Beautifully bittersweet "Summer Love" with stunning visuals

"Summer Love" that's what came to my mind while watching the relationship between Doo-na and Won Joon. They were from different worlds with different destinations who crossed each other's path momentarily by coincidence and created a lifetime of memories.
The drama's ending is sad by itself. But there's a real ending hidden in plain sight for the viewers to find. That's what made me give this drama a 10/10.

*Spoiler ahead*
It's mostly me nerding out about the ending ahead, so tread carefully if you still haven't watched the drama.
In the end we see Won Joon and Doo-na seemingly reconciling with each other but right after we see that they are going their separate ways, each to their own goals. From this it seems like that the final hug was a closure. But there are small clips at the beginning of each episode, right after the opening song where we can find the actual ending of the drama. The most important ones are in episode 1, 2, 6,7,8 and 9. It's a scene of both of them standing across each other at a rail crossing in japan (which can be confirmed by the Japanese letters in the signboards). In the clip of episode 9 the two of them can be seen standing in field of flowers with the mount Fuji behind them and they are slightly smiling at each other. In episode 2, 6 and 7 Won Joon is wearing the same outfit. In the clip in episode 8 and 9 he is wearing the same outfit he was wearing at the end of the drama. From this we can see that their meeting in Japan wasn't actually once but at least twice. But the final clue is actually in the video of the opening song where we can see Doo-na walking on a beach with Won Joon, wearing the same outfit she was wearing while standing in the rail crossing. And at the end of the video we can see them standing on the beach looking at the sunset wearing, you guessed it, the same outfit. From all this it leads us to a conclusion. They are still dating secretly. The drama ending makes us believe that they broke up. This represents them deceiving the people around them including us into believing that was the end. But the hidden clues all across the drama shows us their real situation. Because they can't openly date in Korea because of Doo-na's fame they continued their romance in japan, far from the prying eyes. Also the last big piece of clue is actually also in the opening music video. The whole friend group along with Won Joon's brother Kook Su jin playing around in the same beach. Which makes it clear that they are finally hanging out together again and Doo-na got the friends she always desired and she's not lonely anymore.

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12 individuals trying their best to "just end it" (For different reasons)

The plot is simple. 1 guy plans an assembly looking for 11 other participants to go to "eternal sleep" together.
The rules:
1. They need to vote unanimously to "pull the plug".
2. If even one person is against it then they talk about it until it's unanimous.
3. Anyone can leave anytime if they don't wish to participate in the assembly anymore.
The movie is not about the mystery or the suspense. They are a big part of the movie but they're definitely not the main focus. The main focus are the each of the 12 individuals and why they are choosing to "leave the mortal realm". As the movie progresses, the stories of each individuals starts to unravel while they try to solve the mystery of the 13th individual and each story makes it even harder for the 12 to come to a unanimous decision. Some stories are deeper than the other of course but it also what makes each of the characters unique in their own way.
It's not a horror, suspense or mystery movie. It's a story about 12 people trying their best.

Great movie. Watched it a few years back and re-watched it recently. I was shocked to see a low rating on such a gem.
Good cinematography, good cast/acting, good ost. Solid watch.

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Great drama with amazing music

Pros:
1. Good storyline which gets better with every passing episode.
2. Nicely paced. The drama has its fair share of slow moments. But personally I think they were necessary as breathers.
3. Great music. The music was honestly one of the most enjoyable factors for me in this drama. There were a lot of variations in music depending on the situations which complemented the scenes.
4. It is kind of a historical Mafia style drama.
5. Great friendships, great romance and great family bond.
6. Lots of emotions.
7. Satisfying.

Cons:
1. Big drama. It's 30 hours long with 1 hours each episode. But as I said before, it is nicely paced and it gets better with each episode. So even though it's a big drama it's definitely worth it.
2. A bit of fantasy aspect in it which honestly speaking wasn't entirely necessary. Even though it plays a big role theoretically, it was mostly ignored most of the drama. Honestly I feel like they could have achieved the exact same drama even without the fantasy aspect. But again, the fantasy part isn't too big and it can be enjoyed as a non-fantasy drama.
3. Did I say good music? It has sick music. I know it's not a con but I wanted to mention the music again anyway.

If you are into historical drama and even if you are not it's a must watch.

