This review may contain spoilers
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have a basic shojo story with a male lead
For me it was watchable and enjoyable to some degree.
It was reasonably well-written and didn’t have much of a pacing issue like, let’s say a lot of Thai BLs do but it was still a predictable, basic, Shojo-seque story with a nondescript male lead and two Love Interests. A moody/broody Love Interest and a cheery/helpful Love Interest.
What I found especially interesting is that the atmosphere felt a lot like a webcomic or a manga. Maybe it’s bc of the vivid colors and make-up or bc of the camera work and editing. I’m not sure what it was but it felt very much like reading a comic. The atmosphere wasn’t really realistic but rather fairytale-like, which I actually liked.
The love triangle was very well-done. I mostly had the right hunch but there were times where I wasn’t hundred percent sure who TK is gonna end up with. It wasn’t pointless, it was understandable and it propelled the story.
I’m usually a sucker for slow burn but in this case unfortunately the story became dull and kinda boring towards the end. I think it’s bc when the time came to level up the drama the makers didn’t do the same with the pacing and it ended up being kinda out of sync with the all the drama happening in the series. The feeling was similar to like when you’re getting on an ride in an amusement park but something just keeps pulling you back. It prevents you from speeding up and enjoying the climax of the ride. That’s how this story felt to me in its third part.
My biggest problem though was the non-existent personality of the main lead. He simply didn’t have any core personality. He just did what felt best for the story at the moment. He was constantly changing his personality from awkward to blatantly honest or even aggressive to shy. These changes didn’t necessarily stem from character development but were rather random. It really bothered me. Everyone else did have a core personality, only TK was left to be very vague. He literally felt like a half-baked main character of a Visual Novel for the audience to identify with.
He was also fsr completely showered in make up. With his over-painted and strangely non-expressive porcelain doll face he looked like an alien to me. He somehow felt human but also kind of didn’t. It’s like he was in the Uncanny Valley. It was probably the directors fault but...who knows.
The overall development of romantic feelings in this series was a bit underwhelming too. While I could kind of understand why TK would fall in love with Da On and maybe vice versa, I had a hard time getting why Shin Woo fell for TK. It seemed like he fell for him in that study room while TK told the other boys that he wasn’t interested in games and they should just go bc they were disturbing other students but I still don’t get why that would make him fall for TK. ShinWoo’s development of romantic feelings didn’t really make much sense to me and TK too, fell for ShinWoo way too fast. I personally didn’t mind them getting together but tbh I felt like it would make more sense for him to end up with Da On. But both of them kind of worked so it’s fine.
Oh and btw. could somebody pls explain to me how in the hell did TK win that princely contest or whatever it’s called? That just straight up pulled me out of the story bc it was so unbelievable! What happened there? He was super awkward and couldn’t even talk properly and he won? How? Why? I don’t get it. Somebody explain it to me.
Anyway, regardless of my enjoyment level I’m still very grateful that Korea slowly decides to put more effort und budget into BLs. Hopefully Light On Me will become an important milestone in the history of Korean BLs. I’m truly thankful for that.
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