A Shoulder to Cry On (2023)

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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Better than most

This could be better could be worse. The acting is really good for first time actors. The ending was lack luster to say the least but I also didn’t have much expectations. Yes there doesn’t need to be a kiss to show intimacy. Yes when they filmed this the actors were going through a lot with their label. Yes they’re idols. Yes we get this. Objectively speaking people are still allowed to be disappointed about not even a classic dead fish kdrama kiss. The drama was still good. Aside from this drama people need to stop using this is a kbl as an excuse for lack of or terrible kiss scenes. Stop saying “go watch a Thai bl for that” then using “kbls focus on love development blah blah blah.” One you’re insinuating that Thai bls only have good kissing and nothing more. You clearly haven’t just been watching good dramas to begin with. There are plenty of kbls that have good kiss scenes out there. Anyways rant over the drama was good.

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A Very Good Series with Decent Story. Watch It!

Brief Impressions:
Beautiful, Mesmerising, Cute

Review:

When I watched the trailer of this series, I was smitten by the beauty of the lead characters and decided to watch it on priority. And I was not disappointed.

Not only are the characters beautiful, but the cinematography is stunningly beautiful as well. I can probably enjoy watching this series even without the sound and subtitles- just to allow the elegance and freshness of the scenes to sink in.

And just to clarify- even the ambient sounds are pleasing, and enhance the overall experience.

The romantic experience is also quite nice. I love the fact that you can sense how much the lead characters adore each other just through their facial and nonverbal expressions. The development and acceptance of their feelings happens gradually, as they understand and open-up to each other.

One issue that left me dissatisfied was the lack of clarity and conviction in the final confession (one of the characters is half-asleep), and also the fact that it happened after a really really long time, when there was no solid reason for this delay.

Barring this last issue, and some initial rubbish in the name of 'pranks' that made me cringe a bit, I enjoyed watching the series and recommend that you too should go ahead and watch it without any second thoughts.

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I loved it. Actually this my first time watching a BL drama. Since Bl dramas have many sexy spicy and intimate moments I tend to avoid them (youtube shorts are okay tho hehe). But when I saw a clip of ASTCO I felt a refreshing vibe from from both the actors. I thought of giving it a try. First of all the actors are too handsome woah. I fell in love at first sight.
Since this drama has little tp no 18+ intimate moments and not even 13+ moment, I felt very comfortable but the tension between them remained which didn't let me feel the lack of intimacy. The lead characters have such a good chemistry that I could watch them all day. I loved their friendship individual as well as relationship growth. I loved how they helped each other.
TBH I couldn't believe when I learned they are rookie actors and this was their first ever drama. Both of them debuted together. I wish to se more of them together and more dramas like this.
Thank you Yechan and Jaehan. I started stanning OMEGA X too . Guys please give Omega X a look and you will love them. They are all so talented and fun. I could understand how the lead characters despite being a rookie and having quite an age difference had so much good chemistry.

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A Very Good Starter For New BL Fans + Bestest Soft BL

This is one of the bestest Korean BL I have ever watched and I highly think this would be a great BL for new BL fans too.

Why did I state so? The storyline was very great, sweet and sometimes, funny too! It is soft and light, so it is fun to watch how they two went from enemy to lovers in their own unique ways.

I very recommend this BL for those who dislike a BL that is too cheesy because this one just take it easy. Many people said it is more to bromance than a romance but still, it is very great and fun to watch and to scream at it.

Need I to remind you guys to get ready some tissues because there are certain parts that literally broke my heart and I was burst into crying.

So overall, I really love this BL and hoping for more acting and romance if they ever planned to release a new season, because one is not enough, I want more. Fun fact, this is the fastest BL I have ever finished watching, which was under 24 hours — enough to prove how I love this BL so much.

