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A Senseless & Pointless Remake
The saying that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ is not always true. This series proved that. I shall come right out and say it. This is one of the worst BLs I have ever seen and one of the worst supposed remakes I have ever seen as well. To put it bluntly, this version was fatuous. Everything about it is. The production. The acting. The story. The plot. Hardly any of it even resembles the originality of the Japanese version. That had humanity. It had heart. Most importantly, it had authenticity sprinkled with humor, grace, and tons of human emotions. I can categorically tell you that the original Japanese version of Ossan’s Love was a masterpiece. This is simply a farce. What disturbed me the most about this series was the lack of focus and direction. It tried to mimic the original version and ended up not being funny and more like a mockery. Then relying heavily on the strength and reputation of the relationship between Earth/Mix to carry out a weak plot which they could not. For me, this is one series that should never have been made.Was this review helpful to you?
We Aren't
Overall, this is not a good series. It is simply too long. It droned on and on for no reason with the same old storylines. This story is cute. Certainly not deep. Entertaining for sure. Fluffy and sweet. Predicable and boring a lot of the time. There are way too many pairings of relationships and way too much idealism shown. What it did do right and what it should have concentrated on was the camaraderie of the group of friends. It is rare to have such a solid group of friends who know they are in the last throws of all of them being together before life has other plans for them. It could have been a much better story if it reflected more on the dynamics of friendships among friends. That would have been a good story instead of the contrived ‘love pairings’ that they thought we needed to see. There was a lot of great screen chemistry between the actors.You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.
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Standard Stuff
This series is a dichotomous BL, bordering on being oxymoronic. Sometimes brilliant then slipping into utter banality. Occasionally poignant but mostly filled with mundane trite tediousness. Sporadic displays of serious adult behaviors but mostly overshadowed with adolescent/pubescence behavioral patterns acting like petulant teenage children instead of adults in a serious sexual relationship. Occasional storylines eliciting tears and then in the next dialogue nothing but endless dribble of clichés and platitudes. In other words, not generally reflecting real life but an idealized sanitized world peppered with a whisper of reality and an occasional homage to authenticity. The best word to describe this series is: puffery. I simply had a hard time relating to this story.You can read my full review of this pretty standard BL at BLBliss.com.
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A Mature BL
While the story revolves around the relationship of an older couple, it is so so much more than that. Kakei Shiro (Nishijima Hidetoshi) and Yabuki Kenji (Uchino Seiyou) are both well into their 40s and are steep in Japanese culture. Shiro is an uptight lawyer, rigid in his thinking, terrified of being overtly gay, certainly closeted, although his family knows. He is frugal to the point of being labeled a ‘penny-pincher’ and sticks rigidly to sets of rules and budgets. Kenji, on the other hand, is a bit more extravagant and sort of ‘open’ in his gayness. He is a hairdresser. Never hiding it and yet does try to fit into the societal norms and desperately tries to fit in with what Shiro wants to keep things orderly. Over the course of their relationship, we see that Shiro changes more so. Sometimes, more subtlety but steadily, into how Kenji thinks and behaves. The two begin to mesh and blend and honestly act more like a married couple than most married couples.Was this review helpful to you?
It Is Their Destiny
This is a continuation story of Teh and Oh-aew. While the other two previous stories were phenomenal and profound story, this one just did not hit the mark for me. But I must quality that statement. It is NOT because of poor acting. Quite the contrary. This is one of the finest acted BL series from Thailand in a long time. The story itself is also superb. What left me empty and profoundly sad was the realization that these two loved each other with every fiber of their beings but it just is not enough to sustain a solid relationship. For me, their love is toxic. Their own inner demons stop them from actually becoming real true individuals. Their love is more what is supposed to be than what it really is. For me, that was sad.Was this review helpful to you?
