FictionFan

Unreliable narrator done right

Clever storytelling. The show starts in Yoh's perspective, and only gives us his very biased interpretation of what is going on, based on his limited information. As the character learns, so do we, and each episode reveals more of what is truly happening between the two leads. This is how stories are meant to be told. And it is super exciting to see an unreliable narrator used in BL, especially since it doesn't happen often. But because it doesn't happen often, it's somewhat risky; people can drop these stories too soon, before the whole truth can be revealed. Or they get so sold on the lie, they can't let it go even after the truth is revealed. Personally, I'm glad this show took the risk. I love stories told this way. It's clever. And I definitely recommend watching all the way through so you can judge the entire story as a whole before deciding what you think of it.

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A good story with fantastic characters.

Starts strong. Ends strong. Lags a little in the middle, but not too badly. Good story. Brilliant actors. Wonderful characters that take a while to get to know, but are worth the effort, and by the end I didn't want to say goodbye.

Honestly, I was a little concerned at the start. Some moments seemed a little over-dramatized, I wasn't sure if I'd like the characters, and some moments felt so silly I wasn't sure if I'd care about the stakes. But the more I watched it, the more I loved it. Before long, I loved the characters, was super invested and emotionally engaged, and some of those early decisions made a lot more sense and I approved of them in hindsight. The show is an interesting mix of serious and ridiculous, and once I got used to the style, I found it highly enjoyable. I think it works because it doesn't hold back on anything: the fun stuff is fun, and the serious stuff is taken seriously, so the balance works. The show knows how to make you laugh, but doesn't hesitate to break your heart and stomp on it (prepare your tissues).

The actors who played the main leads did a brilliant job. There were times they had to play multiple characters, and even when they were dressed the same, you could tell which character it was just by the acting, which is a testament to their skill. They also had a lot of extremely challenging scenes, and they pulled them off every time. Truly amazing skill. I was convinced by their acting, and really felt like I was watching real people go through real experiences. I can't praise the main leads enough.

I admit, I was a little disappointed that at the start we were promised main characters who shape-shifted and had no legs, but those elements visually disappeared part way through, and all the main characters looked perfectly human for the rest of the show. But I understand this was probably a practical issue. There was a lot of CGI already, and having to constantly use CGI for main characters would've added a huge amount of extra work and possibly influenced the quality overall. Given the budget, they did well.

As for the story adaption... They adapted it well. I know sometimes it can seem creators are twisting themselves in knots to get around censorship, and their decisions can be judged pretty harshly because of it. But I can't imagine the difficultly they face with these adaptions, and honestly I think the changes in this case make sense and the story holds up. I try not to compare adaptions to the original, but take the drama for what it is. I admire the work that went into this, and I think the final product is good value and makes sense as a story.

Overall, a great show, well worth watching.

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Surprisingly complex

This show surprised me. It looks light and fluffy, but it's actually heavy and complex if you pay attention to the underlying themes. It's definitely a favorite, and I'd rate the main story 10/10. It's rare to find a bl series that explores the kinds of problems long-established and cohabitating couples face. It's even more rare to find a bl (or any show) that explores age-gaps seriously, and doesn't try to minimize the struggles couples face when they're at different stages of life. This show reflects the chaos of life in such a refreshing way, and does so with realistically unreliable narrators. I highly recommend watching it all the way through with an open mind, before coming to a conclusion (and remember it uses unreliable narrators, that's important!).

Essentially, this series starts with two established couples who are having serious issues. The series follows them as they try to figure out life, grow as people, and repair their relationships. It's heavy stuff. Both couples have a significant age-gap, so that's an overarching theme. But a lot of other issues are explored, too. The nature of marriage, love languages, maturity, coming-of-age, social hierarchies, economic hierarchies, discrimination, equal rights, respect, miscommunication, secrets, guilt...

I adore this show. I find the many layers fascinating. Essential parts of the story are told through expressions and body language, and it's hard to pick up on it all while reading subtitles, so I get more out of it every time I watch it.

After watching it so many times, there are a few things I thought it might be helpful for people to know going in, so they can make the most of this show.

Firstly, it's important to know that a lot of the story is told through expressions and body language, so it's hard to understand what's really going on unless you can read micro-expressions and subtitles at the same time. I can't, so I have to pause A LOT. But it's worth it. I love that it's done this way. The acting is phenomenal and adds so much richness to the story.

