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i thought this was interesting but honestly maybe could have done without the romance... or at least if theyd changed it so that the romance between adult jaewoo and jihoon wasnt happening at literally the same time as him getting close to child jaewoo. i think it just felt a bit too much like a grooming situation at times even if there were no ill intentions. like i need to know how jihoon rationalized at the end being soulmates with a 10 year old lol

another comment explains it better (https://kisskh.at/735755-coming-back-again#comment-22930722) but basically jihoon sacrifices himself to ensure that 10yo jaewoo will grow up then come back to him 15 years later. thats why in the letter he mentions 'another 15 years' and 'let's meet again. remember to come back to me.'

the time travel logic is a bit shaky but it seems to be more of a parallel universe time loop thing where 25yo jaewoo was allowed to briefly return to 10yo jaewoo's world in 2007, but at the end he goes back to his world in 2022. and since 10yo jaewoo survived eventually 15 years pass for him and it's now 2022 in his world, at which point the story repeats once again. so even though the final scene is a repeat of the first scene with jaewoo visiting the dormitory, its actually not our jaewoo that we started with but the other jaewoo now grown up.

You should definitely consider watching Bloodhounds if you haven't already (2 seasons). Gunwoo and Woojin are easily one of my favorite bromance pairings and they have so many great moments together

this is another one of those dramas where even by the end i question how/if they'll stay together longterm... fumiya's problem is that he bottles up his emotions until he explodes and lashes out and ritsu seems unconcerned to the point of ditziness. ultimately it feels like neither of them really changed at all or learned their lessons but especially fumiya as he was essentially given a free pass because ritsu conveniently got his memories back? also ritsu not mentioning that theyd had exactly 1 (one) interaction before is in no way comparable to fumiya lying about the kind of relationship they had, so it irked me how they tried to handwave it away like that. i think 6 episodes was just way too little to resolve this sort of conflict. like it's a bit absurd how we went from 'i cant live with you anymore' to 'jk lol let's live together again' in the span of like 15 minutes

this really surprised me. theres some really great color grading and cinematography that puts it a step above many dramas. ultimately i think the biggest thing holding is back is an only semi coherent plot, especially in the latter half of the drama, but the first half was perfect. i think it couldve done without all the timeskips/sticking to a single setting. even so its still quite enjoyable and definitely worth a watch with such a short runtime

this show has such an interesting soundtrack lol its so weird but i kinda love it

sandray is easily the highlight of this series and its worth watching it for them alone, even if ray was a bit frustrating at times. their relationship felt the most natural and believable.

topmew on the other hand... i actually didnt dislike them at first. i even thought they were pretty cute after starting over, but everything went downhill after topton. his perfect boyfriend image was ruined the moment mew literally gave him a chance to come clean about what he did and he lied to save face. i just hate how top was let off so easy. like boston was basically exiled from his friendgroup while top got to keep his boyfriend AND his boyfriends friends. i enjoyed mews villain arc but it annoyed me how he had all the smoke for boston but nothing for top.

call it childish but i genuinely believe mew shouldve got back at him with boeing. at least then theyd be on more equal terms. it irked me so bad how top guilt tripped him because 'ive suffered enough' like... how? the worst thing that happened to him was mew kissing ray in front of him. idk i just think cheaters should suffer more for a true redemption arc. also them moving in together right after getting back together doesnt sit right with me.

i feel like there are just too many unresolved issues/imbalances in topmews relationship. just like when he first slept with top because he felt like hed lose him if he waited too long, mew taking him back ultimately feels like another placation. i also found it weird how they hinted at mew being bothered by top getting lots of attention from other guys when they go out but its never really addressed again.

besides sandray i also think boston and nick had a good conclusion. im glad nick finally came to his senses and devaluing himself for tons sake even if they did kinda match each others freak.

