The dullest Japanese drama ever! Besides the fact that everything ninja related was so loosely used, the majority of the actors didn't have any enthusiasm in this none whatsoever.

The only few actors in this that helped this drama along was the mom, grandmother, and little kid.

We have no idea why the Fuma and Shinobi are at odds with each other. We just know it's about power but that's about it.

The antagonist was the weakest of all. What was his point of trying to kill everybody? Because he felt he was a god and wanted political power....ain't that always the case?

Plus it's always about a girl. I swear they make Asian females the dumbest characters ever. They're always that stupid D.I.D (damsel in distress). I can't stand when the arc of a story is surrounded by this.

The episodes dragged by. I found myself skipping through the last episode which was worse than the first episode. There was no meaning to it at all. The plot was still carried out! What was the point of going through all of that only to have the ending just waste away.

The only fighting chance this series had was the fighting. The daughter was useless...the parents were good...even the grandma out shined the second eldest son.

It took me a lot longer to finish these 8 episodes. The House Of Ninjas was true to it's title. It was a family of Ninjas but that's all they were.

This was one of the reasons why I tend to shy away from Japanese dramas. Most of the time they're utterly useless!

Read More

For a second I thought this was a Korean movie even though there's a 20 episode drama out there. I thought it was the guy who played in Uncanny Counter which led me to Netflix to watch it. I had to do a double take when I heard Japanese so I went and did a little research and learned it's not the guy from Uncanny Counter but I watched it because it showed some fighting scenes.

I'm always drawn to movies and dramas that have fighting in it for some odd reason...

Anyway, this movie lacked purpose for me. I had to stop it at one point and have just now finished watching it.

It started off in the middle and stayed that way until the end. I had no idea who the City Hunter was, how he came to be, and why was he called the City Hunter.

Then there's the reason for this movie....a female is looking for her sister so I'm guessing the City Hunter was a PI with skills.

I got the gist of people getting enhanced drugs that was supposed to be banned from a certain war and a union is trying to bring it back and weaponize it but why? What's the purpose?

This was an almost 2 hour movie with so many plot holes that I'm wondering how did it make it to where it gets to be on Netflix?

The comedy was overly done. I didn't laugh at all. The sexual innuendos were unnecessary. The plot was weak...

Come on Japan...you can do better!

Read More

My rating of this drama is me being generous.

It took me a little over two months to actually finish this!! It was so drawn out that I forgot that I was still watching one episode. There were times when I thought I had finished 3 or 4 episodes but I was still on the same episode I had stopped watching.

For me, by the 5th episode if is doesn't grab me I will drop it but I've hit another Korean drama slump. I was hoping to be able to have about 4 or 5 dramas under my belt but alas, this was the only one and I don't have any other Korean dramas to watch.

There were no character development in any of the actors. The mood stayed the same. The female cop was my least favorite. She was annoying from beginning to the end. The things she was doing should've gotten her fired but they didn't.

To me, there was no reason why the second male lead should've had powers. You won't learn how he came into his powers until the 15th episode and it's a really really weak excuse.

You then have the main male lead experience a weird pheonmenon but it wasn't capitalized. It was 'oh my hands are vibrating...oh well,..' and that was it. To add to that, when the second male lead exhibited his skills around the best friend and the female cop they were non-chalant about it.

The revenge factor was sloppy. I thought the situation of coming from the past and staying in the future instead of going back to the past was going to get covered...It didn't.

There were a lot of loose ends that had no closure. This is the type of drama that I hate and I have run into a few dramas like this which is why I'm still in that friggin' Korean drama slump.

Read More

Oh me, oh my! I found another Japanese drama diamond in the sky!!

I usually stay away from Japanese dramas b/c I'm always dropping them. The first episode almost made me do so.

I can't put my finger on how the style went but I liked it. The bad guy working with the police to help solve cold case files was a good angle to go by.

Even though I don't know who none of the actors are I wouldn't mind watching other dramas they've been in. I am familiar with a few but only a few and they played their character well.

It was a very serious drama but there were a few comical moments in there to break up the same tone each episode gave.

I do have a few gripes about the series though.