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Solid Drama

This drama had a good concept, good story, good humor and good execution to it. The only thing lacking was a good villain (although it had one it wasn't a good one in my opinion). Overall this was a solid drama with overall good scores and I liked it.

The story is based on the concept of prophecy of disasters. The concept is introduced at the very beginning when they shows us how the FL dreams about imminent disasters before they happen. The drama is mainly a Law drama with the ML being a newly appointed prosecutor. The drama is about how he the ML with strong moral compass (but fainthearted) solves the cases properly which the other prosecutors solved incorrectly or too lazy to solve. In this drama the dreaming portion has a significant impact on the story of the drama. This drama does have glaring loop holes but if you can ignore some loop holes it is overall an enjoyable drama.

I enjoyed it. Definitely worth the watch.

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Feel good Friendship drama

This drama is all about friendship between three friends and sharing each other's happiness, sadness, anger and embarrassment over lots of lots of drinks and food. This is a part mukbang part bromance drama with some romance sprinkled in between.

The drama was fun to watch with lots of emotional and happy moments. It was refreshing and funny. The casts were great. The foods were great. And the context was great. It reminded me of college and all those time hanging out with friends.

As the title says it has a lots of soju and beer in this drama and a lot of eating food. It has three main characters and all three get their own background stories.

It was over all a good drama. Definitely worth the watch.

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It says sci-fi but it's more like fantasy

To be honest this drama had a good concept but it has so many loop holes that it is very hard to give it high rating. I gave it 8 just because except for the glaring loop holes the overall drama was great. In my opinion anything above 8 is just too much. It had good cast, overall good music, good VFX, good production and good concept. But the they just slapped on the sci-fi title on the drama and just showed some really bad magic tricks and lacked any real explanations scientific or otherwise on how things happened the way they happened. If you can ignore this fact then it is a really good watch.

The drama was overall pretty good. The story was somewhat unique. Even though it still had those same old cliche conspiring villains whose only purpose in life was to just be a villain and create problem for the male lead, it also had some new ways to show brotherhood and a unique romance. Even though the romance seemed a bit forced at some parts it was still a bit different from other dramas and was good overall. The supporting characters were overall good where some go a bit more exposure than the other but most of them didn't have any growth or good background to them and they were just there. The music was ok. The VFX was very good for a drama.

Even with all the negatives I mentioned above I still enjoyed the drama a lot. It was one of those dramas which you don't get to watch too many. I would definitely recommend this drama.

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A very rare gem

I went into this drama expecting very little from it and came out very happy and content. In short this is one of the best dramas I have ever watched. The story was very good and the drama never even for a moment got boring for me.

The plot was very well made. Even though the name and concept is Pinocchio the drama doesn't rely on it too heavily to move it forward instead it's just a trait that makes the interactions with the female lead a bit more dynamic and fun to watch. The concept of Pinocchio was there, but it was by no means overwhelming like other dramas where these type of unique syndromes are overused. The plot is more aligned towards the concept of news reporters and their search for truth in the mass of lies. This drama has some youthful feel to it. It's also very emotional. But they made it very balanced and this was one of the biggest reasons for this drama being so good in my opinion.

Every one of the casts, main leads and support, did amazing job and made the drama so much more enjoyable. The dynamic between the main leads was cute and beautiful and they made it look like that they were really in love. The romance was big part of the plot but it didn't seem overwhelming or forced. Even though the relationship between the two leads was a bit unique but their acting made the awkward situation very ignorable.

The supporting roles had good character development and made it feel like they really grew as the drama went on. The supporting characters also had good screen time and their interactions were more than just being there for comedic relief, they had their own purpose in the drama.

The one thing that was lacking in this drama is music. The music in this drama wasn't very noteworthy but I actually didn't notice the lack of good music before writing this review. This goes to show that when the story and overall drama is good you don't need flairs to fill up the flaws.

It was unexpectedly a very very enjoyable drama and I liked it very much. I regret not watching it before but am also happy that I watched it now when good dramas are so rare. If anybody is reading this review and is wondering whether to watch it or not then please watch it. I hope you like it.

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First half worth the watch, Second half not so much.

