Good premise, but felt contrived at times.

I watched this around the time it started airing and I remember reading an article where someone stated "It is a well-made drama" in reference to the drama Beyond the Clouds. After having watched it I still can't grasp what made them say that. Was it the story? The acting? The direction? Everything? Maybe it's because I don't often go for melodramas, but I had a really difficult time watching it until the end. While there were some intense and interesting moments, especially from Jung Se Ro, I didn't find it sufficiently captivating as a whole. I usually quite like the revenge theme, and up until halfway I felt the story was well-structured and developed at a good pace. After that, it dragged needlessly making it absurdly boring up until the last two episodes. Personally, while I enjoyed the angst and the dual feelings in the main character's actions, I did not find their romance interesting or necessary. One, because of the way it was written, and two because of how poorly the female lead conveyed emotions. There was simply not enough passion portrayed between the leads to make me care for their relationship. Don't even get me started on the whistle. Overall I felt that Beyond the Clouds had a good premise and story. It had many heartfelt moments, it posed pertinent questions about how your life choices affect you, and how money, greed, and power can turn your life, and the life of others upside down. If you like melodramas why not give this one a chance?

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F40 Friendship

After watching many types of romance dramas with a much younger cast, I was actually very interested in watching a more mature sort of characters being portrayed. Of course, once you start watching you realize that despite the age, everyone seems to act like teenagers. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed the F40 friendship and their stories, that was the best part of this drama. Even though they often acted immaturely, they appeared self-aware of their own flaws and used them to create strong bonds. In other words, it is a group of adult men trying to catch up mentally with their body's age. They will make you laugh and cringe simultaneously and, if you're around their age, probably relate to some situations. As for the romance storylines, I didn't find them particularly interesting or mature enough, maybe because I didn't find that any of the female characters matched the main male cast personality-wise. Perhaps if this drama also focused on the female friendships I would have enjoyed it more. but since this drama went for a more comedic approach, I think the end result worked just fine if you're looking for a lighthearted romance and cute moments. One last thing that made me enjoy this drama was the soundtrack. Every song perfectly set the mood in my opinion and I actually still listened to some of them even after the drama finished airing. Overall this is worth a watch.

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Get the girl and save the world

This drama seemed to have considerable hype at the time of airing. Probably because everyone was really looking forward to the Kame & Yamapi reunion. Personally, I was intrigued by the concept, since I generally like fantasy dramas, so I gave it a try.

Plot-wise, it is nothing new. A guy tries to win over a woman that is supposedly her soulmate, but he always manages to fumble his approaches and ends up getting the opposite result. The woman can come off as really dismissive and annoying, but considering a random man repeatedly comes at you talking about destiny, logically she is right to turn him down. That said I think it took a very long time for the characters to develop a semblance of a meaningful relationship, making the romance not particularly interesting in my view. Instead, the bromance between Kame & Yamapi's characters is definitely the best part of this drama, at least for me. I actually wish that there were more of them or more interactions with the rest of the cast overall. It is still worth a watch just for them.

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Action packed political drama

Personally, I really enjoy political and action-driven dramas, and this drama is certainly packed with a good mix of conspiracies, political intrigue, assassination attempts, and plenty of tension to go around. The drama was well-paced and the storyline kept consistent while adding ever-increasing elements of suspense that made you anxious for the antagonist's next move. As the drama progresses, however, there are some repetitive elements to the story and sometimes characters feel like they are fumbling around a bit, making it annoying for the viewer. That said, I don't think it was ever boring or that it lacked logical plot points. Overall this was a very entertaining drama with good acting and a well-constructed storyline that is certainly worth a watch.

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An endearing family

Lately, I have been impressed with Kamiki Ryunosuke's works, so I decided to watch some of his previous dramas and movies. I was pleasantly impressed to find that he has a wide range of characters he can portray including comedy.

This particular drama is a cute little gem. If you're looking for a quirky and often silly and heartwarming drama then this is for you. It follows a really big family, something I found rather unusual coming from Japan, but also very intriguing and amusing. All the characters had their moment and the kids were particularly adorable. The story also does a good job of giving you hilarious scenes and at the same time bring forth pertaining social issues. This drama also includes some supernatural elements, but strangely they fit well with the more mundane tone of the plot.
Overall it is a very funny and enjoyable Japanese drama, and certainly worth a watch.

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Sexy start then it fizzled

I had this on my plant to watch for a while and having recently watched one of Park Seo Joon's dramas, I was in the mood for more so I decided to watch this one.

I'm not a particular fan of Noona romance dramas despite having watched a few of them. Usually, if the leads have good chemistry I will enjoy it for the story and not place too much weight on age. The beginning was exceptionally sexy, but giving its comedic style, it introduced the characters in an entertaining way.

The story seemed to be going well up until they introduced the second love interest. From then on the tone of the plot completely changed from funny and lighthearted to dramatic and depressive. That exciting sexy vibe was no longer there and the characters' personalities kind of flipped to match the new direction of the story.

