Daring To Dream

I am in line with where you are at- I liked the nostalgic vibe and the idea of the series. The theme song is good, the child actors were very good and the first two episodes were good- then the adult actors (and in most TV but especially in BL- they are chosen for their looks and ability to sell ships- not acting chops) did not match the skill level of the kids and the script and direction was all over the place.
Two good performances: Champ's grandpa elevated every scene he was in; Title as Name was able to convey more without words than most of the other leads were with paragraphs of dialogue.

Someone asked for examples of why the performances weren't great- to me no one was awful- but there were a lot of one or two note performances-
Man as Em was unable to generate believable chemistry with a compelling costar. His line readings that were sodden or fell flat.
Ja is another actor who as long as he can be even and pleasant does fine- but during his "breakdown" scene in the car and many other places where he was supposed to be fighting for love- he just appeared lost and unable to cry/emote/plead/have passion convincingly.
The director, casting and actor coach also take some of the blame for the general drop of energy after the friends went to college.

This is a ramp up in complexity for the director from the interesting The Yearbook project. The strain showed a bit- but if you are liberal with the skip button from ep 4 onward (skip all Champ/family scenes whenever Grampa not around for example) - you might enjoy this.

I thought Joon/Dunk were fine in SIMM- definitely not much story and the director wasn't helping much. Agreed with Pond/Phuwin- they were adrift in NLMG- at least FUTS was pretty funny (to me anyway). I don't get the acclaim for Eclipse - I felt just like Vice Versa- great premise that ended up a bit of a mess. I dropped VV and slowly finished NLMG and Eclipse. The other 3 I'm looking forward to!

Well put and there is no need to move on yet- take it in a minute or two...

that does sound worth watching- though Unforgettable Night is hilariously bad and I didn't make it past ep 1--- but someday!

FYI- like that you're both discussing and not putting each other down:) Future is fascinating - the author has so many works produced and pretty much all that happens is flirting and drinking- everyone sitting all the time- makes for cheap to produce series for sure! And look at the views En of Love Tossara and Future have- it is up there with more ambitious projects like Not Me that cost a lot more (and that show had some pretty uneven things as well- but still- it aimed a lot higher!)
On unrelated topiic- have you seen Weak Class Hero 1? Some of the best fights I've seen in a non martial arts film- and trauma for days!
I'm interested in your list as well:)

Another one note character in this is JW's supposed best male friend Tae Hyung ( give me some complexity or cut it) . He does nothing but snipe at JW and leer at girls.
I did watch TMS2! And yes, I thought the writing there was absolutely ridiculous lol. I don't mind an unredeemable character as long as they don't suddenly try and make them fluffy and in perfect endless love as credits roll:) TMS2 had repetitive reject/pursue theme for first 8 episodes and two fluffies to close out. Also the ex gf that appeared out of nowhere and someone who opens a high end restaurant with zero customers and runs it for a year.....but amazing acting and the director made beautiful flashback edits.

ep 4 was such a waste- whole episode of crazy ex one dimensionally being mean to potential current crush- cause ---- oh it fills screen time and we ran out of ideas!

also one of the main characters is not redeemable after ep 8 for me- so the writing and editing are weak points- I really like the freshman and his friends, especially the restaurant owner. Acting good, some nice surfing cinematography and good music choices.

I felt it could have been 8 lol

I had to rewatch the last 10 minutes just to make sure what I thought happened happened--- pay close attention to surfboard positions for the times they are sitting next to each other watching the waves

I also thought the actress as Kaipa's mom was good and Mix as well. Be curious to see what you think about ep 4 of Eighth Sense!

People love to complain! I feel Earth/Mix shine under P"Aof and his film team. They were even better here than in TOATS and that's saying something. Last few episodes felt rushed but what a show- and a more mature realistic story

are there really people who do that? TO be fair- Viki ratings are ridiculously high- 8,9 there is like a 7 on MDL lol. I thought School Prez and Moonlight were worthy of 8+ ratings- then again so are Dating and Shoulder:) Now I think Love in the Air, Eclipse and Cutie Pie should be below a 7 heh heh

I've only watched 1.5 episodes and that had pretty much zero plot lol.

It really is too easy to be harsh on comment boards lol.
I will say- this series did have an anti climactic ep 7- the perennial question of "now we're a couple- what then?" hangs over this- as well as one of my all time fave series SOTUS - and the acclaimed high 5 in 2gether. The actors and team still did a great job on Shoulder- I just wish it had ended at ep 6.
Cherry Magic had a great non kiss kiss (another of my all time faves) There are multple ways to deal with it. I liked this story so much I did read the manhwa- and the author acknowledged the love story piece might have not been done as well as other aspects- that is ok- I'm glad both versions exist.
Some viewers just want hot scenes and there is that. What ya gonna do?

and those time skips---- lazzzzy - at least they didn't have "stern chaebol father sends one of them overseas to study and therefore they don't communicate for 4 years"----- We Best Love and WYEL have entered the chat:)

bwa ha ha- or hopefully just less repressed!

although it is (most unfortunately) pretty common for dead fish kisses in the straight rom-coms too- just watched Gank Your Heart and at least 3 couples were fish kissing away. I've heard it is to "protect the female actress's innocence"?

thanks- it was only on a sec on the beach and grabbed me immediately!

Also never ever go into a street in a quiet residential neighborhood- what one K-Drama viewer describes as "the white truck of doom" will surely teleport without warning!!!

oh good- Book was weak sauce in his debut- where I thought Force was pretty good in Enchante