CurlyFries

I'm honestly surprised that I finished this series so quickly because I've tried watching shorter series with more interesting plots and put them on-hold indefinitely. But don't let this fool you into thinking this a gem or anything because it is undoubtedly something I wish I could get my time back from watching. I just don't understand how there are such high reviews on the uncut version on MDL because the story itself is so boring yet questionable at times. I'd also like to point out that I watched it on Youtube, so I'm assuming that was the cut version so I'm not 100% sure of what the uncut version contributes to the story, but I do know that I'd probably (dis)like it the same amount as I do with the cut version.

So I generally start these with a Likes and Dislikes list but I'll definitely tear into in the Dislikes section

Likes:
- Uea is confirmed gay
- Demonizing homophobia
- James and Net are scarily attractive
- Uea's sass was at times charming
- King looks good with his buttons down on his shirt
- Gunn was cute
- The big boss actually caring about his employees
- Talking about safe sex and get tested for STDs
- Setting rules for the friends with benefits relationship
- King's parents actually considering their son's happiness above and prejudices they may have
- That scene where Uea started unbuttoning his shirt to get King to close his was pretty fun
- Uea's aunt was sweet; nice to see a least one positive aspect in Uea's life beyond just King.
- The antagonists' actors played their scummy characters well. I believed every second of the scum quartet (pedo step-dad, bitch mom, psycho ex, and boss mc-grabby)

Dislikes: (oh boy here we go!)
- Uea's actor cannot play the emotional scenes at all. This is awful because this character is CONSTANTLY suffering and I swear I just felt awkward watching him try to portray a traumatized young man. They seriously needed someone that could shoulder the weight of playing a character going through endless suffering and James was just not it. They needed War Wanarat here to play such a distraught character.
- Why TF is Uea constantly suffering throughout the story? This man got molested by his gross ass step-dad throughout his childhood, got beaten and shamed by his whore mother, got cheated on and nearly raped by his psycho ex, got dubconned by King in like episode 1, and then of course he nearly got raped by his scummy boss. What. The. FUCK. I'm not even saying that I'm adverse to him going through multiple trials and tribulations in this story but dear god why is his suffering somehow worse than that lame ass main character from that Jinx manhwa????? You can make a main character be sympathetic and portray how trauma impacts a relationship without throwing every possible unfortunate thing at them and then call it "character building." They quite literally checked the noncon trauma box to every aspect of Uea's life: molester step-dad in his family life, rapey ex in his personal life, and pervy boss in his work life. Seriously makes me wonder how many yaoi manhwa the original writer referenced when trying to make the saddest main character known to man.
- This series (and the positive reviews) boast of how consensual the main relationship is, yet gloss over the fact that Uea and King's first night together was dubcon at best, and noncon at worst. Say it with me kids: someone. being. drunk. is. not. able. to. consent. Uea was heavily intoxicated to the point that King had to take him home and King was most definitely sober in comparison to him given how lucid he was and could think the situation through. He's even aware that Uea being drunk can't equal clear consent yet does him anyway! Why was this necessary? They could've tried to find the loophole of them both being equally drunk like most other shows do, yet they decided that making it a clear case of taking advantage of a drunk person was the best choice writing-wise. Great relationship-building guys! (I'd also like to point out that adding themes of lack of consent in a story doesn't automatically make it bad or disqualify a relationship between two characters from the jump, yet what bothers me the most here is how the story completely glosses over it and then acts like they are the most consensual couple ever.)
- Jade was annoying as fuck. So was the middle-aged lady and the trans(?) woman. Tired of the constant portrayals of transwomen and femboys in BL being these over-the-top, ultra girliepop people that can't seem to speak at a normal vocal level.
- Dear fuck this is the part that pissed me off the most. So in episode 4, Uea was just nearly raped by his psycho ex in his own car and narrowly escaped because of King's aid in scaring him off (instead of, oh I don't know, CALLING THE COPS OR SECURITY?????). Uea is (justifiably) shaken up and having flashbacks to his childhood trauma, and then it cuts to them chilling near some railing or something and King remarks how if he weren't there in time, Uea's psycho ex would have definitely raped him then and there. He then says something along the lines of "what will I get as a reward? (indicating sex)" and to this I have a question to pose as well, except to the writers: What the fuck is wrong with you?????? Who in their right mind thinks "Oh you know what a character with childhood molestation trauma that nearly just got raped by their psycho ex wants right after? To get fucked." WHAT?! They unintentionally made King seem like the scummiest character on planet Earth with this one line alone because why would he assume that a guy that was bawling his eyes out after nearly getting raped by his ex would want to reward him with sex that same day. This irked me so bad man. I nearly wanted to drop the score even lower just for this scene alone.
- The mother never really suffered the consequences of her actions. Was her crying over her diddy husband supposed to be her comeuppance? Well it certainly didn't satisfy my rage. This woman deserves to suffer for eternity for the awful shit she put her own son through. She was the ultimate villain, yet barely suffered at all. Honestly, Uea abandoning her only really works in her favor considering how much she stated she hated him and would've lived a far happier life without him around to pollute it.
- Psycho-ex is quite literally a sex offender yet doesn't suffer ANY CONSEQUENCES. Other than a punch. Wooooooow such a grave repercussion. He even still has a boyfriend from what is shown. What the hell?
- The step-dad is arrested but let's be honest, will he really suffer much in the long-term? There is barely any evidence and how much of a serious offense is sexual harassment (not even molestation and attempted rape as the charges) in the Thai justice system anyway? Would've been nice if they could've confirmed what his status in passing or something. But nope. We are completely left in the dark as to whether he even got convicted or not.
- The sexual-harasser boss didn't even get charged for what he did even though it was caught in 4K Ultra Definition. He just gets a slap on the wrist and probably moved to another department and still invited to the big boss' Thanksgiving dinners.
- Uea hating King so much at the beginning didn't even make sense because King didn't even get to ask him out at that bar and just because that twink boy called him over doesn't mean they're exclusive. Hell, he could've just met that guy that night. What was Uea so pressed with him for?
- King liked Uea so much but I never understood why. He wholeheartedly wanted his attention and affection yet Uea made it abundantly clear he didn't even like to be in the same office space as him. Take a hint buddy or else you'll be added to the ongoing list of Uea's harassers that seems to grow with just about every episode.
- The sex scenes were cringe affffff. I felt uncomfortable watching them. Opposite of what you want to feel when watching consensual sex scenes between two objectively attractive people of genders you are attracted to.
- Was Uea's trauma healed by King's dick game or something? It kind of felt like that. But at least they mentioned him seeing a psychiatrist by the end. That's something I guess.
- Time skip galore in the last two eps.
- King apparently has a hot older brother, yet we only see him once. I was so shell-shocked when he appeared because I was kept wondering that entire scene "who the fuck is this guy?"
- It made zero sense that Uea would agree to be friends with benefits with King out of nowhere especially because he seemed to dislike that fact that they had a one night stand at all. Was it really just because King gave pocket money to Uea's mom? Because if he agreed to it out of gratitude then that doesn't sit right with me at all. He should do it if he reeeeally wants to; not because he feels like he owes him (throwback to ep 4 when King asks for sex after saving Uea from a literal rapist).
- Opening pissed me off the more it played and would sometimes interrupt the flow of the scene before it to the point that I would get whiplash.
- King really felt like his only true personality trait was "I want Uea to give me attention." Felt really juxtaposed when next to Uea's "I have trauma. Like, literally every single episode. Brace yourself audience. It's going to get emotional. Though, you probably won't feel it because my actor can't mimic a crying person to save his life."

