Throw it against the wall and see what sticks- BL edition
The Boy Next World lured viewers in with the promise of a love story that transcends universes — a bold, sci-fi-infused twist on the BL genre. What we got instead was a half-baked, incoherent, and emotionally disjointed mess, starring two of the most frustratingly written leads in recent memory.It’s almost impressive how thoroughly the series fumbles what should have been a surefire success. With the magnetic BossNoeul pairing — a duo with undeniable chemistry proven elsewhere — it takes a special kind of misdirection to make that spark fizzle. And yet, the show succeeds in doing just that. What begins as an intriguing multiverse romance quickly devolves into an unsettling tale of a stalker and his very confused, very exhausted love interest.
The multiverse premise? Full of potential. Unfortunately, it’s treated like background noise — barely explored, poorly explained, and ultimately buried under an emotionally erratic romance that can’t decide whether it’s supposed to be fluff, angst, or thriller. By the time any substance appears (notably in Episode 9, which offers a rare glimpse of what could have been), the narrative is too far gone to recover.
The leads are asked to swing violently between tooth-rotting fluff and overwrought angst, often within the same scene, with little emotional continuity. The result is disorienting, and not in the intentional, sci-fi mind-bending way. Add to that a cast of secondary characters who barely register, and you’re left with a show that feels strangely hollow despite its high-concept ambitions.
The production does what it can — there are some beautifully shot moments, and the soundtrack works overtime to generate emotional weight — but no amount of lighting filters can patch up a weak script and inconsistent character motivations.
In the end, The Boy Next World isn’t just a disappointment. It’s a textbook case of how not to execute a great idea. It had the cast, it had the concept, but it lacked the clarity, direction, and emotional grounding to pull it all together.
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A fantastic start to 2024...
There is always one drama, which you accidently discover and it turns out to be one of the best dramas you ever watched.Love for Love's sake is that drama for me. It was a joy to watch how the story unfolded throughout the series.
The acting, direction and production where equivalent to kdramas which is commendable. In terms of acting, both the leads hit it out of the park, be it being happy or being vulnerable.
The visuals and the OST are to die for. I m glad 2024 kbls kicked off to a flying start with Love for lovesake.
Sure it has its share of flaws but the immense happines that this drama will bring you prevents you from niticking.
Hope 2024 churns out more delightful dramas like this in the upcoming months.
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Dated and confused ...
I dunno how in the span of 60 days, did I end up from watching one of the best KBLs to one of the blandest KBLs of 2024???One questions the logic of why the charcters pine after those walking red flags . Getting assaulted and insulted cant be overlooked in the name of love, I mean its 2024 for godsakes. While one can reason it out saying that the characters were kids, their redemption should have had more depth justify that argument.
The shorter duration of the drama hinders the character and storydevelopement significantly. Often times it struggled swinging between the theme of grief and resilence, it failed to stick to one and fumbled its pace and storytelling. Thus the whole drama felt unfinished. I sincerly hoped that charcters had some form of growth , but alas the growth/improvement that they showed comes across as superficial (espl Jung Ha) .
The actors were wonderful , special shout out to Song Han Gyeom and Kim jung Ha.
I really wished that Se heyon and Do yoon came together, they had waaay better chemistry and would not have made the drama feel so dated.
bottom line : great visuals + jazz music + paper thin plot =/= a good drama.
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Bell curve
Why are drama writers not in favour of writing strong female charcters without any romantic attachments??Kang Bitna becomes the Nth Strong FL who is bogged down by forced romance and fumbled character development.
Park Shin hye was clearly having the time of her life with Kang Bitna (Please write such witty sassy characters for her, dont pidgenhole her into moppy romantic FLs.). While Kim Jae Young literally plays the damsel in distress. Why did the writers think its a good idea to ruin the ML's character with poor writing. The shift from a confident no nonsense cop to one to the damsel in distress was awful to watch(grave injustice to KJY). They wasted the drama's potential by not exploring a platonic relationship between them. Moreover the runaway devil subplot was way more interesting than the serial killer one. And I am not even touching the choices made for Bitna's character by the writers.
the uneveness made me feel like I was watching 2 different dramas. The first 8 episodes were a solid 9/10 while the 2nd half felt like 6/10.
But even with all its flaws I loved that PSH took up such a role and hope to see her in similar roles like this.
This not a bad drama, but if your willing to overlook its short comings, do give it a try.
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much ado about nothing
Listen we all love our miscommunication dramas... I mean hell we eat it up every single time (if the story is well written). But even I have my limits . The conflict between the central characters seem so childish, trivial and pointless. While as a viewer you breath a sigh of relief whenever the characters sort out through their issue/issues , you are the mercy of another miscommunication.Nevertheless the drama was made bearable (barely) with the two MLs, who unfortunatley were saddled with a wafer thin plot . The story doesnt give much space for the actors showcase their acting abilities. It's not that they’re bad actors—far from it—but the material simply doesn’t give them much to work with. So we end up bouncing between Jin Hwa’s "yearning look" and Kim Min Jun’s "deadpan stare.
There isnt much to talk about the drama , its forgetful and okayish.
But credit where credit's due. hats off to the lead actors for the chemistry and intimacy scenes. Hope to see both of them in better dramas soon.
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A drama that made my heart, soul and brain happy
I m gonna be honest. I m going to look past the flaws of this drama because of the sheer joy it brought me while watching it.
This drama worked for me due to the convincing and earnest performance of each of the actors and the fast paced story telling. Sure it had an anime kinda quality to it, but when you are faced with good quality writing and acting who the heck cares about nitpicking,
This drama is surely in my list of best 2025 kdramas and thank god the year started off with a bang.
Looking forward to Season 2( hopefully they greenlight it soon).
Shout out to actress Yoon Sang Jung,...girl you were an fierce little muffin, hope to see her more in future.
Also not leaving behind Hwang Min Hyun, hope to see him more in well written dramas.
South Korea please keep it coming.
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