Smile after Tears

mediocre at best...

What will this series tell us?
This BL did not even have a happy end which I would expect from a BL. They wasted more than half the series with the past... and when boyfriend 1 died I thought, maybe it's something like "Love for Love Sake" where he returns in another body and continues to be there for him. But no, the scene between life and death was only there, so he can get a chance to say goodbye. That was the first bummer. And then we get to see his old child-friend who had a crush on him for most of the time and never told him so... Now after BF1 is gone, he takes care of him and tries to pull im back into reality.

And that worked for the most part. He slowly turns back to himself, dedicates himself to music and is sucessful. The finale gave us nearly a stroke, because we see the same scene with him like it was with BF1. That would have been ok for me, both die, they reunite in the afterlife and that would be an happy end.

But no, he was not harmed, he has his big moment on stage and we listen to the song three times in this episode. That I call excessive and then, he leaves. BF2 should not be, I guess he went to study abroad but we don't get an explaination just "it's time to leave". Not to be BF2 cries and the credits roll. And no kiss be seen in the whole BL...

Acting was stiff for the MLs, I guess BF2 was the best of them. Production quality was good, music was very good, but story wise it did not convince me at all. Yes, it felt like a BL just to boost the status of the MLs but with such a story without an happy end I don't think they could do it. Not much more to say, watch it but don't expect it to be your standard BL.

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Wake me up, plz

This has got to be THE most placid, sleep inducing, undramatic drama ever. Like why? Were the producers afraid we'd be schocked by the turn of events? Are we yo believe that he picked up the guitar and became proficient in less than a year? Were we supposed to believe that he was sad, grieving or sleepy? IT WAS HIS PERMANENT EXPRESSION. Were we to manually adjust the volume when he was supposed to be angry or hurt? He spoke like a mannequin on prozac. In fact, both of them. Only the aunt seem to have a pulse.

I didn't hate the aunt. She wanted him to be self sufficient so that when he is left without her, his last relative, he wouldn't feel as lost as she did with every one gone. She too was grieving. Her approach was as smooth as a nail file but understandable.

The only reason I kept watching was because of Chin. He loved him first, but when he realised Yi was hooked on the next constipated one, Ho, he stepped back. So when Ho died, I kept watching to see where it would go.

This has to be a pbs special on grief, friendship and how to live on. A little emotion would have made it so much better. What we got was a quiet, mouse like lecture on how to grieve. Miss me with that boring mess next time. Why the 6? I liked the opening song and that Ho died. They actually took a gamble on exiting a ml that most would like. The series was simply too soft in every way to have any impact.

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Cried my eyes out!

Though this wasn't the most perfect drama, i still loved it so very much! I cried my eyes out from episode 6 until the last episode, it completely broke me. For that reason it goes high on my re-watch list, i will be watching this a lot in the future...
I am still crying while writing the review, i can't seem to stop crying yet...this really left an impression.
The story is so beautiful and extremely sad, and it had mostly beautiful music to enhance the feelings. This one just hit me hard!

The production wasn't the best, it had moments the music or scene's were cut off, that was a real shame. The visuals were great!
The acting was good and the main couple had great chemistry.

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Smile After Tears — Beautiful Ideas, Missing Emotions

Taiwan has produced some of my favorite BLs over the years. Whether it's We Best Love, See Your Love, Plus & Minus, Be Loved in House: I Do, or The On1y One, Taiwanese productions have a unique way of making emotions feel genuine. That's exactly why I was looking forward to Smile After Tears. The premise had everything I enjoy: first love, music, fantasy, grief, and a director, Chiang Ping Chen, whose previous BLs I have loved. Unfortunately, this is one of those rare Taiwanese BLs that left me emotionally disconnected. The story itself was never the problem. A romance interrupted by death, with one character trying to help the person he loves move on from the afterlife, is a beautiful concept. It's also a theme we've seen in several BLs before. Whether through reincarnation, ghosts, or unfinished goodbyes, many series have explored the idea that love can continue after death. Smile After Tears doesn't reinvent that formula, but it didn't need to. What mattered was making me feel the loss.

