This review may contain spoilers
Short, sweet, to the point
This show checked all the boxes for me. Casting was a hit, OST got stuck in my head, and the story was refreshing and cute. I understand people not giving this a full 10 stars because it was short and I feel there was some room for more development, but for me they nailed it.I really loved the development of the relationship between Jinwon and Sangha. It felt really natural to me to see Jinwon slowly realize that what he was feeling for Sangha was love after getting to know him and realizing that Sangha had been silently supporting him for so long. But then the scene at the end where he says that he didn’t understand why Sangha was so wrapped up in his life and that’s why he had trouble accepting his feelings?? That felt SO authentic for me. I think that in a relationship between adults it’s so important for both parties to have their own dreams and aspirations. For me that’s what really differs between relationships between kids/teenagers and relationships between adults, they have to find that middle ground where they love each other and want to be together while still having their own lives. It’s not healthy to live only for the happiness/success of your partner, and I feel that this show really handled that so well.
That being said, I, too, wish this was longer! I’d love to see some content of Jinwon and Sangha training together as rivals and then racing together but against each other. I also wish that there had been a little more drama after the race with Jinwon finding out about the moneylender guy basically forcing Sangha to run. I’d have liked to see him get real defensive when finding out that they basically snatched Sangha and beat him up a little. I feel like that was a bit of a missed opportunity, which is why I gave the story 9 stars instead of 10.
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Love the manga but this was a little lacking
I had no idea that this was an adaptation of the manga until the characters introduced themselves, it’s been years since I read the manga so I didn’t put it together during the opening elevator scene. Yoneda Kou is a ride-or-die mangaka for me, meaning I’ll read absolutely anything she writes, so once I realized it was her Shima and Togawa I was super excited to keep watching.However, this movie I feel really did the character of Shima a disservice. Yes he had that intense poker face that Shima had at the beginning, but throughout the manga he is very sassy with Togawa as they get to know each other, and that is what I felt poorly translated to the film. Not to say that I feel the actor who played him did not do a good job, I loved the casting for this film. I just feel that the story suffered in the translation to a film because we could not see Shima’s internal monologue and his thoughts like in the manga. After finishing the movie I went back and reread the manga and there is just so much more emotion conveyed because we are able to see what Shima is thinking in certain situations.
That being said, I loved seeing one of my favorite mangas brought to life, and by total surprise! I’d definitely watch again. Also the actor that played Shima was super cute, I loved that he had a mole on his face like in the manga. Whether the actor actually has a mole there or if it was makeup, I thought it was a nice touch.
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Surprisingly good for 7 minutes??
I’m honestly shocked by how much I liked this! It was so cute and very nicely done for such a short little film. The ending was extremely cute and while open-ended still left me with a satisfied feeling.I love the concept of the guy scouting a film location for a romance film and then catching feelings for someone in the place he was so underwhelmed by (I’m not saying he fell in love because he knew the guy like 3 hours, but in my head they went off together and are happy). I think it was such a good idea for a short, I’m just very pleased.
The music was good, mostly just a simple piano melody, but I think it was a good choice for the vibe of the film.
To be honest, the script is where this short really won me over. The film scout’s internal dialogue at the end was so sweet, it gave me little happy butterflies and made me smile like an idiot.
Really this is just a super cute little film, and I recommend it because it’s really just so short there isn’t really a reason NOT to watch it. I watched this on YouTube on the channel Imagine Thailand.
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Not very well produced
I watched this because I loved Mild so much in Tharntype and wanted to see more of him. However, his acting is definitely weaker in this series and I was not very satisfied with his performance. I’m gonna keep an eye out for future dramas that cast him.As for the story, also pretty weak. There was potential for some serious character development that we just didn’t get, and what we did get fell very flat. I wanted more emotional availability from Pond, but any time I felt that we were about to get a big moment between him and Tee it was a let down on his side. Also, the conflict with Bell was pretty nonexistent?? I know he did what he did (intentionally vague to avoid spoilers) but even after that reveal I was just like “That’s it?” His character was done a disservice as an antagonist, they could have really used him as a foil for Tee but didn’t.
Music: 1 star because I literally can’t remember ANY music from the whole series, which never happens with me. Not memorable at all.
If I was going to rewatch this series (extremely unlikely), I would just skip around to moments I thought were funny/cute. The story is so weak and the plot so boring that there isn’t really a point to rewatching.
The only things I loved about this series, which were what made me give 3 stars instead of 1, are the characters of Max and Thor. When we met Thor I was really put off at first because of how over the top he is, but he ended up being my favorite character. His scenes were my favorite, and the scenes with Max specifically were the best of the best for me. Especially the scene where they were sitting at the table with Tiger! That was my favorite scene in the whole show because of how the three of them navigated the language barriers.
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Fun but not deep
This was a cute show and I did have fun watching it, but it is really too rushed to be a huge success. The episodes are 15 minutes (I think) but have a full intro song which is super not needed. Other shows that I’ve seen that have the short episodes have done just a quick like, MAYBE 20 second intro so you don’t feel that’s it’s a waste of time, but with such a short episode having 1 min 20 seconds of intro is just disappointing.Casting for this show was great, I loved all the actors, even the ones who didn’t get as much of a focus. I really enjoyed the characters, even though we didn’t really get much on their backstories or motivations, especially the main couple.
The show just needed to be longer honestly, that would have fixed most of my issues with it. Main couple seemed to fall for each other out of nowhere, especially Lin Xun. Jun Cheng had a few moments of “why is my heart beating so fast” that led up to him confessing his feelings, but Lin Xun I feel like went from not liking him that way in any capacity to suddenly dating him?? It didn’t really click for me.
As for the side couples, I liked them! Jun Dao was pretty toxic at times though, the one scene where he yells at Yang Xiang made me really upset. But the two of them obviously had feelings for each other so after he immediately apologized I was hesitantly back on board. Also YANG XIANG being actually bisexual???? We love to see it and we especially love it when the character explicitly says it. That made me really happy. Jun Ping was also a sweetheart, the first scene of him and Yan Yue was very cute and we could already see that they liked each other.
However, the female character in this show was trash. She literally sexually assaulted Yang Xiang and then tried to put the moves on Jun Ping as well?? This woman is a predator and she should have been left out of the show.
I would love a sequel to this show to expand more on how the characters adjust to being in definitive relationships. Does Jun Cheng go back to Korea? If he does, does Lin Xun go with him? His character says he wants to finish college on time, so do they go long distance instead?? I have so many questions!!
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