Blkittykat

It spirals out of control

Truth be told, the high rating is only because I adore the leads. They have beautiful chemistry, oh so smooth, which is why it sucks that the story barely focused on them.

Every single character but Boss and Tob probably had more screentime, and I wouldn't really say it helped the story. Over the top acting, stilted dialogue, they couldn't get it right. There are plenty of dramas that depict unfettered chaos in the form of chaotic characters and situations like We Are Both Grooms and We Are Gamily, but despite the premise being similar it didn't hit the same. The runtime is of course not quite enough, but there are ways to make it more enjoyable.

Despite the drawbacks, it is a short enough series where the chemistry between the leads shines even with their minimal screentime. They need another series because watching this will make you want to watch (or rewatch) Destiny Seeker

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Soooooo..... TRASH

Trash may be a bit harsh.. no, no, I can't even fake it. This was bad.

But vampire dramas or movies, whatever they may be, they're meant to be a bit trashy yes? There's not a lot of logic, it's all a bit weird and campy, it's fun. We all remember spider - monkey.
But what happens when that required campiness is so bad that it makes you want to roll your eyes until you can see your brain? You get My Golden Blood!

Logic and common sense both take some serious hits in this series, and the writers knew that this story doesn't require much logic, because there was none. Gaping plot holes and inconsistencies galore that I was worried one of the characters might trip over an inconsistency and fall into a plot hole. And the cherry on top?
The entire series is based off of falling for someone by the scent of their sweat.
I am not making this up.
Pheromones exist, but not like this!

This was incredibly bad, I still cannot comprehend just how much and I can't quite explain just how bad. Even without basing your entire story on one guy falling for another guy's smell, the writing was nothing to hit home about. The abrupt tone changes, going from incredibly sad to the leads making out, it was jarring. The music choices during certain scenes made me want to mute my device and start humming my own music because I could have come up with a better score despite knowing nothing about scoring a series.

The characters were written no better, going from being extremely supportive and protective to going "boo! we're not friends anymore!". They were all again, so inconsistent, so weirdly written and lacking any emotional depth, the kind that makes you want to root for them, feel for them. I guarantee, you will not like a single character by the end of the series, I had no sort of connection to any of them, and no reactions to anything that happened to them.

And plot twists? What plot twists? At least what plot twists you didn't see coming ten miles away, because they were THAT OBVIOUS. There was no need for a plot twist, having the villain be the villain is not a bad thing. But to do that, you need some nuance and.. well we can all see where this is going.

I will say, admittedly Joss and Gawin do have some chemistry. But it was all just a rich tapestry to cover up the weak writing, the absolute absence of any logic and the very subpar execution. Plus, it's just really hard to root for a couple when their entire relationship can be based off of the statement "you smell good".

I was so excited and we got squat. I could go on and on about how disappointed I am, but I don't think I want to. You try as much as you can with series about vampires and werewolves finding their soulmates to not take it seriously. And I tried, I truly tried to watch it without taking it too seriously but having watched all of it, I can safely say that the people who made this didn't take it seriously either.

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The Rabbit and the Moon

Love in the Moonlight is quite your basic plot at it's core - it's got all the clichés you would expect of a lakorn, down to the tiniest details, for example, the leads getting stranded somewhere (huh.. yeah). But what makes it work is surprisingly enough, the formula itself. That, and the chemistry between the leads.

I have not watched enough lakorns to claim subject matter expertise, but the ones I've seen all have ten scenes that always happen - may not be the same ten, but ten nonetheless that move the story forward, with things happening very conveniently just so the story can move forward. The leads come up with a plan and the script just happens to say that they will get caught halfway through the scheme?! Why not, because that means half their plan is complete, all the important setup is done - it's just the execution that needs fine tuning. Lucky us (unlucky them), we get to witness this plan circle around for five more episodes because they just keep getting caught time and again.

Love in the Moonlight follows Saenkaew, the prince of the kingdom Nanta, who needs to marry a Thai woman so that his family may survive the political changes his country is going through, changes that are resulting in the persecution of royals. His father has arranged for him to marry Pin - anong, a childhood friend of his but he has no interest in this marriage. He does not love her, but he's also bound by his duties, so he decides to go along with the plans while formulating his own, to ensure that his family can safely move to Thailand.

