Love Sick the Series is a 2014 Thai series that is based on the quite popular online Thai novel written by INDRYTIMES. The novel appropriately named; ‘Love Sick: The Chaotic Lives of Blue Shorts Guys’, follows the story of two high school boys who eventually fall in love.
The series takes a step away from the novel adding additional characters and plotlines to the story, some that compliment and others that take away from the original novel itself. Both the series and novel are being translated into English by Kudalakorn with the permission of the original author.
The Good
1) The Wonderful Author of this amazing novel works alongside the film crew on the show. This hopefully will make sure that the story remains true to itself in essence. No matter what they do to it.
2) Some of the cast are new to the acting world but they do not let that affect them as they work hard to stay true to the characters they portray, while making them their own.
3) It is good BL (no more explanation needed).
4) It is addicting, once you get past the first episode you want to see more.
5) The side plot as well as the main storyline dealt with a lot of issues that can affect teens. For example; the Swim team and rivalry, peer pressures as well as problems that can stem from gossiping.
6) The second season is coming out soon that promises to be even sweeter than the first.
The Bad
1) The First Episode- let’s just say it was kind of confusing and I think they wanted to go in another direction here but decided not to. When I watched it I almost didn’t want to see anymore but I had episode two there ready to watch and that is the only reason that I moved on and watched more of it. It seemed like they wanted to make the series more of a focus on one of the girls (Jeed) but it didn’t work out as planned. When I watched the behind the scenes episode I realized that they knew how bad it was and expected it to be cancelled. Thankfully from the second episode it gets better.
2) Some of the excluded parts of the novel should be included because they give essential information about the main characters. A good example of this is Phun. Phun in the series seems to have pushed more for him and Noh to be together but in the series Noh does a lot more that helps the relationship grow into something else. It can seem very much one sided where it shouldn’t sometimes.
3) There are some side plots are just feel like fillers to me. I wish they didn’t exist and when I re-watch episodes I skip those scenes. Can someone explain to me why the weird scammer man had to be included??? Is it supposed to be a source of comic relief because it is not working. Did anyone laugh at those scenes?? I hope they do not bring that plot back. This brings me to my next point.
4) Some side characters that deserve to get storylines and from the book I can tell that their story would be interesting, do not. For example Noh’s best friend Om should have a storyline because he is a very very important person in Noh’s life. Plus there are things that are going on with him that affects the main plot. The other guys from the music club particularly deserve more airtime particularly Per, Knott (?), Micky, Film (not in the music club) Earn, Pete, Fi and Aim. There is room for these plots to be added in, just take out the useless side plots and there you go.
5) Sometimes the focus can be too much on side plots that do not add to the main storyline. At the end of the day the story should be able Noh and Phun. If the side plot does not help or hinder them, remove it.
The Good
1) This story is refreshing and feels new. That is what I like most about it and what makes me come back for more.
2) Like all books that spun series, it shows us aspects of the characters that the series does not.
3) It does a good job of explaining the story and focuses more on the main pairing.
4) Its characters are flawed. Why is this good? Well, this makes the story more realistic as it is supposed to be told through the eyes of a 17 year old boy.
5) Special Chapters give us insight into things that we were not aware of and also changes perspectives as the ones I’ve read so far are told from different points of view apart from the main character. These chapters are few and far in between but they provide depth for the main storyline.
6) The online community where the English translations are at Kudalakorn is made up of some really amazing people who make it worth your while to read their insightful spoiler free comments. Seriously, it is one of the best websites I’ve had the privilege of being on. I feel like there is a certain level of maturity there and we all work together well. I look forward to reading and contributing to comments as much as the novel.
The Bad
1) There is only one book with only 65 chapters and the chapters can sometimes be very short.
2) Some parts can be slow to coming up to the parts that we really want to hear about. As I said it’s narrated by a 17 year old boy so he’s going to tell it how he likes. Not how we will want to read it.
3) The translations are not completed BUT Kudalakorn is working hard and posts translations as often as possible however if you can’t deal with waiting for new chapters to come, out don’t start reading it yet. Not a lot more chapters to go though (sadly).
I can’t really think of much bad honestly. This novel and series are really worth it. I am so happy that I happened upon it and if anyone can recommend me any other series or novel along these lines then I will definitely read and review.
I give the series a 3.5/5 and the novel a 4/5.
P.S. Kudalakorn also does translations for other series and also keeps you up to date with all the Thai things worth checking out. Her website is well worth a peek or two so go click the link to see what you’re missing. If it wasn’t for her this gem wouldn’t have been able to receive the amazing international response that it did. Plus I really appreciate her for Translating the novel like she did otherwise I’d have never have read it. Also her translations are used for the original DVD for the Love Sick series.
Pictures are not mine, they belonged to whomever created them. I merely borrowed. Ciao!
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