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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 Turns out he had an injury that ended his football days, and that's what pushed him into being more withdrawn, and it only got worse once his younger brother got picked...
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The Heart Killers (Thai Series)

By Golu
The Heart Killers is a stylish crime cum romance BL drama. While the sho had a very interesting premise and the first few episodes kept me hooked, the excessive focus on the relationship side of things and the drama associated with it took precedence over the crime aspect and every subsequent episode started to feel tedious. There is a lot of skin and hookup scenes to add to the appeal of the viewers of BL shows. The show has 12 episodes and almost all of them are around an hour long or more and hence it really tests your patience. I am really not sure why the fascination for 12 episodes and that too so long. At least till a few years back, we used to get 12 episodes but with maybe 45 minute duration. The production houses are really pushing the audience patience IMO, and sooner or later that may backfire.

Bison and his older brother Fadel run a burger joint with a retro diner vibe. Brother by soul, they wrestle raised by a woman and also their boss "Mother" who assigns them secret missions to kill powerful business tycoons guilty of terrible crimes. After executing their targets each time, Bison and Fadel return to their seemingly average lives. While Fadel is serious about work and more mature, Bison wants out of this life and wants a long lasting love and relationship. One night during bowling Bison meets Kant, a tattoo artist and they have a passionate one night stand. They fall for each other's charm but Bison leaves early morning. Kant has a former felony for car theft, so he is forced to now work with the cops who assign them to find more information about Bison and Fadel and their leader. Kant worries about his brother's well-being, so he agrees to be an informant. His task is to get close to Bison, spy on him, and report to the police. While Kant starts to pursue Bison, Fadel is suspicious f them and so Kant involves his best friend Style to make Fadel fall in love with him so that they can together find out information about the criminals. While the next few episodes are dedicated to Style and Kant making the two hitmen fall in love with them, but the secret doesn't remain hidden for too long. Fadel and Bison soon find out the truth and they decide to take their revenge with a very stupid plan IMO. They kidnap the boys and threaten to kill them but Kant comes out with the truth on how and why he was forced to do what he did. This takes another 4-5 episodes. Meanwhile when the 'mother' send them to shoot a rich business tycoon, a secret is revealed that this mother had the parents of Fadel and Bison killed and she is just pretending to be nice. Corroborating with the cops, the brother get the mother in prison and they also need to serve 5 years in prison. Once they are released, the two couples are happy only to find out that mother used her money and power to get released from jail. But she will now have to pay the price with her life.

The biggest problem here is how they story and premise has ben stretched unnecessarily. Also I have said this before also, the makers need to get actors and treat the story of crime thrillers, as they are. They cannot focus on romance so much that the crime/thriller aspect of the show starts to feel totally unbelievable. The antics used by the so called hitmen were outright ridiculous. It started well when you see two hot guys killing business tycoons, but the plot keeps getting dumber. The whole second half is completely laughable, far removed from logic and realism. Also, their relationship conflicts drag on so much that I've lost my patience. If you want them dead so badly, stop making excuses and pull the damn trigger! The story was superficial. Ideally the show should have ended after episode 10 when the mother gets arrested but they had the audacity to show a situation where Kant and Style manage to go into the prison every year to spend time with Bison and Fadel and get all Lovey-dovey, romancing and having sex in the prison. The show focuses way too much on romance. I mean, sure romance is important and so are the kisses and sex scenes but putting them all the time in the forefront when you can see death is hanging on their heads feels a little ludicrous. The Heart Killers overdoes the sexual scenes and comes across as tacky. A little sensuality is fun, but it feels tasteless when you constantly indulge in naughty innuendos or sleazy antics. The actors do a good job. I found myself more attracted to Style and the broody Fadel. The whole Bison-Kant situation was just over the top. I also felt lack of chemistry between them. The long episodes did continue to test my patience and to be honest, I had to fast forward so many scenes because the romance had stated to just annoy me and all I wanted to know was how is this all going to end. And after an exhausting 13-14 hour ordeal, it finally did. I really really wish and manifest that some fans start to make fan-edit of all these BL shows that focuses on core story and some romance that will make these kind of shows lot more watchable. (5/10)
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