“What happens to it all? All the sounds released into the world never captured?” – ‘Quote from The History Of Sound
All posts by PPBongi
“Takumi- Kun Series” Series Review (Ep.1 to 6)
Confusion. I just did not get this series. Perhaps had I known this was composed of snippets of movies/series, I might have appreciated it more. I assumed it was a stand-alone series. Not having seen any of the previous references, I was at a loss as to the subtle references. Frankly, trying to make an anthology out of several movies/series is a fool’s errand and those of us trying to watch this are engaging in a fool’s task. Having said that, the account as presented does have some merit, and I found several subplots it was trying to emphasize, noteworthy. The rest of it merely became fluff and was perfunctory.
Continue reading “Takumi- Kun Series” Series Review (Ep.1 to 6)
“Rearrange” Series Review (Ep.1 to 10)
There is no doubt in my mind that some may find this series entertaining and maybe even cute. Unfortunately, I am not in that category. For me, this was yet another in a long string of endless high school cliché dramas that was unoriginal and trite and filled with every conceivable trope you can think of. Admittedly, it started out interestingly enough. But here again, it moved too inextricably and set up a false premise that from a logical perspective did not make any sense that was never explained nor fully clarified.
“You Don’t Know” Series Review (Ep.1 to 4)
This is such a story of contrasts that when you watch, it will no doubt make your head spin. It is not a BL yet has such a deep undertone of attraction between two male figures that you cannot miss its elucidation. It also is a story of ornamented family ties that at the same time their underlying behaviors upgrade the definition of dysfunctional family – they go from a ‘loving’ unit to sociopaths capable of committing unspeakable evil acts as well as treat each other with contempt. We see a ‘bad’ person accomplish acts of kindness yet be interpreted as evil actions. At the same time, ‘good’ people executing exploits of atrocities and interpreting them as justifiable acts. The whole series has example after example of oxymoronic tableaux. In the end, however, despite the conflicting messages, its arc is quite clear.
“Mission to the Moon” Series Review (Ep.1 to 30)
This was a hard series to dislike. Conversely, it was also a difficult series TO like as well. Overall, what brought this series down was its production value and the way it was presented. A comprehensive story cannot be told proficiently in 30 episodes of 8 minutes or so stretched over 3 months. No one’s attention span can last that long or retain details or nuances of a story in that sporadic of a time frame. Especially, this series as several episodes were tedious, repetitive, and lackluster. While the concept was great, it simply droned on too long with the same mundane storylines going nowhere which caused one to lose interest. What was entertaining was the fact that, at times, the main protagonists were quite good and surprisingly effective, given the fantasy nature of the story. Then unfortunately they too slipped into banality and repetitiveness.
Continue reading “Mission to the Moon” Series Review (Ep.1 to 30)
“The Nameless Season” Series Review (Ep.1 to 6)
This is a sweet journey if you are drawn to sweet genteel cliché friends-to-lovers romance narratives. All the characters are sweet. The story is sweet. The outcome is sweet. But be forewarned. You might slip into a diabetic coma from watching this rather short series because of all the sweetness that is pumped into your blood from this saccharin novella. However, I cannot say that it is not curiously entertaining, for it is. Mainly because of the symmetry between the actors. While there is nothing in this series you have not seen in other similar versions before, perhaps done much better and deeper than here, there is still enough hitherto to grab your attention.
Continue reading “The Nameless Season” Series Review (Ep.1 to 6)
“Dating Game” Series Review (Ep.1 to 12)
I loved this series! It has charm, wit, sweetness in all the right spots, and a bunch of endearing human warmth. While not overly saccharine, it is also not traumatizing. Curiously pensive and reflective, it has all the elements of a most believable love story told in soft, subtle gentle tones that simply make you feel good all over. There are two love stories, actually. Both are surprisingly compelling. While the various protagonists are interconnected, their individual love stories take very different paths to fruition. Both end up being (well, more-or-less) plausible and credible sequences.
“Hermoso” Series Review (Ep.1 to 10)
The best way to describe this series is to define it in terms of a psychological disorder. It is schizophrenic. It has all the symptoms of this condition. It is befuddling, full of mood swings, capricious, shows severe personality changes, weird periods of agitation with obvious emotional disorders as well, and psychological instability throughout. I could go on, but you get the point. It is not tethered to thinking, operating, or behaving clearly. The story is an incoherent mess yet sometimes just a lot of fun to watch. It was entertaining for some time but then lost its direction in the end as it did not seem to know how to conclude the story.
“The Killer Next Door” Series Review (Ep.1 to 60)
Yet again, this is another example of a potentially good BL series that went awry. There is a lot of good acting in this series. The issue is, it was wasted in a noxious story. I want to cry over the content (or lack thereof) that is being used to construct BL stories. While I know there ought to be no topics off limits, I do wish more positive representations of ‘Boys Love’ could be portrayed. Or at least ones that are not always so pessimistic in nature and content and/or surrounded by such ugly and negative dimensions. Generally speaking, Korean BL tend to be dark and broody; this one was exceptionally morose and despairing, sprinkled with a mixture of odd personas that sometimes worked. And sometimes not.
Continue reading “The Killer Next Door” Series Review (Ep.1 to 60)
“Love at First Spike” Series Review (Ep.1 to 8)
Honestly, series that have recently been produced by the Philippines centering around BL have been shall we say less than stellar. So, I was not optimistic about this current one. But I was indeed pleasantly surprised and found this story to be exceptionally well done. It is not just entertaining, it is contemporary, relevant, and quite consequential.
Continue reading “Love at First Spike” Series Review (Ep.1 to 8)
The BL Xpress 