finds it incredible is LOL funny. The other issue is that the first two eps are really slow and dull, and because I binged it I never really recovered from that.
But turning it into a very conventional romantic drama just makes Siwon an unpleasant person, which is unfortunate because he's kind of plain when he's hostile and really lovely when he smiles. Daun, instead of being kind of crazy is just a conventionally sweet guy, and Diwan's hostility is strange and assholish. In the comic Daun really is stealing his spotlight, which Daun takes for granted as the natural result of his beauty (he actually glows).
So the end result is a reasonably pleasant but dull and forgettable series. If it hadn't been released all at once I probably would have forgotten about it.
People in the comments section are saying things like "Korea's answer to ITSAY" - I certainly hope not, because I have very high expectatons for what a full-powered Korean BL can accomplish, and this series doesn't even approach ITSAY - this is more like Korea's answer to Fish Upon the Sky. I thought it was markedly inferior in every aspect except cinematography to the same director's Where Your Eyes Linger - which is not at all surprising as she's extremely talented (we need more female BL directors!) and she wrote the screenplay for WYEL as well as directing it.
As a minor note of no importance, I wish Asian dramas would stick with their original names - e.g. Cherry Magic's Japanese title is hilarious - and attempts at wordplay often fall flat. Because "blue" and "Ming" are both words, and Ming-dynasty porcelain is characteristically blue, putting them together just comes out blue Ming (i.e blue MING instead of BLUEming).
Summary: good and worth watching, but don't go in with expectations of an 11/10 or you'll be disappointed. Maybe watch the first two eps one day and then wait a while and binge the rest.
Edit: I had to look up this series on 13 May 2022 because I couldn't remember it. I kind of do now, but only vaguely. So I guess I was right and it's forgettable. At least for me. I do remember the Manwha, though because it was really funny.
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Beauty is In the Eye of the Beholder.
Blueming is not your typical short KBL – It is a painting. Honestly, there is no other way I could find to articulate it. The entire drama is like a mysterious work of art that has to be viewed in person to prod your emotions.And I feel like Jin Moo Hak from 'Dali and Gamjatang'. I'll get to that later, but this is definitely one of the most difficult dramas to score. It would be somewhere around 8 - 8.5 for me.
Si-won, having been bullied for being chubby when he was a child and following his dad's abandoning their of family, has had a rough time. He values keeping up his external facade of a cool and handsome young boy. Until he stumbles into Da-Won, a new classmate who is automatically God Gifted with everything that he worked hard to attain. Despite feeling jealous of him, Si-Won Inadvertently gets stuck around the enigmatic Da-Won.
Blueming is a drama that floats due to the very interesting characters and their insecurities. There is a high chance you won't like it if they don't grow on you.
I initially cringed so bad at Si-Won. He appeared like a typical hero with an inferiority complex who landed in several highly embarassing situations which directly got him in front of Da-Won, the object of his jealousy. But, after you get over the cringefest, Si-Won starts to become a really realistic and lovable character.
However, there was a constant air of sadness and pain in him. This is explained really well in the latter half of the drama.
Da-Won takes the cake for the most eccentric character I've ever seen in a KBL. He falls for the insecure Si-Won and attempts to treat him in the best way he could. Dude creeped me out a lot, unfortunately, during the first half of the drama. But, I found his pursuit of Si-Won a highlight.
The characters are flawed. A lot. But, aren't we all? That's the charm of Blueming. At one point or the other, we get to interpret their actions/misconceptions and even relate to their insecurities.
Si-Won had a couple of friends, especially Boom Mike guy and Yun-jeong. Despite having little screentime, we got enough to know that they are more than just one dimensional characters.
The framing in Blueming is one of the major highlights. I don't know anything about filming, but this drama was just plain beautiful to watch. It had an almost abstract quality that reminded of Utsukushii Kare and To My Star (which is directed by the same director).
One major issue that I personally had with this drama was how we needed to conjecture certain details about characters. Particularly Da-Won. I felt like a lot of his life is a huge fill-in-the-blanks. And I felt that certain emotions that the director/writer wanted to convey to the audience did not reach me. (I had the same trouble with Utsukushii Kare.)
So, some of the subtle hints and beauty of this show where wasted on me. Hence, why I compared myself to Jin Moo Hak, who never understood art.
Looks like I wrote this while I was half asleep. I still feel like a dizzy squidward after watching this, but I'll rate it an 8.5 for now.
