This review may contain spoilers
Still Holds Up!
I rewatched SOTUS for the first time in like 6 years or something recently, and this show really holds up!
(Apologies if this review feels all over the place, I was sleep-deprived while writing it).
SOTUS is a bit of a slow burn, but it kept me engaged all the way through. The romance between Kongpob and Arthit was pretty effective, even though they were super slow to get together, but I think that helped make it all the more exciting when it finally happened. Their relationship seemed pretty healthy towards the end of the show as well when it was really starting to get serious, so that was nice.
I like that Kong and Arthit are the only gay couple in the show. It's common in a lot of BLs to have multiple side-story relationships, but I like that this one focuses on just the main. I also love that there is a femme lesbian character. She never actually has any on-screen gay moments with any girls, but she is known throughout the whole series to be a lesbian. I can't think of too many other BL series i've watched that included any other LGBT's outside of just the G's, so this was a nice, albeit tiny, shift from that. I honestly really liked all the side characters, I don't think there was a single one that I hated.
I saw a lot of people in different comment sections saying that they didn't like the hazing and that it was a big problem for them while watching SOTUS. While I sort of agree (obviously this kind of hazing is bad and in the show it was getting out of hand at points), I do think that it ended up being fine, all the juniors seemed relatively unaffected when the hazing period was finally over, and they seemed to have found some community in it. That being said, I also don't think the show was trying to portray hazing in a super positive light or anything, but I definitely see where people are coming from.
Overall I wish I could say more about this show. It's a classic for a reason, and I definitely see how SOTUS really paved the way for future Thai BL's. I will say that it feels pretty tame, and other BL series' that came after this have certainly taken things to higher heights, but I think that SOTUS was a good original ground to stand on.
9/10.
(Apologies if this review feels all over the place, I was sleep-deprived while writing it).
SOTUS is a bit of a slow burn, but it kept me engaged all the way through. The romance between Kongpob and Arthit was pretty effective, even though they were super slow to get together, but I think that helped make it all the more exciting when it finally happened. Their relationship seemed pretty healthy towards the end of the show as well when it was really starting to get serious, so that was nice.
I like that Kong and Arthit are the only gay couple in the show. It's common in a lot of BLs to have multiple side-story relationships, but I like that this one focuses on just the main. I also love that there is a femme lesbian character. She never actually has any on-screen gay moments with any girls, but she is known throughout the whole series to be a lesbian. I can't think of too many other BL series i've watched that included any other LGBT's outside of just the G's, so this was a nice, albeit tiny, shift from that. I honestly really liked all the side characters, I don't think there was a single one that I hated.
I saw a lot of people in different comment sections saying that they didn't like the hazing and that it was a big problem for them while watching SOTUS. While I sort of agree (obviously this kind of hazing is bad and in the show it was getting out of hand at points), I do think that it ended up being fine, all the juniors seemed relatively unaffected when the hazing period was finally over, and they seemed to have found some community in it. That being said, I also don't think the show was trying to portray hazing in a super positive light or anything, but I definitely see where people are coming from.
Overall I wish I could say more about this show. It's a classic for a reason, and I definitely see how SOTUS really paved the way for future Thai BL's. I will say that it feels pretty tame, and other BL series' that came after this have certainly taken things to higher heights, but I think that SOTUS was a good original ground to stand on.
9/10.
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