Reviews

Story about strong women

This drama is one of the favorites that I've watched this year (2023). I enjoy watching slice of life drama and especially one that deals with real and difficult issues. This drama is one that deals with real life issues such as infidelity, divorce, workplace and business competition. The characters feel real and the actors played them really well. The three main female characters are all strong women, but I particularly like Gu Jia. She's the strongest of them all I think.

SPOILER ALERT!
Throughout the drama you get to see character developments for the main characters. Zhong Xiao Qin started out as a dependent and rather spoiled, a people pleaser that cannot survive on her own. She always has her parents and her husband to guide her through life. But she became a strong women after the divorce and can stand up for herself. Wang Man Ni's character development is not too significant in my opinion. She is already a strong, independent woman and she's my least favorite character. Gu Jia, now she is my favorite. I love her character. She can be soft but strong at the same time. In the beginning, I thought she's just a boring upper middle income housewife with a kid and adoring husband. But as you progressed, you get to see that she's actually the one that works hard for her family and she's one that will not hesitate to give the harsh truth to the friends to get them to wake up and move on from the problems. I like her! I thought she's the one that has it all and will have the happy ending. But her life was turned upside down when a home-wrecker chased her husband. But, She handled the husband's infidelity in an elegant way. She is the strongest of them all.

I like to see the friendship between these three women. And it's also interesting to see how life in a big city like Shanghai is. The struggles that you have to endure to live in Shanghai (there's a part of the story where Man Ni returns to her hometown and there, everybody is friendly and know everybody and always ready with a helping hand, a contrast with life in Shanghai).

There is a silent family at the end of each episode that I also like. I think the main idea of this family is to show that it's simple life that brings happiness and wealth and more money comes with its problems.

I think this drama is excellent and would definitely recommend it if you like slice of life stories.

Read More

Going down roofie road.

After binging this drama in the span of less than a week. I have to make a formal apology to "From Now on Showtime!" because this show is basically the same thing but like wayyy worse in every aspect.

Its boring, predictable and cliché. The stalker serial killer, the b*tchy 2nd FML, the second lead not liking her until he's got competition... All of it made me wanna hurl. The show not being able to remember it's own lore about magic.

I don't mind dramas being commercials... But I still wanna be told a good story. I was totally on board for this show until the 5th episode? Once he drank that DAMN love potion it was OVER for me! Such a dumb decision! Speaking of dumb things.

I could not bring myself to believe that a woman willingly wrote this. Every single female character with 1 exception (and no, its not the FL) is a joke. An actual joke. The FL's only characteristics are her being "nice" and liking hot guys. Aside from her dad dying thats all we know about her. Everything else circles back to those two things. Oh? she's hardworking? YEA cuz she's "nice". Oh she's making dumb magical decisions? YEA it's cuz she likes hot guys. The script has her isolated from other people without really giving a valid reason. If she's so nice why does she get bullied and isolated everywhere she goes… I know it's Korean fiction but there's gotta be a reason for her lack of human connections. Even the biggest bitches I know have a couple f*ckin friends??? Her superiors and coworkers are all disgusting shallow people who walk all over her, take advantage and so on. DESPITE THAT! The FL still wants to be friends with them?

LADY PLEASE have some respect for yourself.

I really dislike when women in dramas can only think of men... you don't have any hopes? Dreams? Goals? Hobbies? The coworkers and 2nd FL have lives that only revolve around the males they drool over... So pathetic. Also the 2nd FL is a freaking delusional hypocrite that honestly made me head cannon that she was a stand in for someone that actually bullied the writer in real life, that way she can feel like she punished her bully through the show… All of this seems like bad fan fiction. The Mary Sue FL, the lack of romantic tension, and the one dimensional 2nd FL… it all reeks.

The male characters are basically pieces of paper. I don't know why the ML ended up liking the FL? He was so rude to her and then BOOM the worst decision of the show comes and all of a sudden he's all about her… The 2ND ML seemed like he might have something relatable and interesting going on… but it doesn't get enough development and he too also starts liking the FL for shallow reasons… I have nothing to say about either of the villains… Both were so boring. The mayor man…. allows his uneducated daughter to make political decisions for him because she's angry… What a whack politician…

The biggest issue is the FL making the conscious decision to trick a man into drinking a love potion that would FORCE that man to love her. This action is the biggest issue for me... Is her life so bad that she needs to essentially magically roofie a man? She's that desperate for love??? WHY??? So cuz her dad died she has the right to force men into a relationship even after being PREVIOUSLY REJECTED BY THE SAME MAN? I just can't wrap my head around this creative decision.... THIS and everything that results from it are tainted. If she gets into a relationship with that guy… then everything that takes place is r*pe… I don't understand how the writers missed that… The drama doesn't really make any effort to condemn her actions either, instead it's used as a comedic trampoline… All kinds of shenanigans take place after that…

The cinematography, music, and acting were all fine I guess.

I can confidently say this was my worst drama of 2023… too much of it rubbed me the wrong way. I would gladly watch King The Land 20x times more than ever watch this again. Just awful.

Read More

Cringey

I was cringey so hard at some scenes especially the crying ones. The storyline was also pretty plain and predictable. I’m so bored of the storylines where they break up with their partner cause it’s “dangerous”. Even if it was a plot like this make it more interesting at least. The random quitting and going back caught me off guard. While guy was hanging out with wal acting all fine and then starting crying about it I was so confused. Wal was also such a bad person and then turned around to be “caring” all of a sudden. their chemi wasn’t the best either. I don’t get the random scenes and I think this drama was just a flop.

