Cherry Magic Thailand (2023)

Everything is magic?

Uhmmm, no! Not really! Not even close! Unfortunately!

I waited for this version with a bated breath. Japanese Cherry Magic was one of the first BLs I watched after discovering the fascinating world of BLs a couple of years ago. It had left me with a ridiculously happy smile and butterflies. Moreover, I've been a fan of Tay and New since Dark Blue Kiss, enjoyed immensely their non bl dramas and was thrilled to bits when I found out they were going to do a thai version of Cherry Magic.

But...there is a big BUT here! I've spent two years now, watching a lot of BLs and have honed in my likes and dislikes, realizing that loving dramas, indiscriminately and without criticism, are the thing of the past. If I were to watch the original today, I probably would not have the same impression! Now days, I like what the majority of watchers hate!

Therefore, (you see where I'm going to with this long introduction, right?) Cherry Magic, the thai way, did not manage to win me over or, better said, put me under its spell! Everything was not magic but out of synch!

Achi, a 30 yr old virgin, with low self-esteem, shy, kind and innocent, scared of other people and absolutely frightened of intimacy of any kind! So we were shown an adult man, trembling in fear, confused, completely oblivious of other people's feelings and indecisive trying to please everyone and thus being left behind. Karan is his complete opposite: successful, competent and handsome in addition to being kind and observant. He's had a crush on Achi for 7 years.
Question 1: why did it take him 7 years to try to make a move on Achi? Answer: ????????
Achi was never really aware of Karan: he admired him as a coworker but nothing more. When he gains this magic power of hearing other people's thoughts and finds out that Karan is in love with him, he becomes more attentive which manifests in him getting even more nervous and jumpy, a real scaredy-cat! Karan never really makes a move but keeps watching Achi and just staying put in his unrequited love. Why someone, so confident and successful professionally, is a total loser in his private life? It is so much out of character for Karan!
Question 2: does Achi really fall in love with Karan?
The ability to hear Karan, gives Achi the unexpected knowledge and he realizes that Karan had been particularly attentive to his needs without him ever noticing it! How dense can someone be? So, from this point on there are two schools of thought : mine and everyone else's. Everyone else thinks that Achi falls in love with Karan from that moment. I beg to differ! Achi is suddenly aware of all the attention Karan has been bestowing upon him which makes him very uncomfortable: he is jumpy, shakes a lot. He feels indebted to Karan so he convinces himself that he is in love but his attitude does not follow. We see him being evasive and shirk any form of closeness, he unwittingly retreats every time Karan comes close to him. When Karan confesses and they start dating, they seem like a couple of old friend not lovers going around. Achi is obviously grateful to Karan for his love, attention and help but in love? I don't think so! Episodes 8 & 9 are a cringefest: it took me two days to finish them by watching in 10min instalments: that is just about the maximum quantity of cringe I can bear at once! This whole love story was unconvincing and lacklustre! Yes, Achi kisses him first but even that seems like obligation, something that he needs to do, does not want to but has to do! Even on their wedding night, when Karan is being so attentive and lovey dovey, Achi is still jumpy and evasive, not knowing what to do with himself (and it is not like it is their first night together!)...Mostly, when they are together, they come across as friends not lovers.

What about the other characters? The second couple are Min and Jinta (Achi's friend, a writer and another 30 yr old virgin!) who seems to have a split personality: usually he is a normal ordinary adult except when he is around Min and becomes a blubbering fool with grotesque mimicry and incoherent dialogue. Kudos to the actor for managing transitions smoothly! Another couple are Rock and Pai, Achi's office coworkers. Pai is a fujoshi (less said is the better) but is also kind, helpful and smart. And finally, there are a couple of bosses, funny, fun and surprisingly supportive. The actor playing the japanese boss, was amazing in pulling off the accent!

This was a fluffy romcom definitely too fluffy for my taste. Unfortunately, it was also too unconvincing (putting aside the fantasy element), there was no chemistry between the leads and the writing could have been better. I have not read the manga and I saw the japanese version ages ago so I am not comparing this drama with anything. Still it failed to convince me, I was mostly bored and annoyed!