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Not for me
I was really disappointed with this one, after hearing and reading on how good this drama was meant to be. I found this drama a little babyish and extremely childish to say the least.The one good thing that I came away with after watching this drama, is that insecurities are real, and I did like how he overcame them and carried on moving forward, the down side for me was the mother, not understanding how he felt and she kept on saying how she did everything for her kids so that they don't feel the absence of the father, in a sense yes I agree single parenting is hard, but not understanding how he felt and the reason why he portrayed his feeling through a short film, showed how he was dealing with things.
I won't say i didn't like it, it's cute, but i found a lot of stereotypes in the character personality that made the drama unrealistic
and because of that you don' really empathize well with them. I also did not find the chemistry between the leads to be anything with a WOW factor they fitted each other but more on sympathy basis, the one was always left alone cuz the parents were producers so taking comfort from the insecurity classmate, I am not if there was love enough for that?
Overall: for me this drama is a NO, i am not sure the reason behind the high reviews, but this is my personal outcome, I might decide to rewatch it, to get a better sense of it.
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One word: Beautiful!
A short series with so many beautiful moments!I loved how they focused on a topic which I'm and many people are insecure about. The looks, weight and appearance of a person doesn't affect his/her life, it's the comments and fun people make about them which can be traumatizing in many ways. I've also gone through this!
Now about the drama.
The story, acting, cinematography, music everything was amazing!
Korean makers are really getting better at making and executing BL dramas.
Glad they dropped all the episodes at once. I loved binge- watching this one!
No toxicity, no cringe scenes just sweet, simple and beautiful love story.
I couldn't stop smiling ear to ear while watching this.
This made my mood light up and if you're having a bad day or mood watch this! It will definitely make you feel better.
A must watch!
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This review may contain spoilers
Better than Where Your Eyes Linger
As this was by the same director of Where Your Eyes Linger and To My Star, I was excited and had high expectations for it. I really enjoyed the cinematography here especially at that beach kissing scene and bed scene though I was like "Ms. Hwang Daseul please turn on the light a little I wanna see the action?!") It was still shot so beautifully and artistically that you could still see and imagine what was happening! Really liked the shots at the end too where they came back to the hotel. I'm impressed with how Kang Eunbin who played Cha Siwon is a rookie actor, yet he made me cry so much along with him (maybe it's because I could somehow relate to his story? yup probably) because you could really see and feel his hurt and trauma from the divorce of his parents and how he was pressured to lose weight by his mother so no one could judge him. Not a good thing even though she was "doing it for his own good" but I appreciate how they somehow forgave each other. Jo Hyuk Joon who played Hyeong Daun was really charming when he smiled too, and his voice is really nice to listen to. There was no internalized homophobia from both leads so that's refreshing. Also, anyone notice the guitar has the initials D.B.W on it? I feel like that was a clue that it was that guy who Do Banwoo liked playing the guitar. Overall an 8.5 for me because it's not that much of a unique plot and I felt a little cliff hanger from the ending. Compared to Where Your Eyes Linger, this had a better cinematography but To My Star is still the best story wise for me for sure.Was this review helpful to you?
Romance is a bonus book!
Finally, the wait is rewarded, no fanservice, no bright smiles to seduce the audience, no PPL, no militancy, no questions about sexuality, no lover hunting, no unrequited love, just an ordinary story of two guys with their inner problems. I like the fact that the thread of this drama is the making of an autobiographical film (they major in filming).Don't judge the book by its cover, it's a very good summary of their personal story. Yes, they are good looking and popular but no one knows them really because they don't let anyone get close enough to see the crack in their minds, in their hearts. This drama told a story of trust, trusting other enough to open up, to stop trying to be perfect, to believe in themselves, to close the scars of bullying / of past and move on.
As their friends said so well, they will be fine, they have found each other.
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1I was impressed, and I think you will be too
Watching this all at once makes me believe releasing it in one day was the right decision. It flows and feels like a movie, not a drama. I don't think you'll like it or appreciate it as much if you just see an episode or two a week.This. This is top-tier. If Romance is a Bonus Book is a love letter to books, Blueming is a love letter to films.
It manages to capture "a feeling" in every scene, and the cinematography is everything. Semantic Error went for a style similar to its original work, with bright colors and loud music and graphics. This was toned-down, with warm colors, unassuming music, and subtle cuts.
Both are great, just in different ways.
I loved how, at its core, this was about opening up to someone. Finding a person you can share your insecurities with who won't look at you differently because of it, someone you can comfortably be vulnerable with.
Sexuality wasn't even a topic or issue because it was of no importance to the story being told. It wasn't the point. Seeing people onscreen actually declare their sexuality is great for representation. Having it be a non-issue is also great. We can tell stories with LGBT+ people without necessarily making it about them being LGBT+. Straight romances and stories aren't generally about them being Straight; it's about the story.
