MidnightReader

Finally watching this was like a weight being lifted off me

It took me so long to finally watch this one. I've had this show in plan-to-watch, undecided, back to plan-to-watch, to currently watch, then back to plan-to-watch over the last 10 months & I finally decided enough was enough and forced myself to sit down and start it. After the first episode, I started watching it at X1.5 & X2 speed, mostly X2, because everything just felt slow. Not the pacing per se, but the line delivery felt so slow that even at X2 speed I had to check a couple of times to make sure I wasn't watching at normal speed. I also knew that I was going to have to push myself to finish it in one sitting, or I was going to have a hard time making myself pick it back up.

That's not to say the series is bad; it's just that nothing really happens. It's definitely a coming-of-age story that focuses more on the friendship and romance of our main characters than actual problems. Except for episode 8, we actually got some drama there.

Before I really get into spoilers, let's talk about the things I liked
* The OP was sung by Phuwin
* Dunk and Lookjun's chemistry
* Dunk & Phuwin's kiss; it gave me a good laugh. The music room scene right after was also funny.
* The acting was all around great. Dunk's was especially good. White was my favorite character. I need more series with Dunk and Phuwin together.
* The sleepover was probably one of my favorite scenes because of how White and Lune were getting dragged into things.

Now into the spoilerly complaints!

Starting from the very moment Lune is introduced. It is utter bullshit that Lune isn't noticed by anyone. Were they going for a Kuroko's Basketball angle where he has such little presence that no one noticed him? I'm not buying it.

Another thing that bothered me just a bit is that Zen (AJ's character) comes back in episode 4 for what reason? Why was he there? Why did he get kicked out of school? What does that have to do with Lune? I was actually interested in knowing these things, but I will also acknowledge that they aren't important.

Ivy annoyed me a lot in the beginning because of how possessive and outright aggressive she was. It wasn't until she found out about Star and Lune dating that I actually started to like her at all.

Most of Star's friend group is in love with her. *Eyeroll* I hate this mainly because it's so overdone. Ivy and White going back to being her friends like nothing happened also felt unrealistic. It's almost like they didn't need any space from her at all before they were back to being her friend and watching her love someone else. That would hurt way too much to continue being around them like nothing happened. She didn't really treat them the best either; in my opinion, her lying to them felt more like avoiding the problem than sparing their actual feelings.

I don't think Lune agreeing to keep their dating a secret was right either, but he at least had a good reason. Trauma. Honestly, I'm more upset that he started the relationship in the first place. He knew White liked her, and even if she didn't like him back, that is still your current best friend. Someone who helped make you not invisible to everyone, who included you in things, who made sure that you knew you were welcome. At least do the boy the courtesy of telling him that you like the same girl. I know that Lune is introverted and is afraid of stepping on toes, but he's already doing that by sneaking around and lying.

When Star was being threatened by Sunny/Nana, it led to even more sneaking around and lying, & they ended up hurting White more than if they had just told him the truth from the start. The thing White fears the most is being alone, and while they were dating & Jewel was finding out what love is, that is all they did to the poor boy. It only got worse after the threats, and to be honest, he forgave them way too easily. I don't think it would have gone as smoothly if everything with Nana hadn't happened & Lune hadn't tried to find any way possible to help. Also, I don't think Lune should have taken most of the blame. You've known the boy for a few months (maybe a year), & Star is one of your best friends from middle school. She should have been the one telling White that she liked Lune.

Star was easily my least favorite of the main characters. She was too much of a damsel in distress. One that apparently can't do anything wrong. Not only were she and Sera literally the same character, but also she explains to the 2 people that love her about her problems with Lune instead of the boy himself. SHE was the one who said they should include Sera in things to make great memories of her remaining time with them. The moment she became insecure or felt like he was spending more time with Sera than she should have spoken up. Not talk to other people. Not wait until she became irritated and angry. But talk to Lune and change how things were going. Did she have a right to be mad? Oh, 100%. Sera is Lune's ex who still has feelings for him, and Lune is still attached to her even if it's mainly guilt. Doesn't change the fact that she started it and then was too afraid to speak up and then played the victim like she was the only one in the relationship trying to make things work when she never spoke up. So yeah, she had the right to be mad, but I don't feel sorry for her. The only thing Lune did wrong here was be blinded by the guilt he was feeling and failing to compartmentalize. He deserved an apology from her, but never got it.

