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a middle school romance with working adults
Overall: my enjoyment waned as the series progressed mainly due to how middle school their relationship felt. I don't mind tame BL series, but it just felt so unrealistic. This is based on a manga which I haven't read and I'm reviewing the drama on its own. It's kind of between 7.5 and 8 for me. Watched on Gagaoolala.Content Warnings: manhandling, non con picture taking
What I Liked
- the interesting opening
- how the episode numbers were cleverly hidden
- sweet moments
- funny moments such as the phone alarm
- the change in perspectives (in the beginning), was happy when we went back to Yanase's perspective at the end
Room For Improvement
- I've become used to the nervous/exaggerated acting, but it bothered me this time
- wasn't really into the very end of episode 1 with the circumstances
- I didn't like a certain creepy something at Kaneda's house but was glad he explained it a bit at the work get together
- episode 5's loud gulping and eating noises
- the cliched plot point at the end of ep 6/beginning of ep 7 and the odd way things were handled afterwards
- too many side characters that didn't add anything
- the ending felt incomplete, and didn't like the ending a la Cherry Magic
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Left Behind The Plot
Overall: I think the editor was a knife so that's why it's choppy (excuse my bad joke lol). They really needed to cut down on the characters and tighten up the plot. I wish they had done a love at first sight instead of enemies to lovers and/or eliminated the love triangle because there just wasn't time to fully develop these. Watched on Viki.Content Warnings: non con touching of his face (he was asleep/basically asleep?)
What I Liked:
- the intro song is upbeat and fun
- the intro itself, glad they kept it short since the episodes are short
- there was some nice chemistry between the designer and new model, would like to see these actors in something with an actual plot
- the supportive dad
Room For Improvement
- missing plot/choppy, what exactly was the contest at the beginning? Why does the designer have blood on his hands? What exactly was the relationship between the old model and the new model? What caused the scene that we saw on the stairs in the flashback? What is the significance of that ring? How did the designer and old model end up living together? Why does the designer ghost the new model in episode 7? Is the new model's mom dead? Did the designer actually not go to New York and then just didn't contact his lover for 1 year???? Ahhhhh!!!!!
- odd things, people don't wait that long to say sorry, who touches a stranger's shirt like that? the short clip after the credits of the first episode but it wasn't a preview? he didn't recognize him from the day before, they looked at each other a long time...
- non realistic things, should have had the designs fall into water because they didn't really look very damaged, it goes from total daytime to night in 1 minute
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Confident Guy Goes After Who He Wants....Yessss!
Content Warnings: noneOverall: so refreshing to see a confident guy going after someone who isn't ridiculously reluctant/nervous, hope they can develop this story into a longer series or pair these two up again
What I Liked
- I think they both did a nice job acting and have good chemistry, those smirks and eye movements
- I find confidence to be very attractive and Kong is such a refreshing character
- likewise you can tell that Film is receptive from some of his facial expressions
Room For Improvement
- I'm grading this on a curve because I think it has a very small budget, it would be great if this were a whole series and more fleshed out
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a mess (and not the good kind)
Overall: my concerns about the official poster where one character is mooning his classmates, how the company posted about the legal age of consent on their official facebook page and the fact that there are several actors under the age of 18 were a harbinger of things to come. The writers didn't know what they wanted this show to be (sweet romcom, dark mystery, spicy nsfw or realistic/educational), lack of a clear tone along with the other flaws has made me drop this after watching 4 episodes. 6 episodes airing on YouTube (Jinloe Official channel).Content Warnings: death, sexual assault, non con touching that turned consensual, non con kiss, blackmail, sex shaming, manipulation, unwanted public outing, note: brothers?/step brothers? eventual romantic relationship?
What I Liked
- the friendship between King and Shokun
- I'm happy that Shokun decided to break up with Ken as this isn't shown that much, but unfortunately he went from the frying pan and into the fire
- a couple funny and cute moments (what was that with the drawing haha)
- parts of NSFW that were more realistic like grinding and using hands and um, mouths in a certain location *cough cough*
- appreciate that they tried some BDSM education but it was preachy and they missed some really fundamental parts*
- King's mom helping King to have safe sex by purchasing supplies and putting them in his backpack (although sending them to school seems...odd)
Room For Improvement
- *a foundation for BDSM is safe, sane and consensual, the writers have ignored the consensual part and made Matteo manipulate/blackmail Shogun into being his play partner, I'm sure they are going to catch feelings and all will be well blegh. Also, how do they not have safe words/signs, that's like 101. Plus I'm annoyed that they used real handcuffs but did not have a tool to cut them apart in the emergency kit Matteo talked about.