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Another quality Korean BL

It is the practice of some BL watchers, primarily I suspect from English speaking western countries, to criticise BLs for what they’re not, rather than watch them for what they are, preferring BLs to be “made to order”; the reaction to “A Shoulder To Cry On” has a lot of this, in my opinion.

The clue is in the title (in Korean, literally “Comfort the Boy”). “A Shoulder To Cry On” is a part-BL because it tells part of the story of Da Yeol (played by Kim Jae Hwan) and Tae Hyun’s (played by Shin Ye Chan) relationship; the ending leads us to feel there is more to come as they develop as a couple. But for now, the story in front of us, is a gradual coming together of two high schoolers who have never been in love, have never had sex, and who are not sure of their future paths. The upside is that by becoming each other’s companion, they gradually work out what’s important for them on their path to adulthood. They end up being each other’s “shoulder to cry on”, a major stepping stone between friendship and lover.

Da Yeol’s world is centred on his sport of archery; success for him is the touchstone of his daily life. Tae Hyun, on the other hand, specialises in bad boy behaviour to give expression to his sense of low self-worth. In a key scene early in Ep. 1, Tae Hyun sneaks into the school infirmary with Won Kyung (mischievously played by Oh Joo Seok) who offers to demonstrate gay flirting or foreplay; but while there, in a scene notable for its delicate romanticism of soft music and slow-mo billowing curtain screen, he glimpses Da Yeol for the first time. The spark between the boys is immediate if uncertain.

In a recurrent theme that plays out in various ways in BLs, both boys come from single parent homes, raising questions of how children are affected by not growing up in a two parent home. Da Yeol treats his widower father with a kindly affection for his enthusiastic if simple prescriptions for happiness, while Tae Hyun, keenly aware of his adoption status, roils internally at his alienation from parent and place. What each boy lacks in their makeup, they find inadvertently along the bumpy road of their interactions, at first bristling with conflict & misunderstanding, but then followed by a curiosity in each other and a growing familiarity to an eventual fondness for the bond of friendship even though these may not yet be ties that will be life long.

Production values are of the usual high standard from Korean series; the leads, in their acting debuts here, give good performances over the arc of their emotional journeys - another tribute if one were needed (it’s not) to the quality of the Kpop training system which teaches aspirant teenage idols skills in modelling, dancing, speaking, public appearances, personal health and attire, as well as acting and singing.

The supporting players are uniformly good, but mention should be made of the actor playing Da Yeol’s father (uncredited in English on Viki, MyDramalist, IMDB, Wikipedia) whose unflinching affection for his son reminds of those parents whose love for their children is unending and overflowing: and Jo Ooh Seok, as the jealous Won Kyung (a rarity in BLs of a villainous gay character), who follows Tae Hyun around like a predator savouring its prey.

The music is good although the OST on Spotify includes only OMEGA X’s tracks.

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Vale la pena mirarla.

Historia.

-Es una historia que desde el principio me llamó la atención e hizo que quisiera continuar viéndola, lamentablemente creo que no se aprovechó lo suficiente.
-Me hubiese gustado que profundizaran más en el pasado de DaYeol. Por qué tenía miedo de dejar el tiro con arco, por qué era TAN importante para él y por qué de un momento a otro terminó dejándolo después de llevar años solamente centrado en eso.
-También me hubiese gustado saber cómo fue exactamente que TaeHyun empezó a vivir solo, y más adelante cómo terminó su ''amistad'' con el chico que molestaba a DaYeol... lo que me lleva al siguiente punto;
- ¿Por qué el amigo de TaeHyun odia tanto a DaYeol? Es un problema que nunca se resuelve ni se explica, sin razón aparente lo odia y molesta toda la serie, y jamás se resuelve el conflicto lo cual es confuso.