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A faithful manga adaptation? More like a visually appealing, badly written AU

Cherry Magic is a simple love story that in its less than 6 years of existence has reached incredible amounts of success; the existence of this show is proof of it. With 5 adaptations out at the moment, unfortunately, this is by far the weakest one.

I will preface this by saying I did have an initial prejudice when this show was announced; the “fixed pairing” culture of Thai BL shows makes no sense to me and considering the acting quality of the show was what got me into Cherry Magic in the first place, I was worried it wouldn’t live up with a casting made so…cashgrabing-ly?. However, when the official pilot dropped I was 100% aboard the CMTH ship; especially at the promise of a longer adaptation, more faithful to the manga which was by now 2 times the length of when the JDrama first aired.

Well, to my displeasure, this version did not deliver on any of its promises. The first few episodes were great but as the show went on the writing quality went downhill. First of all there is no way this version is more faithful to the manga than it is to the jdrama. The director did not take interest (since 2021!!) in this story from the manga, let’s be honest. Scenes original to the Jdrama were used in this version. But I’ll come back to that later.

The writing of this show is childish. Which is ironic because it’s currently the spiciest adaptation.

CM is an overwhelmingly positive manga but that doesn’t mean the characters themselves are saints.

Achi is 10 times kinder and nicer than his original version. He has an entire support system in his workplace that isn’t afraid to show him affection. His social skills are fine for the most part. He is almost immediately accepting of Karan’s crush on him. I’m sorry but what is exactly his problem in this adaptation then? That he got rejected once? And as the show progresses he never gets over his passiveness as opposed to his manga counterpart. He does one or two things but it’s not convincing.

Karan on the other hand is a totally creepier version of Kurosawa in this one. I know I shouldn’t linger on small cringy details but the personalized gifts amongst his other behaviours were really too much. Achi being so accepting of it, almost basking in it from the get-go, and just occasionally getting nervous was so boring and out of character.

I don’t want to focus on side characters too much but I will give this adaptation that JintaMin were a delight to watch; a lot of times more than the main couple.

Pai and Rock is probably the second worst thing this adaptation has done; a fanservice ship made so fujoshi could self insert themselves about a guy who’ll accept them for who they are. They had already taken several scenes from the Jdrama so idk why they didn’t keep Pai aroace; straight representation for fujoshi matter I guess. Dujdao was a fun addition to the cast.

This show is a big WHY to me. Why did they have to follow the JDrama and the basic BL drama formula which resulted in such a bad pace? Despite what the JDrama will have you believe, Cherry Magic is a fairly fast paced story. For God’s sake the 20 minute anime is going at the same (and actually faster!) pace than this 40 minute show and God only knows how much this adaptation would have benefitted from that. Why promise a more faithful adaptation to the manga when the JDrama influence is as clear as day?

The high production and longer runtime might have tricked people into overlooking its awful writing but I will not fold. Episode 8 was probably the worst original plot to be written into an adaptation in the history of adaptations and it further proves to me that whoever worked on the script did not understand the original characters and the series’ charm one bit. For one, that precious runtime could be used for a lot of skipped manga moments; but of course not, because, again, clearly the source material is not the manga…

I seriously felt insulted at the way my favourite plot points were handled. It’s like they were afraid to let any negative emotion or any serious situation/problem linger in more than one scene, like I was watching a kid’s show where by the end of the episode everything was magically fine, without the stakes being that high in the first place.
There’s a difference between being a down to earth, sweet show that has clever writing and equally clever characters that resolve their conflicts and a constant stream of sugar and everything nice. After some point, it doesn't feel earned.

It's not horrible unredeemable garbage. It's overrated for sure and it's nowhere near the quality of other adaptations (despite arguably having the MOST resources) but what did it well, it did very well. The intimacy scenes were well shot, well acted. The cute affectionate moments between Karan and Achi were cute and believable and delightful when they weren't overridden by cringe. When they were faithful to the manga, i.e. EP6, their high quality production elevated the story. But that's literally it.

