The set up and idea behind the story is one of the most interesting things I have seen not only in BLs, but any romance. The concept of monos and probes opens the door for so many different dynamics in the relationships and paths that could be taken. Monos hating the probes for messing up their current life. Probes hating and fearing monos because of their possible obsessions. Monos being overprotective of their probes, since they are their way to see colors. This and so much more, to never be explored, because it’s just a short mini series and not a full length kdrama…
The show focuses on the forming connection and relationship between Yeon Woo and Yoo Han, and the internal dilemma Yeon Woo has, when faced with his probe. Taking into consideration the length of the show, the romance between boys is well presented. The chemistry is amazingly natural and believable. The intensity of the emotions and decisions made because of them, closer to the end, does feel a bit rushed, but it can be forgiven (trigger warning in the comment hidden under spoiler).
There were some side plots that were either forgotten or not addressed, with the missing mom being the cherry on top. I need to know more about it. I need to actually know the full back story, how they looked for her so far. Also, Kim Min Jae? More. I need more old man and the explanation behind it. His character alone was interesting enough to have a proper story written around him.
The best part of the show was Yeon Woo. Poor boy could not take a break between his mom missing, the aunt being overprotective and at times too controlling, and him forming a bond with Yoo Han that scared the hell out of him. Not to mention, I actually enjoyed Yoo Jun’s acting quite a lot. Which is not surprising - he has been acting for years.
Talking about acting, I’m on the fence with Heo Hyun Jun’s performance. While his playful and cheeky side was perfect, any more emotional scenes and lines felt flat and robotic.
With a limited budget, the production value was truly good. It was aesthetically pleasing, most scenes were not cut in weird places and the flow was decent. The aspect I truly loved was the soundtrack. I need each and every song right now.
Overall, it’s hard for me to be objective, because the unused potential of the plot just hurts me. This could have been so much more than just a romance. With proper world building, explaining how society works around the idea of monos and probes. So much to explore, so little time.
Still, for a short love story, it was fun. Me having wild imagination and seeing the potential - I need more.
+ Can we talk about Yoo Han's make up tho? Damn, boi was whiter than the snow outside of my window.
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Well, without giving any spoiler, I do believe that the overall plot of this drama is well presented, and I enjoyed it so much. I just wish that it would be a bit longer because there are things that need to be explained or tackled and not just left in the dark. The plot is well-paced, and I really liked the ending, teary-eyed. The series is cute and fluffy but there are some dark themes in it during the later episodes (the reason for R18) but nonetheless, I got hooked up with the story as it is my first time watching this kind (Mono and Probe thing) of drama. Overall, the story is very good, and I liked how entertaining it was.
ACTING
The visuals of the main leads are oozing with handsomeness. I AM OBSESSED. But to get into acting, I do believe that they gave justice to their characters and played it very well. Yeon Woo (Yoo Jun) already played in other dramas before and I liked the way he acts. Same with the Heo Hyun Jun. There are like around just 5 characters in the series and I think that they did a good job.
MUSIC
I love the OST and I barely download songs from series. I always play it while I am doing my skincare haha but true, I liked the OST so much. It fits the vibe of the series.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Coming from a country that is well-known for producing top tier dramas, I think that this has good production quality compared to existing BL dramas (Thai to be exact, but no hate tho) The editing could be a bit more polished, but I understand how hard it is to add effects during Color Rush scenes, so I love it as it is.
Overall, this drama is very good, and I loved it from the start till the end, I just wish that it was longer so that it can explain some parts that I think are important for the plot. Between WYEL, Mr Heart, and Wish You, this is my favourite. Also, this has a possibility to have a SEASON 2 (I heard from some ppl)
PS. I cried a bit during the ending.
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1Delicious cake but half baked
If you were to ask if you should watch it - Yes.From a light hearted BL standpoint with a good plot, this drama does justice. It was cute as well as a little emotional. But they put so much on the plate that you wanted to taste it all but couldn't.
