I watched this for Yamapi, not going to lie. I am shallow when it comes to my Johnnys. This is a very typical Hollywood Hacker(tm) movie. While the story gives us all the back story, the movie feels rushed or clipped in spots. Yamapi as the bad guy comes off as cold and calculating and damned fine. His scenes are few and far between but he is not the main so it is expected.

The hacking does not even pretend to be real hacking, but some of the visuals reminded me of a shadow run game we had on the SNES. Specifically the Black Ice cracking.

The acting? Well its an action movie and I don't expect much acting from those.

The music was good.

I would rewatch it again just to watch yamapi scenes.

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An elderly gentleman moves into a housing complex with his grand-daughter. He is pleasant and atleteic and tried to revive the old way of thinking about appreciating living in a "Mansion". Soon one by one certain undesirable residents leave or die.

The story seems almost comical for the first 4 episodes, I found myself cheering for the protagonist. By episode 5 though you see the decent into madness start to spiral out of control.

The use of music in this for dramatic effect was done well. It was a tool of the script writer, not just something to fill the silence.

Re-watch value is low because once you know the ending, its not as fun of a ride.

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Focusing on Horror this month for the next article and stumbled upon this and its predecessor (https://mydramalist.com/10675-blue-demon). I watched them both within 4 days of each other. I did not find them scary, even though they are meant to be. Maybe i just know the format too well : ).

Acting..Well its typical horror movie acting. Even if you are being told to act scared, it usually doesn't come across to the cameraand then the actor has to over dramatize it. So I will list it as Typical, not dialed in but not oscar worthy.

Music-Heavy metal type music, yet feels generic also. Re-watch value on all horror movies for me is low.

So its a good time filler but don't expect to be having in depth discussions about this one.
There is a lot of Eye candy in this though, it helped a lot.

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Again watched this to fulfill the Joseon requirement on the 2018 watch challenge. It is straight up comedy Mel Brooks style (for those who are familiar) with the sight gags coming hard and fast (no pun intended ...really). There is also lessons that are learned in hindsight. I am sure there were villages that something similar happen when all the good men got sent to war.

If sex makes you squeamish do not watch this. If you hate middle school boy humor, you may not like this.

Acting: Being able to pull off this script w/o busting out laughing every scene gives them props in my book.

Music: there is singing, but traditional chant singing. And dancing.

I give this an 8 because I thought i would play it in the background and do something else and found myself glued to the screen instead.

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I went into this because of the watch challenge this year. At first, I am, not going to lie, I rolled my eyes at how rich and pampered she was. That lasted 15-20 minutes then bam! right into the arranged marriage. Her pureness but willing to learn won me (and the male lead) over almost immediately. Not quite fluff, but definitely not heavy either. Like the bears bed in Goldilocks it was just right.

Acting was spot on for the characters they were portraying. This is based on Manga so somethings are unrealistic, but the meat of the story is what really struck home with me.

i gave this a 9 because maybe it was something I needed right now. Have fun watching : )

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I watched this since I LOVE LOVE LOVED the anime. Enough so my husband goes "oh this is that travelling exorcist show you liked so much". Queue eye roll. the story is super compressed but that is to be expected, and as with any manga/anime/LA adaption the source material was better. That being said this was not a bad movie, the ending just kinda fell flat.

The cast was phenomenal with Odagiri Joe and Aoi Yu being the absolute high light of this movie. This is the third or forth work from Aoi Yu I have seen and her performances are quickly making her my favorite actress to watch.

Overall I would recommend this to people who like spirit shows or loved the anime enough to just fangirl over it being made decently into a LA.

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I am writing this 4 years after the last review (Cherry Bunny). I love, love , love this drama. It ha sall the elements in a story that make me happy: Slight fantasy, history, romance and one very strong woman.

Just like the previous reviewers I just had to chime in on this wonderful under- rated historical drama. Palace politics and Inner Chamber cattiness are very low on my interest meter but this drama kept everything with an even balance without being boring or predictable (for the most part)

To quote Cherry Bunnys review
"Special mention about GACKT's role in this. His character is super creepy. Like, icky, skin crawling creepy. Which is pretty cool as he plays it so well."
and
HAVA-RAVA
" I loved his creepy yet attractive character with long tongue. If you're curious what he does with the tongue watch the drama."

In only 3 episodes he just over takes the drama with his presence, by his last appearance though you are just ready for him to leave.

The scenery is breath taking, especially the beach scenes.

The Re-watch value is lower as I know all the twists but if someone was interested i would re watch it with them.

I gave this a 9.5

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This hasn't been reviewed yet so I am going to put my 2 cents up .

This movie if you google it will have rave reviews on how awesome the battles were. But that's pretty much all there was. It made me want to pull out my Ikusa board game and stop watching the film.

Yae who was on screen all of about 10 minutes total over 3 scenes was cool. She was a warrior beside her samurai lover, not kept back home.

If you enjoy large fights showing the strategic movements of large battles, you may enjoy this. I on the other hand started to pay attention to they way they treated the servants (nice touch by the way.) For example making the guy who tends you horse stand in the pouring rain while you sit inside conversing with your vassal.

