Adorable WTH? that I Still Enjoyed

This is one of those shows where the message is about the journey, and the plot very much takes that route. I think this could have been stretched out to 12 episodes to give a little bit more of fleshing out because the ending was very rushed, as does it usually is. Ep. 8 is was pretty much all filler just to get to that end scene, the 2nd to last episode curse and then conclusion and end. I can't help but feel like I've missed something.
What happened to Junior's brother Little? Does Junior ever visit after he went to Bangkok?
What happened to Nam? He became a bully and then just fell off the face of the earth.
Did the 'bad guy' die? He was hit on the back of the head. Did he live and get rearrested?
Who was the guy on the phone?
How far away do Jeng and Judd live from the school because they got to Sun reaaaaally quickly LOL
How did Sun turn back into a human? How did he get from the hospital to Junior?
I honestly wtf'd my whole way through the final 2 episodes LOL

The plot focused on Sun and Junior's journey and everything else just danced around them.

I almost feel like we had another director for those final episodes. There was a drastic change of tone for me, so much so that the humour that was littered throughout the show, which I had been enjoying up until then, seemed really out of place.

Having said that, it is what it is, and I still enjoyed it but things did go wonky at the end there.

The CGI stuff didn't bother me honestly. Even that last scene of Junior fulfilling his dream didnt bother me. I get it. CGI is expensive. It's ok, I'm not going to be too harsh about it. Did laugh a little at Sun visibly sweating in his artic clothing with the wind sounds and green screen northern lights LOL

Overall, it's a sweet quirky show, kind of a filler for your afternoon type of show and I thought the ML's as newbie, did well for their first roles.

Leia Mais

My Aesthetic Dream

Rated ~ 47.5/50 - Actual 9.5

My new No.1 BL.

Grunge fashion, art, vigilantes, motorbikes, tattoos, truth to power, twins, parkour ~ this was my aesthetic dream and even if I didn't enjoy the plot, this a visually euphoric for me.

Thankfully, I enjoyed the hell out of the plot. I was addicted from the first episode, I couldn't stop. And I love when that happens.

White and Black are identical twins who can feel the other's pain. When their parent's divorce, they are separated and White is moved to Russia, with his diplomat father where he loses his connection to Black.
As a young adult, he moves back to Thailand to start a political career. One evening during a dinner with his father and his friends, he experiences what Black is feeling for the first time since childhood, and we see that Black is running for his life and being beaten up by a group of men in suits. When White is in the hospital after collapsing, he gets a call from his childhood friend to tell him that Black is in a coma and near death.
To find the truth for this brother, he disguises himself as Black and takes his identity in order to join the motorcycle vigilante gang that Black was a part of, to discover who it was that attacked him whilst developing feelings for one member of the group, Sean.

Thus begins the identity swap to unravel the secrets of Black's gang and his attackers. A plot that will get me every time. I can't help it.


Some criticisms though ~
First - The twins have really crappy parents. Who separates siblings to begin with. I mean, parents separate but for them to decide, hey, I'll take this kid, and you take that one, and we'll never see each other again, boggles my mind. Then when White walks out on his father, we never see him again. At least Black fell out with his mother. White's dad was just like, sigh. And that's it LOL OK?

2 ~ After the attack on the garage, did White and Sean just live in a tent? lol We never see them in a building or what they're doing with their lives afterwards. How are they surviving? We are told via news outlet that boys are out on probation, which will give them a record. We see one boy continues his art project so, he was able to go back to Uni. But I feel like the relationships took a little more precedence over how the boys are living. I mean, just a scene of them being back in their room at the garage, or living in Black's old place would have been fine for me. Just a small missing detail that had me questioning.

