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invisiblegarters · 1 year

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Micro BL Reviews +

So due to being ill, I've been spending a lot of time in bed watching dramas. And as always, I have thoughts.

So here, have some more micro (or not so micro) BL reviews, mostly for Thai shows that I missed last year (which is all of them, really).

Finished

Not Me (Thailand) - I quite enjoyed this. The romance stuff is secondary, but that was entirely fine by me as the main plot was interesting enough to hold my attention without it. In fact, and I know this is unpopular but…the chemistry wasn't really firing for me, romantically. I really liked Sean and White's relationship, but I never quite managed to buy into it. They have great chemistry but I didn't necessarily buy it as romantic. I think it's just me because the internet tells me that they are an extremely popular pair. And I had less than negative interest in Graffiti Cop and Hey, It's Akk From The Eclipse (it’s not, it’s Dan and Yok, sorry I'm an ass and also kind of a liar, because I didn't watch The Eclipse until after I finished Not Me and it took a trip to MDL for me to realize that Akk and Yok were played by the same person).

But I really want to jump around under a giant pride banner. Like, badly.

This one was mostly tight, though, and tackled themes I didn't expect from a BL, and that's why I'm rating it 9/10. Fell apart for me a bit in the end, but otherwise very solid, although to be frank I don't see myself rewatching it.

The Eclipse (Thailand) - I love this one, and it's almost entirely chemistry based. The school stuff was interesting enough but what kept me watching was Akk and Aye, for the most part. And I adored Akk's struggle with his sexuality - I actually thought it was portrayed well, and I felt for him. Also I love a good coming out scene with supportive and lovely parents.

Honestly, Akk was my favorite. Dude was a hot mess wrapped in tears and panic and a prefect's arm band and I have to admit I was entirely there for it. I do tend to have a thing for characters that seem like they're constantly on the verge of a panic attack (see: Uenoyama from the Given live action drama, my archetype for this).

Not the biggest fan of Thua in the end or the giant outing scene in front of the school (dear lord that's traumatizing and why do they keep going there??? STOP), but I did think that Kan and Thua were really adorable as a second couple right up until Thua went all *waves hand*…that.

LOVED the trio of protesters and loved that the drama never vilified them or tried to make them seem in the wrong. Not so fond of the Dika/Chadok thing, or how suddenly everyone was like "oh it's fine that you traumatized a kid and manipulated him into doing actual crimes and actively endangering other people's lives and essentially upheld a system that is detrimental to most of the student's mental health and also tried actively to run another student out of said school using the teachers and the kid you were traumatizing and manipulating because you hurt, too." And here's the thing. I feel for him. The backstory with Dika was tragic. But there's no real excuse for the things he did. I sympathize too much with Akk to be able to do a full 180 on the guy pushing him into destruction, even if everyone else did. Tragic backstory doesn't excuse mentally torturing more than one high schooler. Although the more I think about it the more I see that he is where Akk might have ended up, had things been a little different. Not a fun thought.

This one I originally rated 8/10 because of the above. I was annoyed by how pat the ending felt. But then the stupid thing caught in my head like a fish hook and I wound up watching it again and even though I still feel the end was weak and I am still irritated at Teach, the very fact that I couldn't stop thinking about it and basically had to watch it again made me bump it up to a 9/10 for enjoyment purposes. Because I did enjoy it, probably more than I did Not Me, although I think that Not Me was tighter and better written overall.

I'm also obsessed with the way Akk looks at Aye. Yeah, this one got me and go me hard, so much so that I know that had I watched it last year with everyone else it would have wound up in my top 5. Sorry, Choco Milk Shake.

Secret Crush On You (Thailand) - Oh, this drama. I am honestly not sure how I got through the first few episodes, tbh, because I was cringing the entire time. Like full on trying to retract my head into my body like a turtle.

And to be honest, it didn't get much better for me. I appreciate that Toh is not the typical lead in a romance like this, but I just couldn't with the collecting. Nuea was pretty, too, but I didn't get much from him by way of personality. This is a drama where if you don't like Toh, I don't know how you can get through it. I liked him even if he made me cringe a lot (he kept a whole ass crab as a memento. An entire crab. I can't get over this), so I did finish. And I will say that the chemistry was good. The kisses at camp were hot, hot, hot. My goodness.

I also really hated that most of Jao's storyline was about how fat he was. I just don't enjoy that kind of thing and also, to me he looked like a normal sized dude shoved into clothes (mostly the school uniform) a size too small.

My favorite was Daisy, though. Love. And love how sweet Intouch was with her. I read somewhere that he uses the same pronouns (?) for her she uses for herself, and I love that. Thank you show for not making me hate the whole thing and not treating that character like a joke. I about cried my eyes out, though, when she tried to be more what she thought would be less embarrassing for Intouch (read: more masculine), and Som spoke my thoughts exactly.

I actually really liked the friend group in this one. Giving it a 6/10 based mostly on that group of friends, although as I said the chemistry is good, too.

