Sweet, romantic, tension-filled amazing BL!
I honestly did not expect much from this BL because I thought it was another university BL with engineering students, friend groups, school clubs, and the usual. While Love Mechanics does a lot of what is done in Thai BL before, the main couple are amazing actors and really bring the story to life. What I loved most about this BL was that the main couple have the majority of the airtime. Usually in BLs, each friend group has a love interest and everyone is given time for character development. This is something i tend to not like because it blurs the focus of the main couple and adds too much nonsense in the story. In Love Mechanics, we are introduced to another couple, but it ties with the story. Besides this the minor characters have minor appearances.Mark, a young boy is in love with a senior of his. This senior has a boyfriend but is being followed by Mark. To stop this, the senior's friend Vee steps in and keeps an eye on Vee. Slowly but surely they start to become closer. However, Vee has a girlfriend. This makes for a bit of a sticky situation. Does Vee choose his girlfriend of 3 years, or a fresh new boy who is causing his heart to feel things he never has before?
I really enjoyed every bit of this BL. There is useless conflict, but the series is long enough to show the chemistry and love of the couple while not dragging anything on. This is helped by the fact that basically all conflicts are resolved in the very same episode! Who would have thought we would ever see this. Because of this, I am more likely to rewatch this BL than other BLs. I highly recommend any BL lover to watch this. It is easily one of the best Thai BL released this year.
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A lot better than I expected
I had not heard about this drama at all, so I was extremely surprised starting the first episode when I saw the lighting and camerawork. The ambiance is captured beautifully, and the school seems fun and eventful. We are introduced to three couples. They are all interesting, and all have a phase where they get to know each other, a phase where they start to love, then have rough times, and ultimately make up. The series showcases a variety of themes such as chasing your dreams, being adamant about what you love, and not losing your values over success. The main couple has time skips which make them especially interesting. They were childhood friends who met each other by chance, they followed each other everywhere. Some have a problem with this time skip element, but I felt it was done well. In the present it does get a little confusing, with skips of a couple months happening, but it is not too difficult to follow.The two side couples are also intruiging. One of them is about an adamant lover who will not surrender until he wins his man over. The other is a sticky situation, a senior and a junior are in the same club and theyre getting flirty and closer to each other, but the senior is dating the junior's sister. I love the way the relationships are handled, no one is dramatic or mad for the sake of being mad. Everyone is thinking of each other and it is all very sweet.
The central theme of basketball is very interesting for a BL. Because of the plot, it is almost like a basketball themed series that happens to have gay characters in it; it is not just a general theme with no depth. The main couple is passionate about basketball, and while the other couples have little to do with this sport, theyre still school related and the whole series is very cohesive.
I highly enjoyed this series. It is comfortable, soft, passionate, and has handsome boys dating each other. I do not regret watching this at all. Watching this was not a slog, I hope you enjoy it too.
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Enjoyable, but a bit too much side plot that takes away from the stars.
Plus and Minus is interesting as the two main leads have been high school friends. They now live and work together. Usually in BLs, either they love in high school, or they meet later in life. This makes the story pretty interesting from the start. Most of the characters are enjoyable, and the main couple is extremely attractive. You can tell they care about each other.Overall, the drama is fine, but spends too much time on the character's jobs instead of the relationships. This does make the story more realistic but less interesting. Maybe I am more excited for the love aspect rather than the divorce lawyer job aspect but I wish this was less detailed so their love could shine more. I ended up fast-forwarding a good part of the series.
When they do have couple moments its all really good. The kisses are very passionate and they look amazing. The ending was a little annoying but it was resolved so its good.
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Amazingly cute, but a lot of missed potential
A story about a mysterious love interest found in a book, who is Enchanté? Side note; the actual identity of Enchanté completely surprised me tbh. Anyway here are my thoughts.The cast of Akk and Theo is brilliant, Force and Book did an amazing job and their chemistry is beautiful, they are friends since childhood after all. The characters are well-acted and believable. However, I did massively dislike that most of the love interests were liars and opportunists. It's a realistic scenario, but it's not super fun to watch and you just feel bad for Theo and Akk.
Akk is lovely and perfect. The series tells you he isn't but like... look at him! Always ready to help, super handsome, funny, serious, like there is literally no flaw. Theo is likable, but he is naive. There are times that I am surprised by his wariness however lol, he doesn't let someone take advantage of him so easily. Besides this, Theo makes some questionable decisions, especially in episodes 9 and 10, but he is a cutie at the end. Still should have treated Akk better throughout though.
