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Thank God.
GMMTV actually did get it together nonetheless! They didn't have a SUUUPER rushed ending (granted they still picked up the pace), which is the problem with most GLs. They didn't confound the story with twenty other GL/BL couples! They got a good CP with EmiBonnie who acted very well, and sang AMAZINGLY. Finally, they didn't try to end the story w/ "ohh but this homophobic family member has been an ally for the entire series!!!"The chemistry doesn't feel entirely forced as it does sometimes in other GLs, where they're like "get together and hope it works out!" No exaggerated romance basically, and it didn't feel like "hey! hopefully we get straight guys to watch this!" (as i say, as a straight man). However, I do feel the drama could have done a bit better with conflicts and interrelationship conflicts between EmiBonnie. Couples fight, let's be real. So for a lot of the story you're left asking "oh is this the fork in the road that causes a major conflict?" Then it ends with Bonnie being extraordinarily forgiving, to a surprising degree. Green flag I guess(?)
If you're looking for a series that fit the book though, this REAALLLLY wasn't it. Besides keeping some aspects of the original characters from the novel, and the names of the characters; literally nothing else was from the novel. Which I congratulate GMMTV for, because whenever they try to take most of the novels and implement it into the drama, eventually something essential gets left out and most of the time we're left wanting more, or feeling disappointed at the end. They avoid the unnecessary fluff and drama that the novel takes up and simplify all the characters.
I will say towards the end, you definitely feel the pace of the series pick up, it goes from "ohh we're just flirting, and SLIGHTLY hinting we're interested in each other, and that take an ENTIREEEE episode." to "Oh, shit. Shit hits the fan!" My main criticism with 23.5 was that there were too many other CPs that had took up a bulk of the story from MilkLove, but I'd say with ViewMim, they could have had slightly more development than just View being a hopeless romantic haha, but I digress. I'd also like to say, THANK GOD the way they dealt with Khem. You know he's a terrible father, and person in general, and you REALLY hope that unlike most GLs, they won't wrap him up in a little bow and say "He's GREAT!" Nah. He gets divorced, his family is destroy b/c of his actions, and you're left feeling great that he's gone from Rak's life.
To conclude, so far, the best GL that GMMTV has produced, and I hope they produce some high quality ones in the future.
[9/10]
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GMMTV need to get it together.
Honestly, the story line is good. This is basically the coming-of-age sapphic story that a lot of westerners want, especially in our own media. However, I think the story got confounded with so many other stories with their own individual characters that it hard to follow and really invest our interests in the characters. Film and Milk are the main two characters in the series, but there's so many side characters with their own stories it makes it difficult to kind of follow what is happening. You could argue that half of the "supporting" characters were main characters in the story because of how much time they got on screen. Now I'm not complaining, I like that since it's early in the GL rabbit hole that GMMTV is following, they want to explore the possibilities of future CPs. However, in this one they make it sooo obvious that they're throwing crap at the walls and seeing what sticks with the viewers.Music? I don't remember any of them. I only pretty much remember the intro and that's it. So that's a 4 in my book. (Honestly, it should probably be lower since that's like the bare minimum).
Rewatch? I'd argue on a rainy day where I want a comfort GL, I could argue for it. Would I re-watch it? Yeah...? If maybe I've gone through the ones I liked the most.
[6/10]
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Decent start.
Honestly, they could have done a lot more with this than they actually did. The plot and general story is decent, but they kind of...(to very much so) fumble the story line about ep. 5 (imo) and afterwards. However, I won't really fault EngLot for that since this is their first GL series they acted in and they were still pretty fresh from knowing each other and actually meeting. Music is low only because I don't remember any of the music and it just seemed like filler music you'd get to fill the scene with drama/suspense wtvr. Would I rewatch it tho?Maybe? If I really have nothing else to watch, but I'd say given that this was based off their actual meeting (if you don't know what i'm talking about, refer to Prologue of Englot by Zubzone) they definitely could have done more. I am excited and hopeful for their next projects though, it seems like the chemistry has been building and it's been two years since this came out, so I know the other projects are definitely on the up.
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