MidnightReader

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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Nothing remarkable, but so far it's the only vampire series I'd recommend

I'm pleasantly surprised that I liked this series. I haven't had the best luck with vampire dramas, so I went in with very low expectations, even more so because of the high rating, & it turned out to be the best one I've seen so far.

For one thing, and I would say the most important, they didn't try to create a whole different lore for these vampires. They also didn't try to make the world bigger than they were prepared to explain. This has been my main issue with almost every vampire series I've watched, so it's nice that they just kept things simple. Yes, there are some things left to question when it came to making supplements & aging, but in comparison to the other series I've watched, those were really non-issues.

In a sense, you could say that the vampire part of the story took such a back seat that you could replace the roles with anything & nothing would change. However, I liked that it wasn't made into a big deal. It mainly focused on the relationships between the characters & I was fine with there not being these tense "I can't control myself" moments. It humanized them in a way, yes, but that didn't feel like a bad thing.

The acting was also fairly solid & the actors did a great job of conveying things through looks, so you pick up on how the characters feel about each other without having to be told, which left more room to focus on our main couple. I never once felt like a character's feelings for another came out of nowhere or was forced.

If I were going to recommend a vampire series, it would be this one. It's short & light-hearted, and most importantly, it doesn't try to stand out by messing around with the lore.

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As vertical series go this is one of the better ones

Normally, vertical series just aren't good. They normally have very rushed pacing; the story is choppy, and the script is normally convoluted. The acting is usually meh as well, and the series are given no room for any real character development.

This series had all of those problems, but it was also interesting enough to keep me invested in the story and not counting down the episodes till it was over. A first for me when it comes to a vertical series. The acting also wasn't that bad. With this kind of plot combined with the relationship drama, it really needed to be a regular-length series.

There were some very confusing moments as well that I felt needed a little more explanation, such as why Yun Yeong Won thought it was a good idea to go to the wedding, and who the weird random guy was that was stalking him at the beginning? The guy showed up like an admin in a video game to fix a problem you're having mid-play session, and it was confusing.

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Watched in a single sitting

I thought a show about a fan meeting their bias would be cringy, but this was kind of cute. I found myself smiling for no real reason quite a few times. Some moments made me cringe, like when I think about how I would act this way meeting my bias, and when the fans cross the line, like when the girl asks to see Choi Siyeol's abs & the one asking insensitive questions on the radio show. Fans like this actually exist, and I feel bad for anyone who has to deal with them.

Na Aejoon is the definition of "my bias can do no wrong." This man is literally defending Choi Siyeol when he's still mad and heartbroken. Honestly, I can't say I wouldn't be the same if I was in this position with literally anyone from Stray Kids or BTS.

The plot wasn't the strongest. I'm not talking about it being almost every fan's delusional dream to meet their celebrity crush and said crush show a romantic interest in them; they do make it more believable by making Na Aejoon's cousin Choi Siyeol's manager. So there is a connection. The weak parts are:

1. We don't get enough of the side couple. We have, in my opinion, a really good scene at the end of Yeon Ju Ha confronting Ji Kyuseong, but we never get to see how they make up; they are just suddenly together again. It also would have been nice to see more of their confrontation with the reporter since he was apparently the cause of their breakup.

2. The other group members are not part of the story at all. They may as well not have existed. It's completely unrealistic because even if they are all doing their own thing, they would still be a part of each other's lives. They would be doing dance practice together, recording songs, interviews, etc. We get none of that, and when they are on screen, they don't say a word.

3. There are a couple of moments where the idols have to deal with rude fans, but otherwise we don't see much of what they actually have to deal with as idols.

4. The show they are creating in the show really doesn't seem interesting at all. Would anyone actually watch this? Regardless, too much screen time was given to it when we could have been doing more with the main or side couple.