The music is absolutely gorgeous, both "Je t'aime à la folie" as well as "Enchanté" are beautiful songs, some of the best I have heard in a BL ever. The music helps to bring the mood together and to feel invested.
I enjoyed this BL but compared to other GMM TV BLs such as Bad Buddy, 2gether, Fish upon the sky, 1000 stars etcetera, this one feels inferior. Perhaps because of the story and annoying plot points, as the scenes that focus on Akk and Theo are lovely. The parts involving the four Enchanté's are curious at times and boring or annoying at others. It would have been a better series if there was less Enchanté's and there was more of Akk and Theo. Not that there are few moments of theirs, but it feels too long until they take each other seriously. I am excited to see more of ForceBook, and hope that their next series is only great.
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Calm but sweet movie
I just finished watching so this review is fresh from my mind. The movie is enjoyable, and the acting and characters are interesting. You want to know more about them and their experiences because the movie shows the past, present, and future of the characters. The movie focuses a lot on the two main characters and the struggles they deal with personally more so than the relationship of the two. Yamato is adopted and struggles with his emotions and being open and honest, and Mitsuomi left the countryside to seek excitement in the big city. This movie focuses on character interactions and less on romantic scenes. The ending is open but positive. You can tell what will happen in the future after the movie, but you still want to see more scenes. The relationship of the two is a unique take from what is previously seen in BL. The characters embrace the unexpected same-sex attraction rather easily and are happy to be with each other. Overall, this is a good movie to watch. It is not flashy or show-stopping, but I am glad that I watched it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Very interesting and well-made, but not perfect
I just finished watching the movie and I have a few thoughts about it. What is most interesting to me about this movie is the main character Kyoichi. He is VERY unpredictable and it is a puzzle to piece together what he is thinking. There were multiple times in the movie that i was thinking to myself "What in the world does he want?".Small SPOILER as examples: Kyoichi said he could never choose Wataru as he is a man, then later that same night he had sxx with him. Later on, Kyoichi got together with a girl, but went to a gay bar. Another time was when Kyoichi told Wataru he did not need him anymore, then had sxx with him again... such a rollercoaster of a movie.
The other main character Wataru is interesting, seemingly laid-back yet extremely obsessive. But his thoughts and feelings are more simple than Kyoichi. I highly enjoyed the acting of all actors, all of the characters, including the women, were believable and real.
The story itself is interesting, but very vague and many things are implied, not stated. This can be seen as simply an artistic choice, and the movie is very interesting because of it, but the story is lacking. It can be summed up as: confused bisexual likes to sleep around until he rediscovers his high school friend with whom he has rather poor communication with. The movie is just filled with toxic behavior and relationships, something that happens in reality but not enjoyable to see in a movie.
I am somewhat stumped with this movie because I do not idolize it. The relationships in this movie are very toxic, so rewatching it would feel disrespectful to my own happiness. While we all know some relationships in movies and dramas are idolized and fiction, these are not realistic necessarily; just toxic.
Small sidenote, the movie did not have any music that I remembered, it fit the movie a lot but I do enjoy music in films. Since it fit the movie I gave it a high score. Overall, I'm unsure if I am glad that I watched it. It's definitely interesting, but if you have other more highly rated things to watch first, watch this later.
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Great cinematography and acting, storyline confusing and unsatisfying
This BL, much like its main characters, is very soft and quiet in its expressions of gay love. The movie is 2 hours long, and it could have made much better use of the time. A lot, and I mean a lot of scenes are way longer than they need to be, probably to give the sense of how slow time flows in the small town where the movie takes place. Even still, there is little happing during these prolonged scenes. In other BLs, the main characters would glance at each other and the time the scene takes makes you feel like something is happening. In this movie, it feels more like the movie is paused and you are waiting for the next scene to take place. Another gripe I have with the movie is that the scenes shown and the story told are confusing. What I mean is that I don't feel the depth that the director wanted the viewer to feel. The feelings of the main character and what goes on inside his head remain a mystery, and the ending is open and feels very incomplete, like there is no ending.The acting overall is good and the characters are recognizable and deep. The lighting and the camera angles are satisfying as well. I wish that the movie was stronger. So either, have a stronger emphasis on love or a stronger emphasis on dealing with homophobia and feeling rejection from society. The general sense I got was: main character has daughter and moved to small town because he is gay and rejected by his surroundings, he has a lover and wants to be together with him but feels uncomfortable that he will be seen as gay and rejected again. I don't understand what the main character wants other than being accepted (not expressed directly) and living with his daughter. Interesting watch I suppose but not as deep and meaningful for what it's worth. Still, nice to see a more manly Korean man in a gay role like this in a Korean BL, most are or look like idols so this is nice for the larger gay population in Korea.
