Heracin

This SP lost all the entertainment value from the main series

It was so boring !!! Part of what made the main series entertaining was the high level of toxicity, the gaslighting and the overall mess. Here, what remains in this SP is empty storylines, cringe, poor acting and NSFW scenes which felt honestly lacking compared to the main show. Sorn, one of the ML, also became tamed and lost (most of) his unhinged and toxic side which was making the show crazy but entertaining.

The directing and filmmaking was very poor and the hair styling crew kept failing with their work on the series being even worse in this epilogue than in the main series, which I did not think was possible.

I would not recommend this unless you loved the main series and are just looking for something to watch with the actors serving some steamy scenes. For me it was even more a miss that the main series because of how tamed and empty it felt. The unhinged and entertaining factor went missing...And when that's gone from a trashy show, there is nothing left to have fun with...

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Interesting context and 1st half, weaker in its conclusion

This movie features a different kind of mystery locked-room, since as stated in its title, it involves 6 lying university going through a quite crazy (and highly competitive) hiring screening process.

There were enough characters and twists to make it interesting while remaining quite focused on a central mystery. If the first half was really good with all the build up to get into the locked-room and the locked-room aspect working pretty well in itself, the overall conclusion and morale was a bit on the weak side. The societal criticism felt lacking as the cycle seemed to be repeating at the end. The motivation of the actions of one of the character felt poorly explained to try to patch everything together in a clunky manner.

Production-wise, it was good enough to make every aspect of the events happening in the locked-room clear, except for the conclusive ones which were lacking (mostly because of the writing). Acting-wise, it was solid. Each member of the cast manage to play very well the bright and darker side of their characters' personalities.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy locked-room mystery. It is a bit different from the usual ones as the context of the screening hiring interview makes it a rather unusual flavor. However, the writing is weaker in the second half which, coupled with an average pacing, tempered my enjoyment of the movie.

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Impossible for me to not compare - It does not live up to the South Korean drama adaptation.

Even if I try to look at this movie in itself, separating myself from the South Korean drama adaptation (which was far from perfect, as well as what I have read from the source material, also pretty flawed), this film was quite a let down.

It is very colorful and pretty but the romance never worked for me, with the chemistry being very poor. That's the biggest flaw, with the lack of charism of the main cast. The role of Su Ho (called Kanda Shun in the japanese adaptation) is a pretty robotic one, but it felt even more bland in this version with the actor Watanabe Keisuke playing it in a very awkward way. The role of Seo Joon (here Igarashi Yu) gave me one of the strongest Second Male Lead syndrome but in this new adaptation, I felt nothing. To be fair, Tsuna Keito acting was not the worst but clearly he is suffering the comparison with Hwang In Youp from the South Korean drama.

While the movie took some shortcuts on the original story, the core of the story remained the same (even if I was frustrated at some scenaristic choices) but the feelings felt lacking as everything was accelerated. However, I feel it made perfect sense to split the story in a two part movie and to make the split at the point they chose to do it.

I would not recommend this movie to people as I feel the South Korean drama, despite its flaws, does a better job at bringing the webtoon to live. There are a lot of storylines that felt rushed off and the overall impression on this first part of the story is quite a superficial one as it does not dig enough into the suffering of the heroine and some of the most dramatic elements from the original story.

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Cute and sweet : very shojo in its core.

This series was a breath of sweetness, each episode felt like a nice treat in a shiny packaging. The premise was definitely refreshing at first with the main lead way of dressing. However, the story felt less novel in its last arc with the script hitting all the usual beats of the standard shojo romance.

Characters were very likeable which is foremost thanks to the solid acting of both main actor (Matsumoto Leo) and main actress (Osaki Ichika). Matsumoto Leo is incredible playing this multi faceted role. He really stands out and I will be looking forward for more with him. Osaki Ichika managed to make her role super endearing despite the character being quite hair-headed : she never felt annoying. The weakest point might have been the more intimate scenes, it felt so cute but at the same time I was expecting some range and evolution as the story progressed. However, the passion never really came.

