#thought I'd try something new since my reviews have been kinda abandoned

[namtanlovesfilm]

1st quarter of 2024 shows ranked

n° of shows watched from january 1st to march 31st: 13

1. analog squad: 9/10

I deeply regret not watching this one in 2023 when it was released bc it would've been my number one favorite show of that year ;_; it's such an original and touching show with one of my favorite tropes (found family) and some of the best characters I've ever seen. definitely already an all-time favorite and a comfort show for years to come <3

2. cooking crush: 8,5/10

y'all know how much I love offgun, and while this was no not me or theory of love, this show really brought me back to my early days of watching thai dramas and freaking out over any cute interaction on my screen & I love it for that! while this show has a lot of flaws, most of them are easily forgettable when faced with such great characters & one of the cutest relationships ever! I truly thought offgun's chemistry had reached its peak in not me but I was wrong, these two never cease to amaze me they really can play any role to perfection <3

3. ready set love: 8,5/10

this show really surprised with how pretty much flawless its execution is! it's hilarious but also deals with very deep & interesting topics well, and day might be one of my favorite female leads ever! a super solid show that is honestly gonna become a classic for me, I can feel it :)

4. love for love's sake: 8,5/10

this was a super sweet show that's very well done, I was dubitative of the plot at first but it really managed to pull me in & make it worth my while! one of the best kbls out there :)

5. the believers: 8,5/10

this is definitely one of the most innovative thai shows out there, dealing with a topic (religion) that I didn't think anyone would dare touch. the story had me hooked all 9 episodes & the acting performances were amazing, however I have to say this didn't pack as much of a punch as I expected it would. it's a very good show, but it stays a little surface level & doesn't explore its characters enough for me...

6. sing my crush: 7,5/10

this was very much adorable, however two things bothered me: 1) I didn't like the time jump from ep 1 to ep 2, I wish we could've seen the friendship between the characters developed more, and 2) I feel like them not revealing their feelings for each other felt a little forced & random. apart from that it's a very cute show!

7. intern in my heart: 7,5/10

this was a really enjoyable romantic comedy that I had a lot of fun in front of :) is it much more than that? not really. pretty basic but with charismatic performances that carried the show well!

8. perfect propose: 7,5/10

really sweet show that I wish was more developed & gave me more, but a good time nonetheless!

9. sukiyanen kedo do yaro ka: 7/10

this show got me, lost me then got me once again lol. I thought the chemistry for an established relationship was some of the best for a jbl, and the story was simple but endearing. but tbh something was kinda lacking for me, which made this ultimately very forgettable imo.

10. the outing: 7/10

I was SO looking forward to this show without much expectation but it still managed to disappoint me lol. the acting was very solid but there's too many characters that get introduced too late & I failed to really understand what the point or purpose of the show was. it seems to me as if this show took all of the worst points from remember 15 (the sex, the chaos, the betrayals & annoying characters), without the substance that remember 15 actually had. it's not a terrible show, and I was intrigued during it, but tbh it could've been so so much better.

11. love class season 2: 7/10

this had some of the strongest and most interesting ships I've seen in a kbl, however the writing & execution of the show was very frustrating. early on the characters barely get introduced & we struggle to understand how they're all linked together, leading to a lot of confusion on my part. it's sad bc it had a very solid story but bad execution imo :(

12. chaser game w: power harassment: 7/10

this had me very excited but sadly didn't deliver at all for me. the story is kinda all over the place & while the chemistry was really good and it's important to have japanese characters clearly labeled as lesbians, I found the acting kinda over the top as well... but it's a start for gl I guess 🥲

13. sahara sensei to toki-kun: 6/10

this is the kind of show that I managed to watch until the end... for whatever reason. but the age gap icked me out & I found that the main ship didn't have much chemistry. overall this story is very empty & didn't add anything for me, but I really liked the character of toki & would've loved to see him in a better show & ship.

[flightfoot]

Do you have any advice for commenting on fics? I really admire how active you are in the ML fandom, and I'd like to follow in your footsteps with that regard, but where do I start? How do you find fics to read/comment on, especially considering there's so many? Do you focus on new/underrated authors? How do you make time to read/comment? I feel like sometimes I don't have the energy to write out my thoughts the way I'd like to, so any advice would be helpful <333

Awww thanks! I know a lot of authors appreciate getting comments, so this would be great!

