Meow Ears Up (2022)

and they were "friends"

Overall: I was going to give this an 8 or higher, but the final episode was pretty disappointing so I gave it 7.5. Still decent to just turn off your brain if you want a silly/gentle series. Watched on Gagaoolala, also on Viki.

Content Warnings: professor/student, boss/employee, age gap/1 character under 18?, pet death, taking pictures without consent

What I Liked
- the cute moments
- how Meow in his human form acted like a cat (fyi that Meow is a different species, he's not a cat and he's not a human)
- Meow not judging the truck driver based on looks and how in a later episode they brought back that character
- a couple subverted tropes like the love rival
- the cutesy OST fits the vibe of this series
- when there was comic book like editing
- neutral, comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- Dermdem thought Meow was 17 or 18 but Meow acts much younger (ie can't use a phone, doesn't know what a haircut is, doesn't know why people kiss on the cheek, gets lost in a market, throws a temper tantrum)
- based on Meow's child like behavior/age, I didn't want a steamy scene, but the final episode was really disappointing to the degree that I'd likely label this as a bromance/womance... two people even denied having a romantic relationship (one said friends, the other said roommates). I think we are supposed to believe that all three couples will turn romantic in the future but they needed to show/say just a little bit more with at least one of the three couples.
- not a fan of the wig (gets a haircut in ep 4)
- odd/plot hole/non logical things - the intern first stated she liked her boss from college but then said she saw her at a vet???
- the power imbalances in all of the couples (although the one who was in a position of power does not use it to manipulate at all)
- enough of having women gawking/taking pictures of two random guys in a public place
- the professor's flat expression, they did give it an explanation but I don't like flat affect characters
- Manni's ineptitude and what she did in the final episode instead of calling Jin

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Tropes: catboy (pet), cohabitation, indulgent bf, age gap

Adapted from the Korean manhwa (!) Hey, Your Ears Popped Out and interesting because Thailand doesn’t adapt from outside their own y-novel tradition very often. This is a pretty classic version of the catboy trope: a lonely orphan comic artist adopts a stray cat who suddenly turns into a human teaches him about love, chaos, and family.

Initially, I liked this BL and found it sweet and VERY cute with surprising depth around concepts of loneliness (I loved that Meow could smell unhappiness), but I guess it was trying to be too Japanese manga about it (in a manwha way), because while the set up was all sweetness and Thai style BL, they fudged the ending. For me, that’s a fatal flaw.

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