Reviews

Beautifully shot, incredibly stupid

This is what people who've never been outside think romance is.

Of course it's inappropriate to pair a child with a middle aged man, but the even bigger problem is that their story is BORING. she's chasing him all the way to his village, when all he wants is to be alone and have that beer. she's stalking his work, she gets jealous and possesive in an incredibly immature manner, and this somehow is romantic. wow, sign me up

The only interesting part (hence the 4 stars, otherwise it would be 1 star), is the journey of the mother character. we get to see her protective but overbearing side while dealing with a sick child and the toll it takes on her. how strong she should be to support her daughter and hide all of this from her career. the relationship with the guy is so cute, they meet when she's at her lowest, shamefully shoving chicken in the storage room and he falls in love. cute as hell

TL;DR: the whole show looks stunning, yet it's laughably empty

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The plot was quite interesting. It was adorable. It had the chance to be longer. I feel like it came to a closure a little quick in the last eps. I didnt like the time skips to random scenes so much. I could've preferred to see more of their relationship progress. How they came to the conclusion of being together. And how the other character unlocked eventually emotionally his self and felt at ease and comfortable to show his affection. At least to watch some more steps of the character development and the establishment of the love part. I didn't mind of getting no kiss scene. I won't lie though, ofc i wouldn't complain if there was one. Overall i enjoyed it a lot.

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Starpower shines, while storytelling stagnates

What worked for the show:

Major starpower across the board. Even outside of Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won, Park Sung Hoon and Kwak Dong Yeon are budding stars of their own and provide reason to tune in.

Strong middle episodes. Once the FL's family moved in with the ML's family in the rural town I was sure it was going to follow the trope of them being arrogant, rude etc, but actually the budding relationships among the family members on each side was the major positive driving force of the show.

Inverting the gender trope of the tsundre male CEO to female CEO. The drama industry needs more badass FLs.

What didn't work:

Over-focus on the antagonist in later episodes when the screentime could have been focused on the main couple overcomming the FL's memory loss. Like many kdramas this one included someone with psychopathy/sociopathy playing an overbearing evil character.

Childhood reunion trope. In this drama we find out that the ML not only saved the FL's life, but also kept her ipod as she was his first crush. I don't think this trope is natural, although extremely common in kdramas with the idea of fated love, but felt completely unnessary and forced.

Poor writing at times and overly convient plot devices. There are several issues with the plot in general, how are we supposed to support a character who actively feels relief when he finds out his partner is dying in a few months. Everything medical is spoken as a matter of fact and that medical science for experimental procedures is exact. The show treats her surgery which is a supposed rare technique with a few academic papers as a 100 percent success rate on curing her terminal cancer and highly likely to affect her memory. Medical procedures, even those not used for dramatic effect, have risk involved and uncertainty.
The certainty of how the medical side was handled made the show feel less realistic. How are the parents not following their daughter who is getting an experimental treatment in a foreign country with likely memory side effects?

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A rolling coaster of emotion & superb cinematography visualize.

With well-written characters, post-war sequelae, and exceptional acting... this movie just proves that it is one of the masterpiece movies this year.

First, I never thought I would love a MonsterVerse film, and admittedly looking forward to watching this so badly because heard it won an Oscar, even watched "Shin Godzilla" while waiting. I already watched some Hollywood Godzilla movies and never liked them at all, these movies are all just dull and meaningless which created a showcase for the development of their excellent cinematography.

★ The Plot:
The movie unfolds two years after the end of World War II, when Japan's economy was severely impacted and focuses extensively on postwar living and rebuilding the country from the ashes. Japan was embargoed during the time, and not only the economy but nearly every other aspect of life suffered greatly. Godzilla emerged out of nowhere, bringing the country, which was already in disorder and instability, to the edge of disaster.

--> In contrast to Shin Godzilla, which depicts the conflict between the young and old generations in the Japanese government apparatus, as well as the evolution of this monster, Godzilla Minus One focuses heavily on the personal tragedy of "each human face" to highlight the trauma they were forced to endure. All of the characters in the film had traumas following the war. When the situation pushes them to rise and confront a monster they know little about, the characters try to keep going because they believe the sun will shine again one day.

★ Characters:
While the human character arc is often ignored in Hollywood films, in this film it is the focus and core of the plot, contributing to the film's success. Our protagonist is one of the symbols of all the post-war suffering: survival guilt, and the loss of family that every person and soldier in that era went through. Even the supporting characters have ample screen time to express each of their emotions adequately.

★ Acting:
Kamiki Ryunosuke surprised me with his acting skills, he's nailed it as a kamikaze pilot character, the scared eyes to determine eyes, hands trembling, and lines... are all excellent. Other supporting and background actors also give their best in their roles to make their characters vivid.

