Good Script, Likable Characters

The original series was good enough to watch twice, but only because JC Alcantara (as Mico Ramos) stepped up to sell his part so well. Tony Labrusca (in the first billed role as Xavier) seemed ill at ease with the whole affair. In this sequel, Tony finally seems comfortable in the role and the chemistry between the two leads is sensational. I have to give a special mention to Miguel Almendras (June Sandico) who has a small but featured role n both films. He takes on the difficult role of "the voice of reason" and handles it like a pro. The literature camp is a refreshing new storyline. The final scene delivers on what we've been waiting for, though its not clear why it took so long. The only minor complaint I have is the gay love triangle gets introduced quite late in the story and I think it would have been more interesting to have a few more scenes of Xavier's jealousy emerge in contrast to Mico's jealousy of Crystal (Xavier's girlfriend). Overall, it hits all the right notes.

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A Sweet Little Bromance Drama

This was a nice surprise. The script is intelligent and crisp, written by a mostly female writing team.. The plot device of two college men being forced (so we're led to believe) to work together is refreshingly different. They coy banter between the leads is painfully realistic for any guy who's had a crush on another and was afraid to confess it. The character arcs are well drawn, particularly for Xavier (Tony Labrusca) who is presented as a stereotypical jock but who turns out to be quite vulnerable. Mico's character (JC Alcantara) is pretty well defined in the beginning for the audience, but his journey is one of self-discovery. The story lines of the supporting cast are also well-drawn and fully resolved by the conclusion. It pains me to say "Hello, Stranger" didn't quite rise to the level of "Like in the Movies" or "Boys' Lockdown" because I really enjoyed this drama. But this series was 2 episodes too long and never got us to a kiss, so this isn't really a BL drama in my book. More of a Bromance story. Arguably it's even more interesting as a straight bromance because it raises a lot of issues about how difficult it is for guys to express any kind of non-sexual affection of each other in our world. To be a true bromance Mico would have needed a girlfriend, though.

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Only Slightly Better than the Original

The main characters are still bickering almost daily after 7 years. This kind of abusive relationship isn't a good platform for a long term commitment. One wonders how they lasted this long. The main thread of this season is that our heroes want to get married and reluctant Type finally gives in in the final installment but we never get to see the wedding. I guess there's an upcoming special for that, but after 12 repetitive episodes the audience deserved to see it here. Given the couple is still rather dysfunctional after all these years it would have made more sense for the main plot to revolve around marriage counseling with both boys evolving to become real grownups at, presumably, age 29. At the very least, Type should have gone to counseling to deal with his childhood abuse and anger management issues. I really have a hard time liking his character. Given the popularity of this series and the upcoming marriage special I'd have to guess there will be another sequel, so let's hope the Type character finally becomes a man and comfortable with his life choices. Maybe these two need to adopt a child?

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A Refreshingly Quiet Love Story

This quiet little drama is worthy of a 10 but the enigmatic, open-ended ending is a real disappointment. Nevertheless, there's a familiarity about this story. It's one an older generation of gay men have shared with me over the years. They had boyfriends early in life but eventually were forced into a traditional marriage with kids. When the kids finally grew up they were able to revisit their native sexual orientation. It was really refreshing to see a quiet little drama out in the countryside with only three main characters (for the most part). The music was wonderful (even if not very well edited together). This could have been like a rather dull stage play with just the two houses, but the director opened up a lot of beautiful scenery and dialog-free montages. The metaphor of Natto being distasteful until you acquire a taste for it (or until it's presented properly) was a delightful way to say, "How do you know you don't like something until you've tried it?" Well, I guess there's a sequel to this (which I have not seen yet) but, in my view, a better ending would have been for Toey to end up with another guy (perhaps the one he says goodbye to at the airport?) and leave Oat to this chosen life path. You can still have that scene of regret, but life goes on and it's better not to dwell too much on a past you can't go back to.

