ShanTeaTime

I Wanted to SEE More Love, Less Trauma

So I love complicated stories don't get me wrong. I want a well-versed story, with relatable-ish characters. I really enjoy Peat and Fort overall, I think their chemistry is amazing. I also think their previous series is far superior to this, adding more "spice" doesn't change that fact. Though both series include trauma with Peat's character, whereas this show it felt forced and rushed, "Love in the air" had half the time and managed to do the story more justice than this ones. The plot also ended and it was only for the favor of the special episode. Without that special episode I was sat there on the couch like...that can't be it? It made zero sense. This was watchable but I want to see so much more with these actors, and not just trauma dump.

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Fighting The Urge To Rewatch The First Season (Again)

I'm not sure why I never wrote a review for this? Probably because I was upset initially that our main boys were split up for like 5 years from the first season to this season! I understand why (stupid father) but it felt unnecessary. Although without it I'm not exactly sure where this season would've went. It's no secret that We Best Love is one of my top BL series. Its got amazing acting, storyline, chemistry, music, etc. So this second season was probably never going to live up to that. However, it was still pretty darn good. So watch it! Just be prepared to be frustrated for a bit before things go back to where they need to be.

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I Might Watch This 609 Times And Still Be Confused

So this show totally flew past my radar. I had no idea it was coming out and thats saying something! I've followed Fluke and Ohm for awhile now and really like their chemistry. Though I don't think UWMA will ever be defeated in how amazing they were in that, this series also showcased their acting abilities in different ways.

I also didn't know Plustor was in this! Yay! And plot twist, DO NOT TELL ME that Plustors character and Nat are exes in this series lmao. Yes indeed they are! Is this casting an alternate reality!? That was so funny to me. So let's get into the characters.
Mum's character was...douchey at the beginning for sure . He grew on me but only because of the influence of Dew. We love me caring about the side couple because of Plustor more than Fluke and Ohm's storyline lol.. though I did like seeing both of their stories and how they intertwine. Though the plot got so convoluted that I couldn't keep it straight and I just went along for the ride not knowing half of what was happening lol.

One of the things that didn't make sense is Mum's sister never mentioning him to Dew. Like she likes him and doesn't bring up her brothers name ever!? That was weird. Also the Dew getting shot plot kinda didn't even really matter in the end. Like you're led to believe its that guy whose in love with Mum's sister, then you think its the sister which was actually a cool twist that was wasted! Then the uncle putting a hit out on his nephew. I was confusedddd dude. Multiverse plotlines are really hard to do, so I applaud them for trying but it didn't completely work out.

Watch this show though! It was good for what it was and I wanna see more from our side couple!

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What A Beautiful Set Of Bois

Had no idea what I was jumping into with this one. I've had mixed reactions to Japanese BL's. Loved ones like "Cherry Magic", "Love On The Line" and "The Novelist" , but sometimes they get quite repetitive. As well as now really showing the leads dynamic very well, aka they don't have much chemistry. Well this show definitely was a pleasant surprise!

First things first. I really like the animation aesthetics in this. They really added to the storytelling, it also made me think of "Heartstopper". I love how our main character Hira is so shy and awkward. He really is one of the most awkward main characters in a BL I've ever seen and that's saying something! So high praise to the actor. Though one plot device with the character I didn't like. I understand the violence symbolism of the gun motif was him expressing his inner thoughts and feelings. However, it was still too much lol. I live in America, that sh** is too serious.

Kiyoi's development with Hira is interesting. I saw little nuances of him liking him back from the start. Sticking up for him, the little smiles and wanting to just be around him. So I could tell something was up from the beginning, which is a good thing. It shouldn't just be completely one sided infatuation. I love that ep 5 is completely dedicated to Kiyoi and his backstory. We saw everything from his POV too now which is what I wanted. I also love seeing Hira kicking booty in this episode! We got to see our shy boy screaming and I loved it. At first I thought their first kiss seemed so out of left field, but if this is how Kiyoi has been feeling this entire time. Totally makes sense now. Boy is in love and the jealous type! I was frustrated thinking Kiyoi needed to stop being so chill or acting chill about everything. However ep 5 on explained this very well and I understood where he was coming from in his reservations.

