Salty_bae

Yes Swimming

When i started watching this movie i was not expecting something extraordinary. Before i watched the film itself, I've read some bad reviews and saw Free! (anime) so i was ready for the worst (despite actually liking free! i know it's not something that should be made into a movie). To be honest, i was quite surprised because in the end i enjoyed No Breathing.



Story. 5/10

The story is not the strongest point of this film. There are things that are surprisingly vague and the lack of details makes the story forgettable, the friendship between main guys could be a little more explored and the romantic sidestory could be handled better (tbh it wasnt necessary for Seo In-Guks character at all). Also emotional scenes didnt get to me much (but it could be only me).

However, I dont see a reason why it is compared to free!. Swiming, handsome guys, friendship. Yes. ... but well... i still dont get why people say it could be live action of free because imo No Breathing has different atmosphere.

Despite the fact that story is nothing new and the film is 2 hours long i actually was not bored at all. The first hour was fresh and funny and the second part was ok. To sum it up, the story was nothing (i wont probably remember it tomorrow) but i enjoyed it very much.



Cast. 10/10.

Initially, I was drawn to this film because of Lee Jong-Suk. I am dissapointed that his character was not written better but he still is a good actor.

BUT maaaaaaaaaaan I have to admit that Seo In-Guk is a great actor! I havent seen many of his dramas but whenever i see him i just cant help myself and love whatever he does. He simply carried this film on his back. I'm not afraid to say that without him, the film would be much MUCH worse.

As for Yuri... Well, I am always wary when are idols casted in a film/drama but she wasnt bad. Personally, i dont think her story line was good (or important for the film). However, that is not her fault and i think that she handled her role quite well. She actually looked like an ordinary girl which (,for some weird reason,) i appreciate.

Also, I cant help myself, but i feel like I have seen Shin Min-Chul somewhere but after checking his biography he seems fairly new. I hope we will see him more in the future.



Music. 3/10

Whatever Yuris "band" sang, i didnt like it. And the rest of the ost sounded pretty generic so..



Rewatch value. 4,5/10

The film is not worth of rewatching. But some of the scenes were good and if i ever feel like i need more of Seo In-Guk in my life, i might watch first half of the film (because as i've already said, i liked it a lot).



Overall. 7,5/10

I know i give this film higher rating than i should but (and now i will repeate myself again) Seo In-Guk was great and I didnt get bored despite this film lacked in so many ways. (If you are interested, mathematically correct rating based on my individual ratings is 5,5 but i liked this film much more :))



You should watch this film if you:

a) are Seo In-Guk's or Lee Jong-Suk's fan,

b) have spare 2 hours and you want to spend them watching smth easy and non-complicated

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Sweet Fluff That Lacks Substance

My School President is another BL from a long series of school feelgood BL fluffs to watch on a rainy day when you only want to sit down and watch something easy and teeth-rottingly fluffly.

One thing that makes this drama in particular a bit different (but still not completely different, because we have already HAD dramas centered around music/arts) is the OST of the drama, with each episode having one central song. The connection to music was done seamlessly and clearly the actors have gone through some musical bootcamp to look at least somewhat competent with their instruments. This gave way to an episodic nature of initial episodes which felt very fun, cute, goofy and enjoyable.

But of course, the main highlight of this drama are the two leads - Gemini and Forth had amazing chemistry and they managed to carry this drama to its end without any big accidents. Their charm is legendary and it is hard to believe that MSP is their acting debut as they both understood their assignment very well.

The rest of the drama feels like a carbon copy of any other well made (!) Thai BL of recent years. In particular, it seems like the director and scriptwriters have gone very carefully through Bad Buddy and hand picked many things that worked there and tried to get it into this drama. The main lead dynamics felt similar, the story felt similar, the comedy felt similar, the setting was similar, but yes in the end there ARE many differences that do set these two dramas apart. But at the same time, I looked up my commentary/review on Bad Buddy and if I didn't know any better, I could use that text to describe MSP, as it describes my feelings for MSP to the dot.
Just like BB, My School President peaked around episode 6 (what a great episode!) but compared to BB, it managed to hold some semblance of shape and form for a little longer. Last 3 episodes, despite containing the climax of the whole story (that is competition and the main couple going public with their relationship to their families) were so boring, it took me 9 months (!!!) to finish these 3 episodes (despite binging larger part of episodes 1-9). It just felt unimportant, all over the place and unfocused.

