Despite writing flaws, swoon-worthy romance with a touch of sorrow carried by super strong cast

Given its screenwriter and its main cast, I was expecting a lot from this drama. I overall really enjoyed it (especially in its first half) but I must admit that the writing and pacing let me down in its second half (and more particularly in its finale act). I'm always looking forward to the new work of screenwriter Park Ji Eun: I tend to really enjoy the way she builds her romances, with a lot of details, dramatic elements and fated lovers' narrative. Here again, she writes what I think is an iconic love story with a touch of sorrow, which is really her trademark.

The premise of the series is super interesting as it hijacked the classical "male chaebol & poor hard working girl" trope. I loved so much how lines that are usually said by male lead are done by the female lead and vice versa. The series is really playing on the usual tropes of romantic comedy and diverting them, it is excellent on that aspect. However, the ending did not totally hold its promises : the plot got crazier with an overwhelming amount of coincidences, the villains losing their strategic edge to go into full madness territory. As the story unfolds itself, there were also much less gender reversal of dramaland tropes and it went unfortunately back to a more classical romantic dynamic between the two leads. Still cute, but much more expected.

The acting was the best part of the drama. Kim Soo Hyun, Kim Ji Won and Park Sung Hoon are actors/actress that I really love and once again, they showcased incredible performances. Even when the writing became clunkier, they made it work and made a lot in terms of making digestible some of the more bonker elements and rhythm issues of the last act. The chemistry between Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won was off the charts: their characters' relationship went through so many phases and they managed to sell every step of it. Park Sung Hoon's darkening and brooding face was incredibly chilling even when his character fell apart in terms of writing.

The production value was super high. There were some very pretty sets as well as incredibly swoon-worthy scenes (the helicopter one, the lavender field, the castle,...). The making was beautiful and above all, the soundtrack was amazing. With the acting, the OST did a lot in exacerbating feelings for the viewer. I will likely go back to listening to many of the songs of the drama which is clearly a sign of its addictive quality.

I would recommend this to people looking for an emotional love story. Given the episodes length, It is quite an investment in terms of time and there are some issues with the writing in the second half of the series. However, despite its flaws, I truly enjoyed the drama thanks to the incredible acting, great OST and iconic romantic scenes.If you loved other dramas from this writer (such as My Love From Another Star and Crash Landing on You), you are in known territory and should like it as well.

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Not for me...I found it boring and difficult to connect with the story

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by this movie. It is for sure pretty slow and does not commit to one obvious genre. It is not really a BL, not really a queer coming of age story, neither a thrilling horror film...It is not really a default to be ambivalent in terms of genre but here really it is super strange and I'm still not sure what I have seen or if I really understood the intentions of the screenwriter.

It does not help also that the film has a really contemplative feel with the camera really taking its time...It feel super slow and I think it takes 40 minutes for something midly interesting to happen. It has a strong indie feel but not necessarily in a good way: the characters are litteraly living through miserable sets: the decors for sure have a purpose in the context of the story but their poverty really does not entice more the viewer...

The casting was okay overall. I watched this movie for Gun and he is good in it. Not as great as in some of the later series I saw him in but it is already very clear how skilled he is. His presence elevates for sure the movie. I would have loved to see even more from him (especially in the more frightening scenes) but he does a good job. I was not particularly impressed nor dissatisfied by the acting of his counterpart.

I would not recommend this to people. Maybe if you are in the right mood or if you are a fan of Gun, it can be interesting to watch it...I also think that a second watch might really help to understand some of the layers of the scenario and better grasp the intentions of the screenwriter. However, even if that is the case, I will likely never watch it a second time because clearly the entertaining factor was totally missing for me...

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Incredibly well-acted meaningful story + impressive action scenes = Instant Favourite !

This series is an aggregation of what I love the most: attaching characters, deeply moving storylines intersecting in interesting way over time period and various settings, impressive and riveting action sequences with purposeful cinematographic choices and amazing acting by the whole ensemble cast...

The pace of the story was very good: it is divided in three narrative arcs which have in a way their own flavour and still manage to form a cohesive great piece. I was super invested and watched the complete drama in two days: that shows how good the whole watching experience was to me.

The characters were amazing and portrayed by very skilled actors. There are a lot of faces that I love among the casting which helped even more making this series such a perfect one to me. Han Hyo Joo and Zo In Sung (who is totally dreamy in this role) are two actors that I like a lot and they once again proof how great they are here. The chemistry between them was impeccable. All the main "parents" roles were great and went beyond my expectations over the course of the show. I'm grateful for the drama to made me discover Ryu Seung Ryong and to have featured is such an outstanding way the excellent Kim Sung Kyun who I love so much in each of the drama I saw him in.