Second, even though the show seems simple, the heavy issues the couples face are not being minimized or romanticized. There are layers. Some layers are told slowly, some are only told through facial expressions... it takes time to piece the story together, and while I absolutely love that method of story telling, it can be risky (particularly in bl, where it's not done often so can surprise people). But I promise you, when the whole story is pieced together, it's a really beautiful and inspiring story, and it's beautifully told.

Lastly, it's important to know both couples have a significant age-gap, and that plays a central role in the story. The MCs are in very different stages of life, and that makes things very complicated. And society is super judgey. But I promise, all romantic relationships are between consenting adults. And the exploration of the complicated nature of age-gaps is actually really sensitively and wonderfully done.

Honestly, though, in hindsight I think the beginning actually does a pretty good job of warning the audience that this story isn't a simple fairytale. The couples have to fight really hard to stay together. The characters are flawed. They make mistakes. Their relationships are messy. But the important thing is that they know what they want, and they put in the work to achieve it, and that's super admirable. The character growth in this show is impressive. The ending is beautiful. And I do really think the show conveys an important message.

Anyway, I know I've focused on the heavy stuff, but I really find this show very heartwarming and lovely. The characters are wonderful and adorable. The music is great. The ending is happy. And seriously, the acting is phenomenal (particularly Zee. But everyone else too).

One last thing: while the main story can be watched over and over and over, and never gets old or boring, I readily admit the side-stories don't have the same level of rewatch value, and I have started to skip those on rewatch.

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Clever and heartbreaking metaphor

This show blows my mind and breaks my heart. But is also sweet and heartwarming. (Trust me, you'll understand after you watch it.)

This show tells you pretty early how to interpret it: it's a metaphor; a mystery but not about scary ghosts; a "film" that's using a creative way to tell a deeper story, and every detail has a deeper meaning. Seriously, there are so many layers. Stories within stories (and stories within stories within stories). And every single layer broke my heart more!! Though I loved that the overall message appears to be hopeful.

You might say this show uses a slow-burn approach to storytelling. Whether you're taking the story at a surface level, or reading deeper into it, the story comes together slowly. There are clues all along the way, and the layers gradually weave together as you get more and more details, the relevance of certain scenes or conversations only becoming clear much later. Personally, I adored this method of telling the story and thought it was perfect for the particular story/stories they were telling.

Because of the slow-burn style of this show, I strongly recommend watching it from beginning to end before judging (you need all the pieces before you can make an accurate judgement). But even if you're just looking for a sweet surface-level romance, this is a beautifully original love story and I highly recommend it.

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Should've deleted the romance.

Was a great show, with a lot to love. I loved the characters. Loved the found-family and team dymanics. The friendships were brilliant. Ji Sung was brilliant, as always. Even the romance was going OK up to a certain point. HOWEVER, they should NOT have gotten together.

The guy said he wasn't interested. He said 'no'. He was very clear about what he wanted, and didn't want. And when the FL finally said she understood his boundaries, I had so much hope.

Sadly, she broke her promise and trampled his boundaries, after promising not to. And they ended up together, which was super disturbing to watch.

I know not everyone will see it this way, but after a certain point in the show, I got really uncomfortable with the unhealthy, codependent, power-imbalance between the FL and ML (with her having power over him).

Manipulating someone into a relationship they've said they don't want, is not an act of love. Pushing someone who said 'no', into saying 'yes', is not an act of love. And using someone's vulnerability or disability, to push them into a romantic relationship, when they've trusted you to help them with their vulnerability and/or disability, is wrong. I've heard that some people find the ML frustrating because it's always the FL chasing the ML, but that's precisely my issue with the FL. He turned her down repeatedly, so she shouldn't have kept chasing him!

I know that sounds harsh, but seriously, my only gripe with this show is that they got together. I think the particular dynamic of their relationship would've better suited a platonic relationship or an open ending. The FLs 'love' was so extreme it felt more like worship/obsession/codependency, not real love. The ML communicated his boundaries and feelings, and the FL insisted on her own way, because apparently she knew better. Rather than a romance, I felt like I was watching a vulnerable person being gaslit.

Like I said, I know not everyone is bothered by the stuff that bothered me. And even though I've made the whole show sound pretty terrible, it really is a great show. I was even tolerating the romance up until a certain point. Sadly, after that point, the romance takes so much focus that it's hard to ignore. But still, if they hadn't got together, I would've rated this show 10/10.