★ Cinematography:
A big appreciation for the art of the screenwriter & director Yamazaki Takashi he's absolutely talented and one the best ever by making this art with just 15M$.

In the end, congratulations to the director and all the actors for won a best winning award for their efforts.

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Sweet cross-cultural story

I've watched several cross-cultural dramas in the past with Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese casts. This is by far the best. It probably works very well because Chae Jong Hyeop seems genuinely to have a good command of Japanese. It's hard to act and relate to your co-star if you can't speak the same language.

The story itself is cutesy and not very well developed but I liked the innocence of their love story. Don't expect too much from the drama in terms of plot or character development but it's a warm and light hearted show - good for a dinner time show.

If I wasn't learning Japanese and Korean, this show would have far less appeal for me and I'd give it a miss. But this show uses easy Japanese and Korean so it was great for me!

One thing I will comment on though, perhaps it's me being too jaded but I felt he was just slightly stalker-ish. She seemed to be resisting him but he was going full throttle. I felt quite uncomfortable with it but maybe that's considered a full-on courtship.

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Star in My Heart: a classic tale of growth, independence, true love and lasting friendships.

This was a wonderful story overall. Gripping in its essence and filled with artlike direction and music that filled your soul with characters that really made you root for them. Really made me wish for their happiness and for them to find the stars in their hearts. Hope,solace and happiness!

Yun hee portrayed by Choi Jin Shil is a lovely heroine! She was was so sweet, nice but stubborn and fierce in her determination. I just fell in love with her designer talents! The actress is so beautiful as well! Her chemistry was amazing with Min hee portrayed by Jae Wook. Ah his handsome charming looks made me swoon! And the way he tackled his life problems and found solace in his music, my heart broke for his soul many times, the way his father caged him in like a prisoner several times. I love that he was supposed to take her number to give to his bestfriend Joon-hee portrayed by In pyo but ended up pursuing her himself!

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transmigration on a time crunch

A lovely little transmigration story - on a budget! While watching the show it is obvious it is not a big scale production but it is still really well made. The female lead is lovely, smart and actually funny which I enjoyed. She showed understanding to make it believable she was from the present but nothing too over the top like other transmigration stories have done which I liked. The couple is really affectionate with each other when they get together, there is plenty of skinship as well which I am really glad about! OST is really nice and enjoyable, Hua Ni's outfits are so lovely and I LOVED her hair pieces!

Although the ending is unpleasant for many, I do understand why she was brought back to the present and how it turned out she was "dreaming" it all. I understand the ending is because straight up time travel in shows is not allowed anymore (reason why Story of Kunning Palace had a story within a book kind of ending).

Now when it comes to understanding it: At the beginning of the series it is implied that she goes into the book she is reading and she turns from that book at the end. The show depicts it that she simply hit her head hard and dreamt that up in the time she was passed out but the bracelet and the flower shows us that she truly did go back in time. They love each other but can't be together per the time difference, a a la Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart Ryo - style.

All in all, I'm not mad at it because everything else hit the mark for me. I say give it a shot !!

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I don't understand the negativity

True it has several minor plot holes but if you think a little bit, everything becomes understandable. It had a little awkwardness and stiffness throughout the drama which I believe would be something to do with budget or production but it was okay. It has a refreshing storyline. People shouldn't ignore the fantasy tag in the description. True it has an out of this world type of fantasy. But its a cute story. If you are looking for some breathing space in kdrama world or looking for a light fluffy story, this is good. It does have some villainy and annoying characters tho. Quite refreshing.

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Frustrating to watch. Problematic characters. Toxic FL.

The character design is quite problematic. I'm really struggling to understand the FL's mother and brother.

----------Mother----------
Regarding the mother, she's been blaming the FL for her own negligence in supervising her small children, which resulted in a serious accident when the FL was just 10 years old. It's absurd how she continues to openly blame a child for 20 years when it's obvious that the adult should take responsibility. She doesn't just do this in their personal life, but also in their work life, going as far as finding reasons to sue her own daughter, which could harm their family company that's publicly traded on the stock market. And all of this is happening right under the noses of the FL's grandfather and father, who are much more rational and surely wouldn't want their corporation's reputation tarnished. The whole situation is just so unrealistic and absurd.

----------Brother----------
As for the brother, it's unbelievable. His wife deceives him into marriage and even has a child with another man while they're married. Then she flees away with money of her husband's family, only to return after being abused by her child's biological father. Despite all this, the brother unquestionably welcomes her back with open arms, and still loves her illegitimate child as if the child is his own. It's like he lacks any capacity for learning or judgment. It's hard to trust someone like him to run a company at an executive level, yet he holds a high-ranking position in their publicly listed company. How is that even possible?

