Sou Rambles - Tumblr Posts

i’m having a really great time out of revisiting mystic messenger years later (been around since 2016). there are massive writing problems in pretty much all of it that i acknowledge and explore but honestly, it’s just a really fun game and the characters are charming and likable. one part of its appeal to me is probably just that it’s really funny.

but beneath the humor of it all I feel like a big part of why mysme humor feels so right to me is that it feels realistic and appeals to specifically me on a deeper level. as someone who grew up spending more time joking with friends in chat rooms than in real life, mysme feels very familiar as a format and is able to feel like a real group of friends to me moreso than most other stories going for this feeling. i also notice, of course, that another reason for this is that i can suspend my disbelief more because they aren’t simply visual novel characters. it’s textboxes, so I don’t quite have to constantly remember how non-physical these characters are.

perhaps it’s this feeling that made that one april fools dlc’s bad ending hit me so hard. the idea of my favorite realizing he and i are in different dimensions so seriously still really hurts to think about. it’s fun.

anyhow, i’m still collecting information (i forgot most of my original playthroughs and am just getting around to v’s route) so take everything i say with a grain of salt. i’m enjoying getting to know this deeply flawed character and revisiting this format of storytelling in both its virtues and vices, as well as learning more about the lore i never got around to. also, zen’s calls still make me feel like a dumb smitten preteen obsessed with this game, so, ahaha.

Some stray thoughts about EP2 of Genjitsu No Yohane Sunshine In The Mirror

It’s really intriguing to me how much of this anime focuses on working/career as a major theme, seeing as the original story was about school. While it didn’t focus much on the theme specifically compared to other stories, almost all high school stories by virtue of setting care about coming-of-age in the transitional period between childhood to adulthood.

Every character we’ve seen so far (barring Yohane) is already established in their jobs and life, while visibly showing satisfaction in it. Chika likes working at the ryokan. Hanamaru loves selling sweets. Riko loves studying animals. And so on.

Yohane is the protagonist of our story and the one who will be learning passion and direction in her own career through all of the other characters. We already see her making steps in it by actually working hard (no get rich quick! and she very quickly snaps out of fantasizing about the money she could get out of Laelaps — that’s her family!) and doing errands, getting accustomed to talking to people, something she mentions not being her forte until she gets into the rhythm of. I am excited to see where this core theme goes, and it’s keeping me interested in this charming little fantasy slice of life.

Be My Favorite - Retrospective on Episode 1 and Repression of Desires due to Fear

For a full day in the pilot of Be My Favorite, Kawi operates as if he’s in a dream when he time travels back to the past. This is one of my least favorite tropes, usually. What’s the fun in a character in an exciting scenario if the character isn’t even cognizant of it? Often, I yawn and simply rock back and forth in my chair waiting for the protagonist to realize what has happened and to start thinking with their brain. And when I first watched the show, I also expected a time loop rather than what we got, and didn't realize what was actually going on.

Be My Favorite, would make me love Kawi spending an entire day back in his college life without realizing his actions have actual consequences, because of how many consequences this actually has, and how his remedies what Kawi's first vice was, or at least the first that I feel was tackled.

Kawi – and we realize later, Pisaeng’s – vice is cowardice and letting things happen around them out of fear. This manifests very differently for both of them, but in the case of Kawi, when we examine a lot of his biggest hangups, it is all centered around inaction. Not making friends. Not telling Pear he’s her secret buddy. Not convincing his dad to go to the hospital. Not getting his friend back. Not doing any of these things that he still regrets. And Kawi, when faced with issues, runs away. He always, without fail, used to run away from all of these scenarios.

But thinking he’s dreaming, we can see Kawi for who he really is. A menace! An annoying, bratty, childish menace. And Pisaeng is immediately attracted to Kawi because he’s genuine, and acting out, and is oozing with the same pain he has – loneliness. This is ultimately what changes the past forever. Kawi can’t go back from now on. He’s bonded to Pisaeng irrevocably, to the point that one night is enough for his future to be as his best friend and future best man (and for Kawi to be doing what he never did before, dancing confidently while drunk in front of everyone in that timeline in a way he never would have).

Pisaeng is similar to Kawi, not living his life in full self-actualization. He’s hiding his sexuality, unable to confront it despite knowing about it. He’s unable to fully be honest with Pear, and in fact, we see that in his original life, he never confronts it And it makes sense. We see that he rejects the superficial “friendship” he has with his former friends, namely Not, but while this is better for Pisaeng (and the correct decision to make, as Not is a total asshole) Pisaeng doesn’t have a friend except for Pear, and he cares for her dearly.

And so of course Pisaeng decides to marry Pear instead of confronting himself honestly. Is it a good idea, and what truly caring for someone should mean? No. It’s an awful idea for everyone. But he does it out of fear and an unwillingness to live his life honestly and to act on his true wants and desires (and later, it is Kawi who gets Pisaeng to break from this and to confront Pear head on, being honest in a way the original Pisaeng was unable to).

And what Kawi has to struggle with now is that now that he’s acted, there’s no going back. He’s changed the past by being himself and taking action for once, and he has to stay that way (this is also why Be My Favorite's type of time travel works so well for the show – what Kawi does in the beginning, taking action and fundamentally changing things – it can't be undone).

There is no way out of the maze he’s walked into without choosing things, making decisions, and becoming a fuller person. At this point, he wants Pear. Pear wants Pisaeng. And Pisaeng, now, he will soon realize, due to his actions in the past, wants him. Kawi has acted. And now Kawi has to go down the painful path to gaining maturity, which he avoided in his bubble of miserable inactivity the first time he lived his life.

Redoing your life is the main conceit of this show. But as the future starts to be rewritten, what the perceptive viewer realizes is that what Kawi needs to learn is what he truly wants, and what kind of a life is a truly fulfilling life. And to get what you want, to be happy, you need to always be truly present. You need to live your life with no regrets. To think back on the past a decade later and think I’ve got everything I wanted. For all you'd ever do different after time traveling back be nothing.

This is what Be My Favorite teaches us. To live honestly, bravely, and to inspire the others in your life to do so as well. Kawi learns to make the most out of his life, and because of him, Pisaeng does as well. And they live happily, holding each other's hands, together. And they're so much better off for it.

GMMTV 2024 Pt.1 Thoughts

So, after sleeping and processing that GawinKrist wasn’t fixed (don’t have anything against pairs not being fixed as a concept but I had really hoped GawinKrist would be fixed as someone who really enjoyed their partnership; though I guess I should have expected this after seeing them separated by the merch previously) I decided to rewatch all of the trailers released during the livestream and talk a bit about my feelings on each trailer.