On to the actors! First off, I love the size difference between both couples. Na Aejoon in Choi Siyeol's clothes is so cute! The acting itself was solid, no complaints, and the chemistry was decent even though the kisses (what little we got) were more like pecks than anything. Ji getting crewed out by Yeon Ju Ha was so funny. Incredible acting from Shin (Yeon Ju Ha). This was easily one of my favorite parts. Yeon Ju Ha and Na Aejoon exchanging pictures of their boyfriends was honestly adorable. We only get to see a little of their friendship, but I loved it.

As Korean BLs go, this was actually really good. Not that the bar is set very high, but I was surprised by the production value, that the actors were good and had decent chemistry, and most of all, the world didn't feel like an empty void inhabited by only the main characters & a couple of supporting ones.

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I honestly don't expect much from Korean BLs at this point.

This series was okay. It wasn't the worst I've seen, but it also wasn't anything special. Frankly, I was bored. I probably won't remember anything from this series in a couple of days.

Korean BLs are always low-budget; the world feels empty, and the acting is normally okay, but the actors have little to no chemistry. Why is it that Korean BL dramas have no extras? It's like the main characters live in an empty world outside a couple of other people. School, street, theater; all empty.

If the budget is so low that you can't use extras, good chemistry between the actors is a must, and here it just fell flat. I don't believe that either of them loves the other. When the main characters met again after 4 years, I felt nothing. I should have felt happy, or excited, or at least anticipating them seeing each other again, but nope. Just nothing. Also, I'm expected to believe that after 4 years apart without speaking to each other, their feelings didn't change at all? They focused so much on U Hyeon's crush on his teacher & didn't really develop his relationship with Doha at all, so in the end it felt very flat and surface-level.

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A boyfriends lap really is the best seat in the house

I truly love this series. Compared to season 1, I liked it more, simply because I really didn't care about HillEaster. I think the only real negative thing I have to say about the series is that I wish the stories had been interconnected like they were in season one instead of these separate, standalone stories. Separated the way they were, everything felt disconnected, like they weren't a part of the same universe, even though we have recurring characters like North showing up in each of the stories.

North & Jo were the only characters from season 1 that showed up in each of the stories. I love North, so I was really happy about this, but I was disappointed that we were never told how Jo and Suea (Tiger) know each other. This was the one thing I wanted answered the most because I'm convinced Jo has worked with the mafia before, even if he's not a member, and I just need to know, you know?

North really is the best friend you could have. He's also spent way too much time with Arthit.

The exaggerated and cringy faces/dioluge are also not used as much in this season, thankfully. It was one of the more annoying things in the first season.

TONFAH/TYPHOON
I hate to admit that I was a bit disappointed in their story. I thought for sure that it would be the most interesting because of Typhoon's abusive father. Still, instead we focus mostly on the cute/shy moments and pushed the hurt/abuse so far into the background that the trauma seemingly healed itself and the father was taken care of almost instantly after he hits Typhoon.

I felt like with the years of abuse and neglect Typhoon went through, it wasn't given enough weight, and we focused too much on the romance. Honestly, if they wanted to focus so much on the romance, I feel like it should have been an episode or 2 longer to deal with everything in a more impactful and believable way. Or they could have cut out some of the fluff. Some could have been removed. The pacing slowed at times because the cute/shy moments were super repetitive. I actually started watching at X1.5 speed during some of those moments because they felt like they added nothing to the story. Tonliew's acting did get me feeling emotional, and it would have been nice to see him slowly heal from his trauma instead of only seeing it for the first couple of episodes. The boy has been emotionally, mentally, and physically abused and neglected. He barely eats or sleeps, and has nightmares. He even thought about killing himself after losing the last person he felt loved him. All of that and Fah slowly healing him should have been the focus.

I didn't count my feelings on this too heavily on my score because it's probably how it is in the book. I will be reading all the stories later on; I'm just not sure when.

On the cute moments, there are a few that I may have liked a little too much. I love that Tonfah is always pulling Phoon into his lap. I love that Fah calls Phoon "little one"; it's adorable, and it fits him so well. I also really like that Tonfah's look sometimes just screams "I'm going to eat you." Bever does that look a little TOO well. It was also really cute when Phoon got drunk and was talking about having kids with Fah.