Before his wedding, his father sends to Thailand to start the process of asset transfers and to get to know Pin better - but the very first person he falls for (pun intended) is Sasin, her elder brother. Sasin is immediately suspicious of Saenkaew, he's worried about his intentions, especially after he catches Saenkaew sneaking around in his attempts to transfer the assets without a marriage of convenience, which means that he's certainly going to break off his marriage to Pin. But Sasin decides to put aside all his suspicions for the sake of his sister, who's actually in love with him, has been for a long time. But each time Saenkaew is caught in a "compromising" situation by Sasin, he gets more and more upset, which forces Saenkaew to reveal all his plans to him.

After a bit of convincing, Sasin decided he's going to help Saenkaew, as it is by far the best scenario for all parties, and this causes them to grow closer and closer, until it hits a point where they acknowledge something that's been apparent from the beginning - they've developed feelings for each other.

This is of course, just one plotline that's going on, there are several others that run intersecting with this one, involving Saenkaew's family, Pin's family, Sasin's friends, the political situation in Nanta, and a few others. It's a complex layering of story lines and characters that is both predictable and unpredictable - you can tell exactly how each character will behave in a situation, the situation will mostly go only one way - but the possibility that it could another way is very imminent (and nerve wracking might I add).

It's that kind of back and forth, between hope and anxiety for the leads that keeps you on the edge, and pushes you to press the "next episode" button. The absolute predictability of it all serves as a complete paradox to how well the series actually moves despite knowing every next move.

But the best part about this series is it's leads and their romance. While almost every second character is unsurprisingly one-dimensional, Saenkaew and Sasin are complex, deep and well written.
Sasin may seem like a typical protective, playful and flirty male lead, and to an extent he is - but his relationship with Saenkaew makes him a more cautious and calculated, more depth than perceived.
Saenkaew though.. my, my, my.. he is easily the best character in this by a mile. He is smart, strong, empathetic, and annoyingly adorable. I wondered with each episode just how he functioned, because he is a human angel and deserves the absolute best.
He is incredibly well written - so complex, yet with such a simple notion - he just wants to be a good person. He recognises that in his pursuit to be this individual, he will have to take risks and chance hurting people he really cares about, but because he's also smart and calculative, he's anticipated that these negative feelings are an unavoidable by product every way. He wants to be a good son, a good friend, and a good partner to someone he can truly love as a partner and he's even willing to sacrifice his happiness to an extent - until he isn't. Saenkaew is the best character, hands down.

And the romance? The flame that lit many fires was truly top notch. Sasin and Saenkaew's chemistry was just incredible, incredible enough to make my side eye about the absolute passion of their relationship disappear. Plausibility is not what I came for anyways - I'll take their heartfelt smiles and chemistry any day. The trajectory of their love story was not a simple one, opposition from characters you wouldn't expect it from is the least worrying thing - so many characters brought out actual pitchforks to try to stop them from loving each other. But Sasin and Saenkaew are the brightest spot, their love burns as bright as they do.

The rest of the characters can.. I have some choice words not suitable for a review but they can do all that. Some of them are human trash, most of them are bad people to an extent, some are surprisingly complex. Yes, perhaps most of them were presented as absolutes of good or evil, for the most part really one dimensional, but there was surprising depth. It did come a bit too late (and yes, I could not excuse the previous horrids), but I'm glad it came nonetheless.

I won't be covering the ending - I'll just say it was an emotional rollercoaster.
I will say the acting was brilliant. You can feel all the emotions from Inside Out in one scene, and the actors all deliver.

I'm not sure I've convinced anyone to give it a try - I've basically said a lot of it is not plausible, the writing is predictable, the characters are atrocious and the only saving grace are the leads. I'll just be straightforward then. You should try this. Yes, it's incredibly dramatic and a lot of things happen more out of convenience than confident writing, but lean into the vibes and drama of it all, and it is worth it.

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My happy place ♡

I'll keep this short and sweet, much like the series itself - I enjoyed this very, very much and I hope you'll give this a try and enjoy it as much as I did.