When I reached the end of this film, I realized it had never come up. And my reaction was simply, "Oh."
This was lovely.
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Refreshing, tasteful and mature, more than just BL. ITSAY vibes without the melodrama
I absolutely loved this. It's so refreshing in many ways, especially if you’ve watched your fair share of BLs. These characters act like real people who organically like each other without the need of a love triangle or extenuating circumstance to push them to admit they like each other or god forbid, that they like a man. There’s no cliché oops I fell and kissed you, no evil ex partners etc.Story: There’s a distinct element of sincerity to this story. It’s a simple love story without the standard BL tropes wasting screen time. For a South Korean BL web series with short episodes- this one doesn’t have the jarring pacing or lack of depth that most other KBL web series suffer from. It really comes off as more of a well-paced movie if anything. You don’t feel like you’re missing anything and the only time where I felt like there was any moment that could even be considered boring or filler was in the last episode as the main conflict wasn’t one that needed a lot of screen time, so they bulked it out a bit more than needed.
There’s real people with complex relationships with their families in this series, which I found quite relatable as well. It’s rare in BLs these days where I find some value to the story outside of the BL component. These non-BL scenarios usually come off more like filler and aren’t that deep in most BLs. But in this one they actually add to the story. I LOVED Si Won’s plotline with his mother as that was so relatable to me and their pinnacle scene together where their feelings come to a head was more realistic to what I think would happen in most families in real life- rather than being an idealized happy ending moment where everyone says sorry and admits their faults.
There are real kisses in this, especially top tier if comparing them to a lot of awkward KBL kisses. They look like they actually want to kiss each other. The scene on the beach stole my heart with the innocence and realism to it. The love-making scene isn’t something I would even call a NC scene like I would with most in Thai BLs for example- because it was legitimately a romantic, genuine, mature and beautifully shot scene.
Acting/Cast: Both male leads were fantastic. Their interactions with each other were so fluid and believable. I loved every glance, smile, conversation and kiss. Looking at the actor’s profiles, I think this may be due to the fact that unlike a lot KBLs these days- they went with actors rather than KPOP idols. Where I feel like a lot of the idol turned BL actors don’t commit as much to the role and are clearly awkward with the kissing scenes. Even the side characters in this are enjoyable, they can all act well and for once I enjoyed all the side stories rather than wanting to fast-forward through them.
This was filmed beautifully and had a lot more visually interesting shots than say 80% of BLs. This filming style and the music reminded me of ITSAY as it had that kind of more artsy, thoughtful style too it. Although I enjoyed this series a 100% more than ITSAY as the melodrama of ITSAY was too high for me where this story was more realistic and enjoyable IMO.
Music: The music is great in this. There is not one song I found lacking and each perfectly fit with the scene.
Rewatch Value: There aren’t many BLs I rewatch- but I will rewatch this one in future. It’s just beautiful in my opinion. The subtle and natural looking interactions between the MLs is enough for me to rewatch- seeing how much Si won makes Da Un smile by just being who he is. Their chemistry is lovely.
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coming of age, self worth and self acceptance, lonely prince, sunshine/tsundere
Honestly I wasn’t sure about this going in, and I’m still not entirely in love with it. It’s a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love for my liking. Not enough of a BL fantasy.I found the main character, SiWon, pretty unlikable for the first half of the series - even with a believable backstory guiding his superficial behavior. Even knowing that the way he acts covers up insecurities. I would’ve like to see the director take strides to SHOW US the things that DaUn later says he admires about SiWon - kindness, cuteness, softness with perhaps more gentle treatment of his sister? Even his mother? As True Beauty did.
As is often the case with an unlikable uke, I’m not sure why the seme is courting him at all. (See my problems with the first few eps of Secret Crush On You, too.)
DaWoon’s backstory of lonely prince is a bit too typical to the romance genre but it makes for a good contrast to SiWon’s warm, if superficial and slightly dysfunctional, family life. Sunshine to cover pain is a solid archetype.
Both leads turn in solid performances and by ep 5 this show turned the corner and got really good… for me. The bad guy was really well drawn, all of the characters and portrayals we dealt with honestly and were super believable. Every character was flawed in a different way and I liked that. So this became a narrative about understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them, and there is nothing wrong with that message.
Korea gave us decent kisses (2022 is the year Korean boys learned how to kiss each other… apparently, I blame the unexpected popularity of To My Star last year). There was even an elegant, and very Korean, sex scene. Not to mention a nice mature apology and makeup sequence. So that, for me, I found the ending quite satisfying.
