Big Dragon (2022)

Not as bad or as good as it could have been!

I'll start by saying I haven't read the original, I've only read what was mentioned about it in the comments here, so my judgement is based solely on the show. Here we go;

THE GOOD:
MAIN ACTORS:
YAI - I noticed there's a lot of commentary against Yai, but I actually think he was the best actor in this show. He wasn't too over the top when he was happy or when he was crying, in general, his range of emotion didn't seem too extra. I also liked that when he was hot, he was hot, and when he was cold, he was cold, and when he decided with finality to be with Mangkorn, he didn't waver. He wasn't wishy washy or moon eyed or overly confused, and he wasn't annoying to me at all. He didn't even second guess himself about Nine, he was like 'Yo, no.' and that was that. I personally think that was great. Additionally, he is actually pretty adorable looks-wise. The rest of the cast was likeable too, I have no hard objection to anyone. Some of the casual interactions felt a bit stiff but nothing so bad it made the show unwatchable.
MANGKORN - He was fine. I didn't get any 'Big Dragon' vibes from him, but he was fine.

VISUALLY - It was nice. Easy on the eyes. But Asian dramas generally go in for that 'perfect' look on their actors all the time. I've accepted that, even if it's very unrealistic and looks silly sometimes. I'm also not a fan of the disjointed cuts during the sex scenes, because scenes that go from a bedroom to a bar to a bedroom again, or a table to a window to the floor and back to the table, it doesn't flow too well, but it also didn't particularly hurt the visual aesthetic they were going for.

THE BAD:
STORY: It's only a little bad, insofar as there are too many unnecessary dialogue scenes dragged out waaaaay too long, too many silences and a time lapse that smacks you in the face out of nowhere at one point. The last episode dealt far better with the time lapse, not sure what happened before that with the writers. Also, because of the short amount of episodes, I also think they could have skipped things like Yai's BDSM kink (because ultimately it didn't make much of an appearance anyway), and also the skateboarding thing was, well, why? Relevance? I dunno, for all that it had a use in the story, it could have a mentioned in a conversation and it would have been the same imo. And showing Yai and Mangkorn as seemingly womanizing, bad boys, and then Mangkorn breaking out a Dom vibe on Yai randomly, only to make it turn out to have no place in the story over all. Just, basically, there was a lot of 'but why did you include that' moments. I can only assume that it had something to do with the source material? I actually have no idea, it just seemed pointless.
But I didn't dislike the overall story. Yai and MangKorn communicate quite well (albeit very slowly), especially after they get over their initial speed bumps, and I think that was enjoyable.

THE UGLY:
DUH, the opening rapey vibe. Ugh. It's never gonna' be sexy to try to drug and then rape and/or assault and blackmail someone, and then write that they end up together. If they were changing the story (according to what comments suggested) they should have just gone ahead and changed that too. Like they did in 'Together with Me', they avoided all the 'ugh' from the original. Something less vile would have been for Yai to maybe get Mangkorn drunk and then set him up in an embarrassing situation. It's still a hostile start to a relationship, but at least it's nothing gross or illegal. This trope, for me, is never gonna' fly. Also the hitting each other for no really good reason, could skip that.

HIGHLIGHT:
I loved the scene in ep 5 when Mangkorn's mother walks in on them eating the snack together. That was probably my fave moment in this show. Sometimes writers miss the fact that the small intimate or cute touches and moments between pairings can carry a lot of weight in making a couple seem 'in love'.

Over all looking forward to Season 2. Hoping for less tropes and a smoother flow and much more established relationship vibes and scenes from Mangkorn and Yai.

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Sin da quando è andata in onda l’ho sempre sentita nominare ma leggendo la trama mi sembrava l’ennesima storia toxic in cui si romanticizza ciò che non deve essere romanticizzato quindi non avevo mai pensato di guardarla seriamente.
Poi quando si è sentito molto parlare dell'ost mi sono incuriosita e ho deciso di sentirla in quanto tutti dicevano fosse bellissima e da lì mi sono innamorata dell'ost e mi son detta “Bene, devo guardare Big Dragon, per forza”, quindi l’ho iniziato.