So the couple that I thought would be the most interesting ended up being the most boring to me.

ARTHIT/DAO
This is the couple that I thought I would like the most & I was kind of right. I love them on the same level as JoNorth & SueaNao. They are both very straightforward people who don't lie or sugarcoat things, and their personalities complement each other really well. I wouldn't say this was enemies-to-lovers, but it was at least pain-in-the-ass-to-lovers, which I'm always here for.

2 things disappointed me here. First, I wanted to see Dao tell his friends about his powers. I feel like we really missed out when, honestly, it was probably nothing. Second, explain to me how Arthit and Dao have never met once when all of their friends are dating? I know Dao isn't the most social, but they should have met at least once in passing (I'm not counting Dao seeing Arthit eat Fah's gift). Both of these things didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story, but they are things that I would have liked to see.

I laughed and cried a lot more in this story than I was expecting. Meen, Dao, and Arthit made me cry multiple times. Arthit and his father Direk ( you know his actual father, not Hill, Jo, and Fah) made me laugh many times. The one that was the most memorable was Direk having Arthit saved on his phone as "little sperm"; no idea why I found that so cute and funny. I also laughed a lot when Arthit was dealing with Khram and somehow became his therapist. Oh, I also loved it when Dao pulled on Arthit's ear just like a pissed mother would.

This pairing had the best cuddles.

SUEA/NAO
First off, I love that Nao has a twin brother, and they gave us a good reason for why he wasn't in season 1 (Studying in Boston). They used different actors, but they looked enough alike to pass for twins.

The first 5 & 1/2 episodes (I'm not sure where in episode 6 it went from past to present, so I'm saying 1/2) gave us the full backstory on how Suea and Nao met, Suea falling in love, and all the son-of-a-mafia crap that happened in between. We even get a 2-year time skip when they are in high school that is mostly shown through little moments and phone calls. I wish we had gotten to see a time skip of their 2nd year in college because I don't think we saw anything from it? I would say we needed more of their first year as well for those who didn't watch season 1. I'm not sure because I'm not really sure when we got to present day. (This was the only real negative in this couple's story for me) I love that they spent so much time building up Suea's one-sided crush and the tension, only to put us in the present day, where Suea snaps & finally confesses his love. I liked seeing so much of their lives.

Suea's gay panic was the funniest and cutest thing. Singha being a tsundere with a brother complex was also very sweet.

Also, I thought Jo was bad when he was trying to win over North, but Suea is so over-the-top it's funny. Seriously though, how do Suea and Jo know each other!?

I actually teared up a couple of times for Suea because he was hurting so much from the things that Nao said and did that unintentionally hurt him, and he wouldn't/couldn't cry. He was clearly hurting, and it felt like he wouldn't allow himself to cry at first because he had already accepted that to be a part of Nao's life was to experience the emotional pain that came with him being interested in others. Nao was both the person who made him the happiest and the sadest & he endured it for 6 years. He is literally ready to kill & die for Nao. Nothing his father or brother did to him could make him cry, but Nao could bring him to his knees.

Except for the first time he was forced to kill. Which was a fucked up thing to do to your child, mafia or not, and Suea was literally a child. He was 16! I'm surprised there wasn't a part of the story where Suea's father targeted Nao to force/manipulate Suea into doing what he wanted. The asshole kicks the bucket randomly near the end (good riddance) before Singha is forced to marry, so both of our boys get to be happy with the ones they love.

I don't know how this story had time to develop the relationship so beautifully while giving us two side couples that we didn't ask for, but I appreciated it nonetheless. We didn't actually see a lot of Micky & Tul, but Singha & Ben were in the story quite a bit & while we only got a little bit of the romance, it didn't feel forced at all. They did this when Tonfah/Typoon's story felt like it could barely handle the romance.

OVERALL I really liked the series. If the stories had been connected instead of being standalones (and done well, mind), I probably would have rated this series a 9.