The only other thing that I didn't like was that Jewel & Tan didn't get enough screen time to make it believable that a playboy like Jewel just stopped being a playboy for him and got serious. I also wanted to see White and Ivy find love at the end. It didn't have to be with each other, even though I would have liked that, but even a hint would have been nice. They are the characters that get emotionally hurt the most in the series, and they got no love at the end.

So yeah, this is a series that I will never rewatch unless you pay me.

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The Thai version was better

Before I start, I think it's important to note that I enjoyed the original special more than the original series. I liked the character dynamic more and was overall more interested in their romance. They could have made this parallel couple & their story the main series, and I would have been thrilled. It's the same with the remake.

There is no difference between the Thai version and this one, other than the runtime. For some reason, they also decided to give us less than half the 2nd episode for our parallel couple before jumping back to the original. Did we really need to see the original couple at all? We got some NC scenes we didn't need, and they could have cut less from the original version's parallel couple.

If you were satisfied with the Thai version, I don't think there's any need to watch this remake, and if, like me, you are hoping for a better series, you are most likely going to be disappointed. That being said, I don't regret watching it.

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A remake

As remakes go, I felt like this one wasn't needed. However, while a lot of it felt too compressed for a story about parallel worlds, I liked the ending better than the original. We actually got a resolution. I didn't like the original very much because it didn't explain the space between the parallel worlds at all, and I like to understand Sci-fi & fantasy elements of a story, not just go with the flow with no hope of understanding. The ending of the original was also, for lack of a better word, shit. By the end of that series, we should have seen the mother get everything she deserved and more, but no, let's just trade one son for the other. (This still pisses me off) At least in this one, we get to see the mother have a downfall, even though it was very quick and not nearly satisfying enough. Still, it was better than the original.

Another thing that I liked over the original is that I felt that Shoma fit the role of Sara/Cir more than Boss. Maybe that's because I'm so used to seeing Boss in more commanding and alpha man roles that it just felt wrong to see him play an obsessive stalker. Shoma kind of has that same aura, but it didn't feel like he lost it in this role; he downplayed it a bit. Maybe it's less noticeable because of the smaller cast? Not sure. To me, he just fit the role better.

I really do think the original is better in almost every way, and you can tell the budget was way higher. Honestly, if it's not a Thai series, I don't expect the budget to be very high for a BL drama. Compared to the budget for other Japanese series, I would say this runs somewhere in the middle.

On to the stalking. I think when it came up in the original, I was past the point of caring, but in this one I was suitably unsettled. If I had been in Fuu's shoes, I would have been freaked out and would have probably been scared to be alone. They make the stalking out to be a form of caring for a person you love, but can't be with & we should just look over it. We can't. Or at least I can't. At least in this version it felt like Sara wasn't as unhinged, and it really was just the only way he could think of to show he cared and to keep himself going. Sara knowing so much about Fuu was scarier than Cir, though. In the original, however, I was really scared for Phukan. Cir felt like he was a danger to Phukan and himself. The boy had mental problems. It felt like if the relationship went south, then Cir would do something completely unhinged.

I will say that I really like that Shoma & Takuto have done 2 BossNoeul remakes. Normally in dramas from countries outside Thailand, I don't see many actors reappearing in a series together. It was honestly a little weird in a good way. I would like to see these two in their own series together, not just a remake.

If you were satisfied with the Thai version, I don't think there's any need to watch this remake, and if, like me, you are hoping for a better series, you are most likely going to be disappointed. That being said, I don't regret watching it.

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I got bored

I went into this series with zero expectations. I loved Winny and Satang in We Are, but I was dragging my feet when it came to this series because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. Why? I am not sure, because the summary makes it sound like something I would really be into. That being said, my gut feeling wasn't wrong.