I'll start with your more specific questions:

How do you find fics to read/comment on, especially considering there's so many?: I go through and check ML's AO3 page several times a day to see if any new fics or updates have been posted that I'm interested in. I've been doing this since 2019, so you'll see lots of comments from me going way back.

Do you focus on new/underrated authors?: Not particularly. I won't shy away from them, but I don't have a preference for them either. I just read and review SO MANY ML fics from so many different authors, that I end up reviewing a lot of fics from lesser-known authors as well.

How do you make time to read/comment?: Honestly I get a lot of it done even while I'm at work, I can usually keep up with most of the fic updates/new fics I want to read that come out during those 8 hours or so (unless someone drops like, a 50k chapter. Yes, that HAS happened), just by reading and reviewing during my breaks and lunch. I also check AO3 quite a bit while I'm at home and have free time, or even just when I'm using the bathroom.

As for advice for how to comment, it varies. Generally I'll start off with a generic "Awww this is adorable!" or "This is great!" or something of that sort, and if it's a really short fic (like under 1000 words) I might not say much more than that, especially if the fic itself is kinda generic. I don't always have a ton of stuff to say about every fic.

Then, I'll try to single out at least one part that I especially liked, like how much attention the author paid to Alya's thoughts, feelings, and problems, or how clever a Lucky Charm plan was, or how well the writer demonstrated Gabriel's manipulativeness during some particular section, something like that. I've even copied down a line or two from the fic itself and given commentary on it in particular. It's often not that insightful though, like I might just say "I'm glad Adrien got a hug, he really needs it!" or something like that.

Asking questions can also be a useful way to come up with something to write for a review, like if there's something you're wondering about concerning the fic. Like whether Adrien's a sentimonster in this fic because if he is, that's gonna recontextualize him submitting to Gabriel's orders.

There's also "live-commenting", which takes awhile and is more work than regular commenting, but I'll sometimes do when I really want to show authors how much I appreciate their writing, particularly when they're regularly dropping really long chapters (like, over 5000 words typically). I only do this when I'm on desktop and have a lot of bandwidth. I'll pull up two tabs with the chapter in both of them, and I'll read from the first tab and type up my commentary for the chapter on the second tab. This is helpful for getting out all your thought for the fic without forgetting anything. I'd only advise doing this on fics that you're pretty certain are going to be... if not "good", at least ones that you can trust the author isn't gonna do anything to piss you off. When I first started doing this back in 2019, I tried doing it on just any random fic I ran across at first, and quickly figured out that was a bad idea when one of the fics turned out to be a saltfic and I needed to abandon the review, and all the effort I put into it, because my commentary at that point would just be me getting mad at the author's choices.

Does anyone else have particular tips or tricks? I've been reading and reviewing fics basically since I started reading them fifteen years ago, so while I'm experienced in reviewing them, I'm not all that familiar on the hang-ups new prospective reviewers might have, as I just... never really had them. I've never exactly been shy.

[cutiecrates]

Long time no see

Uh, hello. I'm not even sure if anyone will see this post, but I didn't want anyone who actually viewed this place to think something bad happened, I didn't intend on abandoning this place. For some, strange reason Tumblr quit working on my laptop. It wouldn't let me log in or load pages to try to figure out what happened, nothing.

Well, a couple months ago I got a brand new laptop. Which thankfully is working :3

Uh... I feel like the blog is kinda dead at this point, unfortunately. I do still get subscription boxes, but I have cut back on them. I kinda miss doing those specific reviews, but I never thought I was particularly any good at them either. I'd still like to have a blog though. So, my plan is to just re-tool this one. I'd like to give cute video game reviews a try! I've been wanting to do that for a while now, and in between I'd like to show-off the figurines and stuff I win through the online crane machine websites like Toreba and Tokyo Catch.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm not really sure when I'll make a full, brand new post other than this one, since I'm still figuring out what I want to do. I'd like to rename this blog to fit the new theme/vibe, but cutiegames was taken, so I'll need to think up something else.