Read More

The film had a lot of potential, which in my opinion was partly underutilized. Both main characters are very likeable - Albert Goza (Gerry), an almost new actor, and Miko Pasamonte (Paolo), known to me from several films also listed here. Both of them have been through a lot and enter into a "strange" relationship without emotional ties to prepare each other for when each of them will meet their Mr. Right. Soon, however, "something" develops that transcends the terms of their mutual relationship. But what surprised me was the music in the second half. I can't understand at all if it was artificially added when watching online or if it is really part of the movie. Absolutely horrifying, horrible, out of place. And on top of that, the actress Renée Gozon played an affected, dismembering character, who kept getting goats out, and the well-known director GA Villafuerte, who is already dead, flashes there.

Film měl velký potenciál, který byl dle mě zčásti nevyužit. Obě hlavní postavy moc sympatické - herecký téměř nováček Albert Goza (Gerry) a mě známý z několika filmů i zde uvedených Miko Pasamonte (Paolo). Oba už mají za sebou leccos a uzavírají "divný" vztah bez citových vazeb, aby se vzájemně připravili na to, až každý z nich potká toho svého Pana Pravého. Brzy se však vyvine "něco", co překročí podmínky jejich vzájemného vztahu. Co mě ale zarazilo, byla v druhé půli hudba. Vůbec to nemůžu pochopit, jestli při online sledování tam byla přidána uměle a nebo to je vážně součást filmu. Naprosto děsivé, příšerné, nehodící se. A k tomu herečka Renée Gozon tam hrála afektovanou pitvořící se postavu, které neustále lezly ven kozy a mihne se tam i nám známý režisér GA Villafuerte, který už je po smrti.

Read More

A pleasant short film where the emphasis was placed and most of the time also on both the two main actors of the characters Red and Nikko and it was played very nicely, gently. There were no Pinoy mannerisms and I was surprised that there were already end credits that took almost a quarter of the entire footage, so I expected that after the credits there would be the "real" ending. He wasn't. Just life...


Příjemný krátky film, kde byl důraz kladen a většina času též na oba dva hlavní herce postav Red-a a Nikko a byl zahrán velmi pěkně, jemně. Nebyly tam žádné pinoy manýry a překvapilo mě, že už jsou závěrečné titulky, které zabraly téměř čtvrtinu celé stopáže, čekal jsem tudíž, že po titulcích bude ten "pravý" konec. Nebyl. Prostě život ...

Read More

Those manga characters (exactly as David compared it in the previous review) that were invented by Japanese women still look really weird to me, because their horrible hairdos make both the main actors, aged 18 and 22, look like thirteen-year-old hermaphrodites, or at best, so that they would rather go to the bathroom to make sure they are a boy or a girl. And when the Amagi opened its wide mouth with huge teeth from ear to ear in the close-up, I was afraid that the head of the praying mantis wanted to eat me. And now seriously. As it is almost unnatural, I actually enjoy it on the other hand. From that point of view, it was a gentle, sweet series, well-acted in its Japanese way with a straightforward story. Anyone who knows Japanese will relax with it or even smile in some scenes.

Read More

"todos merecem um romance" (e os tutoryim merecem um BL melhor)

? história: o plot deseja passar a ideia de que o amor independe da maneira que um indivíduo é taxado socialmente, desde "desinteressante" a "esquisito", tendo como exemplar, jade, um homem de 28 anos com conduta extremamente infantil e imatura, o qual possui dificuldades em expressar e aceitar sentimentos, sejam próprios ou externos. mai, por outrora, é seu estagiário, a quem sempre lhe foi imposta a pressão de ser um homem "perfeito", sendo este o par romântico de jade.

os problemas dão início assim que a série abre diversas lacunas para, no final, corrê-las em meio a 8 episódios, que por sua vez, possuem diversas cenas sem agregamento com intuito humorístico, mas que somente geram uma enorme vergonha alheia vinda totalmente por parte das atitudes de jade.

assistir esse lakorn foi como aguentar uniformemente a vergonha dos episódios, para chegar no penúltimo e soltarem toda a carga com a famigerada "forte vontade de dropar" nos meus braços, junto a um drama sem sentido*, para aliviar no último episódio, com cenas fofas dos protagonistas, já como casal, e um leve amadurecimento no jade, na segunda metade do mesmo episódio (8)

sobre o "drama sem sentido", este deu a impressão de ter sido feito como qualquer clichê de romance pré adolescente, tirando o fato dos dois protagonistas terem até 28 anos de idade, sobretudo, sendo um casal homossexual dentro de uma empresa. é sem nexo quando aplicado à realidade, e poderia ter sido abordado diversos temas que preferiram somente irrelevar. porém esse é o ponto mais compreensível até então, por se tratar de um "lakorn de comédia" e irrealista.

por último, a indecisão de público alvo em faixa etária. algo comum que eu vejo acontecer em lakorns são temas tão simples sobre relacionamento e maturidade sendo tratados como tentativas de "lições de moral", nos causando a impressão de que é voltado para um público muito jovem que ainda tem dificuldade em compreender a dinâmica de relacionamentos e os sentimentos envolvidos, os quais estão embarcando nesse meio que é a adolescência. porém, logo em seguida, nos é mostrado cenas mais íntimas entre os protagonistas, trocando totalmente o foco juvenil para um público mais maduro, sem manter uma estabilidade de roteiro, ou falhando seriamente em tentar deixar lições de vidas implícitas de maneira mais sútil e "adulta".

? personagens: não me agradou a maneira que o personagem de jade foi construído, nos apresentando claros problemas de socialização, compreensão de sentimentos, autoestima, maturidade, comportamento, além de espécimes de "traumas" gerados pelo seu primeiro relacionamento, que por sua vez tenta justificar alguma de suas atitudes, sem buscar tratar de nenhum deles, ou sequer explorar o seu crescimento como indivíduo. o único feito de jade durante a série, que poderia acarretar em uma