Wren

A Slow Fall From Grace

Rated= 8 ~ 36.5/50 ~ 7.3
Scene // Mermaid getting lost in the Enchanted Forest. Has no clue how to use Merlin's Staff LOL

I thought this show was going to be my first Unicorn rating. But of course, in those last 10 episodes, everything started to fall like the Xue family. For the most part, the entirety of the show is a back and forth between the FL's love interests and the slow death of the Xue family. I mean, they get a few swings in but really not as much as I thought they would, not as much as they should have considering how much of a presence they had.

Plot - The first 10 episodes had a great setting. The Fl grew up in poverty and dreamed of being the empress. She uses all wiles and tricks to get what she wants only for it all to backfire and end with her death. In a world without magic, this is explained by showcasing the title. It's a young author's story who is frustrated with the demands from her publisher and continues her novel as a rewrite. This is how the FL wakes up as her 18 year old self and is given a chance to 'rewrite' her story.
She carries a lot of guilt and sadness for her past behaviour and this haunts her for the most part of the show, trying to give back the positions she stole and right who she wronged. This narrative carries on for the most but slowly starts to change over to our ML as we discover who he really is and what is true motives are.
The hidden plot is basically the Empress Dowager and her brother have been conspiring to get the Xue family onto the throne and bring in a new era. I can't help but feel a little disappointed that with this iron clad presence, they did not have the weight that I thought they would have. I mean they tried but for the most part, Duke Xue was pretty useless and the kids were stupid.
They were stopped at every attempt they made. I guess that makes for easy watching but it got kind of funny after a while, as the whole show had nothing to do with the FL redeeming herself at all, and was just a slow dismantling of the Xue family's supposed power which we didn't really get to see a lot of.

As the the relationship between the FL and her 3 suitors, one was the childhood friend trope, one was what you expect from a romance story and the other was just a messed up person grappling for something sincere, so of course we get the third one.
It didn't really feel anything for the first suitor but loved that he became a handsome young general in the end and I like to think that he ended up with the Princess. I think they would have made a cute pair.
The 2nd one, as much as a prince charming that he was, he didn't suit the FL's personality. He was never seen to be anything other than the proto type of justice and noble character. Having said that, I did like him and didn't think the FL deserved him. Would have been nice to let him move on and show him doing so rather than just being that friend that's pining after another man's wife.

And the 3rd one, our ML, was doing well up until the cave scene. Desperation in your mental illness is one thing but I felt like from then on, this intense, all or nothing character just wasn't done very well. It didn't feel romantic to me. It just felt like a desperate man with severe PTSD begging the FL to stay in his life, no matter how romantic they tried to make it. At times, it even felt abusive but then I don't like being controlled either so I have a hard time imaging a woman like the FL would fall in love with the ML. It would have made more sense to have given stronger hints and scenes of her feelings developing earlier with the ML, or developing sexual tension to help round out the dark and sexy vibe they were going for, but instead they focused on building up the love with suitor no.2 just so she could randomly break up with him because she suddenly thought his mother's death was her fault, again.

Overall, I just don't feel like the relationship between the ML and the FL was well developed enough. Yes, too broken people with traumatic backgrounds falling in love but this just felt like being relentlessly pursued and then suddenly being in love. It was a bit of a failure and as much as I can give credit for getting away with as much of a sex scene as they could, it gave a similar vibe as to when Mr. Gray was popular. Dark and intense love is not abusive, emotional manipulative and controlling. I don't find that sexy at all. The icing on the cake is grabbing her by the throat twice, to force a kiss. Yeah. No. We were crossing into r*pe fantasies at time and that shouldn't be anyone's thing. Yes, I am kink shaming.
It should not be up to the FL to 'save' the ML and be his medicine. When two broken characters come together, you really have to show the understanding and feelings growing between them and I don't feel satisfied with what I saw.
The ML bullying his son at the end just seemed mean spirited with a does of gaslighting.

Acting- Not bad for the most part. Really didn't like how the ML would try to make his voice deeper when he arguing with the FL as if that made him sexier. It sounded a bit silly to me because I could hear how forced it was.

Music- I really loved the soundtrack to this. 'Won't see you in 3 thousand lives' is already on my playlist.

Rewatch - Overall, it was a good watch and I was invested for most of the ride. I guess I could watch it again if the mood takes me.

Read More

Well, this hurt my feelings

Dear lord, where to start.

Once upon a time, I saw the trailer for this, shortly before it aired, and not being acquainted with the OG manga, I seen a specific scene between Akin and Jonny and noped out of there like a cartoon character, leaving a trail of petrified black glitter everywhere, with old fans laughing at me because, duh, how could I not know what this show was about?

Fast forward to a few days ago, and upon reading the comments and reviews and deciding that it was safe to proceed, I did. And I can see why it got so much hype while it was airing.

I don't have to know that this is a live action remake of a manga because I can see the yaoi manga tropes in the show. Most of the time they are there to hurt your feelings and that can be exhausting. But thankfully, since the show, and thai bls in general, only have 12, in this case 11, episodes to get to an end, they cant dwell too long in that misery because they just dont have the air time.