Devo dire che in generale la loro storia mi fa rimanere abbastanza confusa, sin dall'inizio mi sono sembrati entrambi molto toxic a loro modo però nel senso due red flag messe insieme fanno una bella accoppiata…si intendono.

Incominciamo dal fatto che in generale all’inizio non vedevo tanto interesse da parte di entrambi, vedevo in entrambi odio perciò mi sono sorpresa di sapere che effettivamente l’odio fosse solo da parte di Yai, ho incominciato a vedere interesse dopo la nottata passata insieme soprattutto da parte di Mangkorn anche se mi sembrava più uno psicopatico, c'è da dire che in ogni caso lo psicopatico lo era anche Yai.
Effettivamente dalla trama avevo capito che Yai fosse vittima di questo abuso da parte di Mangkorn e quindi quando ho visto il primo ep sono rimasta un pò scioccata a scoprire che effettivamente stesso Yai voleva fare ciò a Mangkorn che si è fatto leggermente più furbo e ha quindi semplicemente continuato ciò che Yai aveva iniziato.
In poche parole mi sono sembrati delle red flag psicopatiche sin dall’inizio ma alla fine mi son pure detta che tanto essendo uguali si capivano meglio ahaha.
Diciamo che speravo in meglio.
Ma come non previsto va tutto a monte e nulla…la tristezza, la rabbia, la delusione.

Cominciamo dal fatto che ogni volta che litigavano non ho mai capito effettivamente per cosa stessero litigando, nel senso soprattutto il primo litigio che fecero rimasi molto confusa perché Yai vide Mangkorn farsi na tizia in mezzo alla via, lì ho amato lo spirito del tipo “mo lo picchio”, incitavo Yai a picchiare Mangkorn ahahah intendiamoci, anche se abbiamo visto che Mangkorn non stesse facendo sul serio, comunque non ti far spogliare così ceh amo un pò di contegno. Ma la cosa che più mi ha scioccato è stato il non capire totalmente come quei due siano finiti a fare sesso senza neanche chiarire ciò che era successo, ma dico io ma state bene di testa, ma solo io avrei voluto solo sapere le spiegazioni a tutti i costi? Invece stavano lì e hanno fatto, comunicazione zero eh.

Che poi anche in un’altro loro litigio rimasi molto confusa perché si identificavano come fidanzati senza però averlo mai effettivamente detto, non si erano mai detti ti amo, mai detti “siamo fidanzati”, erano soltanto andati due volte a letto e quindi io effettivamente non stavo capendo ciò che stava succedendo perché per me non erano fidanzati.
Che parlandone bene questo loro litigio è partito per un problema di Mangkorn che ok era grosso ma per quanto fosse grave in ogni caso dico io spiegaglielo per bene a Yai perché spiegando la situazione in quella maniera ha fatto capire a Yai che lui fosse fidanzato con quella ragazza e contemporaneamente stesse anche con lui quando in realtà non era così.
Inoltre, c'è anche il punto in cui uno dice che cosa vai trovando da Yai perché letteralmente qualunque fosse stata la tua spiegazione come pretendi che Yai possa accettare il fatto che tu debba essere destinato a sposare un'altra facendo andare nel cesso questa relazione. Diciamo che non è una cosa facilmente accettabile in ogni caso però credo che se glielo avrebbe spiegato meglio magari Yai avrebbe accettato perché poi vediamo che dopo, quando risolvono, glielo spiega meglio e Yai accetta di stare ugualmente con lui, di conseguenza perché non gliel’ha spiegato bene sin dall'inizio? Ceh così evitavi tutto quello che ti è successo!
Vabbè che io scioccata per il bacio tra Yai e Nine…io scioccata…scioccata, senza parole, basita, morta e tanto altro. Però mi è sembrato veramente molto triste e brutto perché giustamente Yai aveva rifiutato Nine però quest’ultimo l'ha baciato ugualmente, ma dico io ci sei o ci fai…assurdo.

