Lábios Adoráveis (2022)

Suspended disbelief for the sake of a kiss

In film theory there is a term called “the willful suspension of disbelief”…it is required of the audience so you can believe that the actors you are seeing on screen are believable and their story is real.. Just like a 300 year-old vampire (Kim Jun Ho) is willing to forego life as a human because he has instantly fallen in love with a high-school boy (Choi Min Hyun) and refuses to suck his pure blood for the sake of immortality. Thus is the plot line of Kissable Lips, the latest Korean BL offering.

The plot is simple enough and the boys are lovely to look at with just the right amount of yearning and angst (a requirement for a good BL). However there are some very odd aspects to this drama, the logic around killing humans (isn’t that what vampires do?), a principal who really serves no real purpose and why does the “bad vampire” have red eyes as opposed to the protagonists blue eyes? And the ending…..

I did check that this review was a SPOILER … why Jun Ho have to die with no real reason or purpose? the death scene was agonizing to watch not because it was sad, but because it was dumb. He could have force fed him instead of whimpering like a baby. I did not get it. There seemed to be no reason for the death or even the relationship. I felt frustrated. It was unsatisfying.
I also disliked the music, it seemed to be really loud and took away from the death scene making it even more clichéd.

Kissing? Yes! Even more than you would expect from a Korean BL. There is a positive trend occurring in this regard which is nice to see. Korean BLs use to be about lingering looks and tight closed mouth kisses lol. They are are finally becoming somewhat more realistic.

Overall…not bad a bad series but not great. I cannot wait until the day when Korea will produce a truly epic 16 episode BL series. Until then Kissable Lips, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Semantic Error, Tinted With You….it is. Enjoy!

Leia Mais

A good story with potential but not enough time to utilize it

The potential was there, but this KBL has the typical issues you know from other KBLs. It's too short and therefore lacks depth and feels rushed. The story itself wasn't that bad, but the love between the two characters developed too quickly (which wouldn't be a problem if the couple had insane chemistry to make up for it). The central conflict fell flat. The acting was also lacking. There was no noticeable/outstanding chemistry between the two leads. Many scenes felt stiff and awkward. For a BL to be enjoyable (IMO), it has to fulfill at least two of the following things:
1) captivating/interesting story
2) chemistry between the characters (platonic and romantic)
3) good acting

The premise was that Jun Ho was trying to make Min Hyun fall in love with him so he could drink his blood and not die from the curse (?). But I didn't feel the tension or the heaviness of the situation when Min Hyun fell for Jun Ho. I didn't feel the inner turmoil of Jun Ho when he fell for Min Hyun and had to decide whether he should kill the boy he likes to survive or let him live and give up on life. The worldbuilding was very shallow. Nothing is explained (like the whole pureblood thing) or the curse. It's all very shallow, and I guess you could argue that this show has less than 90 minutes of runtime, but so do many movies, and even they manage to make the most out of it.

You could say that the CGI-vampire-eyes aren't done well, and I guess I'd have to agree. Still, just like in Color Rush, I think it has a certain charm (even though I don't understand why they decided to make the vampire eyes red and green without any information or explanation - surface-level worldbuilding, hello).

Another point that made me lower my rating was the ending. It wasn't satisfying or a reasonable conclusion for the story. It felt empty (to me). BUT not everything was awful. I think that there are probably many people who will enjoy this show. I thought it was an easy and quick watch; it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Min Hyun found out the truth about Jun Ho pretty quickly and was just okay with it. Also, the guy he fell for wanted to use and then kill him was not a deal-breaker for him. Therefore, I didn't care either. Min Hyun kept begging Jun Ho to drink his blood; Jun Ho refused, Jun Ho died. The brother who was supposed to be an obstacle was never brought up again. The principal lady, who was apparently Jun Ho's friend (?), didn't do anything significant either.