3 ~ Black was absolutely my favourite character and I would have loved to have gotten more info on him. I understand that he goes off to do his own thing but I would like to have known what that thing was. Like White, he deserved to be happy esp since he had the harder road to walk. I assume he didn't go back to Uni or White would have known where he was. He kind of becomes a symbol at the end of White's alter ego rather than being a separate character that just hides in the background. I feel like he deserved more understanding than he got.
Todd also gave off a slight homo erotic vibe towards Black as well but we never see Black's perspective. He clearly loved Eugene so obviously Todd wasnt going to be at the forefront but I would have liked to have seen a little more inside his head.

4 ~ The relationship between Eugene and Gram was kind of awkward and I actually found it a little sad for Black. Cant lie. His childhood friend uses him and then tries to kill him. And his other bestie is lusting over his girlfriend, whom he breaks up with to protect, and he moves in like a vulture. eww.


The music in this was awesome. I dont think I've ever given a show's bgm a 10. It fit with the story and my own tastes, without being intrusive or wrongly placed, which I find can happen in Thai bls.

Overall, I'm a little addicted to this one, and I know it will be on repeat. No questions.

Leia Mais

The Cop and His Semi Competent Thief?

Rated= 7.5 ~ 21.5/50 ~ 4.3
RPG Scene // Mages passing over Mountain Pass. Only a basic sword. Newbies.

At one point as a viewer, do we say, ok, this character is a little too good. Are we too used to leads who can just do everything?

I found myself at times wondering why the FL Rong, who is supposed to be this famous, elite thief, seems pretty average throughout the show. At first I thought, ok, this is just plot device now because that's what creates drama. Then I realised that the ML is very competent at his job and is often one step ahead of the FL. So I considered, hey, maybe she just can't be better than the ML because masculinity and all that. And then I realised, you know what? Perhaps I'm asking too much here. She's not bad. She knows what she's doing. She can fight her way out of situations. Heck the opening scene, she's taking on a several squads of police to escape. And escapes/out runs the ML 3 times. So I wonder am I being a little harsh? Thieves get caught. Ninjas and assassins eventually meet their doom because that's the nature of their job. And when you have 2 separate groups of people, lead by very intelligent and ambitious men, constantly on your tail, you're going to run into some problems.

I think it's one of those things that is really up to the viewer. For me personally, I think it's a little of everything I've mentioned. She has to be good enough for you to believe she's the best, but not too good in order to create problems and tension throughout the plot. This is not meant to be a super intelligent cat and mouse show ( which would have been awesome) but it's not. It's just a fun and fluffy show about a police detective from a ruined family, the ML, at first on the trail of the famous silver willow thief, our FL.

The set up is that our ML's father was accused of embellishment of funds for flood relief, and I assume executed, and the family has since been disgraced. It is mentioned later that the Emperor showed leniency which is why the rest of the family weren't hanging from the walls as well. They were reduced to the status of commoner although have kept their house and a few servants. Our ML is under the constant watch of his career rival who leads the Ministry of Justice, who from start, is ready and willing to have any reason to get him sacked out of sheer spite.

Our FL is a waifish little rogue belonging to a secret sect who's original purpose is never mentioned or I missed it.
The story begins with the ML getting an edict of an engagement to a Lady Su, the daughter of the Duke who over saw his father's trial. Yeaah. He's delighted. He immediately goes to the Duke's house in order to break the engagement only to be led to our FL by some sort of golden bug, who covers for the real Lady Su, hiding in the wardrobe.

As the marriage was ordered by the Emperor and the leads had seen each other, this is what leads to their forced marriage. Our FL is told to steal a jade pendent and once everything had settled, the Duke, who is the secret sect's benefactor, would see to a divorce. And thus the plot begins of unravelling what actually happened to the ML's father and the event that disgraced the family.

Overall, it's really nothing complicated. It's pretty A to B. Trauma and underhanded deeds went down, ruined a family, and is slowly resolved throughout the plot.
We never find out who the FL parents are. We're just told she was orphaned and begging on the streets before being caught in the flood and hauled out our drowning ML.

