Cherry Magic Thailand (2023)

TayNew Are Amazing in this, better than Dark Blue Kiss by a Mile

I laughed A LOT throughout this series. The main couple is great, but it is the return of TayNew (or Pete and Kao from Dark Blue Kiss & Kiss Me Again) on screen. Their chemistry is fantastic. I recently watched Dark Blue Kiss for the first time, so some scenes and moments remind me of the two of them in that series. However, I liked this series's more adult environment and approach to relationships.

This series addresses issues of being in a rut in one's life, chasing one's goals, finding love later than is culturally expected, and being willing to learn and embrace new things. While younger people may enjoy this BL series, this one really hits home for the middle-aged crowd (or at least those of us in our 30s who don't want to be called middle-aged or uncles quite yet).

Our main couple has so much depth and emotional weight. The side BL couple also has a fair amount of cuteness and emotional heft. I kind of wish we had more time with Rock and Pai. They were utterly adorable, but that would have detracted from the main couple.

The romance between Achi and Karan is amazing and brings out the green-eyed monster in me. Karan is so caring and understanding. Achi I could connect with his shyness and uncertainty about himself. There is very little spice to this series. Honestly, Dark Blue Kiss had more spice to it than this series. Yet, this is the best project I have seen TayNew do together. I would love to see them in more of these kinds of stories.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed A LOT, got teary-eyed in a couple of scenes, loved the chemistry, and felt sad when I watched the last episode because I wanted to follow more of their story.

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Quick and Honest Review

Im just going to be quick and honest, as the title suggests.

Cherry Magic was a big hit when it came out, so obviously the expectations were set high when they announced a Thai version. Despite what some people might say, in my personal view, Thailand did a good job in remaking a show in a way that makes it feel new and refreshing. I felt like this version was lighter and less serious. On the other hand, the lack of real "depth" is probably what made some people not really enjoy it.
The pros:

- I liked that Karan was a type of "revamped" and improved Kurosawa. To be honest,in the japanese version, when people commented about Kurosawas beautiful face and looks, i really couldnt see it. But with Tay playing his character, i could DEFINETLY understand the fangirling. I mean, he IS stunning. He also plays the "hardworking,beloved,hot,charismatic,caring,mature" role very well. It was like it was made for him.

- Jinta was a blessed addition to this show. I actually really disliked his Japanese counterpart, and had to skip most of his scenes. For me,he always came off as this creepy old guy, but in the Thai version he is absolutly hilarious. His comedic timing is on point, has great delivery and his chemistry with Min is spot on. I love you Jinta.

- Compared to other GMMTV works,the director did a great job. The scenes actually came out fluid and less "choppy".

The cons:

- Achi. Not completely. Starting off, New did manage to share that "im in love with you" chemistry with Tay, and their shared glances were ITTTT. That being said, i dont think he actually understood Adachis character. Maybe it was a problem with the script or....something, but in this version Achi is just way less...funny. And honestly,not that relatable. You see, Adachi is supposed to be this insecure overthinker but in the japanese version we get these funny moments where he is stuttering, shaking, nearly falling down....he has nervous breakdowns and goes kind of insane, and thats because the actor just gives him a variety of emotions that make him more human, and takes him out of that restricted "im just an insecure guy" box. We kind of get to see him with Kurosawas eyes : a cute, caring, hard working man. But in the Thai version, all we get is that insecurity. The moments where he is actually having a good time are limited and it gets a bit tiring. What im trying to say is that Achi is too one dimentional.

- Limited skinship. Im far from being a NSFW BL fan but COME ON. When you realise that the japanese version has more touching than this, you realise theres a problem. I mean, how do you get an established bl couple like NewTay and only get them to hold hands two times in 9 episodes? Okay, that kiss was actually slay, but i just was expecting more cute moments. Cuddling maybe??? Please, i beg of you....Karan deserves more appreciation.