I kept waiting for the drama to pick back up to where it was before but that didn't really happen and it left me feeling unsatisfied until the end. Nothing stood out in any particular way and while it's still an OK watch unless you are a huge fan of Park Seo Joon you can skip this.

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Had Potential

The Producers

I remember watching an interview with Kim Soo Hyun where he was asked why he agreed to be part of this drama. He replied that he wanted to shed his Do Min Joon character and I decided to give it a try. I thought it would be also good for me to see him doing something completely different.

I didn't have any expectations going into this drama but looking at the cast, I thought maybe this was going to be amazing giving the different storyline and the fresh documentary editing style. It had great potential from the start but as it progressed and perhaps given the short numbers of episodes, nothing was really well developed and there was never really a point to anything. I did find the day-to-day struggles that PD's face in this drama was very interesting, but it failed to have proper depth, choosing instead to focus on a silly romance that was not going anywhere.

Overall I enjoyed watching Kim Soo Hyun in a new role but ultimately this drama suffered from changing directors halfway, not having more episodes, and a bit more time to develop characters and story-line.

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It's Fine

Being a huge fan of both So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah, I decided to give this drama a try. I personally am not a fan of makeovers or transformation dramas, because the emphasis is usually put on the exterior rather than understanding the underlying problems.

I did find that the main leads had good enough chemistry together and their personalities made their interactions entertaining. I appreciate that their relationship was not about a previous overweight woman winning over a man that rejected but rather two people getting to know each other and accepting their differences in personality and lifestyle. At points, the show might seem a bit superficial and perhaps insensitive toward the main female character, but I think the writers did an ok job portraying the struggles of trying to change and engaging in a healthy lifestyle, by showing slow progress, further highlighting the focus on health instead of instant results just for the sake of crazy beauty standards.

Other than that I don't think this drama had much else to offer. I didn't find the overall plot interesting and it seemed to lack direction. It tried to cover a bunch of different topics without actually delving deeper into any of them. It failed to develop and properly integrate the different issues it tried to cover and quickly fell into an abundance of fluffy and cliché romantic scenes that in my view don't really suit two grown adults. Overall I did find some episodes were well done, but I can't say I would rewatch this drama.

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Has its funny moments

I decided to watch this drama because it seems at first like a light-hearted and funny romantic comedy. I'm a fan of Ishihara Satomi, so I thought that I would definitely give this one a try. At the time I had not read the manga, but I did check afterward to see how well it would compare to the drama adaptation. From the parts I read, it seems actually even worse, depicting physical emotional abuse against women.

Being a Josei manga adaptation it starts with your typical Josei romantic plot. A man meets a woman and gets so infatuated, he decides to pursue her. The twist is that the man also happens to be a monk. He is someone with a somewhat old-fashioned personality and keeps trying to get a woman that is not at all the person that would be interested in a monk.

From this point on, this is where it all goes downhill for me. It was almost like they were trying to send the message that being a career woman who has goals that pertain to your professional path is not what a woman should be doing. The romantic aspect of the story is just so appalling to me. How are kidnapping, stalking, and all sorts of abuse meant to be seen as romantic? Overall the female lead even though seemingly energetic, lacks any say so in the story. She gets pushed around by everyone and just ends up accepting everything like it's normal. Overall the characters barely have any development and I didn't feel any spark between the main leads and it pretty much lacked substance all around.

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Master and Slave

I don't even know where to start when it comes to reviewing this drama. The title translates as “This guy is the biggest mistake in my life” and I almost feel like that after having watched it. I have not read the manga so I can't really say how well it compares to the source material, but honestly, I don't want to find out.

The first episode actually made me think that this could turn out to be an interesting story. The main characters had potential and I felt there was room for growth on both sides. Obviously, you need to come into this drama with a grain of salt (or a whole bag of salt). It depicts full-on stalking and borderline obsessive behavior. In my opinion, it sends an awful message to the viewer and I get it's not meant to be taken seriously, but honestly speaking, those issues are not exactly funny.

Other than the most glaring issues that I already mentioned, my biggest issue with this drama is that the characters, especially the main lead do not seem to learn anything. They keep repeating the same patterns of behavior seemingly not self-aware. Or even worse, they are aware but keep doing it anyway, over and over again. By the end of the drama, nothing is learned, there is no character growth, no story development, and the audience is lead in circles only to end up at the exact same place.

I think this drama can only suit a very particular kind of humor, and it does not suit mine.

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You are not the best

You Are The Best!

This for me was yet another failed attempt at watching another weekend drama. I can appreciate a good family melodrama but honestly, I was expecting it to be more of a romantic comedy. Or at least I was expecting the romance aspect of this drama to be written better and not feel so much like an awkward friendship.

