The Boy Next World

A Multiverse Romance that Dazzles & Disappoints

The magnetic pull between Boss Chaikamon's ice-cold Cirrus and Noeul Tangwai's warm, endearingly superstitious Phukan practically sizzles through the screen. Their evolution as actors is evident in every nuanced glance—they convey love, sorrow, and longing with a maturity that elevates the material. The way they softly speak to each other feels almost intrusive to watch, like eavesdropping on genuine intimate moments between parallel universe lovers.

For all its stylistic brilliance and captivating performances, "The Boy Next World" ultimately stumbles where it matters most—its core concept. The parallel universe premise that hooked us in the trailer gradually dissolves into the background, replaced by a more conventional university romance. By the time the show remembers its multiverse roots in the final episodes, it's too late, leaving viewers with fascinating glimpses of alternate realities that are never fully explored.

To read full review visit https://www.dramaasianreviews.com/post/thai-bl-review-the-boy-next-world-bossnoeul-s-multiverse-romance-dazzles-disappoints

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The hate is NOT deserved!

First of all, this is my first ever review, but I felt the need to write one for this title, because of all the hate I see here on MDL!
I gave this a 10 just to increase the overall rating. Also, not liking something, does not mean you have the right to hate!
Now let's begin. Also, I did not read the novel, so this is only based on the series.

**ACTING**
Tbh I`m a fan of BossNoeul so I may be a bit biased here, but I just wanted to point out that their acting improved a lot since LITA. The series deserves at least an 8 for their acting alone. Not to mention this is only their 2nd series! and they already can hold their candle compared to other BL-acting couples. It is sometime ppl should acknowledge.


**MUSIC**
The music isn't really worth mentioning. It was not bad, but it also didn't stand out to me. There were 2 english songs I felt like didn't fit, but that is my personal preference. The only song worth it is the title track/intro in my opinion.


**STORY**
Now to the main part. The story is a supernatural romance focusing on the topic of parallel worlds. Personally I`m a big fan of time travel/isekai and that sort of stuff, so I was happy about BossNoeul having a series in that genre. In general I had no problem following the story!

(short breakdown of the story, contains spoilers)
The story is about Cir who is secretly in love with Phu since their school days and suddenly gets sucked into the world of parallel worlds after getting hit by a car after protecting Phu's car from some criminals. After being hit, he is able to see another world in which he and Phu are a happy couple. After waking up he is confused at first, thinking he and Phu are actually dating. He runs to Phu's home and tells him he is from a parallel world and that they are dating.

Phu first does not believe him, but they slowly get closer and as Phu believes in superstition he slowly begins to believe Cir as well. By that time Cir realizes though, that he was only confused, thought he was only dreaming. He realizes that he lied to Phu about him being from a parallel world, but does not tell Phu because he is scared of Phu leaving him after finally being together.

In the meantime Cir 'dreams' regulary about being in a white room and meeting another Cir (Black!Cir). He realizes that parallel worlds exist and that his dreams are actually snippets of other worlds.

At the same time, Phu slowly falls in love with Cir but feels guilty because he thinks he has no right to love this version of Cir. Things get emotional and Phu sees it in himself to send Cir back. After avoiding being in conflict with Cir, Phu was saved by Cir from a running car and gets hit by it yet again.

Another Cir from another world gets switched in and stirs things up, not believing in parallel worlds also. After some time he gets back to his own world, because the Cir from this world gets pushed by by Black!Cir. CirPhu finally come together and admit their feelings, but the happiness does not last long, as Phu finally finds out that Cir lied to him. Long story short, after some emotional drama, they finally have their happy ending.

I left out the Bitch!Mom and Bitch!Fiance because it didnt give the story much. Anyways....

The story introduces us to 4 worlds (the nicknames I gave mean no harm lol):

1. World - Stalker!Cir:
Basically the 'main' world / the world in which the mainstory plays in. Cir is in love with Phu since their school days and takes care of him from afar and protects him from harm to the point in where he gets hurt himself. After getting hit by a car, he sees World 2 from an outsider perspective, but thinks it was a dream. He wakes up confused, goes to Phu and tells him he is from a parallel world even though he isn't. Phu slowly begins to believe him and their love story starts.

