When twilight breaks dawn....

Wow! What a ride this turned out to be! It was funny, interesting, nail biting, suspenseful, charming, well it was everything a drama should be! And still I had to put in an enormous effort to continue watching it after taking a break (for sleeping, eating and such!) which I do not understand! There is something escaping me here!

The story is not new: the FL is suddenly transposed from the real world into a romance book where she falls in love with the overbearing CEO of the ML. She takes the time to undermine and play with every romance cliché there is to the hilarious effect.

So here are my notes, a few thing I jotted down as I watched it!

Why is the beginning giving me such Dynasty vibes? It looks like your prime time US soap opera, with unbelievably beautiful and scornful rich people walking around as if they own the World? Such cartoonish, OTT characters!
Fortunately, things seem to be moving in the right direction in ep2. Like in Extraordinary You, the FL realizes she is not the main character of the novel she landed in and her reactions are hilarious!
After a terrible first episode when I almost dropped this, now and enjoying the ride immensely! I am loving the way they are making fun of all those "cold CEO & sweet and innocent damsel-in-distress" stories. Moreover, I hope I am wrong, but I am getting those SLS symptoms and that is not a good sigh. The CEO is hot but the girl lost in the novel has such sparkling chemistry with the CSO, CEO's friend!
The FL is funny and quirky and they are so mocking the usual drama tropes. In ep. 6 the book the white lotus damsel in distress broke a mirror and cut her finger: the injury is about the size of a needle top but the whole first aid kit is being used while she winces as she's being treated. So funny! I really hope this is going to stay like this! Even the book CEO is starting to show cracks in his armor from FL's constant mocking attacks! SLS I was afraid of seems to have petered out when FL and the book's SML become partners in crime!
Now I'm about to start ep 10 and I like book characters more than the cartoonish real life ones! Aren't book characters supposed to be clichés and unrealistic (well, they do have funny names....)? The FL has great chemistry with the CSO while the CEO is starting to realize that the damsel in distress is clumsy and boring. I just hope they do not intensify the SLS again unless they want them to end up together!
So at the end of ep 10: CEO fell for FL and sealed it with a dead fish kiss...promising? Maybe! But why make it smooth sailing? Now we add a jealous brother to the mix and the hidden side of damsel in distress white lotus: she is not goody too shoes after all and can show her claws when her plans are disturbed. And the FL completely ruined her plans. Unwittingly though! And why leave the SML behind! Ep.13 and that SLS is kicking in hard!
This drama is mocking the usual drama/novel tropes only to end up using them to further the plot for the FL! It is a shame they did not go all the way denouncing tropes and going against them!
In the real world, the sister is losing her marbles after being poisoned by her brother! Actually, I am starting to feel sorry for her: she needed to be ruthless to make it in the male dominated business world. Another life cliché: when men are tough and ruthless, they are praised! but when women are the same, they are deemed crazy, hysterical, evil and ugly! We need to change so many things in our societies.
On to ep 14 and they are in love, sharing stories. Situ Aoran's childhood memories are at the best confusing, the reasons he gives for him being punished and therefore developing fear of darkness are illogical: he was always a good and kind son, his brother was the one always getting in trouble so for all his efforts Aoran is locked in a dark cupboard while his brother and parents go to live in the USA in order to keep him away from trouble! Strange !
Tha ML's life story is also full of illogical events: his mother died when he was young kid but he had to hide from his mother that he failed an exam and had to work! Do they make 10yr olds work part time jobs in Taiwan?!? I wish the writers thought about how the construct the characters backstories and not say whatever is convenient and contradict themselves!
Now they are finally awake but ML's brother and uncle want him dead. But two bodyguards save the day! When I saw them fighting the bad guys, my first thought was: I can see them both in a nice BL! Frankly, they have crackling chemistry just standing next to each other!
The FL in the real world(ep.15 they finally woke up!) seems to have lost all her brain cells: she is suffering being apart from ML so she braves the guards to arrive in front of the ML's room and... wait?!? For what? The guards to come and kick her out?
Luckily, after the initial shock of him not recognizing her, had passed she became her old funny, direct and irreverent self and it has been great watching them trading quips and fall in love all over again! But I so miss the SML lost in the book world!
BTW, who goes to office wearing a tuxedo? What a strange wardrobe choice!
Is Snuggle a real brand? It is featured heavily in the drama including being part of the plot! They must have paid a fortune for it!

