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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
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My Secret Vampire (Korean Series)

By Golu

I really didn't click with this series at all. I've got to be honest, while there were a few spots where the humor actually landed, the whole thing just felt like a massive miss for me. There was definitely some potential in the idea, but I just couldn't find a reason to care about the main guys or any of the side characters. On the bright side, the show is a quick watch since it’s only eight episodes and they each run about 16 to 20 minutes. It's definitely a cute and fluffy type of story, but it makes this big promise of building a vampire world and then just doesn't explore it. To me, that just feels like some pretty lousy scriptwriting.

The plot is about four college housemates who are actually vampires living together, and they're looking for a fifth person to move in. Their big issue isn't even about covering the rent; it's that they are desperate to bite into a fresh, living human! They're all pleasantly shocked when this young, innocent guy named Dongha moves in for a little while. However, the vampires end up pretty disappointed because Dongha doesn't actually weigh enough for them to be able to suck his blood! On top of that, rumors about what they do at night have started getting out, so the group is under strict orders not to lay a finger on Dongha. He's not supposed to be their prey at all. Even with that rule, three out of the four vampires are constantly tempted to drink from him. Only Joowon, who is a half-vampire and hates the idea of drinking human blood, feels like he needs to protect his new roommate. The rest of the story follows the romance that develops between those two. There's also a side plot about two other vampires falling for each other, and a weirdly large amount of time spent on cooking food and forcing vampires to eat it.

The show tries to lean on these lighthearted moments showing how four vampires and one human manage to live under the same roof. Some of that is okay to watch, but none of the characters actually grow or change, which makes the whole thing feel like it was put together in a huge rush. It started off promisingly enough, but as things moved along, it really started losing its charm. A lot of the scenes felt pretty cringey to me, and you can definitely tell the pacing was way too fast. I'll be real—I didn't even feel a spark between the lead couple. They had some sweet moments, sure, but none of it felt like it was happening naturally. There’s one part where the lead vampire almost loses it when Dongha gets hurt, which is how the truth about the vampires comes out, but the whole thing just felt silly. I honestly don't get why this show is getting so much praise everywhere. Even though it's short and easy to get through, there just wasn't anything about it that stuck with me. It’s just another story that’s going to get lost in the shuffle of the BL world.

This is a forgettable and rushed attempt at a vampire romance that fails to develop its characters or its world-building. It might be cute on the surface, but it lacks the substance to make it worth the watch. (3.5/10)

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