2. World - Black!Cir :
The world Stalker!Cir sees after he got hit by the car in EP 1. Cir and Phu are happily dating since their school days, we don't know what happend to them but considering what Black!Cir said, it seems like they didnt have a happy ending. The series didnt give more details to his world even though its the world we see most from. I suspect him being 'the first Cir' and just acting as if he isnt, because from my experience when it comes to parallel worlds there is something called the butterfly effect, which is hard to breake through. So he can not give his other versions details about either his own world or their world or what they should do to get their happy ending (the one he himself didn't have), because of certain restrictions he is bound to.

3. World - Glasses!Cir:
The world in which Cir and Phu only meet after 10 years. Cir seems to be Phu's boss and treats him really badly. He is called 'the one that treats Phu in the meanest way' by Black!Cir. He was stabbed by a man, which caused him to see the parallel worlds. He changed afterwards. There are no more details about their story.

4. World - Payu!Cir: (cause of the hair)
Payu!Cir is the one that appears in world 1 after Stalker!Cir gets hit yet again by a car. After having a high fever, he suddenly woke up in world 1 and stirs things a bit up. In the meantime Stalker!Cir is held back in the white room and cannot escape. There are no details to this world yet, but there will be a Bonus-EP about it. The only thing we know is, he does not know Phu at the time he gets switched out. Phu from world 1 tells him about parallel worlds, but he isn't believing him. He gets back to his own world when Stalker!Cir is pushed back in by Black!Cir. I believe it is Black!Cir that triggered the exchange of them, so the story of Payu!Cir can begin.

5. The white room - my assumptions
It's the 'neutral time zone' in which Black!Cir meets his other versions to trigger the parallel worlds to find his happy ending with Phu. He can do and tell things to a certain level with or without triggering the butterfly effect. His goal is to have a happy ending with Phu, favorable in every world because he promised Phu to love him wherever they are.
By the amount of snippets we have seen of other worlds and the things he said about the bad endings that already happend, my guess is, it's his domain to find the perfect balance to not trigger the butterfly effect and he finally succeeded with Stalker!Cir. My guess is, its because Stalker!Cir never really visited another world, he just saw snippets of the other worlds, so he never interfered with them personally.


**DIRECTING**
First of all, like I already said, I had no problem following the story in general, but all in all the plot came a bit short, mostly because of the limited episodes. I think it would have been better for this to at least have 20 episodes, it would have given enough time for everything to develop on a normal pace and also explain things more clearly. For example the reason why Jin can read minds and how Cir is able to even jump/see between different worlds or how the original Cir was even able to create the time space to meet his different versions. Also, the possibilities of different plotlines is endless. In the end its a huge pity, considering how much potential the story has.

There were some directing decisions I really did not understand, for example (and the most triggering for me) cutting an emotional scene into 2 parts and splitting them between episodes (talking about ending of Ep 8 and beginning of Ep 9). By the time you begin watching the next episode the feelings of the previous episode are gone. So watching Ep 9 was a whole wtf moment for me tbh.

I also did not see the need to include the mom and fiance into the story line. The amount of episodes was so limited, it took away most needed space for more details in the main story. Same for the death anniversary episode. They focused way too long on it and it didnt really give anything to CirPhus relationship.

Another thing that might come unexpected for most, but the nc scene in Ep 10 came out of nowhere and didnt fit the feeling for me.

But those are really the only things I feel worth mentioning that could be considered directing mistakes.

All in all you can overlook those and still appreciate the story as a whole. The acting makes it worth it for me. They also did a great job with the effects. The series as a whole looks high quality and you can see that they put a lot of effort into it. From what I have seen from the bts, the actors all seem satisfied with the ending product and I think its cute how much they love Mame. We should respect that, so pls don't spread hate towards Mame.


**CONCLUSION**
Is it worth watching? Definitely a yes for me. I think you will enjoy watching it if you are a fan of BossNoeul and also the fantasy/supernatural genre.

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I don't understand the hate at all

Ik the whole plot seems confusing and all, but it was different than most Bl dramas I've watched and that's what made me love it so much. I want to compliment BossNoeul's acting but especially Noeul's because I felt like he improved a lot and i felt every emotion of the character through his acting. He deserves more praises for his acting in the series. As for the music, i don't think I've ever obsessed with a series music playlist this much. i keep listening to all TBNW songs in Spotify in repeat and the OST is my absolute favourite. I will definitely rewatch it once i get some free time. And let's talk about ForthDonut, I think they were amazing ,i honestly didn't expect myself to love them so much ,but i absolutely do love this duo now. Their chemistry is definitely my favourite after BossNoeul. If I have to choose which one i love the most about the series, i would say first one is definitely BossNoeul. secondly all the songs , and the third one is the aesthetic of the series (like the different color tones for CirPhu, the small details they added, Phukan's cardigans etc.). Phukan is the cutest character I've ever seen.