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Super cute, but the writing is a lil lazy. Still recommend
Minato's Laundromat Season 2 is a lot like the first season. The biggest difference is that the two couples are alreasy established, at least that's what we are told. Both couples seem to be in an awkward phase, where they like each other but don't seem to quite be on the same page, or don't yet understand how much they mean to each other. This season was nice for me as a fan of the first season, but I will admit the writing was a little lazy. Minato really shouldn't act the way he does towards Shin as they are officially dating, but I don't mind his behavior as much as some. In season 1, Minato already felt guilty about dating a guy much younger than him, and so this bashfulness is normal in the first 3 months after being official.I read a review here that said to start watching from episode 7. While I understand this suggestion, I do think the cute scenes in the earlier episodes are fun to watch. There isn't much in terms of kissing or intimate scenes, but there is a lot of fluffy cute flirting scenes. As a sidenote, I really enjoyed the vibe of the town they live in, I wonder where this is meant to take place in. Overall, I recommend this drama to any BL fan. The opening song had me singing along every time and the ending song is good too!
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Confusing but somewhat charming
This BL had quite a strong start for me, I was intrigued with the hallucinations Jom had and was curious about the characters in the beginning. However, the drama is too long and too much of the runtime is spent on side characters. While it does make the world feel more real, it communicates to me more an atmosphere of the time rather than the strength and depth of the love between Jom and Khun Yai. The acting is quite strong, and the couple looks good together, but I think it would have been better if there was no time skip and it was set fully in the past. I always think Thai BLs spend way too much time on side characters and never make 20 minute episodes, so I usually end up fastforwarding through the later episodes. This BL does the same thing for me. While the inclusion of the lesbian couple is good and refreshing, the lack of other interesting side couples make the majority of the rest of the cast feel like padding.Over all, there were enjoyable moments, but this BL is by no means a showstopper. Watch it if you are intrigued but maybe lower your expectations.
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Hot actors, good moments, but mid overall
I was quite surprised by how much I liked this drama. While most of the actors are attractive, I feel the main couple doesn't quite look like they should be together. Either way, this BL is has many steamy moments, but I feel like they could have added a lot more. There were too many episodes that felt like they had little focus on the chemistry and were about the twin confusion and the big game. The excitement to watch each episode died for me and so I cannot rate this very high. The amount of funny moments weren't enough for a Thai drama, but the whole thing did feel quite bright and energetic.Overall I would say this is an okay Thai BL. The intimate scenes are good, I just wish there was more tension between the couples and it wouldve been a highlight. Watch this if you like a sports theme and like attractive bodies and faces. Still I can't help but feel there has been some missed opportunities here. If you go for hot, go for really hot. This is an instance of a BL where I would have actually liked every member to be romantically/sexually involved with another, even though its unrealistic for a whole team of volleyball players to be gay or bi.
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BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen
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Perfect!
This drama has everything, it is funny, romantic, the actors are handsome, the supporting cast is great, the length is just right and it is simply so entertaining! I thoroughly enjoyed this drama and hope to see more from the two leads. While there are only 3 episodes, the total runtime is around 2-3 hours which is similar to the usual 6 episodes of 20 minutes. I don't think they could have added more to increase the length of the drama, but I wouldn't complain if it was longer.This drama does feel quite anime/manga-like, which makes sense since many dramas are based on mangas. There have been other BLs that were very manga-like in their vibe in a more superficial meaning, but this one is simply enjoyable. I recommend you to watch this right now! Japan's streak on making great BLs is continuing :)
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Warm and earnest, short summer BL
A story between an earnest Enoshima local and a bubbly transfer student. This BL is rather short but it achieves everything it needed to. The pacing is good and all of the screen time is focused on the couple. The setting is enoshima, which felt personally enjoyable to me since I have been there and I was able to combine this BL with my own memories.I am giving this a high rating simply for the enjoyability of it. While there are minimal skinship scenes and the kissing scene is a bit lacking, it is commendable how well the actors and team were able to convey deep and relatable characters and the forming of the bond between the two in the short 5 episodes. I recommend this BL. It is short and sweet and I dont have any gripes about it to lower the rating, other than comparing it with all the other amazing Japanese BLs out there. Enjoy!