It's a pretty average but enjoyable drama of resolving a scandal while falling in love. I didn't feel overly tense or waiting to see the FL identity uncovered. It just slowly happens.

One annoyance I will mention was the maid. How embarrassing for two adults who are being pressured into making as many babies as possible only to have a maid walking, merrily, in and out of their room at will. I guess that was the writer's attempt at humour but I just found it annoying and silly.

On the bright side, when the leads eventually kiss, it is an actual lip pulling kiss, or at least for the ML because that's what I seen. So there's that. The FL wasn't too annoying. She was quite passive aggressive at times which, again, I guess was meant to be funny but it just seemed childish because she was forced to marry some random guy who offended her at first sight.
The ML seemed genuinely decent though and I did feel sorry for him at times.

I didn't find the sets or music too stand outish. The sets and clothing were pretty much what you see in these period shows and the music wasn't anything I'd listen to again.

Overall, I found it an enjoyable and short watch, if you're just looking for something cute to fill the time.

Leia Mais

Testing a new BL couple?

In the midst of rave reviews, I want to put out my own review here just for those who may be feeling how I'm feeling right now should they watch this show. If you fall into what feels like an isolated alien corner with this show, hello, I am here too.

I really, really wanted to like this and perhaps I'm most angry with myself for not understanding the hype. This show felt like I had put my brain through a vice. It was a class in all the tropes, I now know that I really hate.

The most obvious case being the school bullying, which can be very triggering for those who were physically bullied at school. But hopefully you are self aware enough of your triggers to know that before clicking play. I am, and still hated the bullies. I don't want to see them redeemed. I don't care about them.

But with that said, I was bored silly. This is basically a gang war with delinquent kids, which makes the immersion a little difficult, if real minors acted like this, they would be in a detention centres.
These are the 'hopeless case' kids that make everyone abandon them because they are so insufferable in the name of being tough and cool. They are headed for a gang and jail later in life. So the idea is for us as the viewer to find some sort of compassion in our dried up hearts for these kids and their circumstances. One group has taken in the autistic kid. Yes, and? Why are they still assholes to everyone else? They walked into the classroom ready to hate because of the whole campuses are at war for 16 years. *sigh* That kind of logic does exist in reality and perhaps it's why seeing it here just wore down my attention. Everyone living in a bubble counting the scores.

The male teacher was a student there so he knows how to handle the class (and probably the guy who started the war in the first place) but his teaching logic is basically, you just need to pass the exam, don't worry about the subject, which defeats the point of being a teacher. That's not a successful student to me. He's a product of his schooling. You don't need to learn, just win, which is what the principal is doing to her own son. Put him into the troubled youth class so he'll naturally be the top. No effort needed. Forget about how violent and abusive these students are. And they wonder why the school is a school for thugs?

I also had a math teacher like this. If it wasn't on the exam, dont worry about it. No wonder I failed my math 3 times because i didn't learn anything. I was taught how to answer questions. That's not teaching and is another personal irk for me as a viewer.

You'll probably hate every character except Mark's because he's the sweet one, he's just loyal to Shin. I loved Only Friends, so toxic characters aren't really the trigger here. I just couldn't find it in me to care about these ones. Again, maybe because they're school kids, and I just see my own bullies, I dont know.

When the real Tsunami is finally revealed, he conveniently destroys all the minions single handedly until the top dog with crazy eyes starts fighting. So of course, he's more of a challenge. Not to mention mom slapping Tsunami across the face after he saved her, her daughter and her son's life from this gang. If he had chosen to stay away as you insisted lady, you would have dead children right now. So there's another irk. The non sensical parent trope.

The three bullies who are starting everything, are scared to have their parents find out about their bullying but they want to join a drug gang? They kidnapped and beat the crap out of their class mate and are in school the next day like nothing happened. The adults are very conveniently placed in this show. They are there when the plot needs them to be. They care when only when it drives the plot.