interesting little watch but its a shame its so short. id love to see a feature film with the same setting/concept

definitely not your average thai bl (if you could even consider it one) both in terms of production quality and performances. i like how it portrayed the ethical considerations of certain relationship dynamics that most other works would shy away from. i also really enjoyed the imagery and themes like the 52 hertz whale or the bridge. overall a very thought provoking and fascinating watch

this was pretty good, not sure why the rating is so low. only thing is i dont think it should be tagged as a pink film lol this was pretty tame

this was good. i imagine the low rating is because of min jung but i think he was a really good portrayal of someone with an anxious attachment style. in general i think the relationship was quite realistic as not every couple is going to have a fairy tale love where they get along perfectly. i especially liked how the special episode showed that even after getting their happy ending it doesnt meant the problems in their relationship went away, but they love each other enough to make it work.

this was a short and sweet one. the guy that plays jaeyul has a very beautiful face, but his acting felt a bit wooden. i guess his character is meant to be more shy compared to his friends so it wasnt too bad

Thanks for putting together this list! I just discovered flyingpenguin today and am enjoying goung down the rabbit hole

this is basically just porn but the creators have a sense of humor which makes it a really entertaining watch. the story is alright but i think the kama sutra positions are what makes it genuinely a work of art like i was dying lol

wow im glad i stuck with this one because it was unexpectedly really good! if only the editing werent a bit choppy (im sure because of it originally being meant for a shorts format) i genuinely believe this is deserving of an 8+ rating. the leads had great chemistry even without a lot of skinship

this was really cute and silly and naoya is probably the most green flag ML in any bl. my only real gripe is a little more skinship wouldve been nice... not that ever bl needs nc scenes, it just wouldve been nice to have more of an indication that kota sees them as *boyfriends* and not just bromance

i enjoyed this one more than expected but the tone shift threw me off... its like the writers couldnt decide if they wanted this to be a dark, toxic forbidden romance type of deal or cute and wholesome with some angst. im still trying to figure out why iljo and jeonghan seemed to switch personalities after episode 4 lol

I'm so glad someone else pointed out the weird editing!! I've gotten used to amateur-ish editing in BL but when they started cranking up the bloom filter 200% I was like this is just absurd lol

obligatory disclaimer that im a huge fan of the original weak hero webtoon which is what motivates this rant. i initially dropped class 1 because i felt like it butchered the source material, but after sticking through with it i admit that its actually pretty good and maybe even an improvement over the chapters it adapts. class 2 on the other hand is painfully inferior. i could go on and on about what i dislike but my biggest grievances:
- baekjin being a normal highschooler completely defeats the purpose of his character. what made donald/baekjin so scary in the manhwa was that he wasnt just another delinquent or wannabe gangster. he meant business! he also served as an interesting foil to sieun, but it seems like in the show they throw all that away. i just didnt care for baekjin as a villain or as a character
- the union as a whole feels way more lame in comparison. in particular i was disappointed that they omitted wolf/seong je's infamous 3-second rule. in the manhwa we got to see a lot more of what makes these guys so terrifying but the drama just tells us so. like we barely even get to see them fight. as silly as it was the shuttle patch ranking in the manhwa added excitement when you knew a character was facing off against someone stronger than them.
- class 2 couldve easily been split into 2 or maybe even 3 seasons. i just dont get why they tried to adapt 150+ chapters into a single season. in contrast season 1 only adapted like 10 chapters so the pacing felt much better. frankly i just didnt really care about the central conflict here because it felt like we barely knew any of the characters. i found it hard to believe that sieun felt so close to baku and gotak when at that point they hadnt really been through that much together. it also felt weird to see sieun take a backseat for baku's story this season

overall class 2 just felt like wasted potential. on the bright side it gives me an excuse to reread the manhwa since it reminded me how much i miss some of these characters

i feel like we glossed over gun woo basically betraying one of his core principles by deciding to fight dirty way too quickly in ep 7 (with the metal bits in his hand wrap). of course 'if you cant beat them, join them' is a very common trope and im baek jeong definitely deserved it, but i expected at least a little more hesitation/deliberation given gun woo's good sportmanship is such an important part of his character. compared to s1 this season had a lot of this type of thing in general like the torture scenes, the NIS, etc. maybe its just me but its a bit harder to root for the good guys when they stoop to the same level as the bad guys...