I understand that the characters had to be changed to fit the cultural context, this is CM's second foreign adaptation so I'm familiar with localization of the characters. But these changes resulted in a shallower version of the characters, giving me nothing to root for other than the show to reach its end

Spoilers for things I found extremely annoying

(EP1)Achi is supposed to accept Karan's offer to stay other BEFORE seeing his wild fantasies. Having him accept AFTER is contrary to his character.

(EP2) Achi's ear is embroidered on the pyjama shirt? And he's not freaking terrified about it? GMMTV surely you could have come up with a better merch idea

(EP4) Once again following the JDrama and the manga and missing the point of Fujisaki's character; You cannot mix the two different versions of Fujisaki. In the manga, she is a fujoshi, admiring Kurosawa and Adachi from afar, making scenarios just to pass time without ever making them uncomfortable. In the JDrama she is their friend. Her being their shipper (to the point she has them as her lockscreen, unashamed) and their close friend is just weird.

(EP5)The whole fiasco of Karan getting jealous of Achi and Jinta being all touchy in the office is supposed to happen after they start dating and cause Karan to get jealous of the fact Achi is never as open with him as he is with Jinta (and that leads to the magic reveal). To use that scene in an episode where he already got (rightfully) jealous 12 other times was dumb.

(EP7) Karan shows up at 5am. Instead of having the original scene where Adachi asks Kurosawa to help him pick out clothes little creep Karan forces a gift on Achi. Of course. He brings socially anxious Achi to meet his friend on the first date. And instead of keeping the iconic moment of Adachi intiating the second date to make up for it, Achi once again has no agency. Gives him the ugliest merchbait necklace known to man. GMM count your days

(EP8) Karan is willing to risk getting sexually assaulted to prove his love for Achi to their boss. Achi is as passive about it as he possibly can. Are we serious?

(EP9) The transfer is changed from one year (manga) to one month. One month and Achi feels like their relationship will fall apart. Can we please be serious just for once

(EP10) Achi is going away for a month but they have to train living apart instead of valuing their last week together. Kurosawa would have punched Karan in the face for that. And also Karan being outside in his car everyday was totally not creepy. Seriously.

(EP11) No matter how much you try to force the hetero ship you're not convincing me. Also just sucked the charisma out of Rock's character.

(EP12) Karin steps up to convince her mother to accept Karan's relationship with Achi. This is quite literally one of Adachi's most important moments in the manga and I cannot understand why it had to go to Karin.

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Falls slightly outside my personal preferences

GMMTV's production quality shines through in the cinematography and colour grading of the series, but the plot falls short with its simplistic and predictable nature. The clear-cut plotlines introduced separately result in a lack of anticipation and cohesion, making it difficult to fully immerse yourself in the story.
While the main couple shows some good chemistry, their story lacks depth and substance, hindering true emotional investment in their relationship. The cringey moments of the second couple overshadow any potential for genuine connection, while the initial charm of the third couple quickly fades.
The show's Japanese origin is noticable in many unrealistic scenes that detract from the viewing experience, and despite the interesting concept of mind reading, the story fails to fully capitalize on this unique element.
Although the twist of both Karan and Achi proposing simultaneously was a refreshing moment, the unnecessary wedding theme added to the overall feeling of a lackluster conclusion for each couple. With the second couple getting engaged and the third couple starting to officially date, the series felt more like a checklist of obligatory relationship resolutions rather than natural progressions. Overall, the final episodes of the series felt like a chore to get through.

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This show couldn't match the japanese charm and acting

Again a dispointing GMM-TV commercial with some BL show inbetween.
No elegance in the characters, all is very smooth and plain.
Reading some of the reviews, it looks like people do like shallow shows with outstanding production value.

Why we did need a third couple, I have no idea, but when u write superficial scripts, you need to fill the time with something. I also don't like BL actors playing hetero in a BL even when he and his "girl" were the best characters of all, which is sad for a BL, "Jinta" was stupidly over-acted because it's a thai "comedy" and the rest of them did not leave a mark.

