Eliot_Rulez

A weak manga improved but it could not reach "the proper way"

The story starts as revenge story, but even half way through the series we all know it's not about revenge anymore. It's about the struggles and misunderstandings of Hiro who has to come to terms of his feelings. It's more a coming of age story then anything else. In contrast Natsou always was clear in his feelings but he did most things wrong to the person he already loved in school. Not only by peer pressure but he could not express his feelings at all.

The original manga was just a side story and a very short one at that. It did not really explain a lot or had a big scope to go on. So this series struggles a bit to fill in the gaps. It seems that Hiros only changed his appearance to be another person, but he also changed to be more outgoing and to be able to talk to people. That's why I think he choose to be a hairstylist/hairdresser because he has to interact with people. He emanates confidence in his job but he is still struggeling outside of it.

While we got two episodes per week for 1 through 6, we had to wait a week for the finale. At least the finale did boost this show in the end and the NC scene was more than unexpected from a JBL. No dead fish kisses was refreshing after some shows lately, which failed to go "the extra mile". A special bonus for me is that the height difference and characters impressions were reversed for the top/bottom expectation. That was a nice touch.

Production was well done, acting was very good even when I thought Natsou looked a bit old compared to his partner even when they are the same age in real life (The story plays out 4 years after graduation, so they should be around 22). Or the other way around, Hiro was the more believeable character in looks and acting. The story struggeled a bit doing a good job, because Natsou seems a bit too dumb not to catch on early and also the pacing is sometimes choppy in some episodes. The struggles for Hiro were very well expressed. Overall an enjoyable show which did not do the stereotypical BL things and even when you could count it as "enemies to lovers" tropé. It tried very hard not to go in any clichés. For me it feels more realistic compared to other shows and that's why it's worth a watch.

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Cuteness overload...

How to begin this review? I'm a bit overwhelmed with positives and negatives of this show. First of all, The workshop/rehearsals they all did payed off very well. But I still don't like the representation of Japans society. The first irk was the question of the girl on the end of episode 2 "By the way, why are you so protective of Hioki?" - no-one in Japan would ask the question, if they are not really, really close or family. This does not happen. And then we have Morisaki brother. First the prank in the car was really of very bad taste and would have earned him a beating in my book. But then pushing Watarai would also never ever happen. The four friends only spoke for about four months at that time, which means Watarai may have seen Morisakis brother but does not have any connection to him whatsoever. This is the typical fantasy land most BLs are in and we could have done without that.

One the other hand, this couple is one of the cutest we ever have to get to know. Hiokis actor protrayed his character to perfection. I only wish his scream was much much much longer. 🤣Yes he is shy, but on the other hand he is direct, asks what's on his mind and is not wishywashy at all which was very refreshing. Watarai's actor plays the cool one, but he is shy himself but covers it up most of the time. Both characters grow with each other and in the finale Hioki is the leading man. Perfect!

Production quality was also top notch! Cinematography, costumes, editing and the audio were all perfect as well. So this was very enjoyable and cute and of course I have to recommand that show. Also we get the treat of two special episodes airing consecutively next week and the week after. And both of them on a spring break trip is something I look forward. 🤣

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No bullshit BL but wholesome...

While I did not expect much from this series, it was very refreshing. It's many stories about many bizarre people which will grow on you the further you watch this series. They all have their quirks but most of them are just good people regardless.

The center pieces are a soon to be gay couple and a girl which is neglected by her parents for different reasons. The stories tell about the life of the people, all the struggles they face and how they grow together. The gay romance is not the focus of the stories, it just happens naturally without much fanfare and I would have wished for a bit more focus there and some intimacy.

But overall that was fun to watch, educational to watch and a series needed for Japans society. This is of course on my "must watch" list, even when the beginning seems to be very comedic, the stories have depth and meaning and will warm your heart. This is a series for the whole family.

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very well done production leaving the standard storyarcs of BL...

We all know the tropé of love as a teenager which will come to fruition may years later on. But in this series, they have done it in a mature dramafree way. The story progresses naturally and you may need to watch it twice to get all of it, but this was a very needed change of pace to normal series. I would consider this more a gay story than a BL, it feels more real then most.

