Summer Crush

a short series with a golden retriever and a black cat

Overall: a good short university series. Aired on the Shortime app (more info below). My invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i) Episode 1 is free on the Shortime app and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI4qD7xWii4&ab_channel=ShortimeOfficial 15 episodes about 4 minutes each.

Content Warnings: past bullying, manhandling, past held against will

What I Like
- when a character knows what he wants
- the miscommunication was cleared up fairly early and there was an apology
- dream kiss
- how they showed time passing with the moving frames
- good, non-cliche female characters
- good kissing at the end

What I Didn't Like
- manhandling, smoked and got angry
- tropey falls and kiss
- dead fish lip press


My Watch For Free Plan (updated Feb 2025)
1 friend referral code = 20 (1 time bonus) My invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i)

On the Rewards (popcorn bag icon page)
- check in = 5 (increases over 7 days up to 25)
- create a login = 20? (I did create a login because otherwise you only get 1 Always Win box instead of 3 per day, I think this was 20 popcorn)
- do the 3 random popcorn from the daily Always Win box = 30 (I'd normally get 5-15, around 30 in total)
- Watch Ads, watch all 10 ads each day, have to wait 30 seconds in between ads = 110
Because episodes cost 70 popcorn each, it will take you about a week to watch the series.

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So Worth It

I am guilty as charged. I do complain A LOT about very short credit earned series. It's tedious. Watching so many ads to view about 15 min worth of a story. But...... this one was worth it. A simple story of bonding over basketball and a dislike for summer. Yet, this had me smiling more times than I thought I would. There were no crappy cringe scenes or unnecessary miscommunications that weren't solved as soon as it began. Thankfully not vertical.

The ml smiles automatically brightened the viewing experience and lifted the tone to not make it seem more dreary than intended. Light, introspective and concise. It's one of the good to better ones. Think Match Play. The overall vibe would leave the viewer enjoying every moment. If you don't want to spend funds to view, it will take about seven days to complete but so worth it.

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Surprisingly great (and *NOT* vertical) mini-series!

This hour-or-so-long little series was surprisingly great! Let's count the ways:
* It's *NOT* vertical (hallelujah!!);
* The episodes all have enough time to breathe so that the scenes don't feel rushed;
* It has a broader cast (including a tiny bit of GL side-couple 😊);
* It's acted well;
* The personalities of both leads are quite fun (especially of the basketball captain);
* For anyone who might be bothered by either no kissing or flat kisses in series, you'll be happy to note that there are multiple kisses here, and while a couple are gentle/closed-mouth, most have plenty of motion, lol;
* I appreciated that while it did utilize a few clichés (met before but didn't recognize him later, pratfall kiss, misunderstanding who someone else likes, etc.), the way they were done here were somehow actually not annoying at all-- and it also even neatly sidestepped some others (for example, the main character does *not* try to pull away from the relationship after the accidental kiss; he also does not get caught picking up the drink gift, so there's no secondary misunderstanding; etc.);
* And overall (minus 2 brief flashbacks showing some abuse / bullying in the characters' pasts), it's just super sweet and really feel-good. <3 I'll definitely be rewatching it!

It's too bad that a lot of people will probably overlook this little gem, but hopefully my review can be an encouragement to others to check this out, because IMO it's a very sweet little series and definitely worth an hour of time! 👍👍

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