Thinking about it, I think my main problem with the series was the fact that I never once felt like Wave/Davin was in danger. It felt like I was watching 10 1-hour-long slice-of-life episodes about a prince with amnesia & a hot-headed city boy falling in love, with side couples that got more than enough screen time. (I honestly didn't even care about the side couples.) There was no running or hiding or stress; it was just a couple of bad guys showing up only to be dealt with almost immediately. We don't see any of what the royal family was going through or how the rebellion was dealt with. Important things in my book that were just handled off-screen. Pheng running for village head was more stressful.

In my opinion, they spent way too much time on the side characters when they could have added actual conflict between the rebels and our main cast and Davin's family, and made the situation feel like something other than a mild annoyance.

I also didn't really believe the love between Wave & Lava. I did on Wave's end because he lost his memory & Lava is literally the one he's around all the time, & taking care of him. On Lava's end, it felt like it came out of nowhere & wasn't something that would have lasted a year of not talking to each other. I really don't think they are ready to get engaged after dating a few months and then not contacting each other for a year. I feel like it was just unrealistic that someone could wait for someone else that long without their feelings changing when the other person may get married. I will say it would have been interesting to see a Prince Lava lmao.

I don't have anything to really say about the chemistry other than I checked out during the NC scenes. I just wasn't interested. The kisses seemed okay; at least they weren't the worst I've seen by far.

The acting was probably the best thing about the series. The only complaint I have is that there was one scene where I felt Lava would have cried if he really loved Wave, and when he did cry at the end of the series, it just didn't look real.

It's disappointing because this plot had a lot of potential, but it felt like they were afraid to do anything that would push the age rating above PG-13.

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This move was weird

This is my first movie review & I'm honestly not sure where to start, so I'm doing a likes and dislikes list.

Things I liked:
* The way it was filmed.
* Fighting choreography was decent.
* Jin just saying "f**k it" & just desides to kill his rapest.

Things I didn't like:
* The script was confusing. Like there was enough there to connect the dots, but sometimes it was unnecessarily confusing and violent.
* I don't understand Kai's obsession with Jin.
* They don't show us some things. For example, Jin's arson & his death.
* The rape reenactment at the beginning shouldn't have made me laugh. But it did. I feel really bad about that, and I really hope that victims in Japan don't really have to do this. Telling the story would be bad enough without having to show the police step-by-step what happened and what was said.
* Jin should have simply moved to another city. I get that Kai wasn't the rapest, but he admitted to it and was following Jin everywhere and was causing problems whether he meant to or not.
* The singing at the end was psychopathic.
* The RAPPING was so bad that I skipped large parts of it or played it at X2 speed. The music parts in general weren't good. There were also way too many of them, and they lasted too long. Also, I get that Kai was trying to help Jin get over his rape by making him rap about it, but it was creepy.
* The ending. After all the shit Jin went through, we couldn't give him a happy ending? How did Kai not wake up while Jin was being killed? How did Jin die anyway? His rapest/killer was heavily burned and in pain; you couldn't even see his face, so how did Jin, who had learned how to fight & was in perfect health (in comparison), lose?
* If you're going to try to kill someone, especially when that someone is rich & powerful, maybe make sure that they are dead? Just a suggestion.
* How did Mr. Rapest find them at the end? They were in the middle of the woods. Even if it was the location Jin followed them to previously, why would he go there randomly? I don't think he followed them because he had to bandage himself up, and a long time had passed. IDK, it just felt very random.

The movie wasn't bad. If they took out all of the music/rapping parts and focused more on exploring Jin and Kai's backgrounds and relationship, I maybe would have been sad, more than annoyed, at the ending.

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This plot had a lot of toxic potential

If this series had been given more time to build up a backstory for the established relationship and give us drama with the other love interest and the family, this could have been something REALLY good. As it stands, it was still good for 4 short episodes.

I understand Yu Jun's low self-esteem and self-hatred when it comes to his relationship with Yeon Ho, and I would have loved to have seen it build up and overflow. The biggest problem in the series is Yu Jun not communicating his feelings to Yeon Ho and just assuming that he would be better off without him. I hate that their problems got defaulted to a lack of communication because it's super annoying. Especially given how Yeon Ho was giving off some serious red flag signals, and I was excited to see some possessive and obsessive moments, and we got really nothing. I was hoping for things to take a dark turn, but we got a healthy apology and a promise not to be so overbearing. Which I guess is all Yeon Ho could do since he isn't CEO levels of rich like most other red flags.