Che poi la mia memoria adesso non collabora quindi non ricordo bene cos’è successo quindi parlerò di come dopo tutte le madonne buttate dovevano mettere in mezzo anche il separarsi perchè Mungkorn doveva andare a studiare all’estero.
Sta cosa mi ha reso la persona più empatica dell’universo, ho pianto…tanto, soprattutto quando hanno fatto vedere alcuni dei loro ricordi presenti nella videocamera, lì malinconia assurda, tristezza infinita.
In ogni caso sta ultima parte neanche la stavo capendo perchè sembravano essersi lasciati ma era solo Yai che stava lì a fare il freddo prendendo le distanze invece di far valere quel poco tempo che rimaneva a entrambi di stare assieme…che genii top.
Vabbè alla fine bene quel che finisce bene anche se mi stanno a fa piglia paura pe sta seconda stagione aiuto, spero solo la facciano più ragionevole e meno roller coaster.

Voglio anche aprire una parentesi sulla questione madre venuta a mancare di Yai.
Quando il padre è ritornato con quella donna ho capito particolarmente Yai, giustamente per quanto adulto e per quanto empatico e ragionevole, è veramente strano trovarti davanti da un momento all’altro questa donna che in una grande teoria dovresti considerare come nuova madre. In questo tipo di situazione nella tua mente passano miliardi di cose e sensi di colpa che ti fanno chiedere cosa sia più giusto e ti fanno vedere l’altro genitore in una maniera differente. Infatti, una cosa che Yai si è chiesto molto è se il padre amasse ancora o avesse mai amato la madre, sennò da una parte è ovvio che non avrebbe mai portato un’altra donna a casa. Tutti questi ragionamenti e l’accettazione generale della situazione, tutto ciò dipende dalla personalità, dal carattere e dal modo di essere di ogni singola persona perciò a Yai è stato difficile da capire e accettare e invece alla sorella è stato più semplice capire che effettivamente tutti meritano di andare avanti e che il padre non stesse facendo ciò per chissà quale motivo ma anche e soprattutto per cercare di trovare un altro punto di riferimento per i figli, in effetti anche se non sembra essercene bisogno, può sempre essere utile nella vita.
Infine Yai non è stato poi così testardo, aveva solo bisogno di realizzare e concretizzare ciò che sarebbe stato un cambiamento perenne nella sua famiglia, dopo aver processato tutto ha dato la sua benedizione e sono stata molto fiera di lui.

Parlando dei personaggi prefe in assoluto, Park e Phong nel corazon, amati un botto, mi hanno fatto morire.
Detto tutto ciò, anche se non tutto, posso dire che questa serie mi è piaciuta, nonostante ci siano parecchi no è riuscita comunque a lasciarmi qualcosa, semplicemente avrei preferito meno litigi, più comunicazione e più felicità dato che li ho visti felici insieme ben poco.

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Started off really weird, got better, but still didn't hit the mark

Big Dragon starts off with a wild, wild night. It’s ratchet, ridiculous and actually makes no sense, and in fact, the first two episodes are extremely problematic.

At the beginning, Yai and Mangkorn's behaviour is insufferable and unlikeable. Let’s be honest, eye candy aside, there’s really no excuse for their toxic behaviour. But it does get better. Somewhat. (You'll be glad to know that there is some character development for Yai, who becomes significantly less bratty towards the end.)

Compared to many other BLs, this entire series is only 8-episodes long. You’ll have to excuse the lack of depth behind each character’s backstory because there really wasn't much they could do with the time they had.  In general, the story arc felt a little rushed – it’s unrealistic how their animosity turned into friendship (and something more) so quickly, and any affection towards each other felt unexplained. 

But at the end of it all, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel about this show or its main characters.

Cramming all the backstories and a foe-turned-friends-turned-lovers romance into 8 episodes is surely a bad idea.

Full review on asianblreviews.wordpress.com

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Not what I was expecting

I started this show because of the insane hype around it, I’ve been binging a ton of BL series over the past few months and this is one of the series that everyone recommended to watch. So let’s start with this review.

