Jun & Jun (2023)

BEAUTIFULLY MADE CLICHE'

I would recommend this BL if you are tired of the heavy dramas you've been watching like, crime set up BL or drama BL or even a non BL dramas. You cannot expect too much on this drama but it really gives a good vibes and leaves you smiling after watching it.
To be honest, I kinda find it too short, coz this couple is so soothing in the eyes that I think I want to see more of 'em, I can't believe I watched all the episodes already. The only thing that is special in this drama is the moments of the couple, like damn, I love them ! I am obsessed ! but the plot , the story, the jealousy part, all common and predictable but I like it coz the story is easy to understand
About the aside couple, I kinda got confused on their role there but in the later part, it all explained so it is satisfactory.
I would rewatch this many times in my life, I wish to see this babys of mine from now on--more !

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This could have been a winner...

Not sure what happened. Bad writing? Young director? Small budget?

As others have stated there are continuity issues:
- Let's have lunch to celebrate our first day together! Boss guy takes over ordering and mentions that everybody orders the same thing each time. But, this is their first time as a team. Desserts purchased. What happened to lunch? Translation issue?
- Coffee spilled on shirt. They almost take off their shirts but, never do. Yet - after dinner - it's mentioned he has his boss' shirt on and needs to return it. And, between the shots of when it happened and during the discussion of squishy and soft - the shirt becomes magically clean.
- Gossip from the interns about everything you would expect but, none of it comes to pass and there are little repercussions. One gets talked to and, everyone gets hired. Why was it even there? Tension wasted.

Not enough backstory and development of the characters. We know they got separated and the lead up was one set of parents fighting but, the other kid ends of moving away and while there is brief mention of why he chose not to contact - it doesn't float. Why would he feel responsible for leaving? Did his parents surprise him and he couldn't say goodbye?

Jun Eonni had a wonderful backstory that we only get hints of. Feels he isn't good enough to be loved. Doesn't realize what a great person he is. Is afraid of getting close to someone for fear of them leaving. But, we see almost none of it. We get the explanation of why the manager cares so much but, why explain it like that when there is love there?

Jun Director had a cliche backstory but, we see and barely hear of what he went through. Is he job determined because he was lonely? How can he be such a successful flirt if he kept to himself all these years? It's true that his drive and stumbling along show he needs to communicate better but, my guess is his fiancé helped him as a person to grow and learn how to be around people.

Surprisingly, product placement needs some work. While the wonderful The Wedding Plan snagged The Arches and more - this one seemed to forget who was paying their bills. In a way - that is good but, were the check writers satisfied?

I had to restart watching this twice to catch on to what was happening. I figured out the flashbacks, caught the conversation, and really paid attention. If you only watch it once through - you may end up being confused but, still happy at the overall story.

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Quite stylish, very attractive, dreadful incidental music

Feb 2024
Quite choppy at times, when scenes cut back too suddenly to Lee Jun's Idol days. I never got what happened back then; was just LJ sacked, was the group itself not good enough, or did he choose to stop?
Even though several scenes were a little stiff, overall I thought this was a sweet and yet often quite mature drama. Whilst LJ was very unassuming, lacked confidence and was naive/innocent, Choi Jun was accomplished, confident and assertive.
I thought the chemistry between them was very good and both actors came across as comfortable and relaxed in their roles. Their kisses as they became a couple, were lovely, affectionate and natural.
In fact, refreshingly, the weaker portrayal of characters came not from the gay roles, but straight ones.
I really liked that there were no vicious, delusional or overly jealous characters. Often in gay dramas, at least one female part is mean, nasty, clingy and a total bitch. There was a tiny inkling of that at one point, but it went in a different direction, thank goodness.
I loved both the supporting characters of Song Hyun-jae and Simeon, plus the actors who played them.
In fact the whole main cast were good.
It was a sweet watch, with one memorably funny scene that was also mature in its content.
I particularly liked that no big deal was made of being gay. It was a romance; 2 people, both eventually being deeply attracted to each other and going for it.
A really enjoyable watch with a very attractive cast. Keep this standard up, SK and start making them longer with more in-depth stories, please!

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Input of story..

Series was really good. All the Cast was professional the storyline was well..was this a BL. The two main actors must have had certain rules to abide by or they
had no desire to seen with their shirts off and touching flesh
which many BLs are without being to explicit. To me the actors didn't connect and because there were three suitors after one person there was no real love story to follow. It became quite boring
It was 8 episodes long that should have been concentrated on the two love interests who were extremely good looking instead we got a mish mash of a story. It was OK but not a BL we are used to seeing in. The script really let down the story.

