Excellent Stage Musical!!

This isn't a TV show or movie style BL that also has music and singing -- it is an actual recording of a live stage musical performed in front of a live audience. So, it has a very different feel and may take some getting used to at first if you are not a big theater fan.

The first half starts out slow and isn't super engaging, but once the story really gets started then it's hard not to be drawn in. The social commentary through the older couple is beautifully done, and the generational changes seen in the younger couples makes me smile.

Most Asian countries couldn't put on this stage show, but seeing as how Taiwan is the *only* Asian country (out of all 48 Asian countries) which both allows and legally recognizes same sex marriage, this is artfully done in a way that only Taiwan could do it. I enjoyed this show far more than I thought I would.

Short version: give it some time, 15-30mins at least, and give it a chance. This may really surprise you. 😊

Leggi di Più

Incredibly emotional - bring tissues!!

I don't think I've ever watched a TV series that made me feel so many different feelings. I cried during so many episodes. Sadness, happiness, empathy, sympathy and compassion.

The main characters are deep with beautiful stories, and the people they work to save have incredible stories of their own, we can learn a lot by paying attention to what they teach in this show. I will remember these lessons and make an effort to live a better life thankful for what I have after seeing so many people who have had things worse or have felt a hopelessness that I have personally never had to face.

This is definitely a ahow I recommend to anyone who enjoys feeling the broad spectrum of virtually everything within the time span of an episode. I howpe others enjoy it as much as I have.

Leggi di Più

Look closely, and this is a deep story about society.

Honestly, I went into this thinking, "Oh, cool, a monster show!" Then after watching it I realized it's so much more!! This is an excellent story that looks into society, religion, manipulation of people and how mass hysteria can affect human nature.

This was brilliantly done and a very good show. The acting was excellent and the subject was very engaging. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves analyzing complex human behavior.

I saw a few reviews that felt that the first three episides were too disjointed from the second three, but I completely disagree. The second three episodes take place 4 years after the first three and center around different people, but it makes perfect sense and anyone who actually understood the first three episodes would see why the second three are so important to the overall story.

Leggi di Più

So wrong and raw, but shows rarely seen emotions.

In a nutshell you have a conductor who fell in love with a violinist, his love turned to obsession and a need to possess him. It becomes quite tragic where that leads him.

The violinist may, or may not, be gay -- the one thing that's very clear is that he currently believes he's straight but also is confused about his sexuality. (as seen by the dream he had about the conductor)

The violinist is in love with the female flutist -- but she falls for the new conductor -- who has fallen for the violinist. It seems relatively straightforward until you witness the interactions and conversations they have.

The flutist is, in her own ways, equally as problematic and emotionally broken as the conductor, especially after you see her conversation with Yuuki in the bar when she's drunk. That's just a whole other level of messed up.

I can understand why so many people say that they are offended by this content, but honestly, if they're offended they should just turn it off and not watch it. I will have a significantly higher amount of respect for someone who says they don't like the content and that they're offended if they don't finish watching it than if they finish it and proceed to just bash the content and fail to see the deeper side that they were trying to illustrate.

Nowhere did the creators let us believe that the things that occurred were acceptable or romantic, but they showed us both a victim's angle and how a perpetrator could attempt to rationalize their actions, even when they know they were wrong. It also gives a deeper look into just how dark true jealousy can be and the things a person may wish for under abnormal circumstances. (I think in some ways I'm more horrified by the gal's comments & jealousy than I am regarding the conductor's actions)

All in all the movie isn't horrible, the acting was decent and the music was amazing. The story as a whole could've been better and had more detail and gone much further into exploring the emotions and what drives the characters. In the end it's certainly not for everyone. And that's okay. It's absolutely, positively OKAY to be offended and disgusted by the actions in this movie -- is also okay to just not watch it if you're that affected. There will always be others who can be objective and see the art and the lessons even in the most grotesque of works.

However, if you are the kind of person who can tolerate intense scenes and legit non-con but still be objective regarding the work and it has to offer, then I would recommend this. If you are someone who wants to avoid non-con at all costs, then I would say please don't even bother starting this.

Leggi di Più

Decent, but annoying.

