This review may contain spoilers
A really enjoyable show. Light and funny.
First and foremost, this series is nothing really as special because it's quite typical like other BL series, however it was really entertaining for sure. And that's why I later LOVE this series. I honestly watch this series because there wasn't much new interesting Thai BL shows out there during that time. I also knew a bit of Phuwin in some of his previous series, which was the only reason why I watched this show. To be honest, I don't even recall their pilot trailer from last year too lol.I really had no expectations in the first place, but I gave it a try even though it's another university theme. At first, I thought Pi was annoying in some ways, or the way they portrayed Pi was kind of annoying, but because we see him being a loner and was bullied, you cut some slack for his character at the beginning. As the story progress with his transformation, I feel that's when Pi's character started to be less annoying and we start to see a side of him wanting to better himself. I personally do think that Phuwin played Pi's character really well. He's a guy who literally has social anxiety and have trust issues. His only support is just his own brother Duean mainly. You can see lots of emotions and facial expressions Phuwin has when he plays Pi. I think this is why I think he's actually the perfect fit for the role Pi.
As for Pond who plays Mork was also a good candidate for the role as well. Since Pond is still a new actor, you can see that he's still somewhat a newbie, lacking a bit of facial expressions at certain situations within the show. However, I think he fits the role of Mork really well too. For whatever reason, Pond's staring tend to give serious emotions. I feel that the series tend to focus on his eye contacts with Phuwin to build that love connection within the series. I'm not gonna lie, I always stare into Pond's eyes about half of the time in the show lol. His sexy jawline and sexy lips came afterward lol. Oh and his sexy voice too lol.
Aside the two main roles, Neo who played Duean was also perfect as well. When you look at Neo, he really has this comedian vibe with him and I think he would fit in lots of comedy roles too. He's actually perfect for his role. For Louis, I feel like he somehow fit the role Meen too. He has this child-like vibe when you look at him. Overall I think the director chose the perfect people for the roles.
What I do like about this show is that it shows the struggles of self confidences specifically in gay men, although it didn't dive deep into it at all. Gay men do have their own set of insecurities too. I like the fact that this series shows that just because you have changed or transform yourself, it's a lot harder than it seems. In reality, that's the truth for most people. It takes a long time to gain self confidence (including with therapy or not). For some, it's not a big deal, but for someone like Pi, it's an everyday struggle for them. I like how realistically the show portrays this well within the series.
Usually in other BL shows, there's complications about the main characters sorting how and why they are gay, but it's refreshing to see that the main characters Pi, Mork, and Muang Nan didn't go through those complications and struggles. Of course it's important as well, but it nice to see that they already accept themselves as gay and this doesn't take too much focus away from the show's plot. I like it how it just really focus on the story instead. And honestly, most gay guys in real life do not go for straight men because most of the time, it's nearly impossible to turn a straight guy to like men anyways. So another plus for me in this series is that Pi did not go for a "straight" guy... which is also quite refreshing to see something like this in a long time too. We also don't see anything like "I'm not gay, but I only like you" kind of senerio as well. For me, that's also another plus and truly refreshing to see because I've just seen so much of that situations in BL genre in general.
I also really love the originality aesthetics of the show. I like it how when Pi talks to Mork on Facebook, and everything turns dark with the blue light in the background and we see only Mork's bottom half of his face with Pi. With the fish tank noise in the background, it's like they were two fishes talking to each other lol. I'm gonna miss that a lot because it's was very unique within the show. Then they had the ending balloon scenes too. The balloon confession scene was also unique to the show too.
I think the plot is indeed typical in itself, but I think Fish Upon the Sky really set their version well. Most of the time in other romantic comedy BL shows, I feel like they tend to focus on the comedy at the beginning and focus on the romance later. As the show goes on, it tend to lose a bit of the comedy along the way while I think Fish Upon the Sky does pretty at maintaining the comedy and romance throughout the whole series. That's a thing I really like about the show. It really kept me wanting to come back for the comedy every Friday. And for those who truly like the show, episode 10 has got to be the best episode within the whole series packed with both comedy and romance lol.
