My Weekly Dose of Sweetness

I really loved how sweet and cute this series is! Tutor is the consummate straight man to Yim's funny man. I did not realize until this series just how angelic Tutor looks during his closeups. As Jade and Mai, they made a great acting team with great chemistry and the ability to be vulnerable when necessary. I also liked that both lead characters had warm and loving relationships with their families. I think that Asian families are often unfairly portrayed as very cold, homophobic and forcing ambition on their children. As an Asian, it's simply not true. Just as in other cultures and ethnicities, Asian families come in all varieties. It was nice to see two families where the parents and all of the siblings were close and loving.

There are so many serious topic and intense supernatural series airing at this time (winter 2023) that I needed a ray of sunshine from behind the clouds. There was only one other series (a serious one) that I looked forward to watching every week, due to the acting and storyline. Yes, the sports day episode wasn't my thing, but I've worked for places where we have sports day (without uniforms) and they are super fun. Ym and Tutor has such great chemistry, and their love scenes were both hot and loving and the same time. No, I cannot gush enough about Jade, Mai, Tutor and Tim.

The second couple, Tong and Gus were a cute couple, but they never fully explained by Tong was so rude and mean in the beginning of the series. I would love to see Leo and Tai in another series.

Lire davantage

Not Faithful to the Source Material

The Japanese title sounded familiar, so I looked it up and realized that I read the manga. This manga is from 2013, so I had to go back and read it. They should have stuck more closely to the source material. I think the actors were good,.

There was too much filler to stretch the series and I wish they would have stuck closer to the manga.

****Spoilers****
1. The exes. No Mizuki, and the ex-wife is just mentioned in passing in the manga. A weakness of the series is, more lovey-dovey time was spent between Mizuki and Sakae, than Soga and Sakae in the series, did not happen in the manga.
2. In the manga, Soga reveals he is divorced right away.
3. In the manga, Soga is from Shikoku, not Tokyo, so no return to Tokyo.
4. In the manga no break-up, no LDR.
5. In manga, no filler such as the birthday party plans, the meddling co-workers.
6. Part 1 of the manga is Sakae x Soga, but Part 2 is about Kaname and and a salaryman, who is a regular and Tamae, is from Tokyo and hates vegetables.

Lire davantage

Coming of Age Story of Assessing your Worth

I loved this coming of age story. I loved how neither family were bothered or questioned the closeness of Zo and Joke's relationship, which shows a nice change for an Asian family.

The message of Asian parents loving their child despite how he/she sees their own accomplishments, versus what they think their parents' expectations are, is a very powerful message for those of us who come from Asian families. We "know" this, but are rarely "told" this. Some Asian families are more stoic that others, and I thought the scenes between Zo and his mother, and Joke and his father, were very important for some Asian and maybe even non-Asian children (regardless of age) to see. Asian families do not have to express their love in a western style, but it's still nice to hear it once in a while. Even our elders need to hear it once in a while.

Jeng and Pok started this series on the low, but Jeng had to make a decision once Pok decided that having a secret relationship would no longer work for him. After deciding that his relationship with Pok was more important, Jenk became very public with his relationship, and was willing to change football teams due to homophobia.

So while the messages were delivered in a comedy romance, it does not negate the importance of these stories. I think this is an example of a story for and by Thai/Asian families, and since we are taught to "read the air," it makes sense to me.

I know this is a dumb criticism , but why Nita is wearing heavy sweaters in Thailand, but when leaving for Helsinki, she is wearing a crop top and short skirt? Even during the summer, Finland will seem cold to a Thai person. I'll never understand why in these series, the actors are dressed for a cooler climate, when their country's climate is so hot and humid.

Lire davantage