BL Compilations

Overall: I have conflicting thoughts on this that I'll try to describe below. Based on a webtoon that I haven't read and will review the series based on its own merits. 8 episodes about 30 minutes each, 2 episodes per week. Aired on GagaOOLala (not available in U.S., Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, U.K., Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5149/secret-relationships-2025 and iQIYI (assuming for countries not covered by Gaga) https://www.iq.com/play/1f4631z99hw?lang=en_us&sh_pltf=4

Content Warnings: implied rape (coercing someone is not consent freely given), sexual assault, non con kissing, self harm, blood, stalking, manhandling, punch, past non con touching, past violence/blood, harassment, manipulation, coercion, cyber bullying, kidnapping, near muder-suicide

Watch Suggestions (to take the abuse out and turn it into a love story of two people)
- episode 1 watch 7-11 and 21:20-29:20
- episode 2 watch 4-5:30, 19-22 and 30-33:50
- episode 3 watch 6:10-7:35, 9:30-10, 13:30-16:25 and 18:10-22.25
- episode 4 watch 11:30-14:40 and 29:20-30:20
- episode 5 watch 11-12:05, 13:15-17:40 and 25-26:45
- episode 6 watch 20:30-22:45
- episode 7 watch 21-22:15 and 26-27
- episode 8 watch 23-35:45 or all the way to the end for a flashback from 12 years ago


What I Liked
- visuals
- the tie tying/sweet moments
- a character recognized his feelings fairly quickly and expressed them
- twists as the viewer learned more about what happened in the past
- showed how emotional abuse is also horrible, interesting as a viewer to see a character more outwardly abusive cast as the villain but then another character is also terrible and does his abuse more covertly
- the grandma
- in episode 8 that a character was able to do his original plan/what he wanted and his love interest didn't hold him back
- production value* (I especially liked in episode 8 how the light changed around 27 minutes)

Room For Improvement
- voice over start
- multiple flashbacks, I appreciate that they were clear and in the beginning it lent to the twistiness of the plot but later it felt like the flashbacks dragged the plot in the present, also the sweet flashbacks at the end were extremely jarring
- nonsense stuff: even though the initial "plan" was stupid and likely not one that anyone has ever made/for that long, a character not telling another character the truth about what happened in the past until the end of episode 6 was infuriating/unrealistic, no one covering a wound in episode 8 in the ambulance, how a character was not immediately in police custody
- not enjoyable to watch 2 abusers fight over Daon, I don't blame Daon, he's been abused and not sure he even recognizes the extent of it, I think the writers made Daon a bit too doe-eyed/naive and was unbelievable like his actions at the end of episode 7
- a character who is supposedly a green flag: kissed Daon back when Daon was extremely drunk/unable to consent, repeatedly ignored Daon's boundaries, borderline lovebombed him and felt obsessive in a unhealthy way, in episode 7 he refused to let Daon explain, he did have some redemption in episode 8 but it wasn't enough for me to fully support/feel confident that they would have a long lasting/healthy relationship
- too much time is spent with the dad and two characters instead of focusing on the main romance/relationship development, a 5 minute montage in episode 8 didn't make this a romance series
- cliche time gap in the final episode (but at least it wasn't too long)
- a 5 minute conversation and 1 action as the redemption arc for a character
- no consequences are mentioned in the finale for a character
- flashback with a cliche at the very end of episode 8
- *some scenes were too dark and needed more light on the actors' faces/bodies