Over the top but still shallow...
I'm not a fan of the japanese original, because over-the-top comedy is always just cringy for me.But while the japanese version was a bit over-the-top it also had some real emotions in it.
In this, I feel it's just polished but steril. There is never a point where there are real emotional connections.
They tried very hard to make it a good show, but they failed in the emotional departmant. All three characters were annoying as hell, one just stupid, the other a tsundere and the Boss is just creepy and overbearing.
So as always, I'm not a fan of thai remakes, because while polished in production the lack in the story and the characters. They also "dumbed down" this series. Did they do so to make it more appealing for the masses? I don't know.
Overall it's a medicore show with no real heights, with a stupid plot twist in the end and the finale was more of the category "WTF is happening"... at least the OST is nice in a funny way, going full India style 🤣. So if you have nothing other to do, there is some entertainment in this, but you won't miss out if you skip it.
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Cringe fest...
I have not much to say, but hell was that cringe as fuck...If the story would only contain mom, the two couples, then it could have been a decent show... But all the support cast are 100% cringe material. So when we see only the MLs or the side couple there are some nice scenes, but overall it's not good. No clue what the screenwriters and director smoked but it was too much for my taste. As lovely as the actors are this show is sadly far from good.
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Not as bad as some reviews make you believe...
After two years I watched the series again to review my initial rating and it's better than I had in my recollection.First of all the master question: Are they all in a toxic relationship. The answer is no. It's not a toxic relationsship for both couples. In the beginning it's controlling and harsh but not toxic. You may feel that way, but they are not constantly fighting, there is no abuse besides some harsh words in the beginning. The big problem for them is communication and insecurity. All of them are insecure of themselves.
While they dragged the story out a bit and they resolve their issues close to the end, this story is better than most crap we get nowadays. The story has a logic to itself, it goes not out of bounds with silly things which would not fit, and even the ads are not that much in the face as nowadays. Yes they do a lot of fan-service but in a sensual way and not just for doing it, it fit's in the narrative. They also did not overdo the comedy bits, so the series has a good flow. I only feel sad, that the third couple did not get enough screen-time. Many say there was no character development, but I would disagree. The conclusion of the show is to be yourself, to not hide yourself from yourself or others and they just accomplished it. It's a very positive note for me.
The story itself is not stellar, but again compared what we get in 2024 especially from Thailand, the production quality is stellar, the music is great, Nunew's singing is exceptional. All in all an entertaining show, which does not try to give you only good vibes. I was surprised, that I find this show now much better compared when it released, but that's ok for me :)
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Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! Special Episode
16 people found this review helpful
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When I thought it could not be worse...
I watched the opening scene and I thought "Did I click the wrong series or is 'Flirt Milk' haunting me?" Oh, would I have wished 'Flirt Milk' would haunt me...While the series itself had not a good story and shallow and one-dimensional characters they proved themselves that they can do it even worse. After 25 minutes watching I got so tired I needed a nap of 3hrs because it was so boring. Yes I could speed up the playback but then I have to read the subs twice as fast and most subs are on screen for a too short of time anyways... and of course there was a tiny bit of hope the story would get better... I will not get into the many misspelling and grammar problems the subtitles had...
Again the story is from a $1 trash-novel only for braindead fangirls. There is only one scene I remember where they acted cute but overall I had no connection to the cast whatsoever. Also the 3rd couple - there was no development - I thought at least here we have a chance for a nice NC scene and butterflies - but no. Nothing. And the action scenes were done so dilettantish. Did nobody tell them that power will not conduct through clothing? When I watch "Study Group" I see another universe on how action should be done...
And then Joker "dies" ... OMG ... But the show must go on and there is a wedding to be done! WTF? They replaced him with an ugly standee - this is so cringe, I can't even explain how much...
But there is hope, there is an after credit scene hinting a 2nd season of "this" - whatever "this" should be... more trash for braindead fangirls?
So, to not misunderstand me: I watch the youtube channels of War and Yin and they are lovely persons imho, but - this show is bad and this special episode was trash.
You should have skipped the series, but even more, you should have skipped this special episode, because it got from bad to worse. But of course the fangirls will again tell you how they cried and how this show is soooo good. Sorry, I don't get it. A bad show is just a bad show.
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more a soft porn than a drama
So this is a typical sexual explicit manga done in a movie...That's how some woman fantasize about guy relationships.
