KKC

Seriously?

As someone who had nothing but praise to say about the first series, this was a major disappointment. The only saving grace were the acting cast's chemistry (both romantically and platonically), otherwise I would have rated much lower. The story is such a downgrade, I think the writers overestimated how much unnecessary slow burn an audience can take. We left off the previous series on such good terms and you're telling me I had to wait another 21 episodes just for a kiss? I felt like in season 1 (or series 1) every conflict and every hurdle the couple faced felt more intentional and actually moved the plot along... This season felt like "well we can't let the audience have their happy couple yet, otherwise why would they keep watching? lets just make the more one dimension and have them kidnap or assault Mu Dan every time they get closer, so we can reset to them being distant for some reason or another." In season 1 the slow burn relationship was part of the plot and in season two the plot was the slow burn... It made watching the political scene kind of suck too, because I knew Liu-Butt-Face, General Whos-It and Prince-A-Hole were going to recycle the same kind of plans: separate Mu Dan from Jiang Chang, ruin Jiang Chang's reputation. no variety, no flavour.

TL;DR No variety, no flavour. Okay plot, but the slow-burn and the recycling of political drama arcs made it grating.

Read More

don’t waste your time. watch literally anything else.

if this series resonates with you because you where any of the multitudes of trauma levied on the MC, good for you, don’t let this review take away from that.

Now as a survivor myself of not the most ideal home situation and sexual assault i can say the only thing this series gave in terms of value is not making all the rapists random strangers. it’s his ex, his stepdad, and his boss, all of which happen very often in reality and it’s great that people can be more wary of who and what to look for.. BUT everything else about the way he navigates trauma? very… sanitized… very “movie trope-y” if you get what i mean. everyone reacts to trauma different, but his reactions don’t even make sense for whatever had just happened to him not even a scene before we see his reactions. oh, i got assaulted in a parking lot after work? let me walk at night all alone by myself after work… not even the next day

anyone who rates this torture porn that’s held together by terrible character writing and plot higher than a 3 star should go to hell… i came for steamy scenes, got through 7 or so episodes of ooorly written trauma, and left because it all should’ve been over when the third rapey villain was defeated

TL;DR Borderline insulting portrayal of victims of SA to me, the characters pretend they're 3 dimensional but they fall on tropes that have no purpose other than shock value or prolonging plot points that could've wrapped up sooner.

Read More

The acting and chemistry saved this for me...

I see a lot of reviews that agree but the chemistry between the whole cast and the acting where so phenominal! I was hooked! BUT I had to skip the last three episodes before the finale... the arcs are so repetitive and thats because the conlfict is always the same. It's like no one has any critical thinking skills and just believe whatever lies or conspiracies that the evil guys cook up... It got real irritating that Susu,,, after thousands of years with this man atp... could not conjure up even a little bit of faith in Jin Tantai to investigate the claims of the lord of monsters.... His clan members too! it makes no sense if you want me to think she's a cunning heroine and these are the heroes that the world relies on...

Edit: ALSO WHY CAN'T WE HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS??? I get that it was bittersweet, but after all those betrayals and false accusations, I wanted Jin Tantai to at least fulfull his dream of growing old w Susu and some kids.

Read More

All that potential... for what?

Honestly, by episode 10 I started to get really tired of the plot and inconsistencies. Plus editing made keeping track of time so confusing.. For example, in one episode, Hope got beat up by Boss during the day, then we cut to Joke buying Jack a building, helping him repay his debt, and doing all this other stuff that seems like it would take more than one day to do, but then we cut back to Hope at night time still recovering from being beat up?

If it weren't for the chemistry of the main leads and sweetness of the found family with the little girl and grandma, I would have nothing to hold onto... Skipped episode 11 completely because I didn't care about the 5th misunderstanding plot line that could've been solved with a mature conversation. They all promised to communicate and not lie, so I started to get annoyed when they refused to use any common sense and communicate.

Tbh I think the issue is they try to squeeze too much in the plot. It's not that we're pressed for time (12 episodes, all 1 hour each).. it's that this show wants to be so much at once. It wants to be a heist movie, it wants to be a crime thriller, it wants to be a comedy, it wants to have a forced marriage plot, it wants to have redemption arcs for all these minor characters, it wants sooo much.. And it could have successfully done most of these things tbh if they dropped some irrelevant plotlines or side characters and added real consequences for evil actions that make sense. I don't think Save, Hope, Tattoo, AND DEFINITELY NOT ARUN (wow he had not a single consequence besides being cut off from Daddy's money) had what you would call a satisfying redemption.. The only redemption arc I enjoyed was the Coach minor character because bro genuinely apologized without expecting forgiveness in return and he faced his comeuppance with humility.