I wish they had focused more on the relationship and its issues instead of introducing another love interest. In a normal-length series, that would have been fine, but it's really unnecessary in these shorter series. This is a 15-year-long relationship, and they have been dating for 3 of those; there was plenty there to work with.

Overall, this series was an easy 30-minute watch that I don't regret. I'm just disappointed because it had a lot of potential.

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Acting was okay & the OST was fine.

This is a very short series, so I didn't expect much in the way of plot, which was good, because we got very little outside of a walking red flag. Tae Jun creeped me out from the very first episode & he only seemed to get creepier with each passing minute. Who gets so obsessed with someone for following and unfollowing them and then leaving them on read? I'm not saying this isn't possible; I'm sure it's happened, but Tae Jun takes it into psycho territory. I'm sure if this had had a longer run time, we could have gotten something very interesting.

The only other thing that was annoying was the very abrupt transitions. Some of them also happen at the worst moments, and it cuts the flow of the story.

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Cute boys, with no plot

This was sadly one of the series that will go in the "I will never remember it" pile. There was no plot. The only real redeeming factor was that the actors were cute and the acting was okay.

When I started the series, I was undecided about watching the sequel, but by the time I finished it and they left us on a "cliffhanger," I had just lost all interest. I'm sorry, but the situation wasn't interesting enough to continue. Especially since the problem shouldn't even cause that much of a fuss; they could have most likely solved whatever is going to happen by just adding another episode to this season.

If you're interested in watching this series, I would still give it a try because it has a very short run time & is easy to watch, and honestly, it's far from the worst thing I've seen.

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Short, sweet, and to the point while somehow still feeling like a slow burn.

This was a cute short friends-to-lovers series that has no drama and is perfect to watch if you want to just switch your brain off for a little while. The plot isn't stressful, and it's something that I could easily see made into a movie.

I was under the impression that this series took place mainly in high school, but it actually has a time skip. The time skip felt kind of abrupt because the characters had just made plans & then suddenly they are in college.

No Yun U's (Ju Do Wan) acting impressed me; he perfectly conveyed how nervous his character was & you could see the longing in his eyes. It's sad that with a short series, you don't have time to learn anything about the characters. Not background or personality.

I don't have any complaints about the acting overall & the chemistry was alright.

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I hate open endings

I especially hate them if it brings in some supernatural bullshit that they just don't explain at all. I mean, what even happened? Did time get reset? I don't think that would solve the dying problem. Especially since the only reason Zhan Wang was in this town in the first place was that he was dying. Didn't Xu Yuan trade in all his lifespan and luck for Zhan Wang to live a long, healthy life as well? Wouldn't that trade one life for the other? Can I just pretend that the comet killed them both and this is just another timeline? Honestly, one is just as confusing as the other.

Also, why is there just suddenly a comet that is going to destroy the town? Good on the comet, though, because good riddance; this whole place could use a good reset. Most of the people are horrible. I live in a small farming town where gossiping is a pastime, and it's not even this bad.

Specking of horrible, the father isn't the worst I've seen, but there is still no redeeming him, especially with the half-assed effort they put into it.

The acting was alright. Yu Qi (Zhan Xu) was very stiff & his character had so little personality that I couldn't care less about him or Bian Ye. They didn't have good chemistry either. Same with the GL couple; it was there, but they could have removed it and it wouldn't have negatively impacted the story at all.

If Zhan Xu is the second brother, where is the first?

Zhan Wang and Xu Yuan had decent chemistry. I really liked their cuddles. To me, the kissing can be possible if a good cuddle is included. I also really loved that they gave each other couple tattoos. Did it make sense that not only did they know how to use a tattoo gun, but did so perfectly and made perfect matching tattoos? Not at all, but it's different. I've only seen it done a couple of times. For some reason, I also liked Xu Yuan wearing Zhan Wang's necklace. This isn't a new thing, but for some reason it hit a bit different with these two.