There are some issues in the show that I thought it would have been better if they elaborate more and it would definitely make this show a lot better to understand. For example, especially when Pi found out that Mork was the secret friend talking to him all along, I feel like the show didn't elaborate that much on Pi's feeling towards Mork being the secret friend in order for Pi to actually accept Mork's feeling in episode 10. We see that he has conflicted thoughts and thinkings of Mork throughout the series, but I don't recall a scene where Pi says to himself "I do like Mork" or something like that. Maybe it's in the novel, but doesn't show as much within the show. We often see glimpses that Pi has heartbeats when he sees Mork, and swoon by Mork's touches, but we don't know if he actually really like Mork that much, or he's annoyed with Mork the whole time because we see him reacted negative when Mork tries to get at him. I did feel like they brushed it off a bit too easily, although it's actually a serious problem in real life. That's the only thing I wish the show elaborate more. Maybe if they added a scene where Pi talked it with Mork more about being the secret friend and forgives him about being the secret friend on Facebook, then maybe the relationship would turn out more realistic overall. I did like it how the show elaborate that the shippers and Mork going beyond Pi's privacy were too much. People found out about Pi's home and things about his family. I wish the director would have done a better scene turnout for the whole secret friend thing.
I don't need to talk about the whole fan girls thing and the shipping because I'm sure people talked about it enough lol. I know the shippers are annoying and creepy in real life, but they were kinda funny within the show. I actually enjoyed watching the shippers too (please don't hate at me lol).
One thing I am gonna be a bit disappointed about is that there wasn't enough sweet moments between Mork and Pi when they both became a couple publicly lol. I swear if this show had like 1 or 2 more episodes, the story and the couple screen time would feel more complete overall. I'm just not satisfied enough that we didn't get to see Mork and Pi sweet moments as an official couple publicly lol. I really hope that it's possible for a special episode, special movie, or a special short season 2 to complete it all.
Overall, I ended liking this show more than I expected. I had seriously no expectations of this series, but because of the right comedy and the cuteness of this show, I enjoyed it a lot. It was really a lay-back show where you didn't have to concentrate so much and the problems were resolved easily. The comedy was always there too. It just made laugh majority of the time watching it. I truly recommend this series if you just want to have a good laugh and don't expect anything too much. Plot-wise it's not the best, but aside that, it's really enjoyable. I've watched this show like 3 times and I can't stop re-watching. Maybe this how it must feel when other people were crazy about 2gether, Tharntype, Sotus, and so on, while I wasn't crazy about those other shows lol. This show just happened to be one of my favorites for this year.
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A Completed Goal That Lead To Romance! One Of The Best BL Of 2025!
(I was told to copy and paste my review here since I posted in the comment section here. Thanks to commentator for pointing it out lol)Alright so here is my final review. This series is hands down one of the BEST BL I've seen in a long time. One of the best BL of 2025!!! This is easily one of my top favorite BL overall. I am adding this one to my favorite BL series!!! I should have started this sooner and now I can't get over it! I am obsessed with this show!!! I can understand the hype of this show now! I will say this. It may be the BEST BL for me this year. Some of the other ones I am watching currently doesn't really give me the feeling like I have for this series! What have this show done to me!!??
First thing first, I am glad that Chai Ji Dan choose to remake this BL telling the whole story without cutting out all the "explict" and men's kissing scenes! It doesn't feel complete without it honestly. Counterattack (the old version) was good and also funny, but this version is 10x better, 10x funnier, and the chemistry is top notch! I remember years ago, I was so devastated that they didn't continue Counterattack and left at a cliff hanger. I was so heart-broken then, but now I am healed from all those years of the cliff hangers. I got to see the entire story now! I am so happy and so emotional because I always wanted to see a completed Chinese BL that wasn't censored or anything like that. "Addicted" hurted me a lot cuz the story was cut in half and it was a Chinese BL I was so into back then too. At least this show gave me the satisfaction! Literally! I'm so happy that I am about to cry now! If Chinese BL were not censored, they would easily beat a lot of the BL from other countries.
There's some issue and toxicity on this show, but honestly, it adds to the story lol. I usually don't care for the 2nd couple, but this show got me wanting the happy ending for both the main couple and side couple. All of the casts were eye-candy af and they were all really good actors overall. Tian Xu Ning as Chi Cheng is literally his role. The emotions he conveys throughout the show as Chi Cheng was one of the big factor on making this show really great I feel. I love all the actors equally honestly though. I'm sure at this point the actors gain lots of popularity and they truly deserve it because they did really good in this show! I really wish them the best and they quite fearless to still act in a BL honestly. I pray the best for all of the actors and crew behind this incredible show!
The story and pacing was on point. Never did I felt like the story seems dry or boring at any point. This show had good amount of the sexiness, the sexual tensions, and the build-ups. It also have equal amount of comedy scenes, lovey-dovey scenes, heart-warming scenes, and scenes that moves the entire story really well. The ending was perfect on it's own because all the characters re-united for one last time. All I wanted was a happy ending and I got that too lol. Now that I finished the show, the OST is growing onto me too. It's gonna take me awhile to get over this show now 😞.
If they have a boxset or some kind of official merchandise, I am literally supporting them. Take my money!!! Lol
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