(glares at cdramas)

On a whole, the editing is pretty seamless. We start off with Jin's perspective and then before you know it, we're looking at everything through Akin's. His pov is the main narrative. This poor man gets the typical yaoi treatment of being the master of his craft and everyone either loves him or hates him. It's a wonder he has never been habitually abused as pretty much everyone is salivating the moment they see him and then run for the hills whenever he is in trouble. No loyalty in show business.

The honey scene was a surprise to me because I expected to hate it, and found that it was very artfully done. For the first few episodes, everything has a very sensual artsy approach.
Once Jin and Akin manage to get together, every episode afterwards it's just another method of torturing Akin emotionally in some way and the editing/filming style switches to a shaky hand cam zooming in and out of the characters faces, at emotional moments.

I had no issues with the SmartBoom chemistry. I didnt feel it as strongly as others did but I still felt like they were comfortable with each other and worked well together.

On a darker note - What Jonny did to Akin was not ok. It may not be considered a 'rape' by some, it was still assault. He undressed him, left hickeys and even told Jin that he was not in the mood anymore after Akin kept calling Jin's name. So he still meant to rape him. He also tried to drug Jin.

I've read enough japanese yaoi's growing up to know that there is a serious fetish happening in them and I'm very repulsed by it. It shouldnt still be a thing. But since the creators were likely just following the general narrative of the OG, I am willing to give them a pass. Jonny I will not.
This has clearly been left open for a season 2 and considering how popular it is, I'm not surprised. But I will not be caring for Jonny. They can pair him up with the cutest little twink they can find, I will not be interested. The character needs to be seriously redeemed in someway. Big time. I would need to see some serious karma for his behaviour.

Speaking of the ending, I'm assuming that in a season 2, Jonny and Naru will be the competition against Jin and Akin. They appeared to have hinted at that in the last scene.

What really had me looking forward to a second season though was the snippet of Producer Jade telling Akin he had bought the rights for another show. When Akin replies with 'but I've left the industry', Jade does the classic glasses character motion of pushing up his glasses with a smile, replying with 'oh I heard'.

My all time favourite eff you line to use in my own life. - "Oh I heard you, and I don't care" =)

To be fair, as far as we know, Akin didn't sign anything. His agreement with Sigma's head honcho was purely verbal, which isn't legally binding. Akin could absolutely return to acting, now as a director as well, and there would be nothing Sigma could do about it, other than retaliate in some other underhanded means. But I'll still be clapping for the big middle finger from Jade, and I would love to know who 'LIT' is.

Music was in English a lot of the time, and I enjoyed what I heard. I even recognised one song, to my surprise.
The styling I thought was beautiful and very Japanese. Another sign that this is a Japanese OG work.
I was also really impressed with the chinese outfits the leads had on at one point for a show they were working on. The wigs were exactly like how they are styled in cdramas and I appreciated the attention to detail by the stylists.

Overall, this started off as an artsy, trendy bl and very quickly sped into a rollarcoaster of common bl tropes that had me stressing. I'm not sure how often I would watch this again, but I did enjoy it a lot and I will definitely be back for second season.

Read More

My foresight was strong but so was the whiplash

This my first series I've completed with each episode being only 15 minutes. Although there's 52 in total, it really didnt feel that long to get through. And like other reviews have mentioned, this really did feel like a speed run through a collection of mysteries that led to the finale, linking most of them back together.

My foresight was strong with this one. I knew who the mastermind was in the 2nd episode, and all the segmented mysteries. If you are paying attention, it's really not that hard to figure it out. So the finale was not a surprise for me, and on occasion throughout the show, I even felt frustrated. The ML is a master psychologist and can read body language cues. How he wasn't picking up on who was leading him astray felt like a plot device. Even the body with no face, I immediately knew it wasnt the real victim. Perhaps I've just watched enough murder mysteries now to know but often, a lot of the 'mistakes' made just felt silly to me.
I also didnt understand the master plan at the end. I understand the mastermind wants total control of the area and has basically created a cult of loyal followers through fake empathy, but how does flooding the city give him control? Did he plan to create chaos just so he could swoop in a save people? Or was he just planning to destroy the city piece by piece and then just flood, leaving no or few survivors? Or even just his own cult following? And if he did succeed, what was he going to do about the invasion that happened of screen? Did he have an alliance with them as well?
Some questions were left unanswered. I wasn't annoyed by the last scene that creates a possibility of a second season, a lot of shows do that. I was just felt a little detached.

Perhaps the show goes by too quickly for me to catch some details. We dont really get to know the characters very well as we just jump from murder to the next without a breath. If it was an average episode length, the series would be around 27 or so episodes, so there was room for more details to be added but I guess this is just one of those quick shows, you watch a few episodes throughout your day, if you can.

This is also my first 'republican era' series I've completed so i dont have much experience with the costumes and sets but I found them beautiful in this show. I did think there was some creativity happening as at times, it appeared very modern in dress, but the FL is a coroner for the police so I can appreciate a little bit of imagination, as it's not a historical.

The music was quite catching and I always love to hear a little bit of rock happening for some action scenes.

