a masterpiece, go watch it

Overall: in addition to being a record setter as the first BL series (later combined into a movie format) in South Korea, Long Time No See had an innovative plot that was well executed despite its limitations. My advice is to not read summaries of the plot as some give away a huge plot point. Available on GagaOOLala, purchase on Vimeo or if you are a member of Strongberry's YouTube page you can watch it there as well. Part 1 is free to watch here: https://youtu.be/QrImtUu1aJk?si=oW6H_NKb0_OlBPrR

Content Warnings: there are major ones and I've put them in a comment with a spoiler tag, you can kind of tell when they will happen and fast forward

What I Liked
- innovative premise (this was an original script, it was not based on a book/webtoon/etc)
- good kissing/intimacy
- fight scenes looked cool
- sweet moments
- supportive sister

Room For Improvement
- I know they were crunched on time/budget but 20 more minutes including explaining Gi Tae's background/how he got to where he was would have raised this series to 10/10

Leggi di Più

A sweet, slice of life high school story

Overall: a nice, short (35min) realistic movie about two high schoolers, one of whom is trying to figure out who he is and what he wants

Content Warning: homophobia (mainly from 1 teacher, bleh)

What I Liked
- the theme of being true to yourself and pursuing your dreams
- a confident, out gay guy (and his friends were fine with his sexual orientation)
- the pairing of a goofy extrovert and a quiet introvert (this reminds me of MODC)
- how both apologize for pushing each other (both physically and mentally)

Room For Improvement
- no sense of how much time passed when they were getting to know each other or after the incident
- the night scenes are too dark and need a bit more lighting
- the two female students were intrusive and were not being as supportive as they thought
- the female teacher telling him not to pursue art and then being terrible at classroom management
- the male teacher for being homophobic (slight redemption after the incident)
- the ending was fine, but it would have been nice to have a super short scene (or even pics) during/after the credits with them meeting up later
- having both small hard coded and soft coded English subs, they were actually a bit different but I couldn't tell which was better (watched on gagaoolala)

Leggi di Più

Gentle slice of life story with an edge

(minor spoilers)
Content Warnings: dealing with trauma/grief, suicide that happens off screen in the past

I would describe this as a slice of life story, on the slower moving (I watched it on 1.5 speed)/gentle side but with a sharp edge related to dealing with grief and past regrets. FYI that there is also an animated series and and animated movie, all with the same title (all based on the manga Given)

What I Liked
The main thing that I really like is the moral of how words hurt and even if we apologize that might not fix things. Those words that may have been spoken in anger, not well thought out or even believed in, can be very dangerous and we need to think carefully before we speak. Hope there's a season 2 to delve more into what happens after this and also more about the two other bandmates.

Room For Improvement
- At the end, I really liked the hug and would have been totally happy if it ended at that. Mafuyu is obviously dealing with grief. If there was a kiss, I wanted Mafuyu to initiate it.
- The two kisses, yeah we got the dead fish lips recipient, bleh. The 1st was a surprise so okay, but the second was a no from me.

Leggi di Più

some realistic issues addressed (need a Bryan spin off!)

Overall: I loved season 1 until the ending of the final episode. I struggled a bit with season 2 but I appreciated that the creators brought up real issues affecting LGBTQ+ people. Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: homophobia

What I Liked
- that there was diversity* with the queer characters and they felt like real people and not stereotypes
- real problems were addressed
- favorite characters were Jimmy (glad they didn't go the cliche character route with him) and Bryan (I need a spin off of Bryan's adventures in finding the love of his life)
- the CEO of GagaOOLala had a cameo in episode 5
- the final episode was cute (though I really think they should have chosen a different date, let people have their birthday days to themselves)
- note per a comment (I didn't understand this when I first watched it) The character in that scene {the cooking scene} is a member of an indigenous Taiwanese group and is wearing traditional headdress of his tribe. If you notice during his conversation with Jerry, he's taking part in the video in order to cook some dishes important to his community. For more, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_indigenous_peoples

Room For Improvement
- anticlimactic opening, only later do we learn that 3 months have passed
- the first episode with everyone lying
- *I was so excited to see the side plot in episode 4 as I know a family going through this and was very disappointed that it turns out Matt was doing it due to external reasons and not internal ones, this feeds into some harmful/incorrect ideas some people have that it's the parents forcing this on their children (in my experience it is 100% child driven) and also how the moms handled it was a let down though they did appear to have a bit better reaction later on
- a very predictable and cliche plot point in episode 7
- some people might have found the beginning of episode 8 cute but I just saw it as immature, I can't believe they have been together for that many years and have such poor communication skills
- why is this series incapable of safely securing a young child in a moving vehicle?

