Reviews

Fabulous bl drama ever

Guys please do watch this drama it’s highly recommended I always like Korean and Chinese straight dramas and wonder if they make bl dramas like this without any cringe scenes or college love stories but Taiwan drama is a master piece awesome stories they make which feels like kdrama and Chinese drama this drama is a epic good story good actors and no cringe scenes where other male lead is in concert such things both actors have great personalities and sister love story is also so good all 4 actors played it well I enjoyed it and I think Taiwan dramas make good bl dramas I have started to watch other dramas also and this drama is too good you can find friendship , family, hardship of children and growing together to be a good family and his friend also we’re together with them too so soon it got ended I love this drama please make more such dramas more

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Watchable

Story - Promising premise (I like the general story and the idea of z-pen and bracelet) but it is unfortunate that they had to cramp multiple genre into one show. I'm not saying it should not be done but it is risky to do so and apparently, they ended up with half-baked everything. The romance/drama, kinda destroyed the momentum midway, honestly. I found myself fast-forwarding starting from midway 'til the end.
Editing - Passable. As an avid viewer of zombies, I can say is barely average. In the introductory scenes for instance, They could have started with the flashback instead of present > flashback > present. It would have had made a great impact if they started with the flashback and transitioned to a hardened FL after experiencing losing her SO to the zombies.
Acting - I'm sorry fans but it's not great. The FL, in particular, is not convincing as a "hardened person" after the circumstances she went through. I can think of multiple instance but case on point: Lackluster reaction upon seeing who she thought was long-dead to be alive and well. Action scene ain't that good as well.

I can't think of so many issues but they can be overlooked (believe me, I overlooked a lot because I miss my zombie shows and I wanted to enjoy this) like how stupid it is for the half-bie male lead to be wearing the same clothes after many years?

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Cutest ❤️

Such a beautiful and warming story. If I was to describe the drama in one word it would be “cute”. 💖

It’s another must watch so if you haven’t watched it yet go watch it now, no regrets. It’s not time consuming at all and despite the fact it’s “short” drama (10-12min per episode with 8 episodes total) it doesn’t feel rushed at all which some of the BL dramas do.

The acting was perfect, the main cast and the supporting characters both did they job very well, you will get pulled into their world without realizing it so what are you waiting for. ❤️

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The boy next door

I have not seen many dramas from Hong Kong: their cinema is world renowned but dramas...No one speaks about them here unfortunately! But what I have seen are mainly low budget web bl dramas and they are far from slick but the stories they tell are usually raw, rough and unpolished (lots of synonyms to say the same thing!) and very real: no fluff or fairy tales in sight. This one seems to be no different!

This special is the introduction episode to the longer drama, showing us how the main characters met. It starts by a woman who, after the post coital bliss, delivers bad(?) news to her lover and then offers to tell him a short story about two of her friends: Hayden and Damian. Hayden moves into a new flat and meets an old lady and her grandson Damian.

In spite of this being only 15min long they managed to make it look long and draggy. When Hayden meets the old lady, the whole sequence is far too long. Well I guess we needed to establish that Hayden is kind to elderly but that scene went on and on and on.... The same goes for Damian: he is shown to be kind to his grandmother, looking after her conscientiously. So the characters are nice people. Handsome as well. The grandmas's white hair looked too fake to be real and they could have done without it! The cinematography is grey and unappealing though the camerawork is interestingly dynamic, the apartment building is unkempt and old and the sets in general are dark and depressing. The final credits song is very nice.

And that's about it! The two men meet briefly and take a long look at each other. Promising? Wink, wink! Oh yes, the ending delivers but the story is far from finished!

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Weird, remarkably consistent -- and can make you think if you look beyond the Pork Blood Soup

For vampire Pun, only meeting Yo makes his own life meaningful. Only when they are together, during the all too short span of a human life, there can be happiness. Pun will enjoy every single second with Yo, it doesn't matter if these seconds are good, bad, or deeply absurd.

