Sotus: The Series (2016)

I jumped into BL one night during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 after watching a multi couple edit video on YouTube one night. I started with 'Why R U?', but when I realised that it hadn't finished being made, i abandoned it (temporarily) and watched 'Until We Meet Again', 'Love By Chance' and 'Theory of Love'

After taking this deep dive into Thai BL, I found MDL and read a lot of discussions and comments and watched even more multi couple videos on YouTube and found my way to SOTUS.

Before I start, full disclaimer: I am not Thai. Nor am I Asian. I am a white Australian. Therefore I may be seeing some things through the lens of my culture and upbringing which may not seem right to someone who is Thai.

SOTUS (an acronym for Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity and Spirit) is a system that freshmen in the faculty of engineering go through to earn their gear and be officially recognised as juniors by their third-year seniors. Arthit (Perawat Sangpotirat aka Krist) is head of the hazers, as the seniors are known, and he has a tendency to abuse his power.

The freshman are basically required to do anything asked of them by their seniors, which skirts a very dangerous line between hazing and outright bullying. At least one student collapses during one of the activities.

A freshman named Kongpob (Prachaya Ruangroj aka Singto) joins the university and the SOTUS program and immediately defies Arthit, standing up for himself and his classmates against the bullying. And it is actual bullying in a lot of cases. One moment that stands out to me is Arthit ordering Kongpob to stand on a table, shout at the top of voice that he likes men, then go and ask three other males students to be his boyfriend.

It was very hard to watch. Making the freshman run laps, do push-ups or sing and tasks of that nature are relatively okay, but what Arthit had Kongpob do went way past simple hazing. People's sexualities, whatever they may be, are not something to be used for public humiliation.

If you can get through the first three or so episodes, things do improve. Arthit and Kongpob being to understand one another better and each other's perspective on things. They begin to develop mutual respect and then that deepens into something more.

There is not a lot of physical contact in this show. Arthit and Kongpob kiss twice, maybe three times, and that's it. There's no skin shown and no heavy makeout scenes.

There is a now famous scene that takes place on the Rama VIII bridge in Bangkok, where Arthit and Kongpob kiss for the first time, and both the scene and the bridge are now so entwined with Thai BL that they are reference in other BL shows.

SOTUS was released in 2016 and can be considered, along with Love Sick, the show that really pushed Thai Bl into the mainstream. Both shows are on Netflix, both shows are referenced in other BL series (characters are seen either watching the shows, or the couple will go the bridge, or someone mentions/orders pink milk) and both shows set up ideas about what Thai BL should be.

Thankfully, in this series, there is no sexual assault (another trope used quite frequent in BL - from many countries) and once you get past the first four or so episodes the hazing becomes less egregious. If, like me, you were bullied in school, you may find some of the scenes triggering.

All in all, this is not a bad series. The acting is very good. Singto, especially, is an excellent actor (if you like him, do yourself a solid and go watch him in 'He's Coming To Me') and Krist is no slouch either. The supporting cast is also very good (keep a lookout for pre-Kiss Me Again and Dark Blue Kiss actor New Thitipoom and pre-theory of Love Off Jumpol.)

I love the opening titles song.

I don't rate this as highly as other shows, but it's still worth a watch if you haven't, just mind yourself if bullying is a trigger for you.

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*The story is amazing and very compelling. It is perfect for this generation since they showed that LGBT relationships are not a huge issue anymore, that bisexual must not be ashamed of who they are and whom they wanted to be with.
*The actors are REALLY GOOD. Their acts are magnificent. Perfect in every scene. It only showed that the director is excellent. I commend the director for a job well done.
*The theme song is perfect for the story. The musical scores are dragging. The best.
*I personally watched the entire series many many many times, like 8-10 x? Is it not enough to justify why I rate "rewatch value" 10/10?
OVERALL: THE BEST!
I love that you decided to make a part 2. Gosh. Thanks a lot. You made your viewers really happy. LOVE YOU ALL CASTS AND STAFFS of SOTUS and SOTUS S.

