Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan

zero boundaries and a lot of trauma

Overall: at times I liked the faster pacing, but there was too much pain/trauma/ignoring boundaries. This was an adaptation of MAME's book which I haven't read (but believe she writes bodice ripper type books with the fictional mouth says no but body says yes). There was already a Thai adaptation. I tried to review the Japanese version based on its own merits. 8 episodes about 15 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4928/love-in-the-air-2024-e01

Content Warnings: rape, past gang rape, sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, trauma, non/dub con kissing/touching, manipulation, harassment, manhandling, kidnapping, violence, blackmail

What I Liked
- fast pacing (though the first couple could have perhaps used more development/screen time, and less with the past stuff for the second couple)
- hair drying was cute
- the dream kiss
- NSFW scene in episode 4 was fairly well done (though more enthusiastic kissing from 1 person would have been nice)
- Kai was a supportive friend
- non cliche female character

Room For Improvement
- not really sold on the chemistry with either pair, Kai and Fuma actors should have been switched and Fuma's hideous suits made him look younger
- starting in the present and then going to an extended flashback
- the "plan"/nonsense approach
- the spanking was cringey
- odd progression with the flashback in episode 5 and then the devotion in the present, felt very "because the writer said so"
- (neutral) the hyper/over acting type character

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What was the point of this remake?

I don't know if I have the words to describe my thoughts during this experience. As someone who adores the original I was looking forward to seeing how this adaption would play out. I regret watching this so much.

They condensed 10, hour long episodes into 8, 26 minute episodes and you can tell it was rushed and poorly done. They skipped over so many plot points, chemistry scenes, and just important scenes to the story in general. This adaption was all over the place and not in a good way. I did not care for the acting at all, the actor for Phayu had a tendency to overact and I think that was because the actor for Rain had the tendency to underact. I didn't care for what these writers did so such beloved characters and the changes they made in terms of storyline, and characters.

If you want a good, thought-out, romantic, drama show with good acting and a good storyline stick with the Thai version of Love in the Air.

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condensed story meets bland and chemistry free MLs

This is one of the disappointing JBLs in 2024.

What was the most lacking is the chemistry between the couples and that for me "Kai" does not work as a freshman. "Kai" looks much too old for his role. Besides that, they only had the "bad stuff" culminating at the same time compared to original and they do bike races instead of cars. Other than that, they cut out a lot of fluff and some persons like the silblings of "Fuma".

The chemistry is so lacking they can't convince anybody about their feelings. "Fuma" beating up the "bad guys" alone was also unbelievable, they cut the friendship part between Arashi and Fuma in such an important scene. Also in the original series the organizers had a much bigger role which made the setting much more believable. So they cut too much and they did not invest in any fluff between the couples. Cutting out the scene where "Fuma" calls his mom to ask about how to take care of a sick person is also crucial to the story.

Overall the worst JBLs in 2024, with no creativity or spin on the original story, lacking chemistry , no fluff at all and feeling very sterile. So if you haven't seen it, forgo it and watch the "original" which has more punch to the story, is believable and doesn't miss the fluff of a BL which you would expect in such story.

Update: Ep 9 and 10 are "special" episodes. If you think it will get better, you are wrong, it went worse. Don't waste your time with it.

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Love crashed ! View was great , feels were zero!

I was genuinely excited for this adaptation, but unfortunately it fell short on so many levels. If I hadn't watched the Thai version, I would have found the story to be fragmented and sort of incomplete.

One of the main issues I had was with the casting. While the actors may be talented, they didn’t convince me as university students. There was a noticeable disconnect throughout making it hard for me to fully vibe with characters and care about them.

Starting with Ray and Arashi's story, I did like the focus that was given to their part, especially in the first two episodes. The pacing was fine early on, but as the series progressed, it just felt ordinary. The weak acting played a huge role in this. The chemistry and delivery just didn't land for me. Shoma was a sight to behold but he felt more like a pretty canvas visually stunning yet devoid of any real emotion, even in the most heartfelt and emotional moments.
Also the story itself was problematic for me but the acting didn't help it either. Felt lackluster without that right emotional depth.

