Multifandom: Your daily dose of Saltiness

NOT ME THE SERIES: now THIS is how u tell a story and do lgbt community justice

finished this series a while ago oops. Anwyays.

This series is a blessing to the lgbt community.
Like a BL does not automatically mean that it's lgbt friendly. Perhaps unpopular opinion but manyyyy BLs are NOT good representations, or representation at all, for the lgbtqia community and are often aimed at STRAIGHT audiences, preferably straight girls, and NOT aimed at gay-bi-pan etc men and definitely not aimed at sapphics.

BUT NOT ME IS DIFFERENT.

I felt like this, together with bad buddy, are truly one of the few thai bls that actually are for a lgbt-audience as well. Which is crazy as most of these bls are about gay pansexual or bisexual men, while not actually keeping those groups as audiences in mind. It is infuriating fr though. ANywaysss not me the series, damn it such a good series.

WHAT MAKES THIS SERIES DIFFERENT: REPRESENTATION AND TOPICS
What makes it so different and actual representative??

1. It talks about social issues, including lgbt issues
The series is about how the rich and powerful dominate the country's politics and how groups get marginalized. The main characters in our story try to expose the illegal and immoral practices an insanely rich business and congressman is doing, and to encourage people to protest against them. The social issues it tackles: treatment of disabled people in their workplace (getting fired or mistreated just because they are disabled), the oppression and exclusion of transgenders in well; everything. It doesn't shy away from the issues and directly names them without basing it off gay-Trauma or transgender trauma. Like no ones getting murdered or assaulted, it's about their fight to exist and their rights.

2. The whole series is focused on the fight the community has fought, and is fighting
They actually include our gay/ bi/ trans/ pan/ lesbian etc characters participating in protests and giving them a voice. I mean this is the first Thai bl where I've acrually seen the lgbt flag. Like they were everywhere. And the way Sean saw white under that lgbt flag, and saw all the people around them and realzied the level of acceptance and encouragement people around them gave and he stepped under the flag too and held White's hand. SO POWERFUL.

3. Respectful transgender inclusion
Our character who is trans is not all that she is but her transness also doesn't get cast aside. She has a great Personality, she's funny, she's intelligent. She knows a lot of about politics, gets good grades, she's great. And her relationship with gram is so cute. They used to date and although the whole debate abt grams sexuality regarding Black (whites twin) is questionable it isn't within their relationship. Like it isn't like "oh gram dated a transgirl so now he isn't straight or bases his entire sexuality on it" nah it's given as it is: just a regular relationship that ended up in them becoming best friends. Not because of any thing relating to trans ness it was because they just broke up and decided to be besties.

4. No overly sexualizing mlm relationships
THISSSSSS. with alot of series the focus is on psychical attraction and I love me some tension like don't get me wrong. But alot of times the emphasis is so much on the psychical that the actual relationship gets overlooked. Often the bad writing too lmaoo. Anyways white and Sean's relationship doesn't just happen. I mean the fact Sean thinks white is another person makes it complicated but still it is gradually and beautiful. And the way they rely on each other in such healthy ways. It's just so healthy and beautiful.
This couple is real- real. Not based on random coincidences of them meeting.

5. A mature and real storyline
I love the university and just simple storylines a lot. I mean bad buddy was abt university's but it was done in such a good way. Not me is about social issues , checking your privileges , rich and poor, human rights, lgbtqia rights. Etc. It had alot. And the characters weren't just black and white (hahahsh pun) they had depth.

WHAT MAKES THIS SERIES AMAZING: ACTORS AND CHARACTERS.
So I actually don't give a shit about certain actors pairing tbh. Unpopular opinion I guess lol. Like this series has off and gun as the main characters / actors, and I like them as actors although I don't know much about them personally. I usually don't like the same actors getting paired up, yes other unpopular opinion lol. Like I just see them for their role, so if they are in another series it feels like I'm watching the same couple from series 1, in series 2 you got me? NOT HERE THO???

Like the first time I saw Off and Gun act together was in theory of love. and altho their acting was good, it was not amazing, which is okay acting is something you learn. Also that plot was kinda bad so don't blame them for not being able to show full potential back then. but here omg??? Damn their acting is so fcking good. Like Gun plays two different characters and you can literally see so clearly who is who even if it is not specifcally said. And he had to play his charcater 'White' who pretented to be his twin named Black. SO GUN LITERALLY PLAYED AS A CHARACTER PRETENDING TO BE ANOTHER CHARACTER??? he's INSAAANE. fcking talented. 
And Off ohmygod, you could see all of his emotions in his eyes. He didn't even need the dialogue to understand his feelings. THat is what good acting is about.

I dont know the other actors by name but they were so good. They really made the characters feel alive.

SO. CHARACTERS.

Black, my guyyy. Idc what anyone says he is my fave. Black has been through soo much and he does not get enough credits for it to be honest. I mean the dude had to live as an orphan, grew up in some sort of gang-type life, and his childhood friend tried to kill him. Meanwhile his twin, White, got a much better life. He has connections because of his father, so he can study and get internship easily. The contrast is such a good point in the plot. And I love how WHite realized that Black doesn't have a choice, and that he realized the priviliges he had growing up. 

THE 'LESS GOOD' PARTS 

So basically this series is almost perfect. But there are some parts which im like??

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

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1. Making Gram be in a straight relationship

So in the beginning, White finds two matching art things with the letters G and B on it. and a card with a love confession. So White concludes that it is Gram x Black, so that Gram likes Black. And throughout the whole series it really seems like Gram likes black. Because White is pretending to be Black all this time,a nd Gram immediately realized he is acting different because he knows Black so well and notices all little things. He is also protective, always taking care of Black(or now White who is pretending to be Black lol) and making sure he is alright. He gets psychically close and we think he is gonna confess a few times. then????? It turns out the whole couple art thing was with Gene???? Black's ex girlfriend??????? Like I usually don't like a straight ship in bls bc idgaf abt them usually unless theyre maybe very cute, but it didn't make any sense. Like everyone was so convinced we would get GramBlack like we were all looking forward to it. And next to all the gramblack baiting the series shows, they are literally together in the novel so the novel readers also fully expected them to be together. So it is just?? whY. 

2. ending was rushed
So the pace of the plot was so good, but then we are finally at the climax of the plot. They are kidnapped, tjhey think they're going to die. Yok thinks he's forever betrayed by his love. everyone says goodbye, and then.. they're rescued. I feel like the whole dangerous part of this all could've been dragged out. Altho I loved how they got rescued by the people who fight for justice, so I definitely want to see that still included but just a bit more expanded. Also, they didn't have enough time to fully explain everything. like what happened between black and his mother? and I also still don't really know why they got seperated as kids in the first place.Another episode would've solved it but I don't think that as possible,

3. what happened to todd and black??
So Todd tried to kill Black, and put him in a coma. THen they establish that they can't kill each other. Black puts Todd in a coma as revenge. But it is all offscreen, so we dont see shit. And I also ddin't really get their whole we cant kill each other convo because they never showed us the full conversations. 

OVERALLLL must watch, together with Bad Buddy they are for real like one of the only thai bls that are respectful to the lgbt and the plots and chemistry is amazing.

okay byeee