Toxic But Engaging As A Fantasy.

General spoilers only. Extreme obsession. In reality, hugely toxic relationship dynamics. As a fantasy, it was engaging and surprisingly emotional. This was very much a story of "the mind says no but the heart and body say yes". The fact that the obsession was kind of mutual, the character that I liked (Shao Yi Chen) got what he wanted, and the ending was sweet, helped mollify my unease with the way this fantasy was told.

This was superior in every aspect of production to the first two parts of History1. The screenwriter (and director) is different for this one and it shows.

The acting was great and tugged at my heartstrings a lot more than I expected. The story grabbed my attention and held it, and the acting of the lead quickly got me invested in him. The music fit perfectly and enhanced emotions and tension. I did not fast-forward through anything.

The two leads were very comfortable with each other and their physical and intimate interactions were very intense. If you like the fantasy of forced-seduction, their scenes deliver spectacularly!

I'll likely watch again at some point, but it will probably be a while.

Leia Mais

Beautifully Produced, Medium-Heavy Psychological Exploration.

Recommendation value 8-9 if you're in the mood for something uniquely interesting, thought provoking, and beautifully done. *It feels more like a psychological thriller than a romance BL!* It's not perfect, but it's different, hooked me quickly, I enjoyed the whole thing, and I will definitely rewatch. General spoilers only at bottom of review.

Story/Script 8, Acting 9 (Yoo Jun was a 10 & story is from his POV, Hur Hyun Jun was a 7), Cinematography/Lighting 8.5, Editing 10, Music 9.5, Audio 10, Chemistry 5 (leads fairly comfortable with each other but attraction feels more like best friends than love interests), for intimacy there was a lot of close physical proximity, some skinship, and flat kisses, Angst level (mostly resolved) 9, Rewatchability 7.

It's a fast watch with eight 15 to 16 minute episodes. Given the time constraints, I think the story did a decent job building the connection between the leads. It definitely could have benefited from more time, to give more weight to their deepening bond, but there was enough there to elicit an emotional response from me as the series went on. Yoo Jun as Yeon Woo is the main reason for this- he got me invested in his character very quickly with his captivating performance!

I was especially impressed with the visual and audio editing. It was seemless, perfectly enhanced scenes/emotions, and created a cohesive feel. Certain parts of the audio track (music, silence, or ambient sounds) would subtly crescendo and decrescendo within scenes to emphasize certain lines of dialogue, create/build tension, or underscore emotions. Sometimes the part of the audio that swelled was brief and sometimes sustained, and it all seemed purposeful. I thought it was really masterfully done.

GENERAL SPOILERS

Trigger warning for suicidal thoughts and attempt.
It is a hopeful ending for the leads.

Leia Mais

College Slice Of Life About Insecurities & Opening Up To Others.

Recommendation Value 9.5, Acting 10 (everyone was good, especially the leads), Angst Level 8 (resolved), chemistry 9 (Actors were comfortable with each other. Some skinship, a few amazing/emotional kisses, and a brief but lovely lead up to a love scene shot in silhouette), Cinematography/Lighting 9, Music/Audio 5, Rewatchability 5 (for personal reasons), No suspension of disbelief needed, character emotions & psychology made sense.

Another reviewer said it well: an "empathetic and observant slice of life story." How insecurities accumulated growing up can impact the psyche and in different ways for different people. Beautiful emotionally and acted very well but it resonates a little too much with my history so I don’t see rewatching this often. That's why I'm ranking it a little lower in my personal list even though I would easily, and highly, recommend it.

The interactions between characters is the focus more than the plot is. The dialogue is written well and has a realistic flow to it. Pretty cinematography and lighting. Music was okay; not memorable but nothing distracting.

GENERAL SPOILERS
The last scene between the main character and his mom is especially powerful. Also loved his interactions with his sister throughout; very realistic. Made me cry a bit in happy relief the last episode. Feel good ending though I wanted it to last longer and show more of their lives.

Leia Mais

Sweet. Don't Take Too Seriously And Enjoy.

Simple, sweet, light. It made me smile a lot and I ended with a big smile and lingering warm feelings.

A lot of suspension of disbelief required, especially around the stalker and the avoidance of going to the police. That was ridiculous, but the show never felt too serious so I was able to shrug off the awkward things and enjoy the series.