Moving on. The intro of Koyami (our official love triangle boy) was interesting. I really like him and he clearly likes Hira a lot. So I felt conflicted. But because the love Hira has for Kiyoi I knew the switch up could never be. However, all I'm saying is but THE TINY CAKE Hira got himmmm. So sweet! The final talk between Hira and Koyami hurt my heart, but it was really well done. Koyami is genuinely also a good person, like he wants Hira to be happy, Koyami FOR THE WIN. It was nice to see the other love interest not be shady for a change. We got our happy ending and I hope Koyami gets a boo too! He deserves it.

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Gameboys 2 Much To Handle

So this is basically the Gameboys film but with some clips added in. It pads out Terrence and Wesley's story, adds in some character to Achilles and Pearl. Those were great, there's also some stuff added to Cai and Gav's story which were very much appreciated. I wish though that this had more and it was its own thing. There's too much good chemistry here not to continue on with the story. The extended ending definitely makes me want to see more, but I mean what else is new with this series!? Please release a season 3, we wanna see a wedding lol and I want to see more of our side couple. Pearl and Achilles deserve boo's too! Like TWICE said we want MORE and MORE!!! XD

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I Want Kim Bum Or Rain As My Doctor!

I want to keep this review fairly short because this series was so stretched out and frankly too long. Sometimes these K-Dramas falter at the standard 16 eps since the episodes are like an hour long. Sometimes its a good thing. This one was too long.

I really love both Kim Bum and Rain. For different reasons, but love either way. So seeing them together was surreal af. Their banter was great and both killed it with the acting. The women in this show definitely were weak characters, which is a shame. I didn't care about them at all (minus Bo Mi to a point). The story had a lot going on and I got confused during it on multiple occasions. I also became pretty uninvested towards the end. Sure, this got much better once we found out Kim Bom's character can actually see ghosts since childhood and become possessed. But I just wanted Cha to wake up already so we could get past the coma ghost thing. I wanted irl repercussions and problem solving. It also helped that Cha kept his memories of being a ghost once he woke up. Which was good since his character had so much growth during this series, which was one of the best parts.

Seung Tak was the more interesting character along with Cha. I liked learning about it but it took awhile to get there. Like I said, most everything else I was like I don't care or okay? I will say though Tess stole my heart. Man made me cry and that was the only time in this series I did. If you like/love our main 2 like I do, you'll enjoy seeing them. If not I would say don't bother. There are better K-Dramas and even better medical based K-dramas. Though the medical accuracy in this was shockingly pretty good.

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A Slice Of Life BL

With this show, I was at first like. Wtf was that intro... I kinda loved it though! I love that Valen is literally robbing Kaitoon in the first shot and now were shipping them. It's so BL and reminded me a lot of HIStory Trapped. Minus a really strong set of story lines. This show wasn't bad, but it definitely could've used some padding for the plot and cutting of filler.

Peat looks like a discount Mew lol (in his pic on here at least). Whereas in the show he looks completely different? Was I the only one that noticed this!? Anywayssss, ooh damn side couple past drama but then it leading up to them having make up sex! That's something I haven't really seen in a BL! Also 2 YEARS he left with no word tf. Depression is a very real thing and extremely difficult to cope with without proper treatment. It sucks though that Peat felt like he had to deal with it alone. As well as hurting his boo in the process. Which is totally understandable, anybody would be hurt after essentially being abandoned. It seems like too there will be a love triangle situation going on with them. Which could be very interesting in the second part of this. I'm not sure if I want these 2 to get back together or for them to move on?

Let's talk about our mains. Initially I thought Nont was so cute and keeps taking care of Kaitoon. But then that quickly shifted, I honestly think Nont needs therapy. Because he's so sad all the time! Relationships cannot replace therapy! Also Kaitoon ends up doing the same for Valen, taking care of him. So my feelings changed very quickly. Also Kaitoon is so tiny and adorable, seeing him and Valen's relationship shift was very satisfying. Everything else going on besides our main and side couple I didn't care about in the slightest. 2 scenes that stood out were:The birthday cake thing, it was super sweet. And the waves scene at the end was very nice, leading into them holding hands. A pretty good ending to lead into part 2!

Though this series isn't super memorable, its really cute! 6 episodes made for quick development. But since there's a second part coming out I have more hope! I do not understand the hate for this and never will!

