Cherry Magic Thailand (2023)

I am spellbound by their magic!!

"Cherry Magic" is a series that has captivated my heart from its opening scenes to the closing credits, weaving a spell that I simply can't resist. The characters, the office vibes, their chemistry, and that slight touch of magic – it's got everything that makes my heart skip a beat.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!!!

It is set up in an office premises. It starts with Achi talking about him turning 30 and how a standard life of 30 year old should be, only to confess that his life lacks all those elements. But to his surprise, he gains magical power of reading people's mind and that's where everything begins. Achi, he is clumsy, under confident and at the same time innocent, extremely adorable and kind but also relatable. Damn I can definitely see why Karan is so whipped for him- I mean who wouldn't be?

Then we have Karan, he is confident, achiever and has the standard 30 year old life according to Achi. But more than that he is whipped for Achi. He is a freaking green forest. He has a secret crush on Achi and he finds everything that Achi does adorable and I don't blame him because I ain't any different. They both are adorable and so is their chemistry. Damn their interactions, subtle touches, glances, those inner monologues, those visions from Karan's imagination, those kisses, those moments, everything, I loved and enjoyed everything.

Let's talk about the real magic of "Cherry Magic" - those lines and moments that hit you right in the feels. Like the line, 'Sometimes I even feel relieved that in a world where I seem to fade into the background, Karan always sees me.' I mean, can we take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this!! And it's not just the words; it's the way they play it out. As Achi looks at Karan when Karan is passing by his seat in the bus, he remembers all the moments with Karan. More so the moment, in the retreat, when he thought no one would want to pair up with him and he just aimlessly, without looking backward, walks backward and collides with Karan's front. Their eyes lock, Karan smiles and the question, "Do you want to pair up with me?" unfolds like a fairytale. Sounds cliche I know but trust me, that moment felt so magical. I was legit smitten by this scene and it's not just a one time thing. I have so many favorite lines and moments- be it that rooftop moments or the beach moment or the pre Loi krathong festival moments or those read my mind moments or those absolutely heart melting video calls. This series is like my happy pill. I have so many favorite moments and whenever I go back to watching it, I am instantly happy.

Talking about the supporting characters, first and foremost I love Pai. She is so cute, charismatic and moreover I feel her. Aaaaahhhh my heart!!! Also, her chemistry with Rock is so adorable. Rock is kind of talkative, funny and cheerful guy and he is whipped for Pai and I am too. Moreover, their confession scene was so so cute. Moving on to Min and Jinta, I love them no less. Jinta, he is a really funny guy. He also gains the magical power of reading minds and the way he was freaking out about it and trying to avoid people's touch, it's hilarious. Moreover, the cat's thoughts really cracks me. And the confession scene of Min and Jinta, it had me rolling and blushing. They are so adorable.

Also, the ost Loudest love, oh my god I absolutely love it. I have been listening to it on loop. To top it, the ost 'Everything is magic' is Achi's pov and 'Voice within' is Karan's pov , both the mvs are connected and it's so adorable plus ear pleasing. I am absolutely smitten by them.

Highly Highly Highly Recommended!!!!

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adorable adaptation

Overall: the first episodes really wowed me with honoring the source material/Japanese series but putting its own Thai touch on it. There were a few items I wish had been done differently but a solid romcom that I enjoyed. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Airing on VIU with English subtitles (you need a VPN first set to Thailand and then click on the link) https://www.viu.com/ott/th/en/vod/2281332/Cherry-Magic-30-ยังซิง

Content Warnings: harassment, manhandling, body shaming, non con recording, vomiting, homophobia

What I Liked
- good reference to the manga
- sweet/cute moments
- funny parts
- good kissing/intimacy
- Achi and Karan had some solid communication and cleared up misunderstandings relatively quickly
- Achi's parents
- Karan's sister talking to their parents
- production value

