ShanTeaTime

Mr.Heart Will Steal Your Heart, But Sadly In Small Doses

Okay so here's the thing. This series needed to be WAY LONGER wth! I don't really know any of the information surrounding it, I only knew that it showed up on my Viki account and I was look OOH! I need to watch that, so I did! Bare in mind I also watched this without subtitles (for the most part) so if I screwed up my translation on anything my bad. But I think I'm okay lol

Each episode was about 12/13 minutes long and that's not enough to establish a totally fully fledged story. It was enough for me to get invested though and I would recommend binging this if you have some time to kill. It really is quite a cute story and I'm hoping this garners enough attention so a sequel is discussed maybe?

The real star of this show is Lee Se Jin as Sang Ha, he was so freaking adorable, charming, funny and heartbreaking all wrapped up in one gumdrop of a package. Seriously him talking about his mom dying, paying off the medical loans and being lonely. UGH my heart! His character I'll miss the most if we only get this series! Cheon Seung Ho as Jin Won was good too, but just different character styles and I prefer Sang Ha. Putting these 2 together though was adorable though. I wish we had more time with them! The track stuff was all interesting and though the debt/loan sharks thing got a little over the top it was still gripping, I wanted to see them develop together more! Give me more carton milk exchanges, running montages together and keypad bedroom scenes danggit! Though that last episode did find a way to wrap it up nicely.

Again, second season please! I haven't seen many Kdrama's involving lgbtq couples and there needs to be more representation! I'm not just saying this as a person learning the language, I'm also saying this as someone who sees how far Korea has come with its openness to these important topics. Hwaiting! Let's keep going!

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25 To Life: On How Much Miscommunication Kills Mood

I blew through this series in one day, because I just needed to see how it ends. I was entertained the entirety of the show, albeit it frustrated the hell out of me with the two main characters lack of communication skills. However, the bouncing back and forth between the real love story and the series the characters are playing in was really interesting! I actually really liked how that played out. I just think we could've introduced more than just a side "love interest" into the mix. This series also made me think of a weaker version of 'My Beautiful Man', because this is also about a school love from afar turned into an unexpected love affair in present day. So I would say, watch this but watch MBM first! Also side-note, the score in this series was beautiful like holy damn.

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We Are Eternally Grateful For This Movie Continuation

I had zero clue where this film fell into the timeline of the series. I knew it was after season 1, but had zero clue it was after season 2 as well! Which I love, because seasons 1 and 2 were both great. This was even better, because of the added budget for the film. Some of the shots in this were incredible, super gorgeous seriously. The series has always had an aesthetic that I drooled over as a filmmaker, but this took the cake. That last shot of Hira and Kiyoi under the transparent sheet was literally like something out of BTS's "Blood, Sweat & Tears" which is one of my favorite music videos of all time. The film shows their relationship very well, how they've grown and how they will continue to grow now that they've confirmed their forever. The stuff intertwined within the story was good too, but lets all be honest. Were here for the coupleness that is Hira and Kiyoi! I know there's not really a "need" for another film/season in this series...but I want one. I really enjoy these two and want more artistic BL filmmaking like this, I Told Sunset About You, Colour Rush, Until We Meet Again, etc. Its just so much more meaningful than any cash grab could ever dream of being.

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A Blast To Watch! Stop Hating On This Series!

I love collection stuff like this. "Close Friend" tried to do this but failed ultimately. So I don't know why so many people were disappointed by this? This is the superior version of that genre in BL. Each story was interesting in its own way (though I have my faves) and kept me entertained all throughout. I liked that the couples got 2 eps instead of just 1. All have potential to continue with these characters too/couples. However, certain ones I wanna see more of more than others. I also didn't realize watching that there was a color theme going on and that some characters names coordinated with days of the week, so bare with me.

My faves were:

1) Puth and Kaeng. This couples chemistry was lit and I can see them being promoted again for sure. Their side story was nice too! We love friends with benefits to lovers. Kaeng has such fashion too my lord. Their side episode was also really good, that "Daddy" "Papi" stuff had me going lol

2) I really appreciate the discussion in Masuk's story with Tir and Hia about finding love again after tragedy. Important message to talk about and very sad. Both bridge scenes had me a little messed up! Coping with grief is different for everyone and I'm glad they tackled it in this. Survivors guilt and all that. I also love that Hia is such an understanding party in all of this. He knows Masuk will always love Tir and accepts that while supporting him

3) Mon and Team. These guys had good chemistry too and the height difference was adorable. Again we got kinda a player character finally settling down with one person. Nicely done.