The ingredients are, a straight porn actor turning gay, a close-in person who has a trauma after the death of his mother, because his Dad told him he was gay, but loved his mother and he is the fruit of their love. And of course that dad has a younger partner. 🤣
The dynamics between the dad and his partner was the most interesting part of the movie. I could have lived without most of the explicit scenes except those story relevant. This is a low budget production, so there are only six people in this movie. So for example the bar feels very steril because most of the time it's empty, except when a makeup artist for Towa goes there.
The story is simple and of course pure fantasy. There is no drama except when the jelaousy kicks in, they break up, but of course the get together again because... fantasy. It does not really makev sense that Towa disappears for some time and reappears later one, especially because they never talked about their feelings and Takato never mentions that he does not like Towa working as a porn actor. It was an afterthought in the end of the movie but it felt shallow.
If you like such movies/series good for you, but for me, it was a waste of time. Half the time it's NC scenes and the other half is ok-ish. I'm more or less offended because such is not gay life and it should not be depicted like this. Bad enough that most mangas are like this, but it sells. It also shows the double standard in japanese society, it's ok to love yaoi manga, but the son should never turn gay. They did not even try to improve the manga by giving the characters and the story much more depth which could have been done and many series still do. So for me, it's a disappointing movie without substance.
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For the fangirls...
I suppose it's for the fangirls otherwise nothing earthshattering happened... Yes you can love one another even if you have confronting personalities... and every couple is different. Nothing anyone needs to get told by any episode, as this should be obvious.So, it was an ok watch. It had it's moments and some of them were very silly, but still enjoyable for the most part. It does not add to the story and the side couples are for the most time just an extra with not much to do. I would say you could skip this and would not miss a thing, on the other hand it's not really bad. The best advice I can give is deceide for yourself 🤣.
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from very sad to very happy and eveything inbetween
After Mizukis death everyone is struggling to come to grips with reality. Her parents are devasted, her not be boyfriend is and of course her daughter Umi is. For Natsu her ex, his world changes daramatically after he learns he has a daughter and his struggles just begin. His GF also struggles with a decision she felt she should not have made, but she is also the reason Umi exists, even when both of them never knew each other. While the do not force each other to be a "happy" family they bond through Umi in another way.This show is an exceptional series depicting the feelings of all persons involved. I would call it a tear-dropper. We get everything from the happy moments to the sadest moments and everything inbetween. The only thing we don't get is a conventional happy familiy, which is not a bad choice at all. In the end all of them support each other having bonded through Umi which is a very happy end indeed.
I can only recommand this show. If you are sensitive you may watch this kind of drama with friends and/or family because it could wear you down. The only thing I don't understand is, why Umi-chan is not a main lead because acting in such heavy stuff must be vey challenging for a seven year old girl. Besides her the cast was exceptional, the cinematography top notch and everything was executed to perfection.
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Mostly boring and bland with stunning pictures...
As usual that was a top notch GMMTV production with very pretty pictures and overall exceptionell production quality. But as usual for GMMTV it was a very bland and partly boring show. It does cater to the fangirls but I could not care less. Also as usual the side-couple was more fun :)This thing with french speaking was also a sore irk because they are all not "David Asavanond" (playing Ratis adoptive father) who has a french background and you can't expect someone to learn to speak fluently in three months or so. While they really tried, it breaks the illusion.
The most boring part was the finale... man that was a chore to watch through. So yes, this was a fantasy BL but I did not feel for the characters at all. AomBoom were the comic relief I expected and which made the series more enjoyable. The badies, (Thee's) grandma and (Dech's) father were very two dimensional. There was not much character growth and overall GMMTV had not the balls to make a BL with a bad ending. So they all live happily ever after or so. Besides pretty pictures the show has nothing going for them, so it's an average show in the end.
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It ends with a cliffhanger....
As always I'm too late with the review, because I thought there will come more episodes.... there will be a "season 2" but now they stoppend in the middle of it.The positive first: While most thai shows have a trash, meaningless story, they at least tried to make it a simple, but an good one. The actors also did their best. The only downside is the lack of enviroment with missing extras in the background with no noises in the background and mostly small sets. Of course, this is a low low budget effort, but done right in the most places.
Overall it was quite entertaining and I hope the "2nd season" will be completed soon and you can binge watch all of it!
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My Stepbrother Is My Favourite Novelist!?
10 people found this review helpful
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just a cute little story...
While Korea is flooding us with short mini-series, that's one of the few shorts from Japan. While nothing earthstattering, it was done quite well. Both actors seem a bit rough around the edges but they really tried hard. As it's often the case with JBLs, there is not a real kiss in it, which is a shame.The subtitles are also nothing to write home, were the timing was off or some sentences are not translated completely, but everyone should get the gist of what is said. The only fault is that phone-screens were not translated at all.