The Interest

I’m oddly excited for this, even though it doesn’t seem like what would be my type. It’s probably a combination of finding Bright stunningly handsome and being a fan of P’Waa in general. But because of it being a film, I have no idea when I’ll get to (if ever) see it. So I’m not thinking too much about it. I’m a bit disappointed by the now more lighthearted tone of the storyline, the show being much more of a romcom than the film I expected from the mock trailer. I haven’t watched the original “Man In Love,” so I don’t know what’s closer to the original story, so I won’t comment on it. I hope this film is great – at least the cinematography looks wonderful.

My Precious (series)

I am not interested in watching this show. Feel-good first love M/F romance, specifically this sort of young people in a coming-of-age story, is not something I typically watch, and the trailer hasn’t really hooked this. I feel like I am not the target audience for this. Happy for my friend @gaiaxygang, though, seeing as I’ve heard him talk about wanting to watch My Precious for his cat (Chimon) many, many times.

Ploy’s Yearbook

More teenage love. This time, with a group of main girls named Ploy. I had “I’m Tee Me Too” flashbacks at that, actually. Seeing Aye and Mond in the cast for this had me very excited, as I wanted to see them, but otherwise, not anyone I’m overly attached to. I’ll say I’m much more excited for the adulthood part of this show than the highschool part.

We Are

I wanted a PondPhuwin romcom. I did not understand that asking for one had the monkey’s paw-esque cruel twist attached of it being directed by New Siwaj. Supposedly, this was originally a WabiSabi project. I wonder what made it turn into a GMMTV project? I find it interesting how they brought side pairs in as main pairs this series, in a large ensemble cast. This is also the engineering gayboys rep of the lineup, it seems! I saw those engineering shirts! Though this seems to focus much more on the artistic men, ahaha. I will be tuning into this for my PondPhuwin – even if I have doubts on the ability of it to both be a well-written show (director) and balance 4 main couples (though the trailer seemed to do 4 couples quite well). Anyway, this is hilarious to me knowing @gaiaxygang is a big MarcPawin + WinnySatang and also hates New Siwaj. I laughed very hard.

The Trainee

I love the grounded ensemble comedy vibe of this show. While this is an OffGun series, I feel as if it’ll also be more of a workplace show, which I find charming. Also, I am intrigued by the subplots. I’m really excited for this – it’s a Parbdee production – that’s promising! And okay, I’ll be frank with everyone, I am obviously 100% excited for this show as someone with Offgun as my ultimate favorite BL pair. They look delightful here, and seeing them finally escape college is like food for the soul to me. It’s all I wanted! And they look so adorable here. I’m definitely tuning in for this show, it’s exactly what I wanted but didn’t dare to wish for when I heard the rumors of Off and Gun in the same show. This is OffGun’s world and we’re living in it. Now can Cooking Crush start airing?

Only Boo

The lighthearted tone of this was quite interesting. A show with an idol wannabe is intriguing to me, and I enjoy it, though seeing so many people I do not recognize threw me off at first. I find the idea of not being able to date because of the contract a bit overplayed (though this could be due to me enjoying BL where one is a celebrity or wants to be such) I think I’ll be waiting to see what people say about this show before tuning in, whenever it airs, unless the official trailer really hooks me later on.

Pluto

Now THAT is a show trailer! Most exciting plot GMMTV has shown us in ages, definitely from this lineup. Twin identity swap! (reminds me of Who Are You, what with Namtan, actually) A blind character! Two GL pairs! This looks so promising and is probably the newest type of show we’re getting from GMMTV. Hopefully pt.2 follows suit in really making me excited for the plot of a show. Shocking pairs, but a strong cast and premise. Honestly, this show reminded me of certain k-dramas I have watched in the set-up. Also man, that last scene. This is going to be something really special!

Peaceful Property On Sale

Such promising staff, and it’s for a show with Tay and New? I was grinning so hard. Mook is here also, and looks interesting! Jan! And I fucking love New’s character, he looks amazing, and I loved the hints at hidden depth. This may be the New character that really fully steals my heart. Tay being more shy is also killing me. That NewTay moment! Who would have ever guessed they were going to make a comedy ghost hunting show! Saw some doubts about it being a romance between TayNew, and honestly it doesn’t look like one, but I couldn't care less either way. Show looks stellar, and I love the vibes of it. I didn’t expect something like this, and I’m so hyped about it.

Ossan’s Love Thailand

I was just floored. The least expected Japanese BL remake (I’d have said almost anything before this one) and featuring EarthMix. No idea how I feel about this, so I’ll just move on.

My Golden Blood

I wanted a vampire series. Setting aside my personal feelings, I am definitely tuning into this to see how it goes. Hopefully the effects are better in the proper series. I find it charming they play basketball together (fitting to their real selves) and I find it great seeing Neo here! Honestly, though, this show is very much giving the vibe of a Wattpad book. And I could enjoy that (I did, after all, read Wattpad stories a lot when I was younger) or I could not. We’ll see. It’s definitely very interesting to see GMMTV produce a show like this. I’ll keep my hopes up.

Kidnap

Very cautiously excited for this series. If you know me you know I love kidnapping – which might sound weird but like it’s all about that reluctant kidnapper falling in love with the man he wasn’t meant to have feelings for. Vice versa falling for someone who kidnapped you and having to reckon with the complicated feelings that come with that, along with the consequences of everything, because there’s a reason for the kidnapping in the first place! Not very big on the cast but goddamn if I didn’t go “Man, I wish there was a kidnapping BL for GMMTV 2024. Too bad I don’t think they’d go for it,” like two days ago. So yeah, I’m excited, even if I don’t have full faith.

Summer Night

Might watch this for Phuwin, but honestly, not really feeling this. Guys who like the same girl, another highschool series where Phuwin is meant to be the “unpopular loser” type, a pretty basic premise. I’m just not very interested in the story – Phuwin is cute as hell though, and I like JDPP, so I’ll probably tune into this.

Wandee Goodday

This one looks ridiculous, and I like it. It also seems to be the overtly sexual show of the lineup, which is quite interesting. A friend-with-benefits story with GreatInn. One of the stronger comedic shows to me, and I’m interested in where it’ll go. I’m tuning in.

Highschool Frenemy

A remake of a drama I never watched. So, I feel like this is the darker highschool story of the lineup for 2024, which is interesting. Honestly, all of the darker shows in this lineup have felt like a breath of fresh air, oddly enough, mainly because of the sheer amount of lighter shows. A part of me wonders if pt.2 will reverse this feeling, or if this is how GMMTV is planning the next year to be like. I don’t have much to say on this one, might watch it, might not. I’ll just say, though, that this trailer did not hold my attention at all.

