Reviews

fall in love every time meet you

As the male and female protagonists continue to interact, their hearts gradually bridge the gap between them. This gradual progression towards emotional intimacy is a testament to the depth of their connection. It's this very journey that enables them to truly understand and immerse themselves in each other's worlds. As they overcome obstacles and challenges together, their affection grows stronger, and they find solace in one another's presence.

Ultimately, the culmination of their shared experiences leads to a pivotal moment: their decision to marry. This choice represents the synthesis of their individual paths, merging them into a shared future. Their journey from strangers to soulmates, marked by twists and turns, laughter and tears, culminates in a celebration of their commitment to one another. Their union is not just a union of two individuals, but a merging of their dreams, hopes, and aspirations.

In conclusion, the drama beautifully portrays the intricate tapestry of human relationships. The male and female leads, initially brought together by the threads of destiny, navigate the complexities of their connection with resilience and tenderness. Their journey is a testament to the transformative power of genuine companionship and the gradual building of trust and affection. With moments of humor and poignancy interwoven throughout, their story resonates with audiences on a profound level. The drama's ultimate message lies in the idea that love can indeed emerge from the unlikeliest of circumstances and blossom into a union that transcends time, challenges, and individual differences.

Read More

Soooo

I did not expect to be hooked on this series at all. I started watching it 2 days ago and I'm now on ep. 11 in front of my laptop screen crying. I thought it was just going to be silly and won't have a deep meaning to it because of some clips I watched on TikTok but I'm legit shocked how good this series is.

I wish I had watched it while it was airing, but now I think about it, I'm glad I didn't because I would not have been able to wait a week for another episode. Those who actually did that... KUDOS to you! I'm trying to prolong watching the ending and even ep 12 looked a bit fishy to me so I'm praying nothing huge happens and they all just stay happy.

Read More

WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK

I rarely write review on mydramalist, but believe me, when I do so its either the drama is worth your time or it will drain your energy for nothing.
This time I write for later reason.


Start-Up started as a promising drama. I, at first, put such a high expectation after watching “Search:WWW”, believing that this drama would give us another thought-provoking storyline with decent dialogues and applaud-able cinematography.

But it turns out to be a drama with most illogical love-triangle and what worse is the script writer push the business-related scenes out of nowhere that you will be confused and wondering, am I watching “Startup” or “Lovers in Start-up?”

Since the “romance” is dominating this drama, so let me rant about it:

WE WOULD HAPPILY ACCEPT Dosan and Dalmi pairing IF ONLY
1. Script writer gives Dosan better character development (even Gu Jung Pyo`s is better). Let him fix his anger management issue, let the viewers know HOW he finally get succeed in silicon Valley. Tell him some basic science first, why he sitting on the yacht under sunny shine WEARING black tshirt why?? Didnt he feel hott?
2. Script writer gives BETTER storyline on how Dal Mi finally opens her heart for the real Do San and provide more logical explanation why Dal Mi find Do San more attractive despite she finally knew that imperfectly perfect HJP is the “Dosan from the letter”. Not jusst because Do San has big hand and he needs support (coz he thinks support from parents and friends are not enough). TELL US WHY Dalmi should be more than just Do San’s Business partner.
3. The reason why this heaviest SLS in human mankind is exist because scriptwriter did not give HJP enough opportunities to had one on one conversation with Dal Mi. Talking heart to heart about why HJP start to write the letter and how he actually feels about Dalmi from the start. Simply, Scriptwriter didnt give enough justice to HJP.

Sometimes I become very negative to think that director and scriptwriter already made a deal with respective management to make NJH and BS as the pairing no matter what. Even though during the halfway process of writing, the scriptwriter already now that it would be more logical to pair her with HJP?? Well thats my wild prediction.

I initially wanna put 2 in every scoring aspect but I will hold myself from doing so to respect KSH acting skill and his perfect potrayal of HJP.

NOTE:
I have seen the last 2 episodes and decided to put 1.0 to almost all aspect. Really not worth your time.
Please just use your time resource to watch Itaewon Class or Search WWW if you love business-themed drama.
I put 1.5 just to respect KSH`s magical acting.