The Ex Morning is not a rom - com, it is a series that is incredibly realistic and mature, it's exes reuniting after all. The story is simple. Phi is a journalist with a bad attitude who is down on his luck and Tam is his producer there to help him get back on his feet. Through a series of flashbacks and present narratives we see their love story play out, and see how the past has shaped their present lives and attitudes. Apart from the love story itself, there is the story arc of Phi climbing his way back up to being a respected and dedicated journalist with Tam's help, and surprisingly, it didn't get lost in the romance.

The romance itself is mature and grounded, sure they argue like children at times but when the narrative continuously shifts between past and present, it's easy to see just how much has changed - and just how much hasn't. They've been through plenty of ups and downs, they go through many more and despite their pleas for an end card during rom - com inspired scenes, we all know well and truly, they'll face much more.
But that was what made this great, no over the top romantic moments, no musical crescendos, just two people falling in love with each other over and over again. There were arguments and misunderstandings, but also communication and support. They are not a perfect couple, but they are perfect for each other.

Sure - the reason for why they separated in the first place left me a bit disappointed, but I kind of also get it.

I'm a sentimental person, SOTUS was my first series ever. From the outset, this was going to be something I loved, but I'm just glad I can say I love this on merit of it being a genuinely good show - and not just because I love Singto and Krist. Their chemistry (which was incredulously brilliant) was an added bonus. That chemistry has just grown exponentially and I loved every minute of them on screen. And my stupid sentimental heart is just so happy and in love with everything about this ♡

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What can you do in 4Minutes?

You can listen to Why Don't You Stay by Jeff Satur.
You can watch an episode of Back to Seventeen.
You can drink a Thai Milk Tea.
The things that happened in four minutes here though..

Saying anything would spoil something, in essential, that would mean I can say nothing about the story.
But even this statement is an indicator of how mind bending the plot is, it keeps you on your toes, makes you come up with theories and you're invested throughout, just waiting to get all the answers to the tens and hundreds of questions that will inevitably pop up in your mind.
The synopsis is basis enough to go off on, at least according to me, since that way, there's no ideas on what you can expect, you can just let the complexity and intrigue of the story surprise you.

What you can expect though, in addition to the above, is great acting, NC scenes and brilliant cinematography. You'll want to rewatch the episodes over and over again to see if you missed any details and with eight episodes, it's a series you can watch quickly and revisit as many times as you want.

So grab your notebooks and pens, grab someone to discuss theories with, and just go for it. If you're not in the mood for something this complex and confusing, set it aside and come back to it later, because it is so worth it.

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Perfect

I've kind of spoiled my feelings on the series with the tagline, but we'll.. it was perfect.

I've done this review in four parts almost, one section each for each of the main couples (they each had eight episode arcs and have recurring appearances in the episodes where they're not leads), and a final section at the end with some encompassing thoughts about the series as a whole.

♡ Arm and Arc
I loved it.
Everything about it. A perfect score to start this off because honestly, it doesn't deserve anything less than that from me.

The story - so simple, yet effective. Just two people falling in love after starting off on the wrong foot, but not just that. It was the losers in love energy that absolutely sold me on them. The way everyone but the two of them could see they were head over heels for each other. Seriously, even guest characters figured it out two seconds after their appearance, took Arm and Arc eight episodes.

I exaggerate, of course, but that dynamic they brought, being unbelievably in love with each other but at the same time not being able to acknowledge it (for very good reasons actually, I was impressed), it made it so much more real and romantic. The initial animosity never really went away either, it just translated into a lot of flirting and misplaced feelings. They argued like children and flirted like teenagers, and even this had me swooning and waiting for them to get together. And the wait was worth it.

The anticipation, the pushing and pulling, the tiny jealousy flaring, and so much flirting was all worth it. Because even when they weren't together, they were together. And the chemistry between Force and Book?! Click - Click - Click!!! They brought it. The perfect mix of excitement and safety, you could feel that with every one of their interactions.

Not just them though, everything was amazing. The little glimpses of the other two couples, the supporting characters with their adorable and funny quips, the comedy, the guest characters and best of all, the side couple. Sand and Pond have interactions that make you want to sigh in happiness and wrap yourself tighter in your blanket because their relationship is like a warm hug.