As you see, it has been an eventful ride. It reminded me a lot of Extraordinary You but the execution was so much better. The characters were nicer, the chemistry was perfect and even the second lead syndrome was manageable and it did not take over the plot!
The actors were perfect, the story was well written (with the exception of ML's two(book & real life) back stories which were illogical.
I loved all the female characters, they were all strong women. I wish I could see such characters more often! Luckily here not one single female character lost her brain and capacity to think when they fell in love! So refreshing!The male lead character had such a charming smile once he stopped being overbearing
The friendships portrayed were amazing: isn't it great to have such steadfast friends, people who are going to be with you through thick and thin?
There was too much music. Marcus Chang sings the main theme and it featured so many times in every episode! Tiring! The rest of the background score sounded familiar, so it must be some kind of generic score!

In conclusion, I love the female lead character: funny and smart and optimistic and I wish I could find more dramas with characters this one. I don't think I'll rewatch this because it is long and rewatching is a momentary pick me up session but, that said, it is rewatchable since I probably missed plenty of important clues so watching it again could be fun!

I enjoyed this so very much! When twilight breaks dawn, two worlds meet and magic happens!

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A watchable Extraordinary You

Extraordinary You was the first drama ever I watched that dealt with the webtoon characters! It was also the drama where I discovered the concept of Second Lead Syndrome! And I hated it!
Well, this is another drama dealing with webtoon characters and which has a SLS but it is shorter, cuter and better!

A high school girl makes a wish on her birthday but it does not really turn out to be what she wanted. A character from her mother's webtoon comes to life and keeps saying the most cringiest things ever! In spite of that, she falls for him. There is also her best friend who's been in love for her but never said anything (SLS unfortunately!).

The plot is nothing new or original, very predictable and with a few plotholes but since it is fantasy.... The drama features only kids and there are no adults involved in the story! I can understand this in a webtoon but this is a web drama and an adult presence could make this more believable: the girl's mother, the artist who created the webtoon, is dead so she lives alone. Apparently she does not have any relatives (father, grandparents, cousins?). Well it is fantasy!
Her mother used her name to create the female character in the comic and since it became hugely popular, she had to suffer everyone making a reference to the comic when they met for the first time. And therefore she hated the comic and the cringy character with her name her mother created.
I could so relate to this. When I was a kid, there was this hugely popular pop song with my name in the title so every time I'd meet someone, they would sing this song to me. I ended up hating my own name! And I still do!
The love triangle has been dealt with in the usual manner and for once I am glad that there was no apology for not returning feelings and they managed to stay friends.
This webdrama is quite funny as well! There is a side character, a redhaired girl who becomes a harpy(your typical high school top of the foodchain pretty girl) every time she sees the ML with someone but as soon as he moves out of the way, she realizes she'd done something stupid and apologizes. An original comic relief character!
And that's it for the story: just a romance triangle with a happy ending! I wish they explained it more but since it is fantasy, logical explanations are not needed.

The actors were all good and I hope to see more of them in the future. This is a nice short watch, no cringe or angst so it is very relaxing!

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Adults in denial

The original title in english means, from the subs by HPriest, I Will Be Serious in My Next Life!
Since there are two more seasons, there is no conclusion, in the end everyone is in the same place they started!

There are five adults in their late 20s, working in the office and going through life not actually knowing what they want. Two of them a sluts, a man & a woman, (at least that's how they call themselves), having numerous sex friends but very attracted to each other! One is a virgin and another one is a second virgin having an affair with a transvestite. And the last one is seeing a prostitute on a regular basis. They are all under pressure from their parents to get married and have kids which they all want to avoid doing. Their story is told by a deadpan narrator: it fits perfectly with the events!

While on the surface this is a story of people who take responsibility for the choices they make, deep down they are all looking for something lasting but they do not want to admit it out loud. Especially the two sluts who are profoundly unhappy with their lives, sad and unsatisfied but they have taken a road off of which they do not know how to get so they keep doing the same thing over and over hoping it will be different the next time. It never is, unfortunately! So they slap a smile on and continue! In denial! So, even though they present this as a comedy, and even though it is funny at times, it really is a rather sad story of lonely and unhappy people!