My Love Mix-Up

The moment I saw that eraser I went: oh my god it’s GeminiFourth Kieta Hatsukoi. I actually thought about this before? I was like haha, what if GMMTV picks up Kieta Hatsukoi, it would fit in, haha. And in my head I was like well it would go to GeminiFourth or something. So I’m gonna claim I was on the wavelength for this. However, I am not that excited. They could have gotten something else, I swear. And I’m not the biggest fan of the source material in the first place. We did not need another Japanese BL remake. But I guess the story does fit the GeminiFourth vibe, so we’ll see. Now I’m gonna be on edge if they ever remake Utsukushii Kare (my favorite BL of all time).

Enigma s2

Okay, so, I’ve been saying I want this every day since I watched Enigma. The vibe of the narration immediately got my brain racing, like, is this it? Then Win showed up and I was still in disbelief, but yeah! Enigma s2! We’re getting it! I am so excited to see it, and I’m incredibly curious about how it’ll go. Are they getting Bright back as the main villain? What’s Toey’s character going to be like? Is this going to focus more on Ajin’s story? What about Prim? I’m so, so excited for this one. And I hope it keeps up the level of quality s1 was on!

EXCITED FOR, 100% WATCHING

Enigma s2, The Trainee, Pluto, Peaceful Property

WILL LIKELY BE WATCHING

Kidnap, We Are, My Golden Blood, Wandee Goodday

MAYBE WILL WATCH

Ploy’s Yearbook, Only Boo, Ossan’s Love, My Love Mix-up, High School Frenemy, Summer Night

Conclusion: I was a bit disappointed by the same-y nature of a lot of these shows. We Are particularly is a letdown in premise despite a great cast, there’s a lot of remakes (and like I’m not against remakes in general, but there’s too many and I don’t understand exactly why), and the M/F dramas seem very basic. There’s also a LOT of BL, and yet some of them are probably being pushed to pt.2 (FirstKhao, Joongdunk, Forcebook) which signals even more BL? I’m starting to wonder which of these projects will come out in 2025, because there is just so much. Anyway, if you know me you know I’ll probably mainly be waiting for pt.2 to see Krist’s project for 2024. But in the meanwhile I’m happy OffGun is as real as always, PondPhuwin is back, TayNew are in a show, and we got an interesting GL.

welcome to the blog of SOU!

-> call me sou. i'm 18. my pronouns are he/any and all gendered terms go -> bi^2. this means i am bisexual and bigender. i am a boygirl/girlboy -> i am a MASSIVE GMMTV 4 pillars fan !!!!!!!!! especially kristsingto. -> my favorite bl of all time is utsukushii kare. i also love be my favorite way too much for it to be normal, and i'm currently obsessed with the ex-morning! -> i am an english major and i like to write. this will be apparent if you hold a conversation with me -> i do not tag unless requested. cw: suicide, discussion of aftermath of emotional incest/parental abuse, nsfw mentions (discussion, i don't reblog porn or anything, though i may write it), rps

check out my fanfiction here.

find me on discord under "sousha." i am always accepting frqs

There’s a part of I’m Tee Me Too that never fails to come back to me and annoy me on a fundamental level. And that’s because I don’t agree with what it’s saying.

Maetee’s storyline.

WARNING: Rant about some personal feelings.

Each of the characters living together has a name that includes “Tee” and a quirk to their personality that is explored in the series, typically for them, phobias (though I have difficulties generalizing it, because I don’t quite see all of them as phobias). But who I’d say has it worst of all in terms of it being debilitating for their life functioning is Maetee, who is afraid of ghosts.

At the beginning of episode 4, which explores Maetee’s character and develops his character arc, we see why Maetee is scared of ghosts.

He’s said to have been a “boy from hell.” Impossible to discipline or rein in. His mother tried many tactics (beatings, the hanger, etc.) but the only one that stuck and really terrified Maetee to stay in-line was that of ghosts.

As a side note — child Maetee singing Happy Birthday at a funeral is hilarious to me. What a small menace. I adore him.

Throughout the show, we’ve already seen how bad Maetee’s condition is as of now, as a university student. Maetee is unable to sleep alone, spends hours of his day panicked over ghosts, passes out when he thinks he’s seen a ghost, and is just generally always paranoid over the idea of ghosts. I’d wager that pretty much everyone has at some point been scared by a ghost story as a kid, or been teased by a parent/adult in their life with a story like the bogeyman. But in Maetee’s case, we can see it’s a lot more serious than for most people.

Maetee is terrified when he’s left alone at the house. Like, actually terrified the entire time. Of course, the scene ends up in a joke, when he passes out after seeing what he thinks is the ghost of someone he believes to be dead (Watee’s mother is who he thinks he sees, but it’s actually Watee’s aunt)

Here, we come to understand what the actual point of the episode is. It’s going to be about the mother.

Maitee’s mother is gone, and so is Watee’s, which is much more important. The entire emotional core of the show is about Watee moving on from his overwhelming grief after his mother passes away with the help of the other boys who move in with him. Parents are core to the emotional core of the story. Watee comes to connect with his step-brother (T-Rex) and father by the end of the series, and there’s a clear message. Value your parents.

But this storyline in particular shows how you can fuck up that message and make an unsatisfying storyline as a result.

Maetee’s mom comes to visit, and all she does is belittle and embarrass him in front of his friends. So he gets mad and tells her to leave. And she does.

The show wants you to feel bad for her.

Watee feels bad for her. In one of the first real scenes of the show where he’s good-spirited, he has a conversation with Maetee’s mom. And you know why Watee takes this situation so seriously. It’s because he’s lost his mother.

And I do get it. I get what the show wants to say. Value your parents, don’t be childish, and you could lose your parents anytime, so you should do your best while they’re around. But I’ve always hated this sentiment. You shouldn’t have to repress how you feel, or feel like shit because your parent is around, just because you’ll regret it later.

(Clearly, Watee has never met an abusive mother.)

The thing is that Maetee has a point, and it’s really clear. She is the reason that he’s terrified of ghosts to this extent and her attitude about it is awful. Maetee’s mom ridicules him for how he acts and constantly criticizes him.

Watee expresses envy towards having a mother who tells him off, but this is exactly how it is with people who don’t understand what having a bad relationship with your parents is like. Watee loved his mother. She made his life better. I don’t think this is true for Maetee’s mom, even if his mom is said to care.

She confesses (to Watee, not her son of course, because parents don’t do that with their kids!) that she worries that she may be the reason that Maetee is the way he is, and she feels guilty if so. But if that’s true, she sure as hell doesn’t express that to Maetee! And even if so, guilt isn’t going to fix anything. And sure, you can say that people mess up. People aren’t infallible, after all. But it doesn’t mean Maetee needs to simply forgive her.

His mom says she’s sorry through a text, but it doesn’t get to the core of the issue. It’s an apology for bothering Maetee. It makes you want to pity her. I don’t pity her. I don’t enjoy being told to pity a woman whose reaction to guilt was to criticize and ridicule her son. I don’t care if she does feel bad.

