First of all, if Taiwanese BLs are your thing, then Japanese BLs probably aren't. If Thai BLs are your thing, Japanese BLs DEFINITELY aren't...unless you're open-minded and prepared for a completely different style. I started with Japanese BL, then moved to the countries later, so I have a special place in my heart for films like these. That said, if you're one of the few people who exclusively follows Korean BL, you'll be pleased at how similar some Japanese BLs can be to Korean ones except they actually get happy endings more often than not.
Japanese BLs have a tendency to be very muted in tone and very slow burn. This one is like that, but it's just two minutes shy of an hour and a half, so it doesn't actually feel like it's taking that long.
While I think the kisses and hugs get a little awkward, I definitely see the chemistry between the two. Neither of the main characters (not the actors themselves) have very energetic personalities to begin with and each of them are loners for the most part, so their quiet conversations, slow-walking, and seemingly perpetually sad faces all sort of make sense and fit the story to me.
There's a 20 year difference between them and this fact is addressed in the movie quite a bit. I'm happy to say that this does not come across as predatory (which is what I was afraid of going into it). Surprisingly, Yoichi's character is written to be very resolute and broad-minded. He's young, cute, and soft-spoken, but he's not naïve. He's very self-aware and I liked that.
I really couldn't make myself feel bad for Hiroki, though. His crying almost got me, but the fact that he pesters Yoichi the whole time and is so tone deaf to Yoichi's feelings, even after spending so much time around him makes me lose sympathy. If Yoichi were a girl, I think people would have a lot of problems with Hiroki's actions.
If you want a quiet, uncomplicated movie, check it out. If you want deep romance and/or action, maybe skip this one for now and come back when you're bored.
Of all the things that this series was, hectic, bizarre, weird, etc. at LEAST it can't be said that the acting was bad. The first couple episodes offer a lot of silliness with some real emotion thrown in, but the last two episodes really show you that under all the silliness, there are real people with real feelings. I probably could have done with more Mahan/Wang Chao and just slightly less of Porpla and her minions, but I love them too.
OK, I was sold within the first few episodes, but after looking through the comments, I decided I should hold back and watch it critically and see if the complaints others said were warranted. In the end, I still loved it. Were there a lot of crying scenes that lasted two minutes too long? Yes. If you cut those two minutes off of each crying scene from each episode, you could have cut a whole hour from the series. That, along with shaky writing at times are my only real issues. Tbh I didn't even mind the crying that much because I felt this drama so deeply, that I could take it. Hell, I cried myself a couple of times. I understand why others wouldn't though.
Although this has a lot of typical elements of a BL like a college setting, a best friend who also randomly happens to be into guys, and the typical cutesy flirting moments, the tone of this show is much more akin to a soap opera or daytime drama. The main theme of this series really isn't just two guys being in love, this is about bringing closure to trauma, reuniting families, the value of loved lost, and, quite literal second chances at life.
A lot of people wanted to see more of WinTeam, but I think we got enough of them. They were very firmly the side couple. The sparks flew with them during the first episode and every time DeanPharm did something romantic, they got their five minutes too. No real character development, but they didn't need it. They were lovely as they were. People also commented about the lack of chemistry between Dean and Pharm and I agree. If you've seen Fluke in other productions, you definitely know what I mean. However, that aspect really doesn't take that much away from it overall for me (which it usually would). I believed their characters. I believed Pharm's 'soul-trauma' coming from an outspoken guy like Inntouch. I believed Korn's coldness and inner demons due to his dad's abuse of him that led him to do what he did. And I believed Dean's true desire to make that up to Pharm.
All in all, I bought what this series was selling and I'm a satisfied customer.
I've never seen any Korean shows of this genre (suspense/mystery), so maybe I'm a little jaded, but I really liked this one. It keeps you on your toes and eager to see the next episode.
I'm also still trying to figure out how Saifah and Zon went from being enemies (because Zon felt Saifah was stealing…
Yeah, I could have believed that Zon just eventually fell for him because he's a pushover or something, but the way he stands up to his parents about the drawing and how he outright refuses to even be around Saifah at the beginning indicates that he actually has a very strong will. They could have done better with that aspect of the show for sure.
