a little better as it went on (watch suggestions)

Overall: unless you enjoy over the top humor with a ton of comedy sound effects follow my watch suggestions. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on Mandee Channel's YouTube (cut), GagaOOLala (cut), iQIYI (uncut) and Viki (I assume cut). Mandee Channel/Domundi also produced Naughty Babe, Bed Friend, Cutie Pie and Why R U.

Watch Suggestion (watch the cut version & play at a faster speed unless noted)
- skip episodes 1, 2 & 3 (though shirtless Mai in ep 3 is nice)
- watch ep 4
- watch ep 5 to 48min/standing on the podium
- watch the uncut version of ep 6 15-18 minutes which includes a brief kiss with the side couple (this scene was totally removed from the cut versions for some bizarre reason)
- watch the uncut version of ep 7, can start at 27 minutes with Gus/Tong or to skip over something sad that happened in the past and start at 37 minutes and end at 43 minutes, then you can watch thru to the end with Mai/Jade or skip to 1hr 4min to see their final scene
- watch the uncut version of ep 8 which has a lot of sweet moments and NSFW scenes with Mai & Jade

Content Warnings: hits played as comedy, vomiting (in uncut ep 2), molestation off screen, past death/grief

What I Liked
- enjoyed some of Uea/King's moments (like in episode 5)
- Mai's flirting (wished they had shown why he liked Jade earlier than ep 5)
- Jade's and Mai's supportive family
- cute moments
- how Jade did have agency in episode 8 and initiated things
- good consent/communication in episode 8
- that it has a wide release on 4 different platforms

Room For Improvement
- the three minutes of cringey animation didn't hook me
- Jade's exaggerated/yelling was irritating especially in the beginning episodes
- cringey editing, voice overs and comedy sound effects that didn't make anything funny
- the side couple was oddly hot and cold (note, apparently the cut version removed several of their scenes which is contributing to their confusing interactions with each other)
- not happy with the Uea/King reluctant/violent dynamic, how King was jealous/retaliatory at Uea in ep 6 for just talking to another guy
- slow pacing/repetitive, in episode 6 as an example Mai had almost a duplicate conversation with his mom
- bad decisions with what they cut, I was happy they cut the vomiting scene in episode 2 but why on earth cut an entire scene including a kiss with the side couple in episode 6??? I normally would expect a cut version to reduce a NSFW scene but there wasn't anything to cut up to episode 7 (and then they did cut the NSFW scenes in ep 7 and 8)
- the NSFW scenes were kind of choppy, one of them oddly stopped and then re-started

Leia Mais

Content Warnings: violence, tragedy (not between m/m)

Watch it for Pitch/Bank if you want, but unfortunately the potential was definitely not reached.

What I Liked
- a nice concept of a bodyguard/protectee
- humor mixed with action
- some cute fluff moments
- Pitch/Bank as the side couple
- Sky's dad's acting
- production value seemed fine

Room For Improvement
- that sponge bath was too invasive
- Gun's sad/angry acting, this was just painful to watch and it's partially the director's fault
- many plot holes/non-logical things such as: why wouldn't Sky's mother pre-donate her own blood (especially when she was pregnant as there can be complications), why couldn't Sky donate to her (granted he couldn't do as much as he was a child but still...), why wouldn't Sky pre-donate his blood since it's so rare, why would you put one of the only blood donors in an extremely dangerous job, why did the writers have them be in the art department when Sun can't draw and that's easily found out by the university, why did Pitch get a personality transplant, how did Pitch/Bank become boyfriends
- how Sky used those two women which I was worried about from the beginning, they should have cut out their characters and focused more on Pitch/Bank
- lack of character growth from Sky especially
- I absolutely hate time gaps and this was no exception, the ending felt very rushed

Leia Mais

dropping this

Overall: There are valid reasons why people write/read/watch/enjoy FICTIONAL toxic/abusive relationships which I'm not going to get into. Day constantly abusing Itt along with other things has made me drop this series. FYI, this is based on the third book in a series - I have not read the books and believe that series should be able to be watch/enjoyed without knowing about the source material so that is how I'm reviewing this series. Aired on WeTV.

