Flores de Cerejeira Depois do Inverno (2022)

Subtle, Feel-Good, Sincere Romance.

To me, this series felt like a higher rating than the sum of it's parts (technically, more like a 9/10 but enjoyable and satisfying enough to be one of my favorites). It was like being wrapped in a cozy blanket of hopeful sincerity. It's slice-of-life with a focus on feelings and while there are multiple emotional moments, there's no big drama (other than school bullying at the beginning). I enjoyed every minute and will watch again.

Notes on general differences from the manhwa at the bottom of review.

There are eight 25min episodes. I liked that we got to see HaeBom and TaeSung's story over a couple of years even though the time constraints meant that time passed quickly. The passing of time was slower in the beginning so it was easy to understand and connect with the characters and watch the transition of their bond into something more romantic. Then time jumps became a little bigger and more frequent but still retained character arcs. The mother's arc near the end felt the most rushed but it still worked; it feels like she would have gotten to that point anyway so doing so quickly didn't really break character.

I would have loved to watch more details of HaeBom and TaeSung's relationship as it unfolded, but was still very satisfied with what was shown. The staying power of their bond is reiterated over time so their happy ending and hopeful future is believable.

Their dynamic may seem stereotypically simple and unbalanced at first, but over time it's demonstrated how their strengths compliment each other's weaknesses and they balance each other well. They also put effort into understanding each other. Fondueforkharpoon's review expands on that and pretty perfectly sums it up.

There is a lot of skinship and cuddling and a couple passionate kisses.

While HaeBom was adopted by his mother's friend when he was 7 and grew up in the same house as TaeSung, I appreciated that the story *didn't* feel like a fetishization of brothers.

I enjoyed the friendship that the side characters YongHee and JiAh had with TaeSung and, over time, HaeBom. They were very much supporting roles but still felt like real people, not caricatures.

Cinematography was often soft and lovely, though some of the handheld camerawork was a little unsteady for my preferences (the constant small movements felt like maybe it was done on purpose to underscore high emotions but I found it distracting). Music fit scenes and emotions well.

Notes on the manhwa:
General Spoilers below.
The show follows vol.1 very closely then makes a few adjustments when incorporating vol.2. The show smartly makes the give and take between TaeSung and HaeBom clearer and more balanced, which I love. The one thing the show left out that I felt missing when I watched it (before I even read the manhwa), was the Mom's concern that TaeSung forced HaeBom; that HaeBom was in a position where he didn't feel he could say no. That's one of the Mom's biggest issues in the manhwa.

The show also integrates their growing physical relationship smoothly and believably once they start living in their own apartment. The manhwa on the other hand, is very chaste except for some kisses for vol.1 & 2, while vol.3 is mostly all R rated scenes (which are well done, by the way, and focuses on the progression of their physical intimacy). I've just started to read vol.4 and it seems to be bringing in more plot from the world around them again.

Fondueforkharpoon has a wonderful review that says other things I was thinking as well.

Leia Mais

Disappointing Second Half

STORY
The story revolves around high school life with Haebom being bullied and Taeseong as the "savior" brother.... for the first half of the drama. The second half suddenly catapults them into college and a whole new issue of the mother not accepting them.

The side characters in this story are extraordinarily underdeveloped (so, too, are the main characters, but to a lesser extent.)
- Taeseong's two friends are remarkably 2-dimensional and seem to serve no purpose other than appear in random scenes to support the main couple.
- The bullies disappear into thin air around episode 3.
- The mother begins as just a plain supportive mother, and we DO get to see a little of her backstory with Haebom's mother/her marriage, but both subplots are just dropped after they're introduced. She gets a dramatic change near the end of the drama, where she opposes the relationship between the MLs (which is understandable, seeing as they were basically siblings in her eyes) to randomly accepting them in the last 10-15 minutes of the drama, and then, boom, happy ending.
- ALSO (SPOILER, but I already marked spoiler at the beginning so....) something minor that peeved me...
That scene where Haebom's pushed against the wall and Taeseong tries to force a kiss on him (icky.) and the mother catches
them (Taeseong quickly makes it seem like they were fighting) and tells them off.... and then that's it. No stern talking-to, just
moved onto the next scene and then they're having a meal.
- The issues underlying Taeseong's (and Haebom's) childhood are brought up for 5 minutes every two episodes, and never expanded on.
- The college girl that crushed on Taeseong served no purpose whatsoever, and neither did that freshman drinking scene.