The hair in the main FL's face was unnerving. The constant flashback of the cop getting his throat sliced...close to the end of the drama it became less but by that time I was already throwing up my 'flashback again'? hands. Last but not least, the soundtrack...I truly hated the female's theme song and then it switched to a male's voice singing the same tune. The loud music being constantly played over the actors voices to the point it nearly drowned them out at times. The music was also played at some of the unnecessary times too.

I know Asian dramas usually stay away from doing more than one series but if they came out with a sequel I would so watch it!

Read More

After slowly watching this drama I wish I would've saw what people who gave this drama a 10 saw. The synopsis sounds a whole lot better than what this drama produced.

I'm not familiar with Japanese dramas or their actors but I've seen a few with Oguri Shun in it and I guess he's a typecast who always plays a police officer in his dramas. His stoic demeanor makes me wonder how on earth is he constantly able to find work?? He plays the same titular character in each of the dramas I've seen him in. I mainly dropped a few because of this.


Nishijima Hidetoshi who plays as Tamaru Saburou had the same expression in every episode. Made me wonder if he wasn't happy being cast the role he played, didn't feel like playing that role, or just wanted to get it over and done with. There's only talk about his back story and that was it.

Nagatsuka Kyozo who played as the director....I didn't get his role. It was like he was psychic or something. He knew how things would play out but let it play along anyway. It was like he was toying with his team and I didn't like his role at all.

Tanaka Tetsushi...He was the team's boss who at times trained his team but always ended up getting a beat down in the end. How are you going to be a team leader where you get your butt whipped in just about every episode?


Nomaguchi Toru. This guy could sniff out bomb scents and draw but could only diffuse one bomb and that was in the very first episode. He coldn't diffuse any other bombs after that.

Araki Yuko. She just looked and sounded so sad in every episode. Of course they made her out to be the weakest member of the team. Her character lacked energy.

If I had to describe how each episode was I couldn't. They lacked...I can't think of the correct word for it but the only thing I could come up with is depth. There was no mystery, no urgency, no nothing. The plots were very subpar. One second they were clueless as to who's behind what. The director knows but decides to let them guess. Then after they show him knowing what's going on then his team just magically happens to figure out who's behind what. This happened in every episode.

Don't get me started on chemistry. There is NONE! I love Asian police dramas because of the chemistry between the fellow actors portraying real life police officers. You won't find that here.

By the 7th episode I was ready to pull the plug. The 7th episode dragged!! It was a 45 or so minute episode and it took a little over 20 minutes to get to the point. There was a lot of silence, people staring at each other, and talking. The last episode was better but how did I know it was about a girl...It always is.

I know I'm one of the few that didn't think much of this drama but I just want to know, what did those who gave this drama a high rating see in this drama?!

Read More

I'm pretty sure everyone who saw this has their take on what this series meant to them as far as suicide is concerned so I'm just going to delve into the cast a little bit.

I loved loved loved each and every main character. The one who played the main Grim Reaper-don't know his name and isn't going to even try to pronounce it had a love to hate and hate to love ratio for me. I didn't know he had some fighting skills because I've never seen him in any drama that contained fighting but you could tell he loved playing a Reaper.

I loved the main ML. He was just so adorable. I never seen anything that he's been in and I loved his demeanor. I know they say you're the opposite of what you play but it seems like he's genuinely like this which is why he was perfectly cast for this role.

The other main ML who was on the Risk Management team was my favorite. I seen him in several other dramas and for some odd reason he has a way of making you love what he's in. From the other dramas I've seen him in I've never been disappointed. The slight bromance between him and the other main ML was the best. There was one episode where I did about a dozen rewinds because that scene was just hilarious. I loved those two's chemistry.

The main FL was awesome as well. I only saw her in Room No. 9 and Angry mom. I didn't realize she and the female actor who played as the director played in Room No. 9. She has some good fighting skills as well. They weren't strongly portrayed but the little that she did worked.

I can't believe they left out the dog that was cast in one of the episodes. He stole the whole episode. I immediately wanted a dog like that.