Overall, a great show that could've been awesome. Ji Sung was brilliant. The story was interesting. The characters were great. The friendships and teams really made the show. It's worth watching at least once, so you can make up your own mind.

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Gets better... mostly.

This drama starts off pretty ridiculous, and has a lot of silliness throughout, but I loved the main characters, and a lot of the side characters, and the overall story was great. I particularly liked how strong both leads were. They were both very damaged and flawed, but they matched each other's strengths and challenged each other to be better. Loved their dynamic. The mixture of silliness and seriousness was a little weird at times, and the acting wasn't always the greatest (pretty sure the actors sometimes forgot their character had just been shot. Unless that was meant to be part of the silliness?), but overall, a good show. BUT WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?!?!?! SAD!!!! VERY VERY SAD!!!!!

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Interesting concept

Great story. The obsession with the mum was a bit much, and the ending didn't quite deliver on all the promises, but it was still very enjoyable and a brilliant concept. I really wish the dark obsession (which was the entire point of the show!) didn't just disappear without explanation. I was so fascinated to watch a dark psychological romance with an obsessive ML, and for the most part, it delivered. I think they chickened out a bit at the end, or maybe they were just short on time. I'd love to see it extended and for them to maintain the darkness all the way through. But overall, not bad.

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Fighter/Tutor are awesome

This is a hard series to rate as a whole. Admittedly, the bad was pretty bad. But the good (Fighter/Tutor) was so great it brought the overall rating up. But if you find yourself struggling with it, I recommend just watching the Fighter/Tutor storyline. That's what I do when re-watching, and it's a complete story that is great on its own.

Seriously, I loved Fighter/Tutor so much. I adored both characters individually, and adored them as a couple. My only complaint would be that the ending was rushed. They squished what should've been AT LEAST an episode (I'd argue two or three) into barely ten minutes. Some things shouldn't have worked out that quickly, and even the bits that did should've had a lot more emotional fallout. The F/T story had been so good at depicting emotional turmoil and distress in response to tough situations and inner struggle, so it was sad the same level of attention wasn't given to the resolution of those same problems. Seriously, I had whiplash from how quickly all the problems disappeared. I would've loved them to go deeper.

Still, the rest of the story was so great, the rushed ending didn't detract much. And I understand there were time constraints.

But we have to talk about the acting! The acting was fantastic! Particularly Zee. I cannot praise Zee's performance highly enough. He was brilliant.

As for the rest of the show... not my thing. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't enjoy it. The humor wasn't my taste. I cringed so hard in a lot of scenes. Other scenes felt completely irrelevant and like filler. There were way, way too many side plots for my taste. So, as I said, now I just watch the F/T story and skip the rest, and I kind of wish I'd done that from the start. But I know others enjoy the rest, so I think it's worth trying at least.

If I rate only the F/T story, I'd rate it like this:
Story: 9.5
Acting: 10
Music: 8
Re-watch: 10
Overall: 9.5

If I rate everything else on its own, I'd rate it very low. Overall, not so bad. I really do think the F/T story is good enough to bring the overall experience up a lot. But if you struggle with the series as a whole, just watch F/T and ignore the rest.

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Theme driven. Characters and plot are superficial

There was good stuff here. Some interesting themes and thought-provoking ideas. A pretty good mix of humor and angst. The actors did a good job. And I always adore childhood-friends-to-lovers. Overall, it was pretty good. But I was a little disorientated by some choices. It appeared the show was more invested in exploring the nature of divorce generally, than focusing on the MCs, their relationship/s, or any character specific plot. Which isn't wrong. Some people might enjoy it. But I felt some important moments weren't quite given the attention they deserved.

I loved the main couple, individually and as a couple. The start of their relationship was great. I loved that we got hints they'd both been in love forever, but Fu Li Gong became aware of it much, much earlier—which fits their characters. Given Zheng Ze Shou's personality, I'm not surprised he went turbo-fast once he became aware of his own feelings. Li Gong's freak out in the second half also made sense. He hid his feelings for a long time, scared of how their relationship might change; then everything did change, very suddenly, without any warning, and he didn't have the chance to process the changes or the consequences of the changes. A freak out at some point was inevitable, and I probably would've been disappointed if it hadn't come. Even so, I think the show didn't handle that entire conflict as well as it could have. Even though I understand why Li Gong reacted like he did, the show only presented the surface level. They accidentally make his anxieties seem shallow, and like he came to that decision unbelievably easily, given how invested he was in the relationship. The resolution is also a bit too easy, given the big emotions must have been going on. Given how long these two loved each other, and how much they had to lose if things went wrong (which is the entire point of the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope!!) the whole conflict kinda played out like just another disagreement and reconciliation. That being said, I like that Ze Shou eventually called him out (gently) for lying.