The acting and chemistry was great, you can always feel some tension between them and even it feels like a slow pacing show, it's quite fast considering 3 episodes around 8 minutes and the finale with around 14 minutes. Production quality was also much better than any shows before even when I doubt they had a big budget. They just made the most of it. Yes there are some lapses with unlit monitors and cuts/countercuts not fitting exactly, but it does not take away from the storytelling.

So for me this is a little marvel outside of the normal bounds a "BL" has. It's a slowly, meticulously told story without any drama at all, it's mellow and relaxing and everything makes sense and they do not have a kiss just to cater to the fanbase. I recommand to watch this!

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Strong beginning, flat over most the time and ridicilous story...

First let me say, I liked the second season more than the first season, even if the story did sometimes not make sense. Most of the actors improved a lot and especially the newcomer "Milk" was really great in his role.

The story arc of "Alan" was a bit of a WTF moment. And the biggest minus was the pacing. There was a lot of lost time with incosequential story but not enough focus on the other couples. NorthSonic should have started much much earlier and KimKenta should have much more dialogue and not just some kisses in the finale.

So was it bad? Not really. I don't really like the script, but I like most of the acting. While "Pooh" is a nice "boy", he will never be a great actor as sofar I see it. The rest of the cast were good or even very good. Alan felt not like Alan because of his story. Don't know what the script-writers thought, but it does not work for me. The races were as lame as in the first season - I have more fun watching Formula 1. But of course the finale left some things to be desired. It was all rushed in the last two episodes and before it was partly boring and the characters "run in circles" and nothing really happenend. While Charlie is nearly dead he wakes up some time later, but we don't know when, because they cut that out completely. It's one year later and because he drives he remembers every thing... OMG, what a cliché and a point of lazy writing! And they get paid for this!

I'm not a fan of the Omegaverse and to call themselves Mama and Papa still feels cringe - and why did Mama not get pregnant, they could do that too!. The script was the mess I expected it to be (because I never had much hope for that), but overall it was an ok series compared to every other crap series Thailand produced in the last two years. So it's not good, it's above average because of the acting and the cinematography, but it's not bad either even when the script is the worst part of this show.

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The biggest disappointment in BL history....

While this show was not only overhyped and we all expected greatness, the script of this show was worse than I could ever have imagined. As usual this series started strong in the first two episodes to declined at a steady pace *till episode 12, where the jumped of the cliff and landed on the belly.

Everyone reading the novel can agree, that the novel did not need to be spiced up with the SM part for example. If the book is already good, you should not change it into something it never was. The pacing is all over the place and the side couples are mostly just extras where their stories are wasted and not explored in depth. But we see scene after scene of the ML which did nothing for the story.

Episode 12 culminates in the trash script this was, with one cliché after the next. Nobody can fault the actors who all did a very good job with what there were given. And of course costumes, most of the staging and cinematography was impeccable, The music with an real orchestra was great - if they had used it everywhere and not used some music from a library which again was completely unnecessary. The few minutes in every episode could have been handled by the composer as well. Of course I could nitpick about the "english" natives and the "London underground station" and so on. And don't forget all the ads slapped directly into our faces. And don't forget the miraculous healing power of Chakri, who was serving again after being shot (which was not a stray shot in the arm or so).

All in all, this was overhyped and did not deliver. Aof said, he did the best he could. If that's the best, I don't see a future for Domundi. But of course the fangirls will overrate this show again, will not understand how weak that story was and that the drama was forced. And they will write glowing reviews (hello CRPH & thanks for blocking) not having a shroud of integrity to write about the flaws this show has. Normally this show would rate even lower, but I can't deny the acting performance (oh daddy Ramil you were the perfect asshole through out the series), the cinematography, costums and most of the staging and most of the music. But the script was trash. As I have written all of that - the conclusion is: This show is a waste of your time.

Oh, I forgot: The cut version should not exist, because they even cut STORY elements. Which makes no sense at all, especially in the first episode.

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Too short...

A typical low budget production, at least they improved. They added background noise to the bar, even when we can see it's not a bar. And there is always a flashback of the last episodes evem when the episodes are only 8 minutes long (under 7 for the finale).