I'm not super opposed to sad endings or major character deaths if they are done well. Ending your show with one of your main characters dead and just leaving the whole show on a sad note should be handled carefully. In this case, Jun Ho's death wasn't impacting me the way it should have. If that was because I wasn't super invested in the characters and the story anymore or because of the acting or directing, I don't know. One thing that played into my apathy towards the ending was that Jun Ho seemed like he accepted his fate and was not afraid of dying or fighting to stay alive. Therefore, I wasn't feeling sad that he had lost his life. Like yeah, it's unfortunate that he and his love were separated, but they knew each other for like what? Ten days? Three weeks? Six months? (the time span is also very vague, and one can only guess) I didn't expect this show to have a Twilightesque scene where Jun Ho ultimately decides to suck Min Hyun's blood and has to stop himself before he kills him, but I guess that I would've expected... more.

Leia Mais

Kissable Kink Will Make You Think About Blood Drink

Look, this drama is a web cheapie so I give it points for being focused on the main plot - no 1000 subplots and extraneous characters that dramas tend to suffer from - and moving at brisk pace despite uninspired directing and meat axe editing. I also really liked that kissing was hot for a change - no stiff fish kiss foolishness - and there's strongly implied sex which is great and realistic, unlike having 30somethings contemplate whether they should hold hands in public (another tired drama trope). And the leads, especially the vampire, are easy on the eyes. I have seen two Viki vampire dramas with Kim Ji Woong so far, and this one is way better than The Sweet Blood. For one, he is the lead here which is a huge plus since he was the most charismatic and good looking actor on The Sweet Blood yet stuck in a secondary role. Two, where Kissable Lips is focused, The Sweet Blood was all over the place weighted down by dull subplots and too many characters that didn't add up. Three, Kissable Lips has better mythology, that's easier to follow, and is much more appealing.

That said, I would have rated this higher - I shredded some big budget big name dramas precisely because they could have done much better with all the money at their disposal unlike web cheapies - had it not been for the last 2-3 episodes. So now we are diving into a spoiler territory. Avert your eyes if you haven't finished the drama or have no desire to pick it up but want to see how it ended anyway.

I liked the romance between Jun Ho (vampire) and Min Hyun (human) and the set up where Jun Ho was dying because he (accidently) killed his human lover and could only save himself by becoming a human from drinking blood of a pureblood human who fell in love with him. It's pretty interesting take on vampire lore, not entirely unique but more in line with fairytales than vampires. Love conquers all and all that. It works within this context. So Jun Ho is of course beautiful so it isn't hard for adorable teenager Min Hyun to fall in love with him. And vice versa. So far so good. Up until episode 6, the drama was squarely focused on the two falling in love with each other, with some minor side complications coming from Min Hyun's overly protective older brother and Jun Ho's overly concerned human guardian/surrogate mom/whatever. But episode 6 introduced a love triangle - arrival of another vampire who was Jun Ho's BFF secretly in love with him - that didn't add up to anything. What it did give us was absolutely bizarre murder in episode 7 where Jun Ho strangled his vampire friend for threatening Min Hyun. This scene was very uncomfortable to watch because BFF passively kneeled with tears running down his cheeks while Jun Ho was squeezing his neck for what felt like hours. All the while Min Hyun watched without trying to do something, I dunno, save his boyfriend from becoming a friendicidal maniac? And after it was over, they went home to have sex! Min Hyun was, like, I've heard you killed your human lover and I've just watched you strangle your BFF to death, that's so hot, man! You made me so horny! Drink my blood, bang me, I'm yours! OK who am I to judge other people's kinks? So if Min Hyun is turned on by snuff than I guess he should knock himself out. I just thought it was pretty strange to take this turn so late in the drama because it left no room for actual drama to come from a) hearing that your boyfriend snuffed his previous lover during unrestrained blood drinking and b) watching him snuff his BFF even if was for your safety. And then came the utterly unsatisfying finale (ep 8) which ended with a flashback from the same episode so there's only one conclusion: sponsor's cheque bounced! Quick, we need some recycled footage to end the drama!

I honestly think that they had to cut the chitchat because they ran out of money. After Jun Ho died in the finale, they teased us a potential twist involving the dropped promise ring. That went nowhere. I thought that Jun Ho would appear as a full human for basically sacrificing himself for love - he refused to drink from Min Hyun because it could have killed him like it did his other lover. Like I said already, this vampire lore has more in common with fairytales where love and sacrifice bring a happy ending. Heck, Min Hyun was crying buckets while holding the dying Jun Ho and one of most popular fairytale tropes is Healing Tears (see Rapuntzel and Beauty and the Beast). Or even better - Kiss of True Love/Kiss of Life (see Snow White and Sleeping Beauty). Hello, Kissable Lips! This trope should write itself with the title like this! Alas.

