youhadmeatzb1

Diabetic levels of cuteness

I'll start this review by saying that Your Sky was easily one of the shows I looked forward to every week. It was an uncomplicated, unthinking, and c u t e show. Perfect stamp for the end of the week, when you want to relax and maybe squish your cheeks a little while you heart-eye your tv screen.

Thomas and Kong have great chemistry. But I will say their newness to acting was evident. There was an emotionality that was sometimes missing and thus made the characters feel a little one dimensional in certain scenes. They really had the CUTE factor down and the sugar inducing sweetness on point, but it needed more balance in my opinion. It is for this reason why I feel a little torn about the NC scenes. If you're watching them standalone, they're A+++ but they felt a little too much or out of place in the show.

Overall, I know that we have so much more to look forward to from these two, as Your Sky is truly just the beginning for them. And while the show wasn't 100% perfection, it was enjoyable to watch and it will definitely be missed.

PS - I really hope we get a special episode, because for me personally I need to see more of Punlee and Ghlaijai.

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Hwang Da Seul does it again...

Oh the intricacies of life that are brought so achingly to the screen in such a brilliant way. This was masterfully executed, as expected from Hwang Da Seul. She continues to provide us with compelling and beautifully acted stories and she definitely didn't fail us here.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo is a series of growing up and fighting with the expectations that are set forth and how we can break from those cursed chains that try to destroy us down to the bones. Or, what one is pushed to do just to survive, even if it means leaving everything and everyone you know behind. Not only does this story pull us in and keep us invested, but it gives us flawed characters and challenges us to understand (and still love) them.

All in all, this series was a solid work of art that deserves the high praise and a rewatch or two.

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Ossan's Love Returns and reminds us what great writing looks like

Ossan's Love Returns (literally) and what a welcome return to a wonderful series. Not very often are we given a big follow up installment, and it's even more rare that a follow up is well rounded as a whole. Which is what makes this such a welcome release within the BL world.

This series is so full of heart, of compelling characters and their stories, and also provides us with some good laughs as well. It makes every episode worth the watch, all the way through and even provides it with a high rewatch factor.

Maybe we'll see more from this series in the future, who knows? I'd personally love to see it.

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For Him, not For Me

12 episodes of For Him could've been easily condensed down to 8. Sometimes an episode was 45 mins, and sometimes it was barely 30 with 20 mins of BTS footage thrown in. The story is all over the place and loses itself many times. Lots of inconsistencies with the plot and even just the filming of it. The hair colors are all over the place, at different grow out periods for both of the main actors. Sometimes Nail was fully orange, sometimes not, sometimes it changed multiple times in an episode. Same thing for Him and his gray hair. This continued throughout and even in the last episode with Nail's painted nails, there was no consistency. And this overwhelming misstep really takes a few stars off for me.

Also, NC scenes are great and wonderful, but I felt like the NC scenes somehow were more of a priority than the overall plot of this show. And let me be clear, the NC scenes were mostly all enjoyable, but they are definitely not a replacement for actual story and depth. That missing element was definitely felt multiple times.

Overall Positives:
- Thor was a redeeming factor for me. His acting felt real and he fully allowed himself to be absorbed in Nail's world (and also Blue's).
- Side pairing Chao / Pie was also cute. I really loved their dynamics.

Overall Negatives:
- Dew's acting bothered me a lot, because it felt like acting (if that makes sense)
- Pacing and inconsistencies of the episodes and storylines.
- Didn't enjoy the BTS scenes added into episodes, that was super annoying.
- Also didn't like the intro, was wayyyy too long and seemed cheaply made.

I think the actors definitely deserved a better script. They did the best with what they were given. Hope to see them in something more substantial and solid in the future.

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A sweetly comedic story

Upon initial read of the synopsis of this BL, the likelihood for the 'cringe factor' to be off the charts is really high. But instead, what we find here is great chemistry between the leads and believable acting. The comedic timing in certain scenes had me wheezing with laughter. It was a perfect balance of funny and sweet.

I really loved how this series subtlety addresses the people who are watching the series and how being a fan / stan of something doesn't necessary make you a weirdo / loser.

The only thing that would absolutely make this better, is if it had more episodes or a s2.

It's just too good for it to be this short.

But what a fun and easy watch to start off 2024!