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Great Acting, Confusing Motives
I loved the first few episodes and really enjoyed where the story was going. It is shown that one of the main characters goes to a therapist / psychologist and gets some sort of medical treatment, also his behavior shows that of someone who is mentally struggling. The confusing part is that when the 2 main people meet, it is fine, then it gets deeper and the guy shuts down. He feels guilty about some story stuff and in the end, obviously, they get together, but the guy doesn't seem to be specifically unwell anymore? What I mean is, I do not understand at all why and at what point he decided to open up to the freshman sweetboy and stop closing off and being careful etc. The switching point made little sense to me. I feel like the younger guy got mistreated way too often and while I enjoy the two, I feel like they have a lot to work on as a couple. They didn;t even state that they can always show their worries with them, which is important as half the drama is about mental health struggling mainboy.Either way, the characters were good and entertaining. sweetboy had good friends who took care of him, listened to him and guided him. richboy kinda has friends he doesn't share his problems with, a friend thats super jealous who he cannot seem to cut off, and thats about it. The sufing club theme and the theme with the barbecue drinking place was fun, I enjoyed watching the scenes with the lady who owns the bar sweetboy works at. I enjoyed every episode, I was just mad at several of them in the middle for the motives, mostly richboy and female ex-love interest making things unnecesarily confusing.
What I will say is that the entire thing is probably the most realistic depiction of a BL I have seen. I don't know about the friends accepting them as gay (or just liking guys, its not defined) because there is a large conservative sentiment but maybe some are cool with it? If you think of the drama more realistically it is more appreciable. Both actors are handsome and they did a good job with this one. I also enjoyed the length as Korean BLs can be super short.
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Confusing, unsettling, not romantic... meh
I had little expectations, to begin with but when I watched the first few episodes I was actually pleasantly surprised... and then it went nowhere. The acting is pretty good overall, each character seems central and feels pretty realistic. Phat is the cutest character and so is Luck, they should've made them a pairing instead. Phob is okay, he is funny but really unstable which is understandable because his intense emotions before death are being uncovered slowly. Dream is by far the most interesting character. A good friend that you can rely on with the most interesting family history. Phat's mother is okay, she is a little inconsiderate towards her son but she is not aware of the supernatural happenings so it is understandable. The landlord lady Nuan is the weirdest most unsettling character I have seen probably in any BL. Her acting deserves praise but since I am not a fan of thrillers I did not enjoy her character lol.The problem I have with this drama is that it is a thriller and it is full of suspense, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Take for example Manner of Death or Not Me. These are also BL with a story that keeps you guessing, but it actually feels like there is progress in the story and the ending feels clear and well realized. In this one, not only is the BL aspect kept to a minimum, It also feels more superficial and like the couple has a weak bond. This is one of the worst things a BL can do in my opinion. I can excuse shitty scenarios if the main couple has chemistry and you can feel the love. For me, this was just a half-baked supernatural story with a BL couple added into it. I wouldn't recommend this BL to many people. Only if you love suspense and supernatural things I would recommend it. The drama is too long and is not a BL in my opinion. If the supernatural theme felt better executed I would rate it higher but as it stands, it's a no for me.
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Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss!
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Cute, fluffy, perfect :)
The super unlucky Fukuhara Kouta and the super lucky Shinomiya Naoya, an undeniably powerful and interesting match. They cross paths extremely quickly in the series, something you don't see often in BLs. Usually, the couple gets together only at the end but here they get together at the end of the first episode because of Kouta's desperation of Naoya's luck. The two grow closer and closer after dating, and it is fun to watch every single episode. Nothing feels like filler, as it all helps the characters grow. I enjoyed the two individually and together. I also enjoyed the side characters, they were all likable and when they were not, it was for understandable reasons.I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions of the two. I would have liked more physical affection from Kouta to Naoya, as we can tell he does like him, but his shyness is endearing nonetheless. Naoya is always straightforward with his love for Kouta, putting himself out there for his boyfriend. I loved his caring and sweet nature and watching Kouta melt for him too is super satisfying. I would highly recommend anyone to watch this. The pacing is great, the acting is entertaining and the chemistry is there. Japan is doing a great job with their BLs and I am happy :)
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