Leggi di Più

it's not funny, it's offensive

Overall: this was a remake of a 2015 series (on YouTube unsubbed). It felt like it was stuck in the past (or even farther back than 2015) with its colorism, body shaming, effeminate male/trans women stereotypes and sexual assault played as comedy. 16 episodes about 35 minutes each. Aired on WeTV.

Content Warnings: colorism, trans women/effeminate men stereotypes, body shaming, bullying, cyberbullying, sexual assault played as comedy, sexual harassment, sex shaming, transphobia, held against will, non con picture/video taking and sharing

What I Liked
- Jet/New until the end of episode 6 which is what made me drop the series even though I wanted to give this a complete watch/review
- one of the teachers (the one who didn't sexually harass/assault a fellow teacher and didn't bully a student)
- it was good attempt with the message about being able to wear a uniform to match your gender identity, but then that character wore something out of a Japanese manga, would have been much more powerful if that character had worn the Thai school uniform for women
- episode 2 had good sex ed with using condoms correctly

Room For Improvement
- sexual assault played as comedy, it went on for so long and was not funny
- the two teachers who bullied a student and sexually harassed a fellow teacher
- the stereotypical male guys had love interests while the effeminate male characters were constantly fighting with each other and bullying a trans student
- way too much catfighting and bullying
- too many characters (there are 21 on the poster) and I couldn't figure out their names/who they all were
- comedy sound effects
- cliche overheard something and didn't talk

Leggi di Più

Love Triangles, part 2 (more triangles and a worse plot)

Overall: the writers thought that they didn't have enough characters/love triangles so they threw in another triangle and then made them into rectangles? Am I in geometry class? If you want to watch idiots and jerks totally mess up their love lives, then this is the show for you. I slogged thru ep 1, 2, 6 and 8 and cannot bring myself to watch the rest. Watched on Gagaoolala.

What I Liked
- Valen's awkward attempts at moving their relationship forward in the beginning was kind of adorable
- overall production value was good, a few errors with the English subs but not bad
- the enjoyable OST is by Jeff Satur
- the kissing scene was fairly well done in ep 1, at least no dead fish lip press kiss
- I did appreciate that there was an apology from Mr. Goldfish Memory

Room For Improvement
- characters were really stupid and unlikable, I'm not even going to get into all the ways that they were awful
- a 16 minute recap of season 1 out of a 45min episode, 16 minutes! I like a short recap to center what happened before but this was way too long. And it wasn't clear where it ended. Weren't they lying in the sand/water at the end of season 1, that's where it should have started.
- a third love triangle, you've got to be kidding me (update they got even worse with even more characters added in to create love rectangles)
- Kaitoon is the stupidest protagonist, he has both the memory and brain of a gold fish. He can't figure out that either guy is romantically interested in him? And why can't they just tell him directly? Kaitoon and Valen stupidly started back at square 1 when I thought they were going to advance their relationship in season 2.

Leggi di Più

Overall: it has a promising start with an established relationship (though I'm not 100% sure if they were boyfriends or best friends). It looks like there will be some twists but I have some fundamental issues with the plot and am dropping it. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: drugging, non con BDSM/physical assault, non con touching/sexual assault?, murder

What I Liked
- the plot was decently cohesive
- acting was fine for what I'm assuming is a low budget productions

Room For Improvement
- really disliked the stereotypical evil trans woman and the murder of a trans woman, it's not to say that there aren't trans women who do terrible things but it is way over represented in media compared to reality
- his boyfriend/friend is an idiot, he ran away to not be a burden and immediately became a burden to someone else?
- BDSM portrayed as non consensual, I think the BDSM is thrown in for shock value - people would still watch if it was consensual, I'm just tired of seeing non consensual BDSM and people who engage as BDSM portrayed as monsters

