half-baked pie!
There was a plot I think? It was mainly a demonstration of how not to communicate with your partner.The most enjoyable parts were the music by Nunew and the side couple Nuer & Syn and the comedic reliefs. I remember that I was skipping through some episodes to watch the scenes between Nuer & Syn because it was just more interesting to me and the main couples were just so stagnant in their stories with no development or chemistry whatsoever.
I hated max and nat's storyline wtf was up with that??? and tbh. nat's acting really needs to improve bc no.
I did think Zee and Nunew had some moments of good chemistry and good acting together but these were kind of scarce for a 12 episodes series.
The cinematography was good especially the lighting in the clubs that kuea worked in.
But it did not take away from the fact that the story line was so weird and the characters were messed up. It was a bit boring and repetitive at the end with kuea being like 'oh i'm not good enough for you because i'm a rockstar :(((' which like. we did this before.
also, why does it feel like i don't know anything about lian even though he's supposed to have been dating kuea for like +10 years.
in short, the series fell flat because of the flat characters, repetitive plotpoints and bad processing of an ok-ish premise.
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all in all, it's a fun series and you should definitely watch it!!!
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This review may contain spoilers
A treat for the eye (not just the Male leads ;)
This BL series felt like a breath of fresh air for me after watching too many college BL series. As a fan of Downton abbey I am a huge fan of period dramas but I'm always kind of sad that it's mostly white people who get to live in that time period it seems. Enter IFYLITA. My goodness what a beautiful series! The beautiful traditional clothing + locations, cinematography and the etiquette was so interesting to uncover and was a beautiful backdrop for the story. I almost felt like I could smell the plumeria/frangi pangi myself :)The chemistry between the two couples was great and I lovedddd the GL couple a lot! At least they kind of had the common sense to hide their relationship better hahaha. T he ensemble cast and the comedy was also great.
Jom and Yai were also very sweet and cute and the actors did a spectacular job at portraying the longing and tenderness between these two people.
The rating for the story would've been higher if the ending wasn't so weird? There were also a lot of plotlines that were left unanswered imo and perhaps theyre doing it because they want to do a season 2, but it felt a little bit meh & rushed because
WTF DO U MEAN OUR YAI ENDS UP ALONE BC THE YAI IN THE PRESENT IS NOT THE SAME YAI THAT WE KNOW??? WHO IS THIS??? AND HOW??? WHERE DID HE SUDDENLY COME FROM???
All in all it was a good series but i think the characters and the fans deserve a season 2 so plsssss make one producers!!!
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THE SIGNS OF A GOOD BL?
What makes a BL 'good'? This is subjective of course. I can't tell you how to live your life. But I can tell you that you need to watch this series! And why.1. The story is so unique for the BL world (and that makes me very happy). We are so past the high school/college universtiy student phase! We need something new and substantial with actual plot, depth and relevancy! The story is a mix of mythological reincarnated lovers and thriller with Phaya and Tharn working as detectives of a special unit (theyre cops lol) and i think this adds to the tension because phaya and tharn often are in dangerous situations.
however they do have a lot of unresolved conflicts left that deserve some more explanation.
THE SIGN is unlike any other BL series i've watched and i predict it will become one of those staple BLs in a few years.
[i will admit that though i was ecstatic when watching the finale, it is a fact that it is very rushed and SPOILER!!!
spoiler:
tharn should not just have returned Just Like That with no nothing stakes or consequences of him carrying a Naga soul in a human body.]
2. the acting is just superb! I can't believe that this is one of babe's first series (i think i read somewhere that this is his debut but i'm not sure about that). he did so well as tharn! the ensemble cast was also great, and also had everybody's favourite 2 grandmas ;)
i am kind of sad that the GL storyline was kind of unresolved at the end, but the post credit scene for the finale makes me hopeful that we're getting a season 2 (please please please)
3. the cinematography and production was also great! the cgi, for a tv-series was pretty good and impressed me.
i love when they use different colour lighting :)
all in all, it was a very enjoyable series and im waiting for a season 2
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Offgun: WE'RE SO BACK
when i first saw the trailer i didn't think very highly of this series. i was expecting it to be a flop like Fish upon the sky. I WAS WRONG!!!And i'm so glad i was wrong!