The actors are all really good, fitting perfectly into their roles: the opening credits band gives a right description of them all! The actor playing the transvestite is just beautiful!
Cinematography goes well with the story told in gray, cold and muted tones. Music was unremarkable!

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There are blue skies ahead...

Let's rewrite the above synopsis because it sounds sinister. And this drama special is everything but!

NaRa's life is going nowhere: she is 32, her yoga studio does not have enough students, she's behind on her rent and to top it all her boyfriend of 5 years dumps her through a text message and blocks her! She meets her landlady's son, kind, nice and rich who falls for her! In order to help her, he asks her to give him private yoga lessons (hence the title!). Since everything in her life is a disaster, she does not believe in his sincerity even though she falls for him as well!

This is a sweet, cute and funny short romcom slice of life drama special. The actors are all really good in making the characters feel real. They have great chemistry and you can see sparks flying every time they meet! I would love to see more of them together!
Cinematography is original: the camera often films scenes from below so we can see the sky, the tops of buildings as the characters climb stairs etc. It is really good and helps a lot with the story: she is feeling so small and lost and the world is so big and scary but there are blue skies ahead!

Nice single watch!

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How to ruin a brilliant drama....

...or the curse of the second season!

JUST A RANT after a disappointing beginning!
I am starting this immediately after finishing the first series I simply adored and I can feel the differences in pacing, and in storyline with the introduction of a bunch of annoying characters! Moreover Nanon seems to have forgotten how to button up his shirt and why is Wave wearing his jacket on his shoulders like a soap opera diva , not to mention that Claire's makeup is making me think she's not being played by the same actress(WTF are you thinking Mr. Director !?!) ?And do not start me on PPLs! What mildly irritated me in the first series, it is seriously annoying me here (the first 20 min of the ep. two are just filled with ads!!! At one moment I seriously thought one character was going to discover his potential while eating ramen!) Please tell me they tone it down afterwards because if I have to watch them continuously eating noodles, drinking soft drinks and wash their faces I am going to drop it! 😡😡😡 Episode 5 and they are still taking forever to eat OK ramen.... And PPLs go on and on and on endlessly!
Basically the theme of this season is DIVIDE & CONQUER implemented by adults manipulating idealistic kids! Nanon's character, Pang, has lost all his nice sides which made him such a lovable dork in the first season! It looks like he lost most of his braincells when he decided to leave his shirt half unbuttonned: he has been behaving like a total clueless idiot! While in the first season, he would think and figure out the most unprobable solutions, here he is such a gullible fool! No wonder, none of his friends do not want to be with him: he keeps trusting the wrong people, something he would never have done a year earlier! So annoying!
On to ep.8 and the backstory of the Director Supot (those anthology like episodes in season 1 were my favourite so I was happy we were finally getting one here!) which was fascinating. They also talked a lot about the virus but why is all that talk making me think of AIDS? Maybe it is an allegory?
So after listening to Supot's story we were made to sympathize with him and believe him to be better than we thought! Wrong! So wrong, actually he is much, much worse than we thought but eventually he looks like a villain from a James Bond or a Marvel movie: ridiculous! (After realizing that young version of Supot is played by Tay Tawan, I can so see him in the older actor! They managed to mimic each other's micro mannerisms to perfection!)
These twists are mindblowing! And they keep coming, relentlessly as the ending approaches! But Pang's stupidity at the same time seems to be boundless! What happened to him? I hoped he'd grow a brain before the ending, but, well guess what?, he doesn't!!! And then they decide to end it all like Buffy did: give the potential to everyone! At least Buffy had a cool sword and an even cooler witch friend!
So my final thoughts: if you liked the first series, watch this one as well but be aware it is definitely not as good and that you risk a disappointment!

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What a ride!

I have a feeling like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks. Unannounced and unexpected! It has been so long that I haven't enjoyed a drama so much!

I am so NOT fan of school themed dramas but this one is a fantasy/scify one taking place in a school and the gifted students are a kind of junior X-men !

What I liked:
- a tightly woven storyline: zero plotholes
- anthology like first part (I love anthology series in general so...)
- superpowers that do not need CGI
- great cast: perfection for every character, even the minor ones
- great background soundtrack helping set the mood of menace and danger

What I did not like:
- PPL and even though they were used as a part of the plot it was too much. The boys were thirsty all the time, the girls had dirty faces that needed washing halfway through the school day and they all snacked on cereal often. Hence the lower rating than what I wished to give it!