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Hard to Evaluate This One

Where to start? I always love the production values of Korean dramas. They are the best. The leads are very appealing and have good chemistry. Like the other Korean BL dramas I've seen, this one is very timid about showing much affection on screen. We get a lot of long stares into each other's eyes. We sort of get a kiss at the end, but it's about as passionate as two dolls kissing. The plot is interesting but quickly overpowers the story of their relationship. Way too much time is wasted seeing Yeon Woo's POV transform from black and white to color. I think we see this in every episode and we got it after seeing it twice. The complicated plot about Monos and Probes makes this drama very dialogue heavy, usually through hearing voiceovers of the character's thoughts. Frankly, conflict of the Mono possibly killing his Probe, yet the Mono and Probe are sole mates who open up the world to each other, seems like a "no win" premise. On one hand you want these two to get together but if the end game is for one of them to die, why bother. So, sadly, I'm going to pass on the sequel because I have a feeling this will end up as a tragedy and there are more upbeat dramas to watch. The death of a same gender love interest is a tired cliche.

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Been There, Done That

This drama comes from the Philippines but it mimics the BL formula so often seen in Thailand. Indeed, it reminds me of the popular Sotus Series where the leads being the story hating each other and remain so dysfunctional that it stretches credibility these two would ever go out on a second date. Screenwriting 101 says that your main characters should be likable, or at least show a glimmer of redemption value. Also borrowing from the Thai BL formula, there's a lot of cartoon-like, farcical secondary characters, many with offensive stereotypes. That's too bad, because I think this could have earned an 8 or 9 for story if they'd created more realistic sub-characters. Aside from the cliche characters, even the cliche scenes are here, including the tiresome one of our heroes waking up in bed together in gay panic. On the plus side, the cinematography is first rate -- almost too good for this production. Sky's (Miko Gallardo) monologue in the final episode in the rain is beautifully shot (rain is extremely hard to photograph, by the way) and Miko gives a heartfelt performance. If you get turned off to the silliness of the first 11 episodes, please at least watch this scene. It's the highlight of the series. Too bad the rest of the production didn't measure up. One final observation: It's a pretty sad state of affairs when an episode (8/4) gets an "R" rating when the only thing that happens is two boys kissing.

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Suspensful But too "Hip" for its Own Good

I was curious about this movie because of singer Jeong Dong Won's acting appearance. I thought he did quite well and they caught him just at the right age. One year later he'd look to old to be so naive. ** SPOILERS AHEAD ** "New Normal" is full of suspese and black humor. I'm not big fan of horror movies because most of them are too gruesome or play fast and loose with supernatural themes. These 6 chapters are supposed to have a linked payoff but it must be too subtle for me to get it. I think it has something to do with human organ harvesting. During the premier, Jeong Dong Won publically questioned the director about the conclusion to his chapter and the director seemed to agree it was too enigatic. Really the same could be said about all of the episodes and it's too bad because this movie could rate a "10" if the conclusion connected all the dots like the famous ending of "Citizen Kane" with the Rosebut sled device. Well, I'm glad I was able to see it but it will be quickly forgotten. Thanks for the other commenters who pointed me to HiTV to see it.

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It'd give this an 11 if I could

Juan Miguel Severo's script is outstanding. The lead characters have rich backstories and the plot has plenty of twists and turns to keep the momentum moving forward without too much padding from incidental characters. The 8-episode drama is stretched out with musical montages in every episode but at least they further the story. I was a bit skeptical about the movie metaphor, fearing that we'd get the usual gay stereotypes but this actually plays out more like a reality show. The characters and situations ring true to life. The leads have a lot of chemistry together and their kissing scenes are believable. The direction is impressive, with a lot of very sophisticated flashback and dream sequences. The sound design deserves special mention, with a lot of complex elements like sub-sonic tones. I didn't catch any microphone-clothes rustling, which is too common in these low-budget affairs. The low light scenes were a bit dark, I've seen better cinematography in other BL dramas, but the quality was good enough it didn't distract too much from the story. I would have wished for a more romantic scene at the end, but I can't fault the producers for knowing the limits of the target demographic for BL dramas. Most memorable line (used in Episodes 2 and 8) "So why act like I just accused you of a crime?" When Vlad asks Karl if he's gay.