4) Sat and Choke. This story was interesting in that we got a character who is forced to miss out on years of his life due to a wish he makes as a child. We see him fall in love with his former best friend and its very sweet. The usage of English sprinkled in was kinda random but had me dying!



The rest of the couples were still really good, just not as good as these 4 in my opinion. The last ep wrapping up the storylines with more cute stuff and bringing all the couples together was nice! Seeing how distinct they are and bringing the gays together was fun. Also, Puth and Kaeng with kittens...enough said. Though the pool scene ran for wayyyy too long lol but I feel like it was just the actors saying their actual goodbyes to each other.

Such an enjoyable series and I'm sad to see it over. Hoping we get these actors casted again! It would be a crime not to!

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Cute In Moments, But What "Y Destiny" Did Better

So this series comprises of 6 different stories from already paired actors from other series. I guess I'll have to go episode by episode in order to fully express my likes and dislikes of the entirety of the show. Lets do that!:

1st Episode: This is Fluke and Ohm's. Which I'm surprised got a first slot since they have to be a huge pull for this show! I'm watching it because of them and Tommy/Jimmy. I liked the idea of their love changing due to work and passing time. But the resolution of the episode didn't really resolve anything. Yes Ohm's character kissed Flukes at the end to show he still loved him. However, he's still calling him his brother behind his back and they need to talk over their love changing! Which didn't happen. If the ep was longer maybe it could've added these things in.

2nd Episode: Side couple from TharnType who I didn't really care for lol. The cat became...a person. Wtf am I watching? What in the furry fantasy is this? What is the point of this episode? Not much tbh lol so just skip it.

3rd Episode: Okay martial arts? What is this comic book editing all of a sudden!? Dude threw him on the ground so hard XD. This one was okay but I wouldn't have any reason to watch it again. I recognize these 2 from "Y Destiny" so go see them in that!

4th Episode: Yeah idk these two in this lol. Trying to get rid of karma huh? Ah it's a cop out. Well either way this one was cute. Kinda rushed at the end with a random romance twist, but its 15 mins so what can you do. I would say watch it but AGAIN these 2 are in "Y Destiny" and that story was much much better than this.

5th Episode: Omg FINALLY Jimmy and Tommy's episode! Yas 90s pen pals! This is actually super cute. Probs the best of the bunch! Well paced and interesting all throughout. Watch this one if anything and I only wish it had been given a full series to really get deep into the story.

6th Episode: I mean...the concept is kinda cool with a virtual boo coming to life and then they are actually real. But I kinda dipped out by now lol. There is some cute stuff though so watch this over some of the other ones.

Basically my overall consensus is this series was okay. The concept is good, but because "Y Destiny" has come out so closely to this its hard not to compare. That series did it much more effectively than this in every way. So I would say, watch a few of these and watch all of that series. Even the non-faves of mine from that series overshadowed 95% of these stories here.

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Korean BL's Continue To Tease Me

Why Korea!? Why are you making these series so damn short!? This is another one where if it had even more time to develop it could've been great, much like "Wish You"! I wanted more showing of dance and competition because that's heavily implied for the title. But trying to crame both a love story and competition into 8 episodes that are only like 15 mins each is virtually impossible. I don't blame the creators at all, just wished they'd start to realize that these series are worth more time into. There was also the storyline of Shi-On's mother. So a lot of material! What a crappy mom btw, you can get remarried and not literally ignore your children afterwards! She even took his loan money and didn't even care to pay back. Trash and he deserves better. Poor baby.

Maybe this one will get the "movie treatment" too where they cluster the episodes together and add in extra content?

I do think these 2 leads had way more chemistry than "Wish You" meaning I believed it more overall romantically. Maybe it's how progressive things were shown and it felt more natural? The kisses in this were wayyyy better too. Whereas in "Wish You" it was cute, but didn't really have any sexual tension. Shi On showing Hong Seok the audition dance was actually really well done and had me feeling butterflies the way it was laid out into the bed/love scene. Well done show well done! Also not something showed in many Korean BL's so yay! Progress!

The ending episode with the breakup cop-out was annoying, but it ended happily ultimately so whatever. I'm conflicted by this one, I think it will go in the pretty good pile. There were some things I really loved about it and others needed some work. Not my favorite of the Korean BL dramas (that still goes to "Color Rush", "To My Star" and "Long Time No See") but it's definitely worth a watch! I would even say watch this over "Wish You" tbh. Also the soundtrack for this one is really really good. So download that if you can!

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A Math Equation In My Head As To How This Is The Prequel To "The Ambiguous Focus"!?