Go Youn Jung who I discovered in "Alchemy of Souls" keeps to continuously impressed me and I will be looking for her new shows as well as for Lee Jung Ha who was the revelation of the drama to me. His character is the heart of the show: he was such an adorable cutie pie, full of green flags and the actor played him so candidly that it became immediately my favourite part of the drama.

I really enjoyed the show so much that I can really forgive its sole default (at least to me) which is linked to its last arc and ending being a bit too quick and with some relatively unnecessary flashbacks. I would actually not have minded to have a couple more episodes to develop even better the end...But I still enjoyed it so so much that I am pretty sure I am just being greedy here.

The filmmaking truly deserves a lot of praise. The director managed to be really creative in the numerous actions sequences. I was never bored and he made some seemingly mundane scenes feel very innovative and fresh. The soundtrack was not overly present but was pretty good in setting the mood and pushing me to watch the next episode.

I would recommend this to people looking for an action series with some slice-of-life elements, impressive cast, superheroes vibe and amazing cinematography. It is quite graphic in the violence depicted so you might want to skip it if you are triggered by that. If you enjoyed series such as Heroes (only looking at its very good *season 1*), I would strongly advise to give a chance to "Moving".

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Disappointing BL story. Lack of excitement and characters development.

I'm disappointed by this BL story. The romance was lackluster. It is a shame because the premise was interesting and could have led to some exciting relationship. However, I found myself utterly bored and not interested.

I did not found the chemistry between the actors believable. There were very few sparks until the last episode and I did not understand how they fell in love with each other. I could blame it on the short episodes but honestly there are similar sized series that do a much better job in terms of developing both plot and characters' depth. So for me, it is a total miss.

I would not recommend this except if you are an aficionado of BL romances. As the drama is quite short, it might be worth to test it and make your own opinion.

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Yamazaki Kento shines so much as an anti-hero host! Great concept solidly acted!

I truly enjoyed the scenario of this drama which mixes time leap concepts with a host club as a starting point. I always liked "second chance" and "revenge on life" stories and I found it was done here in a particularly exciting and rather innovative way. There are unfortunately some loopholes inherent to that kind of supernatural element but it never really impacted my enjoyment of the series, except maybe in the last episode where I felt the solution chosen was a bit too abruptly put together and not very coherent. I was there for the emotional payoff but a bit more time for the resolution would have been appreciated.

Yamazaki Kento did an incredible job as the anti-hero, a host without morale and caring only about money, using women as tools. He managed to make the evolution of his character really believable and had some incredibly well-executed emotional scenes. It is probably my favorite role of his so far. Mackenyu, who I discovered here and who plays the antagonist, was a really good counterpart in terms of acting skills. I was totally invested in his character's storyline: it was so painful and dark. Not sure if it is due to the writing or the actor's performance (or more likely the combination of both), but I found it super interesting. Kadowaki Mugi and Araki Yuko were also very good in their respective parts, even if their characters had seemingly less agency than the male roles, they evolved all through the show, becoming stronger in advocating for themselves.

I liked the overall production of the series. It was super efficient in conveying the various time leaps. At no point as a viewer I felt confused about where we were on the timeline, it was very simple to understand. I really appreciated the opening generic and the OST as well. Suda Masaki’s character singing, as a street musician, was such a highlight in the drama. I loved it.

I would recommend this to people looking for a drama that will take you on a journey alongside its (anti-)hero. It mixes genres well with supernatural, thriller and romance elements.The acting is very solid with some passionate and captivating moments. There are some loopholes and the ending would have benefited from more time but I honestly found the watch incredibly rewarding with a lot of emotional payoff.

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Memorable melodramatic love story with great cast and filmmaking

I enjoyed the movie overall and found the story quite gripping. There were some direction in terms of plot that I felt was a bit heavily handed and somewhat predictable but at least the choices made by the characters made sense as the scenario provided sufficient background story to depicts their motivation and inner turmoil.

The cast is overall excellent. I truly love Han Hyo Joo and she tackes brilliantly the role. You cannot help but feel for her character and the tragic elements of her life story. The other main role, played by So Ji Sub delivers a performance matching hers in quality, full of charisma, passion and dramatic moments.

The filmmaking was very good. Even watching it 13 years later, it is still very up to nowadays standard for pictures in that specific genre. There were so many particularly well filmed and beautiful romantic scenes (e.g. the staircase one, the river,...) as well as so many little details in the production allowing the build up of the characterization of the two main protagonists.

