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Title: Close Friend: Episode Two “Just Friend”Country: ThailandAired: April 29, 2021Synopsis: Sin one day looks outside his house to see a lonely cat inside a box. The cat, now named “Moojoom,” found himself a new owner to give his affection to; but how strong is the little feline’s affection towards his human owner?- We’ve now reached episode 2 of Close Friend. This one introduces the couple JaFirst. Right away, I can say that this story feels more complete than its previous episode. The storyline was very simple with no major complications, so by the time the ending came, it felt more complete.- That being said, one question…Since when did we start romanticizing bestiality?- Yes, you heard me right. This episode was nothing but a soft bestiality romance between a cat and his human owner. What makes it a “romance” is that we, the audience, see the interactions between P’Sin and Moojoom as if Moojoom was a human. First, who acts as the human version of Moojoom overly adorable, but at the end of the day, it was still an ordinary cat who’s in love with his owner. There was no magic that turned the cat into a human, or a cat shifter. It’s just an ordinary house cat. That just made things very uncomfortable.- The pacing was still pretty fast, but I didn’t mind it nearly as much.- There were a couple of unanswered questions like who left the cat at P’Sin’s house in the first place, or even what is his sexuality? He brought a girl home, but then just as quickly asked her to go home when he felt bad for how he treated the cat. Which, by the way, I highly doubt any single eligible bachelor would give up a hot date just to cuddle with a cat, which made it even more awkward in terms of the bestiality trope.Overall Thoughts:I’ve pretty much made my overall thoughts known. This episode was pretty cute, the storyline felt more complete than OhmFluke’s episode, and the actors had great chemistry. But what I can’t get with is the fact that this was basically a bestiality romance. No…just no.Rank: 6.5/10
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- KimCop closes us off this anthology series with episode 6, a love between an idol and a fan. This episode didn't end the series on a positive note for me. I felt this was weaker than episodes 4 and 5. I'm not saying it was bad by any means, but it just wasn't doing it for me.- Let's talk about the premise. We're given a unique concept with Ray being a huge fan of Jedi and was given VR goggles so he could have a virtual version of Jedi as the perfect boyfriend. I don't know why, but this brought me back to my manga days in High School, and one in particular was Absolute Boyfriend. This reminded me of that manga series, and not in a bad way.- Ray and virtual Jedi had some cute interactions, while Ray also gets to meet his idol in the flesh at the coffee shop he works. I do like that later in the episode Ray acknowledges that the VR version of Jedi is just not. Virtual, but not real. It shows that he hasn't lost sight of reality even though he gets a taste of what being with his dream guy could be like.- I think the weakest point for me is that we really didn't get much interaction between Ray and the real Jedi other than small talk and Ray being starstruck. Virtual Ray gives us a cryptic comment about how the real Jedi does notice him, and we do see them having a moment towards the end, but it leaves us with a lot of questions with no answers. This wasn't a solid ending, and I found myself confused when the episode finished. All in all this was a decent episode, but it didn't have the magic of episodes 4 and 5.- Rank: 7/10
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- TommyJimmy are giving us 90s vibe in episode 5! This episode! This episode is my favorite of the entire series! Between the 90s era which gives me flashbacks to my childhood (I was born in 92), Night's interaction with his mother, and the overall connection between him and Cloud through letters, everything was just so heartwarming.- I love the idea of pen pals writing back and forth, getting to know each other and growing closer despite not being able to see each other. Long Distance relationships, rather romantically or friendship, is never easy. So many obstacles get in the way, and the show does tackle a couple of those obstacles that is accurate for its era. There's no cell phones, no text messaging, pretty sure no emails. Everything was either by letter or land line (God I feel so old lol)- Night and Cloud were so cute together. On the surface they seem to be complete opposites, but the more they learn about each other, the more they start blending their interests together. Like I said before, the back and forth between Night and his Mom was also hilarious. I loved their interactions.- Just like with the previous episode, this episode also gave us a pretty satisfying ending with Cloud coming to see Night in person for the first time. We even get the subtle hint that maybe their friendship will blossom into something more. I loved this episode, and I hope we get a longer version somehow.Rank: 8/10