Overall, I had most of the time great time watching MSP. It is a well-made drama. I dare to even say one of the best in the "fluffy school BL" genre out there. It is just a shame that the amazing lead duo was not utilized to make something more substantial as this particular type of story has very little to offer to this over-saturated market.

As for the rating, I am on a fence. It is somewhere between 8/10 and 8.5/10. I will definitely keep an eye on Gemini and Forth in their future ventures (be it as an acting couple or solo)

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Guilty Pleasures of Ruyi Pavilion

The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion makes me feel two very contradictory feelings. On one hand, it was very enjoyable watch with many satisfying romantic moments - thanks to Ju Jing Yi and Zhang Zhe Han as well as the second couple. On the other hand, the storytelling and editing was just problematic at times and as much i am trying to accept it as something that was necessary to happen for this drama to be even released, it crossed a certain line at some point and it became annoying.

= CHARACTERS =
Fu Rong is a clumsy naiive lead with some moments of brilliance, while Xu Jin is that typical cool stone-faced ml. What i appreciate on their dynamics is that (as opposed to Legend of Yun Xi) male lead showed his emotions and love for female lead a lot and oh boy! he really did love her a lot!! ZZH did amazing job with portraying Xu Jin.
Anyways, it actually does not really matter what kind of characters the main lead were, as long as they were played by Ju Jing Yi and Zhang Zhe Han. Their chemistry is just… unparalleled.
Fu Xuan and Wu Bai Qi as a couple were very charming and fun to watch and enhanced the mood of the drama to a more classy level.
Side characters, although not very well fleshed-out, were quite enjoyable including characters that were infuriating on purpose like Cui Wan and other side-side kicks.
Character-wise, the worst one is definitely the villain. Quite honestly, it’s been a long time since i’ve seen a villain so pathetic. His origin story was pathetic, his schemes were desperate, and just overall all his manipulations were despicable.

= STORY =
This is an idol drama, and i think it’s unfair to expect some super deep and unique plot. Actually, the premise and the storylines that were hinted at/attempted at are in general okay. At times, it was very engaging, and although i feel like some storylines could have gone a different route at times to be more interesting (or! at least not dropped halfway!), i found the story itself still quite satisfying. There are several plot holes but i guess i am willing to overlook them for the sake of my own sanity and the fact that i enjoyed the drama. In my opinion, the plot comes secondary as this whole drama is mostly character-driven, and it proved to be fun to watch despite its various weaknessess.

Based on all those abrupt and unusual cuts, missing side-character storylines that you just know must have been there /somewhere/ as well as lack of scenes that would usually seamlessly connect two different scenes together, i am guessing that the production had to cut the drama shorter and im just glad that this drama was released and i guess we just have to accept that.

= GUILTY PLEASURES =
So… i know that based on what i wrote until now, it might seem like the drama is “so so” at best but i had actually amazing time watching this show! It hits all the right spots for me: visually stunning set and beautiful costumes, cute female lead, dreamy male lead who loves female lead infinitely, good humor, amazing soundtrack, my favourite tropes, some good action scenes and enjoyable “shocking” plot twists, lovable side characters characters, several fun callbacks to Legend of Yun Xi, and many many sweet soft romantic moments between main leads. Like… seriously, each and every single episode had a /moment/ between main leads that made me more or less swoon.

= REWATCH VALUE =
I’ve already rewatched it at least once and i actually see myself rewatching it again in the future. so… yeah. The amount of tender moments Fu Rong and Xu Jin share together is almost impossible to count and it’s so satisfying to watch (especially if you felt like Legend of Yun Xi just was not very generous in this area). JJY and ZZH are /that/ good together.

Overall, this is probably a 8/10 or even 7,5/10 drama, but i had such a good time watching BARP, despite some hiccups, that i am willing to rate it 8,5/10 while admitting that in my heart, it’s rated more like 9/10 but i dont want my rating to be too outrageous.

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