I would recommend this to people looking for a good romantic story full of turmoil and emotion as it is centered arount the encounter of two broken-by-life human beings. The story in itself is not without flaws but is quite poetic and the sincere performances of the two main leads brought up to a higher level the scenario.

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"Don't be afraid of the cracks. That's where the light comes in."

I really enjoyed the main love story featured in this BL series. It is a forbidden romance concept well done in terms of sorrow and angst...It firmly tugged at all my heartstrings. Unfortunately, the scenario is not without flaws regarding the build up of the secondary romance as well as some stupid decisions made by characters (...yeah my pet peeve aka noble idiocy is back once again). There were also some pacing issues in addition to some shift in tones not always very successfull.

What really made me forget about these little defaults is the excellent chemistry between the two main actors who are pretty good together. They sell super well the main concept of "Didi's puppy love for his Gege who is blind to his feelings". Kurt Huang impressed me so much as his character grows the most during the show. He is very compelling to look at and his evolution was very well acted. Given his charisma, I will be for sure looking forward for more series with him in the future. Chris Chiu is a solid counterpart as well. The secondary cast made less of a lasting impression on me, except for Sam Lin whose I wish the character had more screentime.

I liked the production: it has a very raw style on some scenes that I enjoyed (especially in its first episodes). The filmmaking of most of the romantic scenes had my heartbeat increasing. There so many pretty and exciting moments between the leads. The office setting was more mundane and standard but very suitable overall. I truly enjoyed the OST, especially the ending song which is so charming and fitting perfectly with the thematic of the series.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a forbidden romance concept with a lot of angst and chemistry. I watched it week by week but I think it would make an excellent binge watch. The script is not without flaws in terms of pacing as well as narrative choices but overall the payoff in terms of love story is so good that it is really worth it and you forgot all the defaults thanks to the good acting and chemistry of the two main male leads.

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Beautifully filmed autumnal & sweet BL story

The most outstanding aspect of this simple and sweet BL story is its production. I found the filmmaking amazing: there were so many beautiful autumnal sceneries. It made the romantic moments so pretty, you can feel the care in the directing of the actors. Some scenes that could have felt very mundane became in fact really stunning. The fashion in this series was also very on point. There were a lot of pieces of clothes (sweaters, pullovers, accessories) that I would love to have...In addition to being mesmerized by the clothing, I quie enjoyed the soundtrack. Even if the main song was a bit overused, it was understandable given how central it was to the plot.

The writing was a bit weaker compared to the production value. There were too many flashbacks which made it seem like they screenwriter and director were trying to fill time. I enjoyed a lot all the fluff and cute sequences...Despite some backtracking in the relationship in the second half, seemingly to again add a bit of content and act as filler, but not necessarily making sense with what was known of the long established relationship between the main characters.

I enjoyed the acting. The two main leads managed to make their chemistry very believable. Their kissing scenes were lovely and the evolution of their intimacy made sense and was convincing. The antagonist was properly a jerk and the actor who played the role made my blood boil which is a good sign as it was clearly the point.

I would recommend this to people looking for a cute BL series with a friends-to-lovers trope as well as in the youth and music genres. It is not super deep or revolutionary but very enjoyable to watch thanks to the amazing filmmaking and fashion. A feast for the eyes with a lot of fluff.

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Interesting and fun concept but very repetitive story with too little character growth

I have seen quite a lot of Japanese school drama featuring fights between "bad"/"misbehaving" students and therefore I might just feel a certain weariness towards the genre and be more critical of it compared to when I discovered it. The story is quite classic but I enjoyed the location and time period (Chiba in the 80's) and also the fact that there is no "hero" teacher fighting like it is often the case in that kind of drama. Here, the leads are the students and everything needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. There is no moralizing teaching moments, just very shonen-like confrontations between rivals.

The acting is over-the-top which makes sense given the fact that it is a manga adaptation clearly more oriented towards heavy gags and comedy rather than emotional moments. It is quite fun and the performance of Kaku Kento is really the highlight of the series. In my opinion, it is thanks to his huge physical comedic abilities that the drama jokes are landing properly. The other actors are suitable but less good, they fit the over-exaggerated tone of the show but have much less variety and range in their acting. I enjoyed the bromance between the two main characters but I wish it would have been more developped.

The drama is funny but it has quite a lot of flaws as well. The main ones are that the story gets very quickly super repetitive and also that the characters have almost no room for growth. There is not really any evolution between the first episode and the last episode of the series which is a bit of a shame.

