The Eclipse

INVESTIGATION of Invincible Chemistry - Burning Romance

A MUST-WATCH. The enemies-to-lovers slow romance is perfectly executed while not rushing over with the plot. I have watched quite a hand full of LGBTQIA+ series but I find this to be one of the most outstanding and capturing ones, for me personally. Something between the chemistry of First and Khaotung and the cinematography of this series. I´m IN LOVE.

If you’re an NSFW scenes hunter, you’ll regret missing this MASTERPIECE. This is one of the first times I've been a bit disapproving of some ratings, at least to the extent of giving this series less than 7 stars. YES, we don´t know much about what is going on but it is a mystery and investigation series, plotholes are basically the fundament of "The Eclipse" to be suspenseful and thus meet higher standards than just a "simple" high school enemies to lovers romance trope.

Story >> 8.5 >> 8.0 >> 8.5
When it comes to high school, more precisely all-boys-high school, LGBTQIA+ Awareness, and Against The System dramas this is a MUST watch! While this plot focuses a lot on the romance of two very different young men, the story also contains and shares some important messages and morals, as well as the mention of George Orwell´s 1984.

Acting/ Cast >> 9.0 >> 9.5
If this isn´t a 9.5, then I don´t know what is considered flawless acting. I´m obsessed with the dynamic between First and Khaotung, it may not change the story much, but it does change the presentation extremely and if it was only based on them, I had given this section a 10-star ranking. Every eye contact between the two of them has such an intensity that it can hardly be compared to any other couple in that industry, in my opinion. I was shocked too when I found myself cheering for their cooperation the most because it was such an unexpected match for me. Khaotung has my mouth literally gaping with his performance because I was only used to him playing cheerful, playful, and goofy characters, and watching him portray Ayan with such dedication, makes me incredibly happy and satisfied. Also, Neo brightens my day whenever and wherever he appears on the screen.

Music (/Production) >> 8.5
You really have to pay a huge compliment to the production and tell them that the effort was worth it and that they should please spoil their employees. Especially the screenwriters and the director. I think that even the intro alone is so much better than most other intros I have seen from GMMTV/GMM25.

Rewatch Value >> 9.0 >> 9.5
This might be one of my best ratings when it comes to the Rewatch Value but this series has become one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES! I can only recommend it to everyone, except for those who’re only hunting for ND/NSFW scenes, who are missing out on plot quality.

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Poor writing partially saved by a great cast

This was a real disappointment - the story had potential and some good ideas, but the execution was sloppy and the plot ran out of steam after a few episodes.

The acting is great with First as the standout, and Neo and Louis quite engaging whenever they had screentime. The music is also quite good, with well-chosen and moody background score that supported the story.

The problem was the writing. We started out with good ingredients - a story about tradition and authority vs modernity and individuality. At first it looked like we'd get an intelligent examination, with a quite excellent in-class argument in which the rebellious Ayan manipulates an authoritarian teacher into supporting his perspective while he takes hers - but it's like all the intelligence in the script went into that one exchange because it was never repeated.

Instead, the authors come down heavily on the side of freedom, equating rules with depression and suicide - which might have worked if he rules weren't so mild and commonplace - wear a school uniform like 90% of humanity as mandated by ministries of education, and don't use phones during class. Really? That's it? And the writing contradicts itself, as almost everything bad that happens is due to preoccupation with social media, so maybe phones were the problem after all.

The Curse of Suppalo was another interesting idea, which quickly petered out and became incidents so benign that people's OTT reactions to them were ridiculous.

There is a plot twist in Ep 11 that you won't see coming, largely because it isn't set up in the slightest and ends up requiring someone to behave totally out of character, and everyone else to behave out of character in their reaction to it - and since there are no consequences resulting at all, it's meaningless - just a random twist for no apparent reason.

The relationship between Akk and Ayan starts off interesting, but quickly degenerates into a string of tropes including the most stupid accidental kiss I've ever seen, by far - it's so bad I dropped the series and only picked it up again when everyone assured me it got better. It didn't. There is no real organic development between them - they're pushed together by stupid cliches and tropes, and it's never clear why they like each other, so you have to conclude it's a physical thing. I will say that I liked that they didn't do the seme-uke thing - in fact people in the forum argued over which was which.

This is basically a six-episode story stretched out to twelve. It really has nothing to say, and despite its promising introduction, was basically just a typical formulaic high school BL, albeit set in an all boys school, so we're at least spared the stock evil gf character, and it is refreshing that the characters are actually gay and identify as such.

The last episode is cloying and preachy. Nobody watching BL has a problem with homosexuality, so preaching to the choir is pretentious and irritating - plus the absolute ease with which coming out is accomplished and greeted sends no message - in fact it's a bit offensive in a story that has pretentions of social commentary and in its portrayal of depression and mental illness to just handwave away the most difficult and painful thing LGBTQ+ teens have to deal with.

I'm not sure I can recommend this. If you're a big fan of the cast, then I'd watch it - but otherwise it's a frustrating, shallow, formulaic melodrama. I doubt I'll have any recollection of it in three months.

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