This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
Sprite and Zee are identical twins, separated at childhood after their parents divorce. Zee is now a star volleyball player while Sprite trains in his university's jujitsu club. Zee doesn't get along with the others. Everyone else hates his arrogance and alienates him from the group. The only friend he has is the girl Salmon, the team's manager. Another star player First holds the biggest grudge against him since he sees him as a rival since childhood. One night Zee is mistaken for Sprite and gets attacked and is hospitalized. Zee's mother is upset and together her, Sprite and Salmon decide that Sprite will pretend to be Zee and continue playing on the volleyball team until Zee's full recovery. As. You can imagine this creates plenty of funny, awkward, suspenseful scenarios. Sprite now has to live a double life and also learn volleyball and get good at it while continuing his own jujitsu love. Salmon helps him get used to his new role. However, the other teammates notice Sprite isn't as mean or arrogant as Zee. They also think his volleyball skills have worsened. For some reason, Sprite (in Zee's avatar) takes a liking for First and their flirting starts while everything else is going on. We also have 3-4 other couples besides these main characters but I could care less about them. When Zee is healthy, he is upset to know what Sprite is doing and asks to go back, but Sprite tells everyone that he likes First and wants to pursue. Zee and Sprite alternate their days, which confuses First because some days he gets a lot of love from Zee and other days he doesn't. Eventually more drama happens, truth comes out in a small group, Sprite apologizes to First and the duo are together. Meanwhile turns out Zee has had a crush on Salmon and they both make another couple.
As mentioned before this show has interesting premise that could lead to many comical situations, which we do see. We see how Sprite struggles to maintain double identity playing two different sports and dealing with new friends. But sadly this gets repetitive and somehow failed to captivate my attention. Also there are many side characters, whose love stories, flirtations etc keep coming in between. I know this is now a norm in BL shows but somehow in this show it was even more glaring. On a positive side, all these characters are hunky with amazing bodies and there are plenty scenes with them shirtless. There's a constant display of sweaty torsos, muscular arms, and bare thighs. We also do get a couple of steamy locker room and bedroom sex scenes although they last barely any time. But then the dream keeps getting convoluted and boring. I understand that Sprite wants to continue to pursue First, but there are better ways to do that rather than continuing the charade of deception. Also the sevens which lead to Sprite, as Zee, making his enemy teammates to now friends is also a bit clunky and hard to swallow.
The actor playing the lead is really good and does a good job to separate the two characters. This is a good opportunity to display your acting chops. Sadly, First barely has any characterization and comes out as very dull. IN contrast, the girl Salmon has more appeal and charisma and better role and another reason for me to be confused whether it's truly a BL show at heart. Overall, it's hard to overlook the many problems that this series has. If you are looking for a proper BL show, I'd not recommend this since the romance part is very minimal here, but yeah there is enough eye-candy. (3.5/10)
Comments
Surprisingly I just have the exact opposite feel than you about the main actors! I found Zee/Sprite acting pretty annoying, however I totally loved First actor and the way he displays confusion and feelings hurt through his eyes. Ok I confess I have a weak spot for those kind of guys. Anyway I'd like to see him in another series (... not named "For him", stay away from this one at all costs). Same for the secondary actors, I'd love to see their naked bodies I mean acting skills again (the Jujitsu friend has a real charm though)