Manga Readers will be Disappointed

The actors who played the leads were good, but they changed the original story so much that it detracted from the story. They took away Kaneda's spunk and made strange, and took away Yanase's sense of humor and made him more boring. They also created unnecessary angst that was not in the manga. The couple in the manga had a sex life, in the series they barely kissed.

In the manga, Kaneda moved to Canada to be with Yanase, and returned to Japan when his year was over, 3 months after Yanase. That guy did not come from Canada to mess with Jun. Once they confessed, they were lovey-dovey.

I recommend only reading the manga, or reading the manga after watching the series. I was unable to appreciate the series because I read the manga first a few years ago.

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Great Slice of Life BL

Takara-kun to Amagi-kun (2022) was great because they used defined tropes (cold, stoic guy with cute, funny guy) and brought life to the characters. My biases are, rural setting, slice of life, and odd couples, so I was bound to love it, but the acting, the setting, the friendships put this over the top.

Yes, like most Japanese BL, the intimacy scenes are not very natural, but what I did enjoy was, when one character stated his boundary, and need to move slowly, his partner respected this.

I will be rewatching this due to the overall package this series is. It may be too slow for some viewers, but it was like wrapping a gift for me.

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Good Lightweight Series

Due to the heavy subject matters of parental death, and neglectful, abusive parents, I thought there would be more depth to this series. Since this is a mini series, I think my expectations were too high.

The acoustics the band played in were horrible, so I couldn't get into the music numbers either. The only reason I enjoyed this series, was the relationship development between the two couples, Xu Qi Zhang/Ye Guang, and Ray/Jian. Both couples had different paths to love, and I thought the relationship progression was really well done. What I found a little interesting was, Ray allowed the first guy to mistreat him multiple times, yet he made a nice guy like Jian pay for his one mistake. Yet Ray did not try to use his previous relationship as an explanation to Jian, he just decided what was no longer acceptable to him, and acted on it.

Overall this is a light series, that does have moments of emotional abuse and one incident of a parent slapping a child across the face. This is not resolved in the end, so it's really disturbing to think that Ye Guang will be living in that environment for at 2 more years until he can go to university. Hopefully he can get stronger against his parents (father is the abuser, mother the enabler) with the support of Xu Qi Zhang and his mother.

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Likeable Series but Should Have Aged up the Characters

This was a surprising good little project. The acting was very good, and even the villains were redeemable. The elephant in the room is, the actors are way too old to be playing high school students. This would have been better in a university setting, since the plot was mainly about falling in love right before graduation. Unless I missed it, I still have no idea what Chris and Tong Fah will be doing at university, just one of the loose ends that was left unresolved.

Run from TharnType and his real life brother play unrelated characters in this series. Their characters do not interact that often, otherwise their obvious resemblance would have been a distraction.

It would be nice to have a special episode to tie up loose ends. For example, Near's co-workers complained about his work performance, but besides being late, he seemed to provide good customer service. Does he get rehired after quitting? Will Jeno win a Muay Thai match? Hope to see more of this series in the future.

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Good but too Short for Deep-Dive

I loved the cast and the storyline, but felt that it the series was too short to deep-dive into the many complex issues that were introduced during this series. I think that they need a traditional length part 2 of this series to address some loose ends.

1. We never really find out how being suffering child neglect has impacted Daun. This series does show that child neglect impacts high income families as well.
2. Si Won really only cares about himself and how he feels. I found his selfishness annoying at times.
3. So what's the mom's backstory?
4. Why does everyone act like jerks in response to Si Won's film. I didn't really understand that.
5. Should Si Won and his sister make a decision on if they want to mend their relationship with their father, or if they are staying away to not upset the mother, who was shown as a very excitable person when angry.

Since I liked the acting and the cast, I would be willing to watch a Part 2, but as a stand alone series, I can't see myself rewatching this.

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Good Series but a Bit too Long

This was a pretty good Korean BL. The acting wasn't as stiff as in some Korean BL, except for the intimate scenes. Except for the balcony scene, the intimate scenes were a little stiff and uncomfortable. Usually it could be overlooked, but this couple is bold enough to hold hands at their homophobic all boys school, so I would have expected less awkwardness with the kissing.

I usually hate love triangles, but this worked because the person who isn't chosen needs to work on himself, so that when the right person comes, he won't hesitate again.

I really liked the lead character in this series. He is strange, but his charm is, he speaks what he believes. Also, he had feelings for Daon, but like most high school kids, he got over it fast and moved on to Shin Woo. I like that this was shown as many high school romances seems to be less realistic. Although he and Shin Woo stayed together after high school, he rebounded fast from Daon.