And I hate how the show guilt trips Maetee into forgiving her. Because that’s what it is. A lot of guilt tripping from the show to Maetee. Look at Watee, he lost his mom! Don’t you feel guilty for not being happy with your mom when Watee is still grieving his? Look, your mom is acting all pitiable. She’s guilty, she just doesn’t show it! None of this should be why Maetee would forgive his mom. I think it can be empowering for a character to keep a parent who hurt them in their life — when the character comes to that decision honestly. And I didn’t get that feeling from this series. I got the feeling that Maetee was just expected to value his mom because she’s his mom.

You’ll regret it when she’s dead! It’s a sentiment said a lot. You’ll regret it. It’s always put on the child to regret it moreso than the parent to regret the actions that led them there. Because they’re your only parent! That’s what people say. But why is that special? Does that give a parent a right to hurt you? To be a negative influence on your life? Why is not wanting a parent to overstep boundaries framed as something to be guilty about?

Culturally, parents are people you’re told to have to value. People to respect. They’re your parents, they love you. That must be obvious. Some people treat it like a fact of life. But I have two things to say to that. Sometimes, parents don’t love their children. But more importantly here, and to me, love doesn’t make a parent good.

Forgiving your parents shouldn’t be expected. If you do it, I respect you, but I hate how media often frames it. Sometimes, not forgiving your parents is just as strong and important to someone as forgiving them and trying to reconcile. But this episode of I’m Tee Me Too doesn’t seem to have space for that interpretation. And that’s always stayed in my head.

Commentary on Good Old Days through an exploration of its stories based in family.

An anthology series marked by the objects of significance for its various characters, Good Old Days explores many themes. Some major reoccurring explorations delve into chasing dreams, love, academic pressure, grief, and more. But what stood out most to me was the way the series handled very different uses of parents in their stories.

Every story was influenced greatly by the parental figures in their lives, whether it was Phu accepting his mother's death and moving on from it, Piang with her dad, Kai and Got coming to understand the generational trauma they were subjected to, or Mai being raised in a family whose expectations led to the death of her uncle.

I'll be focusing on three of the stories within the anthology. Bond and Relationship, Road to Regret, and Somewhere Only We Belong.

*A striking exclusion is likely Memory of Happiness, as Piang's dynamic with her father is quite central to the storyline. But I don't have quite as much to say on it compared to others. To be brief: I enjoy the idea it's going for (about taking on the family business and making it yours; both Piang and Jap transform what their parents did before them into their own, new versions, that are just as great as what came before) but I didn't enjoy some other parts (mainly in relation to how the series explains her dad's actions).

Bond and Relationship, the first story, focuses on Phu, a young man who closes himself off from creating "bonds" with people after losing his dog, Ryu, as a child. What quickly becomes apparent is that the story hopes to explore grief and the importance of finding new people.

Phu lives a solitary life, unwilling to let anyone into his life due to fear of losing them. He pushes Mint, his love interest away, and he closes himself off from caring for as long as he can. His mom, then, tries to get him to have people to lean on as best she can, because soon, she'll die of illness. In the end, Phu realizes what he was meant to learn, but loses Mint due to his unwillingness to open up. However, he takes the lesson to heart and seizes the opportunity the moment he finds someone else.

His dog, Ryu, I feel was more of an extension and prelude to the loss of Phu's mother within the context of the story. He's a gift from his mother that specifically symbolizes her care for him. In essence, losing Ryu and closing off, Phu experiences an earlier version of his mother's death.

A complication on a fairly straightforward story (in my opinion, one of the most thematically simple of the series) is Phu's status as being adopted. This is something that brings Phu to wishing to push his mother away again. It's a test of sorts on his growth, and he accepts his mother back into his heart because nothing has truly changed. His mother is still the same woman who has always loved him.

All in all, a story about losing a parent and preventing yourself from closing yourself off afterward.

Probably the most interesting to me, Road to Regret follows three people following a mother's death. Whereas the first story of the anthology focuses mainly on the growth before the death of a mother who cared for Phu in a healthy manner, this story focuses on the aftermath of the death of a mother who deeply scarred both of her children, Kai and Got.

Both Kai and Got have issues within their personal lives, and are more prickly than any of the other protagonists in the series. Kai, notably, has a tumultuous relationship with Bomb, her ex-husband, after the business they began tomorrow went south. Got, on the other hand, is flippant about Ton's feelings for him, unsure of whether or not to get closer to him or not.

Their mother was damaging to both of them. Kai was overlooked by her mother, more harshly criticized. She always had to do more, do better, was fucking up, not trying hard enough. Got was preferred. She would put extra fish on his plate as Kai watched on then chastise him for whining, since he's a guy, saying "I'm sorry for your future wife." She took the idea of him being homosexual (which he was) negatively, denying it.

Kai is the eldest daughter. She's under pressure, the one who has to bottle it all up and clean up her mother's house after she dies. Kai is aware her mother prefers her brother, and it's the cause of a great complicated bunch of emotions within her heart. And most importantly, she doesn't want to become like her mother.

Kai, Got, and Boom get in their mother's car and drive to deliver an unsent letter from their mother to the family she left. The car was what she drove when she ran away with their dad. Both Kai and Got believe it would have been better if she had stayed there and didn't have them. When they get to their destination, you come to realize what the story is all about. Generational trauma, and how it repeats itself.

Kai's mother went through many of the feelings that Kai was made to go through. She lived in a suffocating household, suffering under the misogyny of her family. She tried to run away from it all, only for her relationship to fall apart and to emulate how she was raised with her children. She mentions how women are "already inferior" to Kai when she's younger, and how she became a failure. And Kai is terrified of becoming like her mother one day. Her mother ran away with a boy, and so did Kai. She decides to leave Bomb before he can leave her, the way her dad did to his mom. Kai does not want to be left. What she realizes at the end, though, is that it isn't leaving or being left. The two exes reconcile by the end, and it's about trying again, to make a relationship better than that of what her parents had. Got, similarly, reaches out to Ton in the end. Both of them still have issues with trusting others, and yet they find hope to try by the end.

The story comes together at the end, when Kai reads the letter. It's a letter from their mother to her family, where she expresses never having been properly loved, and not being able to do the same for her own children as a result. She saw herself as a failure in how she ended up, but was at least happy that she had gotten away from her family. The last part of the letter is their mother's last words to her, and it's confirmation she realized how she fucked up as a parent. How she didn't understand them and how she hurt them with the misery that was inside of her, but that she did wish she could have been a better parent. And honestly, the letter made me feel emotional. It's like, cathartic in many ways to see something like this. Road to Regret is emotional, and imperfect, kind of like the characters in it.

