A good show, but overhyped nonetheless
When it comes to the BL as a genre, there are very few if none, actually good supernatural BL's. So it is undeniable that so far the best supernatural BL drama is Khemjira.But that doesnt mean this show is without flaws and issues.
The most important part: ENDING IS SATISFYING. So if not for anything else, I will recommend it just so you can also get a satisfactory ending.
The good of the show is: the whole supernatural aspect and entity haunting bit. The main antagonist is a genuinely bittersweet character, you might hate her, you might love her. But no one can say she was out of place - her revenge is meaningful and has little to do with the romance. She was one of my fav characters for the show even if really scary af. The thai practices are represented well, and I think people should always respect local practices if it doesn't infringe on you. Otherwise its better not to go to a place that has strong preferences for their practice, because while you may not believe it, their believes originate from something and you can't just deny that for them.
The bad of the show is the character Khemjira himself. And I won't blame the actor for it entirely. Its the character itself which is written so poorly. Khemjira is the cursed one, but he can't get his priorities in order (and suddenly switches goals to chasing love). Instead of getting stronger for himself, all he does is cook, stitch, cry, get targeted, mope, pout and such things. It shocks me that the character is originally written this way. A person who has lived their entire life seeing ghosts and a majority of it living alone, with impending death at 21, cannot be so careless and stupid even. But he is. I don't get how, but thats how he is. So its easy to note that the character is a very difficult one to play, not because its complicated but because its actually lacks substance. I won't say the actor was particularly bad at playing this character, but the actor definitely didn't bring any additional value to this character. From what I know, this character was even less developed in the novel in terms of standing up for himself or taking action, so the fact that despite being buffed (in terms of personality) for the show, he is still such a weak main character is just sad.
This bad is balanced by other characters, specially Paran. I won't say the shaman is the most fleshed out character either, but at least his behaviour is understandable. He makes sense as a person. Whether its moments where you disagree with his behaviour or moments where you are attracted to his hot bod, he is a character that has an identify of his own. He doesn't go around offering platitudes without offering any actual results.
Which brings me to the next bad: which is the romance being forced in. Originally Khemjira's feelings for Paran do overlap due to their past relation, but at no point do you see the character question it. Although he tells others these are feelings from past life, in the end there is no genuine introspection to be seen on his end. He is already asking Paran to help him meddle with his karma and now he also wants his feelings to be reciprocated. The way its shown situation after situation, makes it seem like the show wants you to blame Paran for not returning his feelings, which is just messed up because no one owes anyone else this kind of reciprocation. Again this can all be blamed on Khemjira's own character being a hollow one.
This review is seemingly full of issues with the show, but the thing is you can already read 20 reviews with praises, so I wanna write something which focuses on the not-so-praiseworthy aspects. This show is so worth watching for the plot, you feel invested, you want to know what happened and why. But the romance aspect of it is....not as good as the plot itself. That doesn't mean you won't be getting faceful of romance and even NC scenes, there is a lot of that too. But that part feels more disjointed and glued on.
All I wanna say is: Whatever Paran couldn't do, he can do now.
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Webtoon purists may dislike it, but the comedy is unbeatable
This series had unusually lower rating, but the reviews seemed good, and so did the comments. So I gave it a shot. And trust me: if you want a BL with lots of comedy, this is it. It makes you laugh so much you won't even expect it based on synopsis.The actors, esp. Nut is so good at his role, I had to go watch his interview videos for comparison to see if this character is literally him or not.
I read up on the original work, as well as read some of it. And while it has a comedic tone, it is not as non-serious as the show. The webtoon focuses on various societal issues, that are seemingly removed from the show. Regardless of the reason for their removal, it does take a little bit away from the show. But not to the point where its an unwatchable show.
If you have not had any interaction with the source material, watch it, its a must watch. Because no other BL will bring you the comedy, the pure giggles and the sass this one has.
The acting is solid, and the comedy is top class.
Of course it has some flaws, some parts seem a bit oversimplified or glued together without fitting. But it doesn't mean you can't enjoy this series.
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This review may contain spoilers
Love, love with all your heart. There is no age to stop loving.
This series is a wonderful take on the premise of ossan's love. Without changing most of the major things, they actually improved on some of the shortcomings of the original work.This main tone of this series is comedy, so if you can't appreciate how some things seem comical in an out-of-proportion sense, maybe you will not appreciate how amazing this series is.
Let me tell you, although Heng starts off as a character that has you questioning why anyone would like him, he does improve overtime.
My fav character has to be the boss, like he is such a devote character but also so mature. His idea of devotion is not limited to being possessive, he actually understands it beyond mere words and actions even. Most importantly, he isn't some perfect person, he has his moments of weakness and flaws, but in the end he still does i tall. For thristy fans, this man is def daddy material. But just because he is my fav doesn't mean I dont like other characters, I love most of the characters in this series, and those I don't love are characters I like but not as strongly.
I didn't expect Earth to pull of this particular character as well as he did. And Mix was the perfect pick for Mo.
For those of you who don't know, Ossan's love is not a single release japanese series. There are two versions of it. The first version could be considered a prototype which received much love so they made a more complete version of it, and this complete version even got a 2nd season. But there were several aspects of that show which didn't help it. Compared to that, I appreciate this thai version more. A major change is that they gave the boss a daughter instead of a wife he has stopped loving. And not just that he had a daughter but he has a good relationship with her which is developed beautifully throughout the series. The fact that his wife has passed away, and he no longer has a lover, also explains better why he was affected by Heng's kindness and consideration despite the fact that Heng is such a mess. All in all, I loved the boss and his daughter greatly in this version
Next Chicha's character was also properly depicted in this version compared to the japanese one (maybe its just how exaggerated her acting direction was in that one that i disliked her) In this one you actually understand her and feel for her, instead of thinking damn she is so annoying.
Most of all, I loved the dynamic of Heng and Mo in this series. The gradual growth of their relationship and especially Heng's realizations about his feelings for Mo.
BRO I DID NOT EXPECT OU-NOI, I SWEAR. it was amazing and made me snort so hard i almost got noodles down the wrong tract.
ALSO DONT LET ME BE THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTED TEN X BOSS LIKE BROOOO.
I will say the last 3 episodes have a lot of plot and kdrama level of drama situations that was stuffed into a short part of the series, I wish they had done this plot in a separate season, but they kinda pushed it into one. BUT THEY ARE STILL SOME OF THE FUNNIEST EPISODES OKAY. And the show ends well!
All in all after watching 1000 series about some 20+ year olds acting like highschoolers and fresh highschool graduates acting like CEOs, this series is a breath of fresh air. And believe it or not, most of us know many Heng's irl or are just like Heng ourselves in some ways.
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