Reviews

One person, forever.

Sometimes home is a person, and happiness the sound of the heartbeat that resides there.

It's been some time since I've written a proper review but this drama sincerely deserves it.

If you're worried about the age gap aspect here, set those worries aside, it's been done extremely well and tastefully. This is a drama about two people who meet at all the right times, and who are what the other needs throughout all of the hardships and hidden wounds. Every green flag you can think of is in here. There is no misunderstandings, the couple works together to make their relationship mesh well despite their different places in life, and they will have you smiling and crying the entire time.

Hidden Love is heartwarming in all the best ways. Not only is there romance, but familial love as well. Every single relationship, from SZ's friends to DJX's buddies, is something wholesome and it is portrayed so naturally it's hard to not believe they are real friends who have known each other for years. I adored every single character as they grew together and leaned on each other.

The music is perfect, and by the end will have you sobbing and smiling at the same time, and the pacing in Hidden Love is absolute perfection. There wasn't a moment where I wanted to skip ahead or felt like there could have been more. This is a feel good drama and it is extremely well done.

If you need softness and a beautiful love story, give this a try!

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A huge disappointment for me...

I was really looking forward to this one — the cast is full of actors I love, and a fantasy storyline (which is rare and one of my favorite genres) had so much potential. But honestly, it ended up being a big miss for me. The plot just kept going in circles, only to focus on a romance I didn’t care about at all. Even the acting wasn’t that great most of the time. Overall, super disappointing — whether it was the story, the acting, or just the vibe. Maybe it’s just me, but yeah... big disappointment. The enemies-to-lovers was done really badly, like it already felt off from the start, and the main character didn’t work for me at all. I was looking forward the return of the real Yoon Gap and it was badly done for me so...

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Coffee Prince was okay, possibly even decent, but I didn't like it. For a drama that is lauded as being thoughtful, fresh, romantic and cheeky it came across as being disappointingly stale, languid and excessively long.

I'll give it to the writer of Coffee Prince for being able to deal with the topic of homsexuality in such a refreshing manner - especially when one considers how touchy Koreans are about the topic. Choi Han Gyul's struggle was believable and was dealt with much tact. The free and relaxed intimacy between the couples was commendable as well. However, there wasn't much going for the drama plot and execution wise.

The acting was hit or miss. It started off pretty decent, but even Gong Yoo's performance seemed lacklustre by the end of the whole parade. Yoon Eun Hye was clearly worse than she was in Goong, and asides from her crying scenes, she came across as incredibly concious of everything. I generally preferred watching the supporting cast as their performances were small doses of natural entertainment.

As with all shows about females who disguise themselves as males, one has to suspend an element of disbelief and just go with the flow when it comes to believing that Yoon Eun Hye could actually pass for a 24 year old male (she looked more like a pre-pubesecent elementary school boy if you ask me). So, I'm not going to criticise Coffee Prince for such a far-fetched premise; although, I would have much preferred for the big reveal to happen earlier rather than as late as it did, but more on that later.

My primary problem with the show was how the relationship and feelings between the leads developed and progressed. It was clear that Choi Han Gyul was totally, madly, selflessly in love with Go Eun Chan, but I never got the same vibe from Eun Chan herself. I understand that it is difficult to tell someone "Oh, hey, by the way I'm a girl" when they've thought you were a guy for several months, but Eun Chan's refusal to tell Han Gyul she was a girl went on for too long and her reasoning behind not telling him was selfish and self-serving. Her behaviour was unreasonably deceptive and she did nothing to ease Han Gyul's distress, everything she did was for herself and for no one else. It was difficult to believe that she actually loved Han Gyul when she continued to behave in a selfish manner after they were going steady. I get that she's poor and wants to prove her independence, but she never actually gave anything to the relationship and kept leaving Han Gyul hanging. The same thing goes for the other couple in this drama.

The second major flaw of the drama was how easily the men could be reduced to puddles of absolutely worthless misery. ALL of them were incapictated and emsaculated by the women who had them wrapped around their little fingers. Not one of them ever had a relatioship of mutual understanding with the woman that they loved. It was unbearable to watch such an unrealistic and exaggerated portrayal of male love.

