A realist depiction of gay life end of the 1980ies...

While nowadays so much BL crap is produced, this is a very serious story about how life was for teens at the end of the 80ies. It's especially important because this movie begins when the martial law ended in Taiwan. They discover themselves, they discover how cruel the world is, discover that the end of martial law does not change people over night and also what role the church played against homosexuals.

It's one of the masterpieces Taiwan always produced in the BL-World where the story matters, where the characters matter, where the acting matters and where the production quality, direction and execution matters. All is done so well and all makes sense.

This movie does not have a happy end, so I advise caution before you watch it because it could make you feel terrible, sad or even depressed. Still, it's a masterpiece and leaves a strong impression.

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Not a love story...

Two boys meet at a playground and since then are often together. Both can't communicate well. One is "docile" and bullied a lot at least at the playground and the other is a "cool" boy but void of many feelings. That's a typical J-Drama, full of misunderstandings and poor communication. In highschool they meet the same girl, and the "docile" boy falls in love but again no communication. The "cool" boy says bad stuff about the "docile" boy, but he seems to be jelous of his love and so he takes interest in the girl and after university they marry. You may think it's a love triangle, but it's not. And then all the bad stuff happens.

While the story is not as good as it could have been, it's consistent and logical. The acting is top notch, I guess you can say it's not natural and a bit over-acted for dramatic effect, but all chars are still believable. Camera, Lighting everthing was very good too giving this series a special vibe (which gets a bonus point in my rating). I would have wished, they would have expanded on the flashback as boys to see if the "cool" boy was always an asshole especially to the "docile" boy, but we will never know. For me it had some bromance vibes surpressed by the "cool" boy.

Overall a vey good show, but nothing "entertaining" in the usual sense.

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More entertaining than most other shows in 2024

The story was more interesting and complex compared to all the other crap we had to watch in 2024, even when not everything is perfect. Of course there is over-acting and sillyness but also very serious scenes and nice fighting scenes. The set and costumes are stunning which is a highlight of this series, just some hair-pieces could have been improved.

I don't want to get in detail with the plot and acting and so on, because lot's of reviews already do that. I felt entertained even with some of the over-acting and sillyness, so for me it's a good show with stunning visuals.

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Whats with the cliché storyline?

While the first part of the series did have a female antagonist which felt forced, I have no idea how they could insert such a story plot in episode 7. I can't understand as well why there is still miscommunication and trust issues when they seemingly resolved their problems in ep 5 & 6. I don't really get it.
I thought they would tell a story where both of them would grow but not to insert a third wheel which will shaken one of them. The ending feels like they are in a fragile relationship and even if the ending seems to resolve all problems I don't feel it will.

So overall a medicore storyline with cliché plotpoints. I can't fault the acting and the kissing scenes felt natural for me. Maybe the epilogue in the "payed" version would have brought more clarity but to pay for some minutes more content is not worth it for me.

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The first four episodes were cute, but it falls of till episode 7

I was quite hyped for this BL, and the beginning was really nice great.
But episode 7 killed some of it. I would have wished they could communicate without "Keitas" help and I would have even more flashbacks to communicate that they were really, really close. While the slow pace does not kill it for me, Ryotas behaviour does to some extent. I would have wished episode 7 did not happen or that he could break out of his shell and confess then which would have been much better.

Of course typical of such JBL the kissing was lacking as well. If you long for someone, you just not touch lips and let it be. You may be shy and start slowly but I prefer kissing which conveys the feeling of the characters. It's lame and unrealistic, so why do they do it all the time?

This series was enjoyable with some length and a frustrating moments in episode 7, but overall it was good.

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much better than the manga...

I did read the original source and I think it was a medicore manga.
But this show fixed most flaws in the manga, reduced the story to the essential but did miss out on Hiros development so the ending feels rushed.

The jerk-off scene stired some controversy but I think it should show Hiros docile character, running like a machine without an option to decide what he wants.

I wished they had at least one episode more to go deeper into Hiros character. I don't think the office scenes were too long, they are essential to understand his struggle but how he did come to the conclusion to change his workplace was too fast, when Hiro has lived in a "treadmill" for five years. Also some flashbacks to Kais family live with his father would have helped the show.

It's always a problem with such short shows to go deeper when all you have are six episodes. I don't quite understand why they have to limit themselves. Two episodes more shouldn't do that much for the budget but could make the show better.