With a playtime of roughly 39 minutes it was entertaining and I think we should support such independent small productions. You can watch this series on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rDr99DNMhw&list=PLmz1FNoG1zYHVHiX7zTnjlixJi5YmDE4R&index=4
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Love Is Better the Second Time Around
11 people found this review helpful
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I was disappointed with this japanese BL
While the first episode did hype me up, it does go down till the finale.I would have know more about their past, I would have skipped the assistants love interest and I would concentrated more on charater growing because this series was so short and had too much unnecessary stuff in it, it does not explain Miyatas change very well. The chemistry between the grown up leads was medicore at best, the "young" ones had a more believable chemistry imho. Senpai did well, but Miyata lacked a lot. Also the kissing and "hot scenes" were not that believable for me.
While production value was good, the story and it's execution lacked too much for me, which makes me disappointing in this japanse BL. It's not bad, but it could have been so much more.
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The most incapable police officers ever!
OMG... why did GMMTV decide to put this pile of crap on Netflix? If they wanted to promote BLs, this was the wrong series to do it. This series was also the wrong series for the actors. Would they be 15 years older, than their ranks would make sense, but so, it was completely unbelievable. While we all wish the actors do stuff besides school or university GMMTV does not comprehend that certain roles requires an certain age. What's even worse, they had considerable audio problems through many episodes where they (the production team) failed to check that the recording would be fine. For GMMTV this is inexcusable. It's not an independet low budget production where technical shortcomings can be overlooked, but not when they put it on Netflix.The story itself is also boring as fuck, there is not even a real romance evolving, just one guy pushing the other and it just "happens"... no finesse, no real heartbeating moments... For a BL this was very disappointing. I don't have to talk about how incapable they both are as police officers, going first to eat and then go the location - while at said location someone dies... OMG.
Everyone rating this show high should take off their pink glasses and really question what they are rating. This shows has no heights at all. Yes, to watch JoongDunk is nice, but there are tons of tiktok/shorts seeing them together and that is WAY better than watching this. I did not expect much from GMMTV but even then it was a great disappointment and a waste of my time. I know the fanarmy will bash me and say I should not watch it if I don't like it, but the point is I watch it to write reviews for people who don't have the time to watch a lot and to tell them not to waste their time. There are ton more series even from GMMTV which are way better than this crap.
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A fluffy story with fatal flaws...
This is a fantasy BL every K-Pop fan was waiting for. A K-Pop idol meets one of his die-hard fans and so the story begins. Too bad there was no focus on the music too and what we got was not that impressive. The series failed to make this a deep story about the struggles about idols. So we get a superficial story about idols but quite a nice romance. And when we think all will end well, we got the drama of our idol being a jerk. If it was me, I think I would not stayed that calm. This part of the story was ill adviced imho. They could have removed it and put more energy (and writing) in the second couple, because we got nearly nothing from their past and it would be much more interesting if they have explored that part. They chat in the finale and we do not see how the reconciled either - WTF? Another irk for me is that this is just about the idol without his other group-members. Where were they? Why is there no interaction with them. That felt completely unrealistic.So overall, I'm a bit disappointed. I have no complains about the acting or chemistry or the production quality at all. I feel like the story is too flat. Using soundeffects does not make scenes more funnier as we all know. Of course they should have invested also more in the music to create an OST which could be remembered.
It's not a bad drama but it's not a stellar one either. It has more good sides than bad, so there is no reason not to watch it, especially if you are into the fluffy stuff.
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Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan Special Episode
19 people found this review helpful
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OMG was that bad and unnecessary
While the series was bad, this was even worse.It added nothing to the story, except to have two leads of the original thai "Love in the Air" in it.
But the story was just a fever dream and cringe af. They did try to take a book from the thai adaptation to give us fan-service, but it failed. The leads don't have much chemistry. I was just thinking the whole time "WTF?".
There is not much to say, besides, it was trash and a waste of money (to film) and a waste of my time.
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Unrealistic imho...
When you are seven years together, I don't get it, that you have not learned to communicate with each other yet. I did not feel really engaged with the story because for me it was unbelievable. I just don't get it, that they had the problem not much much earlier in their relationsship... Imho when you do not communicate your grievances a relationsship is not a relationsship, it's living parallel to each other not with each other.I can't fault the actors and even the production quality is decent for such a low budget show. It's ok to binge-watch this and maybe you get more out of it, but for me it was just average, not really bad, but the story made not much sense for me.
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