Read More

I came here to say for all the other bitter, poor reviews you might see scrolling through, let me summarize their major disappointment—it’s over a ship/pairing that was never intended to get anywhere between the MFL and SL (your typical second lead syndrome). If not throughout, then most certainly by the conclusion of the drama, you’ll Know exactly why that’s the case as well as how the overall story ties together with its characters growing from start to end. but. It’s a bit pointless to try to get across viewers who A) can’t bother finishing the drama mainly due to the indifferences of said ship, or most pathetically B) insisted on watching the show solely to skip scenes that were vital to the characters’ stories thus concluded there were “plot holes” and/or “inconsistencies”. Go figure, I suppose. There is also a whole other debacle debate as to whether the drama delivered good business models, and whether they’re applicable to the real world. What you have to keep in mind is paying close attention to the drama’s usage of its metaphors, because somehow it’s lost on the vast majority who fail to realize they can and have already applied them to the real world.
One perfect example I can give is the “Sailing off without a map” saying that’s referenced throughout. In short, it’s a metaphor mostly* for innovators, visionaries—people with idealistic views as opposed to investors who have realistic views. You either win big or lose big. And should you fail, you're one step closer to success as it is still a good experience to have, knowing or figuring out how to do better the next time. Failure is part of the process. It’s what makes innovation a step-by-step process. The quote is supposed to signify establishing maps for uncharted areas that allow businesses to continue to expand despite the risks—NOT that you don’t have the resources nor the variables planned to do so (which is the very thing a lot were misinterpreting on). Basically, don’t limit yourself to what you can exceed if you shouldn’t have to, and take the opportunities given.

The drama centers around a group of youthful entrepreneurs who have that similar journey of naivety and innocence, begrudging struggles, fleeting accomplishments, damning reality—you name it. They experience upon trail and error to get to their endgame. That’s really all what this drama is about.

Read More

Had potential but disappointing ending

This drama started off great, the characters were amazing. The cast was one of the best. The way the drama played out wasn’t very good though. They made Nam Do San seem too shallow minded in my opinion. His character wasn’t the worst, he had his moments, but I feel like he didn’t have ML qualities, he was more of a SL. The decisions he made or how he executed them were not to my liking, he was a very weird ML, he had so many qualities that were unlikable as the ML.
Seo Dal Mi’s character I feel went downhill on the strong independent female aspect. She went from being a woman who could do everything on her own and be the best at it to not being able to make clear decisions and needing constant help from a man (from both HJP and NDS). It was sad seeing her strong image go down like that.
Han Ji Pyeong was such a likable character now he had ML qualities. They gave him the tragic background, the history with the FL, and the best personality but he was given the SL role. It was very disappointing and upsetting seeing such a great written character put to the side like that. I feel like a lot of the moments from the last episode were to make NDS seem like he was better or as ways to justify why NDS had to be the ML.
I feel like none of the supporting characters were given proper endings or closure that made sense only NDS and SDM had that closure. I know they are the main characters but they made the characters stories that you wanted to see them have good endings.
Overall the drama was alright maybe up to episode 13 the drama was good. I personally would not watch this drama again or strongly recommend to anyone.

Read More

Beautiful production, passable acting, and lots of steamy scenes...but romanticized abuse and a weak plot.

(Tw: child grooming/pedophilia discussed in next paragraph)

Let's hope the people who had the idea to combine child betrothal with an age gap just didn't think it through, because if not we've got people totally fine with child grooming and pedophilia on our hands. And even though this issue is STARING us in the face (the leads are literally shown meeting when one is an infant and the other is like...seven), it's just absolutely never addressed. Instead, we have the older ML saying things like "I've never not loved you" and "I've been waiting [to have sex with you]" to a brand-new adult to whom he has been a family friend since the guy was born. (Yes, this show made me google the age of adulthood in Thailand. Yes, I know that the age of consent is younger. That doesn't matter to me.) So these statements imply that this man who has been an adult for about seven years longer than his partner has been sexualizing him for...how long? This isn't 1815, when Jane Austen's Mr. Knightley could get away with telling Emma he fell in love with her when she was fourteen and he was twenty-something. This is 2022, when we know that sexualizing minors when you're an adult is wrong. This could have been easily avoided if the creators had just made the leads closer in age or clarified that the older ML only started to see the younger in a romantic light once he became an adult, but for some reason they just... didn't do that.

And that's not even touching on how controlling and stalker-y the older ML is, which plenty of other reviews go into detail about. The writers took the most regressive parts of heteronormativity and pasted them onto this gay relationship, with the younger ML playing the part of the naive, submissive woman who needs a man to make all her decisions for her because she can't think for herself. Then the writers tried to combine that with pro-LGBTQ advocacy messages here and there, and the result was jarring. It's nice that they care about rights for LGBTQ people, but it would have been nicer if they had actually cared to like...meet actual gay people and find out what their relationships are like before writing gay people as committed to replicating unhealthy heteronormative standards.
 