the cast was phenomenal and i liked that we were introduced to some new actors.
though mark was supposed to play dynamite, i'm glad we got to see another actor play together with neo. what a wonderful experience that was. both fire and dynamite's actors were expressive, loud and silly but also sensitive and sweet. it was a cute character arc. of course offgun was wonderful too, showcasing that sweet beginning of young and new love but also displaying levels of maturity and levelheadedness that we haven't seen before in their characters. it was very sweet and tender.
the story of cooking crush was hilarious: basically it's a cooking scam. iykyk. i did not feel cringe or corny at all during this low stakes romantic comedy. instead i felt connected and protective if the echaracters and found myself roting for each and every single one of them on thier journey: however silly that journey was.
i also loveddd the grandma of gun. she was great.
also something that i loved was the cooking segments in general: it was lovely to see the food getting prepared.
the plot was refreshing and original and also did not use episode 11 drama so that's a win for me !
if you haven't watched it yet: what are you waiting for?
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can we skip to the good part?
this bl series had a very intereesting premise and important plotpoints. however i fear tha tthey had taken up too much on their plate resulting in a medicore execution of the ideas also paired with the short runtime of the show.the idea of someone being colour blind until they meet the 'one' sounds very cool and is another tiwst on the soumates trope which i adore so i was immediately intrigued. my curiousity was further piqued when it was revealed that mono's and probes meeting wasn't always a good thing and that the mom had disappeared...why did she leave and where is she now?
and of course the most important thing: the love between the two leads
because of these things i expected a lot of this series and was surprised to find out there were only 8 episodes. i wondered how they were going to fit everything in and resolve all the plotpoints. welp, they didn't which was really disappointing and left me feelin unsatisfied and wanting more but not in a good way because it felt rushed and unfinished (there is a season 2 but one of the main leads is missing in the s2 so i havent watched it yet).
the first half of the series is pretty good tho and gave me butterflies from the fluffiness :)
it's not bad, it just hasn't fulfilled its potential which is rather sad for a story with such an interesting world.
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if it's wrong why does it feel so right to rewatch it 4 times?
This series has absolutely become my comfort series.I have watched the series twice and the movie (which is just the series pasted together) also twice and then i watched some of the anime episodes.
Why? Maybe that's a little bit part of the tism but iin all seriousness: why is it so addictive?
Semantic error shouldn't be addictive tbh: it uses the almost all the age-old BL drama tropes such as enemies-to-lovers, colege romance, grumpy x sunshine, straight guy falling in love with a guy etc. etc.
And yet! Though it uses these tropes - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it manages to captivate the audience (me). I think that's due to the script: the script is really good in terms of drama and comedy. there wasn't a single moment where i felt like the dialogue was bad/cringey/lacking/out of character. The script made sense! Which is something that is often lacking in college romance enemies to lovers BL (2gether, fish upon the sky for example) And i think that's what made it so refreshing and addictive.
On top of that, the cinematography was really pretty and the acting and chemistry between the two leads was also very good.
All in all, this is a very fun watch and definitely needs to be on your list if you like romcom series with the grumpy x sunshine trope!
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puts the drama in BL drama! a classic
This series was a rollercoaster of a series! I think this was my second ever BL series that I watched from Thai production. I did not know what the story was about - except for guessing that it was about some reincarnated lovers from the title. So I was quite shocked when the first 10 minutes had the two maincharacters literally offing themselves with a gun.I think this deserved a trigger warning for that!
Other than that: the story was intriguing and fun though I wish we'd gotten more screentime for Korn/In also as separate characters living their lives with their friends and family (I especially loved korn's younger brothers) and cut back on some of the side couples (especially manaow and her love interest - i wasn't feeling the chemistry tbh)
Anyways, I think this is also one of those BL drama's that you NEED to have watched, it's such a classic and for it's time period quite impressive and well-thought out. There's also a lot of segments on Thai cuisine and culture which I always adore.