It's a story about accepting the way the trauma of your lives are passed down from the ones from generations ago, and learning from it.

The final story of the anthology, Somewhere Only We Belong follows the story of Hey and Mai. The shopkeeper, Hey has been in the entire show as a prominent character preserving the memories of our other characters. Here, we learn about why Hey is the way he is, attached to the past. He was abandoned by both of his parents to go live with his grandpa, with fake promises of coming back for him. The last gift he gets is a video game console - the one he plays consistently throughout the show.

Hey learns about the importance of objects and appreciating things around him thanks to his grandpa, who becomes the one supportive figure in Hey's life. He ends up becoming attached to his video game console, playing the same games (Harvest Moon, actually) even when he's all grown up. His mom never comes back for him. And his dad just sends him expensive gifts instead of anything else.

The other lead, Mai, is a highschooler studying to become a doctor. Her mom pressures her to maintain a 4.0 GPA and to be someone who is useful, while complaining about her brother, who is staying with them, saying he shouldn't have been born. Mai's uncle is seen as a "useless" person, as an unsuccessful online writer who "writes what he believes." He tells Mai to enjoy her life, not to push herself too much. An academically pressured kid, she's always only studying - but she begins to go to Hey's vintage game shop, as the one thing that is just for enjoyment and not related to studying.

She begins to go to the game shop after school, eliciting suspicion from her mother. And the pressure on her starts to weigh on her until she starts breaking down. And then just as her mother finds out about Mai going to the gameshop, her uncle commits suicide. It's a turning point of the story, and the way the series shows just how expectations that separate people into worthy or unworthy based on their success are harmful.

In many households, children are pressured out of finding what they actually enjoy and wish to pursue and into studying with only the goal of top grades and getting into prestigious universities. What Somewhere Only We Belong explores, here, is when it goes too far, and how it harms everyone. Hey pushes Mai away because of what he thinks is best for her, as society sees it, preventing both of them from pursuing what was growing between them.

Mai, in the end, is able to escape from the pressure brought upon her by her family. She goes to study abroad, to follow her dreams, the way she deserves to. Mai heals from what was pushed onto her, by leaving.

And then we come back to Hey, our nostalgic memory keeper, as he loses his shop and has to learn to move on from the past. What I found the best showcase of how Hey's abandonment factored into this was how he would listlessly play the console that he got as he was truly abandoned by both of his parents, stuck in the past. And when he learned to move on, to stop keeping it in his heart, he began to play new games. And it's with this that he's able to heal from the past and go after what he was once unable to, reuniting with Mai finally, and playing mobile games with her. Hey and Mai reunite with what they both love, but it's a new form of it, as they've both grown up and changed; they can start again.

Reflection on last year, Be My Favorite, fandom thoughts, and more.

PT.1: Be My Favorite, time, isolation, and hope

My defining series of the year was Be My Favorite, without a doubt. Whereas I’d say Utsukushii Kare 2 + Eternal was what I was most excited for, as well as what resonated most with what I yearn for from a BL series, it wasn’t what defined my year (season 1 had defined last year for me already, and I don’t do repeats that often). 

The moment I finished watching the trailer for Be My Favorite, before its release in late June, I knew I would be enamored in it. 

I just got into Thailand’s BL scene this year. One of the first things I looked for once I realized I was in for the long haul of exploring this medium was a time travel series. With, preferably, a premise similar to Be My Favorite. Because one of my favorite types of stories is the narrative that plays with time, specifically the type that focuses on a character’s growth thanks to it.

Time travel is my favorite trope, but particularly it is the type that unravels and builds up one character’s journey. Historical/future explorations past a character’s lifetime has never appealed to me as much for that very reason. Time traveling to the distant past is interesting, but it isn’t what I love.

I’ve always wished I could time travel back to moments in my life. I remember hearing a story about myself at five-years old, upset I couldn’t press a button and go back to when I was three-years old, which seemed like the prime time of my life at the time. It’s a recurring thought. It’s mainly because I feel I’ve fucked up so early in life. Actually, my six-year old has solidified itself as the part of my life I’d like to go back to and undo most ardently. I won’t be delving into why the worst part of my life was in the first grade, or why I regret what I did then, as a small child, but it’d make sense if you knew.

It’s funny to me that I insist I could have done things better if I had been able to go back to any of the past moments in my life, when I keep creating more grievances, more missed opportunities, more wasted years, and more memories I’d like to forget. And yeah, I’m young. I’m only eighteen. But I still feel like it’s been too much. It’s stupid, sure. But it’s probably why playing with the concept of time itself is always in my head, leading me.

Sometimes, I want to press reset on existence itself. The entire world consists of loops, circular movements of past and present and future, of subconscious and conscious loops back towards what we already have done, and what will happen again. If so, then is it so wrong to wish we could return to the beginning of everything? It already happens on its own, after all. But I digress.

I’ve always loved time travel in how it is able to explore someone in its fullest. In what they have done, what they haven’t done, and what they could have done. 

As it’s a trope so deeply personal to me, I jive best with fiction that explores personal journeys utilizing time travel. I enjoyed Groundhog Day, as obvious and simple as it seems. I love the idea of time loops being used to show stagnation within highschool and a desperate need to not lose what you find most important, such as in Revue Starlight, and I love Be My Favorite in how it explores our protagonist, Kawi, as he goes back to redo his life and realize what he has to learn to be happy.

Less so than time travel as the premise, what also struck me about the series and solidified the feeling I’d be in love was how Kawi was established in the trailer, and further explored as within the pilot episode. 

Kawi is a loser. And you understand why, with his circumstances, but also, he is a loser. Kawi is a coward. Selfish. Insecure. Frustrated. Alone. And he wants things he does not allow himself to actually try to take hold of. Kawi wishes for love and friendship. But until he’s given a chance to do things again, he never goes for it. And he expects failure upfront.

I’ve always valued people above all else. I think it’s pretty normal for a lot of humans. Whether it’s my tumultuous connection with my mom, my many friendships, or all of the romantic idealizations, I’ve always yearned for people. And it’s not really to fill a hole, or find something. It’s to create. To ascend. Connection with others, to me, is what frames phases of my life, what frames my traits, my passions, my purpose. 

Which is why it’s so funny I tend to push people away. I’m a college student right now. I started almost two years ago, youngest in all my classes, and I’m going to be a junior this coming fall. I don’t consider anyone I’ve met an actual friend. I don’t give anyone the chance. I immediately judge people as not right, spurn offers to get to know people more because of some reason or another, and vacillate between feelings of superiority and inferiority. 

I am not a person in the way many of these people are. I am not someone who could fit in. There is no point in hope, because there is no one here who could like me, or that I could build a greater bond with. Those are the thoughts inside my head that compel me to turn down offers to hang out, to see everything as annoying rather than friendly, and it’s how I see almost everyone new that I speak to.