Thirdly, the drama was meaninglessly long. I came to love for the fast-forward button on my remote control during the last 6 episodes. Needless exposition, supporting character story arcs that never developed and repetitive scenes where a change in scenery was the only difference all led up to an essentially fruitless finale. What was the point in having a two year time skip if the characters remained in exactly the same position as they had before? (Save for a few.)

I know that many people - especially women - will love this drama, and I can understand why it's considered a K-Drama classic because it has the makings of one (cliché + cliché + timeskip = classic), but I didn't like it as much as I liked other classics such as Goong. In my opinion, Coffee Prince is totally worth skipping. If you want a cross-dressing, reverse harem drama that is a whole lot of fun go you're better off watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal.

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Emerging from Darkness

From this drama's intro, the tone was set. This wasn't going to be some simple romance with a love square.

It was an intricately tangled, suffocating spider's web with Da On at the center of it all, fighting to free himself, all the while twisting into it more and more.

His all-consuming fear, confusion, indecision, heartbreak, anger, strength, and hope were portrayed as such visceral and vivid emotions I felt I was right there frozen, shaking, crying, screaming, and smiling with him.

With nothing more than the look in their eyes, I understood every character's motivation.

The attention to detail in this was striking.

And it dared to be more.

It unapologetically dove into physical and emotional abuse, manipulation, trauma, codependency, and self-blame. It framed the toxicity and harm our main ML experienced/was experiencing as horrifying as it is in reality. While others in the drama pointed accusing fingers at Da On, Secret Relationships didn't.

We heard his story from his perspective and got to see him slowly find it within himself to save and value himself and go after his own happiness.

It is a thoroughly engaging but not generally pleasant watch. If you are in a good place, I more than recommend it.

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Just a watchable drama

One of the most anticipated kdrama of the year just for the come back of actress Han hye joo, and in the end it's finished with pretty decent watchable drama with nothing in particular. Ongoing watching experience is always different comparing to a binge watch so i don't know how you will feel if you watch now. But even for the ongoing time this drama failed in many factors even though they had all the liberty to bring out an outstanding show.

A zombie drama always sound interesting, but here the situation they were facing was not a serious problem at all. Also the screenplay was not so well written it includes many dragging moments and most of them were unwanted. The first episode was very promising but it never continued that promise, after 9 th episode the gear shifted slightly faster but still the dragging feel you boring.

Everything completely scattered, no proper characterisation, no intense situation, they must create a do or die situation inorder to keep the audience on the edge. But it failed. Still it's not a bad drama, it's a watchable drama, there were some thrills also the background score played a big part to minimise the demerits.

Try it if u interested :-)

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Utterly boring

I get the age gap of the characters but the FL portrays as a very inconsistent character. One moment, she portrays a level of maturity the next, she’s throwing tantrums at her boyfriend due to “not spending enough time with her”. ML has been giving in to her time and time again and honestly, he deserves better. He did try to justify as to why he chose her which I understand but it seems that they have a communication barrier. The Actors and Actresses and both very good in acting and I’ve been looking forward to this drama as I’m a huge fan of the both of them.

Tried very hard to make through all the episodes. It was gruelling, to say the least. Don’t quite understand why they would get married cus they can’t even communicate, only banter.

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A boring and dissatisfying reveal

Celebrity follows the rise and fall in popularity of a celeb with humble beginnings. What really piques my interest is the mystery behind our female lead's statement that she is actually dead.

With a stellar cast and a promising trailer... I was anticipating a lot from this drama. Also, it's directed by Kim Chul Gyu who also directed Flower of Evil, which is one of my faves of all time). I would say the pacing is great: the writers are doing a really good job at dropping breadcrumbs for multiple different storylines. The camerawork is also very creative and I want to praise it as it enhances all the emotions going on.

But my overall impression is not positive. After I watched half of Celebrity, the story didn't build enough tension for me. The depictions of wealth and glamour were quite enjoyable, but they're visual fluff that just doesn't really appeal to me. I was getting whiplash with one episode that would be so painfully boring, and then the next episode I saw the glimmer of potential conflict, but it never like reached the point of solid storytelling. Also, I don't personally feel as connected with the lead character. She lacks the charm for me to feel sympathy or buy her motivation. I feel like there's a lot about her that I don't know. So I didn't get invested in her relationships with other characters as well.