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Rewatchable

The OST is literally one song played over and over again, but it didn't annoy me, and it's stuck in my head now, so~

Acting was really good, and I liked the chemistry between all of them as friends and Maxky/Bas & Pie/Golf in romance. Earth and Bas honestly have good chemistry, but I'm pretty sure they are also really good friends IRL. Pond & Earth honestly didn't have the best chemistry in my opinion; it felt very forced and one-dimensional, or maybe I was distracted by the fact that every character Earth plays feels the same. I've seen him in 4 series before this one, and all of the characters feel the same to me. Bas's acting really impressed me right off the bat because the only thing I'd seen him in before this was 2 Moons, which I had fun watching, but it was one of his early roles, and you could tell.

North, Dao, Ger, and Typoon were my favorite characters, while Hill and Easter were my least favorites. Hill was so sappy at times that it was sickening, and Easter's overly dramatic facial expressions paired with his constant whining set my nerves on end.

(Side Note: I can never get over how tiny Tonliew is. He's adorable.)

While watching this series, I was looking out for foreshadowing and little moments between the couples for season 2. I would have overlooked the little uneasy looks between Typoon and Tonfah if I hadn't been looking for them. Tiger is just too adorable in his crush, and I honestly feel really bad for him. And Dao! He and Arthit don't meet once! You'd think that, being in the same friend group, they would have met at least in passing, but nope!

The friend groups are easily one of my favorite things about the series. Great chemistry, and I honestly love the teasing. Ter teasing North about Jo did get annoying fast, but the moments were short. The "shipping" is also something I think aged poorly now that I know how crazy and toxic some BL fans can be. I would say this friend group is at least in my top 10 favorite friend groups. Maybe the top 5 after I watch season 2.

Moving on to the main couples!

I loved JoNorth so much. Their kisses. Their cuddles. The way that Jo is down bad and super possessive, but is still a green flag about it. Or, well, at least a yellow flag. I'm convinced his family has ties to the mafia. He and Tiger seem to have known each other a while, and Tiger's father is in the mafia (if what I heard is true), so I need answers. Both of them seem to have an unlimited amount of money to throw around, and if they want something done or someone to disappear, they have no problem doing it. What really happened to Day? I doubt he was just fired.

Moving on, their moments were my favorite, especially all the cafe ones, and they were honestly the only reason I didn't drop the show. I was about to give up on the show until their storyline was introduced in episode 6; that's when things finally got interesting. It's hard to go wrong with a plot where the love interest owes the other money. I normally like it to be enemies to lovers, like in We Are, but this one sucked me in. I think that was mainly because North was actually trying to work more jobs to get the money. That is probably the only thing I didn't like about North now that I'm thinking about it. Who uses their college tuition and rent on a gaming computer? The boy needs someone to manage his spending. . . . . I keep getting sidetracked, sorry. There are also many moments of Jo hugging North like he's the cutest thing, and pulling him into his lap. AKA the best seat in the house. I just love them being together.

I couldn't care less about Hill and Easter's relationship. All of their problems are from miscommunication and an unwillingness to communicate. Yes, the grandpa didn't help, and he's a right bitter old man that deserves a good punch to the face, but he didn't cause all of their problems. He just started them. They became a stronger couple because of it, and hopefully, they won't make the same mistake again.

We spent around 13 episodes, maybe more, of these two orbiting each other and refusing to talk about what happened and how they feel about each other. Ter thinking that Hill liked Mild or Christmas made me wonder how he saw Jo liking North. Jo wasn't very obvious about it, and everyone could see from space how much Hill liked Ter. It was honestly annoying, especially when Ter told North that Hill never showed signs of liking him in high school. I'm sorry, did you just dream that he had you half naked on his bed with his tongue down your throat? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WERE NO SIGNS! He didn't contact you after? Did you ever think he got grounded and his phone taken away? Why did you never try to go to his house to check on him? Or ask his friends if they had heard from him? Why did you jump straight to blocking his number?