I thought this series was too long and it could have been done in 12 episodes. To be honest, I skipped Ep 15 and fast forwarded through much of Ep 13-14 because it those episodes where of Daon hiding from Tae Geong, and the TG x SW falling in love. Since TG and SW didn't really have that as much chemistry (to me) as TG and Daon, I found it a little boring. Still TG picked the right person, I just think the actors did not have the connection that the TG and Daon actors have.

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Great Start but Some Wasted Time

This contains spoilers.

The weakest part of the series is the storytelling. If it weren't for such as strong cast, this series would have been doomed.

The first part was the usually hate-hate relationship. The middle part, the main characters where starting to show they they have feelings for each other. Shi Lei even confessed to his mother that he loves Jin Yu Zhen in probably the most powerful scene in the whole series. It's confusing how a team that could produce that scene, did such a bad job in the last third of the series. They wasted three episodes on brining the ex-boyfriend of Jin Yu Zhen to make trouble for him and Shi Lei. I kind of like hate to love stories, and usually if an ex is involved, they are brought in at mid point so the couple has time to resolve the conflict and make their relationship official. Not this series. They waste the last three episodes on a fake love triangle and worse, there were several lovey-dovey scenes between the ex boyfriend and JYZ even before JYZ and SL had a first kiss. JYZ's first kiss in this series was with the ex! It was full on kissing, not a little peck.

I wish they had cut out the ex flash backs and showed the guys having a meal with Shi Lei's mother, or at an office party with all of the employees, after becoming a couple. The last episode spent too much time showing JYZ running around town looking for SL, who was with the ex. While the last 5 minutes where great, it's a shame that the viewers did not have at least have an episode of JYZ and SL being lovey-dovey. The second couple had more romantic screen time than the lead couple.

Despite the flaws, the cast did a fine job and the strange OST fit the series very well. Too bad it was bogged down by a poor plot. I would like to see Aaron Lai and Hank Wang work together again because they had great chemistry and were great playing JYZ and SL.

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Thitnuea's Ever Changing Hair Color

I really like this series. I thought that Pavel did a great job playing a character that is very different from his real personality. I liked seeing him as Plengrak, a kind and gentle man who has been hurt in the past. Benz is great as the sweet, yet bold Duen Yi. I like both actors, so I did watch the series with this bias. The second couple, Jean and Thitnuea were great. Jean was a tsudere who finally allowed himself to be caught by Thitnuea. Their storyline was sweet. The hetero couple was the standard boy and girl have had mutual crushes forever, but then the girl rejects the guy, who will not give up in chasing her.

This was not the most original story and this may be an annoyance for some viewers. That's understandable. This series is on the lighter side, and maybe COVID and budget had something to do with this. This series was cast long before it aired, so COVID may have played a part. Also, they didn't plug in the instruments, so for most of the series, the viewer didn't get to hear what the band sounds like. This was very annoying. Also, Thitnuea's hair was very annoying. The color of his hair would change within a scene. They would cut away from Thitnuea, then when it turned back to him, his hair color would be different. Thitnuea's hair color was very vivid, and they should have done a better job with continuity, since it was very distracting.

Overall, this was a simple, series, nothing new, but was made enjoyable by the cast.

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Great Action BL

Kinn Porsche shows brutal violence, and passionate sex, without hot babes interfering with their love story. The characters in this series are flawed, and make mistakes out of emotion. Some of the characters cannot tap into their emotions, hurting others in the process. Kinn and Porsche never hide their love from their families and others, which was wonderful to see. Although Porsche was shown having alley sex with 2 women, he still fell in love with Kinn, and fell hard. Even when there was conflict with the families, Kinn and Porsche still stuck together, and got through it together, making the viewer feel their relationship is the real thing, and will last.

What is at the core of this story is family. Even through all the drama and manipulations, but families are close in different ways. In usual romance stories, the main couple are pretty much alone and their families are hardly seen. KP is different where you see family in every single episode, giving the viewer insight into the characters' backgrounds, as we get to know the family, not just the ML.

The casting for the most part was superb. Apo, the dangerously handsome actor, with his beautiful smile, made my heart flutter. Thai productions are often criticized for their colorism, but Apo and Barcode appear ethnically Thai to me, and not ghostly fair. I don't like to insert social issues, but want to give this a nod since it is a colorism is a huge criticism in the entertainment industry in Asia. As an aside, I love with Jeff and Gameplay work on projects, but I was able to adjust to Jeff and Barcode. Since Barcode was under-age, they kept it chaste, which I also appreciated.

