Blueming (2022)

safe place

Allora…non so che dire di preciso ma una cosa è certa: QUESTO è ASSOLUTAMENTE UNO DEI MIEI COMFORT DRAMA.
La trama è semplice e carina, entrambi hanno dietro di sé una storia complicata.
La storia di Si Woon è molto complicata e triste, tutto il suo passato ha determinato il preoccuparsi continuamente di come è esposto agli altri, non può fare qualcosa di sbagliato che subito comincia a pensarci troppo e a trovare una soluzione per far sì che non si sparli di lui e sta cosa fa ragionare, non si dovrebbe essere ossessionati da ciò perchè sennò non vivremmo appieno la nostra vita, dobbiamo imparare a preoccuparci di meno e ad essere noi stessi, nel bene e nel male.
La storia di Da Woon, invece, non è stata raccontata, sappiamo alcune cose ma non proprio cosa ha dovuto passare quindi non riesco ad avere un preciso pensiero.
Loro due sono veramente carini e soft, anche se hanno dovuto passare qualche litigio alla fine hanno parlato e si sono chiariti.
Diciamo che nel suo insieme questo bl è fatto bene, è veramente carino, loro li amo troppo, ma purtroppo alcune parti sono per me confuse help, dovevano spiegarci meglio alcune cose ma vabbè.
Dato che l’ho amato ne pretendo una seconda stagione.

Leia Mais

A great BL even if it's overshadowed by Semantic Error

Korea saw its first venture into worldwide popularity with Semantic Error. With it came the push for more Korean BL dramas that showed us that Korea had the ability to go against BL mega giant Thailand and its secondary rival with Japan. However, often times, these types of runaway hits causes some issues with others. Lost in the shadow of Semantic Error hides Blueming and To My Star 2, two dramas that take things back and return us to a sense of life.

Blueming's biggest draw was their portrayal of "slice of life" in a fuzzy, warm tint that made you feel at ease. It was an easy love story, filled with characters that helped to deliver a sense of nostalgia and lost love. This pairing didnt make sense at first, but as time went on, you'd realized that the two fit each other quite well. The steady build up, the desire to try and get to know each other, up to the moment of their first touch felt right. Siwon's desire to fit in and be loved matches with Daun's ability to make you feel loved. Many can relate to Siwon and his massive FOMO. Daun is harder to relate to, as he can feel distant unless you udnerstand him.

The only issue I had with this is the actual story. Slice of life is easily digestible but can be clunky after a few episodes and slow pacing. While I understand the pacing is to help build the world around them, it can be a bit of a snoozefest. Nonethless, I felt the love and the connection.

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Beautiful, in an understated way

The cliché "deceptively simple" comes to mind as I thought about this series after watching several episodes. On the surface, the story is simple: Si Won, an attractive guy who is too eager to be popular because of his insecurities, meets Da Woon, who seems to be effortlessly perfect and popular (but who, quite clearly faces issues too). Si Won feels threatened by Da Woon in a way, but the tensions between them is not exaggerated in the way one would expect in some enemies-to-lovers plot. In fact, there is a hint of mutual attraction the first time the two guys meet each other, and Da Woon clearly harbors no hostility towards Si Won.

It is not the first time that we see a BL couple who are film students, but it is one of the times when this fact is used well. Scenes from the film that Si Won makes, with just a few snippets as a film-within-a-film, effectively and economically reveals something about his relationship with his mother--the viewer may not have expected the revelation, but when it is revealed, the viewer may just go, "Oh yeah, why didn't I see it?" The mother, and not just the bullies Si Won encounters as a child, may have contributed to Si Won's insecurities by emphasizing to him as a child that people judge others by their looks and indirectly but frequently reminding him that people may look at their family differently because it's a single-parent family (the father having left the family when Si Won is a kid).