Then, when they meet again, you'd think that one of them would try to explain/inquirer about what happened, but nope! Hill just flirts, and Ter goes along with it because no matter how hurt he was, he still has feelings for Hill and lets him do whatever he wants, all while believing that he doesn't like him. Make that make sense! If you really believe the boy doesn't like you, then put your foot down. Stop letting him hold your hand, stop the car rides, stop all unnecessary contact!

Their whole storyline should have been 7 episodes at most, but instead it's dragged out through most of the series!

The flashbacks were also very annoying, and spread out through multiple episodes when they could have been all in 1 or 2 episodes. All of Jo and North's flashbacks took up 1 whole episode, and I was invested the whole time. Hill and Easter's were so spread out and sometimes so short that it disrupted the flow of the story more than it made me care. The only flashback that didn't do either of those things is when they are looking through a photo album near the end of the series, and Ter learns that he had met Hill long before Hill transferred to his school. That flashback wasn't out of place; it was long, and it got you invested.

Near the end, my interest in their relationship was at rock bottom, and my attention started to drift, so I began watching their scenes at X2 speed.

I do recommend the series because it was still good, and I really liked everything outside of Hill and Easter's relationship. Hill was actually likeable when it was just him and his friends.

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Added absolutely nothing

First off, why are Joy and Type being assholes by trying to ruin Teerak's surprise party? Everyone chasing them was funny and, sadly, probably the best part of the show.

Said party was the main focus of the first episode, and it was fine.

Episode 2 was about the "admirer" and "ex" that were mentioned in the summary, which we were led to believe would cause drama. No. Not at all. They were such a non-issue that they may as well not have been there. They should have put one of the other celebrations in this episode, other than cramming them all into the last episode. I mean, they celebrated Fah, Real, Hia, etc., graduation, an anniversary that was actually months early, and a mock proposal (aka getting down on one knee to give a promise ring) all in the last episode. They exchanged so many gifts at the end that I gave up wondering when we'd get to the last one.

We don't get enough of the side couples. Real and Hia are doing well, which makes me happy, but Lee and Klai are just entering the talking stage. I'm sorry it's been over a year! Talk about a slow burn if you've been talking/flirting for over a year and are just now entering the talking stage.

If you liked Your Sky and have no problem with little plot and almost no character development, you may enjoy this special.

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Fluff with no substance

This is a series for beginners. I first watched this less than a year ago when I first started watching drama. I had seen maybe 30 at the time, and I found it cute and easy to watch. Now, I've seen almost 300 dramas, and I decided to rewatch this series because I couldn't remember Teetee in it, and I wanted more of him and Por after finishing Duang With You, and I remember really liking Por in this series.

Boy, is it a hard rewatch. And Teetee was barely in it, so I feel like I just wasted my time. I watched it at X2 speed most of the time, and my attention wandered so much that I thought about watching a compilation video of RealHia and LeeKlaijai (is that his name?) moments.

One thing that didn't change after the rewatch is my love for Real, Hia, and Lee, and Teerak's grandpa. Muenfah was alright, and I didn't like anyone else.

But let's start with the positives!

--While Kong's acting isn't the best, everyone else did a good job. Por was especially impressive.
--Auau and Save have great chemistry, and so do Por and Teetee for what little we see of them.
--The RealHia moments are the only thing that got me through it. I also really love their difference in height.
--School work was more involved than in most dramas I've seen.
--Thomas and Por look enough alike that they are believable as brothers.

And that's about it! Now I'm about to rant & there will be spoilers!

--The plot is so straightforward that there is no suspense about what will happen next. To summarize, boring.

--Oh, played by Mike, is just creepy. He also looks a lot older than everyone else, which doesn't help. Everything with him and his mother is also just dropped, and they both exit stage left like they never existed.

--Lee's relationship with Teetee's character (His name is difficult) is something they spent little to no time on and was just tacked on an episode here and there.

--This show could have easily been 8 episodes. The passing would have been much better if they hadn't stretched things out into 12 episodes. Cut out the filler and some of the fluff, and honestly make the NC scenes shorter.

