Mon is excited, she’s starting her new job at the company run by Sam, on whom she has had a crush since she was a child. But the kind Sam she remembers from when they were young, has turned into a bitter and mean-spirited woman, a person who apparently delights in making the people around her miserable.
Caught in a passive-aggressive relationship with her crush, Mon is trying to figure out how to be what she wants to be to Sam, while Sam doesn’t seem to know what she wants, at all. What we, the viewers can see, is that Sam is living in a emotionally abusive environment, with a sadistic and unyielding grandmother who has given her a deadline on her dreams.
Pink Theory GAP The Series (ทฤษฎีสีชมพู GAP The series), is a live-action Yuri series based on the novel of the same name by Chaoplanoy. This series is streaming on the Idol Factory official channel on YouTube, with English subtitles, with a new episode every Saturday night Thai time. This series had pretty solid marketing and a positive response to the trailers, so I was expecting something pretty good. Now that I’ve watched the first two episodes, I think I can safely say that we’re getting something that is, in fact, pretty good. ^_^
Becky Armstrong plays Mon and Freen plays Sam. Both are doing a decent job with their characters, and there is pretty good tension between them, even aside from the slow, belabored, lingering still moments when they come within 6 inches of each other. Also good is the supporting cast, especially Mon’s coworkers, who live in fear of Sam’s whimsy. Several of the actors are known to me from the previous Idol Factory series I watched. It’s kind of nice to see “familiar” faces in different roles. I quite like Yha in this story, she’s definitely our greek chorus and rather dry. I’m also pleased that Sam has some friends, and we – rather unusually for live action – are introduced to a butch lesbian as well as the usual crop of very femme lesbians.
The negative side is pretty small. It’s a rom-com, so the comedic elements are excruciating as they almost always are. Drunk, screaming coworkers is not actually funny, in any format. My idea of things that make me cringe are different from yours, so I’m always not-okay with obsessions as a form of normalized character building…that said, Mon’s obsession with Sam is the basis for her taking the job and her overall character, but not the focus of the story. Furthermore, Mon isn’t a morose or weepy character and it’s very easy to like and support her, which I think works to the story’s advantage. I describe the story as Devil Wears Prada with social consciousness.
On the positive side, the characters have some depth; there are reasons that Sam is an abusive jerk and that Mon won’t put up with it, even though it breaks her heart to have Sam look her the eye and have no idea who she is. There is also clearly a side plot or two, I’m pretty sure Sam’s fiance Kirk is setting her up for failure. But going in to this knowing they will get together and it’s going to become socially conscious, gives me hope that there will be even more depth. I’m looking forward to the final boss confrontation and if they will defeat Evil Grandma,. (They clearly will, I’m just pretending there’s some doubt.)
As the first fully Yuri Thai Live-Action, I’ve got to give props to Pink Theory GAP The Series…they’ve set a pretty high benchmark.
Ratings:
Cinematography – 7 Tropey, but decent
Characters – 7 Same, with Mon being so likeable that it all works
Story – 7 Same. It’s a rom-com, until it becomes a drama.
Yuri – 8 It’s pretty strong off the mark, but I’ll give it somewhere to go when they become lovers
Service – 4 A little here and there. Not grotesque, just “sexy” in a very thin definition of what makes a thing sexy,
Overall – A strong 7 with room to go up.
At some point, I have going to have to read the novel, aren’t I? ^_^
Sal Jiang made quite a splash last year with both Black & White (白と黒~Black & White~) and Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる) being picked up by publishers in Japan, and Black & White: Tough Love at the Office making it’s debut in English.