Speaking of the dog, there were several episodes that had me holding back tears. The one with the dog in it almost got me. It gave me a perspective of how animals could think.

I've read some reviews were a lot loved this drama and few that hated it. It's not for everybody because you can't please everybody.

It's a really great watch that gives one a broader aspect on how choices in your life can not only affect you but also those who are around you.

I think somewhere down the line this is a drama I could watch again. I'm coming up on my 2.5 year Korean drama anniversary and is truly thanking Korea for saving me from the tremendous bouts of boredom I endured before their dramas entered into my life!

Read More

I have a hard time trying to find Korean action dramas without the romance so I end up resorting to other types of Korean dramas and wasn't going to watch this because of the second male lead. I'm sorry but I know I'm the only one who got irritated at his constant smiling! What was so doggone funny is what I wanted to know.
I guess it's because the last drama I seen him in (Ms. Cop 2) I didn't enjoy his character. He played the bad guy who-you guessed it-smiled too much!!! I guess when you play a villain, smiling a lot helps make you creepier?? Anyway I tolerated him till the end which I have to give myself a high five for.

I was wondering how the creator was going to stretch the main ML's reason behind being a ghost and seeing that they went for a Sixth Sense plot it made me scream 'what?' a bit. I guess there was no other way to have a different scenario though.

I loved the whole cast. They out shined their roles to the fullest. Even though I wanted to see more of the three ghosts stories I guess they had to work with what they worked with.

Even though I fairly enjoyed this drama I do have a few takeaways that almost made me skip this: the romance....man they showed the FL crying too doggone much. I appreciated the backstory of her and the main ML's life but replaying those flashbacks was annoying. She was tough to some degree but for me the romance spoils it every time.

The second was how fast the main ML recovered. I've never seen any one come out of a three month coma thrive within a week or two! It was as if he wasn't in a coma at all.

While I'm at it, how come none of the other ghosts remembered who the second ML was but the doctor remembered??

The last episode was a bit rushed. I wanted to see how the other people that portrayed ghost turned out but I guess they had to focus on the main ML.

It was a good drama but I won't be watching this again.

Read More

I usually stay away from horror movies and anything that involves demonic situations because I'm a wuss and proud of it.

I had to get myself to only watch two episodes a day. Since I had to work I had to break it up into one in the daytime and the other at night. Some episodes I wish I had waited till the daytime to watch.

I knew I was in for it after the first few episodes. They had me wanting to turn on every light in the house...heck I was even tempted to leave the refrigerator door open!

I suck at names and don't even get me started on foreign names but for some odd reason I will remember Park Il Do...Even though that name was constantly being mentioned I won't forget that name for a while.

The casts who played as if they were possessed did a phenomenal job! Especially the little girl. I was relieved to see that each child who had to endure demonic situations received proper counseling because thinking about how many takes each actor had to do over and over would have a huge impact on their mental state. I, myself, had to watch something light after each episode to keep this off of my mind. Especially when I go to bed. I didn't want that to be the last thing on my mind.

The make up and special effect scenes were spot on. It had a realness to it. I've heard of people being possessed and it's no joke!! It almost made me question whether the director and writer experienced something like this or they just did a phenomenal job in doing their research on possessions.

I did have some takeaways from this drama. As I said before I truly suck at names and foreign ones are no exception. The guy who played the young priest had no emotion AT ALL!! Plus to me, he looked too creepy to play a priest! It doesn't help that I just saw four seasons of Voice and he played the villain in the first drama. He plays creepy really well, so this priest role was truly wrong for him.
The bromance was just too light and the chemistry between the main and supporting characters was just too thin. Plus the situation between the main male lead being able to see dead people was barely touched on. We learned he had this ability when he was a kid but it was long forgotten and just added back at the 15th episode.
The story behind Park Il Do was like a run on sentence. The explanation of his existence was just thrown into a monologue in the 16th episode.

It went off as if it will continue. I don't see how it could work because it'll be like repeating the first 16 episodes all over again.

Read More

I watched this movie and it was a meh for me. I guess it was probably because this was similar to Queen Of Mystery 1 & 2 but the roles were reversed. The main character played the cop in that series but in this movie he played the er-uh-house husband.