For those who seek help in deciding if they should watch this series, this might be important to know:
* Take all of your ideas what a vampire story should be like, and put them away, because this story either discards them or at least subverts all the vampire tropes.
* Almost all of the characters are weird in some way. If you can't handle "cringe" (whatever that is, because I still don't understand the word), then this might not be for you.
* Blood Pork Soup sometimes feels like the main character of the show. This is what brings the group together.
* This is not a fast-paced romance. At times, it seems as if this show is not about the romance, but about the absurdity of life. Which also means that sometimes it seems that nothing is happening at all. Relax, follow the flow of the drama, enjoy every scene on its own, without expecting it to advance the story -- and you'll enjoy this show.
* Pun is, and that is important to notice, usually at least an unreliable narrator -- inconsistencies in what he says are not plot holes. Take everything Pun says about himself or other vampires with a grain of salt, he has his reasons.
* You *will* get a common trope used in stories about humans and immortals at the end.
* And last, watch the trailer https://youtu.be/5ekNPUazAmA. For a trailer, this one is pretty much accurate. If you like what you see there, you might like the series.

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Now, the things I love about the series:
1. The series tries to do something different.
While I can love a tropey rom-com, I don't want only that. I love when somebody does something new; when tropes are discarded or subverted. Actually, I was deeply sceptical before I started watching this serie, because I DON'T like vampire stories and their tropes. Dark and brooding, cruel and mysterious, erotic blood-sucking included? No, thank you. But this one is different. This is colourful, and bright, and everybody enjoys the absurdity life can bring.
"Different" always gets bonus points, even if other aspects might not be good.

2. The characters are weird, and so, so loveable.
Pun, of course, the good vampire who loves Yo and Pork Blood Soup, who once wore braces as an accessory, whose assortment of colourful umbrellas shade us from the harsh sun of reality.
Yo, who is obsessed with aliens and fascinated by the weird, who likes wearing his beaded bracelets and, of course, loves eating Pork Blood Soup.
Kamsai, whose main goal in life is to have a Pork Blood Soup stall, and who is the most pragmatic of them all at the age of 16.
Yam, Yo's little sister, who seems to be a no-nonsense kind of person but ultimately gives in to the weird obsession of Yo's, and who is the one who has a good sense for people and is the first to point out the attraction between Yo and Pun.
Shin, of course, who is hard-working, always full of energy, and who seems to have a slight humiliation kink.
And then there are the side characters; the alien-obsessed Pak and her mute girlfriend, the nosy but courageous auntie, Gyoza and her elderly grandma, the small and cheeky landlady.

3. The series is consistent:
When I watched the series for the first time, I waited for the plot to fall apart very episode. It didn't. Actually, after rewatching, I can say, the plot and the worldbuilding is remarkably consistent -- there are no glaring inconsistencies, no obvious plot holes. I do wish the writer had put more obvious clues about Pun's backstory in earlier episodes. As it is, the last episodes reveals *two* crucial pieces of information about the past and has to resolve all of it in half an episode -- this might be one of the reasons some people find the ending rushed.

I also have to mention that this is one of the few Thai BLs that actually give us dates! The main story starts shortly before Valentine (episode 1, the couple's discount at the food stall) and ends shortly after Songkran, then there's a time-skip of a year, after which follows a montage over the next fifty-four years (this can be easily calculated). So, and I think that's something a lot of people haven't noticed, the main part only takes just over two months -- that's actually not that long.

I also feel that the characters are consistent in their actions. There wasn't a scene when I thought that someone was out of character. Even the side characters had, well, *character*.
Look at Chalui / Luis for example. He's part of "UFO and the gang" (Yo's college friend group) -- if you observe him, he's obviously not as into alien hunting as Yo and Pak. He rolls his eyes continuously, he doesn't want to get involved with that vampire nonsense. He points out that their thesis in the next semester will be a solo project -- and consequently, disappears from the moment the break starts and doesn't appear again. (And, let's be honest, friend groups at college form and disband all the time.)

4. Something that also impressed me were the props and sets.
Seeing the Pun and Yo's rooms, they fit their characters. None of those soulless condos and houses for the super-rich that look as if they were just rented spaces for a series. I can see Yo and Pun *living* there, surrounded by all the things that are important to them. The roof-top restaurant, too, evolves over time, from a neglected space to a place where our group regularly meets and eats their pork blood soup -- props were added over the course of the series, changed places, were *used*. That shows what you can do with a small budget, if you know what you want.

5. The music.
Most of the songs are sung by Boy YourMOOD, who also plays Shin in this show, they are as up-beat and colourful as the whole series. And I encourage you to pay attention to the songs at the opening and closing credits!