I would recommend this to people looking for a very relaxing and feel good show. Even if the story is kind of classical for a shojo once you look past the interesting premise of the main lead, it never bothered me and always brought me joy to watch.

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Difficult and painful process, hindered by scandals, rumors and bad editing but satisfying outcome

Given how impactful the season one of Boys Planet in 2023 was, the season 2 of Boys Planet was highly anticipated... Did it meet all the expectations from its predecessor? Not exactly. However, I am very satisfied with the outcome of this survival show.

Despite of it being dragged down by various scandals and rumors, as well as having its core principles of "2 Planets" shattered for unknown (but certainly failed business deal motivated) reasons leading to very poor editing choices...They still managed to bring to light some talented participants that I am delighted to follow.

If casting was solid overall, it felt that it lacked personnality at some point because of the way the editors had probably to scramble and redo some episodes to avoid highlighting contestants under controversy. It also felt like there was a conscious choice to show less interactions between participants than in previous season and I am left to ponder about that curious decision. Strategy to influence the votes probably but too bad it was to the detriment of showing the various relationships between the participants. Very few were shown compared to season 1. Even if I am happy with the outcome of the group, I feel that I know much less about the winners that I knew for Zerobaseone members pre-debut.

In terms of performances, there are overall less iconic than the previous season. In addition to a couple of memorable auditions, my fave performance that I will certainly rewatch is Whiplash. Other than that, I feel that for some of the original songs casting could/should have been different in order for them to be more successful. As for season 1, I find it a shame that the finale is never live-singing. It is so obvious that it is fake that I truly don't see the point.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy survival show and are really good at tolerating Mnet hijinks and manipulation. If you see through the thick ropes and can take what is shown with a grain of salt, it does make a difference in the viewing experience (even if it can be very frustrating of course). There are really amazing guys that participated in it and really I cannot wait to see their debut !!! The debut of the ones that made it through as well as of the others(*).

(*)Some who might even first go through another competition as a new survival show with Chinese contestant has been announced. It seems after the fallout of C-Planet, Mnet found an arrangement to still make a Chinese group. I will probably give it a shot to see if some of the Chinese participants I liked and were eliminated in Boys II Planet are now trying again for the spin-off. Best of luck to all of them.

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Poorly written : noble idiocy and miscommunication were on the driving wheel

A BL featuring a forbidden romance betwen two (soon-to-be) stepbrothers is usually a storyline that I enjoy, mixed with a dash of cohabitation trope and my interest is picked for sure. However, this drama contained so much pet peeves of mine with noble idiocy and miscommunication at the forefront of it that I completed it feeling very disappointed regarding the overall romance and the way the fantasy element was badly layered into the story. It was just poorly written.

Regarding the acting, I have also mixed feelings. Kou Wei Long was quite good and committed in the angsty scenes but his chemistry with Li Yi Mu (whose acting was really average) was lacking. As the central romance is supposed to be a rather taboo one, it is essential for the viewer to feel the passion and the "impossible to repress feelings, despite all of the obstacles". Here it was a miss. A cute love interest at first that remained mid and devoid of any depth despite the fiery nature of the relationship.

The overall production value was pretty average with some of the painful moments looking almost parodic in the way it was filmed. Budget was probably quite limited and it shows.

I would not recommend this as it was just too frustrating to me to see the poor writing choices made and rules of the fantasy elements making so little sense.

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High school cohabitation BL that left me unsatisfied because of its open ending and lack of focus

This BL drama which features the budding romance between two newly step-brothers as they are forced to cohabitate and go to the same school. In itself, the series contains a lot of classical romantic tropes that I like but spend too much time on elements irrelevant for the romance to really maintain the interest. There is too much plot at school and even if it is important to establish the characters and develop their relationship, it also take too much place in the storytelling. When I look back at the 12 episodes and the open ending, I can only regret the choice of the production team to spend so much time on school plot rather than on family and romance, especially with the cohabitation aspect of the series being the best part of the story.