I don't really have much to say about the second couple. They were okay to watch, but I didn't get invested in them. Don't know why. They just didn't grab my attention.

In summary, I'm glad I watched it, and I might re-watch it to see how I feel the second time around. If my opinion changes I'll add a note to the end of this review. It's possible I was just thrown off by how unusual the show was in it's approach. Normally, a show that explores a super deep and emotional concept like divorce, will mirror that depth and emotion in the relationships. This show didn't quite match the energy. They went deep on the concept, but didn't mirror that intensity at all in the relationships, so I was left feeling the relationships were surface level and lacking (even though I might not have otherwise felt that way). All that said, I'm not sure that this approach would suit my taste anyway. I can like shows that keep things light. I like shows that take things deep. But if I can only have deep themes or deep relationship, I'd rather a deep relationship with light themes, than heavy themes with relatively surface-level relationship. But that's just me. If I end up re-watching it (which I'm not sure I will) I'll let you know if I change my mind on anything.

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Sweet and inspiring

I adored almost everything about this show. Karan and Achi were adorable, and really cute together. I loved the office and all the characters there. This adaption really focused on themes like hard-work, pursuing your dreams, overcoming challenges, found-family, personal-development... that kinda thing. Very inspiring messages.

I confess, though, I struggled with the Jinta/Min storyline. It was better than the Japanese adaption (IMO) and there was a lot to love about it (the message was very inspiring) but the comedy really, really wasn't to my taste. AT ALL!! But that was also my issue with the Jinta/Min storyline in the Japanese adaption so I think it's a problem I have with the source material not the adaptions (I haven't read the original).

As for what I thought of it as an adaption... I really loved that it was slightly different from the Japanese adaption. I think each version of a story SHOULD be different, otherwise there's no point having different versions, and it's fun seeing how different parts of the story are interpreted or presented.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.

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Vincenzo has a strong effect on people.

Starts strong, ends strong, becomes a little too procedural for a little bit in the middle, but not badly enough to ruin the show.

This show is very character driven, and while some people might find the pacing or plot to be ridiculous at times, if you focus on the character arcs, the pacing and plot make perfect sense. Particularly if you focus on Vincenzo as a character. He's a fun character, and I love watching the effect he has on everyone around him. He really brings out the best in some, and the worst in others. They either love him or hate him, and there's not much in between. It's Vincenzo and his effect on the people around him, that really make this show for me.

I also like how the 'romance' in the show is handled, and how it's very open to interpretation. I have my own interpretation, but I won't go into that here.

Overall, a highly enjoyable show.

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Confronting but beautiful

This is an amazing story of working through complex trauma. It has scenes that can be very triggering, so it's important to make a careful decision about whether to watch it.

Seriously, I loved this drama. It's a beautiful presentation of a healthy but complicated and unconventional relationship that requires work to get right. Uea has been severely and repeatedly traumatized, and he can be very reactive and impulsive and is a bit of a mess, which gets him in a lot of trouble and makes him an easy target for predators (which is scary realistic!). King has good intentions, but he's human and has his own needs, and he's inexperienced with trauma and sometimes makes bad calls. But together they grow as people, support each other, and their relationship is beautiful. By the end, they've both grown stronger, broken from old patterns, and freed themselves from toxic people. It's wonderful.

And I particularly appreciate that the characters are equals in their relationship. Both have agency (with each other) from the start. It would be so easy for the whole story to be about King serving/saving Uea, but it's not like that. King has his own wants and needs, and even though he is obviously head-over-heels in love, it's clear he wants to be a partner and support for Uea, not a 2D servant/knight. Sure, it takes them a while to figure everything out, but they can BOTH be themselves with each other. There's sometimes drama, but they support each other and can be a safe space for each other, and that applies to both characters equally. I love these characters, and I'm so glad they get a happy ending.

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