The last two episodes of this show were quite a drag for me to get through. Even though the episodes are short (20-30 mins), I watch them like in 10-minute chunks. I found the ending so dissatisfying. I wasn't shocked by any of the reveals. I wasn't happy. I wasn't sad. I was pretty emotionless because I could see that the show was ending and I just didn't care.

-July 2023, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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The Pretty Mess and False Advertisement

**there are plenty of reviews that say nice things about this drama. i even agree with some of it. this is not that review. **

Of all the things Dali and the Cocky Prince tries and fails to be about (which is a lot ) it fails the hardest at being about art. This is about Art the way any office drama is about the industry it takes place in. If I'm being honest I've seen office dramas do better in that regard. Any time one of the characters has to talk about art in a way that does not apply directly to their job they sound like 12 year olds being asked why art is important to them- in front of their art teacher. For a show that takes place largely in an art gallery there is very little attention paid to the art. This would not be a problem except the show sort of sold itself as being very much about art. if this was the biggest problem they may have been able to over come it but this is just the beginning.

Both the show and Dali were advertised and quirky and upbeat. For most of the show Dali is a wet rag of a person sullenly trudging through her problems, dragging the viewer along with her as we wait to see which male character is going to solve the thing for her this time. That's not fun. it's not quirky. it is NOT up beat. it's dull, repetitive and disappointing.

The plot is cluttered and groaning under the weight of so many characters it might even give a daily drama writer pause. the central conflict isnt really central, being itself about too many things and offering a patch work of villains. Because there are so many of none of these villains get enough development so their motivations stay shallow and often don't match the vitriol of their actions. A similar problem plagues some of our good guys too. Won Tak for example exists solely for plot convenience. his development is thin and his relationship with Dali is incredibly inconsistent with the development that they do have.

given these other issues weird editing might seem like a nit pick but i assure you it's not. there is at least one, often more, distractingly bad editing choice in every episode. We've got pointless and poorly executed spit screens, we've got flash backs the reek of ret con, we've got really weird effects and pacing that is constantly being wrecked by waaay too long close ups of the aforementioned sullen Dali. like, i get it, she's sad, her life sucks. but i got that three episodes and fifteen lingering close ups ago. stop. PLEASE. And for the love of all things holy step away from the photo shop painting texture brush or whatever that abomination is. If this show wasnt supposed to be about art it might not bother me as bad but simply applying that texture over scenes completely misses the point and the beauty of highly textured brush strokes.

the chemistry is good though...and the over all production design is spectacular. if only they had put as much effort into the substance as they did into the looks.

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Reminded me of old rom-coms

It's been so long since I watched a good K-Romcom, this reminded me of how this genre used to feel. Delightful from beginning to end, with charismatic characters, super cute and sexy moments, and the right amount of angst. I laughed and clapped through it the way I used to. 10 points.
I didn't know the cast and was blown away by the ML, hoping he gets more main roles as he knocked it out of the park (plus he has younger Hyun Bin vibes all over, which got me double excited). This proves we don't need huge productions with well-known names, but good storylines filled with chemistry.

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Useless reality ever

What can i say, i was a huge fan of the 1st season even if the alliances thing of going all vs one annoyed me a lot, but in this season they did their best.
Funny how this should be a reality where the smartest win games but it turned out like a contest who make more friends.
Starting from the cast: Sohee and Kyuhyun should do acting and commentary because how can you play a survival game if you have no will to win; they annoyed so much with all of those sentimental choices like they are playing with each other lives, not even if they were in squid game where they are playing with people lives, just play the game for god sake. Hyunjoon, Jiyeong, Chuu and the 2004 guy were absolutely useless and since they know that they did everything to play in group because they knew that alone they would have been in disadvantage.
And here it comes the biggest problem: THE PRODUCTION. How can you put in every game the possibility of ruining it by playing in groups; of course people will do alliances to survive but if you put them in the conditions to use that to play games like kids in elementary school, i ask myself where is the fun of watching this show. The peak was at the game at the 11th episode: i don't wanna say what happened because i don't wanna make spoilers but all of what happened was absolutely ridicolous, just people who refuse to play the game and decided who would have gone to the final.
Basically if you start this season because you want to see people solve problems, competing in games and give their best (wich should be the concept of the program) save your time because all that you will get is people who tries to pass the game all togheter without playing it and leave behind the people who want to play alone. Only the prison games are a bit entertaining to watch, but there you can witness how bad are some people who always played in group when they're put in a situation of playing alone