I have no complaints about this one, they wanted to tell us the story of how Arm and Arc began dating (they actually said this in the series), and they did.

And I, for one, am incredibly satisfied with how they did it. I just love Arm and Arc.

♡ Gun and Yotha
I loved it too.

Imagine your first love. Imagine how full your heart felt everytime you just as much as saw them. Or heard their name. You feel butterflies and you're giddy and sure, it may be a bit angsty, but those feelings are still amazing. That's what Gun and Yotha's arc felt like.

On paper, these two are.. not your ideal pair. I mean, the Sunshine of the World (in Gun's own words) isn't who Yotha himself would've pictured as his partner, but wow. They made the perfect pair. This show is very aptly named by the way, you go into it wondering why they're perfect and after eight episodes, you can see why.

The sunshine/sunshine protector energy in this arc was HIGH, but it was also so much more than that. There was a lot to unpack in this arc, it turned out to be more complicated than I anticipated. The general theme without spoiling too much was 'will I be able to love?', and it was an emotional ride. This was not a simple love story, there was a ton of angst, a lot of uncertainty but also so much love.

Yotha was a complicated character and Gun was as straightforward as one can be, and that in itself makes for an interesting pairing, but you've also got a complex plot that plays out as tiny little obstacles to their love story, and that's when you realize that both of them are also such endearing characters, you can't help but fall in love with them falling in love with each other. Gun and Yotha not only brought out different sides and emotions in each other, they brought each other new experiences. Good or bad, they went through a lot together and it was the way they were always there for each other, so protective of the other person, constantly taking care of them. There were ups and downs (so many), but they always went back to each other and it turns out, he could love.

We also got to see more of Arm and Arc (who are still adorable together), some incredible supporting characters, one of whom is a lead as well.. and just a ton of adorableness from Gun and Yotha. The acting was incredible, the chemistry was SIZZLING, the comedy and the friendship were once again top notch and it was genuinely such an enjoyable love story. It was not simple, no way, but at the end of the day, their love for each was never a complicated concept.

Gun and Yotha are adorable together, and I love them.

♡ Faifa and Wine
You know how everyone has that one drama (or several) that they have a rating of infinity for? Because it's beyond a numerical rating, it's touched your heart in such a way that nothing can quite explain how much you love it? Their story is one of those for me, and I'm going to try my very best to describe why.

Fai and Wine have the 'I need to pick up my broken pieces before I love again' storyline going pretty strong for them, but they don't expect someone else to do it for them. They ask for help and accept it when offered, but they never put each other in the position where the other person has to pick up their pieces. They supported, uplifted and inspired each other in so many different ways and so many times, it was hard to keep track.

They each had their personal issues to deal with, but those two being around each other truly brought out the best in them. Fai said it best, that they never had to try too hard with each other. Fai and Wine's issues with giving someone the love they had, on one hand way too much and on the other, not knowing how were built up bit by bit until it came to a head and then taking a step back you could just see how much they'd been there for each other.

Such green flags too both of them. They communicated, therefore had no silly misunderstandings, they always made sure the other was comfortable around them and took care of each other - I have nothing negative to say.

The best thing ever - they were ADORABLE. Watching them fall in love with each other.. I believe my exact reaction to every one of their romantic and cute scenes went a little something like dhebuvdeubtrcfydkk!!!!!!!

♡ Final Thoughts
Initially I had this entire system set up for how I would rate the series but honestly, that doesn't matter now because it's a 10 from me. I talked myself into giving that score as I watched the finale because Perfect10 Liners deserves nothing less.
I've watched this for 24 weeks, I started watching when it started airing and never for a second was I bored. Watching all the romance, and friendships and shenanigans they pulled off has been a great part of my Sundays and I full on sobbed during the closing credits of the series realising that it was actually the finale I was watching. And this may be my emotional brain talking but nothing less than a 10 from me, but then again, maybe it's not me being emotional, it's just the series being perfect.

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Oh.. nooooo..

Oh I did not like this.

As a psychological thriller - it was neither of that for me. I don't know if I wasn't in the right mood to appreciate this or.. no I just didn't appreciate it.

