kate

another absolute masterpiece out of china this year

h.o.l.y.s.h.i.t. this show is INSANE. idek where to begin honestly. oh i know, THE FUCKING CAST???? insane. these actors are INSANE. the chemistry is so real it genuinely makes you question everything. seeing the shift in both of the actors in the episodes after the time skip is crazy. like these actors are probably some of the best actors i have ever seen in a bl. they are so talented bro like i actually cant. the writing is so clever, the schemes are so well thought out, and these characters are just so complex. its so exciting and refreshing to see a bl thats more than just two guys randomly deciding to like each other. this show was DEPTH and i am so here for it. i would literally be dying for a new episode every single day of the week. this show had me HOOKED. im obsessed another 10/10 from china!!!!

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absolutely peak toxic yaoi

this review is going to be a little bit biased because this show was my first ever (non anime) bl. i have such vivid memories of randomly finding the first episode of this show the day after it released, and subsequently falling into the bl rabbit hole i have been in for the past two and a half years. so, with all that being said, let's get into it. this show is not "fluffy" in the way most bls are. these two men are in an EXTREMELY toxic situation. mizuki is very clearly using yoh, and yoh is holding a grudge against him. its kind of hard to explain the dynamic, but basically they both really wanna fuck each other, mizuki really likes yoh as a person, and yoh kinda likes mizuki as a person but he also kinda hates him but he likes his face and likes fucking him. confusing? yes. but, it works for me. i think that what really did it for me with this series was seeing how mizuki ACTUALLY cared for yoh. that episode when manju comes to visit yoh, and yoh ends up wasted. like, seeing yoh being all clingy with mizuki ITS SO CUTE UGHHHHHH like omg i think i've rewatched that episode a hundred times because its so damn adorable. the flashbacks to their college days are also so cute too. i feel like the actors really did a great job here. these characters aren't super easy to play, and the actors really brought the characters to life. this bl is so dear to me, it's the reason i'm here, watching bls at 3:00 when i have exams. it's a really great show, with a complex plot that is more than what it looks. i mean it when i say this show is PEAK toxic yaoi. it doesn't get much better than this.

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its not going too far to say this show is perfect in every single way.

oh. my. god. i have watched this show probably around 127 times and i'll still go back and watch it again. its. just. that. good. no seriously, it is very very close to being one of my favorite bls of all time. the story is a little basic, yes, but its just so damn cute i literally want to cry. THESE ACTORS HAVE SO MUCH CHEMISTRY BRO. the connection felt so real. i loved how green flag everyone was (except for that one scene.. y'all know which one i'm talking about). it was such a fluff-fest, i was having a good time for pretty much the whole show. i really enjoyed how the characters weren't literal dumbasses. the arguments felt real and not forced, and the whole thing with coming out to taeseong's mom was handled so well. all in all, this show is fantastic. one of the easiest bls to rewatch since theres no stupid characters ragebaiting the whole time.

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used to be one of my favs, but it has been outdone in recent years

this bl is an absolute classic. its super cute, and despite it having a really weird name, its a very wholesome and overall enjoyable watch. when i first watched it i was blown away at how well the actors did, but after a recent rewatch, i realize just how much bls have stepped up their game in recent years. i mean, these dudes didnt or barely kissed on screen at all, which feels like a letdown since the entire show felt like a buildup to that. the story is really cute, but i will be honest adachi and kurosawa both had some incredibly cringe moments that made me want to physically crawl out of my skin. keeping with the things i didn't enjoy with this show, WHAT was that second couple. i know there was supposed to be an age gap of some sort but it felt borderline illegal to me. the younger guy highkey looked like 12 years old i was uncomfortable during all of their scenes. the actors didn't do anything wrong necessarily, i think it was more a mistake on the stylists and makeup artists for making the younger guy look WAYYYYY too young. the younger guy at work i think his name was rokkaku or something good lord he pissed me off SO bad. the girl side character was super cute i actually really liked her, i wanted her to have a yuri subplot but i guess thats too much to ask for. overall, this show was really carried by the two lead actors, they did a really great job. this show feels a little outdated now, since bls have gotten a lot better with having real kisses and shows that don't treat the word "gay" like a curse word, but for being from 2020, this is a cute little show that's definitely worth a watch.

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its a staple bl for a reason!

this show is just so good. theres not much more to say. the cast is great, the story is good, and its an overall really fun and easy-going watch. i'll be honest, the coder (i do NOT remember his name sorry) kinda pissed me off like a lot, i get it that was what his character was meant to do but there were certain times during the show where i was like damn why does the older guy even want you. but the chemistry between the two leads is undeniable. i really did love seeing their cute moments, and that last scene of the last episode is so stinkin cute. this show is definitely a super beginner friendly bl, its fluffy, short, and easy to swallow. def recommend (if you somehow haven't seen it yet) for a fun one-night binge.