Though I would have enjoyed more time for the story to unfold a little more organically, for six 20min episodes, it surprisingly didn't feel unsatisfactory. It was a little awkward in spots jumping time to progress with the story but that was easily shrugged off.

The acting was good but the show also didn't require huge depths of emotions. Han Hyun Jun as Ji Woo easily kept my attention even though I personally wasn't visually attracted to him. He did a great job with some subtle yet deeper layers of feeling in the last episode that produced a little emotional angst (that gets resolved). Kim Tae Hwan as Ro A was a good match with him though I was wishing for a little more intensity in emotional expression the last episode. That didn't diminish the feel-good ending though.

There's some skinship and physical closeness throughout. The kiss at the end is not very animated (a step above a dead-fish-kiss) but it lingers and the body language of the leads gives it emotional intensity.

The secondary characters were good in their roles

The music was fine and didn't distract. Nothing special about cinematography, lightning, or dialogue, but nothing cringy either.

There were two bits that made me laugh a lot. The best was in Ep 1 with the tongue-in-cheek use of opera music while sharing a drink; clever and hilarious.

I could see rewatching this at some point.

Leia Mais

Hated Ji Ho Joon Then Fell For Him!

Spoiler only at bottom of review.
Ep 1-2 were written overly dramatic and a bit goofy. Ep 3 I starting liking the characters. Ep 4-6 were a 10/10! Ep 8 felt rushed and hastily wrapped up so it didn't end quite as strongly as I'd hoped. Still very satisfying overall and I will rewatch.

The confession scene actually had me tearing up and crying (rare). It was so sincere and poignant. No big scene or flowery speeches made, just taught with all the emotions that would be present in real life, followed by the relief and gentle awe/joy of reciprocation. It was beautiful.

I loved how the two lead character's competitiveness continued to be a part of their interactions even as they went from enemies to friends to more. Instead of just being used as a plot contrivance at the beginning, it transitioned from hostile to playful and continued as part of their dynamic. It felt realistic that way.

Chemistry was great and skinship and kisses felt natural. Kim Ji Woong was especially good at creating tension with physical proximity. And his eyes became more and more expressive as his character's feelings grew.

I liked how the story balanced the power a bit from the team-leader/intern dynamic with a building-owner/tenant situation. And once they had called a truce, Ji Ho Joon and Seo Jae Yoon worked very well together. I liked how the series showed their respect growing as they watched and interacted with the each other on their projects.

The soundtrack was pretty and fitting when I noticed it.

VERY GENERAL SPOILER of the ending:
The total lack of communication from one side in Ep 8 was was a little frustrating and kind of felt like lazy writing for plot contrivance.

The end solution for the familial/social/work concerns made some sense, but because it was laid out and glossed over so quickly in Ep 8, it didn't feel like a realistic resolution, which slightly reduced the satisfaction of the ending for me. I didn't get the time to feel fully re-grounded in their happiness before the credits rolled. But the last scene was funny, cute, hot, and sweet so I just replayed that a couple of times, lol.

Leia Mais

Well Done, Simple Sweetness

Great. Sweet and cute. Well written, acted, and directed. Definitely worth a watch. Story is simple but still holds up to an occasional re-watch. Quite satisfying and left me with a smile.

Watch past the last title page in each episode for another short scene.

The actors were comfortable with each other and had great chemistry. Their characters are believable as two young men in love. The uncertainty, flirting, skinship, and kisses are all very natural. The kisses are realistic and look like the characters are actually feeling through them.

Lee Seong Gyu was very charismatic. He also did a fabulous job realistically portraying the anxiety and a panic attack associated with the fear of his love interest once again disappearing on him. He successfully tugged at my heartstrings.

A little angst, that was mostly light, and everything was resolved well. The length of the story felt just right (eight 30min episodes)

Music wasn't memorable but wasn't distracting either.

Leia Mais

Very sweet, slow-burn (even though only 5 episodes)

Almost perfect!
The acting was awesome, very natural. Both actors were nuanced in facial expressions, tone of voice, and body posture. It was a joy watching them interact as their characters.

The show had a positive message and multiple thoughtful and memorable quotes.
There were a few comedic moments that made me legitimately laugh out loud.
Music was unremarkable, but didn't distract either.

