S Korea is really stepping up their game with BL! I loved this so much. Spoilery review below.
=== THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ===
I was a little bit lukewarm at the start of this series, not feeling the characters, but that soon changed, and I think I've figured out why.
This series has, on the surface, a typical standard "prince and the pauper" storyline, with a rich celebrity versus an ordinary guy struggling to make ends meet. But that's not all it is. It's also about an extrovert and an introvert, and how their personalities clash. And it's also about how Seo Joon hides himself behind his arrogant, charming extrovert celebrity persona, and how Ji Woo hides behind his quiet introversion, using it as an emotional barrier against the charming and thoughtless extraverts of this world. Both of them have trust issues due to having experienced betrayals and insincerity -- as a celebrity, can you ever be sure if someone really likes you, or if they are perhaps just dazzled by your status, or even just using you to get something they want? And as an insecure introvert, how do you know if that extrovert charm really *means* something, or if you're just being played, and the other person will move on once they've got their conquest and get bored? So they both raise this façade against the world, one being the arrogant charmer, and the other the standoffish, cold, hard-to-impress guy.
Then these two are forced into close proximity due to external events, and they don't really get along, to say the least. Seo Joon's persona looks exactly like the kind of person Ji Woo dislikes and distrusts. But Ji Woo... is nothing like the people Seo Joon is used to dealing with. Ji Woo wants nothing from him. He has his own pride and integrity and resents the intrusion of Seo Joon into his orderly, predictable life.
And Seo Joon is fascinated.
It takes him some time to realise that his façade is doing him no favours with Ji Woo. The change is subtle, because he is still a famous, confident extrovert, used to getting what he wants, but now he really has to fight for it, even if he doesn't quite know what it is yet. But his earnestness is beginning to show through.
And Ji Woo is not unaffected. He may not show it outwardly, and he may look like he is doing everything very grudgingly, but bit by bit this is more of a front and less of a reality -- he is beginning to like Seo Joon, and maybe understand him, but he still doesn't trust Seo Joon, especially not with his feelings. And he still fears the public attention Seo Joon's presence in his life threatens to bring him. Still, when trouble does rear its head, it comes not from Seo Joon's world but his own, though caused by SJ's attentions to him. What does Ji Woo do? He refuses to involve Seo Joon at all. He tries to deal with it himself, even though it means distancing himself from Seo Joon, and even though he can't really afford to. Because Ji Woo is an honest person, and because he feels guilty that the problem came from his circle, and yes, because he cares about Seo Joon.
By the end of this short series I was fully invested in these characters, and I realised that the process of them slowly opening up to each other, discarding their barriers and façades, not only made them more likeable to each other, but also to me. The disinterest I felt at the beginning of the series echoed the disinterest they had for each other. The process was subtle and very well paced. The acting was on point. The comedy was understated but effective. And the romance was believable. Unlike other Korean BL series in this short form, To My Star didn't feel rushed or uneven -- some of the backstory and some plot points were glossed over and felt a bit incomplete (and therefore slightly hard to grasp for me), but the central relationship got the development it needed.
Also, this might be the first Korean BL where the physical interaction between the actors was believable. It was definitely a much needed step up from the "dead fish kiss" of previous K-BL dramas -- in fact, it was positively swoon-worthy.
The synopsis is off and doesn't do this drama justice.
I agree, it seems to be about a different drama than the one I just watched. To be honest, I thought what I watched was a lot better than the synopsis led me to believe.
https://youtu.be/oHW2zctRhPgFull new trailer!" Premiere on February 24, 2021 every Wednesday at 22:53 GMT+8 on…
It looks good! But there was nothing in the trailer about Nubsib being a wolf, like it says in the description here on MDL. From the trailer it seems like the conflict is going to be all about how Gene and Nubsib can't be together because he has to do fanservice with his co-actor. I really hope this isn't a case of someone having read the book and just gave the whole plot twist away in the blurb, which would be pretty shitty if that were the case. (And not the first time it happened here on MDL...)
Well, that was written in September last year, so they probably meant December 2020. Which obviously didn't happen. Last info I saw from the creators was a plan for early 2021, but I haven't seen any updates from them for a long time now.
https://kisskh.at/list/3rW7oZ94Most Promising Rookie Actors poll. Just for fun, I put Akaso's name there…
I wonder what the definition of "rookie" is? Because some of the people on the list have been acting for many years, and done lead roles before too. People like Hyunjun from Color Rush is definitely a rookie actor, but others have been acting for a decade...