And finally, the bromance. I like a bromance. This isn't a BL and personally, don't even see the gay happening and I dont care enough to keep watching to wait for it.
I see an angry young lout who opened up to his friend once and was physically beaten by him at some point and now won't forgive him. That seems pretty fair to me. What broke my interest was the chase. It was the old follow and force myself into his space until he eventually forgives me. This annoys me in a romantic sense, so it's good to know that it works platonically too lol
I don't see loving stares either. I see anger, hate and desperation.

I only made it episode 5 before I decided I just cant do it. This is really not for me. I can suspend belief for those heroic uplifting moments but I feel like this show was asking me to do that quite a lot and I don't enjoy that.

Leia Mais

Xianxia and I aren't going to be friends

Rated= 4 ~ 15/50 ~ 3
RPG Scene // Trolls wading through the Murky Swamp. My club is splitting.

I promised myself that if I can't make it through to the end, I'm crossing off Xianxia's in the future, unless Cheng Yi is involved. I only made it to the end of L&R through bias alone 😂 It's a genre I feel the culture clash in, really hard, and when you already have a belief system in place and notions of what a 'deity/immortal/God' is, it can be very difficult to watch a very human, politically motivated soap opera happen with divinities as the characters. And that's just the concept standing by it's self.

This follows the trend of every Xianxia, I've tried to watch before it. Visually, gorgeous. Everyone is fantastically dolled up in plastic head gear and fabulous costuming and I usually enjoy the lore. This time round there was a lot of emphasis on the elements and how that creates the true form of the Immortal and the elemental power they can wield. That's a fun idea. It also ties back to the title and the 'water and fire dont mix' mantra. Jinme is a frost flower, water, Xu Feng is a Phoenix, fire, and Run yu is a Water dragon. She is engaged to Run yu, water with water, but is supposed to fall in love with Xu Feng. The fire will burn her.

Likewise, her mother also shared a similar fate. She was a Lotus, in love with Jin Me's father, the Water deity, and had a tragic affair with the Heavenly Emperor, who is fire.

The costuming and the lore. That's what I love about the Xianxia genre. It's incredibility creative and I enjoy that. But that's where the love ends. Just like the characters, the Xianxia genre and I are different elements. I don't know which one, but we clash a lot.

This is not a case of 'go watch disney' kind of mentally. Without drama, there wouldn't be a story. That's the point of fiction, to be entertained, to be inspired, to find something within the story to hold dear to your heart as you travel through your own trials in life. But when the drama doesn't make sense or is clashing with your own outlook in life, you're not going to like the story for it has nothing to offer you.

One of my favourite characters, is the anti-hero. I like watching the underdog win. In this story, it's very clear from the start who the underdog is, so I'm going to adopt him very quickly and cheer for him, and that is our second ML, Runyu, played by the very elegant Luo Yun Xi, who I must say, I've only seen him in Till the End of the Moon, which I also dropped, and I've already got a little soft spot for him.

(I really hope he's not getting the Cheng Yi treatment and just forced to play the abused Prince all the time)

So when the plot eventually arrives around episode 8, I know that things are going to get really messy.

Our FL is our standard, so innocent but is really just the usual village idiot that these genres seem to like having. Massive LOL to her guardians, who are told she is to have a love trial and protect her from pain and they basically bubble wrap her so she has no emotional intelligence to protect her from foretold pain. The seal is meant to stop her from feeling romantic love not stop her from using her brain. She clearly has one, as she's bargaining for spiritual energy to help her friend, who sacrificed herself to save her. Understandable. She's not unfeeling, just blinded to romantic love. And she has to stay in the flower realm for 10 thousand years so that she doesn't experience her love trial. So of course that's not happening.
As the plot unravels, we see that Jinme is going to have a similar situation to her mother, only this time, has not one clue how to navigate it because she's been emotionally and spiritually suppressed by magically seals and her Guardians. Ahh, yes, the Immortal's Wisdom at play here.....huh?

