Not believable in a key aspect, but CUTE
There are parts of the story that are way more realistic in this series than most other BL.However, in one crucial aspect the series destroy its credibility and pulls you out of the submerging into the world the authors are building.
Namely, the lads’ celibacy, which so radically laughable that I was literally LOLing when the show has presented this point.
If you know how males work even the tiniest bit, then you understand that they think of engaging with any and all attractive potential partners nearly 24/7. This is just a hormonal thing, and it is even stronger for teens.
It would have been actually way more painful for the lads to be in the proximity of each other and not do anything than being apart.
The drive to engage is so strong that it makes the brain to flare up with desire and to stop most other thoughts or activities. Especually if the pair is a couple.
Absolutrly impossible to imagine the lads all of a sudden being abstinent. This whole plot line looks as if it came from censorship pressure.
Additionally, as basically everyone has mentioned, the script and direction often feel disjointed, and the sound quality is horrible too often.
Most actors did quite well, though some youth feels like not have a range as actors. Not the main couple, though. The thick eyebrows lad looks very interesting: as if he came from Dargon Ball manga.
Overall, the show offers so much cuteness that it is worthy to watch and rewatch.
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A dragged out student project
This is a middle-tier performer among series, I gave it 4/10.The story is only for an hour, but it lasts four hours. So unless you specifically like the main couple regardless of what is happening, there is nothing much to watch.
The project is filmed with phones and blue LED studio light that make the picture look really bad.
The show was made for $1000 in total or something, but the scenario weakness is inexcusable. Even film academy students do better, the professors would just not accept the scenario like this.
The actors in the project actually did a passable job, even though they did not have much to do. I only gave them a middle grade because of the film itself, not because of their abilities.
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LOTS of nonsense, but the actors are cute
SOME people say the series has turned to worse since the identity of “Enchante” was revealed, but it was not great to begin with. except for actors.* * *
THERE are dozens of series that depict “brothers” while casting actors that are not even remotely similar to each other, which is pretty annoying.
But here we have a few actors who could be bothers, but they are not in the scenario.
WHAT? Book’s character is written as a lass, so he is not interested in intimate fun? As almost always in BL series. Not believable at all. Also, the idea that they first become boyfriends and only then way later start to become intimate is completely backwards to how things happen in real life.
This tampers with the submerging into the story when you have to suspend disbelief in very basic truths of human life and relationships.
Other issues are covered in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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CUTE and worth watching but silly
The silly part is not just about the whole “curse” thing.1. Accidents with buses are decided by the road police, not by teachers.
2. Schools like this have entrance check points, so pupils can not enter if they are not in the uniform.
3. School pupil patrol does not have the right to violence, this would be a violation of the code.
4. Flower pots are never put in places where they can be dropped onto the heads of pupils.
5. Phones are said to be banned in the school, and yet they are shown openly used right in classes later.
6. The current level of social media development would not have allowed any events in the school to be hidden from the sponsors the management cares about.
7. the way how face damage from fights is shown in the series is the funniest ever because they use like one smallest bandage piece per a face for this, which is nothing like what actually happens.
A POSITIVE shocker: the lads are not written to be hardcore straights who are shocked to find out that they have all of a sudden become gay. And even when they are not friendly to each other in the beginning, they still throw assessing gazes, which is incomparably more realistic compared to lots of other series where the encounter is simply hostile because neither of the lads are written as bi/gay.
The Hollywood-style over dramatic music is a bit distracting.
A PSA: never accept friendship requests from unknown accounts as this series shows. Those are most certainly neural networks-enabled bots to spread spam or malware to rob you.
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FLAWED in the basis, but still strong in some important aspects
The music, the cast choice and the performances are superb, top notch. The main lad is a hundred peecent believable, and the villains did a perfect job.Even the stupidest and most unlikeable “good” character, the named brother of the main lad, was played perfectly.
