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One of the Best in 21
This is an astonishing BL series full of angst, pain, and heartache. It is hard to watch because love here is not a storybook fantasy but an obsession. Well, more like possession. It is raw, gritty, and unhealthy. Yet compelling. This is not romance; its abuse. Told astonishingly and acted brilliantly. One of the best for the year 2021. This kind of story needs to be told.It is a toxic love story that should not be romanticized. It does not make it less brilliant, but we should not try to fit a ‘square peg into a round hole’. It is haunting and will leave you feeling something. You must decide what to feel.
If you want to read my full review, go to my website at BLBliss.com/
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Game Therapy
This is an emotionally draining series that is so exacerbating in the way it was presented. It had such deeply poignant undertones to its characters – all of them. Yet, proceeded to present them so superficially and without any serious profundity to them. If you are going to present distressingly flawed individuals, you need to present them in such a way that we can feel their pain with more solemnity and intensely. Not just seeing it in snippets or revealed in discourses. That was not the only flaw in the story which began so enticingly but ended up being just another trite-filled half-empty pseudo-psychological case study filled with people who, I do not think, honestly, exist. At least not in real life. What is so bothersome about Japanese BLs as of late is that they play everything too safe. The story, the screenplay, the acting, the plot, and worst of all the lovemaking. This is a story full of intrinsic pain treated with superficiality and in glossy terms. They present individuals in highly idealized fashion that simply do not exist or as adolescent caricatures. Introducing change in an entrenched culture is difficult and the subtle hints about gay marriage in this series were not lost and are deeply appreciated. Art in all its forms, including BLs, is the perfect vehicle to introduce change to an audience that would be more receptive to it. Be bolder and take bolder steps to be more real in presenting gay life. Reflect the real world for a change.Was this review helpful to you?
OBSESSION
This series is a deeply pensive and reflective mind-twisting journey into OBSESSION. And not just of one individual either. It focuses on one young man’s adventure into a world of devotion, adoration, fixation, and absorption to another human being. This individual became his goal, his preoccupation, his desire, his passion in and for life. Meanwhile, the other young man starts out as being curious about the other but then slips into the abyss of falling in love without knowing why and falls prey to his own set of undefined impulses. I honestly cannot say I disliked this series. On the contrary, I thought it was well done for about three-fourths of the way. I knew then, the story was going to hurriedly end without a more reflective and challenging transition for both protagonists. It got so close. Then it fell flat. Seeing two men in a sexual gay sexual relationship in Japan has a long way to go before it reaches an affirmation. It still needs to grind through in an esoteric stage of acceptance.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?
Almost A Complete Disappointment Except For...
It is one of the biggest BL disappointments for this year. What literally saves this series is only the way it is displayed. It is a cinematographic triumph. The costumes, the settings, the fantasy theme all come together so breathtakingly impressively. There has not been a portraiture this flawless in a long time. But its cosmetics are simply not enough to save or salvage the story itself. Quite honestly, it did not make any sense; at all. It is convoluted. Contrived. With much of it displaying grandiosity and concentrated wealth to the privileged few, while people are protesting issues of poor working conditions and dying under those condition at the same time, there is also a deep-seated acceptance and tolerance for gender inequality. In the meantime, people are forced to bow and bend-the-knee as a form of subjugation with intense injustices going on within the various subkingdoms. All of this is in plain sight but accepted as inevitable and in fact, romanticized as ‘good’ for the people. I found no depth between these two and could not believe in any type of connection except one that was rehearsed for them. I am sorry but this is not expressions of love. Both actors showed up for work, but the commitment seemed rather scattered and at times insincere. It just did not work for me whereas others obviously poured their heart and soul into their roles.Overall, I did not like this series. It is ‘pretty’ and presents well, but the story is unfocused, disjointed, and little depth to it. Watch this series for the supporting cast, in particular the connection between Jimmy Karn as Prince Ramil and Ohm Thanakrit as Paitai. They are the REAL stars of this series along with all the supporting characters. You can read my full review of this disappointment at BLBliss.com.
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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?
A Hidden Gem
This series not only started emotionally deep, it also ended up being deeply substantial. I honestly felt like we really got to know these two unlikeliest of inamoratos. Do not misinterpret what I just stated, however. Although this is not an intensely romantic story, it is nonetheless a profoundly solemn love story. This is one of the most distinguishable love stories I have ever seen and certainly one of the more insightful Japanese ones. While Japanese BLs sometimes go deep, dark, and pensive and paint life generally in broad strokes as somber, this series projects intimacy between two guys in a non-intimate way but still affirms a sense of profound communion. Overall, however, this is an exceptional and deeply introspective BL from Japan that concentrates on the two protagonists that makes you feel as if you are watching the cultivation of a relationship that is a world onto their own.Was this review helpful to you?