For a 8x15 episodes, it was enjoyable and a great one time watch. It showed how you want something and are scared that it might become an obsession. But the heart wants what it wants. I wished they worked more on how they differentiated between love (and need) and obsession.
The story had potential to be a good 16 episode drama. There was a supernatural element and a mystery element with gay romance, side bromance and a traditional family.
But it was like we got a little bit of everything but were left craving for more (but not in a good way).
Without spoiling, I'd say that if you're adding a mystery, provide some closure to it. The romance and co-dependency element of the leads was done okay, but there was so much more that could have been developed in terms of how they come in terms with their feelings (I conclude that they both settled that their exclusive need for the other person is love) and also, I wished for a some more details about the side characters.
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It is said, colors, like features, follow the change of emotions
As the saying goes, emotions are the color of the soul. I can't even imagine being color blind. The editing and directing are brilliantly done. I particularly love the explosion of colors; the instance Yoo Han (Heo Hyun Jun, looks amazing)removes his mask, and the rush of emotions reflected in color beaming in Yeon Woo's (Yoo Jun, what beautiful eyes he has) eyes is indeed a beautiful sight. I do agree with Yoo Han; Yeon Woo is so totally pretty. It's only two 16-minute episodes, but I am impressed with the writing, directing, editing, acting, and despite the shortness of the episode, the jest of it comes through. I particularly like how color is used to reflect our lead actors' emotions, mindset, and current state of mind. How wonderful it would be to experience emotions reflected in color, washing over our surroundings. I am intrigued.
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A rainbow of colours that disappeared too soon.
Well. We finally reached the end of the rainbow.~~Story~~:
- Issues originating from the episode/drama lenght
My main complaint with the story is that like many others I do see the missed potential because of its short lenght. The ''color rush'' novel has content which the drama-version completely skips which is unfortunate. Because of this, some of the seemingly important plotpoints never get resolved or get wrapped up very quickly. There was also the issue of strange scene transitions which made some viewers confused about the timeline of the story. Then there was also a plotline that consisted of a few sentences spread around episodes which a lot of casual viewers easily missed. This all would've likely been handled much better if the drama was given more episode lenght/more episodes.
-The rainbow CGI
Whether you liked or disliked the rainbow CGI, I thought it was an original addition. I would definitely recommend people with sensitivity to bright flashes to be careful during the first few episodes. We got a look into the world of YW/the main character and I appreciated that. I wouldn't have minded if they actually went full black/white for the whole show for full immersion but I understand that's not as appealing for the general audience.
-The universe of color rush
The addition of the ''colorverse'' with probes and monos was interesting to me. Monos essentially are very much like humans but their urges for colour (or love) are something that only rarily occurs in humans and reflects addiction. Probes and Monos are basically soulmates with a catch to it because if it doesn't work between them, bad things happen. That hidden darkness element remains with the story up till the end and provides some of the mystery element for the show. I do warn against watching the 7th episode if you're sensitive to darker subjects.
All in all, highly enjoyed the addition of such a unique plot to a BL webdrama and again unfortunate that it couldn't be fully explored due to time constraints.
~~Acting/Cast~~:
Both the actors of YW and YH (main couple) did a good job. There's not a sense of natural chemistry in the sense of being comfortable with physical touching but this drama chooses to focus on different things. The tension between both actors was very present in a lot of scenes by the way they look at each other or their small interactions. The characters treat each other like fragile goods and that has a charm to it too. Also, the YH character (mask-guy) really knows how to act cute and its a shame we didn't get to see more of that.
~~Music~~:
It was fun to listen to. I also liked the calming BGM during a Color Rush event. All in all it gave the drama a bit of a surreal yet calming vibe and that was perfect for it. Like you're in a different but beautiful universe.
~~Rewatch Value~~:
I would rewatch it for the cute moments between the main couple and I think if you are the type to skip through the first episodes a lot then you'll be rewatching it too cause again those plotlines can be 1 sentence or you miss it.
All in all its a 7.5/10 for me. Definitely not for everyone but it was a refreshing take on a Boy Love story to me.