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Perfect, immaculate, amazing, ideal, a masterpiece

the title says it all, i loved the whole two seasons, arhtit and kongpop are literally lovable, and their "enemies to lovers" trope will make you not stop watching. I didn't really mind the lack of skinship, honestlyi love and rewatch all of their scenes just because they are adorable. I may be a litte biased because it'smy favorite series, but i can understand how some people can be bored by it because the plot moves really slow. I personally love and adore this story, it's literally my comfort series. Their story isn't toxic it's realist. I personally cry everytime i rewatch both seasons. If you want some soft series to binge i recommend this a lot <33

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One of the first popular Thai BL dramas, but doesn't hold up as well today

NO-SPOILER REVIEW

Before watching this series, keep in mind that it was one of the first Thai BL dramas ever made. Because it was a pioneer during its time, certain stylistic conventions hadn't been developed yet, so some parts may feel off compared to more current BL dramas. Other dramas owe a lot to this drama for helping the BL genre take off. For those who watched it when it first came out, they remember it very fondly. For those of us who are watching it after the fact, it may not hold up without the nostalgia factor. I wanted to like this series but unfortunately, it left a lot to be desired.

Pros
- The series portrays relationships between characters in a relatively realistic and mature way. No drama for drama's sake.
- The cast is good and the acting is on-point.

Cons
- The overall pacing is very slow. Multiple scenes could have been condensed. The overall development of the relationship takes a very long time to develop.
- It was a bit hard for me to believe that the main couple would have feelings for each other given the types of interactions they had on screen.
- There is a heavy focus on college hazing that ends up dominating the series. This becomes very tiresome and repetitive and can be off-putting for some.
- Potential side couples/relationships weren't ever really developed.

Overall
- Most fans of this series seem to love it for being one of the first big Thai BL dramas. It's still an ok series worth watching today, but unfortunately, it just doesn't hold up to other modern series.

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I am confused

Okay can someone tell me why everyone adores this series? I do not mean to sound mean or anything. I am genuinely curious. I wish I had enjoyed this series so that I can be as passionate about as I see some people be about it. But no. The series for me was bland. I did not find one part of the show that I was moved by in any way. I pushed myself to get through it. I even started its sequel too but abandoned it . I did not really like any of the acting. I do not know what it it is. I think I just found Singto rather lifeless or maybe I just don't feel like he connected with his character. I could be completely wrong though. Now that I have seen him in other dramas, I have enjoyed his characters but Kongpob just feels I don't know...eh? I liked Krist's acting just fine. Overall it was okay but to me just a little overhyped.

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Overrated?

Honestly, when I saw the reviews I thought WOW THIS SERIES MUST BE AMAZING.

But it's one of the worst series I have ever seen? I was watching and keep pushing myself saying "one more episode" to see when the good parts come. Till episode 6 I can say two main characters have ZERO CHEMISTRY.
I have seen many series where one of the characters was an asshole/cold person, but you could still feel the chemistry between actors.

I really have no idea how so many people rated this 10/10 . For me this series is one of the biggest disappointments, especially after seeing so many people praise the series. The story is just so boring till episode 6, just punishments blablabla, and ofc I don't believe for a second that Kong likes his love interest I just don't see any chemistry whatsoever.

Other actors are not bad actors, but I'm rating acting 1 since I see zero chemistry,

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I watched the show to see what the hype was. Arthit and Kongpop and Sotus are huge. I must say that I enjoyed watching the hazing ritual and Kongpop was a charming character. He lead the show easily and I kept wanting to see him defy the system and just do whatever he wanted. The hazers were also entertaining to watch. My biggest issue is that it takes half the series for Kongpop and Arthit to actually start interacting in a romantic sense, not just one off teases and voyeurism. I understood that one liked the other but the chemistry was just not there. The show is worthwhile to get an understanding of Sotus however it isn't a big love story. Maybe that's the charm.

