EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Words can not express how excited I was when this series was announced and waited for the premiere like a crazy person. This is also the first series I have watched as it aired, so that just added to the awesomeness(and the tinder hooks I waited on the six freaking days between each episode.

Pavel is a fabulous shining star, and I've been a huge fan of Nut since "Oxygen", so seeing the two of them in one series(playing Best Friends to boot) got the HELLZ YES from me, no questions asked(what made me even more happy is that both of these guys read the novel after they got the casting notice and that shows in SPADES--I wish more actors would do that).

As a writer and artist myself, I know that there are characters and plot lines that are really difficult to write. In this particular series, this difficulty lies with three characters, in my opinion. The night a Certain Episode aired, I knew fans would go ballistic, and I was actually really curious to see how that was handled(more details below). Also, there were two characters who--in less capable hands--would have been completely blah, but they totally weren't and that made me so happy(again, details below).

First, Way and that Certain Episode.

I'm one of those crazy people who LOVES a good Gray Character/Anti-Hero and Way is CHEF'S KISS. His relationship with Babe makes his betrayal and the culmination of his character arc all the more heartbreaking. As someone who is basically threatened into r*ping his best friend(and yes I say "threatened" because he was scared to death of Tony, and the reason it took him ten years to actually attempt the r*pe was because Way fell in love with Babe and I could write a whole other essay on THAT topic, but I won't), Way could have been portrayed as a one dimensional and even gross person.

However.

Nut Suppanut's portrayal of Way was both authentic and sympathetic. His tiny little hurt reactions when Babe got together with Charlie hurt my heart and when he broke down in his car after Babe's announcement that he and Charlie were A Thing, I just wanted to hug him.

I might also be a very twisted little human being but even in the Certain Episode where Way attempts to r*pe Babe, I was upset, but not for the reason you would think. Fans went ballistic and got upset, like I knew they would(again, it helped that I read the novel and knew what was coming) but I was upset because this poor guy actually believed that this was his only way out, and both the look of betrayal on Pavel's face, and the reluctance on Nut's face(yes, I said reluctance, because to me the Way's body language made it clear that he knew Babe would be pissed at him, but he thought that this really was the only way to get Tony to leave them alone--and not just because that was in the dialogue).

I was also really glad that the scene between Tony and Way was included after the attempted r*pe, because it helped reiterate the fact that Way is actually scared shitless of this jackass(Tony), and really will do anything to get away from him(see other parenthesis above). His conversation with Babe where he asks for forgiveness before the final confrontation with Tony was absolutely fabulous and so well handled by the writers, Pavel and Nut.

Also, Way's death DESTROYED ME.

Like, I cried for an hour when that scene aired, and do you know how difficult it is to watch something when there are so many tears in your eyes you can't see straight? It's really, really DAMN HARD. Pavel and Nut deserve awards for their emotional goodbye scene. And hugs. Lots of hugs.

Second, Kenta and Pete.

If I could have secondary favorites that I wish I could see more of in a novel, it would be these two. Kenta is always in the background whenever Tony is on the scene, and Pete shows up toward the end to become a fantastic plot catalyst.

But that's in the novel.

In the series, Kenta is still in the background as Tony's pretty silent right hand, but Garfield took what could be portrayed as a stoic and easy to forget henchman/crony and made a living breathing character that had me glued to the screen whether he was speaking or not. Kenta is a character that needs to be handled the right way or he becomes flat and forgettable. This Kenta was not forgettable. At all. He was Tony's trusted right hand, but at a cost, and you could see that cost through his subtle reactions to both Tony's casual and more intense violence was perfectly done. Also, Kenta is the one who takes Tony out, and that make me stupid happy. Yes, I get that everyone concerned had great motivations to take out Tony, having Kenta do it was the perfect culmination to his character arc.

Pete was one of my favorite secondary characters when I read the novel. His banter with all the boys and his cool headedness during the final takedown of Tony was so brilliantly written I was unsure how the series could improve on it. Except to make him visible throughout the series, rather than at the end.

Which is just what they did! Pete is made the sponsor of Xhunter, rather than a businessman who Way meets by chance who just happens to have vital info they need later on, and I applaud this choice that the writer' s made. By not only having Pete there from the beginning(Ping makes his first appearance in Episode 2) and connecting with Way(even if they never were able to let their relationship blossom, and yes even though I get why, I'm still a little irritated by that), Pete's proposal to ally himself with Babe to take down Tony was seamless. Also, it was nice to see Pete being Way's conscience, even when Way was not in the mood to have one.

Ping knew exactly what he was supposed to do with his portrayal of this character, and he took it a ran with it, and he DELIVERED. He is an actor who has the uncanny ability to say so much with just a flick of his eyes or a twitch of a facial muscle and I wish I could do that. The next time he is in a project I will be glued to the screen, because wow!

One final note about the cast overall: there were a number of actors making their screen debuts(Lee, Pooh, Topten, and Benz are the ones that come immediately to mind, can't remember if there are any more), and each of them were working their asses off to deliver. Yes, some of them were given initially rather flat characters, but they took them and made each of those characters their own and it's obvious that they are having a blast. Pooh, who plays Charlie, is only twenty years old. If I was twenty years old and got told that I was playing a lead in a series that had everyone super excited about, I would have run the other way. But Pooh stepped up and gave it his all, even when the script didn't give him much to do, this young actor figured out how to make it work, and his chemistry was Pavel was SO HOT. Topten and Michael were clearly having a blast playing the social media influencers and (apparently) youngest members of the team and made me grin like a stupid idiot whenever they were on screen(also, I forgot Michael was in "Oxygen" with Nut until a recent rewatch of that series, and I have to say both of them have come long way since then--not that they weren't good actors before, but still). Lee as Dean and Benz as Kim were also really fun to watch, and it was nice to put an actual name to the face of the person who messed with Charlie's car/delivered info to Babe about his car(we are never told in the book who actually caused those accidents and it made me curious if they ever really found out)

Ignore the haters. The cast is perfect, the writing is perfect, the adaption is perfect! Granted, I was maybe just a little teeny tiny bit disappointed that some of my favorite scenes from the novel didn't quite make it into the series, but I got over that. I'm currently on my rewatch binge because that's how DAMN GOOD this series is. The end.