This drama was only worth the watch because of the female lead. Her acting was quite good and did her parts perfectly. Almost everyone else was sub-par. The plot was very straight forward and there wasn't much story to it. The comedic reliefs were funny. But the emotional parts felt forced and was frustrating to watch. The ML was one of the most annoying MLs I have seen in any kind of drama and that's saying a lot. Specially in the second half it was frustrating to watch how indecisive the character was. Even the female antagonist was more likeable than the male lead.

The drama is a typical high-school rom com drama. You can find all the tropes in this one. Popular male, unpopular female, female antagonist classmate who likes the male lead, male lead's supportive best friend, female lead's supportive best friend, edgy rival of the male lead who was once his best friend.

The ML is an idol so it had some ok music. The production quality was passable. Overall it's an ok watch if you want to pass time, but I wouldn't recommend the drama to anyone.

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Sweet hometown romance

Beautiful sea, a lighthouse, seaside hometown, chaotic neighbors, amazing friendship, cute romance and lots and lots of sweet and touching moments sums up this drama.

This drama is based around the lives of people in a small seaside town. The ML is a jack of all trades who is the life of the town, and the FL is a skilled but impulsive dentist from Seoul who moves to a small town for a fresh start. The drama is sweet, cute, romantic and touching. Some of the side characters were a bit unbelievable but they complimented the drama nicely.

The chemistry between the two leads was great and it was great to watch the development between them. The whole process seemed smooth and it flowed naturally and didn't seem that forced. Things did seem a bit forced at the last few episodes but it was bearable.

Speaking of bearable one thing that was a bit unbearable was the blatant and frequent product placements. But as k-drama viewers it is a curse we are fated to bear. But it was a bit too much in this one imo.

The story was quite good. Even though it wasn't ground breaking story the story flow was quite good and kept things interesting and made me look forward to what happens next.

The music was beautiful. There weren't too many songs but the ones they had went nicely with the whole thing.

The actors were nicely cast specially the few important characters were quite good and did a superb job. Shin Min Ah was beautiful in her character and Kim Seon Ho seemed perfect for the male lead's character.

This drama was very good. For people who likes sweet rom-coms this is definitely a good watch.

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Simply thrilling

I can't believe I haven't heard of this movie earlier. This movie should have more fame than it has now. As the name suggests this movie is just first part of a bigger story with a second part on the way this year. But the story, production quality, acting and the action scenes this movie offers is simply mind blowing.
The movie starts out slow but it ends with a bang. I haven't seen such good quality actions sequences in many Korean dramas or movies. It even beats majority of Hollywood action movies in regards of action sequence. I rewatched the second half of the movie just for the action.
The story delves into dark corners of scientific research and the movie has supernatural elements to it and contrary to my expectations it didn't actually ruin the movie but actually enhanced certain parts of the delivery of the movie. It has some gore to it but it's not too much.
The cast and acting was also very very well done with Choi Woo Shik being placed in a character that's very unusual for him at first glance but the result being a pure success. Kim Da Mi's acting in the 2nd half was also very impressive and helped build the overall atmosphere of the movie.
They used some old school korean music in this movie which I really liked as you don't really hear them in the average movies and dramas these days and it was quite nice.
If you are into action thriller movies then I would definitely recommend it.

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Beautiful OST and Cinematography

First of all, very beautiful OSTs. The OSTs definitely carried the drama to a higher place. It is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in K-dramas.
The story of this drama revolves around the good parts and hard parts of being in a relationship. I think there were some relatable moments to it which makes you think back and ponder over them. The story was overall good. There were a lot of thing happening and they did a good job wrapping everything up in the end. I would say the story falls off a bit in the middle and the main characters literally switch their personality which was a bummer as I would've loved to see the female lead as she was in the first half of the drama, tough and strong. But it was still good and the change made sense. The side characters were good but they didn't have any character buildup to them, they were just there because they had to and for some comedy relief. Except for NJ. I loved NJ.
The cast and acting was good.
The Cinematography was good and made the drama that much more enjoyable.

This drama is not perfect but it did everything right and it paid off. This drama was overall a great experience and I would definitely recommend people to give it a watch.

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An ok drama

Overall: It was a good cute drama with interesting dynamic between the two leads. It was emotional and funny. Even though it was by no means one of the best, it was quite enjoyable to watch.

Plot: Somewhat predictable. It's what you would expect from a story based on a folktale creature. It will go just the way you expect it to go. But that being said, it was good watch overall.