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I wish it were longer

I was really excited for Jun & Jun when a lot of the promo was first coming out. it seemed like an interesting office romance that I was really intrigued by. while I think it delivered on a lot of my expectations, there were quite a few spots where it faultered in my opinion. I think this show truely suffered from its short run time and few episodes. I wanted so badly to get to know each of the four main characters but it felt as though most of them ended up being stereotyped shells. If we had had more time with each character I feel like I would have enjoyed the show way more. now on the positive side, I feel as though the casting was phenomenal. the actors did a wonder job for what they were given and found ways to add nuances to their performance to make the characters more interesting over all. I would still recommend this show to anyone who enjoys the genre; but it wouldn’t be my pull for a first time bl or office romance viewer.

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Far from Perfect, But Better Than Expected

Thanks to the other reviewers, my expectations for this were sufficiently lowered that I actually ended up enjoying it. I would never say this was great, but it had some fun moments and a very attractive lead.

The negatives are this is pretty low budget and it shows with rudimentary lighting and cinematography, and frequent poor audio recording. The setup (the relationship between the boss and the employee) has got to be the most used trope in BLs so that was a little tired. The plotting frequently felt forced and lacking surprises -- you knew he was going to become the star employee despite his early struggles, you knew the fiance wasn't really a fiance from the get-go, and you knew who he was going to end up with from the opening credits. A little more nuance and surprises could have elevated this rote plot. I would have loved to see more shenanigans about his hiding and eventually being discovered as a former idol. I think his character would have felt more developed if they dove deeper into why quit being an idol, which was never explained. A little more back story on how the two boys felt after the were separated as children would have been good. Some more serious work struggles before Lee Jun succeeds at work, and maybe some more authentic feeling of inadequacy when he compared himself to his coworkers, would have made his eventual success feel more triumphant. Some misunderstandings used at twists weren't played out as dramatically as they could have. We knew the moment we heard about the fiance thing that it wasn't real. Wouldn't it have made the drama that more impactful if we thought it was real? Finally, what was up with Song Hyun Jae unrequited love. He never even confessed. Seeing as he was portrayed as a saint, if the writers had really pitted his interest in Lee Jun against Choi Jun's pursuit of him, that would have really given the audience something to pick a team and get behind. Fans would have been much more invested and there probably would have been endless debates on My Drama List about which one was the right boyfriend for Lee Jun. Unfortunately, this production didn't want to think that hard about what was going on.

However, the second lead actor, Ki Hyun Woo, is super easy on the eyes and that goes a long way in holding your attention. Since this series was mostly supported by him being eye candy, I think they could have pushed it a bit further and turned up the heat even more. They could have added some sex scenes or at least shown him shirtless. I appreciated the frankness of where things were going with the box of condoms and the one in his hand at the end, but given the recycled and thin plat that the producers ran with, a little steaminess would have helped a lot. In the end, even despite the recycled plot, Jun & Jun is light, breezy, quick, and mindless -- I watched the whole thing in one night and mostly enjoyed it.

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A swing and a miss

I really wanted to like this show and I'm kind of sad that I didn't.
There is potential in this story and in this cast but the final product fails to live up to it, which is a shame.
I feel like the series is stuck in the unfortunate limbo between being enjoyable as an actually good show and being enjoyable as a silly, self-aware rollercoaster ride.
It's too nonsensical and off-beat to be truly taken seriously, but it also takes *itself* just a bit too seriously to be a fun thrill-ride like this year's Why R U was, for instance.
The overall production quality is very decent and there are a couple of genuinely good scenes, but that's about all the show has going for it, unfortunately.
If you want something simple to turn your brain off to, this might do the trick. There simply also happen to be a lot of better shows you could be spending your time on instead, just saying.

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Re-watch worthy? Yes (good and cozy vibes)

The series really captured a cozy and calming feeling that I enjoyed. It didn't feel out of place and is definitely on the list of rom-coms that are worth to watch just for the atmosphere it creates.

It did have some up and down moments in it, but overall I think it is one of those series that you can sit down and watch in one sitting without worrying your brain too much with the overcomplicated plot.

The overall writing could have definitely been a bit better, because I feel like some episodes were packed with plot that didn't really seem needed or made the whole episode almost like a filler for the story of the company. Although a little bit of story is good about the situation and the surroundings that mostly surround our characters, but in this case it seemed like it was just shoved to the viewer at the most unneeded times (note that the episodes were around 20 minutes long, so these episodes with 'filler' back stories was a little bit a waste of the episodes time).

Overall, I think if I did choose to watch it again, I would pick out only the episodes that are worth watching and by doing that I would practically miss out on nothing at all.

The visuals of the series was wonderful and the chemistry between the characters was definitely there.

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