Overall it was a good and fun show to watch, and doesnt deserve some of the low marks presented here. I think that if you remake a show that big and are capable of making many people still enjoy it,you did what you had to do. Also,forgive my spelling mistakes as im not a native! Objectively i give it an 8.5, but emotionally i think its a 9. Hoping to see more of NewTay in the future!

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Me encantó♡

La comencé a ver por una recomendación y la verdad se terminó convirtiendo en mi nuevo BL favorito💕.
Es super fácil/rápido de ver porque es muy entretenido y por momentos super cómico!
La pareja principal es re linda desde los primeros momentos y tienen mucha química entre sí, no se ven besos "pobres" o como "si se tuvieran asco" lo cual me parece super importante 😅
Tal vez lo que no me gustó mucho fueron las parejas/historias secundarias pero como no tienen tanta relevancia en la historia no le quitan "valor" a la serie😊
Tiene un final hermoso, así que YO la super recomiendo💕

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A beautiful story of two pple falling in love

this series is such heart felt one , it makes you fall in love with the concept of love and makes you realise you just need the righr person by your side to be happy in life . both karen and achi are each other motivation to be better. if you want to wacth something meaningful and heat grabbing not to sad with bunch of hidden lesson and comedy this is the go to not only the main couple but the side couples too will give you butterfly in every scene . i think this is one of the show that can help you relax with there sweet magic of love . FYI i dont think i will ever be able to see anyone as karenachi after watching taynew they are just perfect 🥰🥰

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I hope Karan gets disrespectful in bed

Fangirl moment
I'd like to give Tawan his flowers. He's so handsome and seeing his sweet, smiling, happy, so in love smile. How can you not fall in love with such a person? How can you not get excited everytime you see his face? His character was heartwarming to watch and I love how sincere and honest he was.

Story
A Thai adaptation of the popular Japanese series "A virgin at 30 years makes you a wizard" in varying translations. I enjoyed the original show and hoped the Thai version would be a "spicier" take on the love story. In my head I saw Thai version Karan with a secret dark side imagining all the ways he could peel achi like a shrimp and lick him all over. And achi clutching his pearls but being low-key interested. So I already had set expectations.

While the reality, wasn't a big let down, as I did enjoy watching Karan do his thing. I guess I still felt a little unsatisfied because they could have put a mature spin on the story, Just a little bit. The constant back and forth of achi's fear and karan's interest was a bit strange. He literally could read his mind and see that Karan meant no harm. But it was in his nature to be fearful after his whole character arc was being the scared "trembling virgin" trope. I rolled my eyes at that nonsense

Acting/cast
I like New, but I feel like I've seen him play this role of scared, clumsy and low esteemed virgin- soon to be not virgin many times. His character of achi was many times irritating or frustrating to watch. Quite literally the man just wants to wear matching PJs and shave in the mornings together.
Jinta is my guy. He's so out of pocket and weird. He was played so well, and provided good comedic relief with the way he nursed his crush and went after his love. I loved him
Min/Mark. Well he showed up for work
Rock/singh- pai/Jane the clueless bl fangirl and her and the guy that likes her. I wish they'd be written better to mesh better with the story. Sometimes it felt like they were stealing precious runtime. I did not like that old japanese boss man. I liked duj

Rewatch value
I'd probably never see it again. Unlike dark blue kiss, which I've probably seen a hundred times. I went in cos of TawanNew. I miss polca, and seeing them in bed together, in love was like my soul was fed and it melted away all my complaints. It ended on a high note. Everyone is happy I'm happy. I hope the pace is faster next time they do a project together so it doesn't feel like a chore to watch. I'm happy it's successful and I love Tawan. Have a splendid day everyone

