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Contrast (Japanese Series)

By Golu
This is basically a high school BL where two guys who have nothing going on in common somehow end up getting really close to each other, and that's kind of the whole point of the title too. There's barely any drama or fluff packed in here, it stays pretty straightforward the whole way through. A little bit of friction pops up here and there, but it's nothing compared to what you'd normally get in this kind of show. Runtime wise you're looking at 8 episodes, each one sitting around 25-30 minutes. The two guys carrying the story are Akira and Kanata, and funny enough they knew each other's faces way before they ever knew each other's names. Kanata's the type everyone likes, always got people around him, popular guy, but there's this distance to him that people can't quite place. Turns out he had an injury that ended his football days, and that's what pushed him into being more withdrawn, and it only got worse once his younger brother got picked...
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Vian (Vietnamese Series)

By Golu
Oh my god! This series was such a drag. Literally nothing happens ove the course of the exhausting 12 episodes (25-30 minutes) of this series. It just waxes and whines throughout. Even if I was to squeeze this into a short film, I wouldn't be able to make it longer than 10 minutes. So imagine having to sit through this atrocity for such a long time. There are no significantly strong moments in this series. Shot in the phone format, apparently for TikTok, you get used to it while watching but when the story itself has nothing to offer, there is only so much attention that we, as audience can pay to it.

A young guy Vienh moves to countryside to take. Break from everything. He finds a cheap rental house because it has 'haunted' reputation. When he moves in, there is a cat lurking around and he takes it in. The next morning when he wakes up, he finds a young boy sleeping next to him. Soon, he realizes that somehow cat has transformed into human An. He just an accepts this inexplicable situation and starts taking care of the human cat, who eventually starts speaking as well and the reasoning given is that he has watched human for a long time. The next 5-7 episodes are just their bantering. Enter ex-girlfriend, who comes looking for our boy. She tries her best to win the man and this causes jealousy between Vienna and A because at some level they have grown very used to one another and have this sexual tension slash connection. Slowly the girl becomes the guiding light and force for him to recognize his love is with and for An. Slowly but persistently; she forces Vienh to start to deal with his feelings for An.The ending has two versions which confused me even further. Did Vienna actually go back to his home. Was all this just a dream (because in the end A comes back with a story on how his family had to all runaway in hiding).

I am really not sure what was the point of this show. If this was supposed to have a deeper profound meaning, it was totally lost on me. I did not enjoy the show even one bit besides the two good looking leads. Some of their banters could be called cute but not funny at all. The Vietnamese country surrounding was nice and refreshing. I am thinking a lot there and really struggling to come up with anything else positive about this show. It just drags on and on. Earlier I thought that this must have come during covid, so I was willing to give its bit of lenience but then I find out that it was released only a few months back. Damn!! You can easily watch episode 1 and then jump to episode 10 with an assumption that somewhere in between an ex-girlfriend has joined and you wouldn't have missed a thing. I am not sure if there are tie-to viewers who enjoyed this, but unless I am missing something culturally, this was a big yawn inducing mess. (1.5/10)
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