Sadly, that's where the series struggled the most. Death should completely change the emotional atmosphere of a story. Here, it almost feels like another plot point. The characters cry very little, the grief comes and goes incredibly quickly, and before I had time to process what happened, the story had already moved on to the next scene. Instead of allowing silence, sadness and absence to settle, the editing constantly pushes the narrative forward. As a result, I never truly felt the weight of losing one of the main characters.

Brian Cheng's character also made that emotional journey more difficult for me. I understand why he exists in the story. Loving someone since childhood while knowing that person loves someone else could have added another layer to the grief. Instead, I often found his presence frustrating. Rather than helping me experience Jun Jia's loss, his storyline repeatedly pulled my attention away from the emotion I was supposed to be feeling. That also affected Chang Junjia's performance. At first, I wondered if he simply wasn't expressive enough. But the more I watched, the more I realised I don't think the acting was the real issue. I actually believe the problem came from the directing and especially the editing.

There are moments where Chang Junjia clearly shows pain. He cries, he breaks down, and you can see the emotion is there. The problem is that those moments rarely last. The series cuts away so quickly that the audience never has time to stay with his grief. A few minutes later, he's smiling again, continuing his daily life, and the emotional impact almost disappears. Because of that, the title itself started to lose its meaning for me. A smile after tears should feel earned. It should represent healing after a long journey through grief. Here, the smile often arrived before I believed the tears had even ended. Instead of seeing someone slowly learning to live again, I sometimes felt as if Jun Jia simply accepted everything far too easily. He kept telling us how much he missed Yan Kai, but I rarely felt that longing through the way the story was edited.

Ironically, that's what disappointed me the most. This wasn't a script problem. The ideas were all there. The fantasy element works, the relationship between the leads is sweet, and the music naturally connects the different stages of their story. Even the production remains beautiful from beginning to end, something I've come to expect from Chiang Ping Chen's work. Considering he previously directed series such as Be Loved in House: I Do, Plus & Minus, See Your Love and Secret Lover, I honestly expected the emotional pacing to be much stronger.

Final Thought

Smile After Tears isn't a bad BL. In fact, I actually liked it. It has a touching premise, a lovable cast, beautiful cinematography and several genuinely heartfelt moments. But when a story is built around love, loss and learning to smile again, the audience needs time to grieve alongside the characters. Unfortunately, the series never allowed me to stay in those emotions long enough. Instead of making me cry with its characters, it simply showed me that they were sad before quickly asking me to move on. That's why, despite enjoying the story overall, I never connected with it as deeply as I hoped I would.

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WTH

That was clearly not for me. Wth was that?!

I tried even after seeing the bad reviews and that was the worst decision of my week. I literally lost a day and that’s a lot during vacation. First that was so easy and then BOOM. I was not ready for this shit.

I mean the storyline is good and honestly I would love to watch this but dying on the 7th episode????? I’m already in love with him why would you do that??? I liked the other one at first but then I loved the brunette guy. 😔😔

Not for me at all but honestly not for anyone who easily cry because I’m still crying and probably will during a few days. If you like plot twist and a character who doesn’t cry when his partner die before his eyes then it’s for you. 💗🎀

that was all love you guys mwah

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Meh.

I found this interesting at first, but I don't know... it just wasn't my cup of tea.

For me, the story left me asking, "Why?" Was it meant to be about healing? Moving on? I'm honestly not sure what the drama was trying to convey. One of the male leads' acting also didn't quite work for me. It felt a bit stiff, so I had a hard time connecting with the character.

As the story went on, it felt like there was one plot twist after another, and I personally found a lot of them unnecessary. Again, I kept asking myself, "Why?" Why did he have to die in a car accident? Why spend so much time developing the other ship when they were never meant to end up together? And what was the purpose of that final goodbye from the one who had already passed away? Maybe I just didn't fully understand what the writers were going for.

OMG, this review sounds so harsh. 😂 Please don't come for me. This is just how the series personally landed for me, and I can completely understand why others might love it. It simply wasn't for me, and that's okay. We all have different tastes, and unfortunately, this one just didn't click with me.