The story ran smoothly. The first half of the drama was spent mainly on giving us background stories of major characters while the second part is when the main storyline about abuse of power was developed. All the questions were answered by the end and even though the corrupted system remained there is the hope of the second season's endgame. The undercurrent theme is the elitist school systems that leaves kids behind with adults abusing the talents of the gifted ones (and talents do not need to be superpowers!) Kids can try to tell the truth, but are seldom listened to or believed by adults. So like in this drama kids decide to use those talents and reveal the truth.There is everything in The Gifted: drama, romance, comedy and a lot of twists! I am probably not writing anything new about this series but I loved it!

Great watch! I just binged it in two days(thank god for the weekend!). It has a great rewatch value since you might want to see the things you missed! I have first discovered GMMTV as the serial makers of school bls but recently I've watched Mama Gogo and 55:15 which were amazingly brilliant! This one is just as good! And I was probably in the right mood for something like this! On to the second season!

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Al,

How can this be possible?
My Brother's Husband is a story of regrets, missed opportunities, the lack of courage and Japan!
Story; Yuichi and his daughter receive the visit from Mike, a Canadian husband of Yuichi's twin brother, recently deceased. Looking like a giant teddybear, Mike conquers all with his kindness and finesse and intelligence!

This is not a BL but an an intimate slice of life story featuring a gay character.
This is not much of a comedy either, nothing funny happens!


What I liked:
- the main actor Sato Ryuta
- very sweet and not annoying little girl
- amazing ex wife
- the story

What I did not like
- the relationship between the little girl and Mike: a bit too close and too sudden
- the description(or the lack thereof) of japanese society's view on LGBT issues
- the last scene (OTT unnecessary!)

So the story is heartwarming! Mike manages with his kindness to make Yuichi understand his brother better. And therein lies the tragedy because no matter how much he regrets not trying to talk to his brother more, he can never make up for the lost time. The story is about these four characters and their interactions.
Japanese society is known for its utmost politeness, restraint (at one moment the father refuses to hug his own daughter: such is the conditioning !) and the way they do not show their feeling in front of other people, children as much as adults! Mike comes, fully versed in japanese customs and helps them crack the mould a bit. Everyone is better for it!
What this story is missing is a better representation of ordinary people towards LGBT: it has been only briefly touched upon: blink and you miss it!

The actors are all amazing with a special mention of the former sumo star, Estonian Baruto Kaito who plays Mike. He was a revelation! To be honest, I almost dropped this when he showed up, it was a kind of WTF?!? moment but as this was a part of a challenge, I continued watching! And I was not disappointed!

Music & cinematography were there, unremarkable...

Ototo no Otto is a great single watch!

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Pretty ocean and then ...

Well, I did not really want to watch this but it somehow popped up on my viki search so I decided to give it a go since it is so short!
I do not regret watching this though I would not go as far as recommending this either!

What I liked:
- beautiful shots of the winter sea and beaches covered in snow
- Han Gi Chan who plays Ba Da (ocean) a shy & innocent fool of a chef
- surprisingly good chemistry between the leads
- udon! I want some! Now!
- short episodes edited together into a movie (what's with Koreans and 10min episodes bls?)
- music; there are a couple of really nice songs
- the title

What I did not like:
- director who seemed to have high school level skills: it was all over the place!
- Holland who can't act (but sings beautifully)
- the annoying girl and the even more annoying kids (why do Koreans treat all the children as little emperors? Low natality issue?)
- unnecessary time skip
- ugly poster

Ba Da a skilled chef comes to a seaside town in order to recover from a bad breakup. He opens a udon restaurant on the beachfront but is unsuccessful until Tommy comes to his rescue. A month later BaDa's ex shows up creating a bit of drama.
Ocean Likes Me had a lot of potential which was not realized. The best is Han Gi Chan! He is handsome, talented and charismatic and I wish he would get bigger and better roles outside BL as well!

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This is not the right recipe for happiness!

What the hell did I just watch?!?!? I have seen some highly toxic and unhealthy things, but this one takes the top spot! Well, at least they did not lie in the title which is actually Addicted . Heroin is the translation of the word you get when you put their names together, as explained in the series.