The story was incredibly simple - no complications of any sorts and relied completely on jump scares and gore to coast through. It wasn't scary but it was incredibly gross, so there. They tried to build this suspense by casting the lead as this extremely unlikeable character (more on that later) but the intrigue you want to build doesn't work when almost every detail of the story is revealed early on, and you don't do anything after that to develop it into something complex.
I waited and waited for it to get a bit more exciting or a even confusing but it every "twist", you can see coming clear as day, and those you don't see, rely on making you want to throw up.

And. Every. Single. Character. SUUUUUCKED. Not that the focus shifted from the female lead much but I just grew to dislike them all because they were basically terrible humans or became terrible humans through the course of the movie. There was maybe one character who was decent? Debatable even then, you just don't care about any of them at any point. In that regard though, acting was good because all of the actors were super convincing and I can appreciate that.

I just wanted a good psychological thriller - I didn't sign up for a borderline offensive, gore fest that couldn't keep my attention.

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Keep Holding On

I always find that with dramas or movies based on real life, no matter how dramatised they may be, there's no room to distinguish between fiction and fact. We're watching an event of someone else's life play out, and whatever emotions they elicit in the one watching, I imagine they felt every single one of those emotions magnified to a thousand going through it. And how much of the events were adapted and changed to be made feasible as a series, I don't know, but it also doesn't matter because this was a raw, emotional and hard hitting look at the Tham Luang Cave Rescue.

And while we could examine the narration or the acting in the series, I didn't feel any need to do that because at the end of the day, it was powered by emotion. The panic, the desperation, the loneliness, the tragedy, the sorrows, the joy, the relief, the companionship, the overwhelming wave of emotions that hit you while watching are incredibly powerful. They didn't cut corners showcasing those emotions, they were palpable and they pierced you. In a matter of life and death, you truly feel powerless, like fate is tossing you around and you have no control, and the narration made that incredibly clear.

It is in moments like these though, that you can see what the human spirit is actually capable of, and how human nature which can rear its ugly head more often than not, can sometimes be the best thing ever. This was the most beautiful thing about a story that was brutal and tragic, watching human beings put aside all other matters to come together for the 13 Wild Boars.

The people in charge of the rescue had to make difficult choices, sacrifices. They were sometimes put in situations where they essentially had to weigh the life of one person to another's, and I cannot begin to understand the torment they must have felt.

The thirteen team members who were trapped in the cave had no choice but to keep holding on, with no contact to the outside world and no way out, just waiting to see if someone would come to their rescue.

But they held on. All of them hold on. To whatever it was they had. Faith, trust, conviction, and hope. They held on with every fiber of their being, and it moved me to tears.

There was a quote in the series, by one of the kids on the team who said "Bravery doesn't mean you're not afraid, it just mean you keep moving forward despite your fear."
I've seen and heard that so many other times before I did here, but coming at the moment it, and the magnitude of the statement, no others were more meaningful than this one.

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How do I even rate this?

Let me preface by saying I love a good pun.
A Perfect Match 🎾
A Perfect Match 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Huh?
My bad pun is probably better than this series was.

I imagine they shot this based on a scene breakdown instead of an actual script. Indications of what the scene would be without any real dialogue.
Or perhaps this is the cut version of an uncut version that doesn't exist, they just edited the cut version and then lost the hard drive which had the full, makes sense version.

The story had every single drama trope I can think of, even if they didn't show it on screen. Nothing made sense, absolutely nothing. There was a vague outline of a story that got lost in the hundreds of clichés seen and unseen and it was a hot mess.

The acting was pretty bad, the characters were pretty horrible. I guess the chemistry was decent, but overall this was around 100 minutes of literal nothingness.

And for a series about tennis, there were four scenes where they played tennis. FOUR

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Why would you name the series Petrichor though?

I know what it means, but oh boy it does not make sense with how the story played out.
I definitely came for the thriller aspect, not the romance because admittedly so, thrillers from Thailand are hit and miss when they include romance. Usually that means the story is awesome and the romance could've been better or vice versa. Here everything could've been better.

First of all, didn't need the uncut version because even with the extremely long episodes the story was extremely lackluster.