ACTING
While I understand that Haebom is meant to be the shy (as someone else put it, "damsel in distress") character, we never see his acting style or personality deviate from this preset character trait. In other words, there is NO character development and NO change... ever. There are some rare moments of banter between the main couple, but otherwise Haebom is always the quiet, shy, hands clasped in the front, eyes down, fidgety character.

Taeseong was more bearable, but only because he wasn't annoyingly childlike (HAEBOM). He saw a little development, although it's just the typical tall, dark, handsome, and stony guy becoming an affectionate and clingy boyfriend (which also got annoying at times, but as I said earlier, was more bearable.

There was little to NO chemistry between the two. Some of the kiss scenes were awkward as heck, but the lack of chemistry really showed through their daily interactions. Sorry, not sorry.

MUSIC
Forgettable, only really noticed the music through the 1 minute 25 second intro and the 2 minute outro in every episode.

POSITIVES
- There were cute moments, I will not deny that.
- The supporting characters were fine actors.
- Production was fine, nice color palette :)

I really truly wish I could rate this higher.

Leia Mais

Solid

*KOREAN BL IS ALWAYS SHORT* Just in case you weren't aware yet lol
Anyway, I loved this series! Definitely one of my fav KBL because it was nice to see something different. It's usually enemies to lovers and it gets old QUICK. Because this series is short obviously I don't think they gave enough references to their childhood together but based on what we received, I thoroughly enjoyed. Visuals for miles and there was no unnecessary drama, side couple situations or excessive characters to take away from our MC. This series was literally short, sweet and to the point. Exactly the way it should be for KBL.
BEWARE: Cavity overload from cuteness is to be expected!
Enjoy...

Leia Mais

A blossoming gay coming-of-age love story sweeter than cherry for the soul

Everything about this drama is so utterly cue, down-to-earth adorable, and wholesome, I CAN'T!! Each episode is a fluffgasm to the soul. I was nervous about how they planned to adapt an R-18 BL manhwa and due to censorship, they adapted the wholesome S2 plot and I'm glad everything tied up nicely at the end tho with them even getting married, SQUEEEL!! The actors were good but not as great as Semantic Error acting since the only downside was Tae-song's actor seemed stiff at times compared to the expressive class shown by Hae-bom's actor and CAN WE STOP WITH THE AWKWARD RUNNING SCENES DIRECTOR ON GOD, THEY MAKE ME THINK OF DASHI RUN RUN smh. If I had any other complaints, it would be the awkward directing in the first few episodes, you do not make an entire crowded set quiet for a scene, that's not how realistic BG noises and direction work. They had really cute chemistry together and their dynamic was a feast for the pure soul, with their height difference and kisses. Also, that shower and bedroom scene was just ooof 10/10 in spice, god damn Tae-Song❤️! Haebom being brave and talking directly to Taesung's mom was everything ?????? The cozy vibes and ending scene gave me goosebumps it was so freaking romantic I am literally deceased after the couple/engagement ring exchange?? pls South Korea make more shows like this, semantic error and to my star, I need more of these shows in my life

Leia Mais

An average show that has an outdated flow of romance

Cliche, a popular cliche but still bearable to watch thanks to the actors themselves. The story doesn’t have anything new to offer nevertheless the whole show is considered to be a decent one. It started with the annoying South Korea’s bullying issue that has always been my major source of angsty while acquiring a school based drama. I hate the fact that everyone in the class turns a blind eye and doesn’t have the gut to help the bullied victim. The superiority of these devil students is making me mad. Eventually, a man came to the rescue and put an end to the reigning king of bullying. A typical scenario except that it feels good to witness the bully vanishing afterwards.

One of the first few plots that the story gave is the reason behind Tae Sung ignoring Hae Bom for a long time. All because of his tough place on trying to fade away the romantic feeling he has for him. As he says, “feelings can’t be forced” so he decided to take the risk and follow his emotions the moment he got the news of the possibility that Hae Bom will move out to their house after graduation. An acceptable valid reason for the cold treatment he gives to Hae Bom in years. The camping episode is a fresh breath from the school stuff that mostly only features bullying. However, I’m not expecting an early graduation for them. They reduce the storyline to fit the total length of the show with only eight episodes.