Leggi di Più

First Impression: Knock Knock Boys

Overall: I'm into the dynamics and plot so far, hope they can keep the momentum for 10 more episodes. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Airing on WeTV (episode 1 is free and the other episodes will be free but might go back to paid later on) https://wetv.vip/en/album/89w1vvkv6zpo6wf and GagaOOLala everywhere except Japan, (episode 1 is free) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4297/knock-knock-boys-2024-e01

Content Warnings: non con touching/voyeurism

What I Liked
- finally we have a character who is inexperienced and also very interested in romance/sex
- that the roommates didn't laugh at a character but they laughed that he made up a story in episode 1, they are being supportive
- showing instead of telling i.e. they showed a character was rich and naive instead of just saying it right away
- laughed several times
- characters established as queer, pansexuality was explained
- good dreams

Room For Improvement
- a character told his female friend something that he had no right to tell her
- I can't root for a character to be in a romantic relationship until they clear up what happened in the past
- seemed like Almond missed his first class that a character was late too previously, but perhaps it was a different class with the same professor
- not a fan of what Almond was doing at the end of episode 2

Leggi di Più

wanted more Ocean's 11 vibe, (has a side m/m couple)

Overall: I came for the side m/m couple (Captain/Fei) but I enjoyed the other aspects of the series at the beginning. However, things dragged on and I'd say it was okay overall. Watched on WeTV vpn set to Thailand (it has English subtitles).

Content Warnings: attempted murder, manipulation, stalking, blackmail, non con kissing, slap, punch, almost attempted suicide

What I Liked
- good plot set up
- when they worked with one another/implementing their plan
- the mystery aspect
- it has Inspector Yummy (aka Inspector M from Manner of Death) as a lead
- there were a couple of parts where I laughed like the bodyguards checking for temperatures instead of weapons
- overall production value
- the ending song which you can find here https://youtu.be/5OmquP_orZw

Room For Improvement
- it got slow and I wanted more Ocean's 11 with some twists
- didn't feel chemistry with the lead m/f couple
- I didn't feel the chemistry/reasons why the m/m couple loved one another, they needed more screen time
- watching multiple women get lied to over and over and over again
- though I liked how the side m/f relationship ended it seemed kind of odd in the series
- that they tried for comedy with the facial hair of that older guy during a really serious moment in episode 1
- the humor in the final episode hospital scene was not good

Leggi di Più

short and cute tourism promo with BL actors

Overall: 12 BL actors showcased parts of Thailand thru 6 short episodes. Each episode was about 8 minutes. Aired 2 per week on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6jUaCqlEcp3ROAMOSYvXJ2ij5mxjCkzy&si=zEc7KOdeB5fTzvI4 Note: several of the episodes were not clearly BL but open to interpretation

What I Liked
- it was a cute short story/tourism commercial
- favorite story was probably ep 2 with Mai & Win
- so happy to see Frank without a wig
- happy they aired 2 per week and it was free to watch on YouTube

Room For Improvement
- they needed to subtitle the locations that the characters were at, although the information does appear in the video description
- each episode was very short and several were open endings

Leggi di Più

par for the course (happy for the better trans rep!)

Overall: I think it's my favorite series overall from Oxin Films. 8 episodes about 15 min each. Aired on Oxin Films YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: intimate partner violence off screen, non con recording, blackmail, manhandling, violence/torture, kidnapping, parental abuse, homophobia, slaps

What I Liked
- started with showing instead of telling that she isn't interested in the wedding (asking him to make all the decisions, saying she is busy, (although later there is an exposition dump)
- finally a trans female character who is not a stereotype
- GL representation
- laughed a few times
- honest discussion between Shao and Louise (though they need even more communication), discussion about virginity
- good NSFW scenes (though I wish they left in some of the original sounds instead of covering it all with music)
- supportive moms and siblings/friends
- the lack of a super severe piracy warning (it's not going to stop people who pirate stuff)