In addition to that, the production value is very low. The fight scenes are laughable at best: the fake blood and the theatrics of it all are fun but they could have been much better filmed and conceived. On another hand, I liked a lot the intro song with its 80's japanese rock band vibe and with the yanki theme, it was totally fitting given the concept of the drama and the generic scene was unskippable.

I would recommend this to people looking for a mindless but funny Japanese high school drama. It is quite classic for the genre but set in the 80's which bring up a bit of a different flavor. I think that I have seen similar series that are better but it is still an entertaining watch for either the real afficionado (or in contrary people that have not seen a lot of dramas in this genre and will have therefore less fatigue regarding the repetitive side of some scenes).

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Not really a BL but rather a strong, raw and brutal psychological story with a lot of trauma

This movie is very difficult to describe: it is about a very traumatic event happening to a school teacher as his life falls literally into pieces. It is raw, brutal and violent in addition of featuring a community of outcasts and a darker side of the Japanese society. It confronts the viewer to the ugliness of the reality of dealing with abusers and how it is difficult to receive proper help to heal as well as to find justice and peace. In term of story, I was pretty impressed by the choices made by the screenwriter. Pacing could have been a bit better, especially toward the ending.

The acting was good overall: especially regarding the two main characters. I would have expected maybe a bit more from the secondary casting who did ok but where in some case it could have been stronger (especially when comparing with what the main leads were providing). Even at the level of the two main male leads, it could have been even stronger but they did a very good job given the raw scenes in which they were acting.

The music is pretty central in a way to the film. It is super interesting to see how poetry, language and then rap and music are used to deal with trauma and as part of the healing process. The filmmaking was great: it had an indie vibe totally fitting the scenario, with some camera mouvements giving an angsty vibe which brought me shivers.

I would recommend this to people looking for a strong psychological story with a thriller / dark side and involving very traumatic events happening to the characters. It is completey gripping and gutwrenching. This film is full of triggers, shocking scenes and very graphic: be mindful and check the tags (or even maybe the spoils if you want to make sure this is a movie you will be able to digest).

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Enjoyed the slice-of-life aspect and nostalgia throwback, romance could have been better

This movie follows the life of two highschool students in the early 1980's: one being the female leader of a brutal gang of girls and harboring a crush for the second who is the goofy playboy of the school. I liked the slice-of-life tone of this film, mixed with some teen angst / gang wars elements but I found the pacing of the scenario quite sluggish and the romance aspect relatively lacking. I found the ending enjoyable but quite rushed compared to the introduction which took really a long time to set up the story.

The cast was pretty great. Lee Jong Suk is totally credible as the quite lame but attractive playboy and Park Bo Young is charismatic as the main female protagonist (eventhough given her size, it is not that believable that she would be the strongest fighter among the other students). Kim Young Kwang as the male antagonist was very badass and cool, I will be looking forward watching him in other roles.

The production was very good overall: it has a real old school / nostalgia vibe, totally fitting with the thematic of the film. The soundtrack is pretty nice and suits well the vibe of the story. There are some really cool fight sequences that are not repetitive and that keep you on your toes regarding the well-being of the protagonists.

I would recommend this to people looking for a coming-of-age story set up in a South Korean highschool in the early 1980's. It has a strong slice-of-life tone, romance being more secondary than the main focus of the script which is more about the growth of teenagers living through high and low of highschool in the countryside.

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Not my cup of tea despite interesting premise

This BL movie follows the story of one North Korean deserter as he escapes to South Korea and settles there, facing quite a lot of difficulties. The premise of this picture was very interesting but unfortunately I had some trouble appreciating the scenario overall. I usually like love triangle, but it missed the mark for me here because I was not able to empathize with the characters and found some of their actions not sensible.

It is a very raw, brutal as well as surprisingly graphic movie. I think the shock factor was priviledged by the director and screenwriter rather than the likeability (or at least just building) of the characters. It was not a boring watch at all but I would have preferred the plot to focus more on characterization as well as making the protagonists' choices be more reasonable and understandable for the viewer.

The acting was overall okay. The actors had really intense sex scenes and gave it their best. As the relationships evolve and get more intertwinkled, as well as the situation the characters live through gets more difficut, the acting remains all along pretty strong with good portray of the most emotional scenes. I think where it was lacking was mostly relating to the chemistry : I felt the passion and rage, but I had trouble believing in the love and romance...I think it might be again more due to a directing/screenwriter choices but I would have preferred the film to take another approach.

I would not recommend this to people because I cannot say that I enjoyed the movie. As it is quite short ans has an interesting and original premise, so you might want to give it a go if you are looking for a pretty raw BL. It leans strongly into the melodramatic genre which I would have appreciated more with a better characterization and storylines. Be aware that this movie can be very triggering: it is graphic, violent and depicts very toxic relationships.