Read More

The Guilty Pleasure

Rated ~ 22.5/50 ~ 4.5

I had just finished watching Not Me and was in desperate need of more motorbikes. I initially was going to ignore this because it's MAME but decided to watch it anyway.

I am not a fan of MAME. S*A appears in her work like a fetish but your one true love will heal you, and her female characters are guaranteed to be trash. It's quite sad.

But I was in a mood to turn my brain off and just be dazzled by all the pretty men and their motorbikes.
There's really nothing new here. Both stories follow the same narrative.
Story one - Genuis architect falls for naive young student and manipulates the situation to let him think student is pursuing him. They fall in love and have hot steamy sex. Kidnap episode for drama.
Story two - Naive student's so called bestie, despite the pair telling each other very little, is forced into having hot steamy sex with genuis architect's friend in order to get out. hm. Rich wealthy who happens to be the fastest biker, because he has to match the excellence of his friend, proceeds to stalk and force his way into a relationship before realising he's in love. The sassy bestie turns tsundere and then a meek kitten as we see his ptsd emerge, get retriggered, retraumatized by the ex and friends who assault him again, but being in love will make it all better.

Really... This is why I dont like MAME. It's not a hate wagon. There's a lot of issues happening here and surfaces in her work. The plot is absolutely wack.

But I watched with my brain off and just enjoyed the visuals. And I absolutely enjoyed the visuals. The actors are gorgeous. I wanted to fix pyah's hair a little but he kept it back for the most part so I dealt. The actor for Rain is stunningly beautiful and they kept putting him under warm lights, which lit up his eyes and skin tone. The scene in the kitchen, with the sunlight behind him is screensaver material.
The sex scenes were very heated and more like how het couples have sex which is probably why they are enjoyed so much. Anal is a little trickier to keep to a position so it has you thinking that the bottoms are really flexible and the tops are really big lol But I have to give credit to the actors for going full on with those scenes. I was a little turned on. Cant lie.

And that's all I can really say about this series LOL The actors are pretty, the luxury visuals are enjoyable and the sex scenes are hot.
I dont even remember the music.

Read More

An Angel and A Devil Fall In Love

Rated = 9 ~ 42/50 ~ 8.2
Scene // A Dark Elf and a Light Elf fall in love in Sky City and together they fight for Justice with a big rainbow sword.

Chaotic Good meets Lawful Good. This is one of my favourite pairings so from the first scene, I was in love with this show.
Charn was instantly a big hit for me and has gone on to my favourite character's list.
He's gorgeous, he's cunning, gloriously gay and just a little out of his mind, and I loved every minute he was on screen.

The whole premise didn't get as dramatic as I thought, as I found it quite predictable. It was however an incredibly fun watch as I loved not only Charn but his lesbian side character friends and even his ex. Vigilante justice served in a super grungy glamourous style and I was right in my element.

I have a rule that when children and animals are unnecessarily harmed, I immediately dropped the show. I found the death of the girl upsetting but it was the whole motivation of the plot. The dog, I was also very upset about and for a moment I did consider clicking off. However, I found that the dog is introduced in one scene, and found dead in the next. So I decided that it was more about driving home the mafia like power of the enemy, rather than unnecessary death.

ALthough the overall plot is about finding evidence of a hit and run, it ultimately doesnt take it's self too seriously. It is a little cartoonish and over the top at times but I personally didn't mind it. It helps when you love the characters, so that you can laugh with them, and I happen to love smart arsed characters.

Everyone gets what they deserve and most of the last episode is centered around the love between the ML's and providing a home for each other emotionally. It's also funny to know that even though Charn is slowly changing his methods, he becomes a little feared in the legal system, which gives him the power he always wanted, while keeping his original morals as well. I appreciated that small scene.

I also loved the side couples and it actually give me a small glimmer of what I had wanted in from KinnPorsche. Although it was small snippets, I did really feel for the bodyguard and if they had their own series, I would absolutely watch it.

I will definitely be rewatching this for Charn

Read More

Trust No One~Watch with Caution

Rated = 8~35/50 ~ 7
RPG Scene // A Mermaid in the Flower Meadow with Merlin's Staff. I have no idea what's going on, how she got there and should I trust her? Am I high? LOL

This was an absolute trip to be honest. The moment I heard that all the big wigs were a circle of power, I knew what was going down. However, it still doesn't prepare you for the absolute ride this show is. There are so many twists and turns that I may have felt dizzy at one point LOL Trust no one, because that's how the show sets you up. It's a constant watch for clues and evidence.

The plot follows a young doctor or forensic examiner to a small town where he went to high school, in an effort to escape the dirty underground of Bangkok, only to discover that corrupt people are everywhere and if he wants justice, he'll have to prove it himself. The deep dark dirty secret here is a drug and human trafficking ring.

I did actually guess this in the first episode. All the signs were actually there but the plot really wanted you to hate everyone lol

This shows does gets very dark and very sad. Not too graphic but I can imagine it being upsetting/triggering for some watchers.
There is however, a happy ending at least, and possibly the most satisfying arrest I think I've ever seen in a show.