The Plot (too many things thrown around in 8 ep)
It starts out with Yai and Mangkorn being rivals or so thought Yai in the beginning somehow they end up spending the night together and their story starts there where he finds out that Mangkorn is interning at the place that is renovating the bar his father owns.
Anywho … this drama doesn’t explore any aspect of these points, they were rivals for an ep and a half. The intern situation was not clear TBH, like they barely showed the work and the process to creat depth but oh well, the whole family situation (step mother in the picture, mother passing away and the whole arraigned marriage) went by in a flash and didn’t help at all in giving more depth.

They could have done a lot with the plot they had but my biggest issue is the fact that the whole tone of the show sifts drastically, I didn’t get how Yai went from very cool and smooth to cute and soft by the end, same goes for Mangkorn, yes I understand they changed and matured but still its a jarring change I guess, maybe I’m picky.

Anyway, I came in thinking this is a very dark vibe and cool style and ended up with cuteness which I do like but yeah. Unexpected, but I liked it anyway.

Great casting and the music is great I will give them that.
Big props for the filming crew because the cinematography is absolutely stunning throughout the whole series.

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All over the place but it's cute

There are just too many plots since ep1 and it seems that every plot was brushed off or it never pushed thru except for the "Childhood crush" plot.

Actors are cute, especially Bank. There are times that they are awkward? Idk but maybe the director tells to T_T. In some episodes acting is a bit too forced(?) and lacking but the way Mos & Bank look at each other~ we can tell they love each other irl.

The OST is such a gem!!! Bank's voice 😍😍😍😍. It's so captivating!! It suits the series at first but as the plot became cutesy it doesn't match the series at all. The song is suited to series like KinnPorche and some other Mafia-esque series. It would have been a hit!!!!

Became bored at the last episode and it's too cliche so I had to speed it up (2x speed) and skip most of the parts.
Last scene tho hahahahahahahhahah ohghad, I read that there wouldn't be season 2 but a movie so idk what'll happen granting Yai said that he'll be living in the US with Mangkorn~

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A relationship with as much depth as you'd get in a music video

After dropping this during the 1st episode out of disgust, I just binged episodes 2-8 and can barely remember what I watched. I only watched it because I've been seeing Mos and Bank all over social media and wondered if this ship was really worth all attention it's getting. It's not.

I'd love to list the strong points but there are only two. Mangkorn's mom is delightful and Bank does a commendable job carrying the entire series on his back once he started having more than 2 facial expressions.

The weak points are endless. There is no story, none of the characters are interesting and scenes often feel completely disconnected from each other. At first, I thought the casting director was the problem for picking amateur actors who weren't able to convincingly do the job. But as the series went on, it became clear that they were doing their best with a truly weak script. The direction is by far the biggest failure. The director seems to have not bothered to prepare the actors for their scenes and didn't explain to them the motivations of the characters. But worse than that, he shot scenes that should only exist in a flashy music video, not a tv series. The shot of Yai and Mangkorn as yin and yang with the red sheet may look cool in a trailer, but it had no place in the episode. But the editing isn't much better. The editor just threw scenes together to fit into 8 boring aimless episodes. So many scenes just exist before or after other scenes and there is little continuity in each episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the editor just forget to include all of the scenes that should have happened in the middle where Yai and Mangkorn slowly stop hating each other and actually start falling in love. Or maybe the writer didn't write those parts. Either way, the crew (director, writer and editor) should take some classes or find other jobs.