--One of the things I hate most is stupid or immature characters. This series has them in abundance. Teerak, Joy, and Type only have a few brain cells between them, and Teerak never seems to be in possession of them.

--Teerak's character is one of my least favorite main characters ever. His character was made to be a pure innocent bottom that you want to protect. And everyone tries to from his family, to his friends, to the boys crushing on him. His friends and love interest are doing it because they see how naive he is, so they don't annoy me as much. His family, however, raised him this way. I think the parents or the sister thought that he needed to grow up at all, but stay a sweet little boy forever. The result? We have a 19/20 year old boy with the personality and emotional development of an 8-year-old. He's an adult. He shouldn't be begging his father to kiss his head and pouting when he doesn't get it. He has to look up the simplest things to do with dating, like how to get to know each other, and how you know when you like someone. You know obvious things, and then for some reason, he doesn't have to look anything up about kissing or sex. He jumped into it like it was his job.

--Babe is a character that I only liked because she's supportive when Teerak really wants a relationship with Muenfah. Everything before that point pissed me off. (I don't know if she did or said anything about Miu, so I can't really compare how she acts when Teerak is dating anyone, so this is just a comparison of when he's being pursued.) Babe is very aggressive, toured Muenfah, and is overly protective of Teerak as soon as she thinks they are dating. She goes right to Muenfah and demands answers. She then tries to shut down any "couple" moments, even though she knows it's fake. Thankfully, she backs off once Teerak tells her he wants to have a relationship with Muenfah. But she acts this way to Muenfah, but does and says nothing to Oh. I don't care if he's a senior. If you are this protective of your brother, that won't matter. She literally acts like a third parent to Teerak when they are only a year apart in age, so why is it that when he's actually having problems with someone, she does nothing? She saw that Teerak was uncomfortable about Oh giving him flowers and gifts, but didn't do anything because why? Teerak told her not to? Then we have the birthday party, which she either shouldn't have let him go to simply because it was Oh's or gone with him. She does neither, and her brother would probably have gotten worse than sexually assaulted if it hadn't been for Muenfah, the one she's giving a hard time. So yeah, I don't care for her at all.

--Teerak's father was stupid for thinking that putting Teerak under house arrest and driving him to school when Babe couldn't until he broke up with Muenfah was magically going to fix that his son was gay. My dude, look at how you raised your son. I'd be more surprised if he were straight.

--Lastly, I couldn't care less about Teerak and Muenfah's relationship. I was so bored with them; it was all fluff and filler, and I was more interested in literally anything else. They had okay chemistry, especially in the more intimate scenes, so I'd like to see them in more things in the future, and I really hope they don't turn out to be another MaxNat (Naughty Babe) for me. I've watched almost all of MaxNat's shows, and while I can see improvement, I still have yet to actually like anything that they are in.

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Perfect starter drama.

Starts great, but my interest started to wane around episode 7.

They somehow believably made this ridiculous bet work, and I think a lot of that had to do with how obvious it was that Ryo was down bad from the very beginning.

Acting was good, and they really embodied their characters. They also don't act over the top like in a lot of Japanese dramas I've seen, which is a major plus. Our leads also had good chemistry, and the cuddles were good. I love a good cuddle.

The stress relief scene in episode 2 is what made me want to watch the series. It's so cute! Zen also looks small and adorable in that moment. Sad to say, but besides this part, I'm probably not going to remember anything from this drama in a couple of months.

I love a good rivals-to-lovers trope, and this one was done really well; however, It's not memorable. I'm not going to be thinking of it at all now that I've finished it. I don't really care if we get more, even though if we get more, I do feel it's deserved.

Futami's actor was done dirty with that bowl haircut. I've heard he is really good-looking in the manga.

This is an easy drama to recommend to anyone, especially beginners, because it has good acting, production value, the chemistry between the actors is good, and it isn't too in your face with the NC scenes. It also has just the right amount of drama for someone who wants to watch a drama, but not be stressed out.

