Anti Reset (2024)

Actually a Robot?

After all these god, vampire, demon, now we got love story with a robot! But is he actually a robot? I have a feeling that at the end we'll know that he's just acting! Otherwise, why would he be embarrassed while buying underwear! ?

However, tho it's kinda cringy but also cute. First of all, which contract starts with a kiss! ? And a student asking her teacher "Can I come over?" like wtf! It doesn't make sense.

I don't have any high hope with it. At the beginning I thought it'll probably be a lightweight rom-com. But we can tell that Wu Ping probably had a bad past.

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First Impression: Anti Reset

Overall: a strong start with a unique premise (how do we all get a robot like that lol). 10 episodes about 20 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala & Viki. Note, there is an extra scene at the end after the initial credits.

Content Warnings: non con picture taking

What I Liked
- unique premise with a clear set up
- sweet/cute moments
- funny moments (the dream with the soap was a highlight)

Room For Improvement
- the only 2 female characters are cliches
- nonsense (and not talking about the obvious which I can totally accept as long as they stay consistent in their world building), do university students in Taiwan have their professor's personal cell phone numbers???, his household supplies were stored in the living room on a bookcase???
- some of the camerawork feels low budget
- incorrect description/subtitles (didn't take off points), he dislocated his shoulder, not his wrist/hand

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A robot in a love relationship? Is it even possible?

First and foremost, there are two kinds of a basic robot, one has the capacity to learn and grow (AI / Artifical Intelligent); the other operates on a pre-set and non-learning program. The former is the robot here.

Another first plot for a Taiwanese BL, they are really breaking grounds.

We have to understand that the basic of a robot-AI is that it is like a child starting to learn on top of the what was initially designed/uploaded into the system. Yes, there will be awkward acting because of this; but it is cuuuuuuute! Early on you can see who got into who first, but the question remains, can it be reciprocated, returned? Robots' based on the action and reaction on their programming and it learns from the action and reaction of the people it interacts with. It also learns from the situations and it experience it.

To a degree, this is a late coming of age story. LOL

As for the story itself, when a man who is used to be alone and doing stuffs by himself suddenly had a companion, an AI. For someone who is not used being taken care of, it is very easy for him to think of the AI more than its purpose. Be that as it may, the question now is, can the AI learn to feel anything? Is it even part of its programming? That is the allure of this series, the questions.

Visuals of the actors cannot be denied; couple with the aesthetic interior and architecture make things way easier to the eyes.

As this plot is something new, expect that this will not be perfect and will be opportunities to improve. But like I said earlier, this is another first for Taiwnese BL.

