First ep was a lot of fun! So excited to have JaFirst back on my screen. Their chemistry is top-notch and always enjoy the series they are in. People are making it seem like it's the worst thing they've ever seen and it's not lol It's literally only the first episode. I know commenters on mydramalist are overly dramatic most of the time but it's really enjoyable. Also loving Ja's character! Such a refreshing new role for him.
The special moment director's cut didn't have to be watched, so you could have just ignored that part. Zaanook, the main director, had said that there were scenes that didn't have time to fit into 12 eps, so they decided to extend it. I enjoyed that he included Gun and Golf's scenes, we didn't get enough of them and he knew it based on viewer feedback. The acting was superb, I don't know where you are seeing that they are just "ok." You should explain that more as it doesn't make sense in your review. It did not need to be 14 eps but they did not use time wisely, as many are pointing out.
Excellent, well-thought out review, yours is the best here and really should be the only one to look at. People have been too quick to bash the series on the height of anger without taking a min to even understand what kind of series it is and the story being told. I knew what it was going into it and enjoyed it for the most part, although I do have some issues with it. Thanks for your review.
The acting was the best part of the series. Seriously, everybody did amazing here, from the parents (which I LOVED that they explored the parents POV), the child actors, and main actors. It was really well done, and I especially enjoyed seeing JaFirst's chemistry and talent on my screen again. There was too much ableism in the show for me to even want to watch Name's scenes. This show definitely was frustrating a lot of the time, the time skips were everywhere, the use of music being too loud and too distracting in important scenes, there was not enough time spent on Golf and Gun, especially considering they are main cast and I personally only decided to watch it for JaFirst. They had a vision for this series which started strong and then as episodes went on it was clear that it was falling apart, they didn't know how to balance all the different characters and to be honest, Mean could've been written completely out of his own series. Also, there were too many flashbacks, OH THE FLASHBACKS, please I skipped so many of them. They took far too much time away that could've been used elsewhere.
I think what I'm most disappointed is two things: the ableism in this show considering Name and also Golf and Gun's storyline. They did not spend enough time on their storyline at all, the most we saw of them was in their university age, and even after graduating and living together we were only shown a portion of their dynamic. I also think it was sad to see Golf and Gun hope that marriage equality and acceptance will be better in the future knowing that it's still not in Thailand. I loved seeing that scene of Gun and his dad and I did cry at that. It was a very moving scene about acceptance and love from a parent. He deserved it after feeling so neglected by his father, even afraid of anger he may have because he's gay. I applaud them for it and the acting was superb.
This series isn't perfect but it had depth, acting was A+++ and the cinematography was beautiful.
It's pretty clear from comments and some reviews here that nobody even cared to research about this series before watching and coming here to whine about it while knowing nothing about it. Also there is a lack of understanding Thai culture as well. The fact that there are comments bashing about this series covering LGBTQ+ issues and saying this is a straight story just because they didn't explicitly say the word gay or queer is truly something. Boggles my mind how you can see two men kissing, clearly in love with each other, and scenes about acceptance and say they're straight. But I forget this website is full of people being negative 99% of the time, so anyways...
1. This was never going to be a Y Series. If you read the summary it tells you that. This is what I would call a 'slice of life' that it follows this friend group and each one is different with their own storylines. It was made pretty clear earlier on and through interviews that this is not specifically a Y Series however it does include LGBTQ+ characters and relationships. They used JaFirst to promote this series everywhere so it's understandable that people got confused.
2. This is technically a semi-autobiographical story from the main director, Zaanook. He also specifically said that this series was also created in "the hopes that LGBTQ+ youth and their parents could watch it together", so their parents could better understand them. This was easy to see from the beginning and it lasted up until it ended. Zaanook, being queer himself, also put importance on this series not having NC scenes, since that is basically what a majority of BL watchers tune in for anyway. So he wanted the queer relationships in the series to not be overshadowed by that and I think he did a good job in that way. Although, it's almost to the point that there's hardly any real affection shown between his queer characters at times.
3. Seeing that it's a slice of life, it is a slow drama. If you think it's boring, that's your taste and you have many other BL to dive into and enjoy instead. This was never going to having the dramatic, cliche themes that you're used to in BL. This took a more mature approach and was refreshing to not see those cliches included.
So, this series is really not bad as what people are making it out to be. It definitely has depth and characters that people can gravitate to with similar experiences. It's well rounded but not perfect. It touches on aspects that Thai series really don't give opportunity to. Applaud all actors involved, they were superb. There is a disconnect with some people whining about this series and not understanding Thai culture, as well. If you change your perspective from being so boxed in, you might have enjoyed this series a bit more.