I would have given this drama a higher rating had it not been for last episodes ruination that even cheap production and bounced cheques cannot excuse. I'm happy to see Kim Ji Woong become Viki star so I'll check out more dramas with him. Just fix the writing. My man deserves better.

Leia Mais

Not bad

Tbh, ive only watched one episode, but so far its not bad actually. It's good and its really interesting to see a vampire male lead when it comes to a bl. Honestly, im really excited when the next episode comes out. The acting is good, its not that bad, but the face expressions made me giggle. I really haven't heard the music as much so i gave it an 8. The show just started so not much to say about the rewatch value. Overall, the story seems good so far. (Also, this is a high school plot.) I'm interested to see how the two males get in love :) I gave this a 10/10 bc of the story.

Edit:
Yeah no. The first few episodes were alright, then it just kinda got confusing. I like this drama but not as much anymore

Leia Mais

Lead Actors Are Great, The Rest "Sucks".

Vampire BL. A General Spoiler on the ending only. Acting 8.5, Chemistry & kiss 10, Plot & script 3, Cinematography 5, Music 6, Rewatchability 2.
Pointlessly stupid choices by ALL of the characters at least once, and an unnecessarily sad ending. Left me with an incredulous and irritated "WTF, WHY???" feeling. Most of the contrived angst could have been so easily avoidable.

I can't recommend this unless you are a fan of the lead actors (as I am). Watch them in Roomates Of Poongduck 304 instead, which is a fun and better fleshed-out series. Then after that, maybe watch the kiss scene here as an extension of those characters in your mind. It's at the beginning of Episode 8. I would have found that immensely more satisfying than how I felt watching this whole series. I will say Kim Ji Woong's visuals really work well as a vampire though!

The two leads and their magnetic chemistry with each other are the best reason to watch this very short series. Seven 10min episodes and the eighth episode is 20min. It's obvious why they were cast in Roomates Of Poongduck 304 after this. Their kiss is realistic and full of passion and there's even a brief morning-after scene, which is uncommon in Korean BLs.

The story is very generic and the only surprises are how stupid and unrealistic character choices are. There are also an untenable amount of plot holes because the world building is so poorly done.

There's not enough time spent building up the connection between the lead characters to warrant the deep love they have. The "explanation" of the lead vampire's past, which drives all his current decisions, was barely touched on and left a lot of remaining questions. Like, what lead up to him being in that state in the first place? The female friend, and certainly the male vampire "friend", are arguably unnecessary. The time on them would have been better spent focusing on the emotional and relationship arc of the leads.

Also, MJ Koontz's review is absolutely hilarious:
https://mydramalist.com/profile/soundinfinite/review/195237

Leia Mais

So much potential, still was a good watch

The watch was really fun, waiting for new episodes is exciting and overall the watch was.

The story itself did the best it could with the time constraints. The potential lies with all the constraints that BL’s have in Korea. The time is so little so they did the best they could, same goes for budget etc.

Come into this show not expecting perfection. The chemistry was really well and there was so many elements that would’ve worked so much better in a longer drama. As for the show as a whole it was a emotional watch and was worth it. The fact that it was heartbreaking and pulled emotions from me in a short amount of time is impressive.

Leia Mais

Not your typical vampire

First of all, the guy who played the character of the vampire I'm not gonna believe until someone shows me his blood test report that he ain't a real vampire. Maannnn he looks like a real vampire.
Okay so moving on to the actual thing, I'd like to start with the bad things. It was rushed. Like wayyyy more rushed comparing to any other Viki series. 11 minutes for 7 episodes and 18 minutes for the last episode wasn't really that less. Even if we eliminate the timing of intro and recaps we still get around 80 minutes. And the storyline wasn't strong at all. Not gonna lie, me being a Shadowhunters fan is kinda offended. Who are into vampire and shadow world thingy would agree with me too. And since you are reading after seeing the spoiler tag, yes he died. I mean the vampire died. Vanished just like that due to what some vampire anemia? No silver sword, no high exposure of UV ray, nothing. Also this vampire of ours walks freely in the sun. Among all the things that couldn't fit, the most important thing wasn't found again, in a KBL. CHEMISTRY. Well I don't think that's surprising anymore to us, right?