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i cried so hard i genuinely thought i was going to puke

i cant even explain the heartbreak this show gave me. i only watched it because i knew the actor that played koichi played my favorite side character in takara-kun & amagi-kun. i started the show with honestly pretty low expectations, thinking i would just be watching anotehr cute bl like takara-kun & amagi-kun. good lord how wrong i was. koichi dying within MINUTES of the first episode was so shocking i had to close my laptop screen and just stare at my wall. the whole show was honestly so well done. these actors were COMMITTED they played their parts so incredibly well. the ending really did it for me. when i tell you i cried for DAYS i mean it. i was in distress, texting like eight people telling them i genuinely coudln't go on because mitsuru was going to grow old without koichi with him. i'm still not totally over it. this show was such a sucker punch to the gut, so i'll likely never rewatch it, but it's still an amazing show. the only reason its not a 10/10 is because mitsuru pmo sometimes.

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the most confused i've ever felt during a film and the most moved i have ever felt afterwards

this movie is such an incredible experience that its honestly hard to sum up in words. during my first watch i was completely lost. i had no idea what was going on when there was the random cut to the okinawa trip, and the random forum intercuts that happened throughout. i was the most lost with the apple stabbing thing, but after a second watch and also a crap ton of note taking it all made sense. this movie is a nonlinear narrative, which means the events do not happen in chronological order. though confusing at first, i feel like this was the right choice for this story. honestly this movie is a very uncomfortable watch, i mean we literally are just watching a poor middle school boy get completely tormented both online and in real life by this boy who was once his close friend. thats literal nightmare fuel but it was so well done. i loved the side character of the girl, and when she ended up killing herself i genuinely cried so hard i had to pause the movie. the aesthetics of this movie feel like at time capsule of a long gone time period, i feel like im in a time machine while watching it. the cinematography is off the charts as well. the whole movie is absolutely ethereal and breathtaking. overall, this film is so much more than just an old movie made in japan, its a movie that encapsulates an era of japan that is now long gone, and now we get to see a glimpse of the lives of those who lived in it.

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the show that saved my summer

i'm writing this review a few months after revenged love finished. i thought that maybe the magic i felt while watching it would fade with time, but i was so wrong. this show, this bl, is so dear to me its hard to explain. i cant let go of chi cheng and wei wei. genuinely, this show got me through this summer. it actually gave me something to look forward to on mondays and tuesdays. honestly, the characters in this show are so peak. wei wei is HILARIOUS i love him so much he is so me. chi cheng is a bit of a red flag, yes, but COME ONNNNNN hes such a sweetie on the inside. he's such a mamas boy with wei wei's mom its so adorable. bro when wei wei's mom died and they showed the wreath that chi cheng left at her funeral saying "love your son, chi cheng" i literally LOST it. im crying just thinking about it thats how bad it is. i just love wei wei and chi cheng so freaking much. they are so perfect for each other, watching their relationship bloom and seeing in real time how wei wei's feelings for chi cheng grow was incredible. the progression of how chi cheng refers to wei wei, first wu so wei, then dabao, then we get the iconic wei wei. god its so pure i cant. i also LOVED the second couple, chengyu is the most perfect human being alive i swear hes so good for xiao shuai. speaking of xiao shuai I LOVE HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH WEI WEI SO MUCH they're so funny, especially in the beginning. i feel like revenged love was a little bit slow to pick up, but around the 4th episode things got GOOD. i cant lie tho, towards the end of the show when wei wei and chi cheng were fighting and then when chi cheng got arrested i was STRESSING and not always having a good time. but that doesn't matter because in those same later episodes i got to see my absolute DIVA wang shuo which makes everything worth it. i dont care what anyone says, i love wang shuo. should he have tried to interfere with chi cheng and wei wei's relationship? no, of course not. was it wrong and kinda insane of him to kiss chi cheng without his consent? like, yes, but also, HES COMPLEX OKAY idk i probably shouldn't love him like i do but he just feels so relateable in how he cant let go of chi cheng. this is starting to sound like a rant so let me close this out. this show is my absolute favorite bl of all time. there is no topping this one, at least not for a while. the tears i shed during this show is UNMATCHED. the characters, the plot, the acting, the writing, the MUSIC (hello that ost is literally iconic as fuck) its all just so perfect. ziyu and tian xuning absolutely hit it out of the PARK with their acting here. same with zhan xuan and liu xuancheng, and liu jun later on. these actors are so talented. the plot is so interesting and fun to watch, the characters are fun and they are played by incredible actors, the writing is fantastic and keeps you engaged for the whole show, and of course, that soundtrack. i dont usually pay attention to the music in bls but i couldn't help but fall in love with the ost for this show, sung by the one and only ziyu. i love that song so much its literally on like four of my playlists. everyone knows this intro, its SO iconic, and its so good as well. to wrap this very long, wordy, and confusing review up, revenged love isn't perect necessarily, but its perfect to me. it has all the elements that makes a bl great, and i will always come back to rewatch my favorite episodes in dark times. if you somehow haven't seen revenged love this is your sign baddie to GO FREAKING WATCH IT drop everything pull three all-nighters in a row idc what you gotta do queen just WATCH THIS SHOW NOW (jk but seriously this show is so goated you have to watch it soon).