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- Now we're at LayYoon's episode, episode 4! This is my second favorite episode of the series. XiaoPing, down on his luck when it comes to love seeks guidance from his best friend Peam. The adventures the two endure with rituals, praying, blind faith, etc was both lighthearted and heartwarming. - The one thing this episode did better than it's last 3 predecessors was was being able to tell a cohesive story in its short time frame. We understood the plot, we saw the dynamics, and we even got a pretty satisfying ending. - Right away you can see the strong bond of friendship between XiaoPing and Peam, even though Peam seems to have more feelings than friendship. Even though this was all a game for Peam, in the end he was still able to finally confess his feelings for XiaoPing, and help him realize that the love he'd been seeking all this time was right there in front of him. I love that we actually got to see XiaoPing coming to realize his feelings for Peam and it looked genuine. It didn't feel forced, or out of place. This was one of my favorite couples in the series and now I want to see more of them.- Rank: 8/10
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- Episode 3 gives us MaxNat in this tale between a senior and junior. Mini is a skinny hopeless junior who needs to join a club and was hoodwinked into joining the judo club. That's when he meets the intimidating senior, Titan. Right away, I can say this episode does the best job of telling a complete story than the first two episodes. What helps move the episode along was the little training montage with Titan teaching Mini basic judo. Even though Titan is essentially a hardass, you can see he's developing a soft spot for Mini.- This episode thankfully gives us a small backstory with Titan, which I do appreciate, but once again the time constraint prevents us from really getting to know these characters.- Aside from how short this episode is, I think the weakest element for me are the lead's chemistry. I'm not saying they don't have chemistry, but it's not as pronounced as it could be. There clearly is an attraction, but it's overshadowed by the training. I think their most intimate moment was Titan letting Mini flip him on purpose. This episode was a lot better than the first two, but it was still pretty mediocre and honestly forgettable.- Rank: 7.5/10
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Normally I would wait until a series is complete before I leave a review, but seeing as how every episode is about a different couple, I figured it's best to address each episode as they come.Episode One "Pretend to Love":OhmFluke greets us on the screen again in the first episode of Close Friend. Pierce (Ohm) and Typhoon (Fluke) are a 3-year couple living together. Once Pierce gets an opportunity to help produce new music for a famous idol, their relationship slowly starts to crumble.First of all, let me just say how much I love OhmFluke! They're my favorite BL couple of all time and I will always love them until the end of time. That said, this episode really doesn't do the pair justice. The length of the episode is around 20 minutes, and you can feel the limitations in its pacing. It jumps from scene to scene at an alarming rate while trying to build up how much Typhoon feels neglected by Pierce. The ending of the episode feels very underwhelming and incomplete. We don't even know if Pierce will learn to better prioritize his work life and homelife, nor did he acknowledge that he forgot his anniversary. We also didn’t get a whole lot of Pierce and Typhoon interacting together. Most of the episode was spent with Pierce and Marc being together, and Typhoon brooding alone at home.Typhoon is understandably frustrated with Pierce spending more time away from home than at home, and I hate that he was made to feel childish.I did like the concept of the show, because this is a realistic issue with a lot of couples. Where one member gets the job of a lifetime and completely ignores everything else around him, including their family. I just wish it was better developed.I also feel like there was something going on between Pierce and idol Marc, but it was never addressed which I felt like was a wasted opportunity.Overall thoughts:Like I said, I love OhmFluke so much, and I wish I had enjoyed this episode more than I did. I think the show tried it's best to convey an entire story in 20 minutes, but that doesn't mean it was well executed. It decinitely left me feeling unsatisfied with how it ended, and I wish we had more. Ohm and Fluke are powerhouse actors and this episode was no exception. I do hope they get a proper new series to main in the future. I loved Until We Meet Again, and I so desperately want to see them in something new.Episode One rank: 6.5/10
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