The story is basic, but okay. The acting is slap-stick and a bit over the top but I felt they still did a good job. The music was forgettable, I couldn't notice much about it due to the excessive and annoying sound effects and laugh track.

Honestly, if the sound effects and laugh track had been toned down, or removed entirely, then I think this show could've been much better. Even with the over the top acting, bold outfits and borderline breaking the 4th wall by speaking their thoughts outloud to the side I think things could have been so much better without all the sounds and laughs. They were just so distracting and annoying, also those sounds were much louder than the voice track.

As a side note, the chemistry between the actors was good and the visuals were great. I loved the sets and I felt like overall everyone did a good job.... it was just those darn sounds and laughs that partly ruined it for me.

Leggi di Più

Decent, but not what was expected

I'm glad I read other reviews before I watched this so that I was prepared for the fact that it wasn't a straightforward story. I was initially expecting exactly what the synopsis said, an erotic suspense story. When what we really get is a rather abstract artful story where the erotic scenes really tow the line on whether or not they're actually "erotic" or just softcore porn.

Once you get a feel for the how the story is being delivered then it's an okay story, not the best but good enough with a great way of having everything tied together at the end. Though, the very end, maybe the final 2 minutes or so, I still have no idea who they were or what they had to do with the story.

The series really does look into the darker side of life and examine human nature, our ability to survive, our ability to forgive and our ability to love. The issues this series tackles are deep and interesting, but this could've been done better if they had given each character/story more time and development.

All in all it was decent, and since it was so short I don't regret watching it, but people definitely need to go into it with an open mind.

Leggi di Più

Low budget, kinda simple but very cute.

First off, the music choices and sound effects just feel off. The effects are cheesy in a children's cartoon kind of way and the music doesn't necessarily suit the scenes. All in all it can be a bit off-putting.

Setting that aside if you focus on the acting I think they did quite well considering that only Kim MinJae had done any acting in the past. They do feel like genuine people and are portrayed realistically without being stiff or overacting.

The story is very basic and simple, which on one hand is a very good thing because there are only 6 episodes with barely 18-20 minutes run time each. However, they probably could have incorporated a little more if some of the scenes were shorter or if there were fewer flahback/memory scenes that we had *just* watched one episode prior.

My own personal conclusion is that I'm glad I watched it. It was a very cute, sweet show with no plot holes or unaddressed issues. I'm extremely curious about the ending and I hope they eventually continue the story. I do recommend this one, especially since it's such a fast and easy watch. It won't be winning any awards, but when you just want to watch a cute show that doesn't drag then this is a good pick.

Leggi di Più

This was really sweet.

The story had a lot to give, but I don't think the writers/directors made the best use of all of the episodes. They're are things I think they should have included and other things I think they should have left out. Overall our was still good though. Some decent lessons on relationships as well.

The acting wasn't top tier, but then I looked at the release date, thought about when filming wouldn't been and I realized that some of these actors would've been incredibly young when they filmed this!! This released Sept. 2020, so they most likely filmed during the second half of 2019. At that time the car would've been:
Marc: 17 (Itt)
Pawin: 23 (Pai)
Fiat: 23 (Pure)
Aun: 16 (Folk)
JJ: 18 (Waan)

It wasn't a first time acting for any of them, but it was the first "main role" for three of those five actors. Previously they only had guest appearances or smaller support roles. I've seen most of them do other works since this and they've all improved greatly.

All that being said, I still think they all did the best they could with what they were given, and I still enjoyed this. It's not an all-time favorite, but it was still good.

Leggi di Più

Not bad - but not as fun as season 1

The story was okay, but it didn't revolve around playing The King Game quite as much, or even in a similar way, to season 1.

These characters were a bit more fleshed out, but that's to be expected since it has twice as many episodes and the episodes are twice as long. The actors did a good job at conveying their characters.

Now the biggest issue I see mentioned in the comments is this supposed age gap between Sib & Pun. And by watching the show through I can piece together that this gal isn't nearly as big as people make it sound!!

Sib is a University Sophomore-- I'm watching episode 6 right now, and Pun & Sib are talking while visiting the faculty of engineering and it was just mentioned that Sib is a Sophomore. This would make him appx. 20-21.