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After watching a disappointing Princess Agent I was skeptical about this drama because the main characters are not that good looking but after reading postive reviews about this drama I thought I would give it a try. And wow am I blown away it's completely hilarious and very light hearted. The last time I have laughed this hard was go princess go! The female main characters double personality is hilarious and she pulls it off so well. It's very believable and hilarious. The love between the 2 main characters are so sweet and keeps me completely interested in the series. Everything else is mediocre and repetitive in storyline about palace drama. I also have never seen any Chinese drama focus ofnmental illness too. This is a first time that a mental illness like dissociative identity disorder had been used in such a big part of a Chinese drama. Great job!

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It's clear I'm treading on dangerous ground here, with a review which won't be generally agreed upon. Not that it has to be, but the fact that so many among the people I value the opinion of, found this drama very good, makes me ponder over my taste and choices. I've read and re-read every review, I've thought the whole drama over and I have tried to find it charming but I failed.
No matter how hard I tried, I didn't like it and I don't know why it encountered such a success.

I have problems with the plot, the characters and the ultimate meaning of this drama.

I found the plot highly un-original. Change a couple of names and the setting, and you're left with a déjà-vu: arrogant successful man is changed by simple, goodhearted woman, there's a second female who enters the picture, the hero's got some unresolved issues with his personal life, a lot of running around the city - for lack of any transport, I suppose - and there's the ever-present shilly-shally which goes on till the very end (accompanied by my yawning).

Fine, a plot doesn't need to be original to be well told. More often than not, the lack of suspense is successfully replaced by a strong characterization. And here comes the true sore spot for me: the characters.

Toru Hyuga is quite the obnoxious "genius", a pity he doesn't compensate his bad temper with any particularly charming trait. He changes, inasmuch as he becomes a little humbler towards the end, but I fail to be attracted to him even by a little.

Which makes it even harder for me to empathize with Makoto, who seems to be bewitched by his creativity and his success-driven nature more than anything related to him as a man. The result, in my eyes, is a badly matched couple of disagreeable people with no love chemistry at all.
What bugged me the most is the way Makoto's character is depicted. By what absurd criteria can a young woman who is good at her studies, has a formidable memory, can compile the income tax return of a little business in one night be called "stupid"? Yes, she isn't a computer genius, so what? Are our IQ defined by how good we are at computer programming? Instead of creating a character who could truly complement Toru's glaring shortcomings with her own talent, they gave us a woman who either laughs hysterically when embarrassed and blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind, or apologizes for... being stupid, of all things! As for character development: none whatsoever.

Asahina? One episode he's black, the next he's blue. Disquieting.
The only consistent, pleasing character is Yoko, but we all know from minute one what her role in this story will be.

On the good side of the charts are acting and music. They all acted their part very well and did their best with what they were given. I'm also ready to grant the drama a couple of intense, heartfelt moments, which manage to raise the overall score by a little.

Needless to say, I'm not going to re-watch this. I'm sure there's more to say about it, but I'm honestly tired of thinking this thing over when in fact I should simply borrow a good MDL friend's definition, call this drama "harmless" and forget about it.

°°°°
Edit: someone rightly pointed out my wrong use of the word shizoid. I apologize and edited to correct the mistake. :)

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I'm curious,

Why waste PMY in such a way? Why 'romance' is listed as the main genre? Who the heck wants to watch that cheating couple overcoming their problems given a heck of screen time? (sometimes I even felt they got more scenes together than the main cp did) and the most important: Why does this drama even exist?

