Ocean Like Me (2022)

Touched my heart! Fighting for dreams are important.

I kindly ask all the viewer to please read my full review. This series was in my watchlist for a very long time. There are really less dramas for which I've wrote a review before, but I have to write about this. When I checked about this drama I only knew about Gi-chan from “Where your eyes linger " , but honestly all the reviews on mydramalist are literally so bad I was shocked.
But now I'll give my review... Before watching the series I got to know about Holland, read about him a bit and then started to watch the series. I will not say that this series is a work of art or had been made amazing but for me this drama gave a constant smile on my face.
Everyone said Holland's acting is dead but I would say it was the character he played which was dead from inside. When someone have a dream and they can't achieve it and have to give up on that they literally die from inside. I know cause same happened with me and I can feel Holland's character. Ya there are parts where he needs to improve but not everyone is a born actor I believe. Gi-chan did not disappoint me a bit. Now about the script, some said there's no back story of the leads but I believe they have and I got it. Yes the script can be written more beautifully which they did not but I liked what they conveyed, that fighting for your dreams are really worth it. I have seen many bls which got hell attraction just because they have r rated content rather than actual plot. But I would rather say this drama did have a story. Ba Da wants to run a restaurant on his own and Tommy wanted to be a musician and at the end they both achieved them. The character development of Ba Da is honestly great. From being a shy person to someone who can actual talk with people really well. I won't say the series is rushed cause it was short length drama which totally served good. There was a scene in ep7 where Tommy told Ba Da about his dream and sang the song he wrote. The way Tommy got back his spirit to achieve his dream watching Ba Da is shown beautifully. The characters got along well I would definitely say that.
Maybe I don't know much about acting but I had fun watching the series. Overall I would say I am glad I decided to watch Ocean Likes Me to make a opinion of myself and did not believe on the bad reviews. I could not put this series down until it finished. I like short stories cause it's type of a refreshment. And lastly I would ask the viewers to not drop any series based on the bad reviews of others and at least give it a shot and make your own opinion.
P.S. The songs are honestly one of the best!!!

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It's cute......that's it

!!Disclaimer¡¡
This review is based on my personal opinion, it's not meant to encourage/discourage you from watching and you're definitely not obliged to agree/disagree with it.


To be fair, I had no expectations whatsoever for this and I literally watched this series for Holland because goddam I missed this guy. There really isn't much to say about it, it's cute, the scenery is nice, really liked holland's song, he definitely improved a lot music wise. There isn't enough material for me to write an actual in depth review so I'll just point out what stuck with me as I watched this with my brain on autopilot:

>I pretty much spent the first 4-5 episodes confused, I just couldn't find the plot anywhere people, and the weird time skips where sending me into reshuffling mode. The amount of plotholes is enough to form a literal underground mine. I have so many questions and zero answers, it's like the writer got drunk one night and like any reasonable drunk person with a great amount of brainpower, decided to write a script on a whim. I don't know what to say about this plot in all honesty, so plot gets a 5/10 and that's me being generous.

>Honestly, none of the actors stood out in this, their acting seemed so monotonous and lacked any actual personality, the chemistry between the two main leads felt off, there were a couple of moments here and there that made me smile, but the rest got a " 'k next " from me that's if it was able to elicit anything from me at all. If I had to pick the best out of the few characters we have, it would be the grandma who looked nothing like a grandma, her acting was *chef's kiss* super convincing, so much that my fried, chemistry crammed, sleep hazed brain cleared up in ten seconds, legit miraculous work y'all. On a serious note tho, I think Holland did ok considering the low budget this series had and the fact that this is his first series, he still has a lot of room for improvement, but honestly compared to the other almost expressionless main lead (who suddenly had a soul swap or something in the last 3 episodes) he had a bit more personality to his character.

>I'm actually surprised by the music choice for this, I liked most of the tracks used in it, especially "everything" by Roni bar hadas, such an underrated gem honestly.

>production wise, they were definitely working with a tight budget, the camerawork slightly sloppy in some places and the weirdly advertised soju was very interesting to put it mildly. The styling was ok, there were some uh "artistic" choices made and I'm not gonna comment on them cuz it's really not my place, everyone has their own personal style, regardless if I agree with it or not.


And that's basically it for this review. There's really not much to it, if you want something to pass time with but don't want anything that could eventually cause you to turn on the lightbulb in your head, this is for you, other than that, I don't really recommend it unless you want to discover some new nice songs, then then I do.

Ps: I wanted to add that I was kinda amused with the play on words here with naming the series <"바다" likes me> since 바다 was both the name of the main lead who was the inspiration for Tommy's song and the meaning of ocean in korean. I also liked that they casted Holland, an actual gay guy, for this role instead of dragging another straight one into it.

Ps2: I literally just realized that the main lead was Han Gi chan y'all, sir what happened to you? I Ioved you in where your eyes linger, what prompted this sudden change? Like, I can understand Holland's lack of delivery or skills, but to think I had to witness him like this? Damn this series is cursed or something.

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It just doesn't make any sense...