6. The plot, in all its consistency, leaves some questions unanswered. (Yes, I'm still at "things I love")
I don't mean the important questions -- the main plot itself is resolved in the end; we get to hear the reasons for the main obstacle, we know why Pun acts the way he does. But there are some minor plot points that are left open -- I won't talk about them here, I try to keep this spoiler-free.
The thing is, I like it when I can think and theorize more after a show has ended. When I can have my little fantasies about what happened before and why, about what someone did or said between scenes, about what will happen after the last scene. Bonus points for that!

7. Below all of the quirky weirdness, there lie unexplored depths of existential questions.
Throughout the series, it feels as if the mood is just one turn away from shifting into the dark.
The drama asks: What to do when everything falls apart and the thing / the person that gave meaning to your life is gone? What will you do when you are the one who will outlive them all?
And: How much do you let yourself be defined by what you are? Can you go against your very own nature? Against what everybody else says how you should be? How long will you be able to defy expectations?
And: What makes a good life? Can happiness be a bowl of Pork Blood Soup?

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The acting by all of the actors was not something exceptional, but we've all seen much worse in Thai BLs. Both main actors did a good job -- especially Pun's besotted stares and Yo's laugh whenever he was embarrassed or confused were very well done. The comedic timing was usually spot-on for me, and where it wasn't. it seems mainly be a strange editing choice. Somchai could have had more range -- the clapping and laughing got samey after a while, but in other scenes the actor was good enough to make everybody hate his character. Special mention goes to Mild who played Kaemsai, what a remarkable scene in episode 11! And she was only 16 when they filmed; I'm looking forward to following her acting career.

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And, at last, the not-so-good.
Because everything cannot be perfect, and we can love something while also be aware of the flaws.
I already pointed it out earlier: There are two crucial plot points that answer questions that are central to the whole plot; and we don't even get real hints before that. While rewatching, I noticed that, at least for one of those plot points, there are actions that make much more sense now that I know what I know -- during the first time, I felt that there was something ... not quite off, but strange about them, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
In my opinion, it would have been possible to place more and stronger hints in earlier episodes, without revealing everything. It might also have made the series more palatable for the people who felt that it was "too slow" or that "nothing is happening".

To everyone who made it to the end of this review, I say:
โบกมือลา ... แล้ววันหน้าพบกันใหม่ --- Wave goodbye ... and meet you again in the future.

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Where everything is beautiful but no one talks to each other

I'll be intentionally vague so as not to spoil anything but the upshot is: A little money smooths the rough edges. They clearly had a decent budget as the locations are gorgeous, the music is pretty good, and the racing action is filmed to feel properly heart pounding. Pavel as Babe really showcases his talent, and I hope season 2 has a bit less angst and gives him something to sink his teeth into. I'm ambivalent about omegaverse in general, but I think that aspect actually made real space for some great twists. I'd recommend this series, and I don't say that lightly.

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This drama caught me completely off guard

The story went completely different from what I thought it would be about. I didn't expect to like this drama this much since I just started watching it because of the cast, without watching trailers or reviews. I guess this approach sometimes can be actually a good thing.

The ending was a little rushed, and I expected a slightly different unfolding at the end, but for me, it was obvious who FL would end up with nearly from the start. I guess watching 250+ K-Dramas taught me to notice some important things that people around leads say and to realize what will have a big impact in the end.

If my overall rating does not look logical based on the specific ratings, some other things are very important to me, like cinematography, production, camera... and I also do not consider rewatching value as something that should be part of the overall rating.

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Aichaku is a film that has a lot of heart and comes from a shared experience that all foreigners have felt when living in Japan–at times almost feeling too real.

At the test screening in Nakano, Tokyo, one of the directors Micheal remarked that he felt “happy that viewers can view the unique lived experience of foreigners and LGBT people in Japan.” According to the directors, the film was 95% finished with music licensing being the final touches for the film.

The diversity of the story and themes is somewhat unseen in modern cinema with indie films like Aichaku having to pick up the gauntlet, doing so emotionally and with some great acting by the two leads. McCombs especially channeled the exhaustion that foreigners get when the system collapses on top of them into a powerful scene that, as someone who has been in that position millions of times, felt cathartic to see represented. The relationship between the two leads felt very raw and emotional, even if some of the setups played into Japanese tropes. Though to be fair, the film was set in rural Japan where those less-than-modern tropes still flourish.

Aichaku is a heartfelt indie film that has something for everyone, even those outside the LGBT community.