Some are impressed by the opening sequence which I don't like. Why? Because most japanese series show the happy end and they waste 1:19 of only 24mins runtime.

Regardless of the flaws it was a good show with high production value with some fluffy scenes and an adorable couple. MDL is missing a voting for cinematography and design which are also integral for a good series, so my endscore is higher than "calculated" :)

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hard to judge because it has it's lengths

The best thing the show did, was not starting with a sex scene as the manga did.
What was frustrating was the lack of communication overall, but especially on Asamis part. He was in love for years and still can't communicate properly when he has the chance. Of course, if both are in love they don't really need words to convey their feelings, but if the partner is inexperienced, shy and never experieced love in his life, it would help tremendously. They should have shown Asamis reason to love Yuki in Episode 2 also much earlier to give the viewers more to work with and to better understand him, I think to do that in episode 7 was a bit late.

Besides that, the series was beautifully crafted, cinematography was great and they tried to be sensual all over. The mellow pace was not a negative for me per se, but the series draged on a bit. Even with this flaws the MLs did act a wonderful job and only failed with the kissing scenes which was a bit disappointing.

So in summary a good show with some flaws but enjoyable to watch.

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What a bad ending...

While I can understand that it can be hard to accept a gay relationsship, I don't understand why the finale needed a female antagonist with the most cliché story imagable. Instead of fighting for the relationsship and a more in depth talk, the antagonist took all the screentime so there was only a "bad" ending left.
The story was quite good thus far, regardless of some hick-ups and unnecessary scenes. The chemestry and acting was very good for new actors in such a genre. So the ending did disappoint even more. Overall better than expected, there is much room for improvement for the writing, but the MLs were the highlight of this short show.

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Not an redemption arc

While I am happy that "Up" had a chance to play a different character (and we all did really hate him), I'm disapointed in the story. Ming understands what he did was wrong, but he did not change his character that much. I can believe that he now really tries hard to be a better partner, but we have no idea if his control and power issues has been dealt with and I doubt it.
There were scenes where he was lying on the floor not eating, just drinking and not doing much, but this did not help to change his narcisistic flaws which are still present in the finale. I guess the screenwriter are contradicting the character because they wanted an redemption arc.

I also would have wished, they used "Winner" for the first part of the show and only "Poom" for the second half. This would of course complicated filming, because both actors would have to learn the same mannerisms for their characters which would have made the story more interesting and the immersion in the story more believeable. That the same person plays both characters irked me a bit.

I'm not happy with Mings character development and the same for Joe. Joe is always Joe not standing up for himself, not understanding when to say no. I can understand you love whom you love but there should be a moment when your brain says "enough is enough!". This show had so much potential, the first four episodes had me hooked and I thought about how they will solve the redemption. And because of the lack of a real redemption arc this show fails. For me the finale was especially lackluster because everyone is now "happy", all is good and even Mike got Mings secretary as future BF (They should have expanded that arc as well), because most of the later episodes is a repeat of the first ones without the violence and lack of self-reflection on Mings part but he forces Joe once again repeating the same mistake again.

So overall the show is still above average even when the story-writing falls of a cliff. It did at least try to do something different in the sea of average shows, it did try to give us a mature story in the sea of university settings. And Up as Ming was really great!

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Thais can't adapt a foreign story....

After we had Cherry Magic and My Love Mix-Up, I had not much hope that any thai production company can adapt a non thai story. And they did not disappoint.

Why do they think, they have to make anything into a comedy with material that does not match. "Addicted Heroin" is neither funny nor a comedy. It does not make sense to have a serious story made with lot's of comedy elements (and it's stupid sounds). I can't fail the actors who all did a very good job in most scenes. Even Mac as newcomer performed much better than I would have expected. Regardless the writing was as usual lazy especially with the finale.

The final episode was confusing. The bad dad should have a relevation, so it does not make sense that both of them run away... And they are 17 or so... where can they run? Also the second couple was confusing as well and we do not know if they got together after they have chased each other for 8 episodes, than a strange reveal that "Only" was into "Pop" which did not make much sense for me.

