Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

This is the first BL series from China I've watched which didn't get banned or censored. Usually when there's a new BL series from China, they're always being watered down into bromance. The love story was always unspoken, unexpressed freely, and completely repressed. Usually the actors say something like, "I'm straight!" while secretly peeking at the male lead. But not this series. The love expression was so obvious, no repression or fake bromance. Which baffled me to learn that this series isn't from Taiwan. Although there's no explicit scenes in it, usually the Chinese government always tried to omit the word "love" from "boys love". That's why they always make the directors turn boys love into bromance. I wonder why this series didn't get banned. But whatever! I'll just count my blessings and review this series as I do any other ones.

Plot wise, it's very straight forward with minimal twists. The chemistry between the main couple is spot on. The drama and romance was thick and satisfying. There are 2 couples in this series, but one of them didn't end well. Which made me think there will be a second season. Fingers crossed! I'll be looking forward to it.

Overall, I enjoyed this series a pretty fair amount. I will say though, the synopsis doesn't give enough insight as to what the series is actually about. There's actually way more that goes down in the series. I won't spoil it, but be ready for certain things like domestic abuse and grief; which aren't consistently displayed throughout the series, but are big parts of the plot. Normally I skip certain scenes in shows because it's just a long clip of the characters kissing something; do not do that while watching this, you *will* miss an important sentence. Every time I skipped I'd have to go back cause I'd be like "wait what just happened." It's a good series, especially for being Chinese (being they have censorship laws and whatnot) I'm glad it has a happy ending. If you don't watch the after-credits on the final episode you WILL miss this though and it'll be a sad ending.

- MAKE SURE TO STAY FOR THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE ON THE LAST EPISODE!!!