As for Fuma and Kai’s story, it was clearly rushed compared to the original version. The pacing felt off especially considering how much attention was given to the first half of the show. Kai, in particular looked much older than his character, which took me out. While their acting wasn’t bad, it simply didn’t convince me enough to fully buy into their relationship.

Overall, this adaptation was a disappointment. As a fan of JBl, it’s tough for me to write this review and give it a low rating, but unfortunately It is what it is.

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the worst Japanese BL series of 2024 (for me)

I'm sorry but for me this BL isn't even sufficient. He could have made a masterpiece but he failed miserably. Why?
- 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨
-𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒕 (for example they cut a lot of scenes showing the friendship between Fuma and Arashi and also a lot of iconic scenes from the original Thai series)
-𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 / 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 (e.g. Rei's car should be a wreck but instead from the first episode it is shown as a new car, polished as if she had just bought it. For me they could have put more effort into making the more ruined car, even just with mud)(e.g.: the motorbike suits couldn't be seen and they weren't even the right ones. the material of all those is very different)(I could stay here for days complaining about a lot of other things so I'll move on)
- 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 (I love a lot of Japanese series in which they make many scenes more treatral but in an ironic way but here I was just very disappointed)

in my opinion for a story like this they should use much more budget. Why? the top two of the couples are rich but here they seemed like normal people.

The only positive thing is:
- they tried to reinterpret the story with Japanese protagonists and a Japanese setting

I'm very disappointed because I know they could have done better but they clearly didn't put their all into it.

Usually I don't comment if I have to give a very negative comment but I can't see this series rated with a 7. I'm sorry but it really doesn't deserve it considering that the original only has an 8.1. I'm sorry but I think so.

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Japan Does it Best

Japan puts their spin to a Thai BL classic, Love in The Air, and with no surprise, do it much, much better.

Let's Dive in.

When I first heard of this, I was worried. How were they going to be able to intricately make such an already-odd series and put their own taste to it? Well, they did it, and they did it pretty decently.

This series basically took everything I hated about the original and completely squashed it. They were about to tell the same story with the same characters and conflicts, without the need to add in unnecessary characters, or random scenes, or a bunch of tropey stuff. They told the exact same story, concisely and beautifully in just 10 episodes, and I loved it.

Now, with that, I did somewhat-sort of trash watched this with a friend, so I wasn't as observant as I usually am with series, but that's okay. I still think it was great, the character's had more depth, Rei and Kai felt more like friends than Payu and Sky, and the NC scene were hitting in all the right spots.

Overall, I think this was better than the original, but still not the best J-BL. It's okay for what it is, and I appreciate that it was given us.

Ratings:

Story: 7.5/10 - Still the same old plot, still not my favorite, but Japan told the story way better. I loved the chemistry between the leads, and they did a job well done.

Acting: 8.5/10 - LOVE Reo (Kai) he did SUCH a good job. Everyone else did good too, and fortunately, Shoma is just so hot that he get an extra point out of me.

Music: 6/10 - Didn't pay that much attention to it.

Recommendation Value: 7/10 - Ehh. Shoma looks good with his shirt off though.

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We started with an ★8.1

This is the second adaptation from the novels “Love Storm" (พายุรักโถมใจ) and "Love Sky" (พระพายหมายฟ้า) by MAME.

The first adaptation into a screenplay “Love In The Air” 2022 was a complete masterpiece that obtained a rating of ★8.1 through the time, having also a special episode and a total of thirteen episodes about 45min-50min long per episode.

Now we have the second adaptation, a Japanese version ”Love In The Air: Koi no Yokan” 2024 has aired the first episode and it obtained a rating of ★8.1 . It is planned to have 10 episodes that will be about 24 minutes long, which leaves us with the question “what are they gonna leave aside?”.

With just one episode aired, the Japanese version and the original Thai adaptation from the novels, obtained the same rating.