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A Masterpiece of the BL Genre

There's a tired cliche in gay-themed dramas where the hero has to die at the end because somehow he deserved it because he chose to be gay. "My Bromance" could be accused of going down this well-worn path but Director Nicchi Nitchapoom skillfully manages to maintain a hopeful tone in an otherwise tragic story. Some of the plot elements seem a bit forced, but the fact is they seem to work here. Natouch Siripongthon [Bank] (who I think is credited as Pongsatorn Sripinta in this film) I'd seen in the "Until We Meet Again" series, but this drama gave him a lot more to work with and apparently jumpstarted his career. Teerapat Lohanan [Golf] shows tremendous range in his transformation from bully to lover. I'm giving this a 10 because the cast overcame some of the flaws in the script. The scene of Bank dressing in drag was completely unnecessary and undermined the notion that two straight-acting guys can have an intimate relationship without gender role stereotypes. The time wasted on that scene could have better developed the Tom character in the love triangle along with providing a less abrupt transition to the parents discovery of the gay relationship. BL dramas seem to have evolved over the past 6 years but this effort set a high bar.

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Lovable Characters are the Strength of this Bromance

It's a simple plot but the characters are likable and engaging. Naoya (Sato Yusuke) plays a strong lead as a guy who has no baggage about liking guys --- Kota (Sota Ryosuke), in this case. Kota is "questioning" his same sex attraction, and this is fine but his character is just a little too slapstick -- and that's the main failing of this drama, it can't seem to find the right tone. Is it a serious drama or a farce? Thankfully the Naoya character keeps us grounded for most of the series. [Update, 2 years later] So I just watched the whole series again, 2 years later, and my initial thoughts are the same. Noya's character is one of the most realistic gay characters I've ever seen in cinema. None of the kissing scenes work. I think these BL dramas try too hard to force same-sex romance into the story. A bromance between two guys is sufficiently dramatic and, since this is a Japanese movie, they could have gone to an onsen to establish their level of intimacy. The conclusion is the typical BL cop-out: to never suggest actual sex. That's why I think they should just aim for bromance because the audince never gets the implied payoff. And, for that matter, any kind of simulated sex scene in movies, gay or straight, is so cringe that I usually skip through that part. I don't think filmmakers grasp there is a vast audience of men who have no interest in women and would prefer to co-habitate with a male best friend who shares similar interests with no romantic baggage.

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Great plot idea, but never gains momentum

I was really looking forward to this one. What a great plot idea: Two guys pretend to be boyfriends for whatever reason, then end up having feelings for each other. There's even a brief love triangle with 3 guys. But the plot just coasts through 12 long episodes and doesn't really go anywhere. Of course, they're setting us up for a sequel which has more than 30 episodes. Ugh. "Love Sick" is one of the early BL dramas and I have to say they've come a long way in 6 years. Too many cliche gay stereotypes and some surprisingly graphic descriptions, even while the onscreen action is uneventful. Lots of production problems: bad sound, bad lighting, bad editing, bad camera work. But the leads, Puhn (White Nawat) and Noh (Captain Chonlathorn) are appealing in the scenes where they get serious. The other third of the triangle, Earn (Ngern Anupart) had a lot of potential but doesn't get developed until too late in the drama. Sorry to say, I'd recommend skipping this one and just starting with Season 2.

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Unloveable main character undermines this drama