The writers liked the abusive dynamics in the first couple so much that they just recreated them for the second couple, with even less explanation as to why that couple has that power imbalance. And in both relationships, it's all romanticized and not challenged at all. (Commenters need to understand that Dom/sub relationships require CONSENT. Someone who's trying to control their partner and his life without his consent isn't a Dom; they're an abuser.)

Outside of the ethical issues, the plot of the show was pretty weak. It hinges entirely on the leads' lack of communication - only the younger ML discovers pretty early on that the older ML actually knows everything he's been trying to hide, but he just... decides to forget it? Like truly, if that revelation had followed out to its logical conclusion, the lack of communication could have been solved fairly quickly. Then the leads could have worked on being better, more honest partners to each other. But nonsensically, we didn't get that.

The two younger best friends had more rapport, real affection, honest communication, and (dare I say) chemistry with each other than with their older partners. Their friendship was a bright spot in this drama.

I only finished for the third couple. I was really interested in the idea of a super religious guy who sees no conflict between his religion and his sexuality, but sadly, they got little screen time. 

Read More

This show was not perfect, no show is. But it was so engaging, I was able to ignore and not think about any possible plot holes or “convenient” plot lines until I finished it. My overly critical and overanalyzing brain was so emotionally connected to the characters and plot, it couldn't care less about any mistakes.

If I had to describe the plot in just a few words I would say: Fight against the supernatural evil, and the one hidden in humanity, that leads to bettering oneself. The format is repetitive, it’s undeniable truth. They dealt with one evil spirit, a new stronger one showed up. How come it’s not boring?

At first, the cases are simply a background for introducing the characters, creating a team work and So Moon’s dive into a whole new world. Slowly, the past connections between different characters are discovered, and the background plot starts to take a forefront position. The progression from the simple procedural plot to uncovering the past mystery and dealing with the main villain is perfectly gradual, and speaks of the great pacing The Uncanny Counter has.

The core of the show are the characters. The cast is pure perfection, and whoever was the casting director, they should get a raise. We are presented with more or less four teams: high school friends, Counters, Yung partners and the evil assholes. Each group is well written and portrayed, and even the villains are charming in their own twisted ways. I still wanted to see them dead, but I was also curious about their next actions and shenanigans. The loyalty among the young friends, the protectiveness of Counters, the moral dilemma the partner’s faced - all that made me love each and every character.

The acting is top notch. Jo Byung Kyoo is a true star of the show. His acting made me cry, scream, laugh, hit my head on my desk… He was So Moon. Kind, smol, positive, but also flawed character, that was willing to slowly learn, mature and improve himself. Easily in my top 5 favorite characters of all time.

Each and every actor committed to their roles completely. I honestly did not feel that even one scene or expression was off. I was especially surprised by Kim Se Jeong's performance. I knew she was a good actress, but she improved so much with the few roles she had previously.

Production value was everything I could wish for. It is a mainstream kdrama, high quality of visual aspects is expected though. The directing of the fighting sequences was well done, making them exciting to watch. Some of the stunts in the first episode felt slightly off, but they quickly improved and became way more natural.

I’m not gonna lie, I did not pay that much attention to the soundtrack as I was watching the show. I was completely “distracted” by the plot to notice what kind of music is being played in the background. That said, I usually don’t care that much about the OST, unless they are extremely bad, not fitting or painfully overused. After listening to the song as I was writing the review, I must say: they are good. Each has a completely different feeling and emotional quality, but they are all making me want to listen to them on repeat.

So what are the flaws? The biggest one was the slightly anticlimactic ending. With all the set up, I was expecting a bit more. Tiny, convenient plots that are either added or forgotten, like Moon, at some point, is never shown attending school. We just don’t see him going there at all. Never to be addressed nor mentioned. He is still a student, he wears his uniform… but he ain’t even close to being in class. Then we have the introduction of Oh Jeong Gu close to the end that felt out of place and useless.

Taking into consideration how well crafted the story and characters are, I was able to ignore the flaws. These cons barely tipped the scale, since the pros were that good.