The drama tells the obsessive and possessive, highly toxic love Gu Hei has for Yui Zi. Gu Hei was fascinated with Bai Luo Yin ever since they met for the first time and he never left him in peace since. He started first with pranks in school, than he pretended to be poor, then wormed his way into his family, slept with him in the same bad but trying to get more in a kind of round about way, flung his wealth and connections around manipulating lives of people close to BLY, kidnapped him, tried to rape him repeatedly. Gu Hai basically showed behaviour worthy of a psycho. He was addicted to BLY, to his kindness, intelligence, level headedness and therefore tried to control him, own him, cutting him from his friends and family with jealous insistence. That is why I do not understand when BLY finally succumbed to GH pressure and let him do whatever he wanted with him, which is the only thing GH was interested in, apparently!

The series is based on a danmei book: so basically this is the result of a female fantasy writing. Love, generally speaking, can provoke this kind of obsession even in the straight couples. But it does not mean that it is right. Usually when you have a similar kind of a relationship in movies, it never ends well. This kind of obsessive relationship never ends well in real life too. I am glad we are finally moving away fro these kinds of tropes in BLs: this is not a recipe for happiness . Addicted was pulled off air unfinished, after the very steamy episode 15!. But it seems that there are another 3/4 of the book left, not covered by this series. The series ended with them in a sort of relationship but do they get their happily ever after at the end of the book? I hope not!

There are a lot of side characters with unfinished stories: a couple of crazy ex girlfriends, a crazy cousin, controlling or laxist parents, school friends' possible second couple romance... The actor playing BLY's father was the most handsome of the lot. The two playing GH & BLY are obviously too old for the roles: they are supposed to be teenagers (I guess around 18 seeing them driving cars and getting drunk but still in high school: go figure!!!) but they are obviously much older. You end up getting used to it by the end but it felt really strange at the beginning! They were OK but no more than that!

The series looks very low budget: it was clearly made in a week! Just look at the weather throughout the 15 episodes: it is always gray and cold (steam coming from actors' moths when they talk)! Once they actually discussed what they would love to eat for a holiday which falls the following week, on August 15th: while the trees outside the window were bare of leaves and as steam was coming from their mouths! Global warming and drastic climate change evidently!
Costumes tell the same story: everyone is wearing two same outfits throughout! Music was the best about this series!

Recently, I've been watching dramas I never really wanted to see (especially chinese ones). This one is a legend, the unfinished one, the one which brought on the demise of chinese BL and the birth of bromance c drama. But is it good? NO! But it is a gulty pleasure watch. I understand that. I can watch it once but never again!

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How does my garden bloom?

Thank you eveychooey for the subs!
https://www.d-addicts.com/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=432456&sid=04f4429358a5cb9296c0e388e215fd27

I have been going deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole called dorama and so far I have dropped just a few of japanese dramas. This one came highly recommended from the first time it aired and I started watching it untill I realized it had not been fully subbed so I dropped it! Started it again and dropped again and again and again.... And then all of a sudden I binged the seven remaining episodes in a day!

"There are things you don't understand until you are part of them."

Prism is a serious, sensible and sensitive, thought provoking drama dealing with acceptance and search for self fulfillment.
Satsuki is a young women torn between her divorced parents and not knowing what to do with her life. The only real passion she has is creating terrariums. One of her creations attract attention of Riku who gives her job in his company and promptly starts dating her. But everything gets very complicated when he meets again his college crush he hadn't seen in seven years. A difficult triangle is formed.

Prism deals with feelings, family pressure, influence and acceptance. It is very theatrical in its realisation, there are a lot of conversations, very calm conversation (the restraint is the main feature of all characters!) culminating in a heart to heart discussion of the three main characters in a forest: they seemed to be all alone in the world!

I do not know much about japanese society today but from what I read: the young people do not want to get married or have kids and that is a huge problem for the country, the families do exercise pressure but it is working less and less. The women particularly are expected to stop working and stay at home when they are married and with kids. A side couple shows that it is possible to work and be married at the same time when both are willing to compromise and the companies are open minded.

Another side story talks about same sex couples and how the partner is not recognized as a family in case of medical emergency. Things seem to evolve in that area as well, slowly but every change needs time!

The main story is Riku and his unresolved feelings from the past. In college he had a crush on his professor who unexplainably and suddenly left. When they meet seven years later, he is unsure of his feelings which ruins his relationship with Satsuki.
"I don't know if I'm gay. I do not want to see men naked!"
This makes it perfectly clear that though the professor had feelings for him, Riku's feelings were those of admiration not love which becomes clear as their relationship progresses in present.