Watch "The Ambiguous Focus" first and without this! It succeeded this movie in every way possible. I went into depth about how much I love that sequel series in a review of mine (look that up on my account please!) but this prequel movie was not it. I'm sorry to those that love it, but this was not my cup of tea AT ALL. Okay that was a small rant, now moving on to the actual review.

This movie was definitely different in tone to the sequel series. Like what the actual f*** how is this the same director for both!? I literally had to double check that it was the same actors even though I knew it was lol and the correct prequel film. I get that the characters are meant to be 10 years younger (ie.18ish) in this so it's a lot lighter in tone which makes sense. But holy crap this must've thrown fans for a loop (like me) who watched TAF first and then this after! I was literally tripping the entire time dude, I'll give it to the actors they are versatile. I hope they get more of the drama dark stuff though because that was where it was attttt. I wonder if they (the creators of this) were literally going for such a huge contrast? Like light vs. dark, early love vs. late love, teen audience vs. adult audience?

So the movie has a comic book/manga-like format to it with the text blurbs and sketched in exclamations. Which was alright. But again because the dialogue was so fast (one of the only issues I had with TAF) it was so hard to keep up. The music was also really annoying, overly loud and distracting. The characters of Nan and Zhe are more like cartoon character stereotypes in this, not realistic at all. Like the athletic type and nerd/nervous type together type of vibe. Watching this it made me thank the lord that Nan's character is completely different in the sequel because in this he got on my NERVES. Just an annoying flirt and "tough guy" for most of it. I guess you could chalk that up to "development" and aging but I don't really buy it. Even in the flashbacks that they used from this or added in from this time into TAF it was a completely different feel. It's a wonder how they took any clips from this and utilized them in both forums without changing the feel of the sequel.

So there is some overlap obviously. Very little but there's some (again not necessary to watch this at all before TAF or even after lol). Like we saw that Nan was a swimmer, but nothing about Zhe being a literal genius. He's a writer in the sequel sure but not a mathematician. So weird! I can also see in this alittle more now as to why Nan would think in the future he's actually inferior to Zhe because of the intelligence. Him helping him with work throughout college and stuff to pass, but again represented and worded SO MUCH BETTER in the sequel. The only think plot wise that I can say I liked in this movie is seeing the dynamic between Nam and his dad, which was a slight question mark in the sequel.

I am so so SO glad I and others got to see what these actors were really really capable of first and the writing/story development. I'm also conflicted because without this it could've been just a perfect stand-alone series. Prequels tend to set off alarms for me because there's such a thing as telling too much. Which is what this was exactly. But it makes me think if it was more similar in tone and in script ability would it have been better? Probably! Doesn't mean I still wouldn't of thought it was unnecessary, but it wouldn't of made me annoyed watching it. We get more than enough exposition in the series with a flew flashbacks to know these two found each other in school. Amongst all of the amazing acting, which couldn't be utilized here because the script doesn't demand that. Literally the movie ends with zero indication that these two could be in love like they are in the sequel, which is at 100% and so strong. I mean I'll forget all about this movie but the sequel series will remain with me forever. So that's what counts. Everyone is different in what they like, I much prefer the latter. Also random final thought, where's Chunzi (aka. Zhe's bff in the sequel)? Wouldn't he make some type of appearance? Or did they meet after college? Idk whatever, it just would've sucked more to see him anyways in this.

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Ae and Pete Should Be The Gold Standard Of BL

So if you haven't seen "Love By Chance" and you enjoy BL romance shows WATCH THIS ONE pleaseee. Now even though TharnType is still one of my top shows because of the plot and love for the two main characters, this show succeeded past TharnType in a very prevalent way. Open discussion of consent and protection. These are 2 very verryyyyy important topics that TharnType either glossed over or didn't properly convey at all. I can say without a doubt Ae and Pete's relationship specifically is the healthiest, sweetest, most well-developed couple in any BL series I've watched so far. There's no hatred towards each other from the start, which is such a trope that needs to be dropped unless it's for a valid reason (like in TharnType) just kindness. The actors have very sweet chemistry, seriously there's a lot of emotion there clearly and it made me really happy. Each scene was done well and again CONSENT was blatantly established which is fantastic, as well as protection being openly discussed.

Ae and Pete should set the standard for BL couples for real. I don't understand people's arguments of their arch "getting old" because I didn't feel that at all. It felt genuine, well-deserved/built up well and I wanted to see more from them as a couple that didn't need to go through a ton of BS to be great. Pete also has become one of my favorite BL drama (or just television) characters ever. Every time his character was on the screen I melted and smiled like an idiot. He is best boy, so freaking wholesome and needs to be protected at all costs! Literally I would protect Pete with my LIFE. Seriously great job on Saint's part because this is his best role in my eyes.