Kang Hui, the actor who portrayed Tae Sung, is a perfect actor to be casted to the main role. Everytime he acted cute, I badly wanted to go inside my phone screen and kiss his kissable lips. No matter what kind of emotions he feels (mad, sad, broke, happy), his lips are just so adoring to my eyes. His appearance as a whole is stunning; a handsome face and a tall height. A giant baby indeed that is perfect for hugs and comfort. On the other hand, Jin Uk as Hae Bom needs more practice for his acting. He was good enough but inconsistent in letting his character hold the certain kind of attitude needed for the story. The other character was okay and I don’t have anything good or bad to say for them.

For my favorite scene from this series, it's gonna be the wet dream scene. It was done perfectly; the intense glare, intimate exchange of kisses, and Tae Sung sizzling hot exposure of his fine body. Additionally, it’s a fun fact that the show ended in the spring season where Cherry Blossoms can be seen anywhere in Korea. The Original Soundtrack is a bop! Made me feel the last song syndrome from the no-skip opening of the show.

The downfall or moreover the thing that made the series a not-so-memorable show is the common executions of either romantic or plot twist scenes. There’s no something special about this one. If it was aired in previous years, a chance of becoming a hit will happen. Be that as it may, it is still good compared to other BLs with problematic characters.

Leia Mais

Short, Cute, Sweet and Unconvoluted.

If you want something to uselessly make you grin at your phone, this one is for you. It gives me the same feelings that I get by watching two British Shorthair kittens having fun.

Warning: it has a rather stale start. Hae Bom, the adopted son of the Jo Family, always felt indepted to them. What makes this worse is that their son, Tae Sung, is the exact opposite of him. Rather smart and strong compared to the sweet and small Hae Bom, their differences builds an unintentional wall in their relationship -- until they are put in the same class together.

The episodes start to get significantly better. Or it might be that I became acclimatized to the overall vibe and characters.
It's not too deep, and has that prim and polished vibe that most Korean dramas have, regardless of their length.
The one thing that is the true highlight of this drama is Hae Bom's character growth. He grew up from being a scared baby to someone who is not afraid to fight for himself. It was by the final episode that I truly understood why he was the leading character.
Tae Sung was rather an introvert, and I rarely saw glimpses of his mind. His two best friends, Ji Ah and Young Hee are the ones who weedle out the truth. Their relationship starts out awkward, but then slowly became fun to watch.
Oh yeah. That reminds me. EP5 had a scene that I did not expect at all to be included in such a fluffy drama.
I personally felt that it attempted to shed light on the prejudice and dilemma that the LGBTQ+ community face, even though it lasted for only a short while.

The cast did their best , particularly Ok Jin Uk for his performance as Hae Bom. He was very expressive for a rookie actor with not much experience. Both Hae Bom and Tae Sung were plain cute, if not, one of the cutest pairing I've ever come across in a drama.

If you are looking for something to watch as a short palate cleanser, I would recommend that you give this one a try.
I'll probably forget the names of the characters, but I will definitely remember the transient joy I felt while watching this.

Leia Mais

IT's OK, but this should have been better

I think part of the problem with this series is it's based on a manwha that isn't very interesting, and the qualities of it that are were not brought to the series.

The beginning of the series is largely taken up with a bullying plotline that isn't very pleasant to watch, made worse by the implication that the main character's foster brother has not done anything about this for 3 years. The manwha makes it clear that he didn't know about it, but that's not at all apparent in the series.

The othr problem is a general lack of chemistry between the leads, which I think is largely due to the directing and editing.. The seme is quite cold, which is fine, but he's never really allowed to warm up - he goes from avoiding the main character to obsessing over him. Also, the casting is a bit off. The guy playing Haebom is totally beautiful and has an obviously athletic build, and he also has a much more formidable presence than the guy playing Taesung, so the dynamic is never really beliveable.

The story builds up some dramatic tensions that are more or less handwaved away, so once the boys are togther there's really nothing left to say, yet the series continues, leading to an underwhelming finale.

As is typical in a Korean BL, there's an almost total lack of physical affection between the leads - even when they're in bed together they aren't really cuddling and they're wearing heavy layers, like a hoodie sweatshirt. Honestly, they just feel like brothers or friends.