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I feel like something is wrong with me

I have been hearing about this series for a few months and after watching a video on Youtube concerning enemies to lovers relationships, I decided to give this show a try. I initially starting watching 10 mins of SOTUS S be realizing I was on the wrong show.

Everyone loves this show. The acting was good but something about the plot just did not grab me. I did love the last two episodes. I wish I had found this series when it first aired. I may have been more invested and rooting for Kongpob and Arthit more but I just found Arthit to be a jerk, especially when it came to Kongpob confessing. I will admit that I did love that scene because it shocked me. I did love the scene when Kongpob ordered iced coffee than changed it to pink milk.

I do want to watch SOTUS S to see how their relationship progresses but I am not sure if I would watch this series again. I liked some of the other relationships like May who has a crush on Kong and the possible relationship between Prem and Wad. Let's see what SOTUS S has in store. I will be watching that soon.

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Wanted to add something to my original review.
I'm totally shipping Arthit and Kong pop.
The more I see of Singto I feel he's so cute when he's on variety shows! So I'm shipping both Krist Singto and Arthit Kong pop lmao
That said while I found the romance of Sotus really good, I still stand by my original thoughtson Singtos acting and the idea of hazing.

I have so much to say about this one.

But first off those last two episodes were so good! I love every moment between Arthit and Kongpop, everything from the pink milk to Arthit switching their foods, and the "cog" as the heart was just adorable! I love their sense of humor and that scene at the bridge was just SO GOOD.

Skinship wise this is a REAL SLOW BURN okay. Even when it happens there's not much proper skinship which made it feel like a teen show. The kissing was barely anything more than a peck. I feel like it would have benefited from more but still whatever. Not a deal breaker.


Because on one hand I'm totally in love with Arthit and their moments, they were so so good but on the other hand the premise is so ridiculous it really hampered my viewing pleasure.

First off, this is the dictionary definition of Hazing:

haze
/he?z/Submit
verb
gerund or present participle: hazing

force (a new or potential recruit to the military or a university fraternity) to perform strenuous, humiliating, or dangerous tasks.

Hazing is NOT A GOOD thing.

See, I love seeing all those weird tropes in fiction I wouldn't ever want in real life. Stalker tropes, non con, etc. I saw ADDICTED and despite that non con scene I was in love with Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin! Mostly because Gu Hai knew he was nuts, he was obsessed! He said it himself, he didn't even expect Luo Yin to forgive him let alone rationalize what he did!

But the problem is not with showing that kind of passion in fiction but the problem is in not realizing that it's abuse and non consent. That's why SOTUS bothered me so much. They kept acting like hazing was something positive lol ugh NO.

I would have just preferred to have Arthit be abusive bully and it could have been a story about peer pressure and problems at home, the reason so many students bully everywhere in the world and they could have fallen in love regardless like ADDICTED. If you've seen Bad Romance this is why I freaking love Knock and Korn, just watch their interaction, they literally come to blows that's how angry and passionate they get but never rationalize hitting someone!

So now that's out of the way, let's get on to the other aspects of the show.

First off, Krist played Arthit and he constantly reminded me of Suga, he does resemble him a bit but it was more than that, it was his attitude too, typical tsundere with a genuinely adorable and sweet soft side.

Singto played Kongpop and I love that he was assertive and not a pushover despite having a good heart. But I was disappointed by Singto's performance tbh he's handsome and all, but his facial expressions remain the same in every scene! Does he not have any real life experiences to draw on? Either that or he's too immature atm.

But I would definitely watch the next season even if it's mostly for Krist and a BL story line. It was entertaining and I think you should see it but it's not my favorite. As for the supporting cast M deserves a special mention but generally all the support cast was appealing. I liked that there were no slapstick annoying characters.

Btw despite the faults of the premise I would have rated it a ten if Singto's expressions weren't so woody all the time. So, I'm confused about shipping them atm. I kind of ship them but mostly I ship Arthit! I hope Singto gets better in the next season.

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