Room For Improvement
- there are too many characters for a short runtime, wish they had cut characters/narrowed the plot a bit more, that stuff with the brother and that violence was not needed at all
- the final episode made no sense especially Briggs' action (or lack there of), why couldn't the dad be the source of drama, lack of wrapping up/fully explaining plot lines
- Shao placed such importance on his first time so I was very disappointed with how that happened (and also totally unrealistic to be that coherent after being that drunk which is why I didn't label it as dub or non con)
- the innuendo jokes go on a bit too long/too many of them
- wish they had made Louise slightly more likable sooner
- the brother asking about his sex position was bad
- gender is fluid should not be equated with preferred sex position
- characters just randomly show up at the right time at the right place with zero explanation

Leggi di Più

Gav & Cai - Baby, Baby, Baby!!!

Overall: fairly well done but too many side characters. The series is about double the run time of the movie which was both good and bad. There is another scene after the first end credits of the final episode. Watched on Gagaoolala (not available in US, Canada, Japan or Philippines).

Content Warnings: vomiting, homophobia

What I Liked
- season 1 and the movie both start off with Cai gaming so there is a parallel there
- the OST and music
- cute and caring moments like the laundry, apron tying, goggles
- several references to safe sex
- when they were "watching" the movie
- the flashback was pretty funny at the beginning of episode 2
- the actors do a good job with kissing, no dead fish lip presses, also it was realistic with their bedroom scene towards the end of ep 2 although once again Gav feels too pushy
- realistic fights and make ups

Room For Improvement
- as with all season 2s that have a longish break between seasons, I'd like a short recap of season 1
- Cai once again comes across as a bit too uninterested (and Gav pushing/ignoring boundaries) instead of nervous or wanting to keep things private
- too many side characters, I was both confused and bored with Wesley and Terrence
- it's odd that Chill wouldn't know his very good friend was in a relationship, I thought Cai and Gav were posting about each other on social media???
- I wished that the very last scene was not a flashback but a flash forward
- I'm frustrated that the movie just got an international platform 1 full year after it released and neither the movie nor series are available officially in four countries.

Leggi di Più

slightly spicier romcom

Overall: enjoying the dynamic between the leads and a romcom with a bit more spice. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Airing on GMMTV's YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: manhandling, punches, drugging?

What I Liked
- intro got my attention, though not a fan of flash forwards/backs in general to start a series
- did laugh a few times
- asexual representation (as of episode 5 not much has been shown about it though)
- established couple*
- sweet moments
- excellent grandma, supportive friend & supportive brother
- ongoing physical affection/interest and discussing preferences
- HPV public service announcement/skit
- easter eggs of The Eclipse, room 609 (for 609 Bedtime Story) and 666 which revers to the devil

Room For Improvement
- the slapstick comedy sound effects detracted from the humor a few times
- the very fictional so drunk a person is passed out and then a few minutes later appeared not drunk at all
- friend left him extremely drunk, he should have said he had a hospital emergency and called a taxi which Wandee then didn't get into
- in episode 2 a character says stop and the other character didn't though it can be inferred the 'stop' was not an actual 'stop'
- nonsense medical stuff like gossiping in front of patients
- the worry Yak brought up in episode 3 suddenly didn't seem to matter
- *in episode 5 Cher was acting immature which is not what I wanted to see (more steam would be great/realistic from an established couple)
- corny/too stylized like the neon lights or spray painting 'friends with benefits' on the window

Leggi di Più

slice of life with some angst

Overall: I thought it was a fairly well done slice of life short indie series but it could have used some improvements. Two parts, 27 minutes total. Aired on Mind Trio's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHWvrNIJL6cWsd5_gigdAGHlGQAC4UYCU

Content Warning: punch

What I Liked
- a realistic confession and running away
- a few cute moments
- production value

Room For Improvement
- voice over exposition dumps
- flashbacks in such a short series
- at first I was confused that there were 3 characters, having a scene with all 3 of them would have been helpful before they had separate scenes
- timeline/how much time passed was confusing, also that extra scene at the end of the 2nd part, was that a flashback or did it take place after the series events?, because it doesn't seem like a lot of time passing and Time seems very fickle with his love
- the punch was not needed
- wish they had just focused it on 2 characters

Leggi di Più