4
10
1
1
why/when did they fall in love???
Overall: I liked the premise of this indie production but there were too many characters and it fell apart for me. Watched on GagaOOLala.Content Warnings: non con kissing, non con picture taking/blackmail
What I Liked
- the mom and the supportive principal
- support for same sex marriage
- GL rep in episode 4 (though very brief)
- that there were more than a couple of students in a classroom and also more than a couple teachers in the teacher's lounge
- the kisses weren't great but there were more than one
Room For Improvement
- too many characters and as a result the plot/characters were not well developed, I really didn't see why the two leads loved each other so much
- I was bored and did not really care about the characters or their relationship (see previous point about there being too many characters)
- not a fan of the exaggerated acting from Masumi
- just ignore the bonus scene at the end of episode 4, I didn't like them tossing that right at the end (unless they address this in the second season)
- the ending credits were too long (5 minutes out of a 30 minute episode)
Was this review helpful to you?
quirky - BL adjacent
Overall: this has a type of exaggerated humor like in Ossan's Love. This isn't my favorite type of humor, but others might enjoy it. Watched on GagaOOLala. Two episodes about 23 minutes each.Content Warnings: head smack
What I Liked
- the dream with the licking a lime off of him
- interested to hear the history of some drinks and recipes
- fyi the nosebleed is referencing anime when a character gets excited and has a nosebleed
Room For Improvement
- that personality tells you a person's sexual position
- I just didn't find the humor that funny
Was this review helpful to you?
a countryside slice of life
Overall: this is a nice slice of life story set in the countryside. Now available on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/2623/restart-after-coming-back-home-2020Content Warnings: non con kiss (sleeping)
What I Liked
- the countryside setting
- felt realistic, people trying to figure things out
- I generally don't like a carefree happy golucky personality with a reserved/sullen one but there is character growth and more than what first meets the eye
Room For Improvement
- it did feel a bit slow in places
- the non con kiss
- lack of communication (though they did have some good conversations at the end)
Was this review helpful to you?
darker slice of life short series
Overall: I would categorize this as a slice of life/coming of age series rather than a BL, it is definitely worth watching and I hope they make a second season. Aired on YouTube and Facebook.Content Warnings: please look at my comment as some are spoilers
What I Liked
- interesting premise, nice twists
- Tang had a realistic reaction with throwing a sheet over the mirror
- backstory given for why Tang acts how he does
- that it showed a darker side of an aggressive pursuit
- cute moments
Room For Improvement
- wanted more of Neo's backstory
- some timeline confusion but it makes sense by the end
- the subtitles have errors but I didn't take off for this nor the obvious product placement
Was this review helpful to you?
bingeable BL series
Overall: this is a small production that uses video calls/tech and is reminiscent of Gameboys in the premise. Watched on YouTube.Content Warnings: manipulation
What I Liked
- the cute moments
- I adored the information that was brought up in the final episode as this is something commonplace that is almost never discussed in series/movies
- closing credits
Room For Improvement
- (similar to Gameboys), I'm not a fan of a really aggressive pursuit of a very reluctant stranger, it comes across as harassment instead of romantic (for me at least)
- the cliche 'agree to anything'
- there was something that I didn't like throughout but if I talk about it then it will be a spoiler, things made sense in the end
- the ending was rather abrupt, I could see them doing a second season
Was this review helpful to you?
now I want to re-watch the series!
Overall: the behind the scenes was cute, funny and informative - it makes me want to go and re-watch the entire series. I really hope the two leads can be leads again in another BL, they are really supportive of one another which is great to see. (and I'm still holding out hope for a MODC 2, I'll take any ridiculous soap opera plot device)Content Warnings: none
What I Liked
- how many takes they did for kissing scenes, lol!
- gave some additional information about scenes
- got to see actors joking with one another
- make sure to watch to the very very end
Room For Improvement
- it might have gotten more views/made more interest in the series if they had broken them up and showed them on YouTube after each episode aired
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
a more realistic BL featuring an age gap
Overall: I would have given this an 8 but I took off .5 for the choking and .5 for being too choppy (for the free YouTube version). Watched on YouTube.Content Warnings: sexual assault, rape? (not shown), drugging, manhandling/physical violence
What I Liked
- good supportive ex girlfriend
- discussion around HIV
- he did at least apologize for the physical violence*
- live action series with large age gaps are not that common and this age gap did not bother me (26 and 40)
- the main actors did a good job
Room For Improvement
- *I saw red flags in episode 4 with the physical violence/controlling behavior
- choppy, some series do the shorter free vs. longer paid versions well like KinnPorsche but this and Something In My Room did not do this well and it ends up hurting the plot/flow
- time jump of 5 years, the main character went from despair to living his best life and it was jarring
- the intro was confusing as I was not sure if those were flash forwards or flash backs
Was this review helpful to you?