Chii (@motivateanger) on Twitter posted this today: "Translation of an interview with #KeitaMachida about his new drama "Nishi-Ogikubo 3-Star Wine Bar" in the March issue of Gekkan EXILE, released today." https://twitter.com/motivateanger/status/1354382216793444358
Lots of quality issues with this one. Sound is awful, acting is not very good, pacing is off and the script is confusing -- characters act strangely and there are scenes that just seem random that take up a lot of time from the main plot.
I remember that Boyband Love had some of the same issues in the first couple of episodes but improved after that. Hopefully this will too, but I'm not very hopeful. And what is it with trans characters always being used for comic relief?
2 
I was a little bit lukewarm at the start of this series, not feeling the characters, but that soon changed, and I think I've figured out why.
This series has, on the surface, a typical standard "prince and the pauper" storyline, with a rich celebrity versus an ordinary guy struggling to make ends meet. But that's not all it is. It's also about an extrovert and an introvert, and how their personalities clash. And it's also about how Seo Joon hides himself behind his arrogant, charming extrovert celebrity persona, and how Ji Woo hides behind his quiet introversion, using it as an emotional barrier against the charming and thoughtless extraverts of this world. Both of them have trust issues due to having experienced betrayals and insincerity -- as a celebrity, can you ever be sure if someone really likes you, or if they are perhaps just dazzled by your status, or even just using you to get something they want? And as an insecure introvert, how do you know if that extrovert charm really *means* something, or if you're just being played, and the other person will move on once they've got their conquest and get bored? So they both raise this façade against the world, one being the arrogant charmer, and the other the standoffish, cold, hard-to-impress guy.
Then these two are forced into close proximity due to external events, and they don't really get along, to say the least. Seo Joon's persona looks exactly like the kind of person Ji Woo dislikes and distrusts. But Ji Woo... is nothing like the people Seo Joon is used to dealing with. Ji Woo wants nothing from him. He has his own pride and integrity and resents the intrusion of Seo Joon into his orderly, predictable life.
And Seo Joon is fascinated.
It takes him some time to realise that his façade is doing him no favours with Ji Woo. The change is subtle, because he is still a famous, confident extrovert, used to getting what he wants, but now he really has to fight for it, even if he doesn't quite know what it is yet. But his earnestness is beginning to show through.
And Ji Woo is not unaffected. He may not show it outwardly, and he may look like he is doing everything very grudgingly, but bit by bit this is more of a front and less of a reality -- he is beginning to like Seo Joon, and maybe understand him, but he still doesn't trust Seo Joon, especially not with his feelings. And he still fears the public attention Seo Joon's presence in his life threatens to bring him.
Still, when trouble does rear its head, it comes not from Seo Joon's world but his own, though caused by SJ's attentions to him. What does Ji Woo do? He refuses to involve Seo Joon at all. He tries to deal with it himself, even though it means distancing himself from Seo Joon, and even though he can't really afford to. Because Ji Woo is an honest person, and because he feels guilty that the problem came from his circle, and yes, because he cares about Seo Joon.
By the end of this short series I was fully invested in these characters, and I realised that the process of them slowly opening up to each other, discarding their barriers and façades, not only made them more likeable to each other, but also to me. The disinterest I felt at the beginning of the series echoed the disinterest they had for each other. The process was subtle and very well paced. The acting was on point. The comedy was understated but effective. And the romance was believable. Unlike other Korean BL series in this short form, To My Star didn't feel rushed or uneven -- some of the backstory and some plot points were glossed over and felt a bit incomplete (and therefore slightly hard to grasp for me), but the central relationship got the development it needed.
Also, this might be the first Korean BL where the physical interaction between the actors was believable. It was definitely a much needed step up from the "dead fish kiss" of previous K-BL dramas -- in fact, it was positively swoon-worthy.
Spoilery review below.
I really hope this isn't a case of someone having read the book and just gave the whole plot twist away in the blurb, which would be pretty shitty if that were the case. (And not the first time it happened here on MDL...)
Last info I saw from the creators was a plan for early 2021, but I haven't seen any updates from them for a long time now.
https://twitter.com/motivateanger/status/1354382216793444358
I remember that Boyband Love had some of the same issues in the first couple of episodes but improved after that. Hopefully this will too, but I'm not very hopeful.
And what is it with trans characters always being used for comic relief?