I do however have some complaints. I felt like there was info missing for convenience. E.g where were the kids parents? There were a few kids in this show and not one of them were seen with parents or did Nam just own a house as a high school girl? Her friends had to report her missing. What about Natty's parents? Not a word. So I felt like either I'm missing something socially here or they were just forgotten about because plot.
When our ML's are listed as fugitives and are on the run, they are sitting in the police station, a cop walks by. Nothing. That really took me out a little LOL You would think someone would say something?
Not to mention the du ex machina that happens at the end. It was one of those, write yourself into a corner with tension and then BAM, out comes that little character and a little detail you weren't meant to think much about it to save the day. Unfortunately for them, I did remember. I knew it the moment I saw it.
Also ~ What the hell kind of proposal was that? Was I meant to find that romantic? LOL

As intense and as dizzying as the plot was to follow, even if you have guessed right on where it's headed, there were a few times were it was a little too noticeable that some details were just being casually left out because they wanted to keep the plot complicated, and those details would have made too much sense LOL But it did ruin the immersion for me.

Having said that, I did still enjoy it but because of it's upsetting context though, I'm unlikely to watch this again.

Read More

2022 is seared into my brain. I hear that reused tracking Pepzi and Khom

Rated= 7.5 ~ 29.5/50 ~ 5.9
Scene // Mage fighting hard in the Crumbling Castle with a Battle Axe

Ahh Hello Thailand, we finally meet again. Ever since KinnPorsche I've been extra vigilent around Thai BL's. My review still exists as a testiment to how much I did not like the KP experience or the crew surrounding the production.

This is not KP, thankfully. I really enjoyed this one. But God has a sense of humour and I swear, I heard about 3 to 4 different backing tracks that were also in KP. I've only watched a few Thai Bl's in total so reusing tracks is common there? I don't know.

(Having said that, I've just learnt that one of the directors and screenwriter from KP were involved here. Ahhhh. So that's why most of the characters are abusive f**ks)

But moving on, this show has a very interesting concept which pretty much goes unexplained. It's hinted that it's perhaps a karmic slapback and since I consider myself a spiritual person, I kind of like the idea.

Joe is a stunt man for super celeb, actor Tong because he resembles him from behind. Where Joe is sweet and professional, Tong is lazy and narcissistic and it quickly becomes apparent that Joe is the reason that Tong is so famous. All of Tong's most famous scenes are because of Joe's talent but as a stunt man, he's only ever seen from behind and we find out later, he's also never credited either.

The series opens with Joe's stunt scene that goes wrong, resulting in his death. He wakes up two years later in the body of another man, also called Joe. After this initial set up, we have 3 or 4 episodes of a flashback, how he falls in love with Ming, and Ming pining after Tong, and the abuse and injustice he faces that leads him to taking on the deadly job that results in his death.
I don't mind flashbacks as long as it's done in one go and thankfully, this show did that. We got our story set up, the flashback, and then back to the present to show us the progress and conclusion.

This creates an interesting karmic impact for me. Joe didn't want to die. He was forced into a dangerous job with no one willing to protect him only control him. His voiceover thoughts are shown to be even angry about his situation. Joe 2.0 however did. We discover that Joe 2.0 also worked in the industry as a model and attempted suicide on the day of Joe's death after being used by his boyfriend. Alone with his mother, his body was in a coma for 2 years while his ailing mother took on loan sharks to pay for his bills. Joe was a lost soul and here was a body the owner didn't want but who's mother was doing everything to keep alive.

When Joe returns to the land of the living, he quickly finds himself back in with the group he wants nothing more to do with.
Also interestingly for me, his lover Ming feels an instant connection to him whereas his friend just accept it's another guy called Joe. But it's his friends that quickly accept that this new Joe is still the old Joe and it's Ming who needs a little more convincing.

Ming is pretty obsessed with Joe. I feel like Ming is the sort of character that might push people's buttons. He's obsessive and controlling, at first. But as the relationship develops his need for control over others softens into taking control of his own situation and proving to Joe that his feelings are real and Joe will always be first in his life. This may not be agreeable to some people. Much like how I feel about our next character.

Tong is not a likeable character and although he does get his comeuppance, at the same time, there's almost a forced forgiveness arc at the end. I didn't want to pity him but I did anyway. I would have liked to have seen him quit his job or recognise Joe in his past works as an act of penance but we weren't shown that so I'm still left a little reluctant to forgive the character for his meddling and bullying. What he did was not exactly something you can just brush over with, don't do it again and all is well. I prefer to see real actions that give me a reason to feel comfortable with this character much as I do with actual people.

That we are shown at the end of the 'light' never being truly on the first Joe's work, left me feeling sad that even though Joe was able to rebuild his life with Ming by his side, his first life was still left as a tragic story. I dont feel comfortable with that kind of ending and knowing that Tong is the reason for it and never being shown a correction, just makes me feel pouty about it.

Then we have Sol who honestly, for me, just felt like a slimy creep. He was that guy who's crushing on you but doesn't know when to back off. And to top it off at the end, he tells Ming when he found out that Joe was gay, he thought Joe was taking advantage of him and only realised he liked him when he went to Korea to be an idol. I LOL. What a jerk. And then he walks off all rejected into another potential pairing,, you know, like a 'stand in'? No. Go sort yourself out first my friend.