Room For Improvement
- though I looked forward to the increased runtime, it ended up dragging a little at certain points
- happy they avoided the episode 11 curse but that was a stupid "plan"
- similar to the manga (but dissimilar to the Japanese live action) Karan was too grabby a few times with Achi
- space sound they sometimes had when Achi heard inner thoughts
- cat looked very well fed/taken care of for a stray cat
- did the dancer's hair change color at times? (continuity error?)
- disappointed with Pai's character, she gave an awesome empowerment speech towards the beginning of the series and then they had her go a very familiar route
- the m/m couple needed more screentime/development shown
- overt product placement is a negative as compared to the Japanese series but I didn't take off points for product placements as it funds series
- GMMTV should have released that statement right when they removed the first 2 episodes from YouTube at the end of December instead of 3 months later admitting that it was their fault for the lack of international release (did not take off points from my review)

(updated April 6th 2024 after GMMTV's official statement) https://twitter.com/GMMTV/status/1776414522393391494
International Release: on December 20th 2023 after 2 episodes aired on YouTube internationally, GMMTV stated that it could no longer air Cherry Magic internationally. It then aired on VIU to those in Thailand (had English subtitles). Finally 3 months later GMMTV release an official statement saying that due to their mistake with the contract they cannot air the series outside of Thailand and are working on copyright and licensing for every country. Let this be a lesson to all production companies to clearly state in your contract international streaming rights.

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A faithful manga adaptation? More like a visually appealing, badly written AU

Cherry Magic is a simple love story that in its less than 6 years of existence has reached incredible amounts of success; the existence of this show is proof of it. With 5 adaptations out at the moment, unfortunately, this is by far the weakest one.

I will preface this by saying I did have an initial prejudice when this show was announced; the “fixed pairing” culture of Thai BL shows makes no sense to me and considering the acting quality of the show was what got me into Cherry Magic in the first place, I was worried it wouldn’t live up with a casting made so…cashgrabing-ly?. However, when the official pilot dropped I was 100% aboard the CMTH ship; especially at the promise of a longer adaptation, more faithful to the manga which was by now 2 times the length of when the JDrama first aired.

Well, to my displeasure, this version did not deliver on any of its promises. The first few episodes were great but as the show went on the writing quality went downhill. First of all there is no way this version is more faithful to the manga than it is to the jdrama. The director did not take interest (since 2021!!) in this story from the manga, let’s be honest. Scenes original to the Jdrama were used in this version. But I’ll come back to that later.

The writing of this show is childish. Which is ironic because it’s currently the spiciest adaptation.

CM is an overwhelmingly positive manga but that doesn’t mean the characters themselves are saints.

Achi is 10 times kinder and nicer than his original version. He has an entire support system in his workplace that isn’t afraid to show him affection. His social skills are fine for the most part. He is almost immediately accepting of Karan’s crush on him. I’m sorry but what is exactly his problem in this adaptation then? That he got rejected once? And as the show progresses he never gets over his passiveness as opposed to his manga counterpart. He does one or two things but it’s not convincing.

Karan on the other hand is a totally creepier version of Kurosawa in this one. I know I shouldn’t linger on small cringy details but the personalized gifts amongst his other behaviours were really too much. Achi being so accepting of it, almost basking in it from the get-go, and just occasionally getting nervous was so boring and out of character.

I don’t want to focus on side characters too much but I will give this adaptation that JintaMin were a delight to watch; a lot of times more than the main couple.

Pai and Rock is probably the second worst thing this adaptation has done; a fanservice ship made so fujoshi could self insert themselves about a guy who’ll accept them for who they are. They had already taken several scenes from the Jdrama so idk why they didn’t keep Pai aroace; straight representation for fujoshi matter I guess. Dujdao was a fun addition to the cast.

This show is a big WHY to me. Why did they have to follow the JDrama and the basic BL drama formula which resulted in such a bad pace? Despite what the JDrama will have you believe, Cherry Magic is a fairly fast paced story. For God’s sake the 20 minute anime is going at the same (and actually faster!) pace than this 40 minute show and God only knows how much this adaptation would have benefitted from that. Why promise a more faithful adaptation to the manga when the JDrama influence is as clear as day?