What is also hinted at is the relationship Si Won's sister has with both her parents as her mother accusingly talks (off screen) about how she isn't sufficiently against her father. Yet, even if the family is somewhat dysfunctional, it isn't a stereotypically dysfunctional family. Like every family, it may have its problems. However, the members of the family also do care about one another and do things for one another. The portrayal of the characters' relationships is, thus, sensitive and nuanced. This is quite rare for BL series, which often focus on the relationship of the BL couple at the expense of making other relationships simplistic. I guess this also enhances the so-called rewatch value of the series because there is a lot we can get with an additional viewing.

There is also much to like about the story of the BL couple. Many will appreciate how the main problem in their relationship isn't the fact that they are both men, a third party or some silly misunderstanding. There is growth in the characters, forgiveness and a happy ending that isn't plain fluff.

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Great Adaptation of Who Can Define Popularity? with a Film School Twist

Blueming is an adaptation of the webtoon "Who Can Define Popularity?" but it strays quite far from the source material that it has become it's own story.

As a BL drama, it is an amazing example of a textbook BL drama. However, because it is too perfect and is an idealistic BL, it loses some points in the realm of realism. Still a must watch BL.


STORY:

When Si Won was a child, he has a tough childhood. He was teased for being fat and his home life wasn't stable. His father cheated on his mother and left. Since then, his mother has forced her views of being in shape and looking beautify onto her children. As an adult, Si Won is no longer fat and very self conscious. He is also quite popular due to his good looks.

During Si Won's first year of film school, he meets Da Un, who is perfect in every way. Da Un is handsome, smart, rich, and is nice to everyone. Si Won hates Da Un because he finds Da Un to be the perfect person that he strives to be, but will never achieve. Si Won tries to stay away from Da Un, but that proves impossible when they are paired to work with each other in ever class. Da Un also seems to have taken a liking to Si Won and follows him everywhere.

As I stated earlier, Blueming is a textbook BL. Every plot point, character, and scene has meaning to the drama; and there is no fillers. There is also no plot holes. Every question we have is answered. However, whether the answer the drama has given us can be up for debate. For example, when Si Won gets upset at Da Un for having his mother give him the grand prize for his script, Da Un says he's sorry, but he just wanted to be perfect. What does being perfect have to do with helping Si Won win the grand prize? If he said he just wanted to help get Si Won's name out there, or something like that I'd get it, but what does perfect have to do with it? I was so confused that I decided to read the webtoon and that's where I learned where Da Un's answer of being perfect came from. In the webtoon Da Un struggles with good child syndrome, so he struggles to be perfect. In this BL adaptation, however, Da Un's struggles with good child syndrome are not touched upon, so his answer made no sense. Other than that this drama is a must watch. It's not as overly dramatic as your typical Korean drama, but it's a nice drama nevertheless.

Si Won x Da Un

Si Won and Da Un have really good chemistry together. Si Won is very high strung and narcissist, but he knows that and isn't afraid to admit his shortcomings. In front of others he tries to maintain a good image. Da Un, on the other hand, is kind, caring, and a people-pleaser. He's understanding of Si Won's short comings, but seems to have a hard time opening up to anyone about his problems. He knows he is rich and more blessed than others around him, so he forces himself to swallow his own pain and pretend he doesn't feel it.

Si Won and Da Un are really great together. They balance each other out and talk through everything. They have the best communication skills out of any couple (BL and non-BL combined.) They help each other through their problems and support each other. They really are relationship goals.


BLUEMING vs WHO CAN DEFINE POPULARITY?

As I stated earlier, Blueming is an adaptation of the webtoon "Who Can Define Popularity?" but it strays quite far from the source material that it has become it's own story. While the drama does follow the same plot of the webtoon, the situations, motivations, and scene are completely different.