I saw the movie in 2 parts and when part 1 ended, I wound up on twitter instead of jumping into part 2, That's how exciting i found this movie.

My husband might actually love it, but I was bored to death.

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I watched the drama back when it first appeared on netflix. It is an original story perspective(in my watching experience). To appreciated this drama/movie combination more i think that having personally experienced all of these situation at one point helps. Knowing people like Ito-Kun helps.

This still feels unfinished, like their is still more growth for both main characters. If they finish it here , though i am satisfied. The movie is the same story as the drama but from a different point of view and feels like a missing scenes reel with 20 minutes of new content but it did not feel redundant, instead it made me want to go back a re-watch the drama to cobble it all together in my head.


The opening song ???????? - ?Pain, Pain Go Away feat. MUTSUKI from Softly? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gbha39ksG4) is one of the best things to take away from this

i gave this a 7.5 because I know because of my life I got all of, but others may not.

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Geishas vs Ninjas aka Geisha Assassin was a great leave you brain at the door and enjoy the action film.
It felt like a live action video game with each encounter harder than the last and the big boss taunting her every few levels to keep her chasing him. Lots of sword play and a few hand to hand encounters.

Do not come into this looking for realism..AT ALL. I think several times I kept comparing it Naruto. "Oh no honey he just put a genjutsu on you" or "Oh thats the Uzamaki Barrage"

Putting all my anime geekiness aside, it is a fun movie. My overall rating? 7.5

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I watched this movie because for the next month I will be focusing on historical dramas and movies. What drew me to this was possible romance without much politics. What made me nervous..The comparison to Romeo and Juliet(we all know how that turned out).

This is the second Aoi Yu work I have seen(the other being Osen) and she can really sell a strong woman who does not lose her femininity in the process. Okada Masaki whom I have seen in several things before this(Mirai Niki, Taira no Kiyomori, Ito-kun A-E) did excellent with his part. While a lot of the parts are predictable, the ride was still enjoyable. I will be adding this to my recommends lists.

The scenery was beautiful with only a few locations the world still felt big and wide open. Overall I give this an 8 rating .

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Writing a review because there isn't one.

This movie has no surprises if you are already familiar with Japanese Historical dramas. Politics override everything and is the cause of 99% of everyone's problems. This story revolves around a country Samurai and his one true love. Both their lives take the to unexpected places.

The quality of the movie I watched was low, although it may have been because it was a 2005 Film, the acting was excellent, not over done or wooden. The movie itself just seemed to drag. One highlight was the sword fight, the initial reaction to the samurai's first kill was a good one and the entire fight itself was not too cinematic.

The music had no impact on me, there is a slow instrumental at the end and the beginning and a period Japanese song song at the bar .

Overall it gets a5.5 from me..the sword fight earned it a .5 but the story itself down right bored me, I saw everything coming. Predictable.

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I had this on my PTW and when I saw Reika's review I knew it was time for me to sit and watch it.

The story is fantasy based, but only in this little town, where the spirit world and the real world seem to touch. That was enough to get me to watch it. I came in with no expectations at other than I needed something other worldly in my life. I was surprised to enjoy the film, and what I felt were slow spots were actually building to an excellent finally. When it was getting to the end I prayed for a specific out come and it happened as I had hoped (Nope you are not getting spoilers from me). I was satisfied with this movie overall.

The acting was well done and while the CGI was noticeable at times, it wasn't out of place. People never looked in the wrong direction or reacted poorly to the CGI.

Music was unremarkable for me.

Other than the movie feeling a little long at points i really enjoyed this, I hope you do too.

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I will be writing an article but I wanted to do a short review here since there wasn't any.

I am a lover of history and the people who make it. The only hesitation for me watching this was the number of episodes.

Story: When writing a tale based on a real person it is difficult not to fudge things, or add extra fantastical things that may be attributed to the person through out time as his legend grows. this did not do that. It simply filled in the gaps seemlessly between recorded events. Tiara no Kiyomori was the first Samurai to lead the Japanese court and paved the way for Shogunates to happen. You can lookup his life on the internet, this drama follows it pretty closely, but be warned, there will be spoilers lol.

Someone asked if there was romance in this. My answer would be real life romance, at the time when a woman duty was a political tool for their family, love does happen. For several couples in this drama the feelings between husbands and wives is clearly shown and the roles both of them play in supporting each other.

According to my husband whose big thing is when movies screw up armor said that the mix of pieces looked accurate, though he feels the use of the Katana was not that wide spread yet. Meh I don't look at that.

The scenery makes you feel like you are there with them, in their mansions, on the pirate boat, or in the forests. it is beautifully shot.

To quote Kiyomori he is following the path of carnage to break traditions and raise the status of Samurai in general, his clan specifically.

The music has on song that is thread throughout and plays a pivotal part of the plot, which is why I gave it and 8, even if you love something , hearing it 100 times in a short period will lessen its appeal.

Re-watch value an 8 only because I now know all the surprises, I would however sit and rewatch it with anyone who wishes to see it.


I gave this a 10, It exceeded my expectations and made me want to watch more tiagas, just not any time soon lol.

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