- ep 4, I do not want Burger and King to be together. It takes a special breed of a**hole to use a document someone gave you to convince you to like/date them and then burn them with candle wax and use their severe dislike of spicy food to get them not to like you (because I guess saying "I don't like you, please stop" was too difficult). Burger even laughed while he was hurting King.
- ep 4, Matteo should not have talked about wanting to be dom at that time because Shokun was extremely vulnerable and grateful and would likely say yes, when in a different frame of mind he would have said no
- the constant short shorts and then Burger and King taking their shirts off, I'm not interested in fanservice sexualizing minors
- ep 1, the super serious intro followed by a peppy intro (but it included BDSM supplies) was bizarre, not sure if they think it's funny but the police station scenes are not funny at all to me
- confusing start/choppy because they didn't subtitle the transition slides that I assume said how much time had passed/day of the week, I wasn't sure if those first two scenes in ep 1 were flashbacks or flash forwards
- too many characters/couples for 6 episodes, the brothers/step brothers didn't appear in the first episode and then in episode 3 a different couple was absent, then in episode 4 the brothers/step brothers were again absent
- choppy, they'll have a scene and then suddenly be somewhere else or even it seems there is a time jump, I was confused in episode 2 that it was a flashback. Apparently there is a paid uncut version that is less choppy but I'm reviewing the free version on YouTube.
- shaking the camera when she appeared in episode 2 to insinuate that she is overweight was terrible and again not funny
- I really wish all the actors were at least 18 (more on this below)
- that they made a trans woman an antagonist
- the very obvious product placement
- the nurse saying she'll talk to the school, aren't there health privacy laws in Thailand? I understand needing to talk to the parents if minors are involved, although if someone is bleeding heavily do you still need permission to stop the bleeding?
Character/Actor Ages with NSFW Content
I consider myself a sex positive person and in the real world I'm fine with teens having sex as long as it's consensual and not unethical/illegal (i.e. student/teacher, using manipulation etc). So I don't have a problem with fictional teens engaging in NSFW.
However, I want the actors to be at least 18 for several reasons (this applies to any gender or sexual orientation). I think they are more mature and able to handle the pros and cons of starring in NSFW content. They are less dependent on their parents financially or legally. Here are the actors' ages:
Burger/King: Newyear (15), Vasin (17)
Matteo /Ken/Shokun: Alan (20), BigBoss (18/19), Pure (19)
Heda/Saint: Vic (17), Tae (19)
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meandering note of love (watch suggestions)
Overall: it had an interesting start, but the writing didn't focus enough on the relationship development with the 2 couples. 12 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4605/first-note-of-love-2024-e01 ; Viki https://www.viki.com/videos/1252718v-first-note-of-love-episode-1 and GTV Drama English (1st episode is free, rest require membership) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLop44oNqUSC9xnGXttLCAEuk10CedGz3w&si=qNRALRx_1z8CBNeo Note: there are sometimes extra scenes after the initial end credits.Content Warnings: past death, grief, mental health struggles, harassment, fight, kind of stalking
Watch Suggestions (to center on the relationships with the 2 couples)
- watch episodes 1-4
- episode 5 watch 7-17:20
- episode 6 watch 2:40-4:15 (flashback), 10:45-12:55, 22:45-end
- episode 7 start at 4 minutes because there were too many recaps/flashbacks at the beginning
- watch episode 8
- watch episode 9 beginning to 4:45
- watch episode 10 4:30-14 and 19:30-end
- watch episode 11 beginning to 5:15 and then 24:30 to the end
- watch episode 12 13:30 to the end (bonus scene after initial end credits)
What I Liked
- clear premise
- a character wasn't a pushover
- excellent makeover
- Mos and Bank cameo
- side m/m couple tension
- multilingual aspect felt realistic
- good that Sea did something in episode 7
Room For Improvement
- too much of the plot was not focused on the leads together, in episode 6 they only had 3 minutes out of 24 minutes and it wasn't until 18:30 that they had a scene together
- too many flashbacks/set in the past stuff
- the NSFW scenes were poorly edited, felt very choppy
- unclear about the timeline/time jump length, I think the characters were 19/29 in the present
- the age gap didn't bother me but the connection when 1 was a child and then having that character in a child-like bowl haircut and making him act like a deer in headlights was odd
- some scenes needed a bit more light on the actors' faces
- the asinine plan in episode 9
Question answered: in the beginning of episode 1 it said the band mates were brothers, someone commented that they were biological brothers (I wasn't sure because sometimes subtitles translate friends into brothers)