TL;DR The story has 12 1 hour episodes, but wastes our time yanking us back and forth between unbelievable character and story arcs after enticing us with all the potential it had in the first few episodes. It's a catfish! Held together by a hot main couple (YinWar carried this show fr) with good chemistry and a cute found family.

Read More

It's a shame that some people didn't pay attention

I actually put off watching this series for so long because I read countless reviews on how the story is overwhelming and confusing... To those people I have to say: did y'all pay attention? There are even multiple scenes where characters are going through the "heart stopper" moment (using this phrase to avoid too many spoilers, but you should understand if you've seen it) and the voice-over of the doctor explains that they are going through the "4 minutes" where they go back in their memories to correct or retry scenes of their lives... It all became clear to me in that one moment with the MC and his mom that we shouldn't trust what we saw in the episodes prior. Then what came after was the real deal, what our "4 minute version" saw flashes of each line a minute passed. It was all so well thought out and planned, I'm definitely going to rewatch to see what I might've missed the first time around.

Now, the concept itself wasn't confusing... But I think the pacing and amount of characters are a bit of an issue. I don't mind being tricked as an audience, I know that was a critic for some other people, but for 8 1-hour episodes, I think a smaller cast would've tightened up the plot. That or they could've given us a couple more episodes so we can fully sit with each person or side-plot. I say this because, personally, I hate when the whole plot unfolds at the end. There were so many characters that we didn't see that miraculously appear to explain the history of the company and other aspects... we could've at least met these folks (specifically the MAIN ANTAGONIST) briefly in the beginning or something if we didn't spend so much time with the brother who ends up being so irrelevant in the grande scheme of everything? Which I thought was hella strange??? Idk. The plot leaves a little to be desired, but idk why everyone hates the ending so much?

TL;DR Could've been better, but it's not a terrible series by any margin. Deserves everyone to give it a fair chance, you won't love all the decisions but it's still fun and interesting and made me pause to theorize many times! That's a good thing I think.

Those are my thoughts :)

Read More

An important story, but disappointing plot...

I think stories like these are important to tell, but this was still a difficult plot to endure. The movie was very realistic in some ways and very socially critical. The homophobia (internalized and not) and insecurities are ripe in this one. The legal battle was stressful to watch (which I think is good and showcases a lot of Japanese attitudes on gay topics)... But, in the end, I'm very disappointed that the woman who hit her own child and neglected her during the custody battles to the point that she was found wandering by the police... that sort of person won custody. It's realistic that most women, even the abusive ones, will get custody of children over a man.. but I'm angry Nagisa didn't fight at all. I understand he didn't want to drag his ex-wife while she's vulnerable, but the real vulnerable one is the child. This is evident by how her whole personality changes when she's living with her mom in the aftermath.

Nagisa is a very selfish character, which is fine (those sorts of people need to be represented too).. but the whole time I felt bad for both his partners-- especially Shun, who he left behind because of his internalized homophobia and returned to when he had no other options. The "romance" between them didn't feel good or healthy to me. Shun felt like was a second choice and was generally an afterthought in this 2 hour long movie.

TL;DR Good plot but unsatisfying (yet realistic?) ending/results of divorce. I am choosing to believe that the reason for them revisiting Shun and Nagisa at the end is to transfer the custody.

Read More

I really didn't want to dock any points, but this had to be said.

Honestly I love this series. I found the prologue by accident (which I didn't hate but it left me feeling very unfulfilled and empty) and mistakenly thought this series was about the secondary couple. I was actually really enjoying both couples, especially in the beginning before the relationship happened because the tension was great and you can really tell the actors are good at their job!

So yeah, cute couples, amazing story, even better acting .... HOWEVER, the one spot the acting failed is convincing me these people (the main couple, not the secondary one.. they had hella chemistry and you can tell others think so too from the reviews) actually like each other and aren't just playing a role. The hugs are stiff and all in the same awkward pose (the love interest doesn't even lean his head on his supposeed boyfriend's shoulders while they hug... is that even natural???), the kisses have absolutely no emotion-- like I'm not asking them to make out( I'm used to more closed lipped kisses in series like this where the NC or intimacy isn't the focus, especially KBLs) but in one scene I can even tell bro does NOT want to be kissing his coworker... how does that make sense? I've seen hella bad chemistry before but this is the first time when I could 100% accurately say that tell two actors did not want to be kissing in a particular scene. crazy. It but a weird taste in my mouth for the rest of the intimacy scenes. Especially the last episode? Wtf it's like y'all don't even want to hold hands it's so awkward

TL;DR .. Um, if you came for heart fluttering kiss scenes and cute skinship/fluff, this might not be it for you, but the romance is still tolerable and the story is still amazing! I won't be rewatching personally, but you should give it a chance idk

Read More

I'm shocked that this is so highly rated...

