Neko's Daily Life and All About Japan : I Told Sunset About You : A Phenomenal Youthful Series Full of Symbolism, Innocence, Depth and Sensuality (Thailand, 2020)

Hello hello everyone !

I'm very sorry for the long absence . I've been busy with life things to the point that I didn't find time to write new articles. I decided today to face my laziness and talk about I Told Sunset About You, a series that marked my life. I want to save all my thoughts and comments about this drama , also take advantage of my blog popularity to promote this masterpiece.

I'll start with a

General introduction :

Title : I Told Sunset About You

known in Thai as แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ; RTGS: Plae Rak Chan Duai Chai Thoe, lit. "translate my love with your heart"

Country: Thailand
Episodes: 5
Aired: Oct 22, 2020 - Nov 19, 2020
Original Network: LINE TV
Duration: 1 hr. 19 min.
Genre : Romance, friendship , melodrama, coming of age, LGBT.

Director : Boss Naruebet Kuno , Tossaphon Riantong
Screen writer : Boss Naruebet Kuno , Goy Arachaporn Pokinpakorn, Kate Karakade Norasethaporn, Junior Naron Cherdsoongnern
Filming place : Phuket

Main Roles :

Billkin Putthipong Assaratanakul (Age 21)

PP Krit Amnuaydechkorn (Age 21 )

Plot : Teh and Oh-aew were best friends until a boyhood line of reasoning turned them into rivals. Years later as they're preparing for university admissions, both pursuing interests in the field of Communication Arts, the two meet in a Chinese language class. Their reunion awakens complicated and unstable feelings. [MDL]
Official Trailer
Watch ITSAY HD Engsubs : dramacool

I watched ITSAY in a row 2 days ago. I remember finishing it at 02am. I was a little happy because I thought that I'll recover from those overwhelming emotions after waking up. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The OST and many 'intense' scenes kept echoing in my head/memory/conscience.

I loved everything about this drama and there are no weaknesses at all. If you read comments on blogs, twitter, facebook, youtube etc. you'll find out that all people around the word share the same opinion and surprisingly the same remarks about many hidden details. That's tremendous, phenomenal.

The series is perfect and that's something hard to be accepted rationally. But that's the truth.

My comments one by one :

1- The story and the development of the dialogues were gorgeous. The screenwriters could turn an ''ordinary'' topic (rivalery) into a masterpiece through artistic, poetic and full of symbolism dialogues . The symbolism , depth and sensuality was based especially on the chinese language . I'm still very touched by the song scene and lyrics in Episode 3.....

CUT EP 3 SONG SCENE

2- Teh's personality was so pure and innocent. There are moments when he walks around when he can't grasp/seize his feelings. That's a very cute detail. When he ends up being emotionally lost, he always acted as a 'human', innocently. He has never considered gender issues or complicated friendship or love boundaries, he was just behaving following the universal moral and human values. Maybe just like a child.

Before assuming being in love with Oh-aew , he has had so noble feelings toward him , definitely more than friendship and more than love itself. You can remember how much he cared for Oh-aew to the point that he gave up in his University admission confirmation which has been his dream for years...

(Note : I can't confirm this, but it feels like he had a kind of feeling of guilt/regret from what he said to Oh-aew when they were children "You'll end up giving up". So the reason of approaching again to Oh-aew was a kind of an attempt of apology for those harsh words )

Because of his pure heart, we can notice that Teh made all the characters cry without understanding the reason. I was holding myself from crying so many times. omg... The fictional characters and the real fans all sympathized with Teh.

3- Oh-aew was so cute, his facial expressions are beyond standards. I loved his hidden sweet gestures, like the scenes in the beach trying to secretly seduce Teh ( the director said in the Documentary that it's seducing but i see it as unintentional seducing, Oh-aew is cute by nature) , the approaching "chips" moment and lying on Teh's leg, the red Hibiscus on his ear, closing the buttons of Teh's shirt.... so perfect and romantic details.

(EP4)

"The writers ...employed a lot of symbolism to visually enhance the storytelling. The Chinese hibiscus flower, for example, is commonly used in school textbooks to illustrate the concept of a perfect flower—one with both male and female structures—and the writers used it in different scenes to alternatively represent male and female characters, while leaving open the possibility for viewers to differently interpret the flower's metaphorical meanings. " (wiki)

Note about the symbolism of the kissing scene : Oh-aew and Teh kissed under the water. They both decided to hide from the external world to be able to express their true feelings especially Teh. (this note is also stated by the director in the Doc).

In Episode 3 ,the scene when Oh-aew asked Teh " Is it ok if there are two.... " (sorry i forgot the name of that male hero) was so touching.

Then came this scene when both of them became submerged with love desires.

The scene in which Oh-aew was putting on the red bra was so intense. This moment happens to all teens when they struggle in identifying what exactly they are and what they have to be in the society. I assume that this happens to me when I imagine myself a boy when I cospaly male characters.

Note : According to the Documentary, Oh-aew was intended to wear red lipstick instead.

Oh-aew ended up deleting that picture from Instagram, hating himself, and bursting into tears. On the other side, Teh was crying submerged with an incomprehensible desire that got more intense when he saw that photo...

Oh-aew's reaction after knowing that Teh's gave up his admission was unexpected. He thought that Teh was pitying him. I expected him to go face Teh and ask him " Why you did this ? It was your dream !" then hug him. But he was just angry and acted selfishly. I think that made Teh more upset and made me hate Oh-aew a little bit.

4-I loved that 'balanced' circle of friends. The guys are funny , honest, supportive and caring for each other. More important, they know their limits about Teh or Oh-aew privacy, they do not push them or intimidate them when something 'strange' happens.

5-I loved Hoon's character. At first he seemed to be indifferent and severe. But, we discovered that he's very gentle and caring to his young bro.

6-Tan also was a very nice friend. The 'violet hibiscus bra' seducing moment was intense.

7-The cinematography, the natural picture quality, the aesthetics, the decor ( Teh and Oh-aew houses ), the choice of Phuket , the beach and the Southern island and the hills are extraordinary.

I really appreciate the director. He's so clever, has a wide imagination and choosing Billkin and PP was his winning card. He is a master and that's what i confirm after watching the Documentary. You'll see his efforts in controlling Billkin and PP who are 21 y.o only., putting investment on them ( acting workshops, learning chinese, vocals, diving and driving ...)

8-Last but not least , the original OSTs were like " La cerise sur le gateau" "the cherry on the cake" .

'Skyline' with its all versions (Chinese, Billkin, PP, Orchestra, Piano) , '' Can't translate" and the "ahahahaha" soundtrack were mind-blowing. *Full respect to the composers and lyrics writers.* And the release of the official MVs of Skyline made the Volcan of emotions erupts !

Note about Skyline Billkin ver : I noticed that the variation of tempo in the song is like heartbeats ...please use headphones

9-Finally, I hope I Told Sunset About You get a movie version so that it becomes more popular globally through film festivals.

It's more than an ordinary BL. In fact, I don't see it as a BL.

Among all series, films and animes, ITSAY is the best thing I've ever watched in my life.

Let's wait patiently for the part 2.

10-Part 2 of the story picks up after Teh and Oh-aew become boyfriends, and will explore the development of their relationship as they adjust to life as university students in Bangkok. (wiki)