Some fluffy scenes don't make a good BL, This show is highly overrated, but you could have watched a worse show. Still, I would recommand to watch the japanese version and you won't miss anything if you skipped the thai version.

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Thai remake did well yet somehow lost the magic from the major changes they did

Kurosawa and Adachi are some of the few fictional characters that I have grown attached to and always had a special place in my heart. I’ve been gearing up with excitement since the moment that GMMTV announced that a remake of the hit-iconic Cherry Magic, the live-action adaptation from the manga with the same name, is on the way. Most especially this is the comeback series of Tay and New as the main couple in a BL show. I trusted them to give justice to my well-beloved KuroDachi.

The Japanese version set the high so high that it pains me not to enjoy this remake version. I was even more disappointed that they turned Pai’s character into someone who ended up being with Rock, in which the Japanese version was introduced to Fujisaki as someone who is not interested in any love-romance in her life which was a very rare personality of a character.

Don’t get me wrong, the overall production quality from this remake was good enough but still lacked the same magic effect that I felt from the Japanese adaptation, the manga, and the anime that is currently airing right now. Too many additional scenes were added from the Thai remake yet not fully effective to get me to giggle in love with their impact. I feel like I can fully enjoy this one if I haven’t watched any of the previous adaptations of the popular Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!

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LOVED THIS SO MUCH

The fact that I almost didn't watch this because it was so hard for me to find a platform where this was available is crazy. This is one of my favorite bls ever and definitely a comfort series that I will rewatch. I have never watched the Japanese version but after watching the Thai version I definitely want to because I completely fell in love with this series and characters, Karan especially. Karan has to be the greenest flag out of every bl character and as a green flag lover I enjoyed him so much. Especially the scene where they were dared to kiss but he saw that Achi was uncomfortable and didn't do it, something as simple as that goes a far way, showing how respectful he was of Achi's boundaries (some bl characters should learn from him.) I'm not sure if it's because I was so into the main couple but I didn't really care about the side couples.

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Exceeded my expectations

As a drooling fanboy of the Japanese version (and still am), I watched this while expecting it to fail. I was wrong. Here are my pros and cons:
This could h
PROS

STORY. The story is, of course, wonderful, which is what made me such a fan of the Japanese version. But, in some ways, the Thai version was better. For one (and this is a BIG one), the MC actually kissed, and several times! That was SO much needed in the Japanese version, as opposed to two wonderful actors who made it seem clear that "we're not actually gay, okay?" Blecch.

ROCK/WHAT'S HER NAME. Sorry, I've already forgotten her name. I realize that the female counterpart in the JP version was asexual, and that's fine. But I appreciated the straight couple here. They were adorable.

EXTRA INFO. I liked that Achi/Karan had real interactions with both of the families, which was missing in the Japanese version.

TAY. He really brought it. I appreciated how he made Karan/Kurosawa an even more deep character than what was shown in the JP version. He even cried.

CONS

ACHI. New did a respectable job here. But I missed the comical Adachi from the Japanese version.

LACK OF COMEDY. More lighthearted moments, please.

After the HUGE success of the Japanese version, this could have been a complete fail. It was not. And, in many ways, it improved on the earlier version. Kudos to Cherry Magic Thailand!

10/10 for me.

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Started wonderfully clever then weak writing turned it simplistic and unsatisfying.

General spoilers only. Most people will like this, and I'd encourage giving it a try. I, however, was left quite disappointed, so I'm posting this review to give an alternative to popular opinion.

If you've never seen the Japanese live version (series, special episode, and movie), then you might enjoy this more. For me, the only thing the Thai version gave in the second half of the show that wasn't already far better portrayed by the Japanese version, was the physical intimacy.

This started so strongly then became yet another Thai BL let down by weak writing. At first, the screenplay was clever in how it honored the original material while adjusting things here and there to add some new depth to the characters and their interactions. I would give Ep 1-4 a 9.5/10. It was familiar in a comforting way yet fresh and interesting.