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Content Warnings: violence, fight scenes, restraint and kidnapping, past trauma, dub con kiss (drunk, sleeping), non con touch (sleeping)
What I Liked:
- the consent in episode 9 part 1 was amazing, I loved the check ins; related is the realistic way that there wasn't just 1 kiss with a certain couple but continued displays of physical affection (hugs, cheek kisses, sniff kisses, etc)
- addressing several social justice issues that are issues everywhere in the world
- the realistic visuals (i.e. no excessive make up, filters, blurring)
- a trans character is not portrayed as an overly comedic character
- the beautiful music
- the acting and chemistry
- the action/mystery plot
- there was some funny moments including Sean being sassy
- good production value and character styling
Room For Improvement:
- non logical/odd things, plot holes, loose ends, stupid decisions, I'm not going to get into all of them but it reminds me of Manner of Death
- the pacing felt too slow at the beginning and then very rushed at the end
- lack of smart plot twists, the ones presented I guessed a mile away (except for the G)
- they should have reduced characters (side eye to Sean's female "friend) and then fleshed out other characters like Gumpa and another couple that has a criminally low amount of screen time especially in the beginning
- the punch at the end was unnecessary in my opinion
- the lighting in some scenes was too dark and it was difficult to see what was happening and the camerawork was too shaky at times
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watched for Wayu & Wayha
Overall: it was a mess but not an entertaining mess. Watched ep 1-4 and 9-12. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI.Content Warnings: murder, non con turned consensual, voyeurism, non con recording, blood, stalking/non con picture taking, manhandling, perhaps more content warnings
What I Liked
- Wayu/Wayha (wish their names were less similar though)
- that it tried something different from the regular romcom
- some of the guys being supportive of one another
- I think the first time a character asked about preferred position
- good NSFW/kissing
- fyi there is another clip after the next episode preview
Episode 9 was okay overall, episode 10 watch at 28 min, episode 11 watch at 24-30min, episode 12 watch at 22-28min and 31-33min (or to the end to solve the mystery introduced at the end of ep 9)
Room For Improvement
- very confusing start and timeline jumps
- too many characters, was not invested in any of the characters/couples (except for Wayu/Wayha)
- boring
- nonsense, why wouldn't she have worked on that actor's accent right away, she can hear it right?
- that vent room looked super unrealistic
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tonal switches
Overall: the comedy and darker vibes did not mesh well for me. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI and GMMTV's YouTube channel.Content Warnings: murders, blood, fight, held against will, manipulation, past: murders, violence, blood
What I Liked
- seeing Boun and Prem again
- mystery elements
- the broccoli reference was fun as was My Golden Blood on the TV
- caring moments
Room For Improvement
- jarring tonal switches between attempted humor and mass murder
- several nonsense character actions/reactions and convenient world building, for example characters blaming something that happened 10 years ago on a character who was imprisoned during that time
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- styling: the black robes and black outfits were corny
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slow pacing with unbelievable characters (watch suggestions)
Overall: one character was unbelievably naive and then the other was oddly cruel in episode 7. 10 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4529/takaras-treasure-2024 except Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and PhilippinesWatch Suggestions
- watch episode 1
- watch episode 2 beginning to 2 min, 4:30-5, 15-16:35, 17:30 to the end
- watch episode 3 at 4:30-6
- start episode 4 at 8 minutes
- watch episode 5 at 17:40 to the end
- start episode 6 at 8 minutes
- watch episode 7 at 4-8:20 and 14:40-15:35
- skip episode 8
- watch episode 9
- episode 10 was oddly anticlimactic, you could just watch at 22:40 to the end
Content Warnings: see the comment under a spoiler for 2 of them, stalking
What I Liked
- that it didn't start with a flash forward or back
- meet-cute subverted trope
- I did laugh at the terrible hiding skill in episode 4
- episode 9 was good
Room For Improvement
- Taishin was unbelievably naive (he still asked that question in episode 10, what on earth) and Takara was oddly cruel for not telling Taishin the truth in episode 7
- a glacial pace with their relationship
- odd how very similar behaviors were categorized differently
- nonsense stuff: how they carried tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, food, etc in those small backpacks
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Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss!