Always wanted to be with someone who would use me to get over their heartbreak and, fingers crossed, they fall in love with me instead.

Overall I did enjoy it. It was nothing too intense. I felt pretty relaxed through most of the plot. Perhaps more of a refreshing reprieve from the 40 long anxiety ridden torture that is most c-dramas LOL

I unfortunately didn't feel the chemistry between the leads but that may just have been me. They were one of those couples that I find cute together but don't feel any heat between them, despite the sexual tension in some scenes. They gave their all in those sex scenes though. Thought the sneezing during orgasm was a bit silly but I guess the writers needed something that only Ming would know lol

I think what dampened any kind of enjoyment between the pairing is just simply, most of the characters in this show are assholes and Joe is that really sweet character that's just persistently walked over. He does get angry but he never shows it so at the end, I can feel the 'sweetness' of problems being solved but I feel reluctant about.

I at least didn't get the visceral rage I felt with KP and it's crew but I can't say I agree with their world view that seems to be coming across in their work.

Overall, it's a short enjoyable watch but not sure I'll be rewatching it.

Read More

CatMan and the Power of Friendship

Rated= 8~ 34/50 ~ 6.8
RPG Scene // Mermaids laughing in the Flower Meadow. Swords not needed.

First things, first.
That CGI cat head, and paws, were ridiculous LOL White haired wigs can be tricky in these sorts of shows but I thought the ML looked really good in his. He has striking enough facial features to carry it well. I wish they had gone with that and some sort of Buffy style vampire prosthetic make up or something because, I was not a fan of the computer cat face LOL Heck, they gave the other guy fanged teeth. That ML actor, with the white wig, teeth and some face make up know how, and he would have looked gorgeous and I wouldn't have had to burst out laughing at the reveal each time LOL
They gave that beautiful face that flowing white hair because of 'shock' and then took it away from me. How dare they. How did he get his natural hair back even though his cat hair is style white? damn them. He should have at least kept the white hair.

Now that I've said that, this is an enjoyable series. Ridiculous and childish but fun. I feel like that may have been the point though. (E.g ML's slow-mo run away from his feelings) There was a lot of slap stick style humour. It was like a live action cartoon. Most of the comedy was very over acted and silly. People falling on floors. One of the character has a bad luck cloud, the overly dramatic one etc etc

The mysteries were good, I thought. I couldn't work them out. There were a few times were information was withheld or the ML just seemed to know randomly, but not too much. And most impressively, I couldn't work out the antagonist's motives either. I honestly couldn't figure him out and that doesn't happen often so touche. I was expecting the Empress to be involved considering her condition but she's never touched on. Also, our main female character is taken out of the plot for her safety and we don't see her again, not even at the end was a little disappointing.
I would also have liked to have heard of more of the lore that is the basis for the plot. How did our Cat God end up in the stone coffin? How long has he been there? I would have liked to have seen more of his story.

I had a hard time keeping up with names in this show. It was a show with so many characters as per usual with c-dramas but we mostly see the main group, which is fine. But when someone's name is constantly brought up and I've only seen their face a few times, it can make following the plot a little hard because I don't know who's being talked about lol

The whole plot is the standard, sieving through the powerful figure heads all the way to the top, but around that, there is a sweet and fluffy theme of friendship and the strengths of those bonds. Nothing too deep. Just simple honest communication with the people you care about.

Music and sets weren't bad but nothing too dramatic. We do spend a lot of time in the same places. I enjoyed the little dramatic singing snippets in the background of fight scenes.

Overall, I did enjoy this show for what it was. I laughed, I felt pity, I was intrigued and it had a sweet and fluffy ending to conclude. I didnt feel anything too deep or sad about this one. The 'big' death, and a second death, I had been expecting from about a third of the way into the series and the rest were the usual collateral damage.
My standard ratings are usually a 7 or an 8, I did have fun watching this but I'm not sure if I'd watch it again. There's a lot of cheese but I'm not sure if that was part of the humour or if it was just set up that way to keep things light hearted. And then there was the cat head, which I have mentioned. I think if I were to rewatch, it would be to just simply have something light hearted in the background.

Read More

Nearly.

Rated= 7.5~ 38/50 ~ 7.6
RPG Scene // Mages armed with Staffs, Venturing into Enchanted Forest.

This was my 2nd venture into Chinese fantasy and much like it's predecessor, I found that there were so many characters I could barely keep up. I am slowly learning that this is very common in Chinese shows. The casts are huge. My poor brain.

This one starts with just full on attack of information that it's a little hard to digest at first. I can tell this has come from a book series because they were just info dumping all over the plot.