Acting wise, the main actors Liu Dong Qin and Benjamin Tsang did both an overall good job portraying the shift in feelings of their characters as well as the emotional trauma they carry. I wish there were a bit more tension and fiery chemistry between them, but it is far from being the worst that I have seen. Especially given the fact that the material they play does not contain a lot of intense moments of passion. The remainder of the cast is doing an okay job but nothing outstanding. The lack of charism of some of the "adults" part made me not care at the side characters storyline, especially the one of the teachers. I wish they would have removed from the script all the "teachers" stories because it was just a distraction on the main plot, without any real rewarding pay-off.

I also found the editing of the scenes and the overall making quite clumsy. The way they filmed some of the interactions and moments supposed to showcase the sparkles of feelings between the main leads was sometimes awkward. My biggest regret was that the production team decided to only adapt half of the story of a novel, thinking that they could have a season 2 to finish it but without greenlighting it. It seems that this second season will never happen, leaving the viewer with a relative bittersweet feeling given to the quite open ending. While it does not end on a cliffhanger, it left me hanging enough to feel frustrated about the big picture of the story told.

With S2 seemingly not happening, I would not necessary recommend this to people. If a season 2 was planned, I would probably say it is worth a shot if you enjoy slow burn cohabitation romance and are not allergic to a lot of sides plot and slice-of-life aspects.

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Another season for DoMunDi TV production to promote his next BL pairings

A little less than 1 year after "DMD Friendship the Reality" featuring 3rd gen actors, DoMunDi TV production is coming back with a new season introducing this time its 4th gen actors.

While the novelty factor is not there anymore and this season feel much more orchestrated, scripted and in overall more produced than S1, I quite enjoyed myself. If there were (a lot) of expected results regarding the pairings (especially if you have seen most recent DoMunDi TV production or are deep into BL series' news), there were also a couple of more candid moments that I found really touching. Those very little tidbits, seemingly pure and non-scripted, really made me want to follow more of some of the talents.

As in season 1, this show is not without flaws. The budget feel once again super limited. I also wish that the various missions were more fleshed out and featuring more acting with some workshops between participants. The cast is not as balanced as it could be, with some very junior people and some much more seniors participants, making it kinda difficult to have a fair competition, without feeling there are obvious favorites. Still, I'm looking forward to the next projects of most of the "newly" formed pairings.

I would recommend this to people that have enjoyed the previous season or that are a fan of DoMunDi TV production. It is both very cute and very cringe as it features the participants trying to find their "partners" with rewards being "friendship time" very similar to a dating show.

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Steamy kisses, forbidden relationship, unrequited love, unhealthy choices: super enjoyable cocktail!

This very bingeable Japanese series features the relationship of two highschoolers that decide to satisfy their physical needs with each others while being in unrequited love that are totally forbidden. I really liked this series, it is far from perfect but really captivating to follow as the toxicity is litteraly oozing from every pore of the show. It takes the viewer on a journey, without never being boring.

The two main leads Yoshimoto Miyu and Sakurada Dori had a really good chemistry. The kisses were very good and the tension was there. Yoshimoto Miyu brought quite a bit of nuance to her role and Sakurada Dori, while a bit more limited at times, still convinced me. Aizawa Rina nailed a quite unlikeable part. Among the quatuor of actors playing central roles, it is definitely Mizuta Kouki the weakest link, probably because his character is the less developped and remains quite at surface level.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for an angsty and steamy series, featuring torturous relationships and a few psychological elements. The show features age gap and really twisted love (or rather lust), so if it is not your thing, you might want to avoid it. Having said that, the ending wrap the series in a rather healthy way, not justifying or romantising red flags. I would have been onboard with an alternative ending, but I found the life lesson really adequate to conclude the story, making it more memorable.

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Could make an interesting series

This very short movie of only 9 minutes features what I feel could be a very interesting starting point for a good romantic series. I liked a lot the dynamic between the couple and the idea of the game they play together as well as its consequences.