That series worked because of the pace. This movie....I don't know. It felt like it should've been done up into a series but they just tried to jam everything in one movie. The plot was even weak.

There were things that irritated me like the nagging wife and the husband's demeanor. They made it seem like solving a crime that the husband had no business trying to solve while neglecting his husband duties was more important than anything else.

I was surprised by how his wife was in the end though. It made me want to find if she was in any other action dramas.

Again as I said, this movie was too much for two hours. I guess that's what I have problems with when watching Korean movies. I'm so use to the dramas being evenly paced out which works but in this movie...it didn't work.

Read More

You know how when you read a book and the plot is so intense that it's hard not to skip to the end to see how it turned out? Well, that's how this series was.

The worse part about skipping to the end is that you can miss everything in between.

Seeing that I didn't want that I went on ahead and watched the whole series.

This was all about people doing the wrong thing and not owning up to it. Or even apologizing for it.

You can feel the emotion derived from every character in this series. My favorite wasn't the male lead even though I will watch anything he's in. I love excellent Korean actors so please don't get it twisted. My favorite was the good prosecutor. Usually when I see legal dramas prosecutors are weak but this guy didn't cower for anybody.
At one point towards the end of the drama I found myself cheering so bad that I forgot this was just a series and I'm not Korean.

What I didn't like about this series was the constant back and forth. The series could've ended on a better note if the constant back and forths weren't included. By now the very last episode should end with closures but like I said there wasn't enough justice that should've been due. I really wish that was the case because this series would've ended a lot better than it did.

Also the subtitles in some of these episodes were either off, behind, or too far ahead. So if one watches in English be in for a bit of a disappointment when you watch some of these episodes.

Read More

I saw a Korean movie that had similarities of people accidentally switching bodies and it was OK. Korean movies are usually OK in my opinion. I seen about three and it was like a meh for me which is why I prefer the 16+ series instead of a two hour movie.

I liked this one. I almost gave it a pass because the first episode dragged a bit for me but luckily it picked up throughout the rest. It held a steady pace and that's what made it work.

I just have to digress for a moment. Even though I never stepped foot outside the US-Canada and Ensenada Mexico don't count-I have to remember if I ever get a chance to visit Korea to not ever get hurt where I would end up in one of their hospitals. Their security is horrible.

Now back to the series. I always cringe with female Korean actors but I didn't with this series. All of the females portrayed in this series was strong and played their characters well. Even if they were a**holes I still loved the talent they added to the series.

There were a lot of scenarios in this series but a few didn't give the closure I was looking for. In all of the scenarios three were just left dangling in the air and I wanted closure on those.

I liked the aspect of how this was written. It opened my eyes a bit. I'm all for revenge but sometimes if you kill a person with kindness the results will tend to be better than being truly evil.

Again I rely on full closures at the end of the last episode and I will say I gave it a 80% satisfactory rate. This is a lot more than what I usually give last episodes of series I've watched.

Read More

Whenever I hit a Korean action drama slump I go to Youtube to see what's available and sadly all of the recommendations that's offered I've already seen.

I had commented on the Korean's version of 'Leverage Funny Moments' and saw on the side recommendations top ten dramas that had great bromance and Chief Kim was one of the recommendations.
I remembered watching some Korean drama funny moments where there was a excerpt from Chief Kim involving him running into a broom stick male part first and I laughed hard but sadly there wasn't a title for that so I forgot about it and saw that part again in the bromance drama recommendation and decided to give it a try.

I've never been good with names so I'm just going to say I absolutely loved the first five main characters in this series. I'm starting to get use to seeing some of my new favorite Korean actors and since I know they're in it then I know I picked a good drama.

The story line strayed a bit as Korean dramas usually do but I eagerly hit the next button because I enjoyed each episode. I also loved the chemistry everybody had.
I did, however, cringe with one of the characters. If you haven't guessed it, yes it was about a female. Even though her role (Im Hwa Young) was awesome, her high pitched voice was annoying. I couldn't accurately describe it but in one episode Dong Ha's character asked her what's wrong with her voice and if it was broke. The annoyed reaction he gave didn't seem like it was scripted. It seemed like he actually hated her high pitched voice and so did I.

