Primeiro Amor, Novamente (2022)

Refreshing concept with basic execution.

Honestly speaking, I don’t even have much to say. I’m not the biggest fan of the reincarnation trope, but it is something new in the BL genre, hence I gave it a try.

As I said, the idea behind it is fun - not only do we see the reincarnation trope, but also a new twist to it - female to male reincarnation. How many interesting ideas for plots and conflicts we could get out of it! Do we get them here? Not really, and the few we get are barely developed.

Yeon Seok was quite a fun character in a constant mode of panic for various reasons. I did enjoy Jin Gun’s performance, even though sometimes it became a bit too comedic for me. On the other hand Jeong Ha Yeon as a character just did not catch my attention at all. Jeon Chang Ha acting in some more emotional scenes requires improvement, but overall, I was not mad about his delivery.

Overall, I don’t regret watching it, but I could do without it too. It does not really bring much to the table.

Leia Mais

Not really that much here, TBH.

It's an awesome premise - going from lifetime to lifetime to lifetime, connecting with your true soulmate and then - BLAM! - reality gets in the way. The pacing is relaxed, everybody's ultra stylish, and we take our own cool time enjoying the ride without any thought given to the destination 'cause we know we're going to get there. It's BL - we all expect the happily-ever-after ending, and we get it 99.99% of the time. But, somehow, at episode 7 the entire enterprise just flies off the rails. Try to imagine someone going from lifetime to lifetime, risking everything to try and find you and, at no point, do you think, "He did what?!? Is it fate? Is it destiny? Am I losing my mind!?!" Nope. It's the old you-don't-love-me-for-me bs. There was a moment when it could have been absolutely magical but...nah. I loved the first two episodes when Yeon Seok discovers that the woman he has transcended time and space for turns out to be a man - the realization, the denial, the wonder of it all. Beautiful. But then...sloppily written melodrama.

I should've stopped at episode three. Giant nothing burger here.

Leia Mais

Beautiful but flawed

FLA is the story of a man who remembers his past lives (the last three of them) and is waiting to be reunited with his lover - something that hadn't happened in any of his other past lives. The reason for his remembrance and his continued reincarnations, is because what he wants is love. His first love to be precise. FLA and Yeon Seok lead us to assume that his first love would 1. Reincarnate 2. Reincarnate in the same time period as him 3. Meet him and fall in love with him again. 4. Is born with the same name again. FLA leads Yeon Seok to assume the same as well, because of which he keeps waiting for Ha Yeon to show up. Maybe we would have benefitted from seeing what happened to a Yeon Seok who didn’t meet Ha Yeon or fell in love with someone who was not Ha Yeon.

But FLA is a simple series and likes to keep things that way. It takes some chances and liberties to be as uncomplicated as possible, sacrificing some crucial developments of character and plot in the process. Jin Hyeok serves no purpose in any timeline. It’s unclear what he wants from Ha Yeon. The situations we see him in are obviously made to look like he’d like to pursue Ha Yeon but he never makes a move. Ha Yeon himself was so ambiguous in the beginning that I was sure he remembered as well. His adoration of Yeon Seok and his novel seem to stem from something deeper. But those threads are abandoned. There are other unanswered questions like- is Yeon Seok going to keep reincarnating until he finds his love?

That said, this is truly a five character-six episode series that does justice to its time and the story it takes up. By keeping the plotline simple, it avoids drama and is able to present its issues in a realistic and empathetic way. The leads’ conflicts on finding out the harsh truths may be predictable but they appeal to our emotions and make us root for them. This is further accentuated by some amazing performances from Jin Gun and Jeon Chang Ha. Even if the resolution of the conflicts is a disaster (we never got to know why Ha Yeon changed his mind; in that respect we also needed a better confirmation that Yeon Seok of the present loved Ha Yeon of the present, than one single statement at an offhanded moment), the story achieves its objective.

Reincarnation is more or less an unused trope in bl. Fantasy is not. Therefore, FLA plays out pretty well overall. It is amply helped by good cinematography, costumes, visuals and music. Though the ending is warped, its emphasis is, in what is a pun on the title, on falling in love for the first time, much like Because This is my First Life is about experiencing life for the first time. That redeemed the entire show for me.

PS- don’t miss the epilogues.

Leia Mais

Premise is amazing, but that's where the good things end....

