This review may contain spoilers
Kim Hyun-soo
One Ordinary Day. I think it is time to finally talk about this masterpiece and I think more people should be talking about it. Seriously, this is a bleak topic and I am even surprised that a big mainstream name such as Kim Soo Hyun will take on such role is just interesting for me but to say that I was blown away of his performance is an understatement but what is this show about. I think the way that we can describe this show is a thriller and a really good one at that. Kim Hyun-soo (I have to admit that I was a bit confused with the name of the character of Kim Soo Hyun here because it is just basically his name where the first and second were just interchanged. This is surprisingly my biggest issue with the show. I feel like they did not really do much here) is a student in his twenties. He is the usual kid who is studying while trying to enjoy his life but one night, he decided to be more of a rebel and take his father’s taxi without permission ad he also met this woman that he later hooked up with. It is a pretty normal night but things went awry when he woke up and she is dead beside him. They had sex and the girl had some weird shit that she did but things went south and he was caught. This is where a series of unfortunate events happened to the character and the story is basically a huge jab and blow to the justice system that they have. Let’s be honest as I am in that point of my life where there is nothing that the government can do to make me trust them as much as I distrust them now and this is applicable to any countries out there. This is why seeing how flawed the justice system works not just in my country but also in other countries does not fully surprise me but it also still infuriates me. I am not sure if this is making sense and I do get why he is the main suspect as there were so many evidences that are pointed towards the character but the blatant refusal of the head detective to not accept any other possibility to what happened to this girl bothers the hell out of me. I am seriously fucking gagged and gooped with how many details he did not take into consideration because he thinks that he killed her. I mean, I would also think of him as a prime suspect but the possibilities are right there up there noses and the evidence that really proved his innocence was already in there possession if they just really looked at the photo. The evidence to the crime committed was literally right there. We have a photo of who did it and that is just so heartbreaking to know and learn that these things do happen more often than not to people who cannot afford to properly defend themselves. Let’s be real here and that attorneys like Shin Joong-han are as uncommon as they will come in reality. He is a character that is extremely flawed but he is a character that is standing up for the good. You can see how hard he fought for this man to be freed from the shackles that he was forced to be in. It is nice to see Cha Seung-won portraying the role because he was able to play the character’s nuances and to give him the humanity that he needed to be interesting and relatable. The scene he had when he finally delivered the good news to Kim Hyun-soo at the end was just a beautiful moment but he had so many good scenes in this show as he acted as someone who really invested his time to help the guy. He is someone that we need more of. I just want to give a special shoutout to Kim Young Ah because I know that she only had few scenes and was a supporting character but she delivered one of the strongest scenes when she testified in court. She is such a marvelous actress. Another thing that we got to explore here is the inequal treatment of inmates in the prison system. This is a problem that we have heard of but since it is not affecting us directly, we have kept on looking away from it. The immersion of Hyun-soo in that place is where the important transformation in his life happened with the help of Do Ji-tae played by Kim Sung-kyu. He was like the person who helped him get his way there. He is certainly not perfect as he is running the prison cell but I love the depth that Kim Sung-kyu was able to put in this character. I kinda fell in love with him too but that is not the point here. He is someone who was wrongly accused and saw that in Hyun-soo too. I actually get why Hyun-soo started to get as confused with what is happening to him because it is hard to be in that position. His life is ruined and I have to give it to Kim Soo-hyun. I binged watch the entire show and what really struck me with his performance is the transformation of his character from a young boy to a more matured man. The crying scene in the first few episodes and to see them slowly be fading as he is turning into something different and more cynic about life is just sad to watch. I was struck with how this event have redirected his entire life. This is not something that he envisioned himself to be in and no one did but he had to forcibly redirect his life and turn himself into something that he never wanted to be just to be able to survive and I wish that to happen to no one in this life because you can see how this drastically