8 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
I had no choice but to laugh
Overall: a very enjoyable comedy with some serious parts that provides a good contrast. I read the manga, but I'm rating this on its own, not how good of an adaptation I think it was. Watched on Gagaoolala.Content warnings: punches, slap, non con kiss (sleeping), manipulation, held against will
What I Liked
- the duality of Fukuhara, and that we learn more about his motivation thru childhood flashbacks
- the funny moments (I laughed out loud many times)
- the ending of the first episode which was a pleasant surprise
- how thoughtful and caring Shinomiya was
- Shinomiya's friends and Fukuhara's friends
- the breadcrumb of GL (but wish it was more overt)
- domestic bliss moments
- production value, including some very beautiful shots like the one in the final episode that also appears in the intro
Room For Improvement
- the counting thing in ep 3, ignoring when a person looks obviously uncomfortable
- a few things felt too serious/jarring - I wish the first punch had been a shove instead and the ending of episode 7 was not my thing
- that they went with the unwilling/nervous character, I wanted to Fukuhara to take some initiative
- the final episode had too many flashbacks/filler, also they tried to pass the beginning part off as comedy and that did not work for me as Fukuhara was understandably very upset during it
- disappointed that even after the professor talked about it there was a non con kiss
- too much blur, they looked like ghosts sometimes
- (neutral) Fukuhara has that kind of overacting comedy shtick that some viewers might not like, I've gotten used to it now and it doesn't bother me
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unique premise let down by writing
Overall: this could have been a 10/10 with solid writing but the writers wrecked the plot and the four main characters in episode 10 except Tien. 12 episodes 45 minutes each. Note: La Pluie means The Rain in French. Airing on iQIYI .Content Warnings: punches
What I Liked
- a unique premise
- sweet moments
- couple funny parts
- pretty good consent with stopping in the middle, but realistic offering to do something else (except did not like the "can't hold back" in ep 10)
- how the brothers have opposite personalities and how Tien gave some solid advice, Tien was my favorite character (best line "talking to you is a waste of a good mood")
- Tai's dad
- supportive friends
- NSFW/kissing were decent
- GL (but introduced too late/underdeveloped)
Room For Improvement
- episode 10 ruined most main characters, they all somehow became more immature than Tien
- cliche plot points (the ex girlfriend and Nara had way too much screen time, how characters just happened to be at the right place at the right time and see misleading things and then storm off, etc)
- an exposition dump for most of the world building and then convenient/poorly done world building later on
- though episode 2 was nice from Patts perspective, it re-told too much of episode 1
- sound stuff (music during a serious part was comedy like, no noise at the bar in episode 3, awful gulp noise)
- episode 4 discovery was very anti climactic
- too many flashbacks
- unrealistic things (why is Tai always wearing sweaters in very hot Thailand?, he couldn't have walked very far, it took a whole night for a car to reach them? neighbors never ran into each other?)
- how they characterized the mom as it more of her fault (who was the breadwinner and likely trying to get 4 kids thru school without crippling debt) as the flawed one and the dad didn't have any flaws
- Tai was too immature to be in a relationship, I understand that even adults can be traumatized with their parents divorcing but walking out of a certain something was the nail in the coffin for his character's ability to be in a relationship
- what Lomfon did could be seen as manipulative and embarrassing instead of romantic, which he had talked to Tien beforehand instead of afterwards
- crying without tears
- I took a half point off my review for the nonsense at the end with Lomfon and Tien
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struggled with Segaski
Overall: I loved everything about this except Segaski. 8 episodes about 20 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki.Content Warnings: intimate partner abuse (see my explanation at the end), stalking, manhandling, non con bondage
What I Liked
- acting/chemistry
- NSFW well done
- production value
Room For Improvement
- Segaski is an abuser and a jerk (get your own soy sauce), this went beyond miscommunication
- lack of growth from Segaski, he actually got worse as the series went on, in episode 7 he apologized for believing Yoh can be an independent adult/trusting him which was definitely not the apology I was looking for, towards the end there was a hint of growth but then he backslid again
- why was Segaski so stupid, Yoh told him that he wanted someone who was nice/caring and smiled at him, but Segaski was forbidding him from seeing his friends, pulled him around and threatened to confine him to their apartment?!?
