KAO AND JANE CARRIED THIS WHOLE THING
This review is centered on the two lead actresses, Kao and Jane, because honestly, they deserve every bit of praise they’re getting.Before I go into that, I need to acknowledge the production team. The cinematography, the color grading, the soundtrack, the way each scene is framed, everything comes together so cleanly that the show instantly feels comforting. The sound design is subtle in all the right places, and even the transitions have this softness that fits the tone perfectly. You can tell the crew cared about creating a warm, real world, and they absolutely deserve their flowers for that.
But even with all of that, I can still confidently say that Kao and Jane carried this entire show. Not because the other elements weren’t strong, but because these two elevated everything far beyond what the script alone offered.
There’s something special about Love Design that I didn’t expect. I’m usually an angst lover, the type who looks for emotional damage in every story I consume lmao. So imagine my shock when Love Design, a series with minimal angst, ended up being one of my favorites.
What makes it stand out for me is how it portrays love with this quiet tenderness. It’s not dramatic or chaotic; it’s gentle. It shows how falling in love isn’t always a rush, and sometimes it grows from the small, ordinary moments. Talking, working, sharing mundane parts of your day, and realizing those simple things are enough to pull you in. The show captures that reality beautifully. Love doesn’t have to be loud to be real, especially when you’re balancing adulthood, responsibilities, your past shit, and everything else life throws at you. And this message only lands because Kao and Jane bring it to life. Their chemistry is unreal. They turn a simple “slowly falling in love” storyline into something layered and surprisingly emotional. They carry scenes with micro-expressions alone. I swear, the glances, the pauses, the slight changes in breath, the softness in their voices, you can feel everything in the way they look at each other. There were moments where they weren’t even speaking, yet the entire emotional weight of the scene sat right there between their eyes. They make the quiet scenes loud. They make the simple moments feel intense.
There’s a sincerity in the way Love Design tells its story that’s hard to find and there’s no version of this show that would work the same without Kao and Jane at the center of it.
This is exactly why, if there’s any GL series I’d recommend to every GL fan, even just once, it would be this one. This is also the GL I’d recommend to someone who’s never watched the genre before. Not because it’s perfect or groundbreaking, but because it captures the heart of what GL can be when it’s made with real care: soft, intentional, and honest in the way it tells a story about love.
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