When the whole romance, getting into relationship part was in bullet speed, I tried to understand. Fine they going differently, elsewhere first there's good development then leads get together but it's okay if here it's vice versa, but no lol, that development never existed so the chemistry.. first their relationship was bombarded then they 'love' each other onto us, why they do? I think the writer left that question to viewers... other than the addition of boredom there's no purpose so we have some questions to solve, right?

When I was bored more than enough from their bland and tasteless love story, it wasn't enough as we have a whole weather forecasting plot... that does give vibes is this a thriller drama? I never knew weather forecasting has that impact on common people's lives... okay I get it there are some fields where it's important, but I'm talking about common folks from my personal experience no one gives a damn to weather forecast here... some even say proudly that their predictions are always opposite to outcome. Or is this is thing is SK? or as usual glorifying every profession, it seems later case to me

It's a Netflix drama so, with their usual production quality and cinematography, I didn't give attention to osts, see if a dish is a disaster you don't care whether the parsley used for garnishing is of top quality or not.

What writer was trying to tell... I never got to know till the end, was it noona romance? (would be most bland ever), Thrilling experiences while forecasting, How to keep bitchy attitude even though you cheated... maybe it's another example of putting all random stories, most uninteresting characters (including leads), with most boring scenario.. together to form a thing called drama.. and yeah garnished with annoying... unbearable characters. Voila!

I actually have a lot to rant about but I really don't want to waste more words for ranting.. so I'll stop here, definitely not recommended. Maybe if you need to watch something that'll bore you to death then you should.

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A lot of things were hidden, mainly the reason.

This was a sweet story at times, frustrating at other times.

My biggest gripe comes from the FL character early on.

It almost seemed as if the 14 year old version was more mature than the 18 year old.

I had a hard time at one point keeping track of her age due to her overly childish behavior and ridiculous baby voice.

No one I know has ever acted or talked like that.

From other reviews it seems she does this intentionally (?) which is even more bizarre for a character to do.

The ML was pure eye candy and he knows it.

This role was just another way for him to boost his fan count.

I disliked the way he dressed / styling of his character.

Some scenes his jeans seemed too high up and he'd have his shirt tucked in like someone's grandpa.

A 5 year age difference is not that much, especially not to dress him so much older.

I appreciated the few times they did things and it was a first for both.

Example: walking together on campus and then he plays basketball.

Even though he had already been to college, he didn't have the chance to do 'couple things'.

We saw very little development in his feelings for the FL though which was a let down.

It was very sudden and not very convincing.

The reason seems to be a complete mystery other than a few flashbacks of him looking at her (very short span of time).

He literally was calling her kid and treating her like a little sister one day and then BAM! all of a sudden he's head over heels in love with her.

How?

They could've spent more time developing that part of the story and less time on the fact that his dad killed someone while drunk driving.

I also didn't understand the constant emphasis on how wealthy the FL supposedly was.

They seemed to be middle class, maybe a little higher.

Not too impressive but somehow was a big point.

The leads are both good actors so they played their parts well, but their chemistry was very lacking.

Not a popular opinion, but given my seasoned experience, one I am sticking with.

I was not moved by it, but overall it was a good watch.

Just not worth all the 9s and 10s floating about.

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I’m Your Sky & You’re My Sea.

Game recognises game, and my man LEE, has GAME! The boy had 6mins, 41secs (yes I counted) and some nonsense line about the moon and walking or something and he worked!! Effortlessly. *Standing ovation* the real MVP. Also, that scene in ep8 almost gave me a heart-attack. I was screaming, ‘Noooo P’Fah do not put our cute fluffy boo-boo’s hand there!’ LMAO, for a second I think we all forgot this show was from Domundi and they real thirsty over there.

Listen, real talk, what’s in the water over at Domundi? Beauty juice, anyone? Do their dramas make me cringe, yes, do I keep rewatching? hell yes! One thing I’ll give them though, their dramas may be cringy but their face cards would never decline. In the first episode I was like, ‘are these models or actors?’ where the normal ugly looking humans at? where my people who roll up to school like we got ran over by a truck on the way?