Well, a deaf gay character isn't that common even in Western productions. I remember only watching a short clip…
Oh true! It's great that they have representation for it in this production. I actually will edit my comment because I believe that he is mute, not deaf. Well, two things: he is deaf but does lipreading and he's also mute, or he's not deaf but just mute. Either way I am excited to see this on-screen and Title is a great promising actor from what I've seen.
I can't wait for this series. It has the right vibe to fit for the time period of the series and also the mood of the story. The trailer did not go into the characters or their storylines much but from what I've read they each are unique to each other. I believe that Title plays a deaf character? Or he is only mute? Which I can't even remember if there's been any deaf gay character in a Thai BL before. It will be really great to see that representation in this series. I believe that he may be mute because of the scenes shown where he can understand what people are saying but I may be proven wrong. JaFirst are who I am looking forward to the most. It is such a big change to the characters they've played before. They had mentioned the difficulty of getting into these characters but from what I can see already they've nailed it after months of workshops and shooting. They always bring it to the table with their talent and chemistry.
Not watching this because New Siwaj is directing it and he usually pushes racist tropes in his dramas. But of…
What channels/companies do you watch then? GMMTV just recently even had a blackface event happen, so I'm assuming you skip out on watching their BLs, amongst the other things that they have done. This is not accusatory, I legitimately am wondering.
I literally just made an account to comment because it was ridiculous reading through these comments and the amount of 'mame this mame that' like if y'all hate mame why did you watch?? Working yourselves up when you could've just not watched and gone about your day, puh-lease. I'm not even standing up for mame but it's the same old recycled complaints literally adding nothing but to whine and hate write. It's beyond embarrassing. Please move on already.
For one, I really liked this series but it is not flawless and has some aspects that I had problems with in relation to the storyline and characterization. However, that did not spoil my enjoyment of this series. Yes, there are the usual tropes and unnecessary issues thrown in per mame. Pacing-wise it's a mess and mame needs to have a round table to figure out how to structure stories and character development in shows, asap. If you want a bl story that's all happy rainbows and cupcakes with no real depth, then this is not for you. This is not a surface level show, it has layers to it and shows the realities of their lives.
There were some things in this that really resonated with me on a personal level and for that it's one of my favorites. The characters and story are presented realistically. Fiat is one of my favorite characters, as much of a mess he is, but it has been refreshing to see a character own their sexuality like he does. Ja and First have amazing chemistry and they are great buddies irl, it's clear to see that in their acting. Could the intimate scenes be better? Yes but the whole D/s element is what kept me. I've not seen these kind of scenes in other BL's and I've been in this for a very, very long time. For this also, it's a favorite for me. It's clear at times that Ja and First really break that wall of playing their characters and become very deep into their roles. Along with it being the whole friend-turned-lover aspect has not really been a focus before and I really found it endearing how awkward that change was for Leo and Fiat. It was cute! I love their relationship so, so much. They really are so in love with each other.
Also, First is a beautiful man, I had to stop some scenes just to stare at him, he has a lot of charisma and perfect as Fiat. I think with what they both worked with script-wise and being given instruction by the director/s, along with their own improvisations, they did a great job acting their characters, which surprised me considering that they are quite new to the industry. I do believe with time they will truly hone their craft and I hope to be here to see that growth happen.
So, should you watch this? Yes, if you know what you are getting into with it being a mame story and if you liked Leo and Fiat in TTS2. BUT you don't need to have watched TTS2 to enjoy this series. If you go right into it not knowing anything that's totally fine too, it holds its own as a single series. There are some real gems in this show! It's why I cherish it a lot. I've honestly re-watched it a couple times, that's how much I did enjoy it and coming back for Ja and First's chemistry. Leon and Pob were very cute too, I'm looking forward to their own series that's coming.
1
The acting was the best part of the series. Seriously, everybody did amazing here, from the parents (which I LOVED that they explored the parents POV), the child actors, and main actors. It was really well done, and I especially enjoyed seeing JaFirst's chemistry and talent on my screen again. There was too much ableism in the show for me to even want to watch Name's scenes. This show definitely was frustrating a lot of the time, the time skips were everywhere, the use of music being too loud and too distracting in important scenes, there was not enough time spent on Golf and Gun, especially considering they are main cast and I personally only decided to watch it for JaFirst. They had a vision for this series which started strong and then as episodes went on it was clear that it was falling apart, they didn't know how to balance all the different characters and to be honest, Mean could've been written completely out of his own series. Also, there were too many flashbacks, OH THE FLASHBACKS, please I skipped so many of them. They took far too much time away that could've been used elsewhere.