El episodio final se sintió extraño, un tanto inconcluso. ¿Cómo se declaró TaeHyun? ¿Cómo reaccionó DaYeol? ¿Reacción de sus amigos? ¿Por qué DaYeol eligió ser policia? Nunca hubo indicios de que fuera algo que le gustara, igual que la carrera de TaeHyun.
También hubiese sido bonito que se dieran un beso, pero únicamente lo acepto porque al menos en los últimos momentos pudieron decirse mutuamente que se gustaban, en la cara y felices.

El que expliquen tan poquito en poco tiempo también juega en contra. El día que hagan series BL coreanas que duren la misma cantidad de tiempo que las series heterosexuales u otros BL de diferentes países, se solucionarían muchas cosas.
No entiendo por qué empeñarse en hacer series de 10-25min y pocos capítulos cuando se pueden desarrollar de mejor manera durando 45-60min y los clásicos 12-16 episodios.

Actores.

Creo que fue una buena elección. El hecho de que YeChan y JaeHan pertenezcan al mismo grupo y sean amigos en la vida real hace que conecte más con los personajes y sus sentimientos.
Tal vez hubiese sido diferente sin conocerlos, pero afortunadamente sentí cada una de las emociones que ambos transmitían. Me hicieron sentir feliz y triste a la vez, lo cual aprecio muchísimo.
Los dos lo hicieron muy bien para ser la primera vez.

¿La volvería a ver?

Probablamente no, creo que es una serie bonita para ver una sola vez y recordarla tal cuál está, sin darle muchas vueltas y simplemente disfrutar del momento.

Aún así quiero que los dos en algún momento hagan alguna serie, ya sea juntos o separados, lograron que me interese y me gustaría verlos trabajando en este ámbito por más tiempo. Mientras tanto a disfrutar de su música en OMEGA X.

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Are dramatic beach montages all they can do?

They sort of had me in the beginning, but it gradually got worse as the story progressed. It got boring, and the plot is kinda shit.

This might be a matter of genre and target audience, but I think that the time they spent running at the beach and playing with water, should have been spent developing the characters and their stories on a deeper level.

It would have also been better if they leaned more towards the psychological part of the story, but they rushed it, and even completely brushed it off in some cases, where they could have dug deeper into it.
Jo Taehyun is such an interesting character, with a traumatising past that still haunts him in the present, and yet it feels like his story was cut short. An example is the flower pot scene. They could have made a bigger deal out of the incident, or even dramatized it.
The plot had potential, but a lot of things were simply executed badly in this series.

And would it kill them to show a little skinship? Okay, they spend the final episode going on a trip together, after yet another time skip. And if I’m not mistaken, they are now a couple. So why are they avoiding physical contact, and acting like they despise the thought of touching each other? Is this a matter unfortunate chemistry, or bad directing?

Cinematography was basic and nothing special, and so was the OST. Would not watch it again.
It felt like the creators left a huge stuffed luggage unpacked, and that really bothered me.

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More Complex Story Than Realized

This is a more deeply complex story than is initially projected. At first glance, it felt too laid back and gets lost ironically in the shortness of its story. Much ends up being interpretative. There is nothing romantic about this series. It is not a BL in the classic sense of the term. I had an epiphany and suddenly I understood their commitment to each other. The two of them found contentment with each other. They are happy with each other. Since both are complimenting each other and both find solace and a kind of ‘love’ in each other, it is a relationship like no other. Not understood by us and perhaps should not be.

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I wanted to really like this series a lot.

Geez, I wanted to really like this series a lot. I kept thinking that the story is developing something, so I waited for something to happen, and it seems like what happens is usually a bridge to another development. Even the ending is a waiting game.
Also, I feel like there were a couple of things that happened that cross the line. Placing something in a drink could be a criminal offense. Even if its soy sauce.
I say I wanted to like this series because of the childhood trauma that Jos Tae experienced. A worthy undertaking for a series to do. I really am going to take issue with the Hickey scene cop-out and the lack of one decent kiss. Kids in high school and college kiss. Even same sex kids. Please don't insult your audience anymore if you (the producers directors etc.) decide to do another BL project.

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