The high production and longer runtime might have tricked people into overlooking its awful writing but I will not fold. Episode 8 was probably the worst original plot to be written into an adaptation in the history of adaptations and it further proves to me that whoever worked on the script did not understand the original characters and the series’ charm one bit. For one, that precious runtime could be used for a lot of skipped manga moments; but of course not, because, again, clearly the source material is not the manga…

I seriously felt insulted at the way my favourite plot points were handled. It’s like they were afraid to let any negative emotion or any serious situation/problem linger in more than one scene, like I was watching a kid’s show where by the end of the episode everything was magically fine, without the stakes being that high in the first place.
There’s a difference between being a down to earth, sweet show that has clever writing and equally clever characters that resolve their conflicts and a constant stream of sugar and everything nice. After some point, it doesn't feel earned.

It's not horrible unredeemable garbage. It's overrated for sure and it's nowhere near the quality of other adaptations (despite arguably having the MOST resources) but what did it well, it did very well. The intimacy scenes were well shot, well acted. The cute affectionate moments between Karan and Achi were cute and believable and delightful when they weren't overridden by cringe. When they were faithful to the manga, i.e. EP6, their high quality production elevated the story. But that's literally it.

I understand that the characters had to be changed to fit the cultural context, this is CM's second foreign adaptation so I'm familiar with localization of the characters. But these changes resulted in a shallower version of the characters, giving me nothing to root for other than the show to reach its end

Spoilers for things I found extremely annoying

(EP1)Achi is supposed to accept Karan's offer to stay other BEFORE seeing his wild fantasies. Having him accept AFTER is contrary to his character.

(EP2) Achi's ear is embroidered on the pyjama shirt? And he's not freaking terrified about it? GMMTV surely you could have come up with a better merch idea

(EP4) Once again following the JDrama and the manga and missing the point of Fujisaki's character; You cannot mix the two different versions of Fujisaki. In the manga, she is a fujoshi, admiring Kurosawa and Adachi from afar, making scenarios just to pass time without ever making them uncomfortable. In the JDrama she is their friend. Her being their shipper (to the point she has them as her lockscreen, unashamed) and their close friend is just weird.

(EP5)The whole fiasco of Karan getting jealous of Achi and Jinta being all touchy in the office is supposed to happen after they start dating and cause Karan to get jealous of the fact Achi is never as open with him as he is with Jinta (and that leads to the magic reveal). To use that scene in an episode where he already got (rightfully) jealous 12 other times was dumb.

(EP7) Karan shows up at 5am. Instead of having the original scene where Adachi asks Kurosawa to help him pick out clothes little creep Karan forces a gift on Achi. Of course. He brings socially anxious Achi to meet his friend on the first date. And instead of keeping the iconic moment of Adachi intiating the second date to make up for it, Achi once again has no agency. Gives him the ugliest merchbait necklace known to man. GMM count your days

(EP8) Karan is willing to risk getting sexually assaulted to prove his love for Achi to their boss. Achi is as passive about it as he possibly can. Are we serious?

(EP9) The transfer is changed from one year (manga) to one month. One month and Achi feels like their relationship will fall apart. Can we please be serious just for once

(EP10) Achi is going away for a month but they have to train living apart instead of valuing their last week together. Kurosawa would have punched Karan in the face for that. And also Karan being outside in his car everyday was totally not creepy. Seriously.

(EP11) No matter how much you try to force the hetero ship you're not convincing me. Also just sucked the charisma out of Rock's character.

(EP12) Karin steps up to convince her mother to accept Karan's relationship with Achi. This is quite literally one of Adachi's most important moments in the manga and I cannot understand why it had to go to Karin.

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This show couldn't match the japanese charm and acting

Again a dispointing GMM-TV commercial with some BL show inbetween.
No elegance in the characters, all is very smooth and plain.
Reading some of the reviews, it looks like people do like shallow shows with outstanding production value.

Why we did need a third couple, I have no idea, but when u write superficial scripts, you need to fill the time with something. I also don't like BL actors playing hetero in a BL even when he and his "girl" were the best characters of all, which is sad for a BL, "Jinta" was stupidly over-acted because it's a thai "comedy" and the rest of them did not leave a mark.

Some fluffy scenes don't make a good BL, This show is highly overrated, but you could have watched a worse show. Still, I would recommand to watch the japanese version and you won't miss anything if you skipped the thai version.