Great Murder Mystery But Dumb Love Story
Visually, this series certainly has its selling points. And it sure starts out with a fascinating and dynamic introduction. Certainly, one cannot argue with the dynamics of the storyline; they are intriguing and entertaining. Oh, by the way, there is also a love story, actually two, thrown in as a ruse to throw you off guard from the gruesomeness. I simply do not consider the focus primarily a BL, however. This is a very involved murder-mystery involving occult, supernatural spiritualism, ancient sorcery and utterly inept police work in order to stretch the story out to 13 episodes. So much of this story was so contrived that after a while, I was getting rather bored with the incompetence of the police and the dumbness of the leadership from the police echelon. In today’s world, it would be understandably hard to accept the abilities and trust the reliance of spiritualists who claim to see ‘ghosts’ as the basis for solving crimes. While I am not questioning such practices or beliefs, this story frankly carried it to an extreme, bordering on all kinds of creatures, both human and spirits, acting completely irrational. That I had a hard time wrapping my head around as a person who tries to see the world through some sort of logical lens in a world right now that is not showing much signs of being very logical. I wish these series would start to grow-up and present straightforward relationship developments without all the fluff and side-shows for a change. I do not want to have to dig to find the BL.Was this review helpful to you?
The Boat Left The Island
Frankly, I am not sure how I sat through this miscue. It is an inferior story with pedestrian acting. There I said it and am glad I did. I just do not know when these sappy BLs, will end. This is yet another in a L-O-N-G line of them. What saved this series from being on my Bathos List is the cinematography. The water scenes are exceptional but there are not nearly enough of them. If you are going to have a story about mermen, how about showing more of them and their communion? This whole story is so cliché driven and full of tropey other side-characters that quickly you begin to realize that this will be no different than a whole bunch of other Thai BLs of the same ilk. Dull, lifeless characters with no personalities. Love scenes that are more rehearsed made to feel quite quaffed and polished but not concrete. Couples with little to no screen chemistry and lightweight sexual tension. In other words, a zero-believability factor. While the merman scenes were quite good, there were so few of them that they almost were secondary to the story. This series started out so promising but swam off into the deep end not because of the actions of the mermen but because of the poor script and lifeless characters.Was this review helpful to you?
Lost Some Of Its Charm
While I have a great affinity for Seasons 1 and 2 of this series, this set left me just a tad feeling deprived. It felt ‘empty’ and a bit stale. While certainly entertaining and funny overall, it lost a bit of its magic; at least for me. However, its ending did redeem itself. There is no question that overall, this series is entertaining and still humorous. I did not find it as funny or as creative as the first two seasons, however. ALL the characters seemed stuck to me; that is, none show any progression or movement or growth. I know that this is a guy living in a fantasy world of BL and it has a sense and feel of an animated comic strip coming to life; but there is nothing new here. In addition, the actors are getting to the point that they simply cannot play high school or college students anymore. I do not care how much make-up you powder yourself with, there just comes a point that someone in their late 20’s or early 30’s cannot play high schoolers anymore. It becomes a physical impossibility as well as an emotional and psychological barrier. You just have too much life experience to play sweet innocence with any honest conviction.Was this review helpful to you?
An Honest & Real BL - Heartfelt
This is one of the more honest BLs to come out of Japan in a very long time. It is also surprisingly sincere and heartfelt. It had a deeply personal grok about it. There was an unawareness of the feelings that the individual protagonists were realizing, and those susceptibilities were projected into their actions and to a degree manifested into who they became and are. This BL is misunderstood. To understand this series, you must take it at its face value. Do not read into it more than is there; on the other hand, do not assume that what you see is all that is there. What is here is a story about two guys who grew up liking each other and were wounded by that. For that was in a stage of life in a culture when that could not be cultivated, and frankly the only acceptable way to display one liking another was by tormenting (bullying) the other. In this way, you fostered a warped sense of connection. This connection was usually expressed by a strange need to be close to and near each other for any reason. Yet, it was because of that unique bond where each just could seem to be able to escape the other. It became a hunger for both. It only brought him nearer to his tormentor. The tormentor could then socially express his love. Provided that expression was not too painful. Unfortunately, in ALL cases, it always ends up being so. Always.Was this review helpful to you?