Content Warnings: fight scene/beaten up, violence, blood, intimate partner violence, manipulation, manhandling (likely more content warnings will happen in future episodes)

What I Liked
- Itt's parents
- their friends
- that ep 1 fight scene was just plain fun
- how a former girlfriend is not a cliche evil character
- skinny black jeans and Day's abs

Room For Improvement
- ep 1 Itt screaming about cake for half the episode, I understand that Day likes Itt to rely on him so it's not like he's a victim in all this but the cake screaming was super annoying
- the production should not expect viewers to have read the previous 2 books and understand the characters/story, what we saw was Itt being annoying in episode 1 and then being constantly abused and crying in the next few episodes, this does not make for enjoyable viewing
- scenes dragged on, they spent way too long in the hospital
- a parade of characters in episode 2 made it difficult to know who was who and what their relationship was to one another
- nonsense things like Itt spending multiple days in a hospital for fainting, why were Day and Itt sleeping on couches at their house???
- end of episode 3 looked good but then the beginning of episode 4 skipped over that cliffhanger
- missing and difficult to understand subtitles
- ballad song for the intro/outro was odd given the tone of the series

Leia Mais

joyful, emotional & drama-filled (reality m/m dating series)

Overall: Sparks Camp contestants bare their souls, get hurt, heal, laugh, cry and love. 10 episodes 45 minutes each. Aired on Black Sheep YouTube channel. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL87uyU6xM7Lft-Lpwbv5G3ZQJZDvxC9_p&si=gVVHvglgds-tTvix Here is my review of season 1 https://mydramalist.com/profile/blcompilations/review/278749

Content Warnings: past death, grief, trauma, past coercion

Reality Series Note: with any "reality" series I keep in mind that what the audience sees doesn't necessarily reflect what actually happened. There can be guidelines the audience doesn't know about, parts are edited out or ordered in different ways to show a certain narrative. I read in the YouTube comments of season 1 that the director said it wasn't scripted, but I always take that with a grain of salt. My goal for reality dating series is for people to have a good time and maybe make a new friend. Any actual pairings at the end of the show are icing on the cake.

What I Liked
- really good diversity with the cast, it wasn't all actors/models/influencers
- that the guys had name tags on which was helpful to remember who was who
- the initial game of guessing who the items belonged to was much better than the oil game from season 1, they made items easy enough they were guaranteed to get a few correct but not super easy so there was a bit of a challenge
- the deepest darkest secret game was fine, I'm assuming the guys knew it would be recorded/aired publicly
- Mother Mela is a good emcee*
- the trivia game

Room For Improvement
- the platinum gay thing was cringey
- having them repeatedly draw the sparks publicly was really sad and they should figure out another way to accomplish this (like write letters and the production crew see who has matches and then sends them on 1 on 1 dates)
- a contestant asked to sit something out and the emcee* said no, people should have the right to pass in situations like that
- putting 1 person on the spot to answer all questions was definitely to make things messy/drama-filled

Comparison to other m/m dating shows
1. The Boyfriend (Japan) on Netflix. Guys run a coffee van and live together for 1 month.
2. His Man (South Korea) on iQIYI, currently on season 3. Anyone can date anyone. Beautiful production and conventionally attractive guys.
3. Boys Like Boys (Taiwan) on GagaOOLala, had a very similar aesthetic/vibe to His Man
4. Love House seasons 1 & 2 (Vietnam) on YouTube (most have English subs, this is ep 1 of season 2 no subs though https://youtu.be/TKzT_nHfVTA ). I liked this set up more than Bromance because the guys could all pursue one another. I didn't like the "secret couple" aspect and dividing them up based on sexual position seemed odd (can't they discuss that in private???) Season 1 was also the most brutal "rose ceremony" I've ever seen in any dating reality show. Season 2 was better.
5. Bromance (Thailand) is also on Gagaoolala. This is the typical Bachelor/Bachelorette set up with a bunch of people competing against one another to be with the 1 bachelor. I didn't like this because they could have all been hitting on each other and we have multiple couples! I got kind of bored and skipped a bunch.