In the end the three of them remain friends tied together with the common love of gardening and nothing more!

The series was filmed beautifully, the lush gardens, the hazy air, warm colours, soft and quiet. What I did not like was the music: very often heavy sounding cello solos in rather simple situation while the serious scenes were accompanied by cheerful very ill fitting music. The actors were perfect. The characters were extremely well written and the actors managed to convey their thoughts and feelings with tiniest of microexpressions!

This is a drama for a confirmed watcher as the themes it deals with are rather serious, there is no fluff and the feelings are so restrained.

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Walking the fine line...

...between cringy and funny and never stepping on the wrong side! I Will Knock You is such a fun series, unexpected, different and yet so nice!

What I liked:
- Noey: the character and the actor
- his mother & sister & his friends
- the music and the cinematography and final credits' dance
- internal monologues (they spend a lot of time looking at each other but not saying anything out loud!)
- Bom, the actor playing Thi (he does look korean...)

What I did not like:
- nonsense title
- the lack of chemistry
- the usual disapproving parents(think Bad Buddy...) and other drama tropes in the last two episodes
- Thi, the character, a wuss
- last two episodes

Noey is a 16 yr old high schooler, smart, brave, bold, brash, honest and a bit of a thug, leader of a gang with a style and taste stuck in the 80s!. He keeps pursuing a girl from another class. The girl's tutor Thi, witnesses him being rejected by her. Thi is a third year university student, sweet, calm, smart, lacking courage and wits and keeps hearing scary stories about Noey and therefore is shaking with fear every time they meet. And they keep on bumping into each other rather frequently so much so that Noey starts believing that Thi has a crush on him and magnanimously decides to like him back.

Tar, the actor playing Noey is only 18 but he is so flamboyantly talented: he succeeded in the feat of playing a silly character without ever making him ridiculous. Amazing! Bom, playin This, is on the other hand 28 but he looks much younger than Tar . He is as cute as a button, pretty and frail looking and manages to convey the weak and silly and cowardly character that is Thi.
The problem is, even though these two actors are rather good (Tar is better than Bom), there is no chemistry, no sparks fly between them and their love story is unconvincing. Understanding Noey character, it looks like he decided that he was going to fall in love with Thi whether he really has any feelings or not! For him it was a challenge! The series takes place over about a year and a half and nothing happens between them: they keep seeing each other, Thi tutoring Noey, Noey giving Thi rides to school: that felt more like a bromance, a friendship. There was never going to happen anything anyway since Noey is underage(which he keeps stressing every time he tries to kiss Thi and is interrupted!) !

Noey was surrounded by a great group of people: a no nonsense mother, a cool as a cucumber sister and a varied cast of characters in the gang.

The story was interesting for about 10 episodes: it was so funny to watch Noey and Thi's interactions, Noey strutting around and Thi shaking in his panties with fear every time he saw him. But it was original! The styling of Noey was the best I have ever seen in a BL. The music he listened to (that song Destiny will be stuck in my head for a long time! A classic!), how he dressed, and the way he refused modern technology! The cinematography is also special: the filming location were new, looked real, people were real their lives were real. Usual BL is a slick story of rich students! This is not one such series!

Sometimes halfway through, the producers decided to throw in some usual drama tropes in this case, another guy interested in Thi. Nothing pans out there because Thi had already fallen for Noey! But the writes went all guns blazing and throwing tropes at us at an amazing speed in the last two episodes: Thi's parents come for a visit, disapprove of Noey and decide to take Thi back home after graduation. Thi says nothing and just obeys his parents! So the boys break up but Noey think it is a nonsense so he goes up to Chiang Mai and they make up and continue their long distance relationship (in after final credits scenes!) for 5 more years when they finally kiss with Thi acting all flustered and surprised! And his parents are apparently still ignorant of this relationship! We could have done without all these drama tropes: it was neither fun nor funny. These last two episodes were disappointing and ridiculous! They managed to ruin a bit this such original story!

But I still rate it high because this is a series that came out of nowhere and I succumbed to its brutish charm! The surprising part of every episode is a sweet dancing scene during the final credits and the subtle changes in it in every episode: so watch it to the last second, you will not regret it!