For me, at it's heart, this a redemption tale for the two male leads, and I loved the set up. Zhou, a tormented assassin's group leader and Wen, Chief of Ghost Valley. Both of them essentially the 'bad guy'. Neither of them have any will to live, Zhou is consumed by remorse for his past behaviour and is basically torturing himself while he drinks himself into a stupor waiting for death. On the other hand, we have Wen who is consumed with grief and hatred, and pretty much has the attitude that if the world is going to set me on fire and laugh as I burn, I'm going to take as many mofos as I can with me.
It's deep and it's complicated, and I love that since this is meant to be a romantic couple. It's not so much a 'love conquers' theme, it's finding a reason to live beyond pain, even in little every day things.

Having said that, there is very clear homosexual feelings from the get go. My first chinese series was Untamed, and it was much more subtle. You could pass it off as just a deep brotherhood. This is not. This is outright flirting and sexual feelings. At times I was in shock that this was allowed. But it adds to the romanticism of finding something to live for. In this case, it's each other, which ultimately leads you to th ending sequence. I think we jumped a little too quickly into 'soulmate' but that might be a culture clash. I don't know if soulmate has a more platonic meaning in asia since the sages of ajni were called soulmates.

What first started to let me down, was the constant back and forth between the two leads. I think they broke up about 4 times, only to be normal again 3 scenes later. I found that a little jarring and unnecessary drama, another pet peeve in writing. Speaking of which, there is major unnecessary drama towards the end and even though I saw it coming from about episode 15, it still sucked to see. I understand this happens in the novels so it's on the OG writer but still, it's something that really peeves me off in many types of shows. It was deliberately built up over the show, just to hurt your feelings at the end. I don't feel it added a whole lot to the actual plot.

I did not know about the extra episode, 37 or MV style ending so when I got to the end of 36, I was punched in the face. Understandably with the censors and they wanted to keep a happy ending, but it's such a random place to end a show. It really does feel like we're missing episodes and apparently they did cut several down due to the budget running out. (or they were actually shut down but that just might be me) When I managed to get the ending online, I was fairly satisfied with it. It's pretty romantic and ironic that the show started with both characters, alone, wandering and wanting to die, where now together, immortal on a mountain.

I feel like what let the series down were the cuts the most. As we were reaching the end, there were a few things just being forgotten about or happening off screen.

Visually, it's the usual dream like, chinese fantasy but I have to admit that I didn't like the styling on this one. I found Wen's robes to be unflattering on him the most. I liked the first one he's in, the white silver ones, and the Chief red robes. Both of which we barely see him in. I found the shoulder cuts and colours just to be unflattering on him. I think keeping everything soft and lose on him, would have looked better. I can tell by the hair they were trying to keep things a little more in line with historical accuracy but I just didnt like it, or Zhou's hair. You can tell it's a choppy cut with extensions. It's a good looking cast but the styling definitely needed more work.

I would still rewatch it but I feel like there would be scenes I would be skipping.

Read More

Comfort Comic Book Series

Rated=9 ~ 44/50 ~ 8.8
RPG Scene // Elf Warrior Blazing through the Sky City. Excalibur on fire.

This has become my comfort series. It touches on deep matters of forgiveness and power without taking it's self too seriously. Sometimes, I can find the sense of humour in these sorts of shows a little childish but this surprisingly manages to blend the cartoonish humour with a deep subject.

The lead is described as being like a comic book character and that's how I feel about the serious as whole. It's like a visual comic book. It is both fantastical and believable and appeals to my sense of humour.
Kim Nam Gil is glorious to look at and is clearly a pro, believably conveying a variety of emotions from cartoon hell raiser to a vulnerable man begging to God on his knees. His character, Kim Hae-il is one of my favourite types of characters. He's hot headed and passionate but has a strong sense of himself and what he stands for. He's also hilarious. He's the type of hero I love to see. When he wins a fight, I'm applauding him or I know he's about to eff up some assholes. What can be described as mistakes were enemy retaliations.

This is why I love the comic book feel to it all. If it were a regular drama, I would feel like he's a bit much. He has to slip up somewhere but because of that added element, I find myself routing for him like Batman. I want the hero to be the hero. Someone everyone can rely on. It's that 'I will find you and I will kill you' kind of badassery and you believe him.

The villains are gloriously hateable just simply for being greedy people. No big evil plot, no mastermind, just plain, old human greed. They even have them slow-mo smile during moments of them winning. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching them be brought to justice one by one.

Both sides managing to walk the fine line being comic book character and relatable human, and for me personally, I just simply love the idea of a Batman type priest. That added element of spiritual peace, forgiveness and redemption just feels like that added touch at the end of a hero plot, where you are left with an uplifted satisfied feeling.

I am looking forward to season 2 .

Read More

The bone structure thing bugged me LOL

Rated= 6~ 25/50 ~ 5
RPG Scene // Fairy leading me off a cliff on the Mountain Pass. I think the Battle Axe is a flower

This started off not bad and I was genuinely enjoying it (and the accidental asmr in episode 2) but once the two characters got together, I kind of lost interest. There was also a disturbing scene that happens in a school that actually shocked me, that the chinese censorships let this through. I think that was my breaking point. I had decided to give it a rest for a while but after some time, I've just genuinely lost interest in the show.