Then it slid into simplistic & shallow writing, it rushed plot and pivitol moments, became cheesy & corny, character arcs plateaued, the number of overheard thoughts dwindled away even when people were being touched, and an increasing number of plot points required suspension of disbelief (I'm not talking about anything magic related- that's just a natural part of this story). It started to feel more like a string of fan service moments than an emotionally moving story.

Because work and life challenges became so easy to get through, it felt like Achi and Karan didn't really get to grow as a couple. There wasn't a meaningful learning curve for them in navigating life as a team. (Especially when compared to the Japanese version.) Their words to each other are very sweet, but the further in the story goes, the more their love is told to the audience more than it's shown by examples (which wasn't the case in the beginning, which is why those episodes are stronger).

Tay and New kept me watching. Especially Tay; he's just a perfect match for the character of Karan. His energy and earnestness were endlessly endearing.

The theme song is great; it's so catchy I watched through the intro credits every week just to hum along.

I will rewatch Ep 1-4 at some point because I thoroughly enjoyed them, but I'll never sit through the rest of it again. I'd rather just watch the Japanese version.

GENERAL SPOILERS below.
My thoughts on episodes as I watched the weekly releases:

Ep 1-4: A great adaptation so far. It's clever in the way it added depth to the characters and in the differences from the Japanese live version. I'm excitedly looking forward to it every week. The casting is great, Tay in particular. I absolutely love Karan's zaney internal dialogue and Tay's vocal acting with it.

Ep 5-7: Good but not as great; it's feeling less clever but I'm still invested.

I wish I had skipped Ep 8 (or just watched the last 5 min)! It's is soooo awful. The plot of this episode is so contrived, idiotic, frusterating, ridiculous, and requires a stupidly high suspension of disbelief. The boss's reasoning and interference is shallow and cliche, and the fact that he let things get that far with the awful power-play client before intervening makes him a terrible boss and unlikable human being. And Achi stayed quiet too, which was frustrating.

Ep 9 was better than 8 but it felt like it rushed the really pivitol moments. There was a lot of sweetness but also a lot of cheesy-ness. This script is just not as good with slice-of-life writing as Japanese ones often are. It feels like the quality of the script has been unraveling for the past few episodes. I doubt I'll keep re-watching it like I do with the Japanese version. I felt the first few Eps were a 9.5/10 but I am now reducing my overall rating to a temporary 8/10, I'll see if that holds.

Ep 10 was better in pacing and content. The script did a better job building up to and proceeding from the pivitol moment of Achi reaching out to touch because he doesn't believe Karan's as okay as he says he is. I'm still feeling let down with the script; there are moments that are supposed to be hearfelt but miss the mark because they are a little too cheesy to me. Also, the plot stretches credulity to force certain things to happen and it makes things feel clunky and less believable, pulling me out of immersion and reducing my ability to stay emotionally invested. Tay and New are doing great with what they are given and are the reason why I'm still watching consistently (I'm also fond of the girl Pai). I'll probably be lowering my rating but I'll wait to see how the last two episodes pan out.

I do like how Karan and Achi talk things out every episode and never let misunderstandings simmer for long before resolving them. On the other hand, the fact that they do this consistantly (every episode after they start dating) and reletively easily, undermines the validity of how uneasy Achi feels about them being in different cities for 1-2 months. Half a year I would understand, but 1 month? When you have been able to communicate with each other well every time there's an uncertainty? They haven't even used the mind reading much. Achi's voice over thoughts have been much less systemically insecure and yet the script is having him act like that's still a big issue.

Ep 11: Only the last 2 scenes (42min in, aka the last 9min) with Karan and Achi exploring intimacy were really enjoyable. The rest of it was too cheesy, shallow, and rushed. The challenges and uncertainties of life (work and relationships) that were brought up were laughably easy and simple to navigate. The screenplay dumbs everything down to the point that it's not interesting and barely enjoyable. I had to speed watch most of this episode to get through the cringness.