Honestly, i've been waiting to watch this TV series since they announced it. I was well aware that it will be once again short format story, just like all korean TV series which has LGBTQ romance. I was fine with it and expected some things to be lacking, but honestly, I was really disappointed.

The premise is literally amazing and so many things could have been done with the plot, but sadly, the goal was not accomplished. The first episode was amazingly done, with the character and background development, but than, with each new episode it went downhill.

The leads became childish and just not rational at all, and the dialogues were confusing - no it is not problem with translation, since I speak Korean. The only good character was our gumiho - Sin Bi.

The ending was underwhelming and just confusing - at least for me. I don't know about you, but if I heard something shocking about my partner I would like to know the story, but here, the leads somehow got together without any proper conversation or explanation.

Acting was underwhelming as well, I didn't know if they were crying or squinting their eyes, just...take acting classes please because going into cinematography and starring in LGBTQ series does not bring you overnight fame - you have to earn it with proper acting.

In terms of music I got nothing to say, it was so-so, nothing to remember.

Rewatch value? None, sadly.

Leia Mais

Enjoyable cute drama

The plot is pretty unique and has much potential
The actors were also pretty good , actually I didn’t have my expectations high because but they really impressed me
Their emotional scenes were really authentic and i had tears in my eyes while watching it
But I have to admit that there are certainly better Korean Bl dramas out there but nevertheless i really enjoyed this drama and I would recommend it to everyone who just wants to watch something without having to think about it that much and to just enjoy the cute moments.

All in all it‘s a nice show with much potential but unfortunately not really well executed.

Leia Mais

Like how Korean BL's are trying to break out of the mold and are also trying different things

just like Thai BL's recently. Though I'm not much of a reincarnation story fan, esp when there's a gender swap but, I pretty much enjoyed this. I thought that the writers used this trope well esp how they handled JCY present life and past ones. The acting was pretty good imo especially Jin Gun he knew how to go for the emotional gauntlet. The chemistry was pretty good I thought. Some thought the ending was weak but I liked it enough. I think it fit the story at least the misunderstanding was cleared up and they were happy. I liked the cinematography too. Overall I give this series 8.5. It was an easy, nice, sweet watch with emotional moments when it needed to have them. Maybe not the best Korean BL out there but definitely a step in the right direction. I'll definitely give this a rewatch in the future when I'm in the mood.

Leia Mais

What a waste

Okay this drama had so much that I gave it a try and was disappointed.

This drama was so mediocre that it was so unimpressive, the acting the visual the story was just not right. Thank goodness it was only 6 episodes long, as I don't think I would have been able to sit through more than that?

Music and rewatch value: No.

Production: Bad. It looks like they filmed the whole show, every set of it, in a hotel apartment?! Like a really cheap one that students on their gap years with a budget would only go to. No set design worth a dime, no proper lighting. It's like a young filming student's class project that he filmed with his friends.

Overall: Don't waste your time watching this. You'll only get depressed at the wasted potential of what could've been. This could have been so good and it just wasn't. It barely functioned.
Better luck in your next life, soul!

Leia Mais

The story is something like this.
A writer who remembers his past life because of love that was impossible is trying to find the girl who he loved again in his 3rd life ( in which he is a writer). He finds out that the girl has been reincarnated as a guy and he becomes confused.
There is a nine-tailed fox here whose role as a supernatural is very limited when it had a huge scope, which disappointed me a lot. Similar to this there are multiple unnecessary / less focused things in the series.
The acting is pretty good, both leads played their role nicely but I think it would have been better if there was more zing, more spice in it, which speaks more about direction than ending.

Please ignore my Music rating.

Leia Mais

New storyline

This BL series gave us a promising plotline and the casting also catch the attention of the viewers. The story is interesting, A story of a couple that went through a lot of miseries in their past life, and they've met again in a new generation, but it's not the same as it used to be, and that's how the story began. The duration of each episode improves, unlike the other bl series that has only 8-12 min, which makes me expect that the duration will not affect the flow of the story. but I was wrong throughout the whole series I felt like things happens so fast. well for me their chemistry is not that strong but it's not weak also.
In their acting, while watching them the only thing I see is that "they are acting", well it's understandable because it is their first project, my thought is that sometimes they just act according to the script, sometimes the emotions are too much.
And one more thing, I think the scriptwriter like dramas, because there are too many dramas happening and suddenly they reconcile and that.

Leia Mais

Adorable & Fun Though Screenplay Has Weaknesses.