The good thing is both of the actor are really good at acting. The vampire one even looks like a vampire. But I think they just don't go with each other. Or maybe needs to work more on building their chemistry. They have got potential just needs to push themselves more. Also the OST is really good.

Leia Mais

Idol Romance NEEDS to stop making love triangles

Kissable Lips had the potential to be great. I did like it, but from a critical perspective, I also agree with other people's opinions that it isn't necessarily amazing. The biggest issue with the show was that it followed the typical Idol Romance model: bad plot and unnecessary love triangles. But for whatever reason, I still liked the show.

The story was criminally undeveloped. And now that I think about it, I barely even remember what the main storyline was despite finishing the show 7 minutes ago. And to add Hae-soo (the other vampire) was essentially useless to the storyline. It even made it worse. What saved the show was the chemistry between Jun-ho and Min-hyun, I was genuinely surprised by how good it was.

The acting was good (or primarily Kim Ji Woong at least) so luckily that aspect of the show wasn't lacking. Yoon Seo Bin was quite good at acting despite my expectations, however, he did overdo the goofy aspect of his character sometimes. Whenever he did so I would die a little inside, but luckily it was only a couple of times in the first few episodes. They were very good in the second half of the show. The music was also great so I have no critiques there.

Overall, it was an OK show, but it was mostly because of the leads and their chemistry. The barely existent storyline and the super underdeveloped love triangle were the downfalls of this web drama. However, if you need to kill time or just can't find a web drama to watch, go for it! I'm sure it'll make your heart flutter.

Leia Mais

Had potential

This drama I was really looking forward to it, but sadly I was slightly disappointed, in the sense that he had so much potential if they had just expanded the story line and give it more screen time, its one of those dramas you watch in one sitting if you have literally an hour to spare in your lunch period.

There was actually no real story to it and it just played along, 500 year old vampire kills his first love, and then falls in love again with a pure blood, only to die himself cuz he too afraid to bite his new love. And that is it!! that's the whole story.

The episodes were toooooo short like 8 minutes the longest being 18 minutes, the chemistry between the two were off but like I said if this was a little longer they may grown on me, but sadly this drama just didn't work for me.

Overall: Short / Sad / & could have been better.

Leia Mais

Started off great but tried to do too much with too little time

Jiwoong really did an excellent job as a tortured vampire living among humans, underscoring the fact that desire, in all its forms, can indeed lead to some tumultuous times.

The start was great – I was fully captivated by the idea of Junho and the hunger (quite literally too) in his gaze, conveyed perfectly by Kim Jiwoong. But by the end, poorly constructed characters and sequences leave lingering questions about the side characters and plot unanswered.

Poor writing seems to be the biggest problem when it comes to South Korean miniseries. While nobody is expecting an in-depth look into the motivations of characters, a story that is well-held-together is really the minimum.

Verdict: It would have been so much better if the story was more focused on main leads

Read my full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2022/02/27/kissable-lips-2022-review-started-off-great-but/

Leia Mais

it was watchable

at first i was excited for this because it's a vampire drama and I was reading a vampire romance webtoon. when I found out this was bl also, I really wanted to watch it. it was okay but I wish they did better. as a lot of people know, Korean bls aren't the best, they're average most of the time and they're also really short like 8 episodes and each are only 8-12 mins.

like i said, it was watchable but i skipped a lot of parts in the last 2 episodes. i wish they did better on the production. acting was not bad. after i started this drama, i watched a drama with ji woong as a main role and seobin as a support role. their acting was actually not that bad but it could've been really better. not sure about music, i didn't really care about it that much. i think if the episodes were longer, it could've been better.

something good was the ending. some people didn't like the sad ending but i liked it because it's something i did not expect but i also expected it. bls always have a happy ending, at least the ones I've watched so i liked that this drama was different.

overall i guess it's an okay drama to watch when you're really bored and desperately want to watch something.

Leia Mais