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Absolutely disappointing and a huge waste of time
There are so many better BLs and even every KBL I've watched has been better than this. People claim this one didn't have much budget but it's the KBL with the best production I have seen. The idea and universe they built was pretty great and it could have been developed so much better.The acting was absolutely off-putting, the way Yoo Han immediately got touchy and weirdly into Yeon Woo made it so uncomfortable to watch. They didn't build any type of momentum because they were strangely skinship-y in a way no one ever is. Yeon Woo was evidently disturbed by everything but they never really developed it; his actions towards everything eere exaggerated and his reactions were like those of a madman. We know nothing about Yoo Han other than what was rushly showed on ep 8. There was no chemistry between the leads whatsoever and every 'sweet' moment was ruined by excessive glamorizing of the scenes.
Overall, the show had a great premise and a truly amazing concept with the Monos, Probes, color rush, social problematic, etc., but it was terribly developed and totally ruined.
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Expected a lot more :(
Here comes my unpopular opinion, sorry.When I first heard about the storyline it really pulled me in and seemed super interesting and sweet with the "soulmate" plot. But it turned strange and unhealthy really fast. I wanted to give it a chance and keep an open mind, but the dark and obsessive "love" felt really disturbing. It puts the relationship in a really unrealistic and unhealthy light.
This is in my opinion not a good BL show and I don't like the way this show glorifies unhealthy relationships.
If you want to watch good BLs I recommend HIStory3: Trapped, 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii or 2gether. Even the new show To My Star. All are healthy and you can see a relationship blossoming.
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Unique story, not the best execution but still watchable
Edit: I decided to lower the rating in retrospect because it would be unfair to better shows that I want to give the 7.5 rating to since they have overall better quality and execution.ATTENTION: This show has triggering content in episode 7. I will put the trigger warning in a spoiler comment under my review for those who have triggers they have to avoid so they can check that out.
I think I will be the black sheep among the reviewers here but I don't think this show was good. Not by any fair standards anyway. But I will admit that despite being not-so-great, it was interesting enough and engaging enough for me to watch the whole thing so I still think it is worth one watch. It's very short anyway. It'll be over in a blink and it’s entertaining enough.
You should definitely give this a watch if you:
1. love BL stories
2.Looking for more BL shows to watch
3.Like watching boys look pretty and pretty much just that
4.Don't mind low-quality productions as long as it's gay
5.Love soulmate-au fanfictions
6.Have a thing for colors? BOI DO I HAVE THE SHOW FOR YOU!!!!!
7.Kind of about characters with disabilities? But not really?
8.Happy-ending
Summary: The show is set in an alternate universe where some people are colorblind and can only see color if they meet this one specific-to-them person. Then they will experience color rush and see colors. The colorblind people are called Monos and their color-filter halves are probes. The thing is, Monos are notorious for being dangerous because once they see colors, they get obsessive and might kidnap their probes or commit even bigger crimes. The main character Yeon Woo is a mono. He lives with his aunt after his mother who was also a mono, goes missing a few years before. He moves to a new school, meets his probe, drama ensues…
I get the feeling that a lot of this shows’ viewers are audiences who watch a lot of bl-web series? I'm not one. I've only seen one or two bl shows so I don't know if this show is somehow better than other available BL shows so I'm comparing it with all shows that I watch generally.
The premise for this show is so interesting and unique which is why I decided to watch it in the first place. I was a little disappointed to find out that the writing and production of this show is so weak. It's understandable, it's a low-budget show and you can really tell and they put most of the budget into creating these really beautiful and romantic color effects which pays off to an extent, because it makes the show unique and gives it a little something to set it apart.
But overall, it looks and feels like a student project. Like a typical “recently graduated film students got together and made something together” kind of short film you see on YouTube all the time. It's not the worst quality, it could definitely be worse, but the story was so interesting that with a better budget and better production it could have been much better.