It was all so.. meh. The procedurals were laughable, the individual cases were so weak on their own when you realize that they set up an infinite amount of cases to be potentially related to the major case, only to dismiss them as individual cases within seconds of suspecting they may be related to the big case. That is how it usually goes, they have a hunch, it doesn't pan out but they get a new lead from that one, but here it all felt way too fragmented.

The characters - incredibly one - dimensional, the so - called villains were written like cartoon characters, and ultimately there was no real depth to anything in the drama.

And after all that, it was so, so easy to guess who the killer was lol. I don't know if it was supposed to be the shock factor but after a few episodes and reveals, it was incredibly obvious and I'm pretty sure that was the point when I lost interest. I mean yes, I go into a thriller trying to guess who the killer/villain is from the get go, but when you find out who it is less than halfway through the series, the reveal whenever it comes, loses some of it's punch.

I couldn't feel the chemistry between the leads either after the initial banter phase ended, they started dating and chemistry said I'm out of here. The acting could have been better just like the story could have been better, everything about this should have been better.

There were some things that I genuinely liked though, one was definitely the main villain reveal. Not the reveal itself, but the implications of the reveal to say the least without spoiling anything. A couple of actors did do an incredible job, no complaints there and I loved the teamwork moments they showcased at some points. But the rest.. eh.

It was nothing special, a few good twists and turns, the main reveal that didn't really hit, it could've and should've been better, but at the end of the day it was fine I suppose.

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A fast paced, quick watch

I'm a huge fan of variety shows like Busted, and I've been craving more content like it. As if right on cue, Agents of Mystery came out, and just from the preview, I knew this would be something I would enjoy.

For the most part, the mystery actually worked for me, which did take me by surprise. Some of the twists within the actual cases were definitely jaw dropping, and I did not anticipate them. The cases themselves were quite basic, what actually made them interesting was the cast.

This is my favourite part of mystery variety shows, the chemistry between the cast. And not only did the six participants have great dynamics, it was also incredible to watch each of their individual strengths. They also managed to create some moments of comedy despite being in very serious settings and I appreciated that.

When it came to solving each case, they had to rely on teamwork and trust each other, and the mix of solving the cases to the puzzles they had to solve to crack the cases was very well balanced. I do wish that there were more episodes though, I would have loved to see them get closer as teammates, and solve more cases.

If shows like Busted or The Devil's Plan is your cup of tea, give this a try as well. It's an easy and quick binge that will keep you on your toes with the mystery and delight with the teamwork

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I'm not talented.. but I'll try

I may have misjudged this show based on the trailer and the fact that only Off and Gun are listed as the leads, but make no mistake, none of that took away from how much I loved it.

I understand this may not be a common sentiment, but I genuinely loved this show. I don't need complex writing that's itching to create conflicts, or a plot that's completely out of the ordinary to enjoy a drama, sometimes I'm happy with a basic story with good emotional depth.
A tight story that's character driven, yes please!

And though I got a little fussy that Off and Gun, despite being billed as the leads, didn't have as much screentime as I expected them to, after a while I didn't think it was a bad thing. Sure, I'm still allowed to be mad that it was marketed one way and we got like a third of what they promised, but the fact that all the other characters got their time to shine is a good thing. I got to understand them better, I felt some of their stories and experiences on a personal level, I witnessed good character growth, not just for the support characters. The fact that Ryan and Jane also had time to grow into themselves, follow their dreams and figure out what they wanted, I think they handled that extremely well.
For what it's worth, even with the limited screentime, the Off Gun chemistry was amazing.

But, despite all my praise, I did find myself dissapointed with some things they did, actually one thing. The Tae - Ba Mhee - Judy love triangle.
*Sigh*
Not all growth is personal or work related, it can be romantic, but did it have to be this way? I don't think so.
All that push and pull, the kiss and the breakup, the tears and the arguments, it wasn't worth the eventual turn this triangle took. This is the one thing that genuinely frustrated me, all I could do was watch and rant.

Most of my review stems from the fact that this was a very personally touching story for me, and though you may not have experienced the same watching it, or though you may not have the same feelings watching it, I can say that this is worth a try.
Sometimes getting invested like I did is nice though, you may discover depths that even the creators didn't think about when making the show, and that's kind of wonderful ♡

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