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Korea) - I was enjoying it, but I didn't like the ending at all. Unfortunately an ending I'm not fond of can kill a show for me, and this one kinda did that. Also I badly want a Denis spin off because I still don't know what his deal was and by the end that was more interesting to me than the whole reincarnation thing (although I have to admit there's something to them being doomed to repeat the same pattern). 6/10

Currently Watching

Between Us (Thailand) - Full disclosure, I have never seen Until We Meet Again and probably never will because fated mates aren't really my thing and I don't like reincarnation plots. I did watch a video about the original couple though, does that count? So I have zero attachment to Win and Team outside of this series, although again, I did watch a vid with them in once. It was fine.

All that said, I absolutely love this. Reincarnation and fated mates might not be my thing, but the whole FWB gets serious and no one involved has any idea how to handle it thing definitely is. Between Win thinking that he can't hold onto what he loves and Team's survivor's guilt making him doubt he deserves life, let alone love, those two have enough baggage to fill a small plane, and I am here for it. Add to that the fact that their communication styles are entirely different and honestly, I'm entirely unsurprised the confusion and angst that we're mostly getting. This might be unpopular but I'd be fine if it were even angstier. I do love mess.

The side couples are fine. I can take or leave all of them but Waan and Tul, tbh, but I also think that a little cute is a good thing to break up the tears and the frustration (for people who aren't me who don't eat this sort of ridiculousness up*) of Win and Team. I don't really care about the dad stuff, and while I actually do want Team's trauma to be addressed I don't think we have enough time for it anymore. It makes me wonder if they're hoping to do some sort of continuation but even if they are they better not end this with the two of them apart or then I will be annoyed.

*I would like to say here that I do eat it up, but part of the reason that I am loving this so much is that to me (again, someone who never watched UWMA and binged the first nine episodes the day before the tenth aired) this makes so much sense for these characters as I know them. You can say (and people have) that this amount of angst over something that could be taken care of in one conversation is too much, or is unrealistic, etc, but as a person who finds it very difficult to communicate actual feelings to people it actually feels pretty true, especially for two people who are what? 19/20 at most? Most especially when you consider that neither of them have done this before, both of them were utterly blindsided by the fact that feelings were happening, and both of them have a ton of baggage. I get the complaints, but for me it works.

Also my goodness Boun is lanky, isn’t he.

HIStory 5 (Taiwan) - I'm enjoying it well enough, the workplace romance a bit more than the time traveler, but honestly I just don't have a lot to say about it. For me it's fun, easy to watch, but I'm just not that invested. I keep waiting for the time traveler and his rich soon to be boyfriend to do something for me. I hope this most recent ep will kick things into gear there.

That said it does make me laugh, and honestly the workplace duo are the most adorable thing.

Love in the Air (Thailand) - for some reason Viki is being a dick and releasing this one week at a time when I'm fairly sure it's already been over for a while, and Dailymotion keeps freezing on me (or playing an ad and then refusing to start the vid), so I'm stuck waiting currently. This is a trash watch if there ever was a trash watch, I went into this knowing that and knowing that if I wanted to get through it I'd have to turn my brain mostly off and just enjoy the pretty and the high heat. Fortunately for me I am fairly good at turning my brain off when required. I also have the dubious fortune of having cut my teeth on far worse. I genuinely like Sky and the dude who plays Prapai is gorgeous.

On Hold

Ameiro Paradox (Japan) - I keep trying to get into this one and it keeps not happening, so I've given up the ghost for now and will binge watch when all eps are out. I feel like I'm punishing it for not being Eternal Yesterday and that's just petty.

DNF

Bad Buddy (Thailand) - I don't know, I just couldn't get into this. The chemistry wasn't hitting for me and eventually I just decided to stop watching rather than try to force it. First kiss was good and I shipped the girls, though.

And well, since we're here and since nothing about this fits the definition of "micro"…

Looking Forward To

Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu (Japan, Jan 29 on Viki and Gaga) - yep, another one that will very probably end badly. I hope it'll give me good chemistry though since Japan likes to do that with the sad ones.

Utsukushii Kare Season 2 (Japan, Feb 7, no word on if it will be on Viki or Gaga but I'm assuming it'll be on one if not both) - I'm still very very much in the WHAT stage with this one. And part of me is terrified it's not going to be good (the first one is my favorite BL ever, fight me) and I can't quite squash that fear, but I think that's probably just the normal fear with sequels. The assumption is that they're splitting the 2nd novel into two parts, essentially, with season two being the very end of the first novel plus some side story stuff, as well as the beginning of the second, and the movie finishing the second novel up. Not sure about the accuracy here, though, this is just stuff I found out when I first heard about it and I'm not necessarily in the loop with this stuff.

Only Friends (Thailand, ??) - I love me a mess, and this looks like a big one. I think I'll probably wimp out though and wait to see how it all shakes out before watching because I feel like real time will frustrate me and I'm hoping if I go into it already knowing who is going to pair off I can prevent the inevitable "oh no I ship this thing that's not gonna happen more, boo"s.

Our Skyy 2 (Thailand, ??) - Mostly into this for the Akk & Aye part(s), if I'm perfectly honest. “Alexa, play The Heart Wants What it Wants”

Dangerous Romance (Thailand, ??) – Because Perth, basically. See above.

#not me #the eclipse the series #secret crush on you #between us #the director who buys me dinner #love in the air #history 5 #bokura no micro na shuumatsu #the end of the world with you #utsukushii kare #my beautiful man #only friends #our skyy 2 #dangerous romance #micro reviews #in theory if not in practice

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