I do appreciate dramas that revolve around women and how they deal with Korean socio-cultural issues. How to fit and navigate this ever-changing society being a single divorced mother or fighting to keep your career and your marriage. I especially loved to see Soon Shin's progression in achieving her goals and progressing as an actress while at the same time unraveling her family secret. I feel that the show should have put a bit more emphasis on her and her development and less on crazy mothers and their drama. The acting wasn't bad, but I do feel the characters lacked any sort of growth. Many characters were terribly selfish and felt justified in their actions from beginning to end.

Even though this drama had plenty of potential and interesting characters, it ultimately failed to deliver in my opinion.

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Beauty is within

I decided to watch this because at the time it had really nice reviews and very appealing eye candy. I wasn't expecting it to be a masterpiece, but it could at least be entertaining. That was not so for me. I have not read the manga, so I cannot tell how well it compares to the source material.

All and all it had an interesting premise. Both leads deal with problems of self-image. Kyohei hated the fact people would place too much importance on how great he looked disregarding him as a person and Sunako hated herself because she was regarded as ugly by others which made people not be interested in the real her.

The problem for me with this show is that it depicts the problems mentioned in a superficial way. The situations characters get into are over the top and the comedy is a bit cringe. There was nearly no character development or depth to the story, including the romance. Mainly a sequence of clichés and repetitiveness.

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Needed more depth

Not being a particular fan of melodramas, I went into this with no expectations and unlike many people I had not watched the Japanese original Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu, or the Korean movie remake, Love Me Not. This drama gets a lot of praise and many people have enjoyed it and wholeheartedly recommend it. I did like some aspects of it and it did grab my attention during the first part, but unfortunately, it gradually declined.

At the start what immediately caught my attention was the beautiful cinematography. I particularly liked the color scheme and how they match it to the character's state of mind or personality. Also, the filming locations, background scenery, clothes, and overall mood, were really pleasing and soothing to the eye.

The cast did a decent job portraying the characters. The characters themselves were flawed and had nuance and depth to their personalities and actions. Jo In Sung and Song Hye Kyo had intense chemistry in my opinion and I would love to see them together in future dramas. I did find that Jo In Sung played the charming yet tortured conman brilliantly, and managed to show his character's duality convincingly. Song Hye Kyo plays a prickly blind woman that comes off as distrustful and a bit conceited. That makes her look strong and independent, and not some poor woman with a disability.

As for the story, it was intriguing in the beginning and had me so captivated until halfway. At parts, I could not connect the characters' personalities with their actions any longer. Especially the female lead. Was she strong or was it just a front that she put up? Her behavior was so strange, that as the story progressed I could no longer care much for what she did or said. Maybe because this was a melodrama, the exaggerated emotions sometimes came out as intense, other times as over the top, since it felt to me that the emotions did not match their actions, especially the romantic scenes. On top of that, the twists and turns presented along the way did not contribute to the overall development of the characters and did not justify their actions in a believable way.

In conclusion, the drama has interesting characters but it lacked depth and any meaningful development that leads to a sort of absurd ending which left me confused. Other than that, if you like Jo In Sung, this is still worth a watch.

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Started well but...

This drama was a bit of a disappointment to watch, especially because the storyline was compelling and it had immense potential to become one of the best fantasy dramas out there. Unfortunately, the interesting plot details that were building up, all fell into nothing or were somewhat forgotten.

The cast did a pretty decent job in my opinion. There was this happy yet sorrowful, with a dash of mystery kind of mood to both familial and romantic relationships, as if you're yearning for something that never happened or could never be. But even though it had all the elements to succeed, the execution was lacking. It's as if you started writing but then didn't know how to progress or finish the story. The entire concept around the magical tree was never properly fleshed out and the pacing was inconsistent. As for the ending, it was rushed, unsatisfying, and outright frustrating. Nothing was really solved or explained, you are left wondering what is going on and trying to make sense of something that has none because the writer didn't know how to explain or piece things together. It's ok to let things be mysterious, but at some point, the mystery does need to unravel in a logical way.

Overall if you are a fan of Lee Jong-hyun maybe you would like to watch this, otherwise, you can skip without regrets.

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Amnesiac alien tries to fit in

This drama started out with an interesting premise. At first, it seemed like a quirky Sci-Fi romance type of story, or a slice of life from the perspective of an alien.

Unfortunately, this drama went on aimlessly without really anything happening. We are never made to understand what Hoshio wants or desires, where he wants to go and he kind of awkwardly remains trying to navigate these people he was forced into coexisting with, and also trying to become Hoshio for Sawako. The romance was also not fleshed out enough for me to care for it. Sawako, perhaps out of fear of abandonment, acted like Hoshio was her pet or her possession. There is hardly any character development as the story progresses, only strange interactions that leave you wondering if all of them are aliens themselves.

Overall it was a strange and boring watch. You can skip this unless you're watching simply for Fukushi Sota, which I'm guilty of.

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