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This is not that nice

So, I started this drama when it stopped airing cause by watching the trailer I was not really convinced, later my friend asked if we could watch it together since she loves the Love in the air couple.

First Episodes:
I would say that the first three episodes were just akward for me to watch and I kind of felt like, dude what's happenening in the other world, like even tho I didn't want to watch it I needed to know

Central episodes:
Between episode 4 and 8 the plot was moving alright and everything seemed fine, well the in episode 8 where Cir wakes up was to only comfirmation that another world exists (since the Cir from this universe had a scar on his head)
then later I realised that the guy who woke up in that episode was someone from another world, cause then later Phu finds out that Cir gas been a pshyco STALKER like whyyyy
So moving on the original Cir comes back and everything seems fine till...

Final episodes(I wished I didn't see those):
So Phu finds out that Cir has been liyng to him about the whole parralel world and stuff, and in reality he was actually a STALKER like dude I get why Phu decided to dissapear (like he's already traumatiesed from his fathers death now thiss)
Also like why is everyone telling him to hear Cir out like he has a reason to do that???

Let's be clear Stalking is not okay if someone is stalking someone else and you know it please tell the police since people like that need therapy!!!

In the end his reason was not reasonable, like I get it he had a difficult time growing up, and Phu made somethig come back alive deep inside him but thats not a reason to stalk someone, litte tip for Cir if you like someone talk to them PLEASE, in the end I did like the pair ups like the chemestry between is defenetly legit.

The jin and Wim couple was personally the best and I need more of them as main leads, they were just so cute.

For me they souldn't have made Phu and Cir end up together because for me Cir is a psycho that belived that his own immagination of begin together with Phu meant that he is in another universe, cause of what he was seeing in his dreams could've been part of his imagination.

End thoughts:
Personally most of the drama was not understandable for the multiple reasons I've given you, but also the confusion during the whole drama was simply there and most of the times me and my friend looked at each other and where like wth is happening?
Probably not worth watching and I don't really recommend it if yiu wanna stay sane in mind

DISCLAIMER
English is not my first language so I am sorry if I misspelled any words or made any grammar errors
Also this is my personal opinion and I am not saying that everyone else is crazy me and my friend defenetly won't rewatch this, hope this was helpful have a nice day🙂!

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Why did they make P’Cir a creep? ?

When I first saw the trailer for this series, I was excited to watch a fantasy show with an interesting parallel world. Why didn’t the screenwriters follow that original idea? Instead, they made the main character a stalker and a creep 😄 It’s honestly funny.
A guy has been stalking someone for years and then decides that the best way to approach him is to lie about coming from a parallel world. Yeah bro, great idea 👍 He’s loved him since high school and didn’t even have the courage to ask his name. Randomly bumping into him on the street, saying hello, or borrowing an umbrella would have been a much better idea than this whole parallel-world plot.
I mean, just imagine if the guy wasn’t attractive 😄 Then he’d just be a creep, right? The whole plot doesn’t make sense. Why would Phu even believe something like this? Do they live in a universe where superpowers and multiple universes actually exist? It’s never explained in the series, even though Phu’s friend can read people’s minds or something… or maybe that’s a lie too. I’m honestly confused.
Anyway, the chemistry between the actors is good, as always — they work really well together. But sometimes the overly dramatic dialogue makes everything cringe-worthy. There’s just too much melodrama and crying, and it feels exaggerated. When P’Cir started singing in the last episode, I literally laughed.
P’Cir is a really strange character choice. He seriously needs therapy and to work on his issues — and I’m not saying that to be mean.

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Got me feeling all kinds of emotions but I fell in love in the end

I'm seeing LOTS of negative comments about this show but I personally don't agree with them. This was fresh, new concept and I personally think it was executed quite well! The actors did so good, the characters were lovable and I personally couldn't take my eyes off the screen at all!

The story builds up really well, hooking the watcher in with multiple twists. I did get confused few times but caught back on quite quickly. We're also moving in the gray area with few parts of the story, like P'Cir's choices etc. but I personally didn't mind it. All was handled pretty well towards the end of the story.