The series also has a solid straight couple arch in it, including a character (Pond) whom I didn't like at all at the beginning but who grew on me a lot throughout the story. However, Chompoo man...she was so irritating! I liked Tin and Can as well, they grew on me more as time passed. Mostly because Tin's character was interesting and I really like that actor. But the other "couple" was a huge nope for me, you know what I'm talking about (explained more at the end of review). However, Ae and Pete make up for it so much! Discard any TharnType references in this show, they don't pan out in the TharnType show since the entire cast got replaced (thank god, though I am sad for my sweet boy Earth who plays Tar in this).

I also wanted to say a negative about this show is Techno's storyline with Kengkla. Not good, for a show that's very consensual that certainly wasn't and I want a positively thought out discussion about it in the second season. Especially when you have a character like Tar in this who's gone through assault and suffered from it. It doesn't taint this season, but it is a concern for season 2. Finally, please bring back Ae and Pete for another season with the same actors I'm begging you!

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Colour Rush Was Indeed A RUSH Of Emotions

First and foremost. This series better have a second season. They cannot in good faith be leaving us viewers like that without damn answers! How is this relationship going to work with the craziness settling in? Where's the mom? Because that's still very much a lot unresolved. Also we just started to get into an actual relationship, don't just end like this I know there's 2 more books!

Now that that's out of the way, I loved this series. It could've went on for much MUCH longer but that's the drawback of these K-Drama Mini Series. They rope you in enough and then it's already over. This show in particular has so much good stuff going on in the plot that it would be impossible to resolve everything properly. We had the romance plot, mixed with triggered insanity due to the Mono/Probe situation, a missing mom and mysterious past of Yoo Han. So much potential and it definitely keeps you hooked the entire time. There's not a slow moment in this series.

I watched this with one of my friends and he agreed with me that this is one of the most sensual BL's we'd ever seen. Looks exchanged, literal stroking of walls and faces. The chemistry between the leads developed very nicely! I knew Hyun Jun from being in The Boyz and I'm so excited to see his acting career continue. He was so sassy and confident in this show I loved it! Also he's seriously so beautiful, like holy crap I was so happy they didn't keep the mask on him for a huge section of the show. Yoo Jun did a fantastic job as well in his leading role. There was a few times where I actually felt pain for him during the decolouring, it was heartbreaking. I actually wanted more from the sassy friends though, I needed more fan action!

So the "plot twist" of this show in the last episode was fantastic. I was shook and I don't want to spoil it because it's that good. It really answers a lot of questions as to why Yoo Han is the way he is with Yeon Woo (aka: kinda obsessed since the beginning), brings them closer together rightfully and I loved it. It added so much to his character and leads again to even more potential for a sequel season. Finally, I wanted to say the music was fantastic in this show. The soundtrack and the use of synth during the "coloring" scenes was well done. Also the use of colour and special effects was beautiful. It made me feel like I was seeing colours for the first time as well along with Yeon Woo! Who knew there were that many colours out there to actually see lol. Please watch this series. It is quite dark at times and I'm not sure if it will have a classic happy ending, but it's different and gripping to watch.

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REVENGE For This Couple

So there's so much that has happened surrounding this show, which is absolutely unacceptable. Unless some type of newer knowledge comes to the light, the treatment of these main actors has been insane. I'm glad they mostly seem okay now and seem to have maintained communication, but they still can't be seen together in public supposedly. It's just so sad to see and the amount of censorship surrounding this show too, ridiculous. It only lessened how great this show was, especially the final episode. They cut out so much and hearing what they cut just made me so angry! Art and filmmaking it expression, so this being censored just hits me personally as well being a filmmaker. Overall, the show was pretty good but it could've been so much more with scenes added back in, lack of censorship and bullying of the actors and potentially a special episode. Justice for Zi Yu and Tian Xu Ning! Who seem so sweet behind the scenes.

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King Of Mask Singer Is the KING Of Reality Television

This show is always entertaining to watch! I love how full of talented people it is, everybody they bring on to perform has a lot to give! Not like the Western remake that brings awful performers on like Sarah Palin and Jojo Siwa, what the hell was that? Nah this original series is the way to watch, though the costumes could use some major updating in this. That's the only thing the Western remake has done better. However, the judges in the OG are far better in both comedic/banter timing and honesty. Like they don't 100% sugarcoat anything, if you suck at dancing they will tell you. There's a live band playing the songs so that's nice instead of just a track in the background like in the remake. It's also WAY faster paced than the remake, like holy crap we don't need 2 weeks worth of episodes to unmask 1 person! It's so annoying so thank goodness the OG isn't like that at all. Definitely a reality show to binge easily!

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