What they also did not incorporated was the passion for each other. No time in the series I had the feeling they burn for each other. It was mostly childish or awkward. And due to the underage of Mac there is no kissing. The only highlight of the whole show was the family of Pop's dad. So in summary, this was a bad adaption as well. The series without the knowledge of the novels was not even medicore, especially because the finale does have too many loose ends and unlogical "conclusions".

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A show needed for every country....

A consevative and close minded Dad opens up to a world where humans are not like society wants them. Humans have many nuances of sexuality, identity, looks and expression. He learns to accept that humans come in many "shapes" and that he did neglect his family. We see how he opens up and how he "upgrades" himself, returns to good terms with all members of his family and how he influences other to change as well.

Thanks to a friend for recommanding this show. ?‍♂️
This is an important piece of drama which should exist everywhere. There are only some nitpicks which make the show not perfect but I won't bore you with them. Overall the team did a good job raising not only LBGTQI+ issues but what should be human rights. Don't judge people regardless of their sexual identiy, sexuality or how they look in general. Acting was also very strong and sensible done. I can only recommand this show to everyone!

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Slowly paced, cute and different

As usual, japanese BL offer something different.
Boy's (Taishin) bird died and because he had him since school, he is endlessly sad and cries in the woods. There a tourist (Takara) comes by and conforts sad boy. Sometimes later Taishin comes to the same university where Takara studies...
In the next seven episodes we see Taishin coming to grips with his feeling, each episode is a step forward for him. Because (?) Taishin is from a rual area he is incredible naive and innocent and does not know much about life. On the other hand Takara is the opposite, he is disenchanted and does not expect much from life. But Taishin opens his heart nearly instantly and while a "selfish bastard" (his words in the finale), he really does care about him and wants to protect Taishin, because he also can't believe how naive Taishin is...

The mellow pace and the story focus just for one couple was a nice difference after many shows with two or more couples and rapidly switching from one couple to the next. Both actors did a really good job of portraying their characters and the vibe of the series was mostly relaxed with some dark spots espiecally for Takara. While the pace was slow I felt never bored with any episode. The only letdown (as of many JBLs) are the lack of real kissing. But maybe we get more with the "spin off". Artstyle, camera, scenery, lighting was top notch.

Overall I can recommand this show especially if you have a stressful life, because it will calm you down. Besides that you get a sweet, sometimes fluffy story which was sensible crafted.

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What this show lacks on drama and acting it compensates with cuteness

The first thing to say is, this show is the cutes BL I have ever seen.
While fresh actors are always a risk, Keen did a superb job, Sea was a bit stiff in some scenes but he hold up well. The side couple was not as interesting and cute, but it worked ok for me.

This show was made for teens I suppose, but while the story is not really dramatic, it was fun to watch, was executed in a great and cute way. Production value was high, the OST much better than most GMMTV shows and the commercials inbetween were kept to a minimum.

There is not much else to say, if you like cute, this show is for you!

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One of the best BL series ever!

After two years I watched this series again and it was as good as I remembered.
This series was amazing in beautifully crafting an enemy to lover trope in an unconventional way and with a heartbreaking ending.

While the second couple had a slow start, it was also a realistic way of showing how lovers could come together with one enthusiastic teenager and an older, hurt adult. I have no clue why there is so much complaining about an age gap. It was not that big and it happens in real life too. You can never decide to love, it just happens!

Also some complain about the ending, but that can happen and I personally think it's great to depicture something like that too. It transforms this series from the typical highschool romance to a mature slice of life.
Everything was thoughtfully executed, the nuances in the acting were amazing. and it will be one of the best BLs of all time imho.

If you can stomach a really heartbreaking ending you should watch for sure!

PS.: In this year (2024) should be a second season, I only hope it can be as amazing.

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selfish guy vs weak guy?

It's hard to rate this series, because:
The "bad" guy left the "good" gay to have a "normal" life, but when the "bad" guy is getting married three years later, he comes back to the "good" guy...
Is that realistic? If I were the "good" guy I would have moved on long ago.

In this story the "good" guy did not move on and is still yearning for the "bad" guy and as it happens they end up together. But not with some drama in the end where the ex-fiancé is threatening the "good" guy as in outing them and legal action and telling him seeing two man together makes her puke.

So this is not a happy story and the homophob ex and the selfish "bad"guy are a big minus for the story. The execution and acting was very good and a big plus. And after you have watched it, you will have a bitter taste left. So I guess, this short series was well above average, even when I don't like such stories.

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