But, connection. Yes. I live online. I am myself online. I was homeschooled, barely went outside, and only spoke to other people online who I felt shared enough of the same experiences with alienation/loneliness I did. I yearn, I learn, and I live online. I am deeply attached to feeling like a real-life nomad who only “breathes” on the online sphere, no matter how people warn against it. And sometimes I wonder, while I’m still able to amend this in what people see as the “real” world, if I need to try to assert myself to people more. To find people who would get me. I’m not so stupid I think it wouldn’t happen. But I’m scared, and so I pre-judge every interaction and hide myself behind every wall I can.

Kawi opens the show at thirty, in a job he hates, with the same lack of friends. And a deep, paralyzing regret that he never lived the life he feels he should have. A world where he went on to succeed, to get the girl. A world where he was happy. And he ends the show with a loving partner, as a more well-rounded person, content with his occupation, with a group of friends who care about Kawi and have stuck around for a long time.

I don’t verbalize it enough, but part of why I love Be My Favorite so much is because it begins by scaring me and ends with soothing me with inspiration. Because the series starts by showing to me my worst nightmare as to how I could become, how I could feel, how a combination of a lot of the factors could lead to my life being (don’t get me started on Kawi’s field of study and job in the original timeline; I know there’s a good chance I’m gonna be broke in ten year) and it ends by showing me the best outcome. Joy, companionship, acceptance.

Living life to the fullest. Finding someone who loves you for yourself. Friendship that’s supportive and long-lasting. Kindness. Being content in accepting what happens.

The ending of Be My Favorite is kind of like a happy pill to me, in contrast to the angst of the series while it explored how everything could have gone wrong. And I adore it. I love believing in the messages of the series. In the ideas of the series. Of finding confidence, supporting the people around you, and figuring out what it is you need. And, oh.

Huh. I guess when it comes to it, what I connect to the most tends to be stories of hope. Hell, my favorite pieces of media tend to have themes like picking yourself up from failure and trying again, or friendship winning. And Be My Favorite spoke to me so strongly because it’s a story that really tells me how I can make my life something that is fulfilling, far from how I imagine it’ll go. 

Guess it all comes back to hope.

PT.2: Idolatry, fandom, and the question of why?

Fandom is a major aspect of my life, and has been for almost half of it. Whether it’s group chats on Amino, writing short fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, retweeting on twitter, or gushing on Discord, I’ve often filtered my life through the lens of obsessive fan culture.

This year, Thai BL has taken over my brain. I’m sure it’ll continue to do so next year. And I’m not new to BL (I’ve read many BL manga, for one) but I am still very new to this fandom and its contents, especially because it’s such a wide category of works to keep track of. And I’m enjoying where I’ve come so far.

I’m mostly, so far, a Pebaca fan. The shows that stuck to me most out of all of the shows I watched this year were Theory of Love and Be My Favorite. I love OffGun and the development they’ve gone through as a pair. Their stable partnership, the ways Off has changed “for” Gun, and all of the different faces they’ve had as a couple. I adore TayNew, with their bickering dynamic and long period of closeness. I love how hilarious they are as a partnership. And I love KristSingto, with their yin & yang dynamic. The way they parallel their first series so closely and how they’ve grown to be influenced by each other. 

But what has been the highlight of my year is becoming a megafan of Krist, probably. I love him so goddamn much. And it made me think about why people become fans of celebrities, or at least why I do.

As a side note, I feel as if the internet has become plagued with people using parasociality = bad as an overly simplistic thing. I’m far from an expert on it, but I do think the way many tend to talk about it is forgetting a lot of nuance. And I don’t want to get into this topic, exactly. I want to talk about why I enjoy being a fan of someone from a one-sided light, and how that helps me. Not about the ethics of fandom or what exactly it means to be a fan of someone (though these are interesting to speak about).

Maybe it’s pretty simple. I like watching charming people, and even if I don’t know them personally, I can grow endeared by them. I was definitely charmed by Krist’s personality: big, extroverted, sulky, caring, emotional, a little ridiculous, and passionate. I goddamn adore watching him on screen, obviously.

But at least for me, I feel as if a major part of how I choose what resonates with me is seeing people with friendships. Historically, the only real people I’ve ever become fans of have been a pair of YouTubers and people in idol groups. As if what I’m really being drawn to is actually when relationships between people are formed and sold. And I think that is the core of what the BL industry is doing. Selling the relationship between pairs. I feel as if a feeling of yearning/lacking within myself is in fact what being a fan of this industry is alleviating, at least for me.

Or at least, that’s how I feel now. I’m still easing into it.

PT.3: Okay, so what’s the point? And what about the new year?

2023 was a normal year. It was also endlessly fascinating for me. At the very least, I feel as if I found out/explored things that will continue to keep me intrigued. I’ve been reading a lot about literary theory and cultural examinations. Been thinking more in depth about people. About myself. 

And of course, I discovered something new that will most likely keep me in a chokehold for the next year as well. So, all in all, good, right? Well, not exactly. But I’m looking at the bright side. And yeah, I’m happy with the year when I think about all I’ve gained. 

I’m happy I’ve gotten into BL. Obviously. (And it’s also been making me think more about how being queer affects how I see things/what media I like, of course) So I guess the point of this was unpacking why certain media works for me, and why that is important for me.

And here, I just want to talk a bit about what I want for 2024. 

Obviously, I want more shows that connect to me on the level that Be My Favorite did, both through finding older shows and in watching the shows that come out during the rest of the year. And I’d like to get to know everyone else in this fandom as well. I guess what I’m saying is that this post is something I wrote to process what the last year had and to try to declare to myself what I want for the future.

So, yeah. If you read until here, thanks? For listening to me for so goddamn long, ahaha. Happy new years! Well. It's still New Years here. It probably isn't for most people, but it is for me! So!

While watching the latest episode of Cherry Magic, it dawned on me that the show does a wonderful job of using different love languages to make the audience feel the amount of love within the office, both romantic and platonic. The series highlights this part of itself through the way characters reflect on and outright bring up different ways of expressing love — but what I loved most is just how ever present it is. Cherry Magic, to me, is about all of the ways people express their love for each other.

A main one is obviously acts of service. Karan is the only one in the office who picks up on the amount of acts of service Achi is performing for the entire office. He keeps things running smoothly, unspoken and unnoticed, and he is always performing acts of service for people. Achi stays longer for people. He helps. He wants to do these things for people, out of kindness, and that is part of what Karan loves and cherishes about Achi.

Likewise, Karan expresses his love for Achi through acts of service, and it is the acts he performs which make Achi sorely feel his absence when he’s gone. The inclusion of the post-it note of times of the day Karan does things simply for Achi, like bringing down the blinds, further exemplifies this. Love is expressed through the small, consistent actions of care that our leads afford each other.