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This Show Had Me Say "I Do"...But Not Until The End

So, this show was a rollercoaster. Another haters to lovers type of storyline. But it never really got toxic or volatile which is good. At first, with Aaron's character Jin I was getting serial killer vibes with those gloves lol. But obviously that's not the case because its revealed about his allergy. Which did make for some cute scenes, but I question if that storyline was even needed? Because we still had the accident plot, which hits really close to Aaron's actual horrible thing he went through. Poor baby. Past that though, let's address the elephant in the room. You could never actually ban relationships from a work space lol thats a lawsuit. I know its a show, but there's some surrealism with that. It also never really had any repercussions so whatever!

Hank as Shi Lei was very sweet and adorable. At first I didn't know how to take his character, but he progressively grew on me. Though Jin was still a much more interesting character. I realized after a few eps that I had gotten really into this! Mostly because of Aaron but still! Him and Hank's chemistry did show itself quite well with what we had to work with. However, this is where some problems arose. This show is wayyyyyy too slow. Our poor main couple didn't honestly get the time they deserved overall, whereas our side couple was lit. They were so good! If we hadn't of had them this would've been a complete bust. I like watching their wholesome and sometimes...not so wholesome interactions lol.

Another thing was why are we introducing an "antagonist" so late? Like really!? The ex arch could've came in eps before and had the plan with Shi Lei carry out. That could've added for more development. Although, that last episode was SNATCHED holy crap hello R rating lmao! I legit thought I was hallucinating for sure. They were definitely holding out on us until the very end. That's the chemistry I wanted to see and was clearly there! So sweet and butterflies for sure. Really solid ending and we get side couple engagement cuteness!

Finally, random things. The scene of Shi Lei talking to his mom about caring for Jin was precious. As well as, hello cameo I've been waiting for from our king Wayne! Cannot wait for season 2 of MODC!!! I would say watch this for mostly the side couple and then the last couple eps. There's so much filler that isn't needed. Also the soundtrack has gotten stuck in my head :P

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Log In And Never Let Me Go!

So let's talk about this! I really liked this concept. Showing how dating has been during the pandemic! As well as pandemic stuff that we've all been dealing with. It's a new and interesting way to showcase a BL storyline without the tropey stuff that were all used to. It also didn't get too stale with the zoom calls and other social media ways of showing progression in the story. It was paced well and ooh this series was really good!

Moving on to specifics about the story. The dad storyline had me so sad! Especially with the passing from covid and the circumstances of Cai's guilt. That was such an interesting take on the coming out story. Though tragic I loved the conversation it brought up between our two boys Cai and Gav. Feelings are valid and it wasn't his fault at all! Which btw his brother was so unwarranted in blaming his brother at all for dad getting sick. That made me so mad, but he did apologize afterwards so fine. The showing of the harsh realities though to this pandemic and live footage of workers and people coming out of the hospital got me though in the heart. I'm kinda glad I watched it now as opposed to before when it was so scary. My mental health probably couldn't have taken it. The conversation with the mom too was fantastic. She's a good actor first of all and her apologizing to her son for not gaining his trust enough to feel comfortable with coming out. Oof that one hit too!

Concerning secondary characters. Pearl was a queen, though a bit much sometimes I loved her! I'm so glad she wasn't a stereotypical "threat" to the relationship. She was actually a huge help the entire series AND an ex still! Which is great! We need more healthy relationships like that in shows. Also gotta say her telling Terrence's character not to use his mental health as an excuse for his actions was *chefs kiss amazing. Speaking of Terrence, though he was a total d*** at first I'm glad he got redemption for himself by the end. As well as Wesley's character. Noone was just a "villain" they had layers. Like onions lol. So when the intervention call happens with everyone on Zoom it was really good.

Onto the romance. Holy crap this relationship jumped off real quick! There's already jealousy and miscommunication at episode 2 lol! I wasn't expecting that but I guess I should've with an online started relationship. Other than the shocking speed, the romance was actually incredibly sweet and heartfelt. Though we get Cai being super hesitant and Gav is very persistent, it never felt out of place. The "baby"s were a lot after awhile lol but still very sweet! For a show with zero physical intimacy all throughout until literally the end, it was still believable! And it looks like the movie coming out (super excited for that) will delve into that physical stuff which is great and needed to continue the believability! The actors have chemistry but you can only do so much behind a screen in real life too until skinship is needed. How heartwarming it was though and kinda weird to see the actors in an actual room together with no masks on. Sure them meeting at the crosswalk was extremely sweet, but without the masks was special.

