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This review may contain spoilers
The thrills and tribulations of being a teenager
Being an actual teenager, it is no way perfect - but that's exactly why it is perfection. And that's exactly why Boys in Love is a perfect ode to being a teenager.
The story didn't quite catch on, at least for me. As I see it, there was no real plot - the entire series was based around being a high school senior. Not saying that it's not a good prompt, but I like it when my stories have a direction. The series sort of chronicles that weird time between being a student in school and a university student called 12th grade, but even just as a diary/journal series, I think the plot could have been better explained and executed.
But the true charm of Boys in Love lies in nostalgia - that feeling of first love, the stress of studies, the smallest of achievements that felt monumental and the stakes, which in retrospect, were not all that high. You're transported to those days when you were taking pictures with your friends when you could because phones weren't allowed in class, when you had all your plans neatly co-ordinator on your journal or pinned up on your poster board. It just feels incredibly transportive, even if the things the characters are going through in the series aren't the ones you personally went through, the emotions are the same.
Those moments of growing up, of change and confusion that made you happy, sad, angry - seem wonderful all the same.
Now, this was primarily a romance, even with it's moments of the life of teenagers, so coming to the actual couples:
Shane and Kit - they were really cute. Started out with a classic enemies to lovers storyline and by episode 12, they actually had quite a bit of depth to their relationship. They communicated quite well, but they are teenagers after all. And because of that, a lot of their relationship was focused on the eventual outcome of things. Ton of emphasis on the outcome of their relationship, the outcome of their studies - it was always about an end goal in all their conflicts and honestly? Understandable. Every decision made during that time feels like a "this is it" decision and I like the way they had both Shane and Kit be unreasonable but still have the strong sense of wanting to move forward and grow. Their love story reminded me of so many people I know, but their relationships were a little more dramatic than Shane and Kit's.
Mon and Kim - they had a decent start, a very cute love at first sight - strong infatuation love story, but beyond that, I just felt it to all be very surface level with Kim and Mon. They were cute, of course, but unfortunately, their arc didn't do much for me. They had some great moments, for example, there were plot points about being more open and trusting, about being more self sufficient in a relationship. The thing is, a lot of it was Kim and Mon growing as individuals, not really as a couple. And I love individual character growth - I do, so unbelievably much, but I didn't really see their dynamics as a couple grow, they were literal teenagers in love and I wish I enjoyed their love story more than I did. It was all in from minute one, and not having the opportunity to see how their bond developed was a bit of a disappointment.
Khru Tan and Khru Nut - looking at me going from not appreciating two teenagers in love to raving about two adults who behaved like two teenagers in love. I loved these two together, they were awkward and sweet and watching them in a series about twelfth graders didn't feel out of place because it genuinely felt like they were each other's first loves and were figuring out romance for the first time. There wasn't much we saw of them (they were not one of the main couples), but what we did was two individuals grow more confident and self sufficient, while developing a relationship - which is where they nailed it. Even though I would have liked for their story to be more fleshed out, I did appreciate their cute and weird bond.
Per and Tar - weirdly enough, my favourite couple was the couple that wasn't a couple at all. They had their cute romantic moments, they were the epitome of old married couple and they stole the show everytime they showed up on screen - almost literally not a lot of times, but boy did they steal the show. Their friendship was absolutely beautiful and it wasn't smooth sailing, Per and Tar's entire thing was a "will they - won't they" situation, which even they seemed to recognize. Their's was an established friendship, so you could completely understand where the strong bond came from, and even when they had some misunderstandings, they talked it out very maturely while still maintaining their adorable banter and easy dynamics. They were my absolute favorite, a couple of friends, with the old married couple vibes and a few romantic moments.
Genuinely though, this made me happy. Even without a plot, this made me happy and that's all you want sometimes, to just smile through a drama and I guarantee this can do that. I hope the review convinced you to give this a chance because it's worth a watch, just go for it ♡
The story didn't quite catch on, at least for me. As I see it, there was no real plot - the entire series was based around being a high school senior. Not saying that it's not a good prompt, but I like it when my stories have a direction. The series sort of chronicles that weird time between being a student in school and a university student called 12th grade, but even just as a diary/journal series, I think the plot could have been better explained and executed.
But the true charm of Boys in Love lies in nostalgia - that feeling of first love, the stress of studies, the smallest of achievements that felt monumental and the stakes, which in retrospect, were not all that high. You're transported to those days when you were taking pictures with your friends when you could because phones weren't allowed in class, when you had all your plans neatly co-ordinator on your journal or pinned up on your poster board. It just feels incredibly transportive, even if the things the characters are going through in the series aren't the ones you personally went through, the emotions are the same.
Those moments of growing up, of change and confusion that made you happy, sad, angry - seem wonderful all the same.
Now, this was primarily a romance, even with it's moments of the life of teenagers, so coming to the actual couples:
Shane and Kit - they were really cute. Started out with a classic enemies to lovers storyline and by episode 12, they actually had quite a bit of depth to their relationship. They communicated quite well, but they are teenagers after all. And because of that, a lot of their relationship was focused on the eventual outcome of things. Ton of emphasis on the outcome of their relationship, the outcome of their studies - it was always about an end goal in all their conflicts and honestly? Understandable. Every decision made during that time feels like a "this is it" decision and I like the way they had both Shane and Kit be unreasonable but still have the strong sense of wanting to move forward and grow. Their love story reminded me of so many people I know, but their relationships were a little more dramatic than Shane and Kit's.
Mon and Kim - they had a decent start, a very cute love at first sight - strong infatuation love story, but beyond that, I just felt it to all be very surface level with Kim and Mon. They were cute, of course, but unfortunately, their arc didn't do much for me. They had some great moments, for example, there were plot points about being more open and trusting, about being more self sufficient in a relationship. The thing is, a lot of it was Kim and Mon growing as individuals, not really as a couple. And I love individual character growth - I do, so unbelievably much, but I didn't really see their dynamics as a couple grow, they were literal teenagers in love and I wish I enjoyed their love story more than I did. It was all in from minute one, and not having the opportunity to see how their bond developed was a bit of a disappointment.
Khru Tan and Khru Nut - looking at me going from not appreciating two teenagers in love to raving about two adults who behaved like two teenagers in love. I loved these two together, they were awkward and sweet and watching them in a series about twelfth graders didn't feel out of place because it genuinely felt like they were each other's first loves and were figuring out romance for the first time. There wasn't much we saw of them (they were not one of the main couples), but what we did was two individuals grow more confident and self sufficient, while developing a relationship - which is where they nailed it. Even though I would have liked for their story to be more fleshed out, I did appreciate their cute and weird bond.
Per and Tar - weirdly enough, my favourite couple was the couple that wasn't a couple at all. They had their cute romantic moments, they were the epitome of old married couple and they stole the show everytime they showed up on screen - almost literally not a lot of times, but boy did they steal the show. Their friendship was absolutely beautiful and it wasn't smooth sailing, Per and Tar's entire thing was a "will they - won't they" situation, which even they seemed to recognize. Their's was an established friendship, so you could completely understand where the strong bond came from, and even when they had some misunderstandings, they talked it out very maturely while still maintaining their adorable banter and easy dynamics. They were my absolute favorite, a couple of friends, with the old married couple vibes and a few romantic moments.
Genuinely though, this made me happy. Even without a plot, this made me happy and that's all you want sometimes, to just smile through a drama and I guarantee this can do that. I hope the review convinced you to give this a chance because it's worth a watch, just go for it ♡
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