Ok Jin Uk us engaging as Haebom and nice to look at, and there are some sweet moments in this. It's isn't bad by any means, but it's eminently forgettable.

Leia Mais

Could have been better

I haven't gotten around to reading the Manhwa but I've heard many good comments about it and how the story is very well written. So I thought the drama might be a good, quick watch to do with my busy schedule.

The drama had a tough time keeping my attention. There just wasn't anything really grabbing or very interesting that would grant me to keep my attention on the show. The audio editing to me seems a bit too loud, kinda distracting, and jumpy. This is mostly just me since I'm in an Animation & Digital production program but there's a slight editing mistake. In episode 3 about 3 minutes in one of the bullies go to erase something off of the board and it a section gets erased without him actually getting to that part and almost seems too clean.

The story feels like there's missing information and just some plot in general. That there are things that should be known about the characters but the information isn't entirely there or even can be there with the episodes available for the story. The story would have been better if there was just more time for a better plot.

Also, the story gives me the vibe of what kinda seems to be like speedrunning happening with it all. As if you would do if you were playing a dating sim on a second run for different dialogue options to see if there is a different ending you can get.

As I've seen in other comments, it seems like this drama has the trouble like many other BL dramas suffers with. That being low budget. It also kind of feels like they have made the drama just for the sake of making it and getting the fans who absolutely adored the manhwa hyped over it. Made the drama quickly and then They could have made the show way better than it is, even with the low budget. There are plenty of other shows that I've seen that are low budget that are still really good.

There also seems to be a lack of chemistry between the leads, and stiff with awkward exchanges between them. It feels like their relationship is kinda rushed, which just adds to my speedrun vibes mentioned earlier. The dialogue sometimes doesn't seem genuine to me as well. It can be seen though that they are trying with what they were given, but it also kinda seems like they are lacking in a way? It could mostly be because of how the drama and they were directed. They also seem like they are inexperienced with having BL roles based on what's available on MDL. Making this series probably their first time in such roles. which could be tough or possibly uncomfortable since it's out of what they are used to being cast as.

So, All wrapped up,
It was a nice little try at the drama. It seems like something someone in school would make or would make for one of those "make in an X amount of time" events. Please no speedrunning, it needs more story/plot and not to be so rushed. The soundtrack probably needs to be less distracting and choppy. Also absolutely nothing against the actors, Maybe pick actors who are more comfortable with being cast or more experienced with BL? It could make things seem a little less awkward. Im only saying that because they seemed awkward and stiff during the drama at times.

Leia Mais

I had high hopes in Korean BL after Blueming and Semantic Error surprised me back to back. I didn’t expect much actually how this series would end, we all agree that this kind of story easily to predict even with those little conflicts and its solutions respectively.

We’ve been reading this kind of synopsis in another (maybe 10-ish) of BL series, but still they’re trying to made this series. And stupidly I did watch this show lol

One reason that I didn’t drop this series is because I like Hae Bom’s character. I even love his development. Like a lot! If we compared with Tae Sung, he attracted me more with his charm and performance.

I knew they would put some silly girl in the middle, but I didn’t expect that kind of annoying person. I skipped a lot on that episode. ?

Leia Mais

Short and Sweet

I placed any potential spoilers at the end of this review.

I’m usually not a fan of the step-brother storyline, but this one was a feel good and sweet one. The cinematography was also very beautiful. I also thought the acting was very good. My only criticism is the beginning is a little weird for me. See the spoiler alert at the bottom if you want more info.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******
For some reason they had the two main characters act like they were strangers when they supposedly were raised together. However, this is only a miner detail. The series does get better after the first two episodes.

Leia Mais

It's Okay, but Not Great

I really like Korean BLs, and BLs in general. However, I just wasn't into this one. It could have been a lot more interesting if the story wasn'tso rushed. Some dramas work with only a couple 30 minute episodes, but this one doesn't. It needed more, but they didn't give it what it needed. The cast and the acting was good. That's my favorite part about this drama. OH, and the intro song is so good. Anyways, I'm not good at writing reviews, but I hope this makes sense. I didn't love this drama, but i didn’t hate it. I'm right in between. I would say rewatching this isn't a bad idea if you like cute scenes, with a rushed storyline. Besides that, i wouldn't rewatch it.

Leia Mais