Just another 'Basketball' BL
While parts of it are well crafted, well written, and even occasionally well-acted, all that gets lost in the completely mundane storyline replete with the usual trite, cliché set-ups and standard screenplay. It is just another one in a long-line of other ‘basketball’ BLs that are similar. This one, seriously, had nothing even creative or original about it. As usual, it writes itself. It is simply another 'basketball' BL and not a very good one at that. The minor characters of Shogun and Que made this series, and I do not think I have ever stated that about supporting characters in a series before. If it were not for these two very interesting and dynamic characters, this series would have been an abysmal failure. Overall, there was just nothing here to sustain my interest or even be entertaining. These two gave it life and a connection to empathy.You can read my full review of this series at BLBliss.com.
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Very Avant-Garde and Misunderstood
To be sure it is a stream of consciousness movie of a troubled young gay boy. An allegory. If you observe it as a parable of his journey to discovery, albeit, dark and problematic, it will make a little more sense. If it does not, then simply drink in its utterly fascinating and captivating tale of the imagination and madness of a teenage boy. Admittedly, this movie is confusing and will require your complete attention or perhaps a second go-around. It is that complex. It is that deep and full of hidden meanings. To understand this movie, you need to understand its title. The blue hour is the time between sunrise or after sunset when the sun is low on the horizon and the sky takes on a soft blue color. It deserves to be reviewed more positively than it has.See my full review at BLBliss.com.
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Tried Too Hard
Sometimes the characters went deep while at other times, they were clones of other BL stories. While the overall story is a rather interesting one, its execution was just plain awful in places. The story creates too many side issues to prove that these two young men are worthy of our attention. Yes, they are, on the whole, good guys, and one does not need to constantly and continuously provide evidence that they are. They are morally decent guys who occasionally have fallen down, pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and move on. This series is a good series. It is just not great.Was this review helpful to you?
Remarkably Laid Back Series
Superficially, this series is cute and adorable and very entertaining but true to Japanese custom, there is a hidden undertone layered deep within the subtest of this smartly done tale. The Japanese have a way of expertly taking two modest characters and turn them into figures greater than what they are in a such a quiet manner that we do not even realize what is happening. In a way, they become unwitting stewards. Stewards in the sense each is an important someone who leaves a positive impact on the other, if for no other reason than simply because it is the right thing to do. These two young men, tacitly and effectively, are the epitome of that distinction. Without complaint or bitterness, they did what they had to do and put the needs of others always before their own. That made them paladins.Was this review helpful to you?
A Surprisingly Moving Series!
With very didactic moments as well even though it is perhaps categorized under the general category of Comedy. And yet a highly suspect series. One that glosses over a glaring ethical issue that is hard to ignore. Nonetheless, it delicately handles the situation innocently enough as if it is not even an issue or problem. It is the fact that a high school student falls in love with a teacher; and a teacher who falls in love with a high school student. Putting it that way, it sounds immoral, which, most assuredly, it is not. Genuinely a sincerely warm, and smartly done love story done without the slightest hint of impropriety. But I liked this series a lot. It was funny, poignant, scrupulous, and highly principled. Although formulaic at times, it still is entertaining and fun to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Great Title But Nothing Else
I really, really wanted to like this series. With every fiber of my being, I was hoping it would come through at the end with something to make me like it; but it just did not. This manifests more like an ‘afternoon school special’ or a Hallmark movie. Seemingly sweet, cute, and feels adorable and you think has a point, but it really does not. It is all so superficial. It started out much like a light romantic BL with catchy music to draw you in, assuming this will be cheery, light-hearted, and charming. Unfortunately, this series is self-absorbed, unromantic, and honestly, irritating.If you want to read my full review, pleas go to BLBliss.com.
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An Overindulgent Mess
This is the continuing story of CUTIE PIE which itself was an incoherent hot mess. Fortunately, this series was a bit better and less emotionally abusive in content. It also made an attempt to tell a story and did try to bring a certain level of maturity to the forefront. Unfortunately, it merely continued the overindulgent and pampered story of Kon Dio . and Yi. While certainly not deep and more like a soap opera, it had the potential for being a good BL series that just would not push itself to tell a love story. There are some deeply and profoundly moving and poignant moments to this series, however. And it also features in a supporting role one of the handsomest men I have ever seen.You can read my full review of this series at BLBliss.com and find out who that is.
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Better Mystery Than Romance
Surprisingly, this series works well as a mystery story and a good ‘who done it’ chronicle, but as a BL it foundered. The above quote literally summed up this series. For it is all about an unprincipled attorney’s futility in trying to be good but has fallen so far down the rabbit hole of evil that it is impossible for him to dig himself back up to the sunlight. I cannot say that the story is disinteresting; it is not. However, it does get overplayed and after a while, too many characters and too many scenarios convolute the story, and it almost becomes a farce. If you are expecting romance, there is little here. The 'second couple' is a way more interesting pair and should have been a major focal point in this series and wanted a more intense romantic connection between them. They were a power couple.You can read my full review of this series at BLBliss.com.
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