Leia Mais

excellent chemistry/tension

Overall: the leads really brought it in this university series. 6 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/dy0tqsfvpl73f7f-No.1%20For%20You Also a special edition that has a few extra seconds for paid subscribers (did not see the difference in episode 1) https://wetv.vip/en/play/7isd6uuw6sdr6v0-No.1-For-You-Special-Edition/i0039ifao8c-EP1-No.1-For-You-Special-Edition 

Content Warnings: non con video recording, manipulation/blackmail, non con touching/kiss, homophobia

What I Liked
- sweet moments
- funny moments
- intimacy/chemistry
- that bridge scene was amazing
- supportive friends, the sassy cousin and the mom
- a non cliche female character
- attention to props (rainbow books in the library, the skeleton that changes positions)
- character styling
- music (the actor YU who played Zhou Shu Yi sang the OST "Blue Lover"; the bartender in episode 6 was Alex Chou who was a lead in My Tooth Your Love and also sang "Hard To Let Go" in We Best Love)

Room For Improvement
- starting with a flash forward/montage for the episodes
- cliche leg cramp scenario
- multiple stupid "plans"
- needed more screen time with the 2nd m/m couple

Leia Mais

baby, baby, baby (times infinity)

Overall: this series was filmed and released during the covid19 pandemic, it also has a main plot point that directly ties into covid19. I enjoyed the series when it was released though season 1 is on Netflix in some countries and on YouTube without all of the many language subtitles that it had when it first aired. 13 episodes that vary quite a bit in length, average is around 20 minutes. There is also a season 2 and a movie (the movie is a shortened season 2)

Content Warnings: there is a major one, I'll put all of them in a comment with a spoiler

What I Liked
- sweet moments
- funny moments
- Gav was flirty/forthright*
- Pearl as a supportive friend
- music
- production value considering it was an indie production during covid19

Room For Improvement
- *Gave was too aggressive/ignored boundaries
- Cairo was too reluctant for too much of the runtime
- cliche plot points with the friend/ex and poor communication although it felt more realistic than most

Leia Mais

Overall: this is a 22 minute short available on Mind Trio's YouTube channel (they did On Cloud Nine and Calculating Love)

Content Warnings: teasing/bullying?, gaslighting

What I Liked
- the actors did a decent job
- a few cute moments

Room For Improvement
- the plot was confusing, they started with a flash forward/flashback and then I wasn't sure what their relationships were to each other (long-time friends, acquaintances, classmates, etc)
- not a fan of the central premise and then how it's an open ending
- maybe I missed something but the reactions didn't make sense, the one guy smiled but he didn't return his feelings, why did he smile and then complain later about the teasing if he enjoyed it???
- the two tropes in the very beginning should have been reversed which would have been more realistic
- the character gaslighting and saying he doesn't have those feelings

Leia Mais

messy, semi-realistic series

Overall: age gaps and employer/employee aren't my favorite plot points in the romance genre, but the acting was good and production value decent (for what I assume is a low budget production). Aired on YouTube and GagaOOLala

Content Warnings: grief, employer/employee, age gap, manhandling

What I Liked
- the OST is very catchy
- the acting at the beginning of episode 1 was excellent and true to life, I've done something similar when crying but trying to not look like I was crying
- the grand entrance at the end of episode 1 was funny
- pansexual rep (bad - dig at millennials); good conversation about bi and pan
- realistic kissing and intimate scenes

Room For Improvement
- I did not laugh very much with the applicants or that sign at the end
- continuity error/mistake, it said he had interviewed 8 but it was only 7 at that point
- the 2nd episode timeline is very confusing, at first I thought it was a series of continuity errors because their outfits kept changing. I think it would have been better to not do this in flashback but rather do a flash forward towards the end (so put the opening scene at the end, explain to his son that it's been 3 weeks, then show the scenes that happen after that conversation without any flashbacks)
- some scenes were too dim
- in episode 4 the dad just stood next to the pool when a person would have started moving almost immediately
- towards the end felt rushed

Leia Mais

super adorable

Overall: this is a micro series/long ad from a perfume company about a college freshmen and a senior. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked
- a lead used his brain to figure something out (even though perhaps a bit unrealistic, but I didn't care)
- the ending was really cute
- good production value*
- nice music

Room For Improvement
- they should have cut the female character out and used that screen time with the two leads
- *the blur filter was too heavy and the subs were very difficult to read with the white font and no outline or background

Leia Mais

Short follow up to The Novelist

Overall: This is an 11 minute continuation of the story from The Novelist (aka Pornographer). Watched on Viki.

Content Warnings: none

What I Liked: (very minor spoilers)
- some sweet moments like the head on the shoulder at the end
- communication about the letters
- that kiss is no dead fish lip press haha
- the car seemed to match the pale pink of the cherry blossoms
- the ending song
- (neutral) they used the same music that is in The Novelist which is either a nice call back or recycling to save money...

Room For Improvement:
- the kick from the sister was unnecessary
- the intro music doesn't match the vibe of the show

Leia Mais

BL With A Cherry On Top (Ehhhh???!!!)