I had so much fun watching this series and if it had not been for the two last episodes, I'd probably want to rewatch it!

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If you want a BL, look elsewhere!

I am basically a very pessimistic person, always seeing the glass half empty and expecting the worst from people. This drama just comforts me in my world view. So bear with me while I gush about House of Stars!

The story follows the owner of a talent agency "House of Star" and the people (actors and managers) gravitating around her. Since some of the actors she manages come from out of town, she has them live in her house following her rules and having them filmed by security cameras. There are 8 actors she manages. The actors often rebel not understanding the reason behind the draconian rules she implements creating new problems until a mysterious death occurs in the house and the whole hell breaks loose.

The ratings for this drama are shockingly low and I probably would have given it a miss had it not been for a reviewer who described it as "a hot mess that makes sense". And I loved it. Binged it, paying attention to details since there are no useless scenes: everything means something.

The drama has been filed under BL. No! It is a murder mystery & a character driven drama taking place in the entertainment industry where some of the characters are gay. The poster for the drama also does not give the right impression: looking at it I'd assume I'd be watching a period bl. They really represented drama wrongly with this poster (which is beautiful but still wrong!).

First there is a couple of BL actors, shipped together by the public but not dating even though one has an unrequited crush on the other. That actor, Pitch idolizes the star actor of the agency, Gun and starts following him around, almost stalkery!
There is a handsome country bumpkin helped out by another rising actor in love with him. They are the cutest couple though I have a problem with the actor playing the country bumpkin: he looks odd and has weird mouth (sometimes I focus on unimportant details but they turn to be so distracting) and I kept wishing he would not smile, his whole face goes crooked when he does.
Then there is an established straight couple but the man is tempted by another actor, obviously gay. This threesome has an explosive relationship, the two vying for the third one's love. The actress and the gay actor know how it works and they keep playing dangerous games realizing they were very much alike by the end!

The owner of the agency, Miss Suzzie, looks and acts like a dragon, cold, merciless, strict and odious. We eventually find out why she is like that but she is definitely not a likable character throughout the drama.

The drama seems messy as there seem to be too many characters but if you pay attention everything is connected and everything has a reason. The depiction of the cutthroat entertainment world concentrated in the agency microcosme is rather superficial as the drama is mostly focused on interpersonal relationships between the actors and the secrets they are hiding. The plot is well written and there are no loose ends or holes. And even though it finishes on a cliffhanger, the main mystery is solved but the downfall of the revelations is not shown: everyone remains in a deep stupor.

The atmosphere is heavy and the feelings of oppression are well presented by sets and cinematography. The sets first! The house from the outside looks like a sunny villa in Italy but on the inside it is a different picture. It is a heavy victorian english gothic manor: dark walls, heavy dark furniture, dark curtains, oppressive and menacing. I would say that it serves as metaphor for actors: nice and sunny and perfect on the outside, dark and mysterious and flawed on the inside! The cinematography corresponded to the sets with dark colours prevailing, events mostly taking place at night or in shadows. When the daylight was there, the problems became evident and crisis management came into action: the daylight does not hide secrets!

The actors cast are a mixed lot: while the majority are really good, the one playing Pitch is by far the worst actor here (or anywhere for that matter. Sincerely he should think of another career!). The character he played was of a completely clueless Pitch but he played him in a monotone and with an eternally surprised expression immovable like a mask stuck on his face. He was really really bad. He performed so badly that the romance between Pitch and Gun was not convincing and they just left it in the background. (BTW, I wonder how he got the part?) In the beginning of the series he was one of the main characters but he somehow disappeared in the last few episodes. Fortunately! The character's mother got sick and he was gone. I guess the production realized they miscast. If they ever make a sequel, I hope they will recast the role.
The other actors were really good had great chemistry and were not afraid of skinship!

If you are looking for a serious, gripping show about human nature, do not look any further. It is an excellent drama but not a BL!!!!!

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With all due respect, another Cinderella story?

I really don't know how to rate this drama. Frankly, I never felt so many contrary emotions about a show. I loved it and I hated it, I was amused and I was disgusted, I was hooked and I wanted to drop it - all at the same time. It is another fairy tale mash up with an american soap opera with a very japanese twist to it. In the first episode there is a food and pillow fight together with hair pulling: I really thought I was watching Dynasty! The opening credits' still was a photo of the cast in the typical US soap poses so...The reason I was so confused by it is that I could not pinpoint exactly which genre this belongs to: comedy, satire, drama, makjang, soap? It has everything in it!

