This review may contain spoilers
This was an okay time filler. 60 episodes ranging from 1-2 minutes each. The vertical format sucks. Even if they wanted to do it as shorts, it would be a much better viewing experience in landscape. The shorts thing is just a cash grab though, because they want you to pay to unlock individual episodes or buy a monthly subscription. Also the Shortime app regularly freezes up or the quality degrades, so that doesn’t help the viewing experience.
This was really, really cheesy. The story, the script, and the acting all included. The bully character especially was so obnoxiously stereotypically evil, and the acting was really over the top exaggerated. He of course had a “he’s not that evil, he’s just abused” redemption arc.
The romance was okay. The run time is short, so it wasn’t well developed. They were probably only together for a few weeks, plus there’s a one month time skip epilogue at the end. It didn’t feel like they were in a committed long-lasting relationship by the end. It just felt like they were beginning a relationship that they were both excited about, but may or may not work out long term. Also there were exclusively dead fish lip presses in this series, so that kind of killed the romance. And for some reason, Seon U is still calling Tae Hyeong “sunbae” by the end of the series. There was mutual care and protection in both directions though, which I give props for.
The good thing is that everything between the leads was consensual and there was no stalking / harassing involved. But Tae Hyeong does yell at Seon U a couple times, and also once drags him by the hand (and Seon U protests about this hurting), because he was “concerned”. I take issue with BLs that romanticize the idea of showcasing your worry, concern, or care in those types of ways. Also, the communication was non-existent. Even at the end, when Tae Hyeong wasn’t been coerced into silence, he doesn’t confide in Seon U about the coach’s abuse or the video threat or the fact that the coach and the bully are trying to make him fix or drop out of the match, and instead just breaks up with him, deeming it too dangerous.
This was really, really cheesy. The story, the script, and the acting all included. The bully character especially was so obnoxiously stereotypically evil, and the acting was really over the top exaggerated. He of course had a “he’s not that evil, he’s just abused” redemption arc.
The romance was okay. The run time is short, so it wasn’t well developed. They were probably only together for a few weeks, plus there’s a one month time skip epilogue at the end. It didn’t feel like they were in a committed long-lasting relationship by the end. It just felt like they were beginning a relationship that they were both excited about, but may or may not work out long term. Also there were exclusively dead fish lip presses in this series, so that kind of killed the romance. And for some reason, Seon U is still calling Tae Hyeong “sunbae” by the end of the series. There was mutual care and protection in both directions though, which I give props for.
The good thing is that everything between the leads was consensual and there was no stalking / harassing involved. But Tae Hyeong does yell at Seon U a couple times, and also once drags him by the hand (and Seon U protests about this hurting), because he was “concerned”. I take issue with BLs that romanticize the idea of showcasing your worry, concern, or care in those types of ways. Also, the communication was non-existent. Even at the end, when Tae Hyeong wasn’t been coerced into silence, he doesn’t confide in Seon U about the coach’s abuse or the video threat or the fact that the coach and the bully are trying to make him fix or drop out of the match, and instead just breaks up with him, deeming it too dangerous.
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