For example:

Blueming
- Characters are all in Film School
- Da Un's family are famous in the film industry, directors etc.
- Da Un's mother and father seems to ignore Da Un's existence
- Si Won's mother is self-centered and cares about her kids' superficial beauty
- Si Won's storyline is the focus
- Da Un's storyline is cut. He doesn't really open up to Si Won.
- Ba Woo & Hoon's storyline is cut. Ba Woo is just a small side character that's barely memorable. Hoon makes a small cameo in the last episode.
- Yun Jeong and Si Won's sister's storyline is significantly cut. Seems like this could is queer baiting with their love storyline. Si Won's sister has a very small role in the drama. Yun Jeong is also a side character.


Who Can Define Popularity?
- Characters are all in the Student Council in University
- Da Un's family is Chaebol and Da Un is heir to his father's business
- Da Un's family really care for him, especially his mother, who is concerned about Da Un's good child syndrome.
- Si Won's mom is supportive of her family and doesn't care much about superficial beauty.
- Si Won's storyline is expanded, especially about being bullied in elementary school and later again in college.
- Da Un has a storyline about his narcissism and his good child syndrome. He opens up to Si Won.
- Ba Woo & Hoon are the secondary couple with lots of interactions with both Da Un and Si Won.
- Yun Jeong and Si Won's sister a small storyline. Both characters play a bigger role in the webtoon.
- Yun Jeong has a big love triangle with Si Won and Da Un.

Blueming still follows the main storyline of Si Won, but just changes a few things around. While a great adaptation, Who Can Define Popularity? is still the superior story as the audience is able to gain a better understanding behind the motivations of all the characters. Maybe if Blueming's episodes were longer than 14 minutes, the drama could have expanded the storylines and become the perfect BL that it was striving to be. I really wanted to see Da Un's struggle with good child syndrome on screen, but it was not covered at all. I hope to see it one day.

OVERALL:

Blueming is a must watch BL, but I still recommend watching Who Can Define Popularity? before or after. I think that Blueming is a great adaptation that can also be considered a stand alone BL.

Leia Mais

i cried LOL

holy fucking shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this kdrama was so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. as the mains are film students, the visual appearance of the drama was very romanticized and pretty, whether it be the silhouette of siwon and daun as they kissed or the warm lighting whenever they were together. the insecurities of siwon are so similar to mine, and i feel that daun was very supporting and kind as he made sure to comfort and reassure him no matter what.

the scene on the beach where siwon is explaining that daun's pain is valid no matter what is so gorgeous and paired with the soft sounds of waves hitting the shore, it was perfect. the chemistry between both actors is unbelievable and the casting was great.

siwon's sister, no matter how bitchy she was at times, was still obviously important to him and their relationship was similar to many siblings around the world. his mother, although she was a but toxic, she still cared about him a lot and i love how they showed the struggles of being a single mom.

i wish we could've gone into more detail about daun's family, but hopefully we will get a season two and their story can continue.

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Just wow...

This serie is lovable, pure, suiting, honest, believable, touching... I loved it and i really recomend other people to watch it.

The cast contains of very good actors who play their role very believable and pure. I felt their emotions myself and thats what i am looking for in a movie, this makes the difference between a excellent movie or just a good one.

This is also a short series so i never felt bored, every episode was worth watching.

This serie is definitely underrated, because i just found out about it and it tops so many other series that are more popular...

The only thing i have my toughts about is the fact that Woons life with his parents and his own problems are never outspoken. There are 2 lead actors but somethimes i felt there was only one and Da-Woon was a bit unimportant.
Also the sounds and music didnt alsways fit well.

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there is so much attraction in subtlety

I just want to express how happy I was after finishing this series. For such a short drama it has such a beautiful storyline which can make mainland dramas fail. I was fully invested in the characters, main and side both. My favorite side character being the sister. I like how they gave depth even to the side characters. The story was a straight healing story where two people meet and figure out their emotions together. Both the leads had emotional depth to them. One could argue Da Un seemed more anchored and closed compared to Siwon in the earlier episodes but we get to learn about him slowly and steadily later on. I just loved how confident Siwon was in misunderstanding Da Un, which he took sportingly and used to flirt back haha. The kisses was satisfying for this lady writer and romance was ahh so heart wearming.