Since there have been so many below-average BLs in 2022, I won't call this the worst. But it went out of its way to check every tired, overused and outdated trope that BL fans have seen countless times before and are completely over.
- enemies to lovers
-an extremely rich character whose wealth, sense of victimhood and bratiness are his only character traits
-parents who think arranged marriages are a good idea in the 21st century
-mind numbing background music that is in nearly every second of the series
-useless friends that only exist so the MCs have someone to talk to
-random "BDSM" scenes that show the characters (actually the writers) know nothing about BDSM
-two people who have no reason to even like each other, "fall in love" because ________
-dead fish kisses (Bank looked like he was miserable each time they kissed)
-women who only exist to drive a wedge between the MC
-a man calling another man his wife
-blink and you missed it GL
-people "being in love" after one month of knowing each other
-someone going aboard after I say I'll never leave you

Also, there's a good reason why so many BLs have side couples. It's really hard to keep things interesting for an entire series with only one relationship to focus on. A second couple shakes things up, gives side characters something to do and allows the audience to have a reason to watch even when the relationship or chemistry between the leads stops being interesting. This show REALLY would have benefited from a side couple that got screen time. There were two potential second couples but neither went anywhere which is unfortunate.

Overall, it felt like the earlier episodes and the later episodes were made by different people. Yai's character changed so drastically that I spent most of the series truly confused about what was going on and why. It gave me some really great laugh-out-loud moments though and those usually happened during the NC scenes. But Mos and Bank tried and it's watchable if you skip parts and use 2x speed, so I couldn't hate it.

Lastly, BL sequels are almost always awful. There's no reason to make a sequel to this one, they were barely able to stretch 30 minutes worth of plot into 8 episodes in season 1. But it's StarHunter Entertainment and they've never made a good series, so I expect more of the same in season 2.

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Dark but Sweet Storyline

I have to say that I did very much enjoy the actors and their amazing chemistry. The actors known as Yai and Mangkorn are great together, everyone can see the chemistry they have. I also loved the bodyguards and how they really care for one another but wish they showed them getting together. It was a nice touch to add the girl's love story as well with their friends. I wish they stayed a bit more in the dark S & M story, wanted to know what got Yai into that in the beginning and was lost later on. Wish they had more of those hot hardcore sex scenes than just the two, they are so beautiful and well done together. The down parts for me were that there were too many story plots going on at one time. I feel like none of the stories had a full chance to shine and be told in enough time as there are only 8 episodes. I liked that they showed strong character emotion and growth in their playing their characters. You have so much going on with many different characters does not help. Was not a fan at all of the endings, I am a sucker for happy endings but this ending had little to be desired. I am happy they move in together, but not a fan of leaving it on a cliffhanger, which was not needed as there are still storylines that need finishing. I do hope they come back fast to do season 2. I do have to say I LOVE the theme song and that the actor who plays Yai sings, an amazing song and video.

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What's the Motive?

OK. That's the main thing about this drama. It's just "okay".
Mos had good acting skills in my opinion, he was trying HARD to create some chemistry that lacked from Isbanky's end. I don't know how to explain it, but it felt hollow to me. I mean, if you're going to act, ACT. There were some great moments though. I feel like the first two episodes had Isbanky's best acting chops. Then, the 7th episode did. But, that's about it. He looked like a sullen baby throughout the rest of the time. I honestly hope they pick up a new storyline other than the same thing over and over and over again of them getting jealous, splitting up, and then getting back together again.

I think some dramas of recent past have shown us that there can be SO much more depth. KP and MOD come to mind with regard to this. But the most disappointing part was, it took less than two episodes for the so called rivalry to end.

If you want to watch it, please go ahead. But, don't expect anything different from the other college+friends dramas that you've seen after episode two. That's truly where the best parts of the show are. It's so sad to see a show with so much potential devolve so quickly.

Another highlight is Isbanky's song. But, that's it for me. I'm still going to watch season 2, praying that they do something truly special. If they don't, I'll be back to praying that a certain show I love does actually end up with a season 2. :)

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Weak execution yet fire chemistry

It started out really strong, the story was interesting and the actors were captivating.
But then...there was too many events all happening at once and none of them fully developped.
What annoyed me the most in the first half is the fact :
- There are more conversation between the side/leads characters rather than the leads.
- They didn't give much context or depth to their relationship minus "the two big events"

On the second half they worked on these points but forgot the plot...

In conclusion and it's my own personal opinion : I really enjoyed watching this series in a one shot that way i had more context and didn't give up on it, the actors did an amazing job and would truly want to see them in another series, it was worth watching.

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