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Smile with Caution!

Fatal error was presenting one relationship, while intending to finish with another. Investing over half of the series on the past relationship and not enough time on the new.

Premise would have worked had we not seen him meet and fall in the old, while the new was present, plus a lukewarm connection.

Many of our fellow audience lamented the acting which I forgave as this was still new for much of the cast and it seemed they were doing this to promote their idol careers. Whether it worked remains to be seen.

Anyway, it ended. Watch at own risk!

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A story about moving on which failed in leaving impact....

This story revolves around Chia yi and He mainly. One after seeing first few ep will think that this is supposed to be a love story but it's completely different. This story from the start was focusing on moving on and letting go.

Chia yi who has already lost his parents and his uncle was on the surface very much happy person but deep inside a part of his soul still fears of that black day. He is still learning to survive loss. He despite being the carefree and a person who is working in lot of part time jobs just to bring more money to his house to support his own aunt who is also dealing with loss and the responsibility of handling chia yi alone were both tired and never fully healed from what really happened. And when he finally found someone who promised that he will never let him go and will find him in crowd, he again lost Yen Kai to the accident in front of him. He was always dealing with the loss and still moving on with the life. His coping mechanisms that "death is more painful than missing" was always challenged when he clearly has to live on with missing a person whom he truly loved.

Then we have Yen Kai who had brain tumor and has always ques his right to love as his time is limited. He always was seeking a love which he always find beside him but he never got the same from his parents as his father was always out of town due to work and his mother don't give him the love in the form he wants. So when he found chia yi he made sure he keep him beside him. But his journey to love was never about getting a person and more about learning to let go. He learned how even after loosing his cat who was his light he can still keep Galu's memory and yet bid bye. Then when he died he was always wanting to come back just to tell Chia yi that he taught him love and his love has given him his happiest moment of life. That closure was necessary for both chia yi and yen kai to resolve unsaid feelings and finally let go of each other as his father has taught him " love is not about tie down ur loved one but to be a person one can always return to"( here happiest version of themselves).

Then we have Diao chin, a person who has loved chia yi since childhood. But he instead of pursuing has always waited for chia yi, he despite seeing chia yi falling in love with Yen Kai never got jealous when he himself was dealing with loneliness, he has always supported and has taken care of Chia Yi when he was grieving a loss and was helping him in journey of moving on to become a person Chia yi can always come back to. His love was always waiting and letting go of Chia Yi for his betterment.

Despite having good plot and character depth, the story lacks in delivering emotional impact this series has promised of. Part of this goes to the confusing storytelling.The drama spent almost half its runtime making viewers emotionally invest in Chia Yi and Yen Kai.Then it expected viewers to accept Chia Yi's healing journey within a comparatively short span.That imbalance made the emotional transition feel rushed. Plus even in that the execution of storytelling and acting haven't done in a way so as to make one feel it's max impact. For eg- Chia yi was having hard time dealing with the acceptance of truth that Yen Kai is dead and then when Yen Kai's cousin and his father disclosed what Yen Kai felt towards him and then when he was walking on the same road where accident happened he was having panick attack. That was such emotional scene but it didn't move me as much as expecting. Maybe it was acting. Most of the time I felt I was crying because story was heavy and not because I was feeling the drama.
Major fault of this drama lies in the fact that script and screenwriter has invested 70percent of the story in telling about his first love then rest 30 percent with healing and starting new love story.This led to viewers attached to first love interest more and hard time in accepting new relationship dynamics. When they could have chose another route of investing 30 percent in Yen Kai's arc and then rest 70 percent in healing and selling new love story and that could still serve the synopsis and more acceptance towards Diao chin.

