This review may contain spoilers
Gay Business
Bump Up Business is a South Korean BL series. It is about two K-Pop idols who debuted in a duo and the marketing strategy that they were put in was more into being a gay duo or at least suggestive of that scenario. I have some concerns about this concept but I have to admit that a part of me is quite proud that an actual K-Pop group – OnlyOneOf – is the lead of the series. Basically, the series is led by members of the K-Pop group. I am really surprised at that considering how homophobic South Korean actually is. Anyways, I actually think that they did a good job with this one. I mean, for a South Korean BL, this is not bad. The story is quite simple and, even though they had so many weird complications, they were able to handle the lives of the characters well. The acting is okay. I mean, these are rookie actors who are doing BL so they are still starting and I don’t think that they did a bad job at all. It could still be so much better but it is okay. I think what is icky about this story for me is the business model that they are acting like a gay couple so that they could get more fans. This is the business model that they have and I was initially uncomfortable with it but then I realized that this is how BL actors are doing it. I mean, I know that they are not real couples and these are all fan service. I think it was when that I had this realization that I became more open to the concept. They also did it well by not being too exploitative about it and you can clearly see that the characters are slowly having interest with each other. Again, the acting is not the best and can still be improve but it is not too bad. At the same time, I feel like they benefitted from the fact that it is a relatively short series that there is nothing much here that would make you tick anymore because the events are unfolding as fast as they can. There are some parts of the story that they could have removed like the girl in the story was serving no other purpose so that it could be more of a cohesive but we got what we got and I am not really that mad about it. I think there is not much special in here. It is just okay. At the end of the day, OnlyOneOf is just doing what they did in the series - just gay business.
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