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Boy meets robot

Boy meets robot
Technology has entered the world of cinema and television for many years now with the presence of artificial intelligence (AI), defined as the ability of a machine or a computer program to think, learn and act like a human being. Although she has sometimes played villainous roles and sometimes played heroine roles, there is no doubt that she has always, or almost always, played a leading role.
Examples of the above are: 'Her' (2014), 'Ex Machina' (2015), '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1970), 'Ghost in the Shell' (1996), 'Minority Report' (2002) , 'Blade Runner' (1982), 'War Games' (1983), 'The Perfect Man' (2021), The Ultimate Boyfriend (2008), The Bicentennial Man (1999), among other films.
The human being and the machines... the machines and the human being. From the moment I read the synopsis I asked myself questions that I had already asked myself before and to which I have no answers: Will machines replace us one day? Will we end up 'humanizing' artificial intelligence? Will we have to live in fear of being subjugated in the future? Will humans be vulnerable in a context of total dependence on technology? Do robots have wants, dreams and needs?
The premise of the man-robot relationship is the impetus for directors and scriptwriters of BL series to take advantage of the opportunity to give their followers, for the first time, a drama that portrays a romance between a human being and an android.
From the Taiwanese production company Vidol, Anti Reset will not present us with AI on this occasion as villainous and alien robots determined to control and destroy humanity, as T-800 from 'Terminator' (Arnold Schwarzenegger) tried to achieve. Nor will it bring us wonderful C3PO and R2D2 or the endearing WALL-E to delight us.
It will show us a total antithesis of the "robots are coming to destroy us" thinking, as it will move away from the basic concept of AI to bring us closer to a more conventional narrative associated with another genre, romance. This interesting story portrays one of the many perspectives that exist on the relationship between a human and an android.
The creators of BL series have decided to up the ante. Only in this way is the production of a drama that will not be the classic 'boy meets boy' romance but 'boy meets robot' explainable.
One of the protagonists is a substitute for the human being. The robot and the person it cares for and with whom it will fall in love, will take us into a multitude of moral arguments that surround the series, while we see a futuristic narrative arc that, without a doubt, will end up conquering us.
The drama tells the story of Chu Yi Ping (Wu Ping Chen), a man without emotions and few social skills who, after dislocating his hand in an accident at school, accepts his uncle's proposal to be taken care of by Ever 9 (Huang Li Feng). While the experimental intelligent robot is being secretly evaluated to decide whether or not it is suitable for coexistence with humans for the purpose of curing the emotionally disabled, it keeps company with a reluctant Yi Ping, who will soon discover that Ever 9 complements its deficiencies.
At first, Yi Ping has a hard time interacting with the robot. Although at times he is almost convinced of his humanity, he always ends up remembering that he is nothing more than a programmed machine. Interacting with Ever 9 will allow you to break your prejudices about robots and at the same time better understand human needs.
While the robot's capabilities are being evaluated, the relationship between the two young people goes beyond “normal” and Ever 9's apparent humanity begins to attract Yi Ping. Thus, he will look for a way to help the android go out into the real world with him, to live a life together.
To pass the time, Yi Ping asks Ever 9 to make a wish and complete the wish list together, but before completing it, Ever 9 breaks down. The repair only takes a week. But when he returns, his attitude towards Yi-Ping has completely changed. After the reboot, Ever 9 rushes to complete the wishlist and pretends to be bored with Yi Ping and actively asks for a return. Yi Ping doesn't know what's wrong with Ever 9, because he has learned from him how to be human and experience love. Can't you learn to be together all your life? Is the promise to never separate void?
'Anti Reset' is a romantic perspective on the love between robots and humans, it is an incredible reflection on the scope of the growing robot and artificial intelligence industry. While man wonders what the dangers that technological advances represent, this BL arrives to make us think about the emotions and the relationship that robots will have with humans in the future beyond their practical usefulness.
This series is set in a world that could easily be our future reality. So, we must open our minds, since together with the two protagonists we will delve into what love really is and what it means, through an atypical relationship.
The script, while not perfect, benefits from the performances of Huang Li Feng (Stay by My Side, The Ambiguous Focus, Kinematics Theory, The End of Our Youth (2016) and Wu Ping Chen (Stay by My Side, One Afternoon, Komorebi), giving a subtle and different twist to the characters of a plot that, otherwise, would seem too familiar or trite.
The two main characters will go through the different phases of a relationship that, although it is not a typical romance, covers universal themes, but the biggest dilemma that Yi Ping will have to face is whether we are prepared to fulfill our most intimate desires. and fantasies or if, on the contrary, we prefer that a love that was born platonic remains that way.
I remember an Asian film close to this one for the introduction of artificial intelligence, 'Customized companion' (订制男友, Dingzhi nanyou), the Chinese BL and science fiction romantic drama directed by Kuo-Liang Fu in 2017, in which he talks about love between two boys, who use a phone app and summon a personalized virtual companion in the hopes of finding what they have lost in each other.
'My Heartless Boy', one of four stories in the 2023 Thai BL 'Moments of Love', starring Fort Thitipong Sangngey, as Fort, and Pie Saranvut Nittayasuthi, as Pie, addresses a love relationship between a human and a machine which must also be discontinued.
'Anti Reset' is undoubtedly a proposal that brings originality and freshness to the futuristic analysis of the relationships between human beings and artificial intelligence.

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