This review may contain spoilers
A love so pure, it burns throughout adulthood lasting a lifetime
Definitely not your average fluffy high school drama. It has mature themes and deep story-telling which got me hooked right from EP 1! I went in with zero expectations only to be left wanting more after completing the drama..it was that good and I barely even write reviews..I just couldn't pass on without writing one for this. It deserves a review for me.
I watched the drama and just finished reading the manhwa. I liked both versions but I definitely have a soft spot for the drama one. The live adaptation was very well done and the story was executed nicely. I especially liked the fact that in the drama they touched on the letter that seme had left in the DVD and expanded on how uke wrote an entire novel as a response to seme's letter. And how uke's novel was then turned into a movie that seme wanted to make as his final project before graduation..it was heartwarming that they didn't forget to add it in the drama. In the manhwa..the letter was never mentioned again after uke had read it..and it was forgotten just like that..I thought it was quite a pity..
For reference, I am using the term "Uke (Minase/Jinhyuk) & Seme (Hirukawa/Heechan)" here as I'm talking about both versions of the webtoon and drama..so this helps avoid any confusion with the characters' names.
Another change was that the bullying wasn't included in the drama..which I felt was the right choice..instead they shifted the focus on seme's domestic violence issue that happened. The drama depicted real life struggles of DV..that was quite triggering but this also raised awareness about how common this problem is and how there's more to what meets the eyes; you never know when someone is being abused and they never ask for help..its a vicious cycle and hard to get out of unless you have someone you can rely on. The drama showed exactly that..the uke was a light to the seme during his most challenging time. I'm not saying the manhwa didn't show this either but just pointing out that the drama chose to focus on DV instead of the bullying.
We're introduced to the roles of aggressors, victims & bystanders and some might say that the bullying was important to depict this theme. However, omitting the bullying to represent these 3 roles with DV was enough in the drama. I felt that the director knew it didn't really need to have the bullying to portray these and that the domestic abuse was more than enough to show us the 3 roles. Aggressor being seme's father, Victim being the seme and Bystander being Minase; there were 2 scenes were uke was a bystander while witnessing the abuse. One was when he first found out about heechan getting beaten and 2nd was when they were watching the movie at seme's house and the father burst into the house and uke had to run away..he wanted to do something about it but didn't due to fear of all the complications that will arise once he called the police..him being interrogated..his parents having to be called in because what happened etc...So I feel that the director choosing to just have the domestic violence centered in the drama was enough to not only highlight the 3 roles we know of but to also raise awareness of an issue we've don't always see as "common" because bullying is something we always know that happens in school and the audience are more than familiar with it..However, DV is not always touched on.. because it's such a sensitive topic and triggering for others too. And like I mentioned there's more to what meets the eyes..because we don't always know when someone is being abused..it just goes unnoticed until someone discovers it..so I respect the director's decision and understand why he chose to focus on DV for the drama. It was quite a solid choice in my opinion.
Overall..because of how they managed to tie all this up all nicely in the drama..I fell for the live adaptation and it'll have a special place in my heart. They really did an amazing job following the manhwa closely for the drama..I have no complaints whatsoever because the special episode that we got was basically the side stories after the manhwa had ended. They gave us the whole complete package. The casting was perfect. The acting was great, especially Minase's crying scenes and the chemistry between the two of them was just overflowing from my screen..the tension was unreal..everything again just felt natural..not cheesy nor cringe. Also the longing and yearning..it was so much more in depth..its no wonder people said they bawled their eyes out watching the drama..including myself of course. Definitely a great Japanese bl story, and I'm usually very picky with bl but this one definitely deserves all the attention it was getting. I can see why it was worth the hype.
I watched the drama and just finished reading the manhwa. I liked both versions but I definitely have a soft spot for the drama one. The live adaptation was very well done and the story was executed nicely. I especially liked the fact that in the drama they touched on the letter that seme had left in the DVD and expanded on how uke wrote an entire novel as a response to seme's letter. And how uke's novel was then turned into a movie that seme wanted to make as his final project before graduation..it was heartwarming that they didn't forget to add it in the drama. In the manhwa..the letter was never mentioned again after uke had read it..and it was forgotten just like that..I thought it was quite a pity..
For reference, I am using the term "Uke (Minase/Jinhyuk) & Seme (Hirukawa/Heechan)" here as I'm talking about both versions of the webtoon and drama..so this helps avoid any confusion with the characters' names.
Another change was that the bullying wasn't included in the drama..which I felt was the right choice..instead they shifted the focus on seme's domestic violence issue that happened. The drama depicted real life struggles of DV..that was quite triggering but this also raised awareness about how common this problem is and how there's more to what meets the eyes; you never know when someone is being abused and they never ask for help..its a vicious cycle and hard to get out of unless you have someone you can rely on. The drama showed exactly that..the uke was a light to the seme during his most challenging time. I'm not saying the manhwa didn't show this either but just pointing out that the drama chose to focus on DV instead of the bullying.
We're introduced to the roles of aggressors, victims & bystanders and some might say that the bullying was important to depict this theme. However, omitting the bullying to represent these 3 roles with DV was enough in the drama. I felt that the director knew it didn't really need to have the bullying to portray these and that the domestic abuse was more than enough to show us the 3 roles. Aggressor being seme's father, Victim being the seme and Bystander being Minase; there were 2 scenes were uke was a bystander while witnessing the abuse. One was when he first found out about heechan getting beaten and 2nd was when they were watching the movie at seme's house and the father burst into the house and uke had to run away..he wanted to do something about it but didn't due to fear of all the complications that will arise once he called the police..him being interrogated..his parents having to be called in because what happened etc...So I feel that the director choosing to just have the domestic violence centered in the drama was enough to not only highlight the 3 roles we know of but to also raise awareness of an issue we've don't always see as "common" because bullying is something we always know that happens in school and the audience are more than familiar with it..However, DV is not always touched on.. because it's such a sensitive topic and triggering for others too. And like I mentioned there's more to what meets the eyes..because we don't always know when someone is being abused..it just goes unnoticed until someone discovers it..so I respect the director's decision and understand why he chose to focus on DV for the drama. It was quite a solid choice in my opinion.
Overall..because of how they managed to tie all this up all nicely in the drama..I fell for the live adaptation and it'll have a special place in my heart. They really did an amazing job following the manhwa closely for the drama..I have no complaints whatsoever because the special episode that we got was basically the side stories after the manhwa had ended. They gave us the whole complete package. The casting was perfect. The acting was great, especially Minase's crying scenes and the chemistry between the two of them was just overflowing from my screen..the tension was unreal..everything again just felt natural..not cheesy nor cringe. Also the longing and yearning..it was so much more in depth..its no wonder people said they bawled their eyes out watching the drama..including myself of course. Definitely a great Japanese bl story, and I'm usually very picky with bl but this one definitely deserves all the attention it was getting. I can see why it was worth the hype.
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