
p43425:
I'm quite keen on all of them except "Zomvivor" (genre is just not my thing).
Yeah, it's a bit surprising to see Cooheart in a Mandee, given all the new DMD in-house artists they need to employ - but strictly speaking Mandee and DMD are distinct, and it makes sense for a pure production company to use whoever is best for the role. Since "My Only 12%" I've grown to quite like him, so I'm happy about it.
After some recent disappointments, I was so happy that Mandee got it right with "Your Sky". Fingers crossed that they can maintain the standard.
So ... I re-watched the eight new Mandee official pilots, i.e. all except the "Zomvivor" official teaser, which I can't bear to watch because I can't stand the genre. (Please forgive me, my dearly beloved Tutor & Yim and all the rest of the great cast.)
I'm not sure what to think of "Restart", so I'll withhold comment for now.
I'm really looking forward to "Love Upon A Time", but I will put this into the same category as "Khemjira" and "Next Prince", i.e. it's interesting to see the new casting in this new pilot, but we've been waiting for this series for a very long time, so it's not new. I think the first teaser was about two years ago?
On the subject of long delays from Mandee, I'd rather wait for something really good than be disappointed - but unfortunately, Mandee's past track record (notably "Middleman's Love") has shown that these two are not mutually exclusive. Fingers crossed that Mandee doesn't disappoint on "Love Upon A Time", "Khemjira", "Next Prince" or any of the newer projects that haven't gotten stuck (yet).
So that leaves six new titles (in rough order of my excitement level):
“Magic Lover”: Three great pairings. Absolutely dripping with adorable fluffy cuteness. (@RXinw: Fine, be that way - it leaves more sugar-sweet fluffy cuteness for those of us who truly appreciate it.)
“Mr. Fanboy”: I adore Auau & Save and am so excited about seeing them lead. Interested and curious about James's acting comeback. (I shall politely withhold comment on his musical foray. *cough*) I totally love Jur (and Newyear) from "Addicted Heroin" and "Hit Bite Love" - I wonder if they're being recruited by Domundi? It'll be interesting to see how Patji and Ryujin (both just 18yo) develop and what happens with them in the next round of Domundi pairings.
“Duang With You”: I'll put this third because I'm likewise excited about seeing what Por and TeeTee can do in lead roles - especially TeeTee, who's matured so well since last year. They look really good together, and I like the ambiguity about whose name is first (i.e. top), which I think might provide some interesting and amusing new BL material. (It reminds me of the funny ending of "My School President", but they didn't really take it further.)
“You(r)Tuber”: Excited to see FirstOne & Tle in their first long-form series. Interesting (and positive in the sense of breaking out of the studio incest mentality) that Mandee has brought in two outside actors (Earth Cooheart and First Piyangkul, i.e. Wela from “Deep Night").
“Hug E-Lhee The Musical”: I'm not really big on musicals, but Nunew is always fascinating, and Zee/Nunew have a strong track record. Pilot looks reasonably good.
“Your Third”: Max & Nat, in contrast, don't have a good track record, but I'll be open-minded and give it a shot. The trailer looks alright, albeit pretty much the usual Max/Nat roles. Fingers crossed.
So in short, I'll definitely watch the first four of these plus "Love Upon A Time", "Khemjira" and "Next Prince", and probably also the last two. Not yet sure about "Restart", but in its favour: my dearly beloved Tutor & Yim.
And on that subject (but not Mandee): I hope "First Love Manual" comes out soon and that it's not a disappointment, as Thai-Korean BLs have been known to be (*cough* "Love Is Like A Cat" *cough*).