This is an unagitated series, with a chance meeting of two man in a laundromat. But of course one of them is not just there for reading a book or doing laundry... It tells the story of a university graduate hunting for a job and his uncertainties and struggles. Hyung supports him with tips and with a new suit, because he won't wear it anytime soon. In the end there is a little bit of drama but of course there is a happy end.

What I don't like especially with this series is how short it is. While it tells the story well, it misses some depth. I would like have seen this with 30 minute episodes or a lot more episodes... because the acting was good and the script was good. Not exceptional, but compared all the crap we get served, it's a a change of pace and a change of stupid, senseless stories. So, if you don't know what to watch, binge watch this series on Youtube for around 29 minutes and have a nice experience.

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A highly polished production with only one flaw...

This was a pleasent surprise. While most GMMTV productions are the same old, same old this is different. I'm not a fan of the thai humor and the accompanying soundeffects, but it felt not that over compared to Ossan's Love (TH). The script was mostly good but with one flaw. I think PerthSanta was a late addition and they were just there for the fans and had not that much of an impact. Remember the first episode where PerthSanta had a fight, and Santa said to Perth "We speak later, wait at the car" - and of course that scene never came. So for me it feels like this couple was squeezed into the script without having a story to tell.

You see Pond had the time of his life acting his overdriven self and Phuwin is also a stronger character compared to all the other series they did together. Only the kissing scenes were not perfect most of the time, they really need a kissing coach. The addition of William and Est as side couple (but without a kiss yet, in maybe special episode?) was of course also to gain more momentum for the show from their fandom and a calculated strategy by GMMTV to give the fans more "food" till their next series. And of course Est delivered! The addition of the two childs also helped to give this series a more serious touch.

While the PerthSanta story arc was weak, the rest was well written and well executed. To have the GMMTV president appear in the finale was a bit too cheesy for me. Besides that, production quality was top notch and you see they had a big budget to promote their most profitable ships in the menagerie of ships.

The humor is mostly not my cup of tea, but this fairy tale was what "The Next Prince" should have been. A fairy tale which is interesting to watch, which is a bit bizarre and a bit over the top, a touch of seriousness and lots of fun!

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Another remake nobody needs...

What's with all the MAME (MeMind) remakes and do they even make sense? I really don't understand why they need to do a remake of every story. The BossNoeul pairing is imho the superior pairing to the japanese counterparts. While it's "only" the second outing for this japanese pairing, they still don't know how to kiss. Besides that the production quality comes nowhere close to the original. Many scenes feel lifeless, especially considering this is an university setting. It was a bit different with the "Love Sea" remake where the production quality was comparable and the compact format and some other changes made me enjoy the japanese version more. This series on the other hand is totally uncessary. The only highlight of this version is they changed the ridiclous end of the original, which makes the story in this aspect better, but on the other hand the compact format made some things a bit too compressed.

So, if you are into parallel worlds and other scifi/fantasy settings you should watch the original. This version is just there, just improving the end of the mom-story a bit, but not offer anything extra. The chemistry between the actors is marignal better compared to their previous work (Love in the Air Japan) but it's nearwhere close to the original pairing. Also the second couple gets less screentime and the younger looking one is the "Senpai" which makes no sense. Of course even the kissing and the nc-scenes are much better in the original, here it feels quite akward. Overall, you will not miss anything when you don't watch this.

Update: The special is the same as the original, so they passed up the chance to tell a different story which would have been much more interesting.

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More disappointing as expected and as overrated as expected

Cherry Magic (Thai) was bad enough, but it can get worse with this remake.
I don't get the forced comedy with it's stupid soundeffects and the over-acting. This series has the charm of a bulldozer. The most annoying thing was the overall childish acting in most scenes. There are only some scenes where you can think, this could have been a good show, but sadly it wasn't.

I don't need to compare to the japanese "original" verison, because on it's own merrit this show is not good, but fangirls are fangirls and they overrate as hell because of two actors they like. I also bet my review will be downrated, as it happened with Cherry Magic (Thai), but I could not care less.

Objectively this show is not good, the characters are mostly one-dimensional and childish. The actors had no script to work with which couldn't challenge them in their acting. Besides that, also the chemistry between the MLs was nothing to write home about. "My School President" had a good story, good acting, good chemistry and an grandious OST and all the other things a good BL should have. This series had only lot's of advertisments up your face (again). I don't get it, why they need to do that. Are the actors that expensive or are japanese rights much more expensive compared to thai novels? Even compared to Cherry Magic (Thai) the production quality was not top notch, so I guess it's just maximizing profits.