Ultimately what this show showed us was two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection. And that affection was never itself the conflict point (coming out or being gay isn’t really addressed - again, normal for Korea). Instead conflict was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and self-worth.
In the end, I actually really liked Blueming, it’s a solid BL. As is expected of Korea, there’s judicious and very elegant use of tropes, but production values are a touch lower than usual.
I was delighted that it had a longer treatment than most KBL, it has about a 3 hour run time, which really allowed the characters time to grow. And also grow on me.
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Entertaining K-BL
I'll keep this pretty precise because I watched this a while ago and forgot to review it, but my mind is clogged with other stuff now, so I don't remember concrete details about Blueming, but I'll give it a try. For one, I think the cinematography was different from what I'm used to with Korea. It was beautiful and felt very indie/short film-like, And I really appreciated that. The BL part of this wasn't my favorite aspect. I think it was a little rushed in certain parts, and for some reason, I wasn't really feeling the chemistry between the two. However, I think the beach scene where they kiss and Siwon is teaching Daun how to kiss slowly was very sensual and perfectly shot. the use of silhouettes for their heat scene was something I'd never seen before, but I loved it. It created a very different type of sensuality that I will appreciate (more silhouette heat scenes!). I think the part of Blueming I like best was Daun's situation with wanting to be perfect and looking perfect. He had issues with his self-esteem and body, with his mom being the enabler and the main reason why. It opened an entire door to a situation that is rarely talked about, especially in Korea and especially with men. I've never felt so overwhelmed in a scene before but watching his mom yell at him and they both just break down together -- whew.Ratings:
Story: 7.5 - Wasn't a huge fan of the BL aspect of it all (besides a few parts), but the characterization and development of the main lead was perfect. I also liked the story of his sister and her very subtle yet large crush on Jeong (Daun's friend).
Acting: 9 - Great acting, especially from the main lead. He really could pull off each emotion he had to portray. The side characters were nice as well. Overall, I think the acting was this series' strong suit.
Music: 5 - Didn't really pay attention to it but it wasn't distracting so it was fine.
Rewatch value: 3 - Probably not.
I think this series works in many ways, but I don't think the BL part of it was one of them. It wasn't endearing enough, I didn't really yearn for them to be together, and wouldn't have cared if they broke up cause I felt nothing towards them. I semi-recommend this one, especially if you want to watch something cinematically pretty, or to watch an important topic be told, but for the BL part of it all -- I could probably recommend something better.
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A little gem
OMG, that was amazing! One of those dramas that just warms the heart..makes you want to smile the whole time and tear up momentarily at times, and all at once… visually beautiful, nice music, a great pace and flow, and great acting…well done!I like the pairing of the couple… I like that there isn’t the height difference thing, which can work, but kind of reminiscent of M/F pairings… also that their vulnerabilities are laid bare, and are the essence and their differences of character in the story, even though on the surface they may seem very similar…
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Blooming Moments Full Of Butterflies
Awesome emotional LGBTQI+ Show to binge watch in 2022! <3This adapted series had me taken aback in many ways and hit me unknowingly. After we were gifted with the adaption of "Semantic Error" I thought it will be unlikely to get another LGBTQI+ series of this standard but I was wrong. "Blueming" is living up to these standards and truly gifted me with an awesome evening full of butterflies.
Production / Music >> 8.0
The "Blueming" was directed and edited under a strong and talented crew and displayed by some very good acting. The natural lighting was able to set a certain mood with calm and warm colours. The cinematography was on point and resulted in incredible moments being captured, which made the short-seeming episodes so much more powerful and impactful.
Plot >> 8.0
First impressions were rather weak but it kept improving and had me captivated starting from the 3rd episode. It´s a fresh university love story with misunderstandings from Si Won´s side, which originate from his self-doubts. Despite a few common twists, the entire story gets undermined with a comedic undertone which makes the series lighter and more relaxing to watch. Overall, the harmony of Da Un and Si Won made this rather ordinary plot, well ..., extraordinary!
Acting/ Cast >> 9.5
Personally, Jo Hyuk Joon´s portrayal of Da Un was the highlight of this series. He totally made this calm and reflected character come to life and not only enchant Si Won, but also the audience. Da Un´s caring and goofy personality match well with the reserved and a bit helpless Si Won. The actor's harmony had a huge impact on the overall effect of this series. The supporting cast was also delivering a knowledgeable performance and should not be left out of the praise.
Rewatch Value >> 9.0
Because this emotional series was RATHER light to watch there is no reason for me to not come back. Definitely, a series to come back to once in a while to enjoy some second-hand-blushing :) "Blueming" made my creativity bloom and is a show I´d highly recommend watching.
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