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Fun and light fanfic-like reverse harem movie: a bit frustrated by the ending cop-out

This movie is about a fujioshi (= a person who has a strong passion for Yaoi stories and shipping male characters from anime/manga together) who becomes very popular at her highschool after undergoing some drastic physical transformation. This film is an adaptation from a reverse harem manga with the female lead being pursued by 4 male suitors. After watching it, I must say I would be interested to read the manga, especially given the ending of the film (which felt a bit like a cop-out) and to discover the end game in the original version.

The message and morale of the story is a bit unclear and blurry. The scenario seems to denounce some toxic behaviors but reinforce/affirmate some others. The saving grace for me is that there are wrongdoings on both sides of the various relationships/pairings: both female and male characters are flawed and excert some eyebrow-raising actions. The whole script is lighthearted, so despite the cringe factor and the predictibility of the tale, it is also super fun...Almost like a fanfic becoming alive. There is a lack of subtlety for sure as well as too much levity and naivety regarding some situations, which did not prevent me to really enjoy the watch.

The casting was adequate. The MVP was clearly Yoshino Hokuto playing the role of one of the suitor: senpai Mutsumi Asuma. I might be biaised as he played my favorite character, in any case, I will be really looking forward watching this actor in other works. The two actresses playing the heroine were fun as well, despite some overacting. There were not a lot of opportunities for any of the cast to have strong and deep moments, so acting was suitable but not impressive overall.

The production was okay for a high school movie, it felt a bit cheap at time but there were also some good sequences, particularly for some of the musical numbers / theatre moments. The OST was not memorable but very pop and fitting with the concept of the film.

I would recommend this to people looking for a fun and light high school movie with a reverse harem trope. It is really not deep and there are quite a bit of problematic elements not addressed at all, the morale/message is unclear with an ending that feel like a cop-out...But despite all the flaws, it is a really entertaining and enjoyable watch.

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Quite fun despite some pacing issue and unlikeable characters

This movie is about the encounter of a zombie and a quite odd family living in a small village in the countryside. Each member of the family as well as the zombie has his/her own quirks making the encounter and subsequent adventures quite fun to follow. In terms of tonality, the film is really more parodic / comedic than horrific with a smalltown vibe as well.

The casting was pretty good but I never fully felt connected to any of the characters. I was not rooting for their survival at all which is quite an issue given the zombie thematic. Most of the characters are quite unpleasant and I cannot help to feel that some of the narrative arcs and development would have been much more engaging if I liked them. I do not think that it is the actors fault but rather the writing...MVP of the movie is clearly the character of Nam Joo, the pregnant wife, played by Uhm Ji Won, she made fantastic !!!

The production was pretty good, you really feel the village atmosphere and the action scenes were nice. I wish it would have been much more gore and raw...But they went into another direction, more caricatural and comical, and were at least consistent following their filmmaking choice. The soundtrack was quite nice and set properly the ambiance.

I would recommend this to people looking for a "found-family" movie with a zombie twist. It is a rather original take on the zombie genre and is quite fun to follow despite some issue in its pacing. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of emotions and connections I felt toward the characters, I would have love to be more engaged... It is kind of a mix between 2 movies "A Werewolf Boy" and "Extreme Job", so if you enjoyed one of those, you might want to try this one as well!

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Caricatural but fun at first, collapsing in its second half with conflicts not handled well

This movie features an arranged marriage between a young 16 year old rich heiress and her handsome high school senpai. The premisse of the story as well as the tone of the film is very parodic and with a lot of humour/over-acting as well as non-sensical elements. I was in need of some mindless fluff and the first part of the story really fit the brief: it was light and fun, perfect to put your brain at full rest...However, I was disappointed by the second half of the story and with the turn taken by the scenario.

I found the acting relatively okay for the main characters and the second male lead. The couple was very platonic and itlacked a bit in terms of tension but I found them overall very cute together. It was even more average for the support roles for which I think the actors and actresses were directed to act over-the-top but it was very dumb and missed the mark sometimes in terms of comedic timing because of the exaggeration.

The production value was standard for the high school japanese movie rom-com and the ost was as well forgettable with some jpop song adequate for the genre but leaving no real impression on the viewer.

I would not necessarily recommend this movie as I think it collapsed in its second half with a shift to a more "dramatic" tone with some internal and external conflicts that were not handled very well and a resolution that I found very expected and quite cringy. If you are looking for a very light movie to watch, easy for the brain and some mindless fun, you might still want to give it a shot. Sometimes, it is clearly what you need and it is perfectly valid as well.

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