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One of the better vertical series I've watched.

English voice-over may have made it better or worse, I'm not sure.

This would have been a good series if it had been longer and we had to sit with the betrayal. Xing was bullied by a fake and punished and neglected by her family for two years, but it didn't feel that way. It also didn't feel like they all had 12 years of loving each other because they turned on Xing so quickly. How could they believe someone they just met over someone they raised? Then their feelings suddenly flip on a dime again once they realise they forgot her birthday? It just didn't feel believable.

This is one of the reasons I don't like vertical series. This was a good plot; it just needed more time to flesh out the characters and make their actions make sense.

You're also telling me that this family never once looked at their camera footage in 2 years? Their cameras were also all perfectly placed to catch almost every evil act as well.

They wait for 30 years for her to wake up, only to have her pretend not to remember them. I mean, they kind of deserve it, but also they waited for 30 YEARS. I felt only a little bad for them.

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Teenage miscommunication with not enough begging for forgiveness.

I was very bored for the majority of this series. Anytime there was a flashback? Bored. There were dozens of them as well, placed literally everywhere in the story. Side couple time? Bored to yawning, which is sad because I liked Ki. My attention drifted so much during their scenes that it was a full-time job staying focused. Anytime Ji and Achi were in Ji's apartment? You guessed it, bored. Honestly, bored and annoyed.

The acting didn't help. Poppy was the best actor in the series. The girl who played Song did a good job as well. Junior was okay, but to be honest, his excessive smiling creeped me out, and I just wanted him to stop. None of the couples really had chemistry, and it left even the non-intimate scenes feeling stiff and awkward. Fluke did get better as the story progressed, and he even made me cry in episode 7.

I cried not because of Money (okay, maybe a little) or Achi leaving, but because I could tell how Ji felt truly small, powerless, and abandoned in that moment, and he wanted to hold onto the only thing he had left of Achi and was scared that his mom wouldn't let him.

If Achi hadn't lied and fled the country and left things unresolved, they could have been together MUCH sooner. I do understand it, though, because they are teenagers and they don't fully understand their feelings, let alone know how to express them. Communication is the most important and difficult thing in a relationship.

As much as I wasn't enjoying the majority of the show, Achi and Ji getting together felt very abrupt, and they had no problems with anything after. It was literally like 4-5 episodes of Ji pushing Achi away because he doesn't want to be hurt again, a couple of episodes of Ji giving in and letting Achi get closer, and then last episode BOOM together and happily ever after. I get that they both never stopped loving each other, and they don't want to waste any more time, but you'd think that they would talk a little bit. I don't consider the flashbacks to be them talking. Show us the flashback; we needed it, but show them talking things out. It would have also been nice to see if their being in a relationship had a positive or negative effect on their lives because of Achi's job.

In my opinion, Ji gave in way too easily. Make him beg a little bit! Achi's smile would have already had me creeped out, but this man showing up in the random places I am, and then at my home? Combined with the sudden kiss that he did not have permission for, it would have had me telling him off and avoiding him, and if he wouldn't leave me alone? Restraining order. But Ji is still in love with him and gave in to everything Achi wanted. Achi should have been working for forgiveness every step of the way, but it felt like he had to put almost no work at all into it because Ji loved him more than he loved himself.

The plot had a lot of potential, but not enough time was spent forming, breaking, and then fixing the main relationship. They did an okay job at breaking it, but it still felt very surface-level. It's hard to put my thoughts on it into words. Like I felt the pain Ji was going through, but I felt nothing from Achi. If they are limited to just 8 episodes, they should have just cut out the second couple altogether, given us a full episode ( & maybe a half) of just flashbacks, then spent the rest of the time with Achi begging for forgiveness, them working things out, and then given them a happily ever after. As it stands, their finally getting together was unsatisfying. I found myself actively not wanting them to get together because it didn't feel like Achi put in enough effort after the pain he caused. I don't care if it was 10 years ago, and Ji is still in love with him. It clearly left scars on Ji.

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