The series also had a few inconsistencies & just questionable moments, especially in the beginning. Like the classroom would be empty one second and full the next. A new kid gets introduced to the class, and for some reason the teacher lets them socialize like they didn't have a class to start. Our characters would be randomly walking in an area for no reason we are given, just to run into trouble. We also, for some reason, have an NC scene between two couples when shit was going on that 100% made it not the right moment for an NC scene. There are a few other things, but I think I've made my point. All of these little things don't seem like much at first, but they add up.

On a side note, were the front shot of the school, its landscape, and the sky transition shots made with AI? If they aren't, they look like it.

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Another middle of the road drama

I wasn't expecting much because it's only 6 episodes long, but I will admit that it was alright. It wasn't given enough time to really make it interesting. The ending also felt a bit rushed, and that was maybe because the main characters got together when, up to that point, the chemistry wasn't anything special, and the tension was barely there. This is one of those dramas that falls in the 'meh' category. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't memorable.

I have to give them credit for making a BL drama with decent production value, acting, and script with very few episodes to do it in.

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Don't watch if you don't like being left on a eternal cliffhanger

I'M PISSED!

Before I get into why I'm pissed, the OST was good, and the acting was fantastic.

I really liked Arisa & Kraam, while I couldn't stand Anan.

I did really hate the cheating, but Kraam and May as characters I still liked. They just have very poor judgment. I may have hated Anan, but I don't like that to happen to anyone.

I also really didn't understand May's logic with some of her treatments. I'm not getting into Joey because I don't know enough, but why did she never try to drain the infection out of Jack's leg? Why was it never elevated above his heart? She drained a blood clot that honestly would have been better left alone because it was far enough away from the heart that she could have just let the body absorb it naturally, but no, let's do that and do NOTHING for the infected leg. After a certain point, the leg should have just been cut off, but that was never considered either because why would it be!?

Now then; WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING!? I'm assuming they planned on doing a season 2, but it never happened because the actor for Kraam, Beam, passed away. Understandable that they didn't want to continue the project. I'm not mad about that.

I'm mad because I don't understand what the fuck happened.

The writing for this series started really strong, but it seemed like once it got to the mystery aspect of the story, it started to crumble. The foreshadowing didn't connect with what we are being told at the end. Which was honestly a little of nothing. The whole time I kept thinking some Island spirit was trying to cleanse the Island of sin since we kept focusing on the wrongs the characters committed. But that's not it? I'm still not sure because we don't really know anything about Kraam's dad, who seems to be like the fake Professor Lin.

I also think some kind of loop is happening. As Kraam went through the gate as a baby, he can't leave the Island; he goes back through the gate, maybe leaving his baby on the other side. Does this baby belong to both worlds? Will it be able to leave the Island? Is Kraam part of both worlds?

This other world is clearly an alternate universe, but did the same tsunami hit in both worlds? If so, why isn't the Island completely submerged? And as for the other world, Joey: is he alive in this world because he died in the other? Are only people who died in this world? Will Jack be there? Can you only travel through the gates if your other self is dead? Wait, Joey knew Kraam, so that means there would have been a version of Kraam in this world, but how is that possible if this was the world Kraam was originally from?

Also, how did Kraam not drown? Not once, but twice, he should have drowned, but didn't. At first I thought that at least his father was a merman and he could actually breathe underwater or something, but we never see how he gets out of the truck in the beginning & he just wakes up near the end like he wasn't breathing while unconscious underwater. Why didn't he drown? What more is going on? Is it because he went through the gate, or does it have something to do with him? I'm assuming him since his mother died not long after passing through the gate.

Honestly, trying to figure out anything in this show gives me a headache. The point is, they didn't explain anything to us and left us on a massive cliffhanger. It's sad, but if I had known this was how it was going to end, I never would have watched it. I don't like unanswered questions or cliffhangers, and that's all this series left me with.

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There is no student/teacher romance

There was no romance at all. There were some one-sided crushes, sure, but it never went further than a confession. A strangely cute confession at that. How else do you confess to your genius math teacher other than with an equation? Anyways, I was glad that they didn't have our main characters get together. They were cute together, but Student/teacher relationships are romanticized way too much. I tend to avoid this trope like I do cheating and terminal illness, but I decided to give it a try because all the clips I've watched made me genuinely interested, and I'm glad I did because it was actually good.

