readher

They introduced so much drama in the series compared to the novel, I guess they wanted it to have more tension.

If it's any consolation, here Auer's story was resolved within a single episode, and he was sorta responsible for moving the girls' relationship forward. Meanwhile, in the novel, there's a male love interest (well, neither girl has any interest in him, but still...) who keeps meddling until the very end, so I'd say we got it much better here.

The novel subverts those expectations, although the show made quite a lot of changes to the script already, so it's hard to say if it will follow the novel in that regard.

He wanted Ai to exploit her relationship with Mae to gain the upper hand in the bidding, but was generally nice and supportive otherwise.

I'm torn on the huge amount of changes made compared to the novel. On the one hand, they undoubtedly made the story much more interesting than in the novel - the bidding was just a backdrop there and wasn't really all that important, so the story didn't really stand out much from the other GLs. Here its importance is much greater and there's way more scheming going on from all the sides. On the other hand, this obviously makes the plot more convoluted and this is a problem when the show only has 8 episodes, especially when you introduce a side pairing on top of all that. Maybe the last two episodes will change my mind somehow, but so far I think the pacing was too hectic. Episode 6 was actually good and should've been the standard of pacing for the others, instead of the Formula 1 we've had so far.

Very good imo. Pacing is great, as is acting, and the dynamic between the leads is pretty complex (even if you ignore the switching bodies things). Didn't expect that, but probably my favorite show this season so far, it feels the most fulfilling on all fronts. I thought I'd be liking Harmony Secret the most, but the pacing is too fast, and it comes off as if it's trying too hard because of that, at least for me.

Absolute kino, waiting for the next episode is going to be pure torture.

Because these series are objectively cheap compared to the biggest TV productions and most of the time it shows one way or another. It's a skill of its own to work best with a small budget, and you can see it in this show.

The amount of changes in the script compared to the novel just keeps piling up. Hard to say how the story will even pan out at this point.

If they're not offering it in your country, then it means they don't care about your money. Just pirate it then.

The directing and acting are really good. If it wasn't for the slow motion scenes, one might forget that it's a "cheap" TV drama.

No, they only started officially dating after the bidding was over. They appeared as a couple at the winner's announcement event.

They were in a semi-relationship before that, though, as they slept with each other numerous times (in the novel, they actually sleep with each other when Maple visits Ai in the bar in ep 2) and hanged out a bunch. It was basically just Maple's insistence that they wait until the bidding is over that prevented them from getting together earlier, so I'd say they were de facto dating but not de jure.

While there are big changes to the plot compared to the novel and some might feel jarring to those who read it, at the same time the changes have a chance of making the plot actually interesting. The book had very little substance and drama, it was mostly about the girls meeting and the whole bidding war was just a faint background. I think the show would be forgettable if it adapted the novel 1:1.

But maybe it's just me, seeing as I prefer (prominent) romance sub-plots to an interesting main plot, rather than romance being the main focus. I think it makes for a more memorable experience and allows for more diversity rather than falling into the same tropes over and over again.

Ultimately, it's just a romance series with cheap drama. It's a step above the usual, yes, but it's not going to deviate too far from the genre staple. For that we'd need to have series that are plot first and gl romance second, which might not actually be what the majority of the audience wants, for all we know. The fact it's only 8 episodes is going to make all the genre problems stand out even more.

In ep. 2 they cut a whole intimate scene at the club out.

He kind of looks like Telly Savalas.