Production felt very indie in a great way, with some beautiful shots of the city. The acting was quite good even if it is a bit short to judge the full range of skills of the limited cast. Music plays a relatively important role in this short film, it was pretty effective at complementing the vibe of the movie.

I would recommend this to people that enjoy short film. It has a pretty interesting plot in a short span of 9 minutes.

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Average but entertaining, I was there for the hot moments between the leads but not much else

While entertaining for sure, this drama had also a very nonsensical scenario that made me roll my eyes more than once. The numerous hot moments between the leads were satisfaying but not much else. I wish the world building, magical elements and all the scheming would have made a bit more sense. Here, the writer drop a lot of diseases, poisons, healing sessions a bit like it arranges the plot to foster tension between the characters and to amp the stakes. It is often done without logic and feel very deus ex machina.

Overall, acting was alright. The main villains were too caricatural to my taste (in the writing as well as the acting) but given the lack of nuance of the script, I don't see how it could have been done otherwise. I quite enjoyed the chemistry between the two main leads. Richard Li looks towards the heroine were really hot and He Xuan Lin was very good as his counterpart. Overall, the couple was quite smart in their actions (even if helped a lot by the writing) and it helped rooting for them.

I felt the editing was a bit all over the place, the succession of sequences felt abrupt, not letting a lot of time for characters development and growth. A bit more room to breath bewteen heavy moment would have helped the series to feel less absurd and to be more connected to the fate of the characters. Similarly, ending felt too rushed. The soundtrack was okay: nothing remarkable and quite repetitive, but not bad.

I would not necessarily recommend this to people as I feel there are too many issues to really warrant a watch. There are some exciting and hot moments between the leads but it cannot save the drama from its writing and editing issues. I feel that the format of 20 minutes episodes was not exploited properly, the numerous events faced by the characters in quick succession made it both entertaining but also completly nonsensical. To be noted: a couple of points of some of the storylines can be triggering so be mindful of the tags if you have any triggers.

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Vanilla despite what the script tried to convey...I got bored halfway through it

I quite enjoyed the drama in its first third, but then the series quickly lost me, especially from its second half. I felt that they dragged some aspects of the main relationship, giving the viewer constant fluff but also very one note plot as they maintained the status quo on the fake boyfriends aspect for much too long to make any sense.

I was very surprised and entertained at first by the fun take the production team decided to follow regarding the story. It worked on some level but as the story progressed the vibes of the series made it impossible for me to get invested into the seemingly more traumatic storylines...I did not feel the tension or angst at any point because of the way the filmmaking made it is so over-the-top cute and vanilla. Despite the fact that there were definitely some steamy scenes featuring the actors, it was definitely more a vanilla angle than a gripping / passionate take on the friends with benefits relationship. I'm left to wonder what an another production company and director would have been able to make with the same plot. A darker and more mature take on it would certainly be interesting.

The casting was doing an okay job but nothing exceptional. Great was my favorite, not sure if it is because of his acting or simply because he was the best part of the show. Inn was alright as his counterpart, maybe a bit too rigid. As his role was supposed to be withholding and not going all in the relationship, it might be a voluntary directing choice though. The side characters were really bland. I did not feel any of the secondary relationships and I really did not appreciate how the second male lead got seemingly redeemed.

I would not recommend this to people as there are better BL out there. The beginning was very entertaining but it got very boring. I can't help to hope that the production made other directing choices and that the writing would have been better. I think that a darker and mature version of the story where a doctor falls in love with a boxer would have been more exciting.

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How to escape toxicity and self-loathing in the midst of (b)romance

This very short BL series brought me a lot of conflicting feelings. I really enjoyed the ending of the story as it showcased the growth of both main characters. Some steps were taken towards less toxicity and self-loathing overall and that's clearly a win in my book as I was really afraid of a conclusion lacking nuance and realism.