Specking of illness, I found Eui Ju's hospital scene a little too funny. My step-dad has had major blockage twice, and they have considered surgery to fix it, so I know that it's painful and very serious, but somehow them getting stressed out because they were expecting it to be something life-or-death and then they are told it was constipation was so amusing. All of the stress that Ga Woo Su was dealing with while they were helping her also added to it because you could see that by that point our boy was just done. He was mentally exhausted and needed a nap.

I also found it funny how Ga Woo Su was upset about not being the main character in Eui Ju's book. You'd think her writing him in a BL would be the problem, but nope! The man knew he deserved to be the main character.

The only other part that I found funny was No Da Ju being upset that his character was too petty, and that he wasn't petty at all. This was really his only highlight because he was too big of an asshole for me to like much at all. Him using Eui Ju to try and film Ga Woo Su when he has camera-related trauma and his excuse being that "so much time has passed" really rubbed me the wrong way, and I didn't like him at all after that.

I hate the principal as well, but we're kind of meant to. I mean, the old crone drugs her nephew, tries to hide a student like they are a blight on the school, & used Dong Ju's job to threaten Ga Woo Su to be on camera. There was very little to like about the lady.

Dong Ju kicks ass. I've never seen that arm-twisting move before, & I had to watch it 3 times because I enjoyed it maybe a little too much.

I did space out during the "novel mental fantasy" bits because, while I enjoy writing, I found these parts boring, and they didn't add anything to the story. While I'm on the book, I may as well talk about the drama it created. First off, Ha Su was petty, but honestly, it was a very teenage thing to do, so it didn't bother me. Do I support her view? No, but I'm not going to condemn her either. I also thought the punishment was too light. Suspended for 5 days? They should have added something on top of that. Something to do with her grades, or after-school work, something. It just felt like she got off too lightly because the principal was seeing dollar signs. But the one thing that bothered me the most was them saying that you can't base characters off real people without permission. You 100% can. I know many authors (not personally) that have based a character in their published books that were based off someone in their lives. The problem was Eui Ju's characters were her teachers down to the looks, personality, and dialogue. All she did was set the scenario and twist the dialogue to fit a BL. At that point, it's not a novel; it's fanfiction. One that also shouldn't have been published. Fanfiction can be published; I have no problem with that, but normally fanfiction is based off something already fictional, so it's weird.

I really liked all the acting, but I want to talk a little about Kim Hyang Gi (Eui Ju). First of all, all her crying scenes were great, but I was really impressed with how much emotion she conveyed with just her voice. I knew what she was feeling from her voice alone; I didn't need to see her expression. Yes, it's acting, and that is an important part of the job, but I could hear the genuine hurt, nervousness, exasperation, and anxiety fill her voice, and all of it felt real. It didn't sound like acting at all, and I think it's the main reason I got invested in the story when I almost exclusively watch BL.

OST gets a 7.5 for the song & dance at the end because it was cute and I actually liked the song.

They left the ending very open so they could make a second season if they wanted to. Would I watch a second season? I'm not really sure. I am really glad that I watched this series, but I'm really unsure where they can take the plot and what drama they could create other than giving Eui Ju a rival, since we really don't know how Ga Woo Su feels. It depends, but I'm not saying no. Unless cheating is involved, then it's a big NO.

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Insta love with internal struggles

Starting with the things I didn't like!

* Girlfriend has got a lot of balls to do what she did and then act like she did absolutely nothing wrong. She had no respect for Shizuma.
* Shizuma & Minato's feelings developed a bit too quickly. It basically was love at first sight, but also not.

I liked pretty much everything else, but a couple of things more than others, and those are~

* Vet students & they actually worked with animals.
* There was a parent present!
* Shizuma's family dog looks like mine, except mine is all white.
* And most importantly, I really connected with this series because of Minato. I'm a lot like Minato in that when I like someone, the stronger my feelings are for them, the more insecure and scared I feel. I always have 1 foot out the door ready to run, and I hate that.

Many people may find this series annoying because of how indecisive Minato is, but to someone who has experienced that kind of anxiety, it's like I was watching myself fighting to love while everything in me is screaming in rejection. It's hard to explain, but I thought Naoya did a beautiful job conveying that feeling.

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