Pace: A bit slow for my taste.
Romance: Cute. Fantastic guy, bubbly average girl dynamic. Rich established guy, average college girl dynamic. Mythical creature, average human dynamic.

Comedy: Good. There were a fair bit of comedic scenes that sometimes looked forced. But overall there were some naturally funny moments that kept the show from getting stale.

Music: Average. Nothing memorable. The music felt like it was just there to fill the silence. It wasn't bad, but it also didn't seem to add anything to the drama.

Cast and Acting: I think the main characters were cast perfectly. The ML looked just like a fox who was clueless to human emotions. The FL looked average in a charming way.

Quality: The production quality was ok. It wasn't top notch quality but it was still good. The CG in some parts was too obvious but it wasn't too bad. The only thing I didn't like is the product placements seemed too brazen.

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Very cute sports college rom-com drama

Well this drama has been famous for a long time and so there are tons of reviews on it and I don't think I can add anything new to that. I am just surprised that it took me so long to decide to watch this drama. I am one of those who has watched almost all of the dramas in the Top Drama list. But for some reason I have never come around to watch this one.

It is a very cute drama. It is nothing special considering the rom-com genre. But if you watch a lot of rom-com dramas then you would know that for most rom-com dramas other aspects beside the plot is what sets them apart from one another. And this one is one of those dramas which did almost everything right on every aspects. It has a lot of clichés, but they did the clichés right, so that it didn't become too awkward and cheesy. They kept it fresh. They paced the plot nicely and had enough comedy, feels and cuteness in them to keep the viewers occupied. The story wasn't too deep. The two things the plot heavily depended on were the sports and campus romance (perks of both leads studying in the same college). They highlighted the triumphs and problems professional athletes face. I always like sports based things and it being a college romance was a plus for me.

I have to admit, I usually don't like the romance scenes in dramas as I find them too cheesy and awkward to look at, but this drama made every romance scene too cute to dislike. Bok Joo in the oversized fluffy jackets with mufflers on looked like a doll. The two of them looked like a perfect couple.
The OST was beautiful.

If I had to think about something that I disliked about this drama then it would be Si Ho's arcs. I understand that it was necessary to show some of the problems in some athlete's life, but sometimes she seemed forgotten and her arc felt incomplete. The writer seemed to have created a nice backstory for her but ultimately left her to the sidelines. Same for one of the ML's classmates as if they just totally forgot about him near the last few episodes.

Well, If you are like me and still haven't watched the drama, then just watch it. It's a good drama.

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Not your usual rom-com drama

It is a rom-com drama. But it isn't a typical one. Sure it follows the typical boy likes girl and girl likes boy line of every rom-com drama created ever, but it also has some materials that doesn't truly follow the norm of basic rom-com dramas.
This drama makes the viewers question some of the basic views in relationship that they take for granted. It tackles some fundamental problems that a couple may face in a certain situation in their relationship.

In this drama the ML is not the usual cool or rich dude. Here the ML is a ordinary and sensitive guy. The FL is portrayed as a cool woman with strong personality. The cast did very good in depicting their emotions in different situations.

The drama has some comedy to it. But it also hits the viewers in the emotional department too. The plot is not bad and the flow was quiet smooth. The second leads had good potential to them but I found it a bit lacking, but you will see why when you watch the drama. This drama was unique in this part too and it made for some fun situations.

Overall if you are tired of watching regular rom-com dramas and want to change the pace with something new in the genre then this drama isn't a bad choice. I would definitely recommend it.

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Zombie movie with a comedic twist

Is this movie good? The answer is if you are into comedic zombie movies then it's not bad. If you have seen the Hollywood movie "Warm Bodies", it is kind of similar but a bit wilder. If you are here because of the movie poster and think that this is a bad-ass zombie fighter team movie then you would be disappointed. It is fun in it's own way, but it's not truly a scary movie. It's mostly comedy and some romance.

Again I am surprised by actress LSK's acting (truthfully, I don't usually watch any dramas or movies for specific actors or actresses, but I watched three of her works successively and I find her very talented.) Other casts also did a pretty good job considering the concept of the movie.
The cinematography was ok and the music was good and well placed.

The movie is a good time killer. The comedy was the best part of the movie. It is pretty good if you are into comedic horror.

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