The cinematography is very simple, they just...have the characters in the frame. They do some interesting things with color which I liked. The set design and the general worldbuilding is very sloppy, however. If they were being really smart about it, they could have used the costumes and set designs to reveal even more of the story and aesthetic but the look of the show is very careless so they clearly didn’t spend too long on it. Like they could have had the main character only dress in blacks and whites to show his lack of color sensitivity or have the set have really harmonious color palettes that would highlight the color rush experience. They could have even color graded the show to really capitalize on the sense of losing and gaining color but they only do that a little bit. Missed opportunity.
There’s a sense that everyone in the background besides the main characters, are just standing there like avatars in a video game from 15 years ago. They don’t act like humans and it makes the show look like a theatrical production rather than a TV show. I could nag about the production failures but a weak production can be overlooked if the writing is good. Unfortunately, this show actually suffers from weak writing:
Now that I have watched the whole thing, I know that a lot of subplots are left dangling. This is possibly for a second-season tease which they probably will get because everyone loved this show but to be honest, they made no effort to developed these subplots throughout this season. They are presented in the first episode and then remain in whatever state they were presented, all the way to the very end. It was sad. I wanted to know more about other monos. There’s a whole background situation about everyone hating monos and I think making that more visible in the show would have raised the stakes even more and made it more interesting.
The main issue was the voiceover. You can tell a writer has failed, if there is more voiceover in a show than dialogue. Each scene has the main character explain what we just watched, what everyone is feeling, and what it all means. You can tell this is a failed adaptation technique because that's one of the first things they teach writers about adapting stories: Avoid voiceovers as much as you can. It's a cheap trick. It's an obvious tell that the scene has failed to fulfill its reason to exist. The characters should not explain the emotions. The actors should act out the emotions and the script should provide them with good scene setups that help those emotions flow naturally. I honestly hated the voiceover for the most part. There were some funny, cute scenes where it made sense to hear the main character voice emotions that ever different from what he said or his actions but for the most part he just explained what we had just seen. And it was so unnecessary. To make it all worse, he poor actors actually did get the emotions through. The scenes were enough. Those voiceovers were just ruining the vibe!
Also, an issue: too many flashbacks to scenes we just saw. For such a short runtime, they could use that precious time for story-development.
Another minor complaint I have is the lack of levity in this show. I know it’s an angsty, serious show but all shows should have a little funny in them. It’s like the spice in a food. Even Greek tragedies have funny moments. There is an absurdity in tragedy and having that in your story humanizes the characters and situation. The show had a few of those scenes but I would vote for more! It could have more comedic moments.
Acting: Yoo Jun does a fine job but this is Heo Hyun Jun’s first acting gig I think and you can really tell. His annunciation, his facial expressions, his stance etc. they all expose him as a newbie and that’s okay, he can grow into a better actor but for this show it was kind of a bummer. Unfortunately, the supporting cast weren’t given much to do and they tried (well some of them did).
The music was very generic and worked with the creepy vibe of the show. Like almost every other show, they played the two romantic songs way too often and for way too long, it naturally became annoying. It’s like that “hmm watcha say” joke.
Overall, I would say this show is watchable. The story is so unique that it kind of pushes the viewer to want more. It’s a combination of high school drama, romance, mystery and suspense. All nice genres if you are into them. I didn’t love the show, mainly because I was so frustrated by the missed opportunities of it all but I did care enough to want to know what happens next. There is a lot of suspense and mystery and the dynamics of the characters are so inexplicable wacky and weird that you can’t help but be intrigued by it all.
It’s interesting because the show presents one dynamic for monos and probes then subverts this itself. There is a chase to the romance too. You don’t know if it’s going to end in a murder or a kiss and that’s usually a fun dynamic to watch! The main character is pretty likable despite being a very sad boi. I learned a lot about colors in this show too. I think that was a cute detail to put in. It felt like besides the destined nature of the romance, these characters were also really getting to know each other. They were also innovative with the situations that they put the characters in together as well. When watching too many romances, you start to see repeating patterns, this show avoided that for the most part. It was refreshing.
I hope if this gets a second season, they’ll be able to get a bigger budget and write it a little better. It has so much potential to be better.