And it isn’t just our leads. What the greater series loves to highlight is the greater community within the main cast, and how they want to help each other. In this episode, for example, we see Pai talk about why she wants to help Achi in whatever way she can. Everyone in the office wants to help each other! To put in the effort to care.

Then there’s gift-giving, which is also used a ton. In this last episode, we see Jinta absolutely delighted over a small gift Min gives him. A book. This is framed as part of the dating how-to steps, and played comedically, but it also reveals how the series itself uses gifts very often.

Karan brings Achi small, considerate gifts with a lot of earnest feelings behind it. He brings him drinks, snacks, and whatever else he can think of, because he loves him. And gifts, little tokens of affection, mean a lot. The show makes great use of objects, like pens in a pen holder or a small origami keepsake of a boat ride to physically show the courtship between the main characters.

Words of affirmation is also highlighted by the story itself. It’s Achi’s words, understanding the effort Karan puts in, that makes him fall in love with him. And it’s through Karan’s words about Achi that he can feel good about himself. Being recognized by someone else, seen in all of your strengths, is important, not only for showing love, but for being affirmed as a person. The main cast all come to adore each other. We can see the way Rock admires Pai’s spirit, or the way all of the co-workers never fail to bring each other up. And we can see the important of words of affirmation in moments like Karan talking about just how great Achi is, even when he won’t see it himself.

Time is needed for connection. It’s always needed between people, and I see it as the currency that people deal in most of all. Everything needs time, and as such, we can see quality time through the ways the characters seek out each other’s time. This is probably the least noticeable, in a sense. But the series does make each opportunity to be together, every moment of joy through being with someone else, whether it’s one person or a group, feel special.

And of course, to top it off, touching people is highlighted perfectly because of the nature of the mind-reading powers. A slight brush of the shoulder. A hug. Touching hands when picking something up. Every small moment of romantic tension through physical touch, or every touch revealing greater community, is all significant to the story. By nature of the premise, touch is dramatized, made huge in each moment for the characters. A slight lean.

A hug. When Karan and Achi finally connect on their feelings, and Achi responds in realization of his own feelings, they hug, and it is all about the way they touch. The closeness. And that is a pure expression of love. The love they have for each other, and how sometimes, there is no need for thoughts. There’s just joy.

Cherry Magic is really skilled at utilizing different forms of love and care for people. Of course, most love stories have characters who use all of these, but I felt like highlighting this series because of how every small action contributes to it in a way that feels very special. Being giddy over being handed over a pen holder. The slight bump of shoulders. Heating up the water. Breathing in the presence of the people in your life. A kind word.

That’s a part of the joy I breathe in when I watch the show. It’s the joy of loving and being loved.

Some more thoughts that occurred to me.

I was thinking a lot about the car accident. It directly follows a scene in which someone attacks Pathapi on a motorcycle, indicating that this was an orchestrated, intentional act to harm Pathapi.

Of course, I know that this parallels reality, with Krist’s car crash, and initially that’s all I thought about it. But then I kept thinking and thought, well, isn’t a car crash pretty odd considering the rest of the show? Sure, a big car crash would make sense, but look at that scene preceding it. No, there’s probably a good chance that someone wants Pathapi harmed.

Tamtawan also comes to him after the crash. It might just be worry, but to me, it signals an idea: maybe Tamtawan and Pathapi were investigating something. Like. Pathapi is a reporter! And while at first he reports on celebrity gossip then ends up the target of internet hate? You know what could get him that award at the end for best reporter? Maybe: finding something out. (Okay, maybe this isn’t the main point? But? Like?)

So, what would they be trying to find out? Well, we have a mystery right in the show!

Who posted this online?

Okay, so I think there’s a very easy, very obvious answer, and I am split on if it will be true or not. Aou’s character. He would know this event happened, most likely have access to the cameras, and would have ample reason to want to leak this!

Then there’s the question of if it is Aou’s character, what does that mean for the story?

Well. A lot of things. I think everyone can think of most of it. Personally, I’d prefer for Aou’s character to not be the “villain” of the show, both because it could possibly undermine the initial character flaws Pathapi has, and because I think it’s just an incredibly easy out. I don’t quite like the idea of the story just having an easy antagonist. If anything, I could see Aou’s character as a decoy antagonist. Either in a sympathetic “Pathapi was a dick and Aou’s character leaked it because he was sick of the treatment” way (assuming the car accident stuff is either not tied to this OR actually just an accident) or in it actually NOT being him, and it being tied to a bigger conspiracy, that Pathapi and Tamtawan would then be working on uncovering.

If it isn’t Aou’s character, it could also be just a random staff member or something inconsequential to the story that I’m blowing up greatly. But I think it would be really interesting if Pathapi wanted to know who it was that posted the footage online is.

I am mainly focusing on just the trailer’s contents by the way, not the meta of KristSingto being in real life PathapiTamtawan. I have very different ideas for what the show will try to do with the plot and especially the car accident if we’re going to be focusing the plot even MORE on the real-life parallels. (Remember how awful certain haters were about Krist when he had his car accident? Well, I don’t want to. But it could come up in this show, if it wants to comment on that. Which, don’t quote me on that happening, I’m just speculating!) Anyway, in this case, I see much less grounds for my plot speculation here.

Well, who knows. No source material. Original story. I’m just throwing ideas at the wall and seeing if any of them stick. But I think I have a point regarding how sick it would be if we got our reporter Pathapi and his (ex) boyfriend Tamtawan investigating something! Even if it isn’t related to the footage being uploaded online (good chance it isn’t) imagine if Pathapi was trying to be stopped by someone from reporting on something! Then again I might just be reading into it in my many, many watched of the trailer. Please let me know if you agree or disagree, because I honestly have no idea if I’m on mark or off base here. Because maybe nothing is going on. But I’m having fun theorizing!

Thinking about the Mock-Trailer for The Ex-Morning

Pathapi is said to be the Best Reporter of the Year in the beginning. How. I want to know his career accomplishments so badly? I need to know how he got here!

I’ve been considering why Pathapi acts the way he does in the beginning. Has he always been like, since his university days? Or was it perhaps heartbreak and the passage of time that’s made him more like this? 

Aou is being made to play the exasperated best friend in Be My Favorite and the rival with coffee thrown on him in The Ex-Morning. Someone give both characters a raise. And a boyfriend!

I looooove the trope of the arrogant, whiny jerkass in a successful position who gets humbled. And that paired with him rebuilding his reputation with his ex-boyfriend of all people? I am so ready to see Pathapi’s character arc, and the things Tamtawan makes him do in this trailer makes me think he’ll get more in-tune with the spirit of good reporting and why it’s so important.