Heard a Season 2 in progress, hope they don't mess that up. I just love the characters so much that I cant bear it to be spoiled.
I'll keep the review short. If you still haven't, go and watch this beautiful BL drama now!

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Simple yet interesting love story

Their story starts with jealousy from one person and ends up being cathartic for both of them. Cha siwon's struggle and his childhood being the trigger for the initial interactions between the leads.

The ost and cha siwon's bickering adds flavor to the slow burn emotional journey the characters go thru. The cinematography and shots are soo good . It's a kdrama so it's expected but some choices made for the visuals esp ep 9 and 10 reflect the characters emotions in the backdrop. (The shots feel like a jdrama and early k romcom movies)

It maybe confusing sometimes but it's the director's way of storytelling so I can't really put that as a negative remark.

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How did they do this?

The story is based on a manhwa but in the drama they followed an almost different storyline but not different at the same time. In the manhwa there were no filming scene, no telling Siwon's life through a movie, no Dawoon telling his parents to select the movie and Dawoon's mother was a sweetheart. In the manhwa Siwon was bit more of an a$$hole and Dawoon was a puppy running after him. In the drama Yoonjung never confessed to Siwon.
The rumour on the internet and Siwon's childhood photo getting leaked was more intense in the manhwa. They handled the situation more savagely. In short the manhwa was more of a them being savage and the drama covers the same thing but a sweet way. That is why they get all the positive feedback from me. The drama and the manhwa both are 10 on 10 in their own way. The awkwardness you can see in Siwon sometimes is because he is awkward in general. They talk about his in the manhwa. It wasn't them being awkward while acting. When Dawoon dreamed about Siwon after their fight, you can clearly see Siwon being different, as in clingier. The actors did a great job here as well. 10 on 10 again. Also they didn't introduce two important characters which I assume leaves a door for second season. Or should I say one? The guy singing at the beach is one of them. Siwon and Dawoon's friend Bawoo (the guy with glasses who saved Yoonjung form the stalker) was an out gay in the manhwa and the singer is his love interest. The other one is Dawoon's cousin. They had a lot of history. I'm highly anticipating a second season. They need to cover Dawoon's struggle too. Overall hats off to the whole team.

Leia Mais

A beautiful and healing story

There's just something so beautiful about this series. I can't tell if it's the storyline on its own or the whole package along with OST which fits every single scene & the nostalgia contained in the way the scenes were directed and presented like.. it's just beautiful and I had so much inner peace while watching it.

There's also something healing about Blueming - simple storyline yet still resonates with your soul, eye-catching and cosy atmosphere presented by great (in my opinion) camera work, so little things spoken yet so many words showed through the actors' emotions and acting overall.
It's one of those series that will leave you at peace and I absolutely love this feeling of "I'm just glad they found each other". No unnecessary drama and no random situations just to keep the plot running. Simply: real life examples and real life people who get to know both each other and most importantly themselves. Every character here learnt many things about themselves through the 11 episodes and you don't need anyone to say it straight, you can just see it. See their actions, the little yet so big changes, the way they look at their friends and family and how it goes from misunderstanding to understanding (not fully, but enough to find the bond they lost through the years of growing up).

It all sounds so complicated but it's so simply presented. Love it so much.

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A Relaxing, Heartfelt Drama

Thiz drama was so relaxing to watch, it was calm and healing. It honestly would make a nice movie. The filmography was beautiful, the style is very “indie” which fits right in with the theme of the story. The music was perfect too. I laughed, I cried, it moved me. The acting was fantastic too - the leads were NOT awkward at all which is unfortunately common with BL dramas. Their portrayal of the characters felt very genuine, the way they looked at each other was so romantic TT TT. Also, I wasn’t cringing during the skinship and kissing scenes - I was able to watch it like I would any other drama…so refreshing. I recommend watching it! I streamed it on iQIYI. (Sorry I’m not very good with describing things, hopefully you guys understand what I’m trying to convey TT.TT)

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