Just watch the 2nd part of Country Boy 2
Overall: This is a sweet and tame BL. I'd give the first part a 7 and the second part a 9 - so average it to 8. I think you could easily skip the first part. Watched on YouTube.Content Warnings: none
What I Liked
- the theme song but it played over and over again
- a sweet story (the 2nd part)
- finally some clear signs that this is romantic and not a bromance/friend situation at the end of the 2nd part
Room For Improvement
- the whole first part was not enjoyable. The uncle was a jerk for no reason. And it was so odd that Nabdao basically ignored Keptawan until the day before Keptawan left... The first part made me think that they weren't even friends let alone potential boyfriends.
Was this review helpful to you?
Short & Sweet
Overall: a 20 minute movie about a mom visiting her son who is hiding something from her. Make sure to watch carefully during the closing credits until the very end. Watched on Gagaoolala.Content Warnings: none
What I Liked
- I thought it was funny how the mom started cleaning right when she arrived as I totally relate to this
- that the mom was not stupid
Room For Improvement
- it might have been neat for the mom to realize things when she went to the coffee shop but not say anything, just smile and drink her beverage or lay in wait to see who showed up after she left, but I was okay with how it played out (watch all of the closing credits!)
Was this review helpful to you?
Plot is a vehicle for NSFW scenes
Overall: An interesting premise, but it ends up feeling like just a way to show explicit NSFW scenes. Watched on gagaoolala. It's only an hour and 10 minutes so it's not a huge time investment if you like watching steamy scenes.Content warnings: there are very five sexually explicit scenes, 1 dub con
What I Liked
- I liked the sister and wish we could have seen more development of her/their relationship
- the overall premise is interesting, it just needed to be delved into more instead of NSFW scenes
- the color grading, how in the past it was more grey scale. It can be difficult for me to tell when flashbacks happen, but it was very clear in this short(er) movie.
- that ending scene seems pretty unrealistic but I quite liked it
Room For Improvement
- I wish there was more development/explanation of what was happening with the protagonist's romantic relationship. We mostly get ghosting/ignoring and then just a little at the end. There is an apology, but for what? What happened between them?
- odd, why is the protagonist sleeping in the living room of his parents' house - aren't there at least two bedrooms?
- odd, why wouldn't the protagonist push for the name of the movie where he is named after a character? He just drops it, I'd want to know the movie if it were me...
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A treasure hunt story with zero adventure
Overall: I was expecting either a Lord of the Flies situation or a bunch of guys going at it but didn't really get either. If you want a Lord of the Flies darker vibe maybe try Dangerous Drugs of Sex, The Shortest Distance trilogy or Double Mints. And if you want steamy scenes, look somewhere else like: My Rosy Life - His Rosy Passion, Sweet Curse, The Day Began Yesterday...Content Warnings: 1 fight, 1 instance of blackmail/manipulation, a couple of very brief full frontal shots mostly dimly lit, mention of something that happened off screen
What I Liked
- ummmm, a bunch of shirtless guys on a beach with some nice tattoos
- the base idea of finding treasure is fun (but this is definitely not The Goonies)
- I actually liked the note at the beginning that said all the actors were over the age of 18 and participated voluntarily
Room For Improvement
- it was odd that they started the story with the group of five. They should have started off with Archie telling the story. When it flashed to his boyfriend in the present, I had no idea what was going on.
- many instances of things that make no sense/are unrealistic. Why does a group going on an adventure bring five plates, spoons, a guitar but no water/little food? How on earth would they have built that structure - with what tools/rope? Archie saying he got them food and they were starving when a previous scene showed them happily eating cooked fish is another example.
- they also shared 1 brain cell. Burning your shirt to do something that you can just wait to do in the morning makes no sense.