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A spectucular sunset of a show - vivid, warm, bursting with colour

Yeah, so this one is an absolute masterpiece.
I'm a complete sucker for slow, introspective coming-of-age/love-story hybrids so it's no surprise I fell head over heels in love with this show, but even my personal bias aside this series is, objectively, a damn triumph.
The cinematography, the frankly stunning performances, the recurring narrative themes, the sets... every aspect of this show is spectacular and the creators' deep love for their craft and their attention to detail is woven into its every facet.

Besides tackling the undeniable complex topic of disability, the show explores a variety of difficult and mature themes with great care and insight. It analyses grief in its various forms, complicated familial relationships and the nature of guilt and blame, as well as loneliness and isolation.
My absolute favourite of these themes, however, is the depictions of socio-economic differences and difficulties and the impact this has on every aspect of people's lives. Ever since watching Dark Blue Kiss it's been clear to me that P'Aof has a chip on his shoulder about the class divide in general and how it relates to queerness specifically and this is incredibly apparent here as well, in the portrayal of Mhok and his relationships to the people and world around him, as well as to the concepts of masculinity, queerness, and success. It may not be a main focus of the story, but a big part of Mhok's characters development stems from him coming to terms with his experiences of going through life as a former convict, society's view of him, and how this affects his perception of himself. It is nothing short of spectacular and I deeply appreciate the inclusion of these plot lines, however minor they may be.

And the characters... my god, the characters. If it wasn't already obvious from all my fawning in the previous paragraph, I am absolutely smitten with Mhok in particular, but quite honestly there isn't really anyone in the entire cast of characters whom I don't like or whose inclusion feels unnecessary.
Further personal favourites include Phojai - who is wonderfully multifaceted and deeply human character and whose relationship with Mhok means a whole lot to me personally - and Night, who is clearly a deeply traumatised person that carries his guilt around with him like a damn yoke but tries so incredibly hard anyway. His little tortured face will probably continue to ever so slightly haunt me for the rest of my life, to be honest.
And then there's Day who, in my opinion, is a surprisingly misunderstood and contentious character. I personally do not have any sort of significant visual impairment so take my opinions on the topic with a grain of salt, but I am firmly in the camp of "the disability rep in this show is really good, actually".
If I understand correctly, the showrunners made sure to get a lot of input from blind and otherwise disabled folks in order to depict the realities of their lives accurately and respectfully and it shows. The writing is never preachy or patronising, and Day isn't simply a tragic yet inspiring figure for the audience to project onto, no. He is a well fleshed-out, three-dimensional character with believable and deeply human flaws. His story is inspiring not because or in spite of his blindness, it's inspiring because his struggles with loneliness and isolation, with anger, resentment, and the complete collapse of his self-image are deeply relatable and pretty much universally applicable.
For further insight on this topic is especially in light of the show's ending, I highly recommend having a look at the "Some thoughts on the ending" topic in the Recent Discussions section, it might help anyone still feeling conflicted help sort out their thoughts :). Beware of spoilers though, obviously.

My one gripe with the story is how rushed the last episode feels in certain respects. The conflict feels realistic and makes sense for the characters, but really, couldn't we have brought it up just a few episodes earlier instead of keeping the dreaded episode 11 curse alive? I really think that showing more of Mhok's character growth as well as him dealing with his PTSD would have made the story feel more complete and well-rounded as well as helping to keep the pacing consistent.
In all honesty though, this is a relatively minor complaint compared to how fantastic this show is as a whole and it thankfully didn't even take away too much from my enjoyment of the ending.
I think I shed real actual tears when I saw Mhok had removed the little bandage from Rung's car so on the whole things balanced out for me.

In short, this is one of the most well-written, thoughtful queer shows in recent years. It is a timeless tale about hope and the resilience of the human spirit and if that sounds a bit too pretentious then let me assure you: it is, at its heart, a simple story about falling in love. Falling in love with people, with yourself, and with the world.
Go watch it already, you won't regret it, I promise!

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shame about all the side stories

The main storyline is beautiful but all of the side stories are unnecessary, and I found myself skipping through so many of them.

Pete and Ae are such green flags and so sweet together, so I think it's a shame that time was wasted on a lot of weird and often problematic side stories, and they didn't get as good an ending as they deserved.

Can and Tin's story was the only enjoyable B plot for me, and if they'd paced it throughout the whole season rather than shove it all at the end, their story could've been developed more and it wouldn't need to be dragged over to a second season.

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