Ep 12: So simplistic and cheesy it made me keep cringing and itching to skip forward. Again, potential life challenges were built up but then easy to get through once the time came (all of the family stuff felt so hollow). I was left feeling disappointed.

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The Magic so far (dated: 04/02/24).

So I have been watching Cherry Magic TH since it came out on 9th December 2023. And honestly this show is hands down one of the THE best series I have ever watched that includes Be My Favorite and Theory Of Love.

After what happened with Vice Versa series and an underwhelming performance from P'X (and even Jimmy Jitaraphol too) P'X had dropped out of my bias list to the point I had decided that I might never watch an X Nuttapong series again despite him having my all-time favorite series Theory Of Love under his belt. I was heartbroken then skeptical, worried and nervous when Cherry Magic TH was announced on 22/11/22 under the direction of X Nuttapong but man! With each coming episode I'm so glad that P'X keeps proving me wrong, mind you I'm so picky and choosy with what to watch and criticizing it too even regardless how much my ultimate favorite artist has starred in it.

But these past eight weeks have been nothing but pure delight each passing episode, every new episode tops the previous one, the development and dedication this work has been shown has raised my already high standards for content/series.

I just hope and pray that the ending of this work is stable, likeable and just what every Polca would want 🥹

Every actor of this series has acted so well in every damn cut! So amazing! Let's talk about Mark and Janhae first,

Mark is a rookie actor, I believe so, I first saw him in Midnight Museum and his potential blew me off and he has done the role of Min with the same level of justice, I already like him so much 💖

Whereas Janhae, I was skeptical with her at first because I remember watching Cupid's Last Wish and cringing at her acting but she has improved so much it's so nice to see and even refreshing to see her as Pai 💜

Then comes Junior, there has been so many stale and stiff side characters in Y series be it from GMM or not, but Jinta is a side character that honestly brings light into this series and 90% of the credit goes to P'Junior (with the other 10% being P'X's guidance) 🧡

P'Parn is the ultimate lady boss yet caring as a superior, I love her characterization, even if her screentime is limited, it's enjoyable 🥹

I didn't know that someone significantly older than the newly graduated people aged between 20-24 would look so good on P'Ssing, I honestly thought that he wouldn't be able to pull the slightly childish charm youngsters like me harbour but boy! Did he do justice to it 🩵

Then comes our green forest Karan, P'Tay did SUCH a great job in portraying Karan that I hope everyone who was saying that P'Tay can't do romantic roles got their answers after watching this golden series. Karan is a literal (fictional) human embodiment of love, care and dedication, when I fall in love, I aspire to be like three fictional characters; Sravani, Third and Karan. Albeit the condition (and the prayer) is that I meet someone who is Achi, 💙

Which finally brings us to our main character Achi, portrayed by P'New. I remember reading a review of The Stone Of Affection here on this very website and it stated that P'New's acting was "stiff" (although it was Bua who fit the statement more) but I would like to ask the person to reevaluate their decision because I have watched both Manee Phayabat and Cherry Magic TH and the acting P'New has done is more than just justice to Achi's character 🤌 like words have failed to express just how well P'New (and P'Tay) has acted in this series 🩷

Literally top tier series this of both 2023 and 2024 🥹

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High class BL!

The cinematography is gorgeous, they’re doing a wonderful job honoring the manga while still making it Thai, and the acting is spot on. The chemistry between Achi and Karan is fire! So happy to see TayNew in such a quality drama! This is truly their Renaissance era. I love the manga, so I had high expectations, but they’re definitely meeting them. So nice to see a Thai BL about two working adults as opposed to high school or college. I also love that they’re truly building relationships both romantically between the three ships, but also the friendships between all of the characters. I would recommend this BL to anyone!