Lol if this is toxic, they better never ever read Killing Stalking rofl.A lot of the story was not fleshed out…
This comment made me literally laugh out loud. Killing Stalking would traumatize them. Hell, it traumatized me for the first two chapters. I went from "Why tf am I reading this?" to "Why tf is this so good?" to "Wtf is wrong with me?" and I regret NOTHING.
My two negatives are the lack of development of the side characters and the weird way that Saifah and Zon (mostly Zon) just sort of went from not liking each other to being inseparable. There was also a lot of making out/hooking up and while there was more than necessary, I'm not gonna pretend to complain about watching hot guys kiss in front of me and honestly, it didn't take THAT much away from the story. This isn't at the top of my list of favorite BLs, but Tutor/Fighter are definitely one of my all time favorite couples now and despite my earlier comment, Zon was actually my favorite character in this.
I´m a gay guy, and i wanted to love this drama but i just coud not, i could tell the way of how the relationship…
I'm a gay guy too and I agree with all your points. There were too many intense issues that didn't have a proper resolution for me...except, possibly the homophobia..maybe? I loved Tar as well and of course the whole shitfire of an issue that is Lhong's character, but I digress.
I saw what they were attempting to do, even if it didn't land perfectly, and I really did enjoy the cast.
There's rape and sexual assault in this?? Which episode?
EXACTLY. We see Tutor being the one putting Fighter in his place the whole time, but then this comes out of nowhere. I get that Fighter is going crazy. After having the most romantic, luxurious, and sexually satisfying vacation with his first bf, he gets a cryptic breakup and an implication of infidelity on Tutor's part, but it just really doesn't fit how that anger and anguish would turn to attempted rape?
1 
Japanese BLs have a tendency to be very muted in tone and very slow burn. This one is like that, but it's just two minutes shy of an hour and a half, so it doesn't actually feel like it's taking that long.
While I think the kisses and hugs get a little awkward, I definitely see the chemistry between the two. Neither of the main characters (not the actors themselves) have very energetic personalities to begin with and each of them are loners for the most part, so their quiet conversations, slow-walking, and seemingly perpetually sad faces all sort of make sense and fit the story to me.
There's a 20 year difference between them and this fact is addressed in the movie quite a bit. I'm happy to say that this does not come across as predatory (which is what I was afraid of going into it). Surprisingly, Yoichi's character is written to be very resolute and broad-minded. He's young, cute, and soft-spoken, but he's not naïve. He's very self-aware and I liked that.
I really couldn't make myself feel bad for Hiroki, though. His crying almost got me, but the fact that he pesters Yoichi the whole time and is so tone deaf to Yoichi's feelings, even after spending so much time around him makes me lose sympathy. If Yoichi were a girl, I think people would have a lot of problems with Hiroki's actions.
If you want a quiet, uncomplicated movie, check it out. If you want deep romance and/or action, maybe skip this one for now and come back when you're bored.
Although this has a lot of typical elements of a BL like a college setting, a best friend who also randomly happens to be into guys, and the typical cutesy flirting moments, the tone of this show is much more akin to a soap opera or daytime drama. The main theme of this series really isn't just two guys being in love, this is about bringing closure to trauma, reuniting families, the value of loved lost, and, quite literal second chances at life.
A lot of people wanted to see more of WinTeam, but I think we got enough of them. They were very firmly the side couple. The sparks flew with them during the first episode and every time DeanPharm did something romantic, they got their five minutes too. No real character development, but they didn't need it. They were lovely as they were. People also commented about the lack of chemistry between Dean and Pharm and I agree. If you've seen Fluke in other productions, you definitely know what I mean. However, that aspect really doesn't take that much away from it overall for me (which it usually would). I believed their characters. I believed Pharm's 'soul-trauma' coming from an outspoken guy like Inntouch. I believed Korn's coldness and inner demons due to his dad's abuse of him that led him to do what he did. And I believed Dean's true desire to make that up to Pharm.
All in all, I bought what this series was selling and I'm a satisfied customer.
I saw what they were attempting to do, even if it didn't land perfectly, and I really did enjoy the cast.