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P*RN WITHOUT ANY PLOT AND WITHOUT ANY FEELINGS OF LOVE

Thai ruined another great Japanese BL after Love Stage.
Those liking this trash are only obsessed stalker fans of those u*gly actors. All fans are happy that Japan intervened legally, now only waiting for this to be cancelled forever. And the actors can end in disgrace to ruin it.
U*ly actors that can't act at all, 0 chemistry, and only sly perverted kisses.
Karan is an obsessed stalker who wants to r*pe Achi, withou any fanboy love feelings from the original.
Achi is a party boy, without any antisocial skills from the original.
People are too blatant and ridiculous that can't even understand the difference between being antisocial and being shy.
second pair is so stupid i can't, without feelings from the original.
And those stupid perverted inserted touchy thing, totally unnecessary.
They say it's an adaptation of the manga, but they should explain why they cut half of the manga, without adapting it.
As always, Thai are too p*rn and too touchy to be able to adapt more delicate and pure BL like that. They have the flavor of lust and s*x, not the flavor of love.
I don't recommend this trashy thing to anyone, and i'm happy that every Japanese BL fans raised in protest.

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GMMTV Dropped The Ball and I'm over it

First off I adore TAYNEW and was thrilled they were returning in another BL especially something so iconic as Cherry Magic. I loved Kurosawa and Adachi in the Japanese Version. Even though its TAYNEW I dont think they can redo it better but they can make it more suitable for them.

However after 2 episodes aired on GMMTV YOUTUBE CHANNEL it was pulled due to copyright issues so i have dropped this series even if somehow it is re-released in the states I will never watch this.

GMMTV is to blame entirely. They are an established production company and they should have known they didn't have the rights to air this series outside of Thailand.
Yes I realize it can be watched with a VPN but why should anyone have to. Because GMMTV messed up.
Are we in for same for their other Japanese Adaptations (OSSAN'S LOVE with Earth Mix) or( MY LOVE MIX UP with Gemini Fourth)

Apologies from GMMTV ring a bit hollow since as a company that's been around and produced so many series (many of them BL) should have been more diligent before even airing this series

So I'll stick to the original Cherry Magic and the recently released Anime Version from Japan. So yet another Thai Adaptation of an established series falls short because a production company that failed to cross all it's T's and dot all of it's i's.

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Simply magical

Warning: a tl;dr review, I can't help myself.

This is officially my favourite BL series now, not only because of the story, but because the pairing of Achi and Karan worked for me and I have to praise TayNew for their excellent portrayal of these characters. They have ascended to my favourite pairing in a BL series and I hope this won't be the last time we'll see them together. They have insane chemistry and feel very natural and comfortable in their interactions with each other. Their kissing and intimacy scenes have improved considerably since Dark Blue Kiss and I've lost count how many times I've rewatched this kiss in episode 9.

This is a story about Achi's development from someone who had little to no respect for himself and used to put Karan, whom he considered perfect in any way, on a pedestal somewhere far, far away from his own imperfect self, to someone who actually planned to propose to the aforementioned perfect guy and fell on his knees in front of him to do that. It was quite a journey.

I'll speak more of Achi because Karan pretty much remained the same person in the entire series - nice, loving, patient, adoring, respectful and absolutely madly in love with Achi, the person who showed understanding, encouraged and comforted him the right way without even realising it when he had a breakdown many years ago. When it counted, when he needed him, Achi was there for him. There are several reasons why episode 6, together with episode 11, was the highlight of the series, and one of them is that we finally got a more nuanced insight into Karan's character. I was also very grateful for episode 12, because with the introduction of Karan's parents I finally got two of my questions about him answered - why he seemed to be the only one to think that Achi would have a problem dating him because he's a man, and why, before Achi started hearing his thoughts and finally started seeing him as a potential love interest, he'd waited so long without at least trying to ask Achi out. It didn't make any sense to me that a man who was so deeply and passionately in love would be happy with watching his crush from afar for years without doing anything about it. His family and Achi's total obliviousness taken together was what kept him away.