I just finished watching Ep 8 (final) and the only thing I could think was "this is the worst directing/editing/scripting job"... Why did Tommy leave with no notice if they are so in love? Where did BaDa go for a year? When we have cells, Zoom, FB, WhatsApp, etc - is it even possible not to be in touch? ( It reminded me of the horrible "My sweet dear" where the lovers were out of touch for 3 months like it's normal..).I was really excited about this series, but it did not deliver for me. Beautiful shots of the ocean do not make a memorable series. I felt bad for GiChan - I really like him as an actor and wish to see him in a better shows. I respect Holland as a singer and a LGBT icon, but he needs to improve his acting. Sorry.

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THIS WAS A RAY OF SUNSHINE

I read some negative reviews about this drama before diving into it and I can confidently say that I don't agree with a word they said. This drama was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day and felt like a breath of fresh air in the drama world.

The acting though not perfect was good enough that I wasn't cringing or looking away from the screen the entire time.

The Cinematography was immaculate and was extremely pleasing on the eyes. The aesthetic shots of the beach were so perfect and fit the vibe of the drama so well, I honestly felt like going to the beach on a cold day for a bowl of udon.

The OST was beautifully sung....Holland did a wonderful job with 'Ocean Like Me' amd of course Jero and Shin Ji Hoo with their OSTs as well.

Of course the drama isn't perfect. There were some things that could've been fixed, like the random cuts that felt like a mistake during editing and the way the story didn't flow that well as if a piece of the script went missing and they filmed without it. However the chemistry and soft feels of the drama were enough to make me overlook the mistakes made.

All in a this was a warm, refreshing drama that I would reccomend to my bl loving friends.

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The Ocean Loves Holland

This show was so meh. The plot was sloppy and its executions of drama were really strange. I love Holland and I thought he did a pretty good job in this, especially with it being his first acting gig! I hope he ends up in other stronger BL's that showcase his skills more. Our lead actor was alright too, it was just the script sucked. I would say skip this one and watch better BL's, but if you're a huge fan of Holland just watch for that. I also gotta say, the kids in this show were hella annoying and not very good actors XD. I'm sorry but I've seen some great child actors and this wasn't it!

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Like with many BLs, the idea was there. But execution wasn't.

The scenes felt disconnected. The characters lacked depth outside of their most basic character traits (Ba Da being shy and basically socially inept; Tommy being an eager beaver willing to do anything to keep his mind off his depression). But at least we saw notable and sensical character growth throughout.

I think a few scenes should have been cut in order to properly explore the episode 7/8 events - because they were way too big to be left for off-screen. But I personally don't have a problem with the events, or timespan, themselves. And I really liked the premise as a whole. It had all the makings to be a cute, gorgeous, and fluffy drama that would've went into my comfort drama list.

Overall, I don't regret watching. But it's not something that would come to mind to rewatch or suggest to others.

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A Feel-good, Cute and Watch-worthy series.

I accept that there is not much storyline, but not everything has to be like that. I watched this while waiting for the new episode of The Sign series (Thai BL). So, I didn't expect to like this series this much.

It's just a cute boy meets boy kind of story. There's no unnecessary drama. Just a light-hearted and cute romantic series. It doesn't also have any hateful characters. I love Holland so much. At first, I couldn't recognize the other male lead. But it turns out he was one of the male leads from 'Where your eyes linger'.

His acting is so unrecognizable from the other series. They both did a great job. Give it a try. I would say.

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Oaky, but not great

This short bl is about a chef and a guy that he met at the ocean. The chef specialized in making udon, and he meets a guy that sort of helped him to start his udon business; where it's next to the ocean.
An ex-boyfriend of Bada shows up and tries to create chaos. After every issue that Bada and Tommy faced, they come back together because Bada realized he misunderstand Tommy. Bada went to look for Tommy and they reconciled. They helped each other with their udon restaurant and the end.

Acting wasn't there for me, maybe it's the pacing or cutting scenes of the show, but I think something is off.

The song was catchy.

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Very Very Short!

This is a cute little bl romance series. The scenery is really pretty, the music is very good, the characters do have a lot of chemistry.

My biggest complaint is that this series is too short and feels so rushed, and that is the reason for my low rating. I sit down to watch a complete series; I want it to last more than an hour or so. (I watched all episodes in one sitting.)

I really cannot understand why there are so many shorts in the current bl industry. Are the writers lacking in imagination or is it a lack of funding? I can only imagine how much better a show like this would be if it was slower paced and the characters and story developed more.

There isn't much more to say because anything else really becomes a spoiler. Enjoy.

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The true blue

Like the ocean we have a deep and interesting drama, all the caracteristics of the whole giant blue waters are here in theses series, we have a story that are deep but has a lot of points thats need better eps and long eps, I think the problem is the time, as the korean bl dramas they stay at this line who has to be quick and not show the main point with much details, and thats the only problem. The acting was on point and sharp, we have the main role giving everything and making a job who deserves awards. The soundtrack was good too, the rewatch value for me, was good. In general I think we deserves more.

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