Also, school years work very differently in Thailand. Technically, they don't have a grade 10 like the western world does. They have Mattayom 4-6 as their upper years. Someone in those years attend from either 16 or 17 until roughly 18 or 19. So, Pun is at least 17, possibly 18 depending on when he started the upper years, but he's in the second year of his "high school."

This age gap is not nearly as big as people are making it sound. 4 years at most if they are 17 & 21, two years of they are 18 & 20. (depending on if Pun started later vs Sib starting younger, etc)

Also, Em is Sib's younger brother and Em is in the same grade as Pun, and at one point Em made a comment about he and Sib being 4 grades apart in school. Which tracks with Pun being M5 and Sib being a university sophomore.

Leggi di Più

Not very good, but not the worst either.

I want to start by saying that unlike how others felt, I did not get the impression that the sister was homophobic. She even said that there was nothing unusual about a man with another man relationship.

So, what was her issue then? I would say she's trying so hard to give her brother a "normal" life with no complications or hardships, and in the culture they live in gay men are not an accepted. They are often ridiculed, talked down to, gossiped about and discriminated against. That's just not what she wants for her brother, she wants his life to be easy and for everyone to like him and accept him. It's not that she's against him being gay, she's against how their culture treats gays and she doesn't want her brother to go through that hardship.

As for everything else -- the story is okay, basic and bland, but okay. The acting is sub-par, but not the worst I've seen. Overall it was just a fast and easy watch when I wanted to watch something without investment.

Leggi di Più

Great, but has a couple slow episodes.

Overall I think this is almost the perfect RomCom. Unfortunately from maybe the end of Ep.11 until the ending things started to drag. All of the other issues that the characters encountered were resolved relatively quickly and the flow was "just right" through the majority of the show.

The characters are wonderful. They all have personality and depth. Hyeon-Tae is such a wonderful friend. We all need a friend like that.

If you're in the mood for something sweet, fluffy and cute that will make you hate the "conniving" ones but adore the love story -- then this is probably for you.

Leggi di Più

Slow, has issues, but improved over time.

I read many of the reviews here and I felt like they were unreasonably harsh, so I wanted to chime in.

The first 1.5 episodes were very slow and I nearly dropped it. However, things did pick up a bit and eventually I was curious to see where things would end up story-wise. The story isn't horrible, and had potential, but there are probably better ways of telling it.

There are quite a few sound issues and I had to adjust my volume up or down accordingly in each episode. Vocal tracks being too quiet, music being too loud, things sounding "tinny" or occasionally it sounded like the mics were too far from the actors. But, for me, these kinds of issues don't make or break a small low-budget production like this.

Visually it wasn't the worst, but there are some scenes that had questionable choices for camera angles or camera movement. The sets were okay, but simple. Lighting was... well, nothing of note? It just looked like real life, so nothing spectacular, nothing pretty or artsy, no sun shining through leaves or dancing on the water, etc. Things were lit. That's that. lol

The acting could be improved upon, but considering they're all newbies I think with some workshops and more experience that most of them could do well in the future.

The one area where I think they need the most improvement is with their English translations. I could gather the gist of what they were trying to get across most of the time, but I'm fairly certain that my lack of comprehension affected my ability to fully enjoy some of the show. I believe there were some scenes that I grasped a general concept, but missed out on nuances that actually made the scene valuable.

So, in the end it's not my favorite, but I didn't hate it. I don't regret watching it, and I'll watch the second half.

Leggi di Più

Slow first half, better second half.

I really had trouble getting into this one. However, after episode 3 it was tolerable. I almost dropped it, but I'm stuck in bed with a spinal injury and decided to wait it out. Episodes 9, 10, 11 ,& 12 were the best part.

There's a lot to be learned here about anxiety and self reflection. While Diew should've sought professional help sooner from a mental health specialist, I still commend him on trying to solve it alone first and coming to the conclusion he needed help of his own volition.

All in all, not the best show -- but awesome actors doing really well in their roles. This just needed a better ... I don't know... writer, director... maybe both?? It just needed to be done differently.

Oh, thecworst part is the horrible subtitles!! I imagine they're correct, but the majority of the episodes have them times wrong, so you see the lines after they're done speaking in the middle of someone else taking, abs then it's just confusing after that. It can be done, but it's a hassle.

Leggi di Più