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Best Taiwanese BL in 2023

As we all know, some of the most coveted BLs of all time are hailed from Taiwan. And so, when you see a new one dropping the expectation is usually through the roof. All that said, the BLs dropping in 2023 from them have really fallen short in terms of their predecessors.

But Kiseki: Dear to Me walked through our doors and offered us a breath of fresh air. For me, it's really rare to be engaged and interested in both pairings of a show. But I was invested in both Zerui / Zongyi and Ai Di / Chen Yi. The chemistry between both pairings was dripping from the screen and their stories pulled at my heart strings so wonderfully. I honestly couldn't get enough of them.

I am dinging a few points on the story however, because the background plot outside of the couples is not really told well and can be kind of confusing. And also, the finale (overall) felt really underwhelming and frustrating by including unnecessary plot speed bumps for no reason.

Outside of that though, this is still worth a watch. Plus!!! There's so many cameos from beloved BLs of the past and it was nice to see them all again on the screen.

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Refreshing and honest, do not overlook this one!

I see reviews saying this show queerbaited, but I encourage everyone to look up the definition of that word and know that it is an incorrect assessment {and those saying that are probably watching for the wrong reasons}. Maybe they don't kiss, but their togetherness is undeniable and cute. Do not let other reviews deter you from watching and enjoying this series. I promise it is worth it.

This series climbed its way into my heart in a way that left me feeling touched, because of the overall storyline for both boys. I see a lot of reviews of people who are upset at the lack of an onscreen kiss, but in this instance, I think it makes sense. The lack of this onscreen kiss does not take away from the beautiful relationship that Dayeol and Taehyun were able to carve out. And based on Taehyun's past and his trauma, I believe he needed the extra time to navigate being in love with Dayeol.

It would have been great to see more of what happened during their time apart, but the result is that they finally came together when they were both ready. I think this series excels in storytelling; it was so nice to have the long eps for a kbl. I hope they veer more into this territory. As far as the acting, I think it was incredible. Both of the boys from Omega X, who acted in this series at one of the most difficult times in their life (as we would later come to find), rose to the challenge and did so beautifully. I hope both venture into the acting field again, as I would love to see more from them.

As far as A Shoulder to Cry On as a whole, it is an instant hit in my book and I will keep it in my top 5 kbls going forward.

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The magic that is CC & WSW

I honestly went into this series a little scared to get emotionally invested in something that was going to either A) Disappoint or B) Be ruined before it finished airing. And to be honest, I feel like both of those things could have been realized, maybe the second one a little too close for comfort, but somehow we narrowly escaped with all 24 eps intact and our fears relieved.

I am giving this show a full 10/10, not because I think it was perfect, but because I think overall the cast and story melded together beautifully enough to deem it worth of it. There are things I wish could have been a little different, but that's my personal preference (ex: Wang Shou (needed less screen time) and The Finale (needed to be so much longer than 33 mins)). All in all, this little series became our Monday & Tuesday routine that warmed our hearts and continuously left us wanting more. This last stretch seemed to go by so fast that I don't think I've even properly realized that it's truly over.

Thank you to Ziyu and Tian Xuning for stepping into these shoes and for becoming the most beautiful versions of Wu Su Wei and Chi Cheng. Their story and their love will remain with us for a long time.

I also hope that the road ahead for both of you is kind and welcoming. I hope that you always look back fondly on this time and that you always carry it with you. You both deserve all of the success this series brings and while I know it's challenging, I hope you always find more reasons to smile than to cry.

<3

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ABO Desire is charting new territory for BLs

ABO has been around for a long, long time. It is a category of fandom space I never dared to think we'd see a live version of. Pit Babe name dropped ABO but didn't really fulfill the elements of it and instead left a lot of people confused on if it was or wasn't ABO at all. And then the trailer for this series was released and it almost seemed too good to be true. A CBL about ABO? It had a lot of us holding our breaths because we all know how the CBL journey has been and well, it's never good to get TOO invested in anything that is dropping from that region.

But ABO Desire did the impossible and it did it in a way that was true to the ABO realm and didn't shy away from any of it's elements. This is an incredible first for any BL. I give so many props to NJ, the actors, and the production team for also standing behind this project so confidently and with so much heart.

The story is largely about Hua Yong and his obsession with Sheng Shao You and I honestly don't have a single complaint with this story line. I think Eliot and Qiu did an amazing job stepping into the skins of these characters and truly committing to bringing them to life. One of the things I loved the most was the way their power was their absolute duality. Hua pretending to be an Omega, but revealing he's Enigma. The way Shao You never lost the edge of his S Class Alpha, but how he glowed beautifully after being marked by Hua.