I do think if you are looking for a super short, surrealistic bl romance that you should check this out. It’s not a very complex story. It’s just a simple thing to watch and pass the time
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This review may contain spoilers
this drama is pretty mediocre.
The concept was really cool and the trailer was awesome but the actual drama was confusing and half baked. It seemed as if the plot started at episode 6 because if how slow it was and the series is only 8 episodes long. The story honestly left me with so many questions and the acting was not the best. It was so uncomfortable seeing them kiss because there was no chemistry and the actors looked so stiff. I would've liked to see more of the side couple and a longer show. The soundtrack was very good and the little montages were amazing, especially the scenes when he sees color and his eyes change.Was this review helpful to you?
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The Biggest Waste of My Time
This was probably one of the worst BLs I have ever seen. It has a typical fanfiction soulmate plotline, where the two leads meet each other's eyes and immediately realize they are meant to be. The plot itself seemed intriguing. I think they could have gone pretty far with this plot, but their execution was awful.The main character clearly has some trauma regarding his mother going missing and he vows to never follow his probe. The part I didn't like, however, was the utter lack of explanation on his trauma. What was the point of it being there and clearly having an effect on his perspective when they won't even explain it or go into the tiniest bit of detail? All we know is that the mother disappeared and the kid couldn't remember the color of her headband.
On top of that, the show moves SO SLOWLY and it's only 8 episodes. But then at the end, all of a sudden they throw a bunch of content in that doesn't make any sense. I thought their chemistry would build and it would be fine at the end, but I was very wrong. The actors had no chemistry on screen and they were so beyond stiff. Their kiss at the end was downright painful. Don't even get me started on the acting. The flat, monotonous tone of the second lead was SO painful I can't even put it into words.
Maybe I'm just too critical and I'm being mean, but after watching a bunch of other BLs, even these short ones, this seriously did not compete. The execution of the plot is half assed, the characters are poorly developed, the acting is complete and utter shit, but at least the music is nice. Would I recommend this show? Absolutely not. If you would like, I can give you some wonderful recommendations for other BLs.
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This review may contain spoilers
BL DRAMA WITH A GREAT CONCEPT!
WOW! I really did enjoy this drama. I loved it so much I decided to write my first review for it. I love the mono and probe concept, I find that very interesting! I think I can appreciate seeing color irl after watching this drama.The actors had great chemistry together! They really did an amazing job bringing the characters Yeonwoo and Yoohan to life! But especially Yoojun! He really did an amazing job with the emotional scenes and when he dropped to the ground after loosing color once Yoohan left. The OST's are just beautiful. When they would play in the background, it hit me in the feels. T-T
I like that it went dark towards the end, which was a break from the lightness in the first few episodes. Ep.7 just hurt to watch.. (TRIGGER WARNING if you are sensitive to self harm that episode!! )They really focused on the boys relationship more then the mom's story.. which I guess I could be left for another season? The story is great, due to time limit and episodes we couldn't get into as much depth as I think we all would of liked. If this was a full 24+ episode drama with 30+ mins per episode, imagine what they could do! Even though this drama is short, but it is very sweet. The production team did what they could and it still is an amazing drama!
Over all, I really am happy this drama is getting so much attention and love! Definitely recommend if you have not watched it!! Lets hope for a season 2 everyone!
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So refreshing!
I don't usually watch BL, but the premise of this drama called to me.They created a whole world where Monos (people who can only see shades of gray) and probes (people who can see all colors as well as able monos to see colors too) are an ordinary thing.
It was a super interesting watch, and I would love for it to be longer (each episode has between 15 to 20 min)! I'm still hoping for spin-offs in this world, I think there's so much more to explore and there were also some ends that should've been tied.
The actors were great! The actor who portrayed Choi Yeon Woo was really good, he did a great range of emotions so quickly that amazed me.
The other ML, Go Yoo Han, had such a sexy voice and was really good at being "fresh" and "outgoing".
I definitely recommend this one, it's super short (you'll definitely want more) and the whole concept was really good.
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