Some cons: There are still unresolved plot lines and some plot holes. For example, Porsche was shown going to university, but this was never mentioned again, not even about dropping out. The actor playing Porsche and Chay's mother was much too young to be their mother. Porsche is supposed to be almost 30, the actress should have been in her 50's. Women should be allowed to age. Hopefully there will be another season to answer some of the unanswered plot points.

I highly recommend this series. I think most people will not be disappointed.

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Wonderful

I thought this was an excellent adaptation of the manga. They even kept material that international viewers would not approve of, and I like that they kept their focus on staying true to the story. Japanese people are socialized to "read the air" in social situations, but this series was an example that even people brought up to do this from birth, do not always get it right. Both Yoh and Segasaki struggle with not understandings the other's feelings.

I thought the ending was so sweet and tender. Both characters gain clarity in that they both expressed loving the other, and are now a couple. Yoh now knows that he isn't just a loser freeloader, and Segasaki now knows that Yoh reciprocates his feelings.. I thought that it was poignant to show them making love, then having a meal together, things that couples do together. That touched my heart more than tears or a monologue. The only flaw was the fujoshi shipper, but at least she was not over the top about it. She genuinely cared for her friend Yoh.

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Sweet and Fluffy

This series is a light and fluffy comedy with a little bit of supernatural elements thrown in. It is not the most intellectual series I've watched, but it was nice to see a series that had more than a few normal looking people. Putter, playing Yu has redefined what handsomeness is. The character of Yu has unique features, but as the series progressed, I could see why Ai could fall in love with him.

I could have done without the ex-girlfriend but she in the source material, so I had to live with the unnecessary conflict this brought to the couple. A weakness of this story is, I feel that there were times I could not read their thoughts as well as I would have liked. I think that if I had access to a translated copy of the novel, it would have helped me understand the inner thoughts of the characters better.

I recommend this for people who like fluffy, not super deep or philosophical. The characters are like people I would be friends with in real life, so they were relatable to me.

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Unique Story

This was very good series. I normally do not like Korea BL because even with high budget, facial plastic surgery handsome actors, the acting and pacing is usually terrible. The kissing scenes were terrible in this drama per usual, but the final scene showed warm hugging, without hands in pockets or being 3 feet apart, and without being awkward. The storyline was very interesting, and mysterious, and very unique. The acting was pretty good too, and except for the known villains (the rotten parents), the adults in this series were not that terrible. The messaging of this series was very positive, and given mental health issues in Korea, it was delivered very clearly, and succinctly.

I recommend this series as it has drama, humor, angst and comedy, all wrapped up in an interesting story and great cast.

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My Weekly Dose of Sweetness

I really loved how sweet and cute this series is! Tutor is the consummate straight man to Yim's funny man. I did not realize until this series just how angelic Tutor looks during his closeups. As Jade and Mai, they made a great acting team with great chemistry and the ability to be vulnerable when necessary. I also liked that both lead characters had warm and loving relationships with their families. I think that Asian families are often unfairly portrayed as very cold, homophobic and forcing ambition on their children. As an Asian, it's simply not true. Just as in other cultures and ethnicities, Asian families come in all varieties. It was nice to see two families where the parents and all of the siblings were close and loving.

There are so many serious topic and intense supernatural series airing at this time (winter 2023) that I needed a ray of sunshine from behind the clouds. There was only one other series (a serious one) that I looked forward to watching every week, due to the acting and storyline. Yes, the sports day episode wasn't my thing, but I've worked for places where we have sports day (without uniforms) and they are super fun. Ym and Tutor has such great chemistry, and their love scenes were both hot and loving and the same time. No, I cannot gush enough about Jade, Mai, Tutor and Tim.

The second couple, Tong and Gus were a cute couple, but they never fully explained by Tong was so rude and mean in the beginning of the series. I would love to see Leo and Tai in another series.

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Not Faithful to the Source Material

The Japanese title sounded familiar, so I looked it up and realized that I read the manga. This manga is from 2013, so I had to go back and read it. They should have stuck more closely to the source material. I think the actors were good,.

There was too much filler to stretch the series and I wish they would have stuck closer to the manga.

****Spoilers****
1. The exes. No Mizuki, and the ex-wife is just mentioned in passing in the manga. A weakness of the series is, more lovey-dovey time was spent between Mizuki and Sakae, than Soga and Sakae in the series, did not happen in the manga.
2. In the manga, Soga reveals he is divorced right away.
3. In the manga, Soga is from Shikoku, not Tokyo, so no return to Tokyo.
4. In the manga no break-up, no LDR.
5. In manga, no filler such as the birthday party plans, the meddling co-workers.
6. Part 1 of the manga is Sakae x Soga, but Part 2 is about Kaname and and a salaryman, who is a regular and Tamae, is from Tokyo and hates vegetables.

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