Overall: a fantastical realistic BL showcasing a healthy relationship. This is in my top tier of BL shows.

What I Liked (mild spoilers)
- the ability to read someone's mind without them knowing is a major violation of privacy, but Adachi does not abuse this power, many times he actively tries to avoid using it. He likes it and wants to keep it because he wants to know how he can help others. 
- the way Kurosawa handled the King's game. Even though it's likely what Kurosawa wanted to do, once he saw that Adachi was uncomfortable, he changed it to a forehead kiss and said 'sorry' in his mind.
- the fact that Adachi doesn't have an identity crisis or internalized homophobia when he knows Kurosawa is romantically attracted to him. The reason that he thinks he can't be with Kurosawa is that "I'm afraid of getting more deeply involved and disappointing him" (episode 4), basically it's Adachi's low self-esteem that makes him think he's not worthy of being with Kurosawa. 
- the cinematography/color scheme
- the humor, like that bad poetry on the bus

Room For Improvement
- why did Kurosawa wait 5 years before making any moves? Just because they bumped into each other in the elevator he thought it was fate or something? I think he likely continued because Adachi was being more reciprocal, I just wish there had been a bit more of a reason at the start of the series. 
- the side couple. The 30 year old comes across as a creeper to me. I wish they had made his character not be exaggerated and more calm.
- Adachi's over acting is not my thing. It appears to be common in many live action adaptations from manga, but I wish it was toned down a bit more. 

Leia Mais

a quirky dystopian series (side BL couple)

Overall: bright colors, comedy and a dating game somehow blend well with a dystopian world and sinister underpinnings. 6 episodes about 1 hour each. Aired on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/81517158

Content Warnings: death off screen, held against will, manipulation, likely more I'm forgetting

BL Scenes
episode 2: 52-54 (set up)
episode 4: 14:15-19:25, 34:15-34:45, 37:45-40, 49-55:30
episode 5: beginning-1
episode 6: 57-1hr2, 1hr9:15-1hr10:45

What I Liked
- het, GL & BL representation
- it made me laugh a few times
- tension/chemistry
- family relationships
- commentary on freedom/rights

Room For Improvement
- the ending was good but it teased a 2nd season which hasn't been announced

Leia Mais

a short series about two men who reconnect years after highschool

Overall: I gave this series an indie rating boost as I'm sure they had no or little budget. 6 episodes about 10 minutes each. Aired on Our Golden Times YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFufJwmJC3ikoLWALvn4UXSAlCbJ3H1cg&si=Nx_xG51lWFPakGgD

Content Warnings: manhandling, held against will, non con kiss

What I Liked
- sweet/caring moments
- the fiancee wasn't a completely cliched character

Room For Improvement
- not enough time spent with the main leads/their relationship development
- episode 6 drama with the brother felt tossed in/underdeveloped
- coworkers didn't feel realistic to me

Leia Mais

good chemistry

Overall: it was a simple premise with good chemistry/kissing. 30 episodes in total with each episode about 1 minute each. It took me 3 days to watch the series for free. Aired on the Shortime app by Code Crayon (my invite code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i)) Shortime also has Falling for My Boss.

What I Liked
- the premise
- excellent dreams
- good kissing (no dead fish lip presses)

Room For Improvement
- love rival (would rather have that spent time on the couple)
- whimsical background music didn't fit at times
- wish episodes were a little longer, even 2 or 3 minutes each

Shortimes App Information - Each episode costs 20 popcorn, 4 episodes are free and 26 need to be unlocked, need 520 popcorn to watch the whole series, you can't skip locked episodes and they will re-lock

My Watch For Free Plan
(on the popcorn rewards page) check in = 5 (increases over 7 days up to 25)
(on the popcorn rewards page, go to the very bottom of the page) = 80, watch all 7 ads each day, have to wait 30 seconds in between ads
(on the popcorn rewards page) turn on notifications = 30 (1 time bonus)
1 friend referral code = 20 (1 time bonus) My invite code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i)
3 random popcorn from the daily random box = 35 (I got 10, 10 and 15, normally it was around 30)
watch 5 episodes each day with ads
- there are other 1 time bonuses like following on social media or making an account so you might be able to finish in 2 days instead of 3 if you did more of the bonuses

Day 1 watch 1-4 (free), 5-16; Day 2 watch 17-27; Day 3 watch 28-30

Leia Mais