Anyway, here’s my quick review checklist:

#1. Episode 1 had me rolling my eyes, judging. I literally said to myself. ‘Oh great, another childish show with nonsense plot. Literally what’s with all that cringe over a damn shirt? Give it a rest already.’ But by episode 3 my arse was going ‘ahhhhh why are they so cuteeeeeeeeeee. Sunday, where the eff you at? Come early!’

#2. The creepy vibes from Oh was so strong, like damn dude did you take extra courses for this or what? Thank God he disappeared halfway through the series and we all just forgot about him. He’s probably out there following that one dude who showed him kindness and still being creepy. #savethatonedude.

#3. Hia had me rolling my eyes after Real confessed his feelings. This child gave me a headache. Dude, you’ve been touchy touchy with your best friend and initiating stuff since episode 1, and now you wanna play Mary the virgin? Then of course, he’d make out with Real, and still say he’s not sure about his feelings. If only I could reach into the screen and slap him with a rubber chicken. No, every time he opens his mouth to lie about his feelings I go, ‘my brother, my brother, my brother, let us have peace. Go sit somewhere with your nonsense.’ Ain't no way his arse was still confused after that third kiss. Heck they should have married after that second kiss.

#4. Not gonna lie, I was bored the first few episodes, almost dropped this. And that one cringy scene where Rak shouted Fah’s name during that football game. Ahhhhh, I wanted to find some nice earth, dig a deep hole and just, lie inside. The secondhand embarrassment I felt...yikes. Man was out there having his High School Musical moment, and I wanted to disappear on his behalf.

#5. Also what the hell is up with Rak, a uni student acting like a child? Was he cute, sure, but what grown up acts like that? Bls needs to stop letting grown ups act so childish, it’s really unbecoming and nonsense.

#6. PUNLEE IS THE MAN: There was no nonsense on his part. He sees it, he likes it, he wants it, he gets it. I wish he’d have taught Hia a thing or fifteen, dude was wasting screen time with his nonsense.

#7. I did not care for the stupid misunderstandings from both the main and second leads. Especially that whole sequence with the confession at the airport. Boy you did not even wait to hear an answer and ran away to sulk at some abandon parking lot. Like??? Let us to be serious in this life people.

#8. The shock I got when Fah took Rak’s hand and led it south. I was like. ’NOOOOOO, not the baby, he’s not ready. He’s too innocent, please don’t do that! Stop it!’ Loved that he saw he wasn’t ready and stopped. The breath I let out. Fast forward to ep12, and I am singing 'The innocence is goneeeee.' Like, what angle was that even?

#9. Though, FAH did not waste 1 single second the moment Rak said he was ready. LMAO, my man was hungry!!! Rak grew up too fast. Tears. But it was done really sweet and beautiful, and it turned out Rak was not as innocent as I assumed.

#10. Episode 11 was so emotional. I went through anger, tears, understanding, then happiness for the two. We need to retire this whole episode 11 curse. For the love of all things bl, please, stop breaking our hearts!

#11. I repeat, PUNLEE IS THE MAN: For that one cafe scene alone, he’s officially my fav bl character of 2025.

12. FINALE: Everyone got their happy ending, so smiles all around for our couples. Liked how Rak's father apologised to Fah, and how mature Fah was about everything. Like how Rak sister has been supportive of him throughout this drama as well. That scene with Rak and Fah was... yeah innocence don't live here no more. Lee still the man! Hia and Real, about effing time.

#13. That theme song always had me doing a happy dance.

All in all. I enjoyed the stories of all the couples, they were entertaining even with the cliches and unnecessary misunderstanding. The plot wasn’t anything new or special, it’s been done in other bls. Fake dating turns real. The cast being new was noticeable, cuz the acting was nothing to write home about, so there’s a lot of room for improvement, but they still managed to hold my attention and kept me entertained so it was not time wasted. I will recommend this to anyone looking for a new bl to watche, especially Domundi lovers. It’s cute and fluffy and serious in some parts. I look forward to more from the cast.

Anywho, see you all for the next Domundi drama, my arse will tune in for anything Domundi.

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