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Falls slightly outside my personal preferences

GMMTV's production quality shines through in the cinematography and colour grading of the series, but the plot falls short with its simplistic and predictable nature. The clear-cut plotlines introduced separately result in a lack of anticipation and cohesion, making it difficult to fully immerse yourself in the story.
While the main couple shows some good chemistry, their story lacks depth and substance, hindering true emotional investment in their relationship. The cringey moments of the second couple overshadow any potential for genuine connection, while the initial charm of the third couple quickly fades.
The show's Japanese origin is noticable in many unrealistic scenes that detract from the viewing experience, and despite the interesting concept of mind reading, the story fails to fully capitalize on this unique element.
Although the twist of both Karan and Achi proposing simultaneously was a refreshing moment, the unnecessary wedding theme added to the overall feeling of a lackluster conclusion for each couple. With the second couple getting engaged and the third couple starting to officially date, the series felt more like a checklist of obligatory relationship resolutions rather than natural progressions. Overall, the final episodes of the series felt like a chore to get through.

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Disappointing.

I guess I had high expectations for this series, the original Cherry Magic is one of my favorites. The first few episodes aren't bad, and I had hope. Sadly, I was disappointed. The acting was not terrible, but not great. The acting and plot was just a little exaggerated and cheesy. There seemed to be a lot of filler plots and scenes. Like what was the random "no office dating" drama thrown in? It got dismissed almost immediately and served no real purpose. Or the employees of the new branch running away to play soccer, what did that sub plot do? Nothing I can think of.
They took away the asexual character and made a third pair that was not needed. I actually think that was what made me the most frustrated. I loved that in the original. And I hoped all the way until the end that maybe Pai would say to Rock that she just wasn't interested in another relationship. But no. Also, the whole last episode seemed very rushed, suddenly we're at a wedding? Honestly, the more I think about it, the less I like it.

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Pick up the manga instead. Please. It's NOT worth it.

This show only works if you already like the actors in it or if you like stories with absolutely no conflict (also known as Bad Writing). The writers did not understand not even 1/10th of the characters, the copied plots from the JDrama were badly done, and they fundamentally misunderstood what makes Cherry Magic appealing in the first place.

The lack of conflict between Karan/Achi was lame and when EP8 came around it made Achi look extra like an asshole; Writers you know you can make the protagonist get angry at their love interest when they risk their safety, right? It's so obvious this show was inspired by the original drama's success and how everyone considers that a comfort show but what, whoever is responsible for this mess, doesn't understand that Cherry Magic puts good writing first not trying to fulfill the "green flag male lead, comfort story" quota like this show did. And if you flip through any of the manga volumes you'd see how weak this show's writing is compared to it. Especially with Achi being the most mischaracterized of the lot even though he's the protagonist makes this weakness stand out. Of course it doesn't have to be an exact copy, nobody is asking for that, but the show felt so different that it's not even the same characters anymore.

Jdrama wasn't flawless either but at least they had the excuse that they didn't have enough material to adapt. At the time this show started filming there were 11 volumes out that the writers could take the story from but funnily enough the show uses solely the events the original drama did.

EP8 was the most disgusting thing this show pulled, that the original story would never endorse. Having Karan go back to the woman who sexually harassed him erases the entire reason (the original Kurosawa at least) he falls for Achi. Achi not getting upset and simply moving on, not even trying to defend him against Kem was completely out of character. They don't even have Achi fight for Karan's parents approval like he did in the OG nor do they keep their Very important fight about how Karaan needs to NOT shoulder EVERYTHING by himself. Cherry Magic ALWAYS calls out and scolds Kurosawa when he gets self sacrificial for the sake of Adachi but CMTH feels like it's... commending him for it? Which is such a wrong gross interpretation of the story on so many levels.

I do get the appeal of CMTH as a non-CM fan (I've noticed CMTH fans are less likely to pick up the manga as opposed to fans of the anime or the jdrama) but the idea that this is the most polished version of the story is SO far from the truth. If the writers wanted to write a story about two guys who have The Healthiest Relationship ever (but is it really the healthiest ever when Karan does ALL the heavy lifting?) they should have written an original script and not completely misuse the Cherry Magic IP.

At this point I can't even feel bad for the copyright fiasco, it's karma for messing with a perfect story and writing the driest and least interesting (and WRONG. so WRONG) interpretation of it.