Kuzumi (Izuka Kenta) is a university student who accidentally runs down Kijima (Takezai Terunosuke) with his bicycle, causing an injury to his writing arm. Kijima is a novelist who appears to be in his mid-30s, but he lives in the analogue world of someone twice his age. He listens to vinyl records, has no computer and writes his books out on paper. Kuzumi has no liability insurance and is a poor college student so Kijima allows him to work off the debt of medical bills by writing for him and doing light housework. At first Kuzumi is shocked to learn the books Kijima writes are graphic adult fiction, but quickly adapts. The two are attracted to each other but inexplicably act as if they have something to hide when there is really no one else in their lives. Only when Kimjima gets drunk one night does he have the nerve to ask Kuzumi to sleep in his bed. Nothing more happens than a kiss, though. Kijima is bitter about having to write low-brow porn novels for a living and he's had writer's block for the past year. So to make an excuse to have Kuzumi around, he recites passages from his old novels for the boy to transcribe. So far, this all makes sense. But then Kijima pushes Kuzumi away. Perhaps he sees too much difference in their age or feels he's all washed up while Kuzumi has his whole life ahead of him? Well, I guess that's a selfless gesture, but Kuzumi has really fallen in love with him. They have one climatic gay sex fling and Kuzumi asks him to write a story for him. Sometime later the story arrives and I think we're to believe it helped him overcome his writer's block. Meanwhile, Kuzumi has graduated from university and has a job at a big company, but we get no closure on his romantic life. The plot has all of the excitement and interest of a jet roaring down the runway, waiting to take off but it never really leaves the ground. It seems to just slow down and park at the terminal again. Izuka Kenta, who is 34 in real life, is completely convincing as 22-year-old Kuzumi. He really grounds the film in reality. Takezai Terunosuke's gives an uneven performance as Kijima. His character seems so unloveable that we begin to wonder what the heck Kuzumi sees in him. He's a compulsive liar and bit of a sadist. In the end, they seem to just be two lonely guys who find some temporary solace in their odd companionship, but it would be a stretch to say they are friends. I give this 3 stars overall because Izuka is so delightful to watch, but Takezai's Kimja must have been written by a committee who couldn't agree on his motivation.

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Two co-workers pass like ships in the night

I really wanted to like this drama. It looked promising in the previews. On the plus side, it gets right to the action without unnecessary side characters. This is primarily a two-character study. Jung Jae Bin as Mr. Han is unlikeable from the start. He's the cliche dirty old man stereotype. The twist here is Yun Su, played by Jeon Hu Bin, is the handsome office assistant instead of the cliche woman-as-sex-object character. There's never sufficient motivation for YunSu to be attracted to Han and, true to the way Han's character is drawn, YunSu is mostly repelled by his leering advances as bad habits like smoking and drinking to excess. Things get more interesting in Episode 5 when Mr. Park appears, but he comes too late to save this story. Also the female interest, the character Choi, is wasted. She could have been a confidant and advisor to Yun Su. In fact, it's never clear what their relationship is. The mysterious recruiter Hwang provides the comic relief, always appearing at embarssing moments. Given that Yun Su was never really interested in Mr. Han, I speculated that he'd end up with recruiter Hwang in a surprise twist. No such luck. The photography and settings are stunning, but the music is a bit elementary. They would have been better off with stock music. I look forward to seeing Jeon Yu Bin in a BL story with a stronger script. The kissing scenes were unusually bold here. Some reviewers have complained these BL dramas aren't "gay" enough but frankly any story where two guys are actually friendly to each other is unusual enough without getting bogged down in romantic love cliches. We've seen all of those tropes a million times in straight dramas.

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FINALLY Found this movie

I loved the series and searched high and low for the movie for 2 years. Finally found it here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8fv01n

There must be some law in Japan that men can't kiss on screen, so if you're hoping for one here, it never happens. Like most movies in the BL genre, it exists in this twilight zone between gay and straight romance. Well, here's an idea: skip the romance and just make it a platonic bromance. And that is, indeed what we have here, despite the wedding and exchaging rings and all that. Audiences find simulated intimate scenes, whether gay or straight, too cringeworthy to watch, and we are spared any of that here. However, as this is a Japanese drama, why not send them to an onsen to establish some level of intimacy besides sleeping together. The film sort of putters along for nearly two hours without much visual excitement.

Akaso Eiji is cute but his character arc should have overcome his constant state of gay panic. Or maybe he just isn't up to the task as an actor? Machida Keita, on the other hand, gives a wonderfully subtle and nuanced performance. I've seen these two together on TV shows and they have great chemistry together in real life, but that seems to have been lost in the direction here. I think with straight actors who are too squeamish to kiss another guy, it's best to write out all of the gay subtext and tell them they're in a buddy movie.

I really wish I could have given this a 10 across the board but it's sort of like that feeling you get when you're desperately tring to breathe and you can't satisfy yourself with the feeling of a full breath.

Well, there's a Filipino version of this, so I'll seek that one out to see if they got more creative with it.

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