What I appreciate most is that despite all storytelling imbalances and acting miss the drama never abandoned its central theme of grief, acceptance, and letting go. It remained consistent with what it wanted to tell

Another highlight of this drama is the title itself "Smile after tears". Here smile is not the romantic smile. But instead the smile that comes with the acceptance after the tears and grief of loosing ur beloved. The story is not about finding love and happiness but acknowledgement that whole loss can't be undone we can always carry that person memory and without replacing them, we can still continue living our lives.It's a story that while crossing same path and when someone says same dialogue which one has told u, it's ok to miss and cry for them. It's ok to once again open ur heart to another love it doesn't mean u are removing ur first love or lost love but it's accepting that both present and future love can co exist in one's heart despite moving on. Afterall moving on is not about forgetting.It's ok to acknowledge that they were once and forever will be beautiful part of ur life while u move forward.

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Awful plotline and the development of it is worse

I understand the synopsis, but it's illogical to try and sell me a love story between the characters we think are the protagonists, only for one of them to die in the most unexpected way possible, and then reveal that the real love interest was always the protagonist's childhood friend. If they wanted it to be a reunion story, they could have easily done so. There was no need to saddle us with a romantic subplot that went nowhere, and then, more than halfway through the series, try to replace one of the main characters. Ultimately, it's one of the worst BL plots I've ever seen.

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More than once, I've found myself fighting back tears.

Sometimes we write an early review based solely on our first impressions, only to realize later how wrong we were. That's exactly what happened to me with Smile After Tears.

At first, I thought the acting was stiff and emotionally restrained. I couldn't see how the performances fit the story the drama was trying to tell. Looking back now, I realize I was too quick to judge. The actors aren't perfect, but they bring an honesty and vulnerability that gradually found their way into my heart.

This isn't a flawless drama, nor does it try to be. Its greatest strength lies elsewhere. It tells its story with a quiet originality that is both heartbreaking and deeply compelling. It gently reminds us that life isn't always fair or beautiful, but it can still be meaningful. It portrays pain through a mature lens, while never losing sight of hope, resilience, and the courage to keep moving forward.

The soundtrack deserves special praise. It's hauntingly beautiful, and every time it plays, it leaves a lump in my throat. More than once, I've found myself fighting back tears.

So, I'm here to take back my first impression.

If you're willing to look beyond perfection and allow the story to unfold at its own pace, Smile After Tears is a drama well worth watching. It surprised me, humbled me, and ultimately moved me far more than I ever expected. I genuinely hope it touches your heart as deeply as it touched mine.

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A Simple and Heartwarming Youth BL with a disappointing plot

This is another high school music romance, but with a three-way love story that initially keeps things interesting. The series stays simple and light without trying too hard to be overly dramatic. All three main actors are young and fit their characters well. Jun Jia's love at first sight for Yan Kai was especially cute to watch, and their interactions had a soft charm that made the early episodes enjoyable.

One of the strongest aspects of the series is its music. The performances feel natural because the actors can actually sing and play instruments, making the band scenes far more believable. The soundtrack and music videos also add an emotional layer that helps elevate several moments.

The acting, however, could have been stronger. Some scenes feel awkward, and the dialogue can come across as stiff or predictable. The story itself is also very straightforward, offering few surprises for viewers looking for something more emotionally engaging.

Unfortunately, my opinion continued to decline as the series went on. Half of Episode 7 was filled with flashbacks, and I never understood why a 25-minute episode needed so many. Rather than building momentum, the pacing slowed to a crawl, and from that point onward the story struggled to recover. Too many scenes felt repetitive or dragged out instead of developing the characters or relationships in meaningful ways.

By the end, I was mostly watching out of curiosity rather than excitement. There haven't been many Taiwanese BLs this year, which made this one even more disappointing because I had genuinely been looking forward to it. It had a likable cast, good chemistry, and a strong musical foundation, but it never fully capitalized on those strengths.

The love triangle had potential, but the writing wasn't strong enough to make the emotional conflicts feel compelling. The romance lacked the impact I was hoping for, and the overall story remained fairly safe and predictable until the end.

This isn't a bad series, and there are certainly enjoyable moments throughout, especially if you're looking for something light with good music and an attractive cast. But for me, it never reached the level its premise suggested it could.

Despite its promising start, it became increasingly frustrating as the weeks went on, and I finished feeling more disappointed than satisfied.

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