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Wow, that was boring!

I might get a lot of hate for saying this, but the Thai version was so boring.

I have already watched the Japanese version of this series and I liked it very much. The reason why I believe that the Thai version is boring, is because they tried to adapt the whole series in a thai environment and honestly I don't think that it worked out.

In my personal opinion, when you have a ship like TayNew, casting them for this type of series is wrong. I don't know if I am too mean, but I just believe that these roles didn't match their BL aura. Give them something like Dark Blue Kiss. Hell yeah! That's something that they can, 100%, pull off. Casting them for roles that are too shy or quiet, it's just something that I am not a fan of.

I don't know how to further explain why I found it so boring. Maybe it's because I had higher expectations of a series that we would have again TayNew as the main leads, and it had to be this series. I personally believe, that there were other actors that could have been a better fit for this series, but here we are.

Well, that's it. Bye!

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GMMTV did one (1) thing right

I have so much praise to give about this series. Its quite literally the best BL series I have watched ever. I don't really care if you think I'm overselling it but this is MY truth!

Watched both versions (JP and TH) and I can honestly say that this is miles better from CMJP. The writing, production, storytelling, characterization, they really nailed it all. JP's version has nothing compared to the nuance and care TH's version has given and freaking GMMTV is the one behind this. They really did one (1) thing right.

New's acting really stood out here. I'm so glad he is one who gave life to Achi. Same goes to Tay as Karan and the other actors. They really made the characters come alive.

If I'm gonna list down everything that made me love this series, my review might reach 1,000 words. I'm just so glad I got to watch this series. I know its fantasy but it showed how real, gentle, kind and respectful love can be. It really is magic. ✨️

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Thai remake did well yet somehow lost the magic from the major changes they did

Kurosawa and Adachi are some of the few fictional characters that I have grown attached to and always had a special place in my heart. I’ve been gearing up with excitement since the moment that GMMTV announced that a remake of the hit-iconic Cherry Magic, the live-action adaptation from the manga with the same name, is on the way. Most especially this is the comeback series of Tay and New as the main couple in a BL show. I trusted them to give justice to my well-beloved KuroDachi.

The Japanese version set the high so high that it pains me not to enjoy this remake version. I was even more disappointed that they turned Pai’s character into someone who ended up being with Rock, in which the Japanese version was introduced to Fujisaki as someone who is not interested in any love-romance in her life which was a very rare personality of a character.

Don’t get me wrong, the overall production quality from this remake was good enough but still lacked the same magic effect that I felt from the Japanese adaptation, the manga, and the anime that is currently airing right now. Too many additional scenes were added from the Thai remake yet not fully effective to get me to giggle in love with their impact. I feel like I can fully enjoy this one if I haven’t watched any of the previous adaptations of the popular Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!

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Started wonderfully clever then weak writing turned it simplistic and unsatisfying.

General spoilers only. Most people will like this, and I'd encourage giving it a try. I, however, was left quite disappointed, so I'm posting this review to give an alternative to popular opinion.

If you've never seen the Japanese live version (series, special episode, and movie), then you might enjoy this more. For me, the only thing the Thai version gave in the second half of the show that wasn't already far better portrayed by the Japanese version, was the physical intimacy.

This started so strongly then became yet another Thai BL let down by weak writing. At first, the screenplay was clever in how it honored the original material while adjusting things here and there to add some new depth to the characters and their interactions. I would give Ep 1-4 a 9.5/10. It was familiar in a comforting way yet fresh and interesting.

Then it slid into simplistic & shallow writing, it rushed plot and pivitol moments, became cheesy & corny, character arcs plateaued, the number of overheard thoughts dwindled away even when people were being touched, and an increasing number of plot points required suspension of disbelief (I'm not talking about anything magic related- that's just a natural part of this story). It started to feel more like a string of fan service moments than an emotionally moving story.

Because work and life challenges became so easy to get through, it felt like Achi and Karan didn't really get to grow as a couple. There wasn't a meaningful learning curve for them in navigating life as a team. (Especially when compared to the Japanese version.) Their words to each other are very sweet, but the further in the story goes, the more their love is told to the audience more than it's shown by examples (which wasn't the case in the beginning, which is why those episodes are stronger).