Truly the only real issue I had with this series is the second couple storyline which seemed to spin its wheels week after week and somehow never resolved itself in a satisfactory way by the finale. I feel like a true disservice has been done to the character Gao Tu, who was the bearer of so much pain that he was never able to actually vocalize. Peien is a masterclass in acting, because even though Gao Tu's lines throughout the series could fill a single sheet of paper, his expressive emoting filled the quiet spaces with so much heartache. It left us all rooting for all of that pain to be worth it in some sense, by Shen Wenlang apologizing, but in the end this was never realized.

In the same, Jiang Heng's acting was top class, but it's unfortunate that he was handed such a one dimensional character to portray. There was never character growth, it was just the same DENSE brain space for 16 episodes.

I think what truly needs to be acknowledged is that ABO Desire was never intended to be a perfect series and trust me, it wasn't perfect at all. But even though there were things that could've been better, things that we could've done without and things we could've done with more of -- ABO Desire still succeeded by being the first and the most iconic drop from China in a long time.

We can already see the way this has set the foundation for other BLs and I'm personally sat for any future projects that may drop in this lane. And while ABO Desire itself is done, I am also excited for this casts future projects, whether that's a new series or their Desire4 group. They're quite literally doing what no other could do from China and I'm so very invested in what the future holds for them.

TLDR:

Pros:
- Actually ABO - the first of its kind
- Great cast / great acting
- Amazing sets and clothing
- MPREG!!!!
- Enigma Hua Yong is everything

Cons:
- Story flow could've been better: felt like the tires were spinning in place at times
- 2nd couple didn't have a good enough resolve by the end - JUSTICE FOR GAO TU SPECIFICALLY
- While I know the time skip was necessary, I never really like them in any series and that feeling didn't change here
- I'm not sure if 16 eps was enough for this series, or if the writing / pacing of the story was just too slow.

Overall:
- I would watch it again and it's solid series for the first of its kind.

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Pond finally shining was the reset I needed

Ever since I watched 180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us, I have fallen in love with the absolute master class in acting that Pond possesses. And while I had major hopes for Fourever You, it was a major let down in my opinion (in regards to the character and pairing). Then Reset dropped and gave everything I'd been hoping for and SO much more.

PeterPan SHINED next to Pond and the two of them together made Reset the series the best it could be. I'm so happy they were paired together for this because they literally ATE in every sense of the word. There's so many times that you see one side of a pairing pale in comparison to the other, but this couldn't be further from the truth for these two. I would love to see them onscreen together in the future as well.

This series could have been so much longer, but I'm glad that at the end of it all that they both ended up happily together in their reset lives.

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My heart was skipping indeed

ThamePo has been revered since the initial trailer was dropped. There was so much anticipation for this one, so much buzz and well... GMM delivered tenfold (which is somewhat surprising for me).

Pros:
- Mature storyline with great acting and good (believable) characters.
- Sheds light on the realities of Idol figures and the stresses they go through, publicly and privately.
- Loved the fandom aspect of it as well
- Story never dulled or got boring, managed to keep pace well and keep us interested.
- Loved how much LKYN made MARS real. (they worked so hard!)

Cons:
- I needed more? Season 2?

Overall this is going on the list of favorites and I will miss it sooo much.

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Is the 'Love' in the room with us?

This series mystifies me, because I think it was filmed beautifully, but the story is like a soggy novel. I'm not really sure what the final messaging is, or what their story was supposed to invoke emotionally? I feel like the resolve between the two was flat; there was no conversation or resolve. I feel like there needed to be something more substantial to take us from the fall out of misunderstandings, to the intimate scene.

I don't also understand how Natsuo never knew that Suzuki was Hiro. Especially if Hiro was his first love? Natsuo as a whole was a flat character, who really didn't have a story outside of being with Suzuki/Hiro. We never really got to see his side of the past or understand what happened before he met Suzuki.

Also, one thing that was glaringly obvious was the way they were supposed to be cutting and styling hair, but nothing was ever really different. I guess we were just supposed to use our imaginations or something, but it took me out of the story a few times.

The takeaway: The actors were great, but the story wasn't unfortunately. This was definitely NOT the proper way to write love.

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