As per the mainland Chinese tradition, nearly all of the cast was dubbed. Only the actor for Nie Huai Sang character has his own voice. Knowing how some of the actors actually sound, I do not mind the dubbing as the voice actors chosen have smooth, rich timbres. But the main actor could have totally voice his role himself.
Among important themes, the series shows massacres quite well. Things like this or worse have been happening in reality.
The show has managed to keep some secrets, making viewers guessing, to its very end, which is great.
Of course, the series’ scenario was censored to remove the BL content, but it still works because just normal strong friendship explains most of what is happening. Besides, the series has lots of cute lads and even a very beautiful lady. Actor Song Ji Yang wins the most beautiful mouth of all time category.
The series is a bit too dragged sometimes, so the optimal number of episodes should be maybe 40, not 50.
The directorial narrative is, at times, confusing.
I see no purpose of putting the first few episodes from the current time upfront only to go back to a giant flashback that makes you forget what was happening. The series would have been even better with a more straightforward narrative.
Sometimes you have to guess what is happening: whether it is a flashback within a flashback or it is something going on concurrently.
And even the timeline announcements make no sense. For example, the giant flashback story is actually starts 32 years ago before the current events, not 16 years ago as the show is titling it. But the series stack the timeline shift so much that you can get it wrong.
The last few episodes are too explanatory, which cheapens the narrative.
Some other drawbacks, among the extensive list of notes to took while watching the series, are below with a spoiler tag:
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This review may contain spoilers
DEEPLY flawed, but unique social commentary
1. There is no such thing as telepathy, including between absolute twin clones.2. Identical twin separation is not a thing, unless it is a historical case, which is not the series
3. Why diplomats are retiring at a young age?
4. Identical tweens can not fool each other’s friends for more than a short time: not even because of the slight differences in looks and mannerisms, but because of the whole context of their friendship that twins can not know
5. Shaky camera work
6. Why did not White simply checked the GPS coordinates where Black was attacked?
7. Diplomats study law, so White should not have issues with Black’s law course
8. The most of money of politicians and other criminals are usually in offshore bank accounts, not in mansions. And the wealth in the mansions is not in the mansions themselves but in the land they are put on. So burning a mansion does not do much damage financially.
9. Getting yo the second floor from within a mansion that is nearly fully ablaze would not work as nearly all oxygen is already burnt, and hot CO is raising to the second floor. You can go within the first floor because this is where new oxygen is sucked in. Wetting your clothes or filters will not help, you need oxygen tanks with you.
10. You can not really wake a person who has fainted from CO and toxins asphyxiation by slapping his cheeks. The only think you need to do ASAP is to drag the person to a place with oxygen.
11. You would not be able to handle a motorcycle, if your palm is burnt, and no gloves can help it. Your skin will never regrow with that pressure and friction.
12. Never date a person who is violent. There will be endless excuses every time you will be attacked. Too bad this series makes it fine.
13. This series unique among all BL dramas for raising economic injustice issues.
14. How come a protest against a corrupt oligarch has randomly turned into a LGBT campaign?
15. Why the crime boss is walking around without a guard?
16. Why Off’ character has exposed his identity and attitude to the crime boss?
17. Why he did not just shoot the crime boss from the very beginning, right after his father was killed?
18. Why did not Gun’s character confess that he is a twin brother after the bed scene? No point in hiding it at that point.
19. Actor Fluke is in shape for this series, unlike the 2019 series Dark Blue Kiss. I am glad for the lad.
20. The narrator’s voiceover in this series is not justified, unlike Theory of Love series from 2019
21. Sleep-talking is not an elegant scenario vehicle
22. The advertisement integrations are really funny in this series because they are all around and between the gore and characters get shot and barely surviving at times
23. Gun’s character did not confess to Off’s about his twin lie after the shooting incident, too, which makes no sense
24. No need for White to breakup with Sean for real, a pause until the danger is gone would have been enough
25. No need for the whole gang to go to hospital with the wounded big smile lad. In fact, just dropping him by would have been enough.
26. The real life ending would have been a certain death of all cast.
27. The actors are cute and they did a great job.
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