Certainly A Study In Shyness. Does It Work?
Tactically, this series is a bit incongruous simply because the story is not unabridged. To be honest, I ended up disliking it. Not because it was poorly acted. I eschewed it because it had no point, and it aimlessly wondered around trying to find one. It simply could not. I just did not get the why of the story. The whole story felt undeveloped. This is a good story that was overdone. It showed very little understanding of their relationship and even less understanding of them as individuals. Then there is this sudden burst of personalities from both at the end of the series that just felt like it was too contrived. I found nothing outstanding about this series. I could have easily skipped it as it had little effect on me. While well-acted, and we are certainly entertained by the supporting cast, it just did not do much for me. Watch it if you want. It is “okay’.Was this review helpful to you?
Silly and Unnecessary
This diminishes and takes away from the story. Perhaps it is just me, but I found the narrative with the spin-off to be a bit too contrived and unnecessary. It slips the story back into banality. It is completely unnecessary. This series is a remarkable study of the character development of two rather asymmetrical individuals who needed each other, found each other, and for lack of a better term and become the epitome redefining the term, soulmates, a term I truly detest using. What is further astonishing is no one else sees it except one – at the end in the spin-off. And all this did was took away from the story; not add to it. Do not bother to watch this. It is unnecessary and takes away from the impact of the story iteself.Was this review helpful to you?
A Visual Guide For Dating
One would have to be completely dead inside to not get a warm cozy feeling from watching this film. It is a joy to behold and drink in. And it is so astonishingly relatable because it is happening to ordinary people under very ordinary situations. It is a pure story of love with its only requirement being someone courageous enough to make the first move. Honestly, one does not need to read manuals, books, or listen to experts on how to find love; all one needs to do is watch this movie. It gives you a step-by-step visual presentation of what to do. This is a complete joy to watch!Was this review helpful to you?
A Series That Spins Its Wheels
This series looks and feels good, superficially. It had all the earmarks of being a very good story but fell so flat as the story progressed. It seemed to lack an ending that wanted to make a definitive statement; so, it chose to go cute. The series is just too short to develop any meaningful characters, which is a serious problem. It tried to be light fluff with a serious matter which I wish they would have treated with solemnity. Also, quit treating gayness with kit gloves. If you are going to show two men trying to be in love, give us something that shows that. It languished so much.Was this review helpful to you?
Raw, Gritty & Intense
This is a movie that lays out in detail all the ugliness of the darker side of Thai society that we do certainly not see in BLs. Since I honestly know little about the political inner working of Thailand, I do not know whether this chronicle is based on some semblance of truth or not. However, as in any premise, I do believe some kernels of truth and honesty are no doubt in this screenplay and part of it must be taken at face value. We tend to not want to think of or perhaps see that a fantasy land of ours (such as Thailand) has a darker side to it, but it does. And this movie presents a very dark, depressing, look at that reality. There is no romance here nor any hint of a BL; but it does present a side of the adult entertainment industry we tend to dismiss or pretend does not exist as we glaze over or gloss over the geo-political strife that might also exist in that part of the world when we watch BLs in the comfort of our homes.You can read my full review of this movie at BLBliss.com.
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A Trilogy Masterpiece
If you had asked me way back when if I would have given this whole trilogy a thumbs-up, I would not have. I dislike intensely exploitive and abusive-themed series, especially gay ones, for entertainment purposes, but this one was so beautifully choreographed and focused. It is a love story defined by them, experienced by them, and simply words are inadequate to identify their relationship. I do not know how to describe their relationship beyond inadequate words like fervent, inseparable, and unending. Their ‘red string’ to borrow a concept is tied inexorably between them. If there is a connection greater than ‘soulmates’ these two share that. This, along with the other two, are masterpieces of artistry and cinematic storytelling.Was this review helpful to you?