I consider portraying Achi and his journey believably the bigger challenge, because he started pretty low. His self-esteem was non-existant, and sadly everyone around him, even Karan, seemed to emphasize this - his neighbour and his mother call him clumsy and are constantly worried about him, his best friend is in the same boat as him, with just a little more dramatic personality, and he has been watching Karan win awards, buy cars, etc. for years, admiring him for being handsome, successful, smart and therefore feeling small and insignificant himself. Yes, it was completely believable and understandable he would be totallly in shock when he realised how much Karan liked him, and it would take him a while to get used to it and accept it in order to allow their relationship to progress. The pacing was exactly right and I loved how they showed these little moments between the two in the first three episodes and how Achi's feelings slowly started to change until he caught feelings himself in episode 4. This episode was and remains one of my favourites with my probably favourite scene between them prior to the kiss - the looks and happy and open smiles they gave to each other the moment Karan smeared that white substance on Achi's cheeks. No wonder Pai screamed when she saw them, I probably would, too. Such a wholesome moment, I still habe goosebumps.

I know many complained about episode 7, but I disagree, it was exactly as good as the previous ones and also a very important one, because it was the beginning of them learning to speak openly to each other and communicate in order for their relationship to work, something that was explored further in episodes 9 and 10 and it culminated in episode 11 with their first time and episode 12 with the wedding. I think the problem with episode 7 was solely that it came after the excellent episode 6 with Karan's character finally getting explored (and let's be honest, Tay killed it, he was so good) and with the confession scene, which made me tear up a little.

Episode 8 was the only episode I indeed thought was not as good as the others, mostly because it made the boss extremely unlikable and I had problems with him the rest of the series.

To sum it up, Achi's journey and the KaranAchi relationship, after it happened, were written very well and delevoped gradually and at the right pace for a 30-year-old virgin with a low esteem who suddently found himself dating the perfect guy. I've seen some comments doubting Achi's feelings for Karan, but his feelings were obvious from episode 4 forwards and they deepened further when Achi allowed himself the chance to get to know Karan better. He isn't as expressive in vocalizing his feelings like Karan is, true, but let's be honest, few people are like Karan. Achi is a more subdued character by nature, but it doesn't mean he loves Karan less.

I didn't care much about the secondary couples, because KaranAchi overshadowed everything with their love and chemistry to me, but still, at least I liked the Jinta and Min couple, they were sweet and again, well-written and I bought they were into each other. I can't say the same for Pai and Rock. They were good characters separately, but not as a couple IMO. I also, unlike with Min and Jinta, never got the vibe that Pai was into Rock like that.

Thank you so much, production team, actors and casting directors, for making me feel happy and smily and cosy every Saturday for three months. I absolutely adored this. Karan and Achi's love story taught me about personal growth and made me remember how much kindness, loving and learning to trust yourself and respect matter.

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Watch it only for taynew

This show was of the best produced by GMMTV for taynew fans this is blessing . Both Karan and achi played a green flag character no misunderstanding no stupid fighting they both had a healthy relationship. One thing I loved is that they did not make Karan overall perfect like Kurosawa every human cannot be perfect there has to be at least one flaw. Thai shows are visually appealing Tay looked so hot. But the side couple were more fun . Meen and Jinta killed it especially jinta his expressions were hilarious. Other characters were great too . I loved this show and I will definitely recommend others to watch this .

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Substantially Different To The Original, But Great Fun

Fans of Cherry Magic (Japan) will enjoy this very heartwarming series adapted to Thai social and office culture. The MLs are considerably more open and the workplace scenes are more direct and personal. The T-pop is fabulous, so have your Shazam and Spotty ready!
Talent abounds in this series: special mention goes to "Junior" Panachai Sriariyarungruang who portrays Tsuge/Jinta. Junior is a riot and brings amazing physical comedy and true heart to this role and elevates the entire series. He will go very far in his career, with careful script choices. And "Sing" Harit Cheewagaroon aka Rokakku / Rock is full of pep and stays true to the OG character, but also displays depth and credibility and has excellent potential as future serious romantic lead.
There is some drama overload with some side characters, reducing the MLs to background extras at times.
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to "Follow" for more reviews, or say hello! ~ Fuyimawagi

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