I think what I'm most disappointed is two things: the ableism in this show considering Name and also Golf and Gun's storyline. They did not spend enough time on their storyline at all, the most we saw of them was in their university age, and even after graduating and living together we were only shown a portion of their dynamic. I also think it was sad to see Golf and Gun hope that marriage equality and acceptance will be better in the future knowing that it's still not in Thailand. I loved seeing that scene of Gun and his dad and I did cry at that. It was a very moving scene about acceptance and love from a parent. He deserved it after feeling so neglected by his father, even afraid of anger he may have because he's gay. I applaud them for it and the acting was superb.
This series isn't perfect but it had depth, acting was A+++ and the cinematography was beautiful.
1. This was never going to be a Y Series. If you read the summary it tells you that. This is what I would call a 'slice of life' that it follows this friend group and each one is different with their own storylines. It was made pretty clear earlier on and through interviews that this is not specifically a Y Series however it does include LGBTQ+ characters and relationships. They used JaFirst to promote this series everywhere so it's understandable that people got confused.
2. This is technically a semi-autobiographical story from the main director, Zaanook. He also specifically said that this series was also created in "the hopes that LGBTQ+ youth and their parents could watch it together", so their parents could better understand them. This was easy to see from the beginning and it lasted up until it ended. Zaanook, being queer himself, also put importance on this series not having NC scenes, since that is basically what a majority of BL watchers tune in for anyway. So he wanted the queer relationships in the series to not be overshadowed by that and I think he did a good job in that way. Although, it's almost to the point that there's hardly any real affection shown between his queer characters at times.
3. Seeing that it's a slice of life, it is a slow drama. If you think it's boring, that's your taste and you have many other BL to dive into and enjoy instead. This was never going to having the dramatic, cliche themes that you're used to in BL. This took a more mature approach and was refreshing to not see those cliches included.
So, this series is really not bad as what people are making it out to be. It definitely has depth and characters that people can gravitate to with similar experiences. It's well rounded but not perfect. It touches on aspects that Thai series really don't give opportunity to. Applaud all actors involved, they were superb. There is a disconnect with some people whining about this series and not understanding Thai culture, as well. If you change your perspective from being so boxed in, you might have enjoyed this series a bit more.
For one, I really liked this series but it is not flawless and has some aspects that I had problems with in relation to the storyline and characterization. However, that did not spoil my enjoyment of this series. Yes, there are the usual tropes and unnecessary issues thrown in per mame. Pacing-wise it's a mess and mame needs to have a round table to figure out how to structure stories and character development in shows, asap. If you want a bl story that's all happy rainbows and cupcakes with no real depth, then this is not for you. This is not a surface level show, it has layers to it and shows the realities of their lives.
There were some things in this that really resonated with me on a personal level and for that it's one of my favorites. The characters and story are presented realistically. Fiat is one of my favorite characters, as much of a mess he is, but it has been refreshing to see a character own their sexuality like he does. Ja and First have amazing chemistry and they are great buddies irl, it's clear to see that in their acting. Could the intimate scenes be better? Yes but the whole D/s element is what kept me. I've not seen these kind of scenes in other BL's and I've been in this for a very, very long time. For this also, it's a favorite for me. It's clear at times that Ja and First really break that wall of playing their characters and become very deep into their roles. Along with it being the whole friend-turned-lover aspect has not really been a focus before and I really found it endearing how awkward that change was for Leo and Fiat. It was cute! I love their relationship so, so much. They really are so in love with each other.
Also, First is a beautiful man, I had to stop some scenes just to stare at him, he has a lot of charisma and perfect as Fiat. I think with what they both worked with script-wise and being given instruction by the director/s, along with their own improvisations, they did a great job acting their characters, which surprised me considering that they are quite new to the industry. I do believe with time they will truly hone their craft and I hope to be here to see that growth happen.
So, should you watch this? Yes, if you know what you are getting into with it being a mame story and if you liked Leo and Fiat in TTS2. BUT you don't need to have watched TTS2 to enjoy this series. If you go right into it not knowing anything that's totally fine too, it holds its own as a single series. There are some real gems in this show! It's why I cherish it a lot. I've honestly re-watched it a couple times, that's how much I did enjoy it and coming back for Ja and First's chemistry. Leon and Pob were very cute too, I'm looking forward to their own series that's coming.