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literally how does anyone like this show

good lord how does this show have such high ratings. like genuinely, i NEVER rate bls under 5/10 because i feel bad, but oh my god does this show deserve it. somehow this show is only seven episodes, and i say somehow because watching this show felt like a marathon that was never-ending, and i felt a huge wave of relief when i finished it. let me tell you exactly what this show is: the glamorization of adultery and cheating on your significant other and then justifying it because of "true love". my biggest issue with this show is how the girlfriend of the "straight" guy is painted as the bad guy. so WHAT your girlfriend doesn't wanna have sex. if that's such a deal breaker for you, how about you, idk, BREAK UP WITH HER???? my god this man is so fucking dumb. literally, if your girlfriend is uncomfortable having sex with you maybe you should just talk to HER about it instead of emailing this random dude who isn't actually random but you dont know that and then going and CHEATING on your girlfriend with said random dude. like genuinely it is insane to me how anyone can sympathize with these characters. cheating is wrong literally no matter what. your girlfriend does NOT owe you anything, including sex. if you can't handle that, do. not. continue. dating. her. its not fair to keep this poor girl around while you go and fuck this random guy because you just NEED to fuck someone like this is so weird. im sorry but this show felt so like inherently misogynistic. basically it felt like the whole show was blaming a girl for not wanting to have sex with her boyfriend, so she DESERVED to get cheated on. and then we're all supposed to be okay with the guy cheating on his girlfriend because he cheated with another guy. yeah okay.. in case you cant tell i actually hate this show like im typing this in a rage. i think it's been like 6 months since i first watched this and i still get physically angry when i think about it. the ONLY redeeming quality is at least the actors all did a good job, but good acting can not save a terrible plot with insufferable characters that make stupid choices. if you have made it this far into my review and you haven't seen the show yet please, i beg of you, listen to me: DO. NOT. WASTE. YOUR. TIME. ON. THIS. FUCKASS. BL. unless you enjoy watching people cheating on their significant others and then seeing other people excuse that behavior, skip this one and watch something ACTUALLY worth your time.

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i seriously can not let this show go

disclaimer: this review is going to be long and basically a ramble. i absolutely ADORE this show. i know its not an objectively GOOD show, but it just brings me so much comfort. i really really love pondphuwin, so yes i am biased, but i still think this show is definitely worth a watch. lets jump into it.

first i want to talk about the plot. yeahhhhh, its not great. i'll be the first to admit it, the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it's full of cliches, and the bodyguard x rich spoiled kid dynamic is way too overused and feels more like a wattpad storyline. with that being said, it works. the show starts off pretty slow for the first like 5 episodes when they're at the school, and neung and palm are just starting to get to know each other. it picked up a little bit with the whole ben thing (which i HATE), but it doesn't fully get good until neung's mom gets shot and they go to stay with palm's mom. the island episodes (which is most of the show) are so freaking good. the little gay couple that inspires palm and neung genuinely warms my heart whenever i think about them. they were so adorable, all of their interactions with neung and palm made me smile SO much. palm's dynamic with his mom was also a highlight, but i'll talk about more when i get to my characters paragraph. the island episodes was where it really felt like you could see palm and neung fall in love for real, especially neung. palm literally was whipped for this man since he first laid eyes on him, but neung took a little longer to fully fall. i can't fully express just how much i love the island episodes. i'm writing this review after my third watch, and sometimes when i'm sad i'll just rewatch episodes 7-9 to make myself feel better. the second couple, ben and neung's cousin (im sorry idk his name i just know he's played by perth) were lowkey REALLY forgettable. they were kind cute i guess, but i still hate ben. im sorry i really don't like him, he's the entire reason i just can't bring myself to rate this show a 10. actually, there's another reason i can't rate this show a 10: THE FUCKING LEAVING. when neung left palm for the first time, it felt well-done, it made perfect sense. i was not mad when neung left, because neung was acting in-character. however, when palm left neung in the LAST GODDAMN EPISODE i was so lost. that made no fucking sense im sorry. palm's whole character is being in love with neung and wanting to be with him forever, so WHY did he leave. idk, whenever i rewatch i just skip that whole 20 minute plotpoint bc it just pmo. overall, the plot is definitely the weakest part of the show, but it doesn't bring it down all that much. just suspend you disbelief, its a thai bl, you gotta just go with it sometimes.