----------Female Lead----------
And don't even get me started on the FL herself. She gets kidnapped by the villain in a car. And when the ML catches up with them after a violent car chase, succeeding in rescuing her while he's injured, she complies with the villain's gaslighting to say that she voluntarily follows the villain, then she willingly gets back into the villain's car to be kidnapped again. The reason the villain gives her is that if she doesn't go along, the ML will realize her illness is worsening, causing her to mistake the villain for the ML. But later on, the ML still has to break into the house where the FL is being held captive to rescue her once more, and she still has to tell the ML the truth in the end. It's infuriating how easily she falls for such manipulation, especially considering the ML already knows about her illness and its progression.

----------Toxic love----------
Let me address the ML's love for the FL as my last point. I find his renewed affection for her perplexing. While his initial love before their marriage is understandable, I fail to comprehend how he could still love her after enduring a toxic relationship. Despite their troubled history, she continues to resist cooperation, vilify him, withhold her true feelings, and maintain emotional distance. It appears to be a very one-sided effort, devoid of reciprocity. His affection seems solely driven by blind devotion, without any tangible reason or justification. Their past history of love before marriage doesn't seem to influence his current feelings, and the FL's behavior offers little to warrant his continued love. In essence, it feels like he is merely serving her as a servant of love. Such a dynamic doesn't foster a genuine and sustainable relationship in real life, though.

The story's irrational elements are so frustrating to watch. I keep going with it until the end because I'm a fan of the lead actors. However, while the FL's acting is passable, it still comes across as quite stiff to me. I've seen her in 3 series, including 'Descendants of the Sun' and 'Fight for My Way,' and her acting seems to be consistently one-dimensional, and not even the best version of the character she's portraying.

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A well-written mix of happiness, angst, sorrow, joy and excitement portrayed magically!

I once dropped this show after watching 3 episodes. They were too deep and sad for my mental state back then and I decided to stop. But I'm just so glad, months later, I gave this show another go. Best decision ever! This has to be one of my favourite shows. This show has made me wanting a WFH set-up in a beautiful airbnb in a peaceful environment so much!

What I like the most about this show is that ALL the leads have a brilliant background and story. Yes, you heard it right. You do not feel any imbalance in how they handle the multiple characters. Enough and more time is spent on the struggles, achievements and daily life of all the characters instead of being focused on only Hong Dou and Zhi Yao.

I also like how they've shown a broken yet extremely independent and sensible woman in the form of Hong Dou. She prioritises her mental health, is willing to work on herself when things are not right but overcomes it all (with the help of our wonderful characters) to get back on her feet. She does not let others guide her future and is a force to reckon with. Whether it be her family, or love, nothing gets in the way of her dreams, and that is just aspirational. What is even more amazing about this is that she does all of this without stepping on others, she considers everyone's feelings, acknowledges them and talks it out peacefully, commendable!

I also like the character of Chairman Xie. He is a self-aware and brilliant guy who knows exactly what he wants and gives his all to achieve the same. Although his character is too good to be true and very philanthropist-y for my liking, kudos to him for being like that and staying at it throughout the show. His commitment to his goal and community is commendable and it makes me look out for my own Chairman Xie.

My favourite characters though have to be of Na Na and Da Mai. They have developed beautifully over the show, given their best performances and worked magic on the screen. The bond between the two is also magical and something I aspire for. But having said that, all the actors including the village aunties and uncles, have brilliantly depicted their roles and the acting in this show is very top-notch by everyone.

What amazes me to this date is just how calm, composed and peaceful Xu Hong Dou sounds. The tranquility that sets whenever she's talking is no joke. So gentle and so sweet. It's like she could say 1000 mean things to me, and I would still be focused only on just how tranquil and gentle she sounds. I've never heard any actor portray a character like that and usually I find it very annoying but Hong Dou's tone matched the entire show and it's concept so well that it was a brilliant touch!

What I didn't like about the show is the little Chinese propaganda flowing throughout, but personally, I've learnt to overcome the same after having watched countless Chinese shows. At some point it also feels like a tourism documentary but I don't find any problem with that because the show has otherwise delivered on every single front so what's the problem with a little advertisement. I've been to Yunnan, Kunming and Dali and hands down the beauty of these places needs to be shared with everyone.

If you're looking for a feel-good, deep, and absolutely BRILLIANT show, then don't think twice. THIS IS IT. I can't recommend this show enough to everyone. What an amazing 35 hours of my life. Cheers! ?

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