I am of the opinion though that this is one of those series that you can only watch once because of the plot: it won't feel the same after i think and it's also not really a comfort series
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typical romcom :)
ah, the age old grumpy x sunshine trope! you know em, you love em! this was actually one of my first watches and it also introduced me to now one of my fave kpop groups, namely The KingDom (formerly called KINGDOM) because they wrote one of the songs on the soundtrack (Traffic accident by DANN & MUJIN from TKD).but back to the actual series. this series was a great introduction to BL for me! it's cute and calm but also has it's obvious heart fluttering moments and made me root for the couple. the characters were endearing though a little predictable but then again the whole story setup is quite predictable: the mc meets the male lead and forcefully befriends him and then slowly falls in love whilst also trying to hide his ulterior motives and then comes at the point of where he needs to decide between his original goal or his new love. the story is enjoyable but not enjoyable enough for me to rewatch it if i'm honest because to me the acting, editing and pacing could've been better especially from the main couple. but for a beginning bl actor i think gongchan did pretty good! the second couple, dowoo and won tae min is is what really stole my heart. the tension and the drama between them was much more enjoyable to watch because of the comedy and the history of the characters (but the acting was also better).
the production value was great but i havent seen that many k-bls so i cant really compare. (edit: now i have and it's pretty good still so thats a win)
so would i recommend this series? yes, if you just started watching BLs and want something straight out of a romcom or just want to watch something that's light to digest :)
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can't believe i didnt watch this earlier
what an excellent series!when i first started watching this i hadn't expected this series to touch on such serious and important topics such as the political climate in thailand. it felt very refreshing and made me think twice about things in real life. I think also that that's what makes this drama also very timeless because many of the problems the characters are experiencing are still relevant today and teach us the power we hold and how important justice is.
I mainly wanted to watch it for OffGun, but I'm so glad to say that they are not the saving grace of this series as this series has many good aspects. The plot itself was a little bit predictable at times, but the motives of all of the characters, not just the leads added a lot of depth to the story which was great and made the series feel more real. I'm also glad that the female characters weren't used as plot device but actualy had their own story and wants that didn't centre around just romance or the male lead. Of course, OffGun both did an excellent job :)
I also thought the music was beautiful and it makes me emotional just listening to the OST. The director also did an excellent job with the cinematography, it was a treat to look at.
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standard thai college fluff
this is not a very good written review because it's late but oh well.I definitely did not expect to enjoy this standard thai college drama so much but I do! And I am pleased to say that pond's acting is much improved this time! I just kept watching because it's sosososo fluffy!
I seriously am in love with phuwin's character, although boy if you don't get your shit together with 'oh idk if i like him but i kissed him 4 times already so idk'.
I liked that this time the actual university work seems to have an impact on the character's lives and philosophy, and is not just an accessory as is often the case for thai bl university dramas. I'm also very happy that this is a relatively long drama. It's definitely worth watching if you love thai college settings with a lot of fluff and if you love the pondphuwin pairing (i know i do now), but don't expect anything original or new. It's all the faces you know and love in a familiar setting.
There's not a lot of depth to it, but not every series needs to! Some plot points were a bit repetitive and overused (sing your love: please stop) so that also brings the score down but they compensated for that by making the couples very sweet.
I enjoyed the whole friend group dynamics, it really felt like just a bunch of dumb college students messing around. I wish we had more scenes with Matt and Toey though, they underutilised JJ's talents!
Like any other GMM series they overused the OST. At first i hated it, then i loved it and then i hated it again once they used it for every freaking second that seemed to be kind of hinting at romance like c'mon. Use anything else, PLEASE!
I absolutely need aou + boom to have a leading role in their next series because OH MY GOD!!! THEY ARE SO NARAK TOGETHER!!! I CAN'T DESCRIBE IT ANY OTHER WAY,,,PLEASE GMMTV LET THEM HAVE THEIR OWN SERIES. They carried this series so hard!
I hope GMM will try to expand their stories more and let their actors grow as creatives as well!
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Surprisingly good
Am I 4 years late to the hype? Yes.Do I care? No.
This was a drama I wasn't actually planning on watching when I first read the synopsis because it felt a little too familiar to other series I was watching at the time, like Semantic Error, 2gether, YRU?, between us etc. and I was honestly so done with college romances with potential that went nowhere.
Then a month or so ago I watched Perth's video about his experience with working on my engineer and the way he spoke so passionately about the project made me want to give it a try, because I love ma boi Perth and I thought that maybe I judged it too quickly at first.