To be honest the music (other than the annoying intro) was alright but not noteworthy. Same with the production. They looked good on the boat though I'll say that. And that like one scene when there were at Uea's hometown and on the mountain and inn. I really hate when there is a filter or extreme makeup to powder on the actors' faces because it just takes away from their natural beauty in my opinion and makes them look like porcelain dolls.

Rewatch value? I would give this a 0 if I could but this site only goes as low as 1 so I'll stick with that (though in spirit it is a 0). I wouldn't even rewatch this for drunken fun or to make fun of it because it is frankly too boring to do that. At least nonsense like Love Syndrome III and The Heart Killers are rewatchable because of how entertainingly awful they are, but Trauma Friend is just plain stale. I'd also avoid putting myself through Uea's never ending suffering and James' inability to create a genuine look of suffering on his face. I can't enjoy a traumatized character if they don't even look traumatized (directed at whoever had reign over the casting choices).

To conclude, I really want my time back from watching this. I feel so burnout from watching a 10 episode series and I find that astounding because it somehow almost makes me feel as dead inside as The Legend of Zhen Huan did. And that show was 76 episodes.

Would I recommend this? Fuck no. The acting isn't worth it, the music isn't worth it, the set design isn't worth it, the plot most definitely isn't worth it, the characters aren't worth it, and the smut (which face it, that is what drew majority of people in) is cringe and soooooo not worth it.

Goodbye to Trauma Friend and hope I never see you again ~