I also like the fact that the other universes are left unfinished, them not being completely clear gives the watcher similar confused feeling that the characters are going through in the show, which I personally liked since it immersed me deeper into the show. And I don't mean confused as in "I have no idea what's happening in the story" but the kind where everything is uncertain, without anything completely sure to cling on to. It makes the experience super interesting!

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The series that just missed the mark.

Already here is my think piece on this series.

I genuinely enjoyed watching this drama! I am a sucker for parallel universe tropes...that of course is if it was actual about parallel universes...or was it?

That is what frustrates me the most about this drama. There honestly is no telling if the parallel universes are actually real. To my understanding, they ARE real it's just that the Cir WE know wasn't actually from one...? I think....? it's unfortunate that even after completing the series, it still remains a question.

There is a lot of talk about the parallel universes simply being Cir's mental battle between the toxic life he was raised in and his love for Phu. Which yes, the "purgatory" every Cir went to after the car crash was Cir's mind but that still means the other timelines existed, right? Because how does that explain the scar missing when the third no-it-all Cir comes? Was it because Phu also wanted to believe that these universes existed? We also heard from Jin when talking with Wim that Cir wasn't lying when it came to these other timelines existing. So, the question still stands. What was real and what was not?

I wish this would have been more clear. In a perfect world, I feel this series should have either focused on one of the two. 1. It all being in Cir's head and it being a coping mechanism to his trauma or 2. There being ACTUAL different timelines. These two share such different outcomes that could have been wonderful on there own.

Personally, if I was Phu...I would be freaked the f**k out if I found out someone had been stalking me for four years. Whether they were dangerous or not. I'm not a big fan of this kind of plot. If they would have stuck with the different timelines, there would have been more depth to the story of their relationship. I think sticking to the story of every timeline being made up of the same timeline except every little action they didn't take played a role in what happened in each universe would have been so awesome.

I think Jin being more involved could have been cool too. Him being able to read minds felt a little out of the blue with there being no real explanation as to why he can, when he started to, and an overall reason for him to have these powers. I still enjoyed seeing him and Wim's relationship unfold. It was very cute.

Now, I do believe this series gets a little too much over-the-top hate. It's funny because the inconsistency was the reason I was so hooked! Not knowing what was truly going on made me crave to keep watching and find out the real truth. While it is very frustrating that the real outcome is still unknown, I believe BossNoeul did a perfect job with what they were given and I enjoy seeing this pair work together!

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A Guy with schizophrenia makes everyone else feel crazy, too

I went to their LA fan meet and greet, and it changed my life lmao. I lowkey thought this show was good. I would give it a 9 (8.85) out of 10. I am going to say what I liked, what I didn't, and then an episode overview of it all.

Compared to Love Sea, this show was fucking phenomenal. My main reason for comparing them is because both couples were in love in the air, and these two both came out around the same time. On its own, this show is still great, and I do think you should check it out. Their chemistry was great in this, and so was their acting, just great all around. I LOVE WHEN THEY ARE SOULMATES. And I know he lowkey made up a lot of it in his head, but that was so fun. And I also like how they were together in every single world, that was to die for, oh my god. THE INTRO SONG IS SO GOOD, AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I loved our second couple, they were to die for lmao. I liked their dynamic a lot, and I think I just really like mind-reading plots and think they are very fun. I still can't get over their chemistry in this. I do think they outdid themselves with this one. Great fucking jobs to these two. I liked how they in the other universes also had depth. I liked those sequences, and I really enjoyed how they did that. I thought that was fun, and they didn't need to do that, but I think it really brought the show to life more. I think the main thing that this show did better than Love Sea was that they weren't getting freaky every hour of every day, and they actually did good plot and romance building in this. Like we know how much I hate on romance building in shows because no one knows how to do it, I think this show did a pretty good job. Was it the best I have ever seen? No, but it was still good and made the characters actually have dimension. That was nice to see. I think I already talked about the plot, but the twist with him making up their timeline in his head was genuinely so good. Holy fuck, whoever wrote that in, fantastic. Okay, so I am on the fence about where I should put this, but the fact that he lost his memory again pissed me off, but THEY REDEEMED THEMSELVES WITH HIM GETTING IT BACK, GOOD JOB SHOW. Just a very fun and enjoyable show, I can't lie. I enjoyed their sex scenes, they were fucking banging lmao, they had me gagged, and I may need to rewatch, but this time with one hand. THE WHOLE THING WITH THE PADDED ROOM. That was genuinely one of the best scenes ever, and despite making his timeline up and the whole thing up because he wanted that cookie, the fact that it was real and he got flipped with another version of himself was so fun and genuinely so great, holy fuck, I love that scene. Okay, that's it. It's a very fun show.