- the NSFW fizzled out, though there was a little in ep 8
- cliche getting sick after being in the rain but at least it was before and not after they had sex
I really hope people realize this is fiction and not a model for a healthy relationship because Segaski is an abuser
1. financial abuse - it is apparent that Yoh is very aware he is financially dependent on Segaski, they don't show us that he has anywhere else to go, I think it was either ep 3 or 4 Segaski reminds Yoh that he provides everything for him
2. Segaski forbids Yoh from seeing his friend in episode 4, Yoh is a grown adult and should be to go or see his friends when he wants to, Segaski in episode 7 again is angry hoping Yoh doesn't visit his friend
3. stalking - Segaski stalked Yoh, he never apologized for this but Yoh apologized for seeing his friend/coworker, those who are abused will say the problem is their fault when it was actually the abuser's action/fault (i.e. Segaski shouldn't have stalked Yoh or forbade him from seeing his friend)
4. physical abuse - pulling someone by the wrist is abusive unless there is an emergency and a person is yanking another person out of danger, in episode 7 Yoh was uncomfortable when Segaski tied his hands together and said he couldn't be trusted to be on his own although we know Yoh can be an unreliable narrator and then later it seemed like he might like it but it didn't start out as consensual bondage
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promising start that devolved into terrible communication
Overall: I thought I had found an obsessed ML I could vibe with, but the series is lost me with neither lead able to talk to the other for many episodes. 10 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on YouTubeContent Warnings: past violence & blood, coercion, near suicide, kidnapping, violence, non con kissing/touching, mental health struggles, beginning sexual assault, manhandling
Watch Suggestions
- at whatever point you start to lose interest skip to episode 10 15:55 minutes and watch until the end
What I Liked
- visuals
- the initial set up of an obsessed ML
- the brother relationship
Room For Improvement
- I've heard from several people that this is plagiarism of Jinx. Instead of boxing it's tennis, instead of a grandma it's a brother but the plot is practically identical including some dialogues. The production either needs to say they bought the rights to Jinx or they should have written their own story.
- characters were continuously stupid and refused to communicate, a 1 minute conversation would have cleared everything up
- characters went hot and cold
- choppy at times
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cringey and sweet (watch suggestions)
Overall: talking to Yuka felt cringey (it's not as bad after the first episode), but there were some very caring/sweet parts in the series that I enjoyed. 12 episodes about 1 hour each. Later aired on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/82679752Content Warnings: past bullying, coercion, non con touching, trauma, cyberbullying
Watch Suggestions (to focus more on the romance with the main and side couples)
- episode 1 watch 1hr 1min - end
- episode 2 watch 17:20-end
- episode 3 watch 18:45-end
- episode 4 watch 9:50-11:45 and 15-44
- episode 5 watch beginning-4:50, 12:50-29:30 and 32:40-end
- episode 6 watch 5:55-10:10, 14-19 and 23-end
- watch episode 7
- episode 8 watch 41-45, 51:55-53:35 and 56-end
- episode 9 watch beginning-5, 16:45-20, 54-1hr 1min
- episode 10 watch 11-16:05, 20-26:10, 45:30-53:40
- episode 11 watch beginning-22:30, 39:30-52, 57-end
- episode 12 watch 15-18 and 40-end
What I Liked
- a gaming setting
- that his coworkers were nice instead of the normal backbiting we've seen in workplace settings
- they showed the viewer why he was so attached
- in episode 2 that he rescued his boss
- odd how everyone was watching them like The Truman Show
- supportive friends
- that they showed a realistic long distance relationship
Room For Improvement
- the brief exposition dump was not needed
- overall it veered into a bit too cringey like him setting out the figuring at his very first work meeting and saying what he said
- nonsense, a company wouldn't let customers know officially with 6 days left???
- the boss should not have been coercive especially because he knew how much the character meant to him
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- episode 8 love rival/jealousy stuff
- ghosting with the side couple
- wasn't quite happy with how it ended, the leads didn't interact until 40 minutes of 51 in the finale
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Shen Mo deserved better
Overall: there was no redemption arc after what a character did. Note the series and this review may have triggering content. Based on the book The Missing Piece (貌合神离) by Kun Yi Wei Lou (困倚危楼). I have not read the source material and am reviewing the series on its own merits. 15 episodes about 35 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/9032/the-missing-piece-2026-e01 ; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/show/VLPLGOvxXmhie_0?sbp=KgtpYW1QbUdFU1R5Y0AB ; Heavenly (S. Korea) & more.Content Warnings: intimate partner abuse, manipulation, slap, past (kidnapping/violence/torture/death), rape*, victim blaming, non con kissing, kidnapping, violence
What I Liked
- visuals
- got right into things at the start
- sister is nice
- finale (episode 15) 9min-end
Room For Improvement
- Ji Ming Xuan took agency away from his sister and he could have easily guessed what that family would do after he told them the reason why he hestitated with the marriage alliance, he destroyed Shen Mo's love life and his future career and then *raped him after he said he wouldn't (I consider it rape because Shen Mo thought Ji Ming Xuan was a different person, Shen Mo was not in is right mind which Ji Ming Xuan knew)
- it's never explained why being abusive to Shen Mo was going to win his heart with the contract
- confusing, a series should not expect all views to have read the source material (got less confusing as it went on)
- voiced inner thoughts
- multiple memory losses, multiple kidnappings
- the intimacy scenes were weird with them appearing to be fully clothed
- nonsense stuff, a ring line from no sun after not wearing the ring for years? not explaining right away when the kid entered the picture, not having bodyguards, forgetting about the tracking app
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