The story felt a lot more rushed in the last episode than it had in the previous four episodes. For this reason, I wish they had made it six episodes. The ending wasn't completely satisfying because of this, in my opinion, and brought my rating down. I think it still has high rewatch value though.

SPOILER ABOUT ENDING:
... ... ...
After all the tension and build-up, having their first *mutual* kiss at the end interrupted left me feeling frustrated and disappointed, lol. I wanted that sweet resolution to go with the relief and happiness.

Leia Mais

Love OffGun But Losing Brain Cells.

You should be able to tell if this show is for you within two episodes. You may enjoy this if you love Off/Gun, want something light and easy to watch with some sweet/cute moments, and are in the mood for simple/silly humor.

At Ep 9/12: My previous review of Ep 1-5 holds. I decided to give it a try again for OffGun's sake and watched Ep 6-9. Apparently the YouTube version is cut (in the USA). I switched to the uncut version via Telegram after Ep 5, but it didn't change my lack of enjoyment with the show.

Previous review: At Ep 5/12. This may not be a popular sentiment, but from my perspective, this show is a slog through simplistic boredom. Apart from Off & Gun's characters, most everyone else acts like middle-schoolers (around 11-13 years old) instead of university students. The 'humor' is extremely basic and simple. There's no cleverness in this screenplay at all. Most characters are more like caricatures and what little plot there is, is so far predictable.

I was so impressed with the series Not Me and Gun and Off were so fantastic in their roles. They acted with nuance, depth, and authentic emotions. The production of Cooking Crush is a huge downgrade for what their talent is capable of.

I'm watching the scenes with Off & Gun together at normal speed because they manage to elevate the generic material to bring some interest and depth to their interactions. For everything else I'm watching at 2x the speed to keep myself from dropping this show entirely.

I really want to support OffGun, but the screenplay is so shallow/simple/boring/predictable, and the secondary characters so annoying and often over-acted, that I really can't bring myself to rate this higher currently. If OffGun weren't a part of this show, I would have no qualms about rating it a 4 and dropping it.

Leia Mais

Fun dynamic between leads as a fantasy (yellow flags IRL)

A vertically filmed micro drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). General spoilers further down. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but it won't appeal to all. I'll definitely watch again.
The writing, acting, and directing presents everything in a slightly humorous way, which lightens things up and makes the interactions and reactions fun. Both lead actors are fantastic. The ML is extremely domineering and occasionally manhandles the FL but is not violent (no slapping, choking, sadism, etc). He does raise his voice and can have an imposing or threatening demeanor, and the FL is afraid of him in a flustered way. To me, both actors did it in a way that wasn't heavy and both had great comedic timing that played into the fantasy of it without making it feel uncomfortably real. There are some sweet moments between them too.

The FL is super clumsy and shy but earnest, cute, and a good worker, and the ML is sometimes exasperated/miffed yet drawn and attracted to her. He does ask her questions and gives her a chance to explain things in different situations before judging her, which is rare! He grows suspicious over time that she is keeping something from him but continues to give her the benefit of the doubt. He steps in to help and/or save her a couple of times.

This story does multiple things slightly differently than expected (in the micro drama genre).
One of them is that the ML continuously chooses to gives the FL the benefit of the doubt (as mentioned above).
Another is that no 3rd wheel wanna-be pretends to be the woman the ML slept with when drugged.
Another is how the FL acts when drugged; not only does she become aggressive with intimacy, she also gets more dominant with a hazy predator look in her eye (their starting scene is the first time I can remember seeing a FL grab a ML's throat in that way). The two leads have great chemistry and seem comfortable with each other (underneath how they act as their characters). There are multiple moments of sexual and/or romantic tension and a couple great, realistic kisses with small to big movements.

General Spoilers below:

Expansion of synopsis that sets up the story:
The FL works as one of the ML's assistants and the two of them end up drugged and sleeping together one night. The FL wakes up first and sneaks away. She knows the ML hates women who try to seduce him, so she is comedically afraid that he will think this of her and run her out of town if he finds out. The next day the ML tasks the FL and his main male assistant to find the schemer who stayed with him in the hotel. He suspects that it was manipulated by his stepmother. The FL's best friend, who also works at the company, helps her cover up the evidence (surveillance and hotel workers). Over the course of the story the best friend continues to advise the FL to cover up the truth, afraid of retribution. Thus the lies get bigger and the FL gets more and more flustered, especially as she starts to like the ML.