The last episode was one of the best last episodes I've seen from Korean dramas. The writer actually knew how to end it!!
I felt the good byes were very genuine because the cast knew this was the last time they will be shooting a scene together and it was time to move on to another cast family.

I did want to point out though that even though I've already seen 3 dramas with Namgoong Min in it, I felt there were some of the times when his humor was just over the top. I loved the serious moments more than I did his comedic moments.

I'm glad I found this series. Now that I'm done, I hope I can find more that's up to this caliber.

Read More

OK, I'll admit I'm a big chicken and I don't watch horror shows too often and was going to give this a pass but I've been hitting Kdrama slumps lately. I don't do the cliche rom-coms and I avoid dramas that have romance in it. I also avoid the horror genre altogether.

I recognized the main female character from Hello Monster and I liked her. Surprise, I know because I usually don't care for female Korean actresses. They're always whiny, love sick, broke, and stupid. This female had none of these portrayals. As a matter of fact I like female actresses who have mad fighting skills. There's not a lot out there but I'm glad I can find a few.

As I mentioned I don't like horror because if I watch a horror show that show will be incorporated into my brain and it will be the last thing I think about which will lead to nightmares. It messes up my sleep routine tremendously so...yeah.
I jumped on several occasions like a wuss. One particular episode I was watching close to my bedtime that had me jumping on several occasions so I had to stop watching that and had to watch something that made me laugh. I wanted that to be the last thing on my mind instead of restless spirits.

I fell in love with all the characters on here both good and bad. As I say all the time I look for the chemistry with the cast members and this series really had it. I especially loved both the male leads. Their bromance was truly awesome. I wish a lot more guys got along this way.
I laughed, nearly bawled, and was heavily dismayed when the series came to an end. This series was so great I may watch it again even though that's not my thing.

Read More

Before I get into my review, while getting hooked on these Korean dramas I noticed something that always leave me scratching my head. Why do these dramas blur out knives if it's being used but they don't blur out the guns?? I will never get it.

OK, now that I've been wanting to ask that question in all of the dramas that contain action out of the way, it's now time for my review.

There are some familiar faces in this drama that I recognized which is why I eagerly wanted to watch but the main character who I'm not familiar with really stole the show.
I love action and will watch anything that has different types of fighting styles but in my assessment of fighting styles I never seen a drama that had judo in it. I'm not familiar with judo but I guess this form of fighting involves a 'take down' and the main actor did a lot of take downs. It was a meh for me but it still worked. Everybody had some fighting skills that had me squealing like a kid. I don't know why I'm like this but I am. I even liked all of the females in this both good and bad. I will say one female had me quickly reaching for the volume button. I wonder how many takes she had to do and if she was hoarse afterwards! Oy!

I don't know how Korea does it but the casting choices that was made for this series did a phenomenal job. Every episode just kept getting better and better. I even was surprised at the last episode! I was expecting a let down but was truly surprised that it ended the way it did.

They even had a funny part derived from a movie and it's sequel The Kingsman & The Kingsman Golden Circle that had me laughing hard.

I stated that I normally don't rewatch any of the Korean dramas I've watched but I caved and watched Fiery Priest twice. This one could go on my list of a rewatch as well. I love dramas like this and hope to find more like it in the future.

Read More

This was the very first Japanese action drama that I've watched. I love action Japanese movies and have watched a lot in my life time but I had no idea dramas such as this existed.

I don't know who the main character-Kimura Takuya-is and I ask myself how could I not know??? Who needs a weapon when you can do what he does!!

This series did not disappoint me in the least. I could've watched every episode in one day but not knowing what I was getting myself into I only watched a few episodes at night and immediately watched the rest the next day. When I saw a second season was out-yes you guessed it. I was wondering how the second season would fair to this one and that held on it own too!

I never thought I would bawl in these action dramas but there were a few episodes where I was able to hold them back.

If I could find more like these then I'm going to return to being that couch potato I once was when TV was the way it was.

Read More