Adorable & Fun Though Screenplay Has Weaknesses.
Watch when you want something simple to digest yet interesting, with some really cute moments, and also some angst with emotional performances (that gets resolved). Don't take it too seriously and enjoy!

Six 20min episodes. FYI watch past the title page at the end of episodes; most of them have another short scene. For Ep 6 there's a small scene with a kiss right before the credits roll.
There's also an hour long special (Ep 7 on Viki) of the two lead actors watching the series, reacting, and talking.

The screenplay is more like a 6/10, however, my overall enjoyment makes it 7/10. It's just so cute & adorable and funny in spots! It's also an intriguing premise. It made me smile alot, tugged at my heartstrings and made me tear up despite the shortcomings in the screenplay (mostly due to time constraints), and left me with a warm feelings.

The acting is good, an 9/10 overall. There are micro-facial expressions and line delivery feels natural. Jin Gun is especially watchable and I'd give him a 10/10. He has good comedic timing, his facial expressions and reactions while his character is confused are so good, his crying is realistic, and he nailed the depressed hollow feeling in a later episode. I would watch this again at some point mainly for him.

The biggest weaknesses are with the arc of the relationships in the story and the timing constraints of such a short series. Character emotions evolve super quickly and the plot is very rushed. If you can shrug this off and go with the flow you might enjoy it for what it is, if you want something that's well fleshed-out this isn't it!

It's not high budget but the audio was clean and mostly consistent and the camera work, though fairly simple, was smooth. The music wasn't noticeable but didn't distract either.

There's some skinship and a couple light kisses that actually look sweet and like both characters are engaged (a couple steps above a dead-fish-kiss).

There's so much potential for more to be done with this premise, but I can recognize that time constraints curtailed this. While the writers could have decided to do a deeper exploration with only the first half of the plot, that might not have been a satisfying point to end at either. That makes it easier for me to forgive the screenplay's shortcomings and just enjoy what is there.

Leia Mais

The drama deserved more episodes!

This KDrama is not just about a sweet love story between two men, it is about so much more ! First of all, I would like to mention that despite its brevity, this drama is simply beautiful. But the core of the story is far too complex to do it justice with a short drama. In addition, the actors, in my opinion, do a really good job and the two main characters have a wonderful chemistry. The drama deserved more. The implementation is so well done, but 6 episodes are clearly too few, it really should have been extended to 12, or more, episodes.

This is the core of the story, as I mentioned above, which in my opinion is given far too little attention and because of which the drama could have been given many more episodes:


VERY BIG SPOILER
[Yeon Seok is immortal (300 y.o.) and has always loved only one woman: his first and only love Jeong Ha Yeon. He has been able to experience her reincarnation several times and has been waiting for the next one for a long time. Each time they were forbidden to be together or separated by a tragic event. He misses his great love so much and finally wants to spend a happy life with her. One day, he finally stands in front of "her". But Jeong Ha Yeon's soul has been reborn as a man, and his sister looks just like his former female body]
SPOILER

That's not the main plot of the story, so much more happens. Please watch the drama. I hope you can enjoy it, even though it seems like some of the plot is missing or squeezed.

That's why I can only rate this drama with a 9.0

Anyway, I love it

Leia Mais

Oh, this was wonderful. The story was so interesting, the idea of realizing that the woman you fell in love with twice in your past lives already was a man this time. In my opinion, Yeon Seok's "gay panic" was fantastically played and written - and also understandable. After all, in this life, his last life, he worked towards one goal: finding Ha Yeon and making sure he spent his life with her. So, to find out that SHE was actually a HE this time... Understandable panic.

Though I do admit that I wished that both Yeon Seok's & Ha Yeon's background was a little more fleshed out. Especially Ha Yeon's because his issues - especially the thing with his apparently rather controlling father - were only hinted at. I wished the last part was a bit longer, that the drama was 8 episodes instead of 6 and that we were given more about Ha Yeon.

And since we weren't, I couldn't help but side with Yeon Seok after the Big Reveal(TM). Because I didn't understand what was so terrible about his actions. And the fact that Ha Yeon ran and refused to listen to Yeon Seok and yet, he expected Yeon Seok to KEEP running after him and to KEEP trying to explain... That irked me. Because Ha Yeon accepted that no meant no, that Ha Yeon didn't want to be with him and didn't want to ever see him again. He accepted and respected it because he blamed himself for Ha Yeon's pain, so...

Overall, a really good and for its genre original story that deserved more time and space.

Leia Mais