moving onto characters, i have SO much to say. let me break down all the important characters into one sentence:
neung: starts off a spoiled brat, turns into the perfect loyal bf for palm
palm: constantly playing the hero, quite literally takes a bullet for neung
neung's cousin (perth): confused pussy who knows his dad is literally killing people but won't do anything to stop him
ben: THE FUCKING WORST I HATE HIM SO MUCH OH MY GOD
thanya: BADDIEEEE. the sweetest mom i love her so much
kit: most cartoon supervillian character ever, seriously he's so evil its almost laughable
chanon: really annoying father figure, legit cares for neung more than his own son
mam: BADDIEEEEE and such a relatable character, i sobbed when she died
neung and palm are really sweet once neung stops being a dickwad all the time. palm is my baby bro, i would do anything for him. i might like palm extra because pond is my fav actor of all time, and DAMN pond does a fantastic job playing palm. phuwin did a good job with neung, but i can tell it was a tough role for him since he is such a different person from neung. i love palm and neung so much tho. they're ADORABLE and they have a ton of chemistry. once again, as the #1 pondphuwin fan i am 1000000% biased, but still, they're undeniably cute. perth's character (just looked up his name, its chopper), is really annoying. like dude YOUR DAD IS KILLING PEOPLE if i were him i'd turn that man in within 5 seconds. ben is my literal opp. god i hate this man SO much oh my god. WHY DID YOU LIKE NEUNG. WHY DID YOU KISS NEUNG. WHY DID YOU BLAME EVERYTHING ON NEUNG. everything ben did, everything ben said, it all made me so angry. the only thing he did was make palm kill neung to make him feel better. other than that, it felt like his only purpose was to piss me off. i had to skip a lot of his scenes with neung in the beginning of the show because he just made me SO mad. mam was adorable, i literally loved her. she made a lot of sense, and hearing her tell palm why she left him was really amazing. i loved seeing a character admit she loves herself more than her son and not be demonized. it was refreshing. thanya was sweet when she was alive, i always love seeing non homophobic parents in bls. the other characters were just cliches. kit was so funny im sorry, why was he SO unforgivably evil. he had no redeeming qualities, and sometimes it felt like he was doing bad shit just to do it. none of the characters are all that special besides neung, palm, and their parents.

in conclusion, this show is really good. i love it with my entire heart and soul, even though its not really anything special. its a fun show to watch if you just want something kind of stupid with cute leads. is it a great show? no. but, it's charming in its own ways, and, as you know if you've made it this far, I LOVE PALM AND NEUNG SO MUCH!!!!! so, if you made it this far and you haven't watched it, please do. trust me, you wont regret it.

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this was the most peak fluff bl i've ever seen out of korea

oh my godddd yes yes yes yes yes yes this show was SO cute. i'll be honest, i didn't even know this show existed until i saw an edit of it on tiktok, and as soon as i saw joowon i was HOOKED. lets just get one thing straight: i am OBSESED with vampire stories and just vampires now. starting in middle school with seraph of the end, to now where one of my favorite kpop groups is literally enhypen. hell, twilight even used to be my favorite book as a kid. so, clearly, when i saw that two of my favorite things (bls and vampires) were being joined together, i was in. my judgement is a BIT clouded since i love all things vampires, but even leaving that behind, this show slaps. these actors are so cute bro. korea is really stepping up their game with casting actors for bls that arent literal mannequins (ball boy tactics is another great example from this year). their chemistry is so good, theyre SO cute together. this show is what i wished kissable lips was (man that show was such a disappointment especially since it was jiwoong and seobin). now, is the plot anything crazy or the characters super deep and well developed? no, obviously not. this is still a pretty small and poorly funded production, so there was nothing insane. but the cast did great, i mean the side "couple" were great as well, though i do wish we got to see them more. seonjae DID pmo for like the entire show, but i'm just choosing to ignore that because i had such a good time watching this show. 10/10 fluff, watch for a good time.

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the most comforting drama i have ever seen

i can't believe its been two years already since i first stumbled upon this drama. i found wifty when it had two more episodes yet to air, and i binged it all within four days. i genuinely think that i became a completely different person during that four day binge. the characters here are so wholesome, and the story is so cute as well. i usually get really mad at characters during shows because they always do stupid things in order to start conflict, but that doesn't happen at all here. this show is just such a comfort, and i really think everyone should watch it at least once.

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