Other reviews will depict the show in more detail but I'm too lazy for that. It was a grand disappointment and I would wish the fangirls would objectively rate such shows, because as long it is upvoted that high, such crap will be produced again which is sad to the whole industry and unnecessarily lowers the quality of such shows. You should skip it and watch "Only Boo" instead which is not brilliant on the acting but makes up with cuteness and also a very good OST.

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Very strong start but loosing it in the second half...

This series started very strong with the vibes of "Cherry Magic" and "Old Fashion Cupcake". It was really cute to watch. In the second half the series lost it's way with the hardcore denial of Suzume to allow him to be happy. The team expanded the manga in a meaningful way and I liked the episode with the co-workers children and the overtime work (because of a mistake of one of the co-workers). But most of the other episodes streched out the story without more substance. It would have been so much better when Suzume & Keishi would have grown naturally into a relationsship without the "denial" of a relationsship. Maybe they liked to be true to this aspect of the manga but for me it felt excessive. Otherwise they made the whole "marketing department" much more realistic and believable compared to the manga.

While they denied us the kiss during the rain they at least did it properly in the finale which is a big plus compared to most other JBLs. The actors were choosen perfectly and I liked their version of Suzume much more. Keishi is more like the manga but more reserved. I don't think there was a problem with their chemistry. It was more mature and respectful. Suzume was acted (& directed) overly shy which irked me a bit, especially because this would not be his first relationsship, so this aspect did not make much sense for me. Considering his age, he should have handled that situation much more mature even when he acts childish in some aspects at his home.

After such a strong start it was a bit disappointing in the end. I wished they would have cut this series to the typical 8 episodes without the dragging out... but on the other hand the extra storylines added personality especially for Suzume and a realistic atmosphere. It has many cute and some fluffy moments and some moments where you might get angry. Production quality was top-notch and overall it was worth watching.

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Douglas Adams rotates in his grave....

The answer of this "BL" is not 42. For me it's a very generous 3 :)

First, the over-acting and the "cat" actors are neither cute nor good. It's just hardcore cringe. How someone can give this a 10 is beyond me... It has no substance, no develeopment AND most importantly there is no real romance involved. It's a Bromance and the real thing the main character loves is the food. The production itself is ok, but it's very low budget even for Thai standards. The best of this series are the BTS in the credits.

If I had not a migraine yesterday it can get you one... Overall, if you like BLs avoid it, it's not worth your time.

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GMMTV/Raiser Music outed themselves or so it seemed...

Wow, what a show, I thought in the beginning of this series... but as always with GMMTV the show gets gruadually worse... The positive of course is the chemistry between William & Est and also Nut surprised with good acting. The other memebers of the boyband are not at that level yet. A second positive we got was a very nice OST interpreted by the band. And the most positive: It was not an university setting again... boah is that overused nowadays.

The bad: GMMTV shows us how the entertainment industry work - and indirect how they work - the finale was especially lackluster with the "happy end". Of course this is a BL and the business woman is not that business after all which felt so insincere and unbelievable. We all know that idols and ships have slave-like contracts and such a series will of course change nothing. The break-up part (Pepper/Gam) was one plot to drive home that this industry is unforgiving and they will do everything to get their investment in their artists back.
After reading an other review, now I know in Thailand things are different especially with idols dating... so they just copied K-Pop style which is bad.

Overall for me: Strong beginning and weak ending. I give them cudos doing something different, but of course this is top notch marketing to present one of their boybands to the international fans and broaden their appeal and success which of course means more money for GMMTV. Because this is a BL, it's a fantasy and the finale would never play out this way in reality. If someone gets fired from one company it would be hard to get a contract with another company, because the companies talk to each other and there enough back-channels that they all know what had happened. So this leaves a bitter taste...

And because this review section is swamped with 10 reviews, I guess, I will get a lot of hate because I disagree. It could have been so much more but I have little faith in the big thai companies to deliver a good show from start to end, as usual I got disappointed. Believe what you want, but this show is very far from a 10 and my 7 (edit 6.5) is very generous because I admit that William & Est have a special charm.

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