On another side, I kind of wish the series would have been longer because even if the point of the scenario is very clear, the fundamentals of the relationship are a bit brushed off. There are a lot of elements that felt rushed and the storytelling definitely was more about a bromance than a romance to me. I indeed think that to go into a more romantic territory, the chemistry would have needed to be bigger and the scenario did not really provide a lot of opportunities for the actors to get there.

I love the opening generic of the series: the drawing effect in addition to the song was a winning combination. Overall, the production value was okay. The budget was not there but it had a strong indie feeling perfectly fitting for the drama.

I would recommend this to people looking for a more serious BL story. Rather than being about a romance, it is more a bromance to me and what makes it really worth it is its realistic and nuanced ending. I wish there had been more time to develop the romance but I appreciated the overall take of the scenario regarding the evolution of the characters.

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A beautiful journey to heal yourself thanks to music, brotherhood and 1990's vibe

This youth drama with a fantasy twist and set mainly in 1995 provides a great nostalgia throwback feeling as you follow a group of high schoolers starting a band together. The drama approaches in a wholesome way profound topics about friendship, family, as well as differences and disabilities that overall resonated well with me as the characters grow and learn. Though both romances were pretty cute, it is the brotherhood within the band and especially the father-son relationship that really got me invested.

In terms of storytelling, I truly enjoyed the set up and introduction. However, I cannot help to think that the conclusion would have deserved more time to reap properly all the rewards of the set-up done in the show. I was expecting the way it ended, there was a lot of satisfying emotional payoff but it could have gone deeper on the aftermath for all the characters following one of the major event happening in the last episode as well as regarding the evolution of the main protagonists and their relationships (especially regarding the female leads where it felt a bit short).

Overall, the quatuor of main characters work very well together, and I am pretty satisfied by the performances of the ensemble cast (especially for some of the more secondary characters). Choi Hyun Wook delivers a consistent and reliable performance in the role of the frontman of the band. I loved him in Weak Hero Class 1 and I love him as well here. The only little flaw I see is that his character tends to be very shouty. I think it is both bound to the role as well as to some of the directing. It is not at all detrimental to the story but it prevents some range in the acting as the character is always at 100%. Despite this, he (and his character) was clearly my favorite part of the show.

The filmmaking is pretty great with a colourful and boyish atmosphere perfectly fitting for the scenario. I love the soundtrack with its "older indie rock" feels. Every song done by the band is super catchy and the musical scenes each time delighted me.

I would recommend this to people looking for a very solid youth drama set in the 1990's. If you enjoyed movies like "Back to the Future" and dramas such as the "Reply" series, you will for sure immensely enjoy it! If you are a fan of musical genre shows, this one is also clearly made for you. I personnally really loved it despite some issues with the pacing of the script and the way I would have liked a bit more development on some elements, especially towards the ending.

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An exciting game show that will put your brain on fire in a very entertaining way !!!

I loved the concept of this TV show: teams of students from different universities face each other around games requiring a lot of brain power. Some games are more exciting than others, but the showrunner managed to have a nice variety and rythm all throughout the lenght of the show.

I enjoyed the casting: there were clearly some players that had a bit more screen time but overall it was quite well-shared between the universities and the various students. My favorite team wins which I highly appreciated. I was expecting it given the editing which made it relatively obvious, but in any case it was in overall very satisfying to watch and super exciting to follow as the competition unfolded.

Production was adequate in conveying the essence of the games, with the rules being very well explained and allowing the viewer to even participate and try to find the solutions as well. The soundtrack was not very noticeable (neither in a bad or good way). The budget felt a bit limited at some point as I think the producers could have let students use more hi-tech and technological means to take notes and define strategies in order to make it even more visually appealing for the viewers.

I would recommend this to people looking for an entertaining competition show with a lot of mind games and exciting intellectual battles. This show is really all about participating with your skills foremost and your brain power. There is some strategies but no tricks nor manipulation nor hidden alliances...The objective is clearly to prove yourself with your intelligence alone and that's really refreshing overall.

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