changes everything in that person. You can see that young boy be gone in just a matter of months. At the same time, we are also shown how this drastically changes the lives of the family of the person. I do get and understand why Hyun-soo had to change but this affects so many other people too. It just hurts to know at the end of the day that he is not the one who killed her because I feel like his life was stolen from him and he will have a hard time to get it back. The scene at the end of him standing on the rooftop of the building does not fully say what he will do but one can just hope that he will try to reclaim his life. It is heartbreaking to know that these types of stories are not as uncommon today than it was. I really do hope that the justice system would be so much better that instead proving yourself to be right, we will do what is right. I think that the murder of Hong Guk Hwa was not even resolved immediately because of this. I feel like they have focused more on pinning Hyun-soo down that they have forgotten the true victim of the crime which is Guk Hwa. The injustice that she had to still go through even after her death felt like the true crime in all of this. There is a really thin line here and they all have crossed it. One Ordinary Day is just any other shows out there as it shines light on something that we prefer not to talk about. It shines light on something that we should be talking about. It shines light on these very dark cells and see how we sometimes create the monsters that we fear most of. The story of Do Ji-tae is a prime example of that and, even though Hyun-soo was able to get his freedom back, the real question still remains – Is he REALLY free?Was this review helpful to you?
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Wholesome, Lovely, and YECHAN
Love Tractor is a Korean BL that is so famous before that I have really been wanting to watch it but I was not because of reasons that I will never understand why. I have seen the trailer and how hot the characters are and I, immediately, wanted to watch it but it took me some time to actually do so. The story is about this law student who is giving away his opportunity to study abroad despite being the smartest guy in the room because he is going back to the province where his grandfather lives. His grandfather is now staying in Seoul for health reasons and he decided to be the one to stay there instead and this is where he met THE RAY OF SUNSHINE named YECHAN. This is where their relationship started and it is a slow development. Well, I think we can all say that YECHAN fell in love with Seon Yul in the few moments that he shared with him and that love is what interested me because Yechan is an interesting character. He is giving off that Golden Retriever vibes and he is such a warm person to be around. He is honest with his feelings that even though his feelings were not immediately reciprocated, he really pushed for doing his best to really woo him and it worked out. I am in love with characters that are just pure and full of positivity that they are trying to give their best despite the world really not giving them a chance to do so. Yechan makes use of what he has and uses them to his advantage. I think we can say that he is a simple man and that is the best thing about him. He met Seon Yul during his Yul’s time where he is having difficulty with himself and is not very happy with where he is as he is torn with what he really wanted to do. Then, there is this guy who is completely opposite of him who is unafraid to love him and support him no matter what. I mean, this guy is just a dream to begin with. Personally, I would easily fall in love with this guy. I know some would say that he can be annoying at times but he still listens to him. You can see him respect his decisions and his wants. He is supporting him of his dreams and respectful of his actions too. There is something so sincere with their dynamics that I was instantly a fan of their relationship as they are providing something that the other is needing. At the same time, they really gave us so many cute and lovely scenes. I am a sucker for good romantic comedies and Yechan really delivered in the romance and the comedy aspect. The scene where he went for a check up when his heart beats fast for Seon Yul is really funny. The facial expression of Yoon Do Jin who played Yechan is incredible and he really is the star of the show. It also helps that he is good-looking. I easily fell in love with Yoon Do Jin’s face and skin plus the shirtless moment that just proved how gorgeous this man is. He is manly man and I love that but he is also a very soft man to say the least. He is so gorgeous. I love him so much. Do Won who played Seon Yul also did a good job. I love his change in demeanor as the story went on. I love that. It is really entertaining to see him become this nicer and sweeter person. The bickering of these two characters is good and the relationship started with so much love in it that my heart will just burst with happiness. I love a good love story.Was this review helpful to you?
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Keep an open mind because TOKI will surely win you over.
Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun is a BL story about a third-year student in High School falling in love with the new teacher who have been helping him with his stuff. I don’t think I was able to fully showcased what this story is about and I do think that they are treading on a very steep hill on this one. Why? I want to talk about the obvious first. This is a love story between a teacher and a student so there is already a power dynamic that is a bit imbalance and this is always a tricky situation. Sahara is the teacher and Toki is the student. I will say so many good things about Toki later but I want to address the biggest red flag in the story which is the age gap and the imbalance in the power dynamic. The way that they handled the story is Toki is the one who fell in love with Sahara first and he is very much honest about it. He is the kind of person who is very in tune with his emotions and you can easily see that he is the one who initiated this relationship but you can clearly see how the writers set the boundaries here by making sure that the relationship is not sexualized. Yes, they have the more romantic scenes but they are not overly sexualized or is not suggestive of any kind. Sahara is very careful too and waited for Toki. He fell in love with him but I think it is safe to say that there is not forceful thing that happen. I don’t think that he actively pursued him or did things that would lead to him misunderstanding things. I am not trying to justify anything here but I just want to say that I don’t think that there is anything predatory about the relationship. At the same time, I don’t want this part of the story to overshadow the fact that TOKI IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTERS THAT I HAVE SEEN because he is that kind of person who is like the perfect definition of kindness and I seriously think that we need more people like him who is loyal to his friends because if you will try to fully understand what this show did is that it is really Toki’s story as he experiences falling in love for the very first time. There is ana immediate attraction for him and he really wanted to pursue the person who only saw him as a student. I don’t think that is a predatory factor to it and I am welcome to more discussion about it because there might be things that I am not seeing here. Toki is such a good person and I personally wanted to have someone like him in my life as he oozes with so much confidence but he is not tacky, he is honest but not hurtful, he is vulnerable but not weak, and he may not be the smartest but he is surely one of the kindest. I seriously think that if we get to see more people like him in this, the world will seriously be a good world to live in. He is not perfect but he is pure. I love that about him. He has this emotional connection with Sahara and I do like how it started all from his perspective because he can easily be misunderstood but he is super kind. He is also a very loyal friend. I love that he was able to start amazing friendships with Rise, Shinji, and Takuya. Their friendship is also highlighted in the story without even forcing the story. They are there but they have their own storylines that are actually very good too. I love the writing in this show and how they are giving all the characters a chance to shine without moving away from the main storyline. It is so cool and so smart. It is really commendable. I do like to see more of the relationship of Sahara and Toki. I think they can still explore the age gap storyline better. I think there is still more to explore there that they were not able to touch upon before or better explored. There is so much more room for this show to explore and I really do hope that this is just not one season show because I would love to see more of Toki. He is the highlight of this show and he really owned it. Also, shoutout to Hachimura Rintaro who played Toki because he was amazing in this show. He really pulled it all together. The aesthetic is also good. I love how vivid the colors are and how they used to put more light in the sweet moments. It is a good highlight to what is happening. I am not mad at this show but I want more.Was this review helpful to you?
