This review may contain spoilers
pardon???????
it is i, the niel.
wow, that was weird. i could tell that there would have been a lot that they could've accomplished if the episodes were longer and the writing was better. the concept of this story is cool, and it definitely alludes to mental health at some points while also mentioning certain neurological conditions towards the end. the universe itself is a bit confusing as far as logic goes.
to me, these characters weren't likable, at least on-screen. i had a hard time coming to understand a lot of their motivations until the very end of the show, where they just unloaded information onto the audience and expected us to take it from there. i don't know why they waited until the end to explain why on earth yoohan would have that much knowledge about colors and the colors' individual histories when he seemingly didn't do anything(?) outside of interacting with yeonwoo. him being an idol trainee was so random and that was barely explored. they do briefly nudge us in the dialogue how the entire show is centered around yeonwoo as a mono, but they totally could've given us different perspectives instead of random pieces of information about yoohan. how did he know where yeonwoo lived? how did he even find out where yeonwoo was staying at the hospital? any additional info on yeonwoo's mom? why did we only find out about yoohan's family in the last episode? why was literally everything okay at the end within 3 minutes?
as for some production details...overall, it was fine. the audio wasn't bad. imo the ost was played way too often. it made the show feel too cheesy, and i found myself cringing every time a typical drama/bl cliché happened. seriously, those moments could've been nice, but it was just too much. they had a decent variety of filming locations, and the sets were nice. as with any drama set in a high school involving uniforms, the styling was giving the bare minimum. they kept the cast of characters simple enough, and they all had distinct personalities. however, why was the aunt completely okay with yeonwoo after he returned?
this leads into my overarching thoughts on mental health. if you don't want to read into it too deeply and take it for what it is, that's fine. but also, i could tell that they were trying to add in elements of mental health issues/social commentary with how monos/probes were represented. the whole dependency on probes for finding joy/meaning in everyday life and obsessing over the fear of them leaving kind of reminded me of certain personality disorders that are oftentimes villainized in media, such as BPD. what annoyed me about this was that they didn't really try to explore this aspect of yeonwoo's character, aside from acting as if this was just a normal occurrence. after both yeonwoo and yoohan returned, they glossed over those details even though in every episode, we were literally fed constant information about yeonwoo's fears/obsessions. even if it wasn't their intention to represent mental health, it hit me too late into the show to actually comprehend the beginning properly.
overall, i just feel frustrated and unsatisfied after watching this. literally what????? i would've probably preferred reading the web novel. the acting was a bit stiff and the main couple's interactions with each other made me cringe. i get it, this is set in high school, so there isn't a lot of room for growing outside of that small bubble. however, the concept of this story could've made for an interesting show! instead, it felt shallow and lackluster. i don't think i'd rewatch this. would i recommend watching it in the first place? my gut says sure, but honestly no. maybe if you watched this when it was released, it would've been more spectacular to you. but now that there are significantly better bls out in the world, this gives nothing. it's short, though, so that's a plus. ciao!
best,
the niel.
wow, that was weird. i could tell that there would have been a lot that they could've accomplished if the episodes were longer and the writing was better. the concept of this story is cool, and it definitely alludes to mental health at some points while also mentioning certain neurological conditions towards the end. the universe itself is a bit confusing as far as logic goes.
to me, these characters weren't likable, at least on-screen. i had a hard time coming to understand a lot of their motivations until the very end of the show, where they just unloaded information onto the audience and expected us to take it from there. i don't know why they waited until the end to explain why on earth yoohan would have that much knowledge about colors and the colors' individual histories when he seemingly didn't do anything(?) outside of interacting with yeonwoo. him being an idol trainee was so random and that was barely explored. they do briefly nudge us in the dialogue how the entire show is centered around yeonwoo as a mono, but they totally could've given us different perspectives instead of random pieces of information about yoohan. how did he know where yeonwoo lived? how did he even find out where yeonwoo was staying at the hospital? any additional info on yeonwoo's mom? why did we only find out about yoohan's family in the last episode? why was literally everything okay at the end within 3 minutes?
as for some production details...overall, it was fine. the audio wasn't bad. imo the ost was played way too often. it made the show feel too cheesy, and i found myself cringing every time a typical drama/bl cliché happened. seriously, those moments could've been nice, but it was just too much. they had a decent variety of filming locations, and the sets were nice. as with any drama set in a high school involving uniforms, the styling was giving the bare minimum. they kept the cast of characters simple enough, and they all had distinct personalities. however, why was the aunt completely okay with yeonwoo after he returned?
this leads into my overarching thoughts on mental health. if you don't want to read into it too deeply and take it for what it is, that's fine. but also, i could tell that they were trying to add in elements of mental health issues/social commentary with how monos/probes were represented. the whole dependency on probes for finding joy/meaning in everyday life and obsessing over the fear of them leaving kind of reminded me of certain personality disorders that are oftentimes villainized in media, such as BPD. what annoyed me about this was that they didn't really try to explore this aspect of yeonwoo's character, aside from acting as if this was just a normal occurrence. after both yeonwoo and yoohan returned, they glossed over those details even though in every episode, we were literally fed constant information about yeonwoo's fears/obsessions. even if it wasn't their intention to represent mental health, it hit me too late into the show to actually comprehend the beginning properly.
overall, i just feel frustrated and unsatisfied after watching this. literally what????? i would've probably preferred reading the web novel. the acting was a bit stiff and the main couple's interactions with each other made me cringe. i get it, this is set in high school, so there isn't a lot of room for growing outside of that small bubble. however, the concept of this story could've made for an interesting show! instead, it felt shallow and lackluster. i don't think i'd rewatch this. would i recommend watching it in the first place? my gut says sure, but honestly no. maybe if you watched this when it was released, it would've been more spectacular to you. but now that there are significantly better bls out in the world, this gives nothing. it's short, though, so that's a plus. ciao!
best,
the niel.
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