About the first episode (SPOILER) :
It was good, as it was exactly as the original Thai version, so I could see the things I liked, yet without some details about Arashi (Payu in the Thai version) and also wanted to some different things, cause it was The Same. I will always love and remember the original one, as it was my first BL, but I really wish this to be nice. So good luck for further episodes.

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A solid JBL

I'm clearly, and sadly, in the minority but I really liked it. While everyone keeps saying "I'm trying not to compare it to the original", everyone is doing exactly that imo.

As a stand alone JBL, it did a lot in only 8 short episodes. A fair amount of story, a lot of character development, and some really serious issues sensitively and sympathetically covered.

Arashi is obviously insanely hot and as such, some may say his love for Rei seemed unrealistic. However, Rei's innocent smile and dumb, adorable ways melted Arashi's cold heart and I loved them together. I also thought Rei's attitude when he was in trouble in the last ep really solidified what Arashi loved about him - this cute guy who's a total dork but also has the heart of a warrior and who'll battle fiercely for those he cares about. The guy's got balls and Arashi freaking loves that.

Kai's character is so well acted. The depiction of a poor, damaged boy whose misery is visible in every facial expression broke my heart a number of times. While I can admit that Fuma is probably the weakest character, I felt that the relationship between Kai and Fuma developed really well with lots of pathos and some real tear jerking moments, particularly in the last episode, which was superbly acted by both guys. It's at that point you realise that Fuma, as a slightly older guy with a fair amount of experience, clearly acted in a light, cheerful way as he knew that Fuma had suffered in his past and wanted to make it clear that Kai wouldn't suffer again in his hands. I want them to be happy together forever.

Concisely told with sweet and savage moments, I think this was a great show. If you like Japanese BL's, I suggest you give it a watch.

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Very solid adaptation

I liked this version of LITA a lot, and thought the production made really smart choices in condensing the story down to half its runtime. It stayed true to the original story while moving through the important beats with no filler, and some of the choices actually improved upon the Thai version. In particular, I really like the way they resequenced the final conflicts to converge at the end. The cast was all great and I liked both couples a lot. I prefer this version of Fuma and Kai in particular, the tweaks they made to their characterizations and the details of Kai's story made it all land better for me. The whole cast is great and I hope to see them in more shows.

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a lackluster story can only go so far

though the thai original is very popular, i don't think that this one necessarily falls flat in comparison. the reality is that this adaptation cut out a lot of the filler the original had, and thus feels like it's "missing" something. the reality is that the story is bad, there was nothing interesting going on, and relied on a lot of trauma to further one of the storylines.

i did expect japan to change up a lot of the intensity that was missing in the original, but i also realize that it's hard to do this without changing the story itself. though i expected more, i also think the casting didn't help much. the differences in what japan finds attractive in comparison to thailand are evident in these casting choices and left me questioning some choices. or there's just not enough of a diversity in actors up to taking on any of these roles, perhaps? either way, kai's story was slightly more palatable just for the seriousness given to his trauma. i didn't find the thai original to really approach that with good taste.

i don't know, but shoma was the only one i found interesting and to really fit the role. takuto might've benefited more from a better stylist, because his boyish looks only made him awkward to look at for me. i would've liked more of a personalized touch to his interpretation, it felt regurgitated to me. i also sincerely failed to see chemistry between any of these actors.

overall, i'm not a huge fan of the story itself, but i watched in hopes that maybe japan would do it better. it was better in the flow of things, but the short episodes were a chore to get through still. i struggled with enjoying most of this, but i do appreciate shoma a lot in this. he did the best out of the cast. though the casting wasn't the greatest apart from him, but at least it proves that the original adaptation was only successful due to chemistry and not for being a groundbreaking story.

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how did they make it even cringier lol

even cringier than the other version lol the thing is because it has even shorter running time, it's even worse. this is a very wattpad story with the corniest plot and dialogues, i knew that we all knew that. but give me something fun at least. the writing in here is really bad, like how did they make it worse lol some scenes i had to look away and no one was even singing or pulling out the guitar, it's that bad lol there's no real development of the romance and the acting or chemistry don't save this one either. it's just corny but not in a fun way other bls have done, ya know. i just want to be entertained at leasttt

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