Other random stuff before I wrap up. This series had me DYING at times holy crap it was hilarious! The pillows...like come on and with the condom picture! Bro I can't! I will say one thing that semi-bothered me about this was Cai's computer funnily enough. Y'know for a "gamer" his desktop would have wayyyyyy more sh** on it lmao! Totally not believable how clean it was. Other than that, just little things here and there with the acting that could've been tweaked. As well as wanting more from the soundtrack overall. This series is fantastic and a breath of fresh air in the BL world! I cannot wait for the movie (which looks lit and shot really well) and the second season! It's in person now and I am stoked!

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Log In And Never Let Me Go!

So let's talk about this! I really liked this concept. Showing how dating has been during the pandemic! As well as pandemic stuff that we've all been dealing with. It's a new and interesting way to showcase a BL storyline without the tropey stuff that were all used to. It also didn't get too stale with the zoom calls and other social media ways of showing progression in the story. It was paced well and ooh this series was really good!

Moving on to specifics about the story. The dad storyline had me so sad! Especially with the passing from covid and the circumstances of Cai's guilt. That was such an interesting take on the coming out story. Though tragic I loved the conversation it brought up between our two boys Cai and Gav. Feelings are valid and it wasn't his fault at all! Which btw his brother was so unwarranted in blaming his brother at all for dad getting sick. That made me so mad, but he did apologize afterwards so fine. The showing of the harsh realities though to this pandemic and live footage of workers and people coming out of the hospital got me though in the heart. I'm kinda glad I watched it now as opposed to before when it was so scary. My mental health probably couldn't have taken it. The conversation with the mom too was fantastic. She's a good actor first of all and her apologizing to her son for not gaining his trust enough to feel comfortable with coming out. Oof that one hit too!

Concerning secondary characters. Pearl was a queen, though a bit much sometimes I loved her! I'm so glad she wasn't a stereotypical "threat" to the relationship. She was actually a huge help the entire series AND an ex still! Which is great! We need more healthy relationships like that in shows. Also gotta say her telling Terrence's character not to use his mental health as an excuse for his actions was *chefs kiss amazing. Speaking of Terrence, though he was a total d*** at first I'm glad he got redemption for himself by the end. As well as Wesley's character. Noone was just a "villain" they had layers. Like onions lol. So when the intervention call happens with everyone on Zoom it was really good.

Onto the romance. Holy crap this relationship jumped off real quick! There's already jealousy and miscommunication at episode 2 lol! I wasn't expecting that but I guess I should've with an online started relationship. Other than the shocking speed, the romance was actually incredibly sweet and heartfelt. Though we get Cai being super hesitant and Gav is very persistent, it never felt out of place. The "baby"s were a lot after awhile lol but still very sweet! For a show with zero physical intimacy all throughout until literally the end, it was still believable! And it looks like the movie coming out (super excited for that) will delve into that physical stuff which is great and needed to continue the believability! The actors have chemistry but you can only do so much behind a screen in real life too until skinship is needed. How heartwarming it was though and kinda weird to see the actors in an actual room together with no masks on. Sure them meeting at the crosswalk was extremely sweet, but without the masks was special.

Other random stuff before I wrap up. This series had me DYING at times holy crap it was hilarious! The pillows...like come on and with the condom picture! Bro I can't! I will say one thing that semi-bothered me about this was Cai's computer funnily enough. Y'know for a "gamer" his desktop would have wayyyyyy more sh** on it lmao! Totally not believable how clean it was. Other than that, just little things here and there with the acting that could've been tweaked. As well as wanting more from the soundtrack overall. This series is fantastic and a breath of fresh air in the BL world! I cannot wait for the movie (which looks lit and shot really well) and the second season! It's in person now and I am stoked!

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I Want More Of This All Day Every Day!

This series is stylistic and quirky. I absolutely loved every character in this, especially the 2 main leads. They added so much heart into their performances. Together as a couple they were super cute and relatable, thoughtfully done and totally believable with their chemistry. I think Shu Yi was my fave fave though. His character was hot headed but not in a toxic way. Once he's in something he's IN! So the relationship is so sweet. The plot narratives of feeling inferior, feeling left behind by friends dating, unrequited love, trying to overly succeed to garner the attention of another, doubting one's abilities. These are all great topics to explore and I wish we had even more time to unfold everything. But because of the time constraint everything moves by very fast. So there's absolutely zero filler. Random comment, Shu Yi's fashion game in this was spot on. Especially with the jewelry he wears! I wanted all of it so bad.