Overall, damn yes. This show had such an emotional impact on me, there were moments when I had to pause the episode, since I was scared/not ready for whatever was going to happen. I loved each and every character. I was curious about the plot and how the team would deal with the obstacles they were facing. There was not one boring episode, and even though I am fine with the given conclusion, I would not mind a possible second season.

*Trigger warning: severe bullying. It’s pretty bad guys, especially in the beginning episodes.

Read More

Ok. I'm trying to write this calmly and rationally. However, I'm so disappointed that I'm not sure if I can. I know that I will probably be crucified for this review, but here it goes anyway.

The story has been done in tons of dramas, but I think this writer did it with new twists and a lot of mature content. I enjoyed every episode and wasn't sure quite where the writer was going to lead me from week to week. It was exciting and I really did love it. It has all the makings of a great melodrama including love, betrayal, amnesia, murder, attempted murder, etc. The writer's subliminal messages are great. I like it when I have to read between the lines and not just take everything at face value.

Honestly, I thought this drama was great until the last two episodes. Did they change writers??? I don't get it at all. There was this really great tragic drama for 18 episodes then two episodes of filler and a 7 year time jump that just left me cold. I'm not suppose to write spoilers so I can't go into detail. However, Jae Hee's final actions were totally out of character. I don't for one minute find her redeeming or her tears convincing. She is a certifiable nut job. She and crony, Attorney Ahn got off way too easy. Plus, how can they make a woman as smart as Eun Gi not notice...crap, no spoilers. Well, they turned her into a friggin' idiot. The only good part is that Ma Ru doesn't back down and stays true to himself. At least they did that much. I won't even go into how I feel about the ending. I can't with out writing spoilers.

The actors are the reason why this drama was good anyway. Song Joong Ki as Kang Ma Ru floored me. I had no idea that he could play this kind of character. He was so complex and believable. I know he is good looking, but even an actor with the best of looks would have a hard time pulling this character off. He did it all with those eyes. How does he make his eyes warm and cold like that??? It is amazing. Park Si Yeon as Han Jae Hee was also good. She made me dislike that character with a passion. It is a tribute to her acting. She did the ending well also even though the writer changed her character too much. It isn't her fault and she plays twisted to perfection. Moon Chae Won who plays Seo Eun Gi had a hard character to play. She practically had to change from cold to warm so many times in this drama that it is a wonder she knew if she was coming or going. I have seen her in other dramas and I appreciate her acting ability. It was also very nice to see Lee Kwang Soo teamed up with Joong Ki again. He is adorable as Park Jae Gil, Ma Ru's wing man. All the other side actors did a good job also. The acting was NOT lacking!!!

The music was beautiful. Even if you don't watch this drama, you should check out Song Joong Ki's "Really" and JYJ's Junsu's "The Innocent Man".

I won't rewatch this.

Overall, I think that this is a drama that you would enjoy if you like melodramas, which I do. You may love the ending. A lot of people do.

Read More

THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL A "MASTERPIECE"!!!! OKAY!!!!!

First of all, this BL has its own unique storyline that is very interesting to follow and almost every aspect of this series is top-notch! GMMTV really did that! Thank you!! This is one of the best and timeless BL Series I've ever watched and even though I haven't watch the finale episode, this is considered as a perfection. OSTs are so beautiful, acting and portrayal of characters were perfectly done. I personally appreciate and love everything in this series in infinite folds. This series also stood out among any other BL Series out there along with He's Coming to Me. Don't argue with me because everything were just so perfect. The revelations and interconnected characters and circumstances included in this series really kept my interest. This series is worth the wait. Hope GMMTV have it a special ep or season 2 will be great. Hate to say goodbye to this series but hope GMMTV make another masterpiece like this.

Read More

Even Better Than The First Season

When the first season came out, it was instantly one of my favorite BLs. I loved the characters' chemistry, the story wasn't bad and the acting was great. I really only had one problem with it: the series was too short and because of that, we didn't really get a chance to explore the characters to my satisfaction. We only got snippets of their past here and there but nothing that really showed us why Ji Woo and Seo Joon became the people they were.

That's why I think this season is even better than the first. It's shedding light on concepts they introduced in the first season, "tying loose ends" so to speak while adopting more mature themes of heartbreak and loneliness and the roles people play in a relationship, all the while giving us a bit of fanservice of their domestic life together. Each episode fills my heart with joy and anxiety and as I watch the back and forth between Ji Woo and Seo Joon, I end up loving the series even more.