Tay and New kept me watching. Especially Tay; he's just a perfect match for the character of Karan. His energy and earnestness were endlessly endearing.

The theme song is great; it's so catchy I watched through the intro credits every week just to hum along.

I will rewatch Ep 1-4 at some point because I thoroughly enjoyed them, but I'll never sit through the rest of it again. I'd rather just watch the Japanese version.

GENERAL SPOILERS below.
My thoughts on episodes as I watched the weekly releases:

Ep 1-4: A great adaptation so far. It's clever in the way it added depth to the characters and in the differences from the Japanese live version. I'm excitedly looking forward to it every week. The casting is great, Tay in particular. I absolutely love Karan's zaney internal dialogue and Tay's vocal acting with it.

Ep 5-7: Good but not as great; it's feeling less clever but I'm still invested.

I wish I had skipped Ep 8 (or just watched the last 5 min)! It's is soooo awful. The plot of this episode is so contrived, idiotic, frusterating, ridiculous, and requires a stupidly high suspension of disbelief. The boss's reasoning and interference is shallow and cliche, and the fact that he let things get that far with the awful power-play client before intervening makes him a terrible boss and unlikable human being. And Achi stayed quiet too, which was frustrating.

Ep 9 was better than 8 but it felt like it rushed the really pivitol moments. There was a lot of sweetness but also a lot of cheesy-ness. This script is just not as good with slice-of-life writing as Japanese ones often are. It feels like the quality of the script has been unraveling for the past few episodes. I doubt I'll keep re-watching it like I do with the Japanese version. I felt the first few Eps were a 9.5/10 but I am now reducing my overall rating to a temporary 8/10, I'll see if that holds.

Ep 10 was better in pacing and content. The script did a better job building up to and proceeding from the pivitol moment of Achi reaching out to touch because he doesn't believe Karan's as okay as he says he is. I'm still feeling let down with the script; there are moments that are supposed to be hearfelt but miss the mark because they are a little too cheesy to me. Also, the plot stretches credulity to force certain things to happen and it makes things feel clunky and less believable, pulling me out of immersion and reducing my ability to stay emotionally invested. Tay and New are doing great with what they are given and are the reason why I'm still watching consistently (I'm also fond of the girl Pai). I'll probably be lowering my rating but I'll wait to see how the last two episodes pan out.

I do like how Karan and Achi talk things out every episode and never let misunderstandings simmer for long before resolving them. On the other hand, the fact that they do this consistantly (every episode after they start dating) and reletively easily, undermines the validity of how uneasy Achi feels about them being in different cities for 1-2 months. Half a year I would understand, but 1 month? When you have been able to communicate with each other well every time there's an uncertainty? They haven't even used the mind reading much. Achi's voice over thoughts have been much less systemically insecure and yet the script is having him act like that's still a big issue.

Ep 11: Only the last 2 scenes (42min in, aka the last 9min) with Karan and Achi exploring intimacy were really enjoyable. The rest of it was too cheesy, shallow, and rushed. The challenges and uncertainties of life (work and relationships) that were brought up were laughably easy and simple to navigate. The screenplay dumbs everything down to the point that it's not interesting and barely enjoyable. I had to speed watch most of this episode to get through the cringness.

Ep 12: So simplistic and cheesy it made me keep cringing and itching to skip forward. Again, potential life challenges were built up but then easy to get through once the time came (all of the family stuff felt so hollow). I was left feeling disappointed.

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LOVED THIS SO MUCH

The fact that I almost didn't watch this because it was so hard for me to find a platform where this was available is crazy. This is one of my favorite bls ever and definitely a comfort series that I will rewatch. I have never watched the Japanese version but after watching the Thai version I definitely want to because I completely fell in love with this series and characters, Karan especially. Karan has to be the greenest flag out of every bl character and as a green flag lover I enjoyed him so much. Especially the scene where they were dared to kiss but he saw that Achi was uncomfortable and didn't do it, something as simple as that goes a far way, showing how respectful he was of Achi's boundaries (some bl characters should learn from him.) I'm not sure if it's because I was so into the main couple but I didn't really care about the side couples.

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