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Tokyo in April Is.. Beautiful
Tokyo in April is.. is a Japanese BL series that is about Kazuma and Ren who have been friends for a very long time now but they have been separated when they had sex for the very first time with each other. I am not sure if I was able to relay that information correctly but they had sex but things turned awry so Ren developed fear of hurting Kazuma so much but little did he know is that even though he thought that Kazuma is not in love with him, Kazuma looked at him and wanted to really be with him. This is why when they met again, Kazuma easily agreed to be friends with benefits with Ren even though he just really wanted to be with him forever. This is an intense BL story and I think that they did not get enough credit with this one because it tackled very dark themes that needs to be talked about more often than not. The relationship of Ren and Kazuma is complicated and it is a bit darker than usual because there are themes like suicide, sexual assault, and more involved but what I love about this is that they handled it in a different way. They did not make light of it or disregard it immediately but what they is to show how important it is to have someone that you can rely on in moments that you need them. Their relationship is mostly shown in amazing montage of them staying at home being so sweet to each other. The chemistry of these two is pretty good. I love the scenes where they were just being sweet with each other. These scenes are the best parts of the show because it is giving the characters a good time to breath and be sweet with each other but, at the same time, it is giving the audience a chance to have moments with them and just invest with the relationship that we are seeing. This made us root for them so much more which I love so much. I love Ren and Kazuma and I seriously wanted them to be end game because of this. This is why when the story started to tackle the themes that we have, I was already invested with the relationship and wanted them to be together. I really do. The scene where Kazuma learned what really happened to Ren and the way that he responded to it somehow gave me so much hope that Ren will now have someone who will be there for him and will love him no matter what. It is just a beautiful moment. I am not sure why but it felt so romantic to see Kazuma finally fight for Ren after everything that Ren had to go through, he now has someone who he can rely on and loves him no matter what. This is why I fell in love with what ending. It is such a strong ending to a simply beautiful story.Was this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
When I watched the movie, I seriously told myself that I wanted a TV series or anymore projects with Adrian Lindayag and Keann Johnson to be together so seeing this show for the longest of time just made me the happiest kid. I just want to say that, this may not be in a more mainstream platform and is in an online content, I am very happy to see a major network in the Philippines showing a BL series to the masses. I think we need more of these. I know that there are several of these projects already but they are still very few so I am so excited to see this and I hope that there are more kids out there that are going to watch this and will feel that their love is valid and it is okay to fall in love with the person that you want to share your life with. Okay, I am getting a bit too emotional here but HEY! Love makes me emotional especially when it is done well and respectfully. The story of Dominic and Lucas continues as they embark into a world where being in love as both men is still frowned upon. Yes, Philippines is a country that still judges people who are different. We say that we accept them but, as a gay man in this country, I feel tolerated and not accepted. They are still both students in a Catholic school. FUCK YEAH! I am from a Catholic school as well so I know how difficult it is still to be in a relationship. They are okay with you being gay as long as you are not in love with someone else. It is horrendous. I know that there are more people and schools trying to be inclusive but I like that this show is tackling these issues while giving us something that we can really consider as romantic. This kind of writing is exponentially so much better and deserves so much more respect of. I am serious when I say that this show is moving mountains with the way it is handling inclusivity, homophobia, coming out, religion, and tolerance. The friends of Lucas are indifferent now to him because he is seeing a guy and Lucas was kept on being labeled in different ways. The sad thing about this is that Lucas is still trying to understand who he is as a person and he is in his first same-sex relationship. This is so much hard for him but he is lucky to have that support from his mother. You can say whatever you want to say but he is so lucky to have that kind of respect and love from her. I seriously mean that not a lot of people actually experience that. We have seen this in the story of Dominic. He may seem to be the more feminine one but that is only okay as long as he is smart and is not acting upon it. We have seen how her mother treated her after that beautiful kiss in the prom. Yes, they have shown two gay characters attending prom together. Well, two pair of same-sex couples. Yes, for inclusivity and equality. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the final problem that they will have to face because they are experiencing backlash from the people around them. This is just representative of the world that we are living in. I am such a cynic but the reality of these moments ring so close to home for me. I think what this show provides is something that is way more important than what we see nowadays. It is giving the old generation hope that they were not afforded and is giving the younger generation a chance to live their lives the way that they are supposed to. The ending was a bit different but it did not feel tragic. I like that the ending highlighted their love for each other without forcing them to be separated. This is the kind of representation that we need more of and is something that we should celebrate more often. It is such a beautiful story and it is working really well. The chemistry between the two leads and the way that it explored more themes than the first movie makes this series so much better. Also, I want to highlight how amazing of an actor Iyah Mina is. She is marvelous and she may only have a supporting role here but the sincerity is remarkable. All in all, Love Beneath The Stars provide us a love story that is meant to shared to everyone so that it could be a reminder that true love exists in all genders. Was this review helpful to you?