There is also:
Family debt that the FL is trying to pay off, a contract relationship that slowly turns into more, an unexpected pregnancy (that the FL wants to keep), later in the story there's a 3rd wheel for a bit (the ML's girlfriend from the past who comes back to the country), drugging of the FL and attempted rape, and a kidnapping. Still, for a vertical drama, things don't feel overly crazy. The focus remains on the interactions between the leads.

The ending is sweet, ends with a kiss, and is satisfying enough; it's not long, but it didn't feel rushed either.

I added links to where I found this in the review comments.

Leia Mais

Good For One Watch, Slow Burn, Mix Is Captivating.

Good for one watch if you don't mind it dissolving into unnecessary, predictable, and angsty melodrama for a while. Overall I'm glad I saw it (mainly because Mix is a fantastic actor and I really enjoy watching him in his characters), but I won't watch it again.

Ten 60-75min episodes. Great (8.5 or 9 out of 10) then Ep 7 started to slide into some clichés and frustrating character choices. Then Ep 8 & 9 were full of clichéd plot lines, all so predictable in their character stupidity. People said things or didn't say things in unrealistic ways to force the contrived plot points aimed at emotional angst to work. The screenplay became so melodramatic. I started watching at 2x the speed, rolling my eyes frequently, and so annoyed that I stopped caring about the story and stopped feeling for the characters. I just wanted to get it over with.

In Ep 10 the stupidity died down a little and it became watchable again and Mix's acting managed to get me re-invested in his character. The second half of Ep 10 was great and satisfying. One of the best airport scenes ever! I usually find them cringworthy but this one was understated, heartfelt, and perfect, even with other character's reactions.

Earth is not my favorite actor but he was surprisingly more nuanced in this than in Moonlight Chicken.
All of the secondary and tertiary characters did great.

This is one long, major slow-burn! It stays pretty PG, but the hearfelt way Ep 10 was done made it satisfying nonetheless.

Leia Mais

Slow. Sky and NC Scenes Are Reasons To Watch.

The sceenplay is weak and slow. You could probably watch Ep 1 to get started then skip to Ep 5 or 6 without too much trouble because Ep 2-5 are repetitious and extremely slow burn. Ep 6 is when things start to get somewhat more interesting and emotional. I'm speed-watching about half of this and don't care that much about the two side couples.

The screenplay should have spent more time on the backstory because there's not enough weight and reason behind the brief flashback we get to believably be the crux of Venus's fallout with Sky.

The actor Tod playing Sky is surprisingly good, noticeably better than everyone else once the script actually gives him something with some layers to work with. He's got micro-facial expressions and nuances in face, body, and voice, especially when things are more emotional. He successfully tugged hard at my heartstrings even though the script is not well written. He has potential and I would be interested to see him act again, especially with a better script.

Once Sky and Venus get together there's even less plot but they actually act like boyfriends (unlike a lot of BLs where one partner acts disgusted by anything physical). Sky is in love and horny and they have a lot of sex. And a lot is shown. Someone commented somewhere that the show could have just been called "Sky in Venus", lol.

The two actors are pretty comfortable with each other but the chemistry feels one-sided; Tod successfully conveys attraction and desire (outside of intimate scenes as well as during) but Cheque struggles with this.

Cheque as Venus is pretty flat. It kind of works for the character (who's cautious and has his defensive walls high) but it's obvious that he's a newbie actor. He's not awful, but because he's lacking nuances he gets boring.

I may watch the intimate scenes here as a bandaid of sorts after watching an unsatisfying BL series with disguised homophobia (any where the "boyfriend" thinks physical, or even romantic, intimacy is gross).

Leia Mais

Adorable And High Quality.

8 min 30sec short film. General spoilers only. Relatable because it perfectly captures a growing crush, nervously feeling things out, and awkwardly/cutely confessing. Naturalistic acting and good chemistry. A satisfying ending and I would easily watch more of this story or these two actors together. There's not much to it but it's well done and thoroughly enjoyable.

The production value is really high for such a short work. The cinematography is purposeful, as are the music choices, and both visual and audio editing.

On Strongberry YouTube channel. I have to say they are very consistent with great quality content!

Leia Mais