And I did, but I also didn't!
Obviously bohnduen are the cliché couple but at the same time it is refreshing to see how forward and open bohn is about his feelings (most of the time) when most of the times this is kept intentionally ambiguous to keep the sunshine character on their toes (see 2gether, between us etc.).
I also adore how Duen also allows for Bohn to open up his heart - like they said they would do at the beginning :))) so i like that part as of now.
And of course,,,RAMKING <333 Goddamn theyre both so handsome i cannot,,,,like it is so unfair. Every time King does a hairflip I clutch my pearls. I think that the acting could've been a bit better and realistic, but it was fun to watch King yap and Ram just basically panic and black out not knowing what to say most of the time becuase he's shy.
Overall the acting of the ensemble cast is nice, not too much, not too little and pleasant to watch. the friend groups were equally funny to me, but i liked duen's chaotic tight knit group of freshman's a bit more.
I like the production and especially when they were at the floating market. However, idk who did the sound mixing and the sound design,,,,esp for my boy ryan's dubs...they need to be fired bc wth happened there??? oh well, you can't have everything.
and the OST was just too overused and annoying.
I do have to be honest and say that although there are a lot of positive things to be said about my engineer, I did watch all of it in at least 1.25x speed because i otherwise just couldn't bear it. some scenes really dragged on and there was often just not a lot of interesting thing happening making me skip through episodes and only watch RAMKING scenes. And I think that is the thing about this series: it drags. And as the series progresses there were more and more scenes that made me cringe...
I think that this series could've done without the whole top/bottom shenanigans and instead give us a bit more slow burn + conflict with mr. smiley (and always more ramking!!!)
All in all, it's a seres that you can watch, and if you're doubting whether you should or should not, just give it a shot! But do it in 1.25x speed
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it's ok (but frustrating & a bit boring)
As of now I haven't finished watching it yet but I couldn't wait to write this review - unfortunately not for a good reason. At first i was really excited to watch it, it had been on my watchlist for some time now and i had heard good things about it! The storyline seemed simple and typical and i was curious as to how this drama would interpret the highschool romance story that we all know and love so much!There's the typical damsel in distress ML and the shining knight in armour love interest, the wacky friends, the bullies etc. etc. nothing wild over there or particularly interesting or outstanding. and that's not a problem at all! what was a problem was the execution of it. I think perhaps because of the title and the synopsis i was expecting some darker themes and some more drama and personal conflict between the two ML which we were not given. I blame this on the short runtime.
And with this I don't mean the episode 11 curse thai BL have but i mean that i would have liked it if they showed more of what the characters were feeling and what that made them do or think.., which brings us to the acting. The acting was alright for the story as it did not delve too deep so it didnt require a lot and it is watchable but sometimes leaves you wanting more. the two ML are handsome enough to save it but it saddens me that they didn't use their full potential. there is some chemistry between the two ML and plenty of fluff, but i think the tension and the chemistry could have been more present if some of the scenes where we feel this tension and chemistry, weren't cut off so soon!!! for example, the part where they share the cream bun: it was cut off very suddenly and not discussed at all in the next episode! we as the audience do not get 'closure' from that and we do not know how the characters feel after that which is frustrating. It made some of the transitions feel too rushed and the pacing was also affected by this in my opinion. It also left me unable to connect properly to the ML. Why give us chemistry/tension if it will not have consequences for their relationship? shouldn't it drive the story forward?
Perhaps an uncut version would have shown us more? Who knows...
I did like the ensemble cast a lot! the bullies were believable, the friends really did seem to like each other and had great banter, but also cared about each other and the mom was amazingly sweet and admirable, especially for taking in the son of one of her friends - I would've loved to see more of her and haebom's mom.
what i also liked was the lighting and the setting. It was a pretty series.
All in all, it is not the best bl drama out there, but still a fun watch if you're not looking to invest too much and just like fluff. it's just kind of boring (which is worse than being offensive tbh).
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worth it?
This is a very good series! And i would reccommend peopl to go watch it! However, i do have to say that my expectations weren't fully satisfied (but are they ever?) because i saw sooo many good things about this i kind of went in with very high expectations about the game aspect of the series.Short version of Things I liked:
- Cinematography/Production
- Acting
- Music score
- Story
Cinematography/Production:
The production value is unlike any other series I've seen, with a lot of long shots that create 'calm scenes' that contribute to the world building and really help immerse the viewer, instead of advancing the plot.
