Boarding House Number 5 (2022)

Oh Thats it?

Its fluffy and nice, and probably too short for its own good. Even if its something you will forget after a few days, I stiill enjoyed it though.

I will have to admit that i got to watch it years after it was aired -as there were mostly not-so-great reactions to it during the original airing, that i simply just brushed it off. Also it was aired at almost exactly the same time as some of the most famous and praised BL of the time (Semantic Error, Cherry Blossoms After WInter and Blueming ) so this series just simply didnt stand a chance that time.

I finally got to see it (right after One:High School Series was aired), and at a time when i was looking for light series to watch. it was a blessing to see all episode in one bingeing because id probably like it a lot less if id have to wait for two 15 minutes episodes per week.

I really liked the whole tone of the series - the lack of budget was pretty obvious, and it looked like the whole series was probably shot in less than a week's time at the most. It was obviously intendedas a movie that was divided into 8 mini tiny episodes - with very little to non-existent cliffhangers after each episode.

What i liked:
1. Cute leads, even the second M-F couple looked good too.
2. Sung Kyun is probably only one of the few Korean actors who has noticeable natural groin on screen (loved the gym scene)
3. Characters are all likeable so they all made up for the small details and inconsistencies.

What i dislike:
1. No real character development especially for the 2 main leads - Ye Min and Bong Deok at least got a little backstory scenes where there is nothing for Cheol Soo and Seol Won.
2. You call those kisses? For real? Dont cast actors for BLs if they dont want to engage in actual kissing.
3. As much as i liked the lead actors, their limited time onscreen together hasnt really made me feel attached to their characters and budding love.
4. Also as much as i liked the M-F second couple, the problem was that they took precious time away from our main couple. The series should have focused more on Cheol Soo and Seol Won.
5. Who in their right minds decided its ok to shower with the towel wrapped around your waste? Dont make shower scenes if you are too prude to even do it right.

With the onslaught of so many trashy new BL contents being aired right now - some of which are taking themselves too seriously (and too racy) at the cost of being convulated, its at least refresing to go back a little bit in time to find something that is so basic, simple and entertaining. I would probably enjoy it better if the episodes were at least 10min longer so we can actually see real progression and would have loved to see at least a full episode of the 2 leads as actual lovers
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Easy to watch and rewatch!

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Not worth the time.

For me this is the least good Korean BL so far.

The pacing is really off - it proceeds slowly, normally a good thing, but very little happens. The plot and characters start with some promise, athough the annoying side characters (tenants at the boarding house) are bit too annoying, especially the one who eats everything. The one who wants it quiet ends up with more screentime than the main romantic interest.

I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the leads. You get some automatically when you have attractive actors with hot bodies, but they looked uncomfortable in physical scenes, with their bodies tense and standing very far apart. There's even a hand-holding scene at the end where they look like they're about to arm wrestle rather than showing any tenderness.

Especially in the last half, way more time is spend on a straight couple that you don't care about because the guy is unlikeable with no positive traits, and following around and telling us the life story about the rival for Seolwon's affections - what was the point of wasting so much time on this? It's nearly irrelevant to the story except for a 10-second really awkwardly written and acted miunsderstanding. In a series that's less than two hours long, you can't waste that much time on side characters - there was none left for development of the main couple. They liked each other, didn't communicate, which caused problems, then still didn't communicate anyway other than with a very bad chaste kiss. What did they like about each other? It's never covered, and since they barely talked to each other or spent time together, it must have been purely physical. There's nothing to invest in.

The first couple of epsides have some good comedic moments, but this is soon largely abandoned to stuff in as many BL cliches in as possible - in fact it's so bad that one of the other reviewers thought it was parodying the BL genre. I was joking to myself that one main character was a PE teacher and nobody had been hit in the head with a ball yet, seconds before it happened. Somehow a grown man is knocked out for hours by a volleyball, which makes you wonder if he's in the right profession - it's really silly. Also, it hit him in the side of the head yet his nose was bleeding, so they should have rushed him to the hospital because that would only happen if he'd suffered serious internal damage.

The acting is OK - nothing special, and the roles were simple and required no real talent except to look good, which the leads certainly did. The technical aspects of this are passable, but the soft-focus filter is set so high that the whole series is blurry.

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes, and the only reason I slogged through the rest is that it's nearly the only BL on on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Story: 2 - there barely is a story, and it's purpose appears to be to keep the main couple from spending any time together as far as possible.

Acting/Cast: 6.5 - they weren't bad, didn't stand out, and had such unchallenging roles that they barely had to do any acting.

Music: Fine. Nothing stsands out.

Rewathc value - 2. Cheolsoo takes a shower and that's worth rewatching.

Overall: 5. The suggested value was 4, but that's too low - I wouldn't recommend this, but it you really have nothing better to do, it won't kill you. It didn't help that this was running at the same time as the vastly superior series Semantic Error.

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