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Achi's character doesn't work

The trailer for Thai Cherry Magic was super cute so I decided to watch the Japanese version while waiting for it to air, and I absolutely loved it. That made me even more excited to see what Thailand would do with the story, especially because I knew for sure we would get skinship that was missing from the Japanese adaptation. Unfortunately Thailand's version of Cherry Magic was a big letdown. The production values were great and the second couple was better than the Japanese version. But Achi's character didn't work at all. He was incredibly, frustratingly passive and didn't have the kindness that Adachi had in the Japanese version.

The way the character was written, it never made sense for him to be hesitant to get into a relationship with Karan in the first place . He had the support of his coworkers who wanted them to get together and he said early on that he enjoyed the attention that Karan gave him. Yet he kept dragging his feet for no reason which made him seem passive and weak. Then after he finally made up his mind to get into a relationship, the writers suddenly threw in the company policy against dating and Karan being forced by the boss to make an impossible sales goal. Karan did all of the work to keep their relationship alive, including getting on his knees in front of an abusive client, while Achi did nothing to help or protect him. I couldn't care at all about Achi after that.

That was the biggest problem that sank the character but there were other weird writing decisions as well, like having Rock help Pai instead of Achi when her ex was berating her and having Karan's sister be the one to convince her mother to accept his relationship instead of Achi doing it.

There were things I liked about the Thai version: Tay's performance was lovely, I had some problems with how Karan was written but he was sweet and charming and made the character a lot more lovable than he would have been otherwise. I also enjoyed Jinta being a chaos gremlin all the time (though why didn't they have him lose his virginity in the end??). Pai and Rock were cute but underdeveloped, though Sing's performance did a lot to make up for the sketchy writing. The next to last episode in Pattaya was charming and the lovemaking scene was very well done so kudos for that.

But overall I have to say this was a disappointment. It also makes me nervous about the upcoming GMMTV adaptations of Ossan's Love and My Love Mix Up. I think maybe Japan and Thailand are too culturally different for these adaptations to work well but i guess we'll find out.

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LOVE the first half, but slowly fizzles out........Still a lovely drama!

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

What a lovely Thai adaptation of the manga, and it has big shoes to fill after the beloved Japanese adaptation. I saw the Japanese drama a few years ago, and honestly, I don’t remember much. The only thing I remember was how awkward and shy Adachi was.

The early episodes of “Cherry Magic” gave me very positive vibes. It feels very Japanese and very Thai at the same time. I was in love with the first half of the drama. I love Achi more than Japanese Adachi. Achi is shy and introverted but not overly, and definitely, not as awkward as Adachi. Achi actually feels like a normal person. Karan is just as lovely as his Japanese counterpart. He’s a total Mr. Green Flag. But I do find Machida Keita more handsome and I like the more confident version of his character. Karan is sweeter, softer, more sensitive and more smitten.

The sweet, shy and adorable scenes of Karan and Achi in the first half of the drama before they officially got together was so good that I thought I might rate this a 9.0, if it continues on. I cried my eyes out during Karan’s confession scene by the boat, and the subsequent episode telling us all that he’s done for Achi behind-the-scene. My heart hurts for Karan.

Unfortunately, once the leads officially got together, the cringe started. The Japanese vibe slowly disappears and it’s all Thai cringe of sweet nothings. In a way, Karan is very cute but just a little too much for my taste. He’s just too smitten with Achi! I like the more mature and a little shyer version of Karan in the first half.

All the supporting characters are lovely and they don’t take away from the main leads. I find Rock more likable than the Japanese Rokkaku Yuta. Pai is a kickass female character and I love her shipping the leads and being the voice of reason. Min and Jinta are fine but not amazing. In the end, I somewhat lost interest in the idol storyline, the romance between Jinta and Min, and even the romance between Rock and Pai. I feel that these minor plots are not written well and not developed evenly throughout the drama.

Although the ending is lovely and more complete than the Japanese version, it felt rushed to me. A lot happened in the last episode but everything resolves and ends without much hassle.

In the end, I do recommend this lovely drama and I had an enjoyable time. I was hoping I would love this from start to finish, but that didn’t happen. At least we got good kisses and great chemistry!


Completed: 3/21/2024 - Review #419

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