I especially love/hate how alone they make Cha Yeon Woo look in all his solo shots. *sobs* it's so masterfully done that it made my heart ache everytime he was in that kind of scene, just utterly alone...
You could really see how every shot was taken with care and precision to make it really feel as if you're in a game that at the same time is not just a 2D simulation, but for the characters is very real.
The camerawork, lighting and directing was so great, it really made me feel a lot!
I can't believe that at the end when they reveal tae myun-ha's memories how alone he looks instead of cha yeon woo...the parallels??? insane. they really hurt me :,)
Acting: I think the cast was great at conveying the mood and emotions. it's been a while since i was really moved by a dramaseries...and oh brother...*sobs*
The small ensemble cast also did great. They really fit their charactertypes too
I only wish they'd given cha woong ki a different haircut.
Music score: I think this is also one of the things that can help immerse a viewer into the world. Not every scene needs background music to show what's happening! For me this was also part of the 'calm scenes' and world building.
Story:
The story is a classic Isekai story except with a modern setting of a videogame instead of a romance novel. Nevertheless, it was executed very well.
I believe they could've leaned in more to the existential crisis part because I think they could've pulled it off well but Isekais rarely do that so I don't really mind but there were a lot of unanswered questions. there's also the fact that there is mentally a large age gap between the two male leads. the ending did feel a bit rushed and too quickly resolved but alas, there were only 8 eps of runtime so i understand. the past life of tae myun-ha was a sudden twist.. i didnt mind it too much but i can see how it can bother some people and also from a storytelling perspective it doesnt really make sense so i did deduct some points for that. i kind of wish that we could've seen more of the video game world (how is it an exact 1-on-1 of tae myun-ha's life (complete with granny & mother)) and more NPC interactions would've been fun i think.
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A wonderful story about girlhood with an intriguing twist
It's been a while since I've watched such a good series and holy crap this just blew all my expectations away with how good it was. I laughed, I cried and then I laughed again. Truthfully I had been putting this series off since I solely wanted to watch it because of Park Eunbin, not the actual plot. I didn't really know what this series was about before I started watching which made me very surprised when they suddenly started talking about ghosts. Was this about to turn supernatural...? It kept me hooked and wanting more!!! I definitely reccommend watching this series!The various themes explored are also very intruiging and just what I needed - being a college student myself. It makes this series very unique and original. Each of the inhabitants has their own story arch dealing with different unique themes - (survivors) guilt, grief, loneliness, low self-esteem, being the glass child, jealousy, abusive boyfriend - which eventually all tie back into the over arching theme for Belle Epoque; Girlhood. We see how the women support each other in their happiness but also in their sadness and despair. We see how they're not afraid to give each other a piece of their mind or back each other up when making decisions. They make mistakes but also grow together. They go from strangers to friends to sisters for life and it is beautifully written and directed! And although the themes are very serious, there's also space for comedy, romance and happiness. This series is a true slice of life!
The chemistry between the lead actresses is also amazing! You truly feel how everyone looks up to the oldest, Yun seonbae and how the unnies are protective of their maknae. My favourite scene was when Eun Jae's bf tried to surprise her and they all attacked him when they heard Eun Jae scream. The characters were truly brought to life by this wonderful ensemble!
I especially admire Park Eunbin's comedic timing - the amount of times I've laughed out loud because of Song Jiwon's antics, I can't even count.
I also adored the chef and Jin Myeong's storyline...My heart ached so much for her...She wanted so much more from this life and she deserves so much more. And she liked him too so much and yet...And he was so patient with her, and so understanding....*SOBS* and that wasn't the only time Jin Myeong made me cry. The whole situation with her vegetable brother...and the manager...*CRYING HARDER*
And then Kang Yina's surivor's guilt...GOD how dare they give her such an emotionally complex backstory that has definitely made me cry.
The music was also great in this series and I am definitely looking up that sad song they use all the time,,,,goddddd it made me cry so hard. They really know how to use it...
So go watch it if you like slice of life stories that center around girlhood!
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