Plot - The face swap thing kind of seemed a bit silly to me. A soul swap would have made more sense. We have a guy who can train bugs and the face swapping seems to have been done by witch doctors/dark arts practitioners anyway, so why not? Just peeling off someone's face isn't going to change bone structure or the body. If it was just her face, she would still have her body but the FL talks as though she is in another body entirely. (Or maybe it was just my subtitles.) So my brain kind of winced at that logic but I went with it. I did however, really love the slight chase between the FL and the ML because that is a perfectly understandable drama there. He thinks the FL, with her new face, killed the love of his life and the FL thinks the ML wanted to kill her.

Once we get through that trial, it becomes more of a build up romance with the leads that you would expect.
I felt like the characters kind of accepted this face swap like they had ran out of milk. It seemed more like an inconvenience than holy snowballs, I have a completely new face and body and along with that a completely new identity and lifestyle. That would really traumatise me and feel like maybe that should have been showcased a little more, esp for the FL. She goes from being a very bullied and hated woman because of her job and scarred face, to being someone who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman around, also from a wealthy family. That's quite a jump that's not really explored fully. For the most part, the FL just mentions that she's stolen the other girls identity and she must be mad for being murdered in her place. Umm, honey, she stole your identity LOL

The side couple was just sad to watch. The side ML was clearly devoted to the FL and suddenly, and the most randomly I've seen so far, the side FL is in love with the side ML and acts jealous. It just comes out of nowhere. It has 'rebound' all over it.
I have read spoilers to the end of the series and if I continued watching, I don't think I would feel sad for the couple. I would feel sadness from a friend perspective.

Acting - The ML is really at good crying. I felt that.
There are complaints about the FL's acting not matching the portrayal of the first actress. I kind of agree to an extent. It does kind of feel like a slight dissonance between them. They tried to use the flower petal plucking as a habit but I feel like they should have used some sort of personal expression to bridge the visual crossover for the audience. Like each girl having a set of habits and expressions that the audience could pick up on, other than good girl and bitch, so when the switch is made, it feels more natural for the viewer to see the character just change faces. Instead, it does feel like there's a personality change as well. The FL as the second actress, although still very intelligent and kind, does seem a lot more outgoing. If this is the character's natural personality, it's not shown very well in the first two episodes.

Music- I remember liking the background tracks to this one, although nothing to add to my playlist.

Rewatch - Since I've decided to drop this, I won't be rewatching.

Read More

Meh

Rated= 3~ 13/50 ~ 2.6
RPG Scene // Goblin's Swamp with only a rusty dagger. Forget it. Just Run.

I was swinging between boredom and wondering if this slightly racist.

Wealthy 'pale' Bangkok writer is tricked into going to a southern island as inspiration for his novel and conveniently doesn't believe in love because of family trauma, but continues to try and convince himself that the islander he's sleeping with is just a sugar baby.

The first 3 episodes reminded me of those tacky holiday romance novels I used to read as a teen and think that's what romance was. Then by ep 4 we switch to a contractual agreement because Rak doesn't believe in love, despite agreeing to stay on the island previously. There's also a lesbian side plot trying to happen but the assistant is just too much of a nerve grating character for me to feel anything for. The whole 'he needs to be tested for std's but I shouldn't be hearing about my boss sex life' may have made me wince like I had stubbed a toe.

Half way through 5 I realised that I don't care about any of the characters and I just wanted to join in on the chat in the BL thread.

Meh. I'll move on. It's not my kind of plot and none of the characters are appealing.

Read More

I Will Fix the Story

I knew from the trailer when I first seen it, that this one I need to binge. It was a deep feeling in my bones, that this one was going to floor me. And I was right.

It is at the core of the plot, an achingly romantic story.

Armin, spent most of his life battling the entertainment industry, and on the night he finally is recognized, he is both poisoned and pushed over the railing of his home.
When he opens his eyes, he finds himself back in 1999, on the set of his first film. He soon finds himself making friends with a Tada, the CEO of, at the time, the biggest entertainment agency.
Initially Armin just wants to right the wrongs that he endured, and take revenge on the people who abused and murdered him. But as we move through the plot, Armin finds himself falling in love with Tada. Despite being only ten episodes, the relationship didn't feel rushed to me. It felt like a gently unravelling of Armin's pain, as he falls for Tada, and the NC scenes have taken a page out of The Sign's approach. It's sensual and romantic.

What I love, and probably what struck a nerve the most, is how the writing unfolds. It was very beautifully done, and at the end, had me thinking, that perhaps it wasn't Armin who went back to the past, but maybe it was Tada that triggered the time loop, or even a parallel universe.
In the original timeline, after Armin's death, we see Tada in bed, a broken man, wishing that he could go back and change things.
'I would fix the story between you and me'. and then dies, possibly drinking himself to death. (alcohol poisoning)
And Tada fixes it, he instinctively knows when Armin is in trouble, he protects him, he does everything he can to put Armin at the top, as though his own soul was keeping it's promise to no longer watch from afar. He actively stays in Armin's space.

What I would complain about, is simply not knowing what happened to some side characters. They're clearly not there in the future so I can assume they were dealt with, but I would have liked to have seen them face some justice for their actions, esp the talent agent. She needed to be in jail.