So what happens when Cinderella marries her prince and goes to live in his castle? Will she obey to rigid antiquated customs or will she rebel? Well, this is the 21st century, the women empowerment has swept the world and has even reached Japan where young women of today refuse to submit any more. Sato, our Cinderella, is someone like that and she does everything in her power to change the stale atmosphere that reigns in her Prince's castle. And she does it all with kindness and with a smile on her face, understanding even the meanest persons trying to hinder her and destroy her. And those people are many! Fortunately her Prince is there!

The drama was actually really about women in japanese society: their position and how they are seen by the male dominated society and how they need to work hard to obtain their independence and freedom. But should I look at it from that point of view (criticism of contemporary Japan) or consider it just some fluffy, meaningless entertainment, far from reality?

The cast of characters was very colourful. Cinderella was a kind, strong willed, intelligent and sweet women: an ideal. Her Prince was a kind, sweet, supportive man. They unwaveringly loved each other (even when the last problem - amnesia!!! I kid you not! LOL) was thrown at them!

The horrible Pater Familias was the only one who did not show any character growth : his ending was rushed and frankly ridiculous!The others: the submissive mother, jealous brother, envious sister-in-law etc. all went to many trials and tribulations and came out stronger. I actually loved to hate the sister-in-law: the Prince's older brother's wife. She was funny when she was mean, singing nursery rhymes to mock our Cinderella, gloating but deep down hiding many insecurities.

Everything is so OTT here! The lifestyle of the indecently rich people is frankly indecent: huge scary mansions, the bling bling everywhere, dozens of servants lined up like army troops accompany them everywhere, ugly ostentatious cars, clothes. And still, the mansion which is on top of the hill, looks like situated in the desert, everything behind the entrance gate is yellow, cold and desolate! Cinematography was really good: it made me feel very uncomfortable!

I watched it on viki and they forgot to edit out the in-episode previews: I guess the episodes were cut in three parts while airing and there were previews before every commercial break. But on viki, there are no commercial breaks so it took me some time to realize what was going on with these scenes out of context!

Should I recommend watching this? Well: "All's well that ends well!" so it is up to you!

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Love & Resentment

I found this on my PTW list while I was looking for something short to watch. And I was blown away by it! I thought it was going to be the usual low budget web drama mess. But it was everything but that.

Three men confess their love to Sun Jung and she receives a strange photo of herself, all in the same day. Soon enough she realizes that someone is stalking her and her first suspicions go towards the three men who confessed to her.

The writing is superb: they managed to weave a tight plot without plotholes but with plenty of suspense and red herrings! Up until the final episode, they managed to keep the culprit a secret. Amazingly well written.
Extraordinarily well acted as well by the whole cast. Only after watching this I found out that most of the actors are actually idols. They are so freaking talented. I definitely want to see more of them on screen.

Please, someone give Han Gi Chan (who played the manager here and was in Where Your Eyes Linger) a lead role in a major drama. He is as cute as a button and is a very very good actor.

I wish more of the mainstream dramas were so well written and filmed. I was surprised at the high production value, unexpected in korean web dramas.

If you have an hour and a half, and want a short

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The Curious Case of Fukuju Emi

It is better to have love and lost, than never to have loved at all. In theory I agree. But I want my romcoms to have a happy ending and here.....

I am still trying to figure out what happened here. It is basically a japanese version of Benjamin Button: two people meet at different moments in their lives but they are on opposite time trajectories and can be happy and in love only once in the lifetime and only for 30 days.

I love time travel, parallel universe stories but this one is not a fun or uplifting one. In spite of all the cuteness (and the actors are both really cute!) this was a terrible movie to watch. When I realized sometimes halfway through, where this movie was going, I wanted to drop it. I did not because I hoped, against hope, that they would manage to find a way to sort it out. Spoiler alert: they did not.

I wish somebody had told me it was Benjamin Button. As much as I liked Brad Pitt, the movie was horrible. Just like this one: it is depressing and hopeless!

I had seen the chinese version, but it has nothing to do with the plot of this film so I am a bit confused as to why they put that version's link on this film's page.

Another thing I do not understand is the ending. It is the beginning. Are they stuck in a time loop?

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