j729
OK filler show. Some quality and editing issues make this hard to watch at times.
The story itself wasn't too bad, and the actors did a good job for being in their first series. And overall I am glad I watched it. I hope to see these actors again in another series. It was nice to not have an engineering student plot. This was far from that. I would even say it is a more middle-class and down to earth series, which is a nice change. There was the couple who fall with a long stare and an almost kiss while they are on the floor, so at least we got that trope covered! Can't have a BL series without the fall/kiss scene...
Now for the bad.
The sound was atrocious. The microphones picked up lots background noise. The sound levels were very uneven from scene to scene, and episode to episode. The mics scratched on their clothing. Conversations were muffled. This show really needed some better equipment and/or a good sound person. I get they weren't on a Holly wood soundstage, but this was very below average quality. Even the worst low budget Thai series has much better sound.
The camera work wasn't great either. The uneven focusing, and the way they framed the shots, were closer to a home movie quality than a professional production.
And despite the story itself being good, this was way too long, and there were just way too many episodes. They could have cut this down from the approximately 20 hours and 27 episodes to about half that with some better editing. It just dragged at times with the first episodes being a full hour. But then you get to Episode 17 and suddenly it is 30 minutes. Then starting at Episode 18 through 27 we are down to about 15-18 minutes. Why not just make fewer one hour episodes or make them all 45 minutes?
And speaking of editing, this was the other very apparent issue with this series. It was so uneven, and I kept thinking I fell asleep during parts of the story. But it turns out, there were some significant parts of this that really were just not there, or there were major continuity skips. The last episode in particular was like it was a different plot somehow, and I still don't quite get how it all happened that way.
So my conclusion is that it wasn't great, and it wasn't bad, but it needed some work. It wasn't nearly as good as Gameboys, Oh Mando, or even (love it or hate it) My Day. All of which were made at about the same time as this. Like I said at the beginning, I am glad I watched it. But it could have been much more enjoyable if some basic things were improved.
Now for the bad.
The sound was atrocious. The microphones picked up lots background noise. The sound levels were very uneven from scene to scene, and episode to episode. The mics scratched on their clothing. Conversations were muffled. This show really needed some better equipment and/or a good sound person. I get they weren't on a Holly wood soundstage, but this was very below average quality. Even the worst low budget Thai series has much better sound.
The camera work wasn't great either. The uneven focusing, and the way they framed the shots, were closer to a home movie quality than a professional production.
And despite the story itself being good, this was way too long, and there were just way too many episodes. They could have cut this down from the approximately 20 hours and 27 episodes to about half that with some better editing. It just dragged at times with the first episodes being a full hour. But then you get to Episode 17 and suddenly it is 30 minutes. Then starting at Episode 18 through 27 we are down to about 15-18 minutes. Why not just make fewer one hour episodes or make them all 45 minutes?
And speaking of editing, this was the other very apparent issue with this series. It was so uneven, and I kept thinking I fell asleep during parts of the story. But it turns out, there were some significant parts of this that really were just not there, or there were major continuity skips. The last episode in particular was like it was a different plot somehow, and I still don't quite get how it all happened that way.
So my conclusion is that it wasn't great, and it wasn't bad, but it needed some work. It wasn't nearly as good as Gameboys, Oh Mando, or even (love it or hate it) My Day. All of which were made at about the same time as this. Like I said at the beginning, I am glad I watched it. But it could have been much more enjoyable if some basic things were improved.
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