There's some really nice shots of internalized thoughts being shown symbolically in a shot. Like with the heart lights in the background. Underwater shots too that add to the visuals. The music is really nice in this. The bridge scene was one of my favorites, the bonding in the nurse's office, as well as the cousin coming in and helping his younger cousin get the boy. So adorable! Literally everything about "We Best Love: No.1 For You" is done extremely well and I'm curious as to how the second season will measure up. I'm hoping it doesn't fail to the second season curse!

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Give This Series All Of The Messi Love It Deserves!

So I stumbled upon this series from Tik Tok actually lol. That sentence sounds so cringy, but it's true. Somebody had posted a clip of the show which was the car splashing scene between Bok Joo and Joon Hyung, I was dying from laughter. So I looked into more clips and knew I had to watch this series! The series is set up as this quirky and funny romantic comedy with sports mixed in, but it's actually much more than that. It's heartfelt, overwhelmingly sweet, explores serious topics and is incredibly bingable.

We've got 4 primary characters in this show. Bok Joo, Joon Hyung, Shi Ho and Jae Yi. There's other side characters as well, like the sadly sick dad and hot wise uncle who were tops as well. But these 4 are the main focus. All are really solid characters with interesting stories, but my favorites were Bok Joo, Joon Hyung and Shi Ho because of how layered they really are. Bok Joo is our MC and she's great. As a viewer you really root for her success, shes strong, sweet and hilarious. Very adorable. She can be shy but doesn't let it hold her back too much unlike a lot of other K-drama female leads that I've seen. Joon Hyung at first took some time to get used to. I didn't like how he called Bok Joo "fatty" at first and he was came off as quite arrogant. However, in episode 3 he completely redeemed himself punching those gross bar guys out. His plot points were mainly around swimming, mom problems and love interest for Bok Joo. I will say, these two had fantastic chemistry (Bok Joo & Joon Hyung) like seriously it hurt my face how much I loved these two and was grinning like an idiot whenever they interacted. I'm pretty sure these 2 actors are pretty close in real life (possibly dating) so makes sense!

Joon's mom arch though got me, his poor little heart dealing with his aunt and uncle replacing his mom. Ugh! This actor (Nam Joo Hyuk) was my favorite, he was really good at conveying various emotional ranges. Also he's freaking gorgeous, tall and his style was killer. There was a line later on in the series where he's like "try me out!" to Bok Joo and I took this very inappropriately. I meannnn I'm willing to take a ride lmao, totally not the context of the scene AT ALL but who can blame me? Moving onto my other top character, Shi Ho. I really liked that she wasn't just a crazy ex-girlfriend or a jerk. She's actually really cute and I felt for her deeply in this series. Sure she let jealousy and longing get the best of her in situations because she thinks everything can go back to before, but it can't. I actually became concerned for her character in this series! She was so unwell with the sleeping pills, eating disorder and clear depression going on. It was heartbreaking to see, but done really well. By the way, gotta show the love for the fact that the show discussed mental health and counseling in this. All of it was much appreciated, and shown from various male and female perspectives. Huge claps to that!

The whole older brother/actually cousin with Jae Yi could've been super stale, but it wasn't surprisingly. It was actually pretty funny and concluded well. Some of the more romantically fueled scenes that I enjoyed and stuck out to me were when Joon Hyung goes all out trying to date Bok Joo. Conquering his fear of heights, using his jacket to warm her hands, 2 straws in the cup, So freaking sweet. As well as the scene where Bok Joo is finally like "I like you too! I don't wanna return you!" and then there's just an onslaught of them kissing each other. So fu***** cute I can't. I have to say, the series is really well-shot too there's some really pretty shots of Korea in this. And I loved the soundtrack/music played throughout. There were times when Kpop was played in the background and I freaked out because I recognized it.

The only issues I had with this series were pretty minimal. The teachers specifically annoyed me in this occasionally. Mostly because I didn't really care about that plot point, but also you don't EVER hit students ever or treat them poorly. I don't care if they are going against "rules or regulations" or whatever. You can be frustrated with a student potentially throwing away their potential away, but come on! Also telling students from gymnastics to basically starve themselves. Wtf. Either way, when this series was coming to an end I legit got teary eyes. I didn't want it to end and I miss the characters already!

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