Y'all... are we watching the same series? I can forgive the horrible nonconsensual start to the relationship for the sake of fictional stories don't have to depict the most healthy relationships... but everything else that comes after a drunken affair makes 0 sense to me. First of all, Ploy and Vee both cheat for the first time on the same night, right? Fine, they both keep it a secret from each other. Makes perfect sense. They both continue to cheat on each other emotionally and/or physically for *2 months*. Fine. What the loving hell is Mark doing???? His whole moral code seems to point directly opposite of being the other man/supporting cheaters to the point where he gives up on his crush because his crush started dating someone. Now why the hell would he not immediately tell Vee when he sees Ploy literally behind them on the streets? Or why did he take a video in the hallway and not show Vee when he is literally asking for proof after buying perfume? Most crazy of all, why would he let Vee stay in his house for almost a whole week while Vee continues to talk otp to his GF and lie about where he is... Why did Vee not break up with her before the exams? None of these actions make any sense to me. Mark has no self-respect, despite being built up to be a very proud character. Vee supposedly always loved Mark yet he's the worst written character ever. And Ploy is the only one who makes sense because unlike the other two she doesn't know shit about them cheating on her.

TL;DR I feel like not enough thought was placed in the motivation behind any character actions in this series.

Read More

Wholesome family

I actually recommend you watch this! If you came here with the assumption that this is a BL like I did, I'm sorry to disappoint. I haven't read the original manga, but I think it's also the same there. It's a heartwarming story of two single dads who decide the best thing for their kids would be more support.. so they move in together. Honestly, this is really realistic especially for 2025. It's plenty hard to raise children alone not to mention it's also expensive and lonely. So, together, Papa and Oyaji resolve to be better parents and they steadily build a very strong family with their babies. The acting was out of this world-- especially the children! They did so well playing sick or crying emotionally that for many moments I forgot they were acting...

Point is.. everyone did so well pouring love into this story, that it could be felt through the screen. I definitely didn't cry my ass off during the final episode. I'm going to miss this little family... Papa and Oyaji were super cool and supportive single dads.. even the side characters I'll miss! I really enjoyed seeing them all be there for each other.

TL;DR This is NOT BL but will have you feeling warm and cozy anyways.

Read More

TL;DR WATCH THIS NOW! DON'T HESITATE!

Please watch this. It's such a mature and respectful representation of being in a relationship with a hearing disability. The non-hearing characters weren't played for laughs or downplayed... Plus... the romance makes everything in my body flutter omg when the MC picks up his lover I nearly fainted...

I think the best moment was when we got the flashback of Yun Jin saving his friend... Even if they grew up together, of course there are times when even close friends/family of disabled persons will lash out in frustration in heats of the moment. While her words were harmful, the actress did a good job conveying that while she meant some of her words in some ways she was just deeply traumatized and resentful in that moment and you can tell from her present actions and words that she deeply regrets that moment as well..

The family scene in the hospital too... I won't say much about it because nothing else needs to be said... Such a punch in the gut but so real.

While my ability isn't as difficult as the main character (I can hear pretty well despite a little hearing loss in one ear), I really resonated with this drama. the whole cast chemistry is unmatched and the story is so well told and paced. I would count myself as a BL watcher who will skip over scenes that drag too long or are unnecessary so I can get to the good stuff that pushes the plot... safe to say I did not skip even a single moment in this drama. Everything was done so well, I want to cry honestly.

TL;DR WATCH THIS NOW! DON'T HESITATE!

Read More

Oh wow... Jaw on the floor

I came here for the spicy romance between all the couples... the intriuging almost soap opera-y ABO elements kept me hooked... and then episode 9 happened. When I tell you I never felt my jaw actually physically drop so far before.... I literally had to pause on the twist so I could write this because I am in shock. TBH, can
t wait to binge the rest until 4 am.... I just want to say, I KNEW he was weird! He kept telling Babe such weird manipulative shit and then actually believing that his disgusting, selfish obsession is somehow a good innocent love... F male best friends like this.

Read More

I can't stop laughing, and you're definitely meant not to laugh

I just started this series, I'm only on episode 3. I saw all the reviews that criticize this for being a terrible soap opera and that's exactly what I needed. From the undeserved romance to bad acting to the terrible shooting scenes, please get drunk or high and watch this, it's so perfect for shutting your brain off. It also doesn't hurt that the MLs are hot asf, make a very cute couple

EDIT: Please, it gets more and mroe ridiculous. My favorite thing has to still be the terrible gun "shooting" CGI, never gets old. The ending doesn't even make any sense, it's golden

Read More