Our ML is our typical self righteous, golden child who is pretty aloof at first but somehow falls in love with Jin me like he's never seen another woman before. Was it her talking about putting on weight on her chest? The feeding you kiss? Trying to eat his testicles when they first met? Was he seduced as opposed to love? A lot of sexual build up with these two, but no emotional. We as the viewer know that he's feeling something very intense. Jin me is completely oblivious but I was going with it. Let it unravel.

Back to Runyu, it is shown that he is also feeling something but the big thing for me here is that he's distant despite his affection. And it's a gentle affection, like a crush almost but he has an emotional wall up because he's engaged. I understand by ep 19 that he's clearly been neglected and abused and the Heavenly Empress is trying to find a reason to execute him because he's a threat to the throne. And I'm guessing 'her' throne, not the ML.
Why are we using the word 'deity' for a very, very human situation? I clash with this narrative.

My interpretation here is that, this promise of a wife, has been what he's held onto and has been embarrassed repeatedly that this promised wife wasn't even born yet. So when he discovers that it's the girl he's been crushing on, he is naturally over the moon that he finally won't be alone. It was a cold move the way he made sure to secure that promise but I understood it. That's not drama for dramas sake. That was a clever move. I applauded. Not even a few episodes later, in comes the ML with his manipulation because he's 'in love' and it's meant to be justified.

I know where this is going and the other low rated reviews just confirm it.

I'm going to be on Run yu's side no matter how far he falls later because I understand him. When he finally breaks, it will be him I will be crying for and not the so called 'good guys' who pushed him to that point. And this is where I realise that me and Xianxia aren't going to be friends, because here we are again. The relationship between the audience and the characters is what creates the support for a show and the emotional drive of the audience. I can't support an eternally dense FL who is that way because it's supposed to be cute and it drives the narrative. Or a ML who so far, is just determined to get what he wants. I have no other reason to feel empathic for him. I haven't been shown any, other than he's randomly obsessed with the FL for some reason. Much like his father.
Nor an Uncle who is also determined to get the ML the girl he wants. While ignoring the feelings of his other nephew simply because he said so. That's also very painful favouritism to the golden child that everyone loves. To hell with Run yu right?

I'm going to cheer for the character trying to keep his or her head above the water and for some reason, in Xianxia's that's always the so called 'Villain'. I've danced this dance before, I can already sense how the writing is going to go and I know I'm going to hate it because that's not what I'm looking for in a story.

I don't even want to say this is for a 'younger audience' even though it's a knee jerk reaction to do so because it 'feels' immature, and that's not fair to the younger generation. Life makes the person regardless of age.
The narrative is to support the main couple but all I see is sexual tension and that's not love.
I see the potential for an emotional bond with Run yu because that's where my emotional connection is. I don't care about the leads because I have no reason to and at episode 20, that's a bad sign. To know that the writing is just going to make a villain out of him, then I'm going to be a villain too and hate everyone with him, and be left disappointed with him.

Jin me's father, mother and the Wind deity is what you are looking for. That is real love, loyalty and friendship. Unless it changes later lol

Damn, this is long 😂

Leia Mais

The Kiss and Everything Else

Rated = 6 ~ 25/50 ~ 5
RPG Scene // A flurry of fairies surrounding me on mountain pass and dazzling me with their twinkling lights, that I drop my battle axe down the ravine. Damn.

If there is one thing I can praise this show on is the kiss scene. They took the time to build up the feels and then let it explode into a really passionate kiss. I appreciate that and I actually rewatched it a few times. So points.