How does Tamtawan know and decide to come back? Obviously, he wants to help Pathapi and is still in love with him, but why did he leave? WHY DID HE LEAVE? Later in the trailer, when present-day Tamtawan leaves, it’s after he’s told “Tam. You have two options now.” What are the two options? The way Tamtawan leaves and the look on his face makes him look regretful, but what exactly is motivating him trying to leave here? Why did he leave in the first place? Does Pathapi know? His face looks half confused rather than just heartbroken!

What has Tamtawan been up to? I am intrigued.

The SOTUS reference in their university days flashback? I am obsessed. They were so sweet in that one frame, it makes me wonder how they fell in love. How different were they? How much of the same remains in them? How did they fall in love? Oh my god!

The transition from Pathapi being awkward with shirtless only-clothed-in-a-towel Tamtawan to taking his own shirt off and asking if Tamtawan has an ulterior motive to fluster him is hilarious to me. I love how forward Pathapi is here! And Tamtawan getting flustered is amazing. Oh my god, I love this trailer. It balances a comedic tone, angst, tension, etc all in one show. Can’t help but adore it.

“You’re still the same selfish jerk.” I need to know what happened! I said this above and I’m saying it again. I am intrigued.

Uni Tamtawan pulling Pathapi by his tie? I am obsessed.

The umbrella scene is both so very P’Lit and so very much a SOTUS reference, it delights me. I wonder how many SOTUS references we’ll have in the show proper.

I wonder if the car accident will coincide with the climax of the show.

That! Last! Scene! I suppose this is a scene when they’re hooking up but not properly together, seeing as they’re flirting, shirtless, and probably just had sex, but still won’t admit they still like each other. This sounds great to me.

I’ve mostly not talked about the meta elements here, because I feel it’s less about the contents of the actual trailer and more about the nature of the series as such a KristSingto RPF-type plot. Anyway, I love it. Everything about the meta of this series is perfect to me, and exactly what I wanted. This show is SO fun to think about when you know about the lore of KristSingto in real life. I’m half expecting Tamtawan to have hazed Pathapi at this point!

Side note that is not a side note: I LOVE THEIR ACTING! I love their characters!

Is this vers? I’m going to say it’s vers or Top Krist until proven wrong, because that last scene? Well. Let’s put the KristSingto into the KristSingto.

I love the small cast and the focus on KristSingto! I just need to say this. I am so excited for this comeback, in-part because it really is just Tamtawan and Pathapi’s story.

Tamtawan is supposed to mean “follow” and “sun” whereas Pathapi means earth/soil/ground. Coming off of KongArt, where Arthit is obviously “sun,” and KristSingto, who compare themselves to the sun and moon, this seems so definitely meaningful. Aof and Lit, I need to know what you’re cooking! 

The coals scene is sooooo perfect, both for the characters AND KristSingto themselves. Again bringing it back to the meta of it all, but, oh my god? This is perfect? Aof wrote a screenplay that was KristSingto RPF? On that note, I keep thinking about the idea of KristSingto channeling their feelings from the irl work-partner “break up” and it makes me go a little crazy. Especially with Krist talking about all his efforts to bring Singto back, and how he over-thought it when Singto left. And even more so seeing as they say they’re basically playing themselves.

The lyrics of the song used in the trailer are so fitting, I am now looping it and thinking about Pathapi and Tamtawan forever and ever.

I noticed that Tamtawan goes by “Tam” but did I miss it for Pathapi in the trailer, or do we get no indication of his nickname? I’m curious.

The “Begin Again” for the new Peraya Party speaks to both KristSingto and their new characters, and this is again making me go, oh god it’s true they’re just playing themselves.

I said my ideal KristSingto BL was a vers exes-to-lovers that parallels reality. Evidently, I was not alone.

Is it just me, or do the Pathapi + animals and Pathapi + soil degradation water scenes feel a lot like certain episodes of Friendship with KristSingto? Just me? Maybe it’s just Krist. I love him so dearly.

So much is revealed in this trailer, but that somehow makes me more intrigued about what is not being revealed to us?

Krist still goes for the top lip and Singto still goes for the bottom lip when they kiss. This kills me every time. I am so excited to see lovey-dovey Tamtawan and Pathapi!

The first episode of The Trainee is intriguing to me — and I’m enjoying seeing everything get set up.

To begin with, I enjoy the way the serious tone of the workplace works with the lighter, comedic tone of other scenes. The show is going to have fun with us, but also take itself seriously in the topics it covers in relation to work at a production house. If I recall correctly, the story is also heavily based off Parbdee itself, and what it’s like there, and you can tell, from the commitment to really making the company feel like a workplace that takes itself seriously.

I enjoy Ryan as a main character. He’s very quiet, awkward, and confused about what he wants in life, He’s the type who needs time to start talking (otherwise he stays silent) and the type who gets kind of pushed around into situations because he can’t speak up. Ryan has been thrown into a situation where he truly has no idea what he’s doing. A total fish-out-of-water. And all of the interns are struggling, but Ryan most of all. We’ll see what keeps him at the company soon, and I’m excited to see where his character goes. There’s a clear character progression set up for him.

Honestly, I commend Ryan for keeping it together emotionally after this episode, actually. Because if I was him, I’d be incredibly broken up after that first day. He doesn’t know what he’s doing and fumbled around for most of a day. His friend’s messages deliver a clear contrast in what would be ideal versus what is happening.

Jane is an interesting love interest. He isn’t very present in this episode (though the next episode preview promises a lot of him soon) and all we have of him so far is negative. He’s immediately unimpressed by Ryan from his first scene meeting him (if his eyes are to be trusted) and he’s critical without much support, at least for now, though he does have the grace to explain things when asked. I’m looking forward to see what the series will have in store for Jane, and how they’ll endear him to us, as well as make Jane and Ryan begin to like each other. Because their current conflict makes a lot of sense, and I’m curious how things will begin to change. Ryan is not prepared for this work. But what is this all for if not for him to learn?

I love the side cast and how they’re being set up. Especially Pie. Her deadpan affect and clear passion for filmmaking is already endearing her to me, and I feel like we’ll be seeing her story a lot, from what’s said about Ryan and Pie having to work together a lot if they’re chosen. I want to see them bond! I’m a sucker for set-ups like this, and I can’t wait to see how the characters continue to work together and evolve.

Also: I like the ending chat-style segment explaining things the audience may not know about production houses, agencies, and pilots. Ryan is already a protagonist who is relatable for the average viewer who is unaware of the goings-on of the production house, and with this, there’s a fun way to get exposited some crucial information while having the characters involved.

And as a side note, this show is very visually appealing. Pleasing to the eye in a way I can’t describe, like other Parbdee shows. I’m already here, buckled in for the ride.