The setup was confusing as fuck, because I was so lost and not in a good way. The show was kind of hard to follow. Whatever the irrelevant friends are called (not the side couple, though, they are perfect), they are so irrelevant and so annoying, and they just need to shut up because they serve zero fucking purpose. Another thing, at the end of episode 7, the plot and lore folded in on itself and got very fucking confusing; it had me looking at the screen sideways. Random ass fucking fiance, get the fuck out of my face before I get violent. I think they could have done more with the ending; it was very empty, and I feel like, because they had so many characters, they should have used more of them and just finished it all, but yeah, that's fine. Okay, not that much to hate on from me.

Okay, let's look at my thoughts on this all. "What if all the dreams we have are actually parallel worlds? I think about that an unholy amount." "Like I get, they are soulmates, but why would you let him in your home? Their rooms are the same. I am lowkey so confused but really intrigued at the same time." Most of my review of the second episode is me overthinking the entire show lol. "I don't know what to think." "He has his shirt off, ain’t nobody looking at this damn nightmare sequence Lmao." "They so far ate love sea up because I think their plot is so much better and they aren't getting freaky every five fucking minutes. Not that I was complaining, there was just no plot." "WHAT THE FUCK. Wait, he's not? Wait what? Holy fuck. Wait, I had a feeling. But how does he know everything about him? Holy fuck. WHAT A TWIST. He made the timeline up all in his head. Invested because what?" "I am also so invested in the second couple, y'all have no idea." "Okay, wait, I have no idea if I remembered this right, but wasn’t it all in his head and none of it was real. Hey, I made this shit up because I like you so much. 99 problems and this show is all of them." LMAO. "Now I'm fucking invested, way to go. I thought I grasped the concept of this, but I then realized I dont have a clue what is happening, but I'm here and ready to rumble." "Someone just got caught. Stalkerrrr. Oh fuckkkk. So he wanted him to find out? I mean, the parallel words shit exists? Doesn't it? Or was it all in his head? Oh my god. No, because the scar. So it has to exist. WHATTTTTT." This sums up my entire review. "Oh my god. To be honest, I really don’t know what I was expecting for like the whole part, but I was expecting the brother to step in because I’m like, why would they mention him if they were gonna do something with them, and they ended up doing something with him, so I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel, but I’m content that they’re together and that’s all that matters, and we’re about to get some crazy sex scene, and I’ve already seen it, but I guess we’re ready to rumble, I guess, but yeah I don’t know this I kind of like not a lot but idk. I enjoyed it a lot, and it got really good towards the middle cause I got really, really into it, and like the whole plot idea, and I think they used it really well. Like, personally, I do think they did it very well, and I think it’s a good show, especially with the way Love Sea turned out. This was really good cause Love Sea was cheek water like genuine cheek water, and I’m so glad that this didn’t turn out like that with a whole bunch of NC scenes. They had a couple, and they were good. They had a good placement, but yeah, compared to Love Sea this was really, really good, and overall like a good standalone show. I think they did well with this, and I think that having Boss and Noeul in this was great, and I might be glazing it because I’m seeing them in a couple of hours, but it’s OK. Alternate title: A guy with schizophrenia makes everybody else crazy, too. Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about the ending. I’m content, but at the same time I feel like they could’ve done more with the mom because they did build up to it for like most of the show, but at the same time I don’t think I could’ve handled that so I’m like I’m OK with this, but yeah a pretty OK ending to a really good show actually."

Definitely watch this, I think it is really well done. Okay bye!

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Boss and Noeul have amazing chemistry, but plot falls flat

This drama had a lot of potential. because Boss and Noeul have chemistry OFF THE CHARTS! I was happy to see them in another BL because they're so perfect together, but story-wise.. meh. It got too confusing and the whole parallel universe thing didn't make sense, especially towards the end I was ??? the whole last episodes. The only thing worth is the strong leads, otherwise no one would watch or remember this. The side couple wasn't interesting either. The NC scenes were incredible though and looked real which is a plus. I don't think I've seen such scenes in BL before and the upgrade of NC scenes recently is just.. *chefs kisss* but other than those.. this isn't much of story.

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