- the subtitle towards the end should have been "off" not "on" and that seems really extreme. Also odd that they didn't show that part, Archie just stated it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Enjoyable movie about living organ donation
Overall: an enjoyable movie that tackles a realistic and not frequently told story of organ donation. It switches between two characters (the female doctor & the male wedding planner), with the two characters interacting with one another several times. It is apparently based on a true story.Content Warnings: homophobia combined with a slap, graphic side character death
What I Liked
- a unique story, I don't think I've ever seen something about living organ donation
- I enjoyed both characters' plots
- happy to see a strong, professional female character with a caring and supportive fiance
- I really liked the wedding planner's mom and her questions: since when did you have this boyfriend, how come I didn't know, for how long, where does he work, what does he look like, how come you didn't bring him home for me to see?
Room For Improvement
- the m/m relationship was very lowkey, I didn't need NSFW but just a tad more to show that they are in a relationship
- I was surprised that the doctor never talked about concerns about pregnancy after a living organ donation. In my super brief research, it looks like there is a slightly elevated risk/there is a need to wait to become pregnant after donating. I would expect a doctor who wants to have children to think/discuss this.
- not really thrilled with the "solution" from the one story, seems kind of shady/grisly, though I'm sure this does happen
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Confusing, low budget BL
Content Warnings: attempted suicide (maybe? like most things in this series, I'm not sure about it)Overall: I slogged through this series so I could write a review since there were none. I had originally dropped this after the first episode. This was a very confusing, messy, unrealistic plot but the last 2 episodes were better than the first 3.
What I Liked
- the music was decent to good
- the scenic shots were nice
- episodes 4 & 5 have a better production value, still could use mics though
Room For Improvement
- the plot was a disaster, some of it kind of gets explained in episodes 4 or 5, but not all of it is explained and that's too late, also what guest house has only 1 bed?
- the point where Marcus, Yuhan & Drake are together for the first time made zero sense as Marcus was totally angry at the wrong person at that point
- in ep 1 many characters were introduced in quick succession and then it switched between them so I was unsure of who was who
- there was actually more chemistry/relationship development between 2 guys who did not end up together which is so odd
- very low budget, the image loses focus, no tripod, no mics, poor lighting, background noise, wind sounds, etc, also strange pacing or spending time on insignificant things
- I never wondered why we don't get close up shots of people's feet in movies/series until I saw several of those in this one and thought 'yeah, that's gross to look at'
- very novice actors
- fake kiss due to camera angle
Was this review helpful to you?
unique premise with unclear ending
Overall: this 11 minute short movie is available on the Flying Penguin YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8_ThQSjUxE&list=PLcMccwTvtZBpEQCKZkbuIFI1mVhoZtqfLWhat I Liked
- although not everyone's cup of tea, the premise was unique for live action
- good kissing
Room For Improvement
- I was a bit unclear what the ending meant or how everything else worked then/what actually happened or did not happen
Was this review helpful to you?
typical gmmtv high school romance/coming of age (timings for BL scenes)
Overall: it's fine, nothing groundbreaking but it isn't trying to be that. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GMMTV's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI6GZkz9PZRxoeyTrwO5nu_J&si=PDNKfZbzu2ySo3I7Content Warnings: bullying/beaten up, mental health struggles, punch, non con picture taking/sharing
BL Scenes
- episode 1 part 3 beginning to 2:28
- episode 2 part 4 10:13 to 13:15
- episode 3 part 1 6-6:45 (not between the couple but a fun BL moment)
- episode 3 part 3 1-4:50 and 9:12 to the end
- episode 4 part 1 11:10-12:40
- episode 4 part 2 6:50-11
- episode 4 part 3 9-end
- episode 5 part 3 4:35-6, 8-9:10
- episode 5 part 4 1:05-4:40 and 7.43-9.25
- episode 6 part 1 13:20-14:15
- episode 6 part 2 3:50-4:40
- episode 6 part 3 10:15-end
- episode 6 part 4 2-5:40, 12:30-13:05, 14:25-15:05
- episode 7 part 1 9:10-12:10
- episode 7 part 2 7:05-11:50
- episode 9 part 2 2:15-6:35
- episode 10 part 1 beginning to 3:15
- episode 10 part 3 5:35-6:30
- episode 10 part 4 3:20-5:55
What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- sweet moments
- friendships
- her family and his dad (also talked about safer sex)
- the BL side couple (except they oddly had no scenes in episode 8)
Room For Improvement
- started with a voice over exposition/character dump
- two catch and falls in the first half of episode 1
- continuity errors
- cliche wannabe girlfriend
- the punch was too much
- multiple times jumps at the end
Was this review helpful to you?
