GTV
Actors: Alex Diaz, Yasser Marta, Jo Berry, Cecil Paz, Skelly Clarkson
Format/Genre: Drama anthology/Boys love, Fantasy
Premise: A merman takes the chance to become human for him to get close to the man he is falling in love with, not realizing the ugly consequences of having his wishes granted.
Timeslot: Saturdays, 7:45PM
Why Should One See It?
Magic and romance are the primary drivers that push this short boys’ love (BL) feature into the audience’s attention. That and the palpable chemistry shared by its leads make this better-late-than-never experiment of GMA Network–is exceptional.
Serving as the fifth title under GMA Public Affairs’ fantasry-drama anthology, My Fantastic Pag-Ibig, Fairy Tail Romance is GMA Network’s invitation to its audiences to dive into the world of boys’ love. This isn’t the first time the genre is being adapted to mainstream television, as TV5 previously aired the coming-of-age boys’ love series, My Extra-Ordinary, and merfolks falling to a human being, is neither foreign. A merman falling to a man, however, may strike attention.
In Fairytail Romance, Lantis (Alex Diaz) is a merman secretly falling in love with the human, Nep (Yasser Marta). The merfolk’s hidden romance interestingly coincides with Nep’s effort to nurse a heartache caused by a recent breakup. The city boy who resorted to retreating to their family resort catches the attention of Lantis, who’s been longing for real love, for a long while. One day, Nep succumbs to his broken heart and tries to kill himself by drowning. Lantis, who’s been keeping tabs on the human, rescues him and takes him back to the shore.
Lantis finds out that there is a way for mermen to transform into humans, which he takes advantage of. He again crosses the path with Nep, but this time, he now has his feet. Surprisingly, Nep remembers Lantis, whose face was the last thing he saw during his suicide attempt. From this point, things are poised to get exciting between the two whose blossoming romance may have glaring consequences.
For a boys’ love series, Fairy Tail Romance is an extremely visually pleasing feature. The location for this series is mesmerizing and the camerawork employed frames it beautifully. Also, like most of its BL contemporaries, Fairy Tail Romance undermines gender as the basis for love. It instead champions love’s universality and recognizes its capacity to cross borders, even between men and…mermen. The fantasy element is a tickling gesture, and yet it can also be taken as a screaming testament to love’s power to unite two hearts, regardless of their forms.
My Fantastic Pag-Ibig airs on GTV every Saturday night.