This is unfortunately one of those shows for me where it starts off fine, then gets super tense for that kiss scene, and then just kind of trails off eventually to basically being back to where they started from.
I found, for the most part, one half of the pair annoying. I don't like the 'jock, always in your face' type characters because he's basically just annoying his crush until he relents. I dont find that endearing.
The friends were the usual, barely thinking characters we usually get unless there's drama to be created.
I can understand the parents at war with each other but the Uni as well, I felt like were always pitting the two faculties together which, honestly for me, felt a little dumb. Why would a social setting do that and then complain when fights break out? Wha?
By ep 9 I was skipping because I just wanted it to end.
The ending, I can deal with. I guess it's somewhat realistic but at the same time, also feels a bit stupid. Perhaps it was more just simply how it was written that feels a bit of silly.

Ultimately, the Kiss was great, 10/10, I gave a whole extra point for it but I'm unlikely to rewatch the show.

Leia Mais

If someone bullies you, it's because they like you

Rated= 5~ 24/50 ~ 4.8
RPG Scene // Zombies shambling and falling off Mountain Pass. Dont even need my sword. They walked off themselves.

I tried to like this, I really did but I just couldn't do it. I initially loved it with Wuxin and Xiao but then he left and it started to get really boring with lots of very irritating characters, very fast. And at least by ep 16, they're trying to force a romance with Xiao and the female character trope I absolutely loathe. Pouty princess with a big weapon. She beats you up because she loves you. Just no. That's not a couple destined to be. I don't do tsunderes and I can't imagine a man like Xiao liking it either. I just wanted Wuxin to come back so I googled and was disappointed so I've decided to drop.

Visually, there's a lot of special effects here. Gives me a final fantasy kind of vibe with a headache inducing amount of characters and back stories.

Xiao's face though. I will be watching out for that actor later because damn. I don't mind looking at him a little longer lol currently watching In Blossom with Wuxin's actor and he's pretty fine too with hair LOL honestly, if they do a spin off with just Xiao and Wuxin, I'd be all in but this is just too much for me to sit through 40 hours of my life.

Leia Mais

Painful Writing

Rated = 1~ 10.5/50 ~ 2.1
RPG Scene // Ogre stomping through Murky Swamp. Rusty Dagger as useful as a spoon.

I realise this is from an old novel so I can't really say this had potential knowing that but, yeah, I feel this had potential. My western thought processing clashed terribly with this. I knew I was going to drop this on the second episode.
The pacing is painful. There are a lot of more exciting/creative ways to have summarized the beginnings of the plot. Nope. We're made to walk the story, inch by inch. I sat with my head in my hands realising why it's 40 episodes.

Side note - The father/twin, what did they do to this man's face. He felt like a robot and honestly made to look like one. Was he meant to be structured and porcelain white ? and instead ended up looking a face of flour with 2016 insta eyebrows. But perhaps that's my agitation talking. The actor is good looking. The father clearly was meant to be a heart throb. I did not see it.

Case in point - I absolutely hate love triangles and the big bad is jealous sisters, so either way, this Cassanova was effed from the start because even if he fell for a sister, the other sister would still be scorned. No wonder the poor guy ran away. These women are just delusional psychos and I hate seeing women pitted against each other for silly reasons. If there is a legitimate reason for this hate, I don't have the patience to find out.
I have no pity for pathetic villains. Meanwhile, the other villains were just straight up goofy and stupid.
I hated everyone on this show.
The women are just a misogynistic tragedy to watch and the male characters are just stupid and unreasonable.
I made it to episode 12 simply because of the lead. I was really enjoying his impish wits and heart of gold moments. I love intelligent characters who can think themselves out of a problem, until I caught the scent of putting him in a love triangle with his robot of a brother, who is trying to kill simply because he was told to. What?
I wanted to punch the FL (at least she is by episode 12) She came in with a lot of badass potential and as soon as she's dressed in pink, she's turned into a simpering, floundering brat who was thoroughly enjoying playing the lead's feelings because, hehe, he's jealous. No. Just no.
That's when I knew I wasn't going to make it through this series. I skipped right to the last episode for the conclusion and very thankful that I didn't waste my time.

Leia Mais