The music is beautiful. Sometimes I find in thai bl's, the music can dominate a scene, but thankfully, they knew when and how to use the bgm to intensify the scene rather than overpower it.

After finishing, I had a very deep need to rewatch. And when I did, I was noticing things I hadn't before.
I was alive in 1999/2000 but not in Thailand, so the fashion went over my head the first time. During my rewatch, I picked up more on those little details that were probably trending at the time, esp the heavy eyeliner on some of the actresses.

Overall, this has very quickly become a much cherished BL that I will be rewatching for a while.

Read More

'You dont have to be perfect, You just have to be yourself'

I don't cry at shows easily. It takes a lot to pull a tear out of me. This one made me cry 3 times because it got personal.

I can understand the more negative responses because I partly agree with them. There were times it got a little cheesy or what made Kuea feel like he had to be a certain way for Lian to love him? But after finishing, I just wanted to rewatch it again, and when I did, I instantly fell in love and my 7.5 rating went to 9.

The story is pretty touching, just in a typical Thai BL way. If you've never lived with the pressure of having to keep up a fake persona to keep others happy, then it might get a little lost.

What's the point of your life? Who are you living for? When you live a false identity, who are you really pleasing, and is it worth it?

In this case, it's not only about LGBT identity, it's also about personal identity. Just wanting to be loved for who you are. No fluff. No glaze. Just raw and real.

It turns out, that both were pretending for each other but I would have liked to see more of why. Kuea isn't a soft as he appears and Lian isn't as cold. Both love each other and when they see the true version of the other, they fall more in love because authenticity will trump every time. They're insecure, they're can't talk about their feelings and are awkward with each other.
Lian just wants to make Kuea happy but doesn't know how because Kuea just smiles and nods all the time. He loves Kuea but doesn't know how because Kuea keeps his real self hidden. It's hard to love someone like that when all your efforts are met with an expressionless glaze. I understand his frustration.

I felt this one. I've lived it, so it hit me hard and only strengthens my determination to be real.

I did feel that both 'tops' had that daddy dom feel but it did soften out as the characters opened up.

I also really loved the music in the show, which I don't normally so an extra point for that.

Perhaps a more biased review but it is what it is.

Read More

A sensitive approach to an Old Trope

Rated ~ 9.5 ~ 42.5/50 ~ 8.5
Scene ~ Elf in Sky City with Excalibur ~ Dazed, dazzled, addicted and unable to look away.

This was a ride through the feels.
Asian media does have a habit of blurring lines between siblings sometimes, so I'm pretty immuned to that kind content. Having said that, this was very sensitively approached.

Our ML, Qian, loses his abusive mother to drugs, and is left alone to fend for himself and his little sister. Working as a cleaner for a local mob boss, he finds a homeless Yuan on his way home one night. After several times to help him, Yuan eventually follows him home and becomes an adopted brother to Qian and his sister.

While watching this, at first, it appears to be 3 young people just trying to survive in a world that isn't equipped or prepared to help. Qian works and sacrifices himself tirelessly for his younger siblings and treats them as such. Even agreeing to a boxing match that leaves him permanently injured, in order to escape the mob.
What lessens any feelings of awkwardness is when Yuan realises that he is gay and his feelings for his brother were never platonic. He has been devoted to him for years. There is a very compassionate approach to Yuan's self revelations and it draws out a lot of sympathy from viewer. He's in love with someone he shouldn't be and doesn't know how to walk away, so he resigns himself to silence but knowing that he won't be able to control his jealous.
When the emotional moment finally arrives and Yuan confesses to Qian, it is devastating to watch as Qian is understandably enraged and confused. There is a scene of the two cuddling while sleeping, so it is possible that, as Yuan later tells him, he also didn't have brotherly feelings but was afraid to admit or to even feel his real feelings.
Qian has dedicated his life to his sibling's happiness, creating the family environment they were robbed off early, so it is understandably hard to move from brother to lover.

I've found a lot of the 'adopted sibling to lover' tropes miss a very important step, which is the change it's self and how the characters work through it. Personally, I found this has been the best representation I've seen so far, where it's not a quick hop from one to the other because the writer is eager to get to the romance/sex. It's a genuine, painful questioning of Qian's real feelings for Yuan vs letting go of the life he envisioned for his siblings.
He consciously viewed Yuan as his brother, but subconsciously knew his feelings were deeper and we have to walk with him as he processes what he's never dealt with, including his mother.

I also really liked the progression of the sister. It's obvious early that she has a mind of her own and is a little promiscuous.
Much in the same manner a parent must face their child, Qian has to come to terms that his siblings are their own person, with hopes and wants of their own and Qian can't plan and control everything.

What held me back from giving this a full 10 was that I was reminded a little too hard of BL manga I used to read years ago. The older male being looked after by a younger and emotionally forceful male. It's not an issue for me and I was never uncomfortable with Yuan's motives and actions. I was just reminded a little too much a BL trope and it dampened the viewing pleasure just ever so slightly.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this and the music fit the scenes very well without being distracting. I would absolutely watch this again and it's possible that may even be a comfort series as the relationships between the characters, I found genuinely touching and heart warming.

Read More