Read More

Humanity's hurdles.

We enter season 2 with a lot of differences from the first season.

Firstly all around the budget, there is more use of CGI because of the increase of monsters, the sets are vast and in different locations which opens for more exploration and the number of characters, the cast has expanded exponentially.

Second, the group finds itself separated. Hyun Soo is riding alone with Sang Wook in his wake, little happens on their side in the first part of the season aside from Hyun Soo having an existential fight with himself, seeing monsters who are still human getting killed and humans themselves who are victims of monsters, he does not know where to stand and how to consider himself.

For others, they desperately try to reach a safe heaven but only end up in dangerous places.

As for Yi Kyung, she struggles to find her husband, and finds herself confronted with a terrible situation and reality.

I won't talk about the rest of the season, which is really more exciting in terms of storyline, although I hate that some major characters were missing from few episodes and Hyun Soo wasn't featured as much as he should have.

I have to say that overall, I felt something was lacking from this season, it felt like I was watching a transition, this season felt like appetizer that prepares for the main course (season 3), we had quite a lot of action scenes, but the pace was rather stale. However, I do have to say, strangely the series had a lot of depth and emotion. They made us feel for both humans and monsters alike, while also hating them, that was masterfully executed. Quite a few characters encounter a tragic destiny, people we had become attached to, the series is crueler in this aspect.

If I had to summarize this season, I would say that despite the action in a sense it is more slow-paced and has more emotional depth to take us through a journey of hardships where humanity is the center of it all.

Read More

Depends on whether you have seen the Anime version or not...

I waited expectantly for this TV series as I'm up to date with the Anime version. I even watched it without subs as I could understand mandarin (but not fully).

While I knew that it won't be able to fully adapt the story to the anime version, I was rather disappointed with the ending.

I could accept the change in ages (young XW & TS) and that the time at Shrek School was the most compelling to the story line. Even the changes to include a mystery of the feng duoluo behind Cang Hui was intriguing and not found in the anime; kept me interested to skip the subs.

However, the last episode was rather disappointing. I know that we cannot compare the fight sequences with those in the anime but too many are stationary and not doing anything during the battle. Also, both Oskar & Rong Rong were used sparingly with only 2 actions in most fight sequences - use stick to release smoke, throw incendiary balls and ignite them. Oskar & RR's special abilities were seldom used to the point where they could just sit out the fight.

Then, the many feng douluos that fight with Bibi Dong at the end were dispatched with just a wave away and fell into a goop of liquid. One would expect after seeing the feng douluos as being badasses, that they would at lease put up a fight.

Finally, the biggest gripe was when Tang Hao appears and throws his hammer at BBD....and cut, they are out of the battle and TS, XW & TH are talking...huh? What happened? This cliff hanger is nothing short of lazy editing with no payoff for the audience. It might be due to budget constraints!

If they had ended Season 1 with Tang Hao escaping with XW & TS while the others all pledge to go their separate ways and return & meet after 5 years (as in the anime), I think most of the viewers would still want to see more, find out about the story and still get a pay off that Shrek School won and got some prizes (bones of soul animals). Unfortunately, they missed an opportunity.

Read More

Motivational story with excitement throughout the drama!

I decided to watch this show because of Yang Yang, but wow it really got some good storyline out there!

At first I was hesitating whether to give it a try as I wasn't that interested in gaming and knowing that it doesn't have love story (because I just wanted to watch Yang Yang XD), BUT I AM GLAD THAT I WATCH IT! Even for people who doesn't find this gaming theme interesting, you will just get hooked on by the story itself.

If you have watched Go Go Squid or Love O2O before, this is basically a combination of both (but without the loveline). It has a story similar to GGS (where a professional player left his group and started his own team) and the gaming graphics like LO2O! I love how this show has a lot of unexpected plots!! For someone like me who never read the novel before, I will always try guessing who will win the match but it always comes with a plot twist, then you just can't stop watching because you wanna know happens next! Every match was just so exciting, even though it was just an animation battle instead of physical sword-fighting. but it's real good and pretty well done!!!

I also love the friendship between the clan leaders, the team mates, teacher-students or even the opponents. It shows not only how the male lead is good in gaming but also his strategy to bring victory to the team and finding the right way to guide different kind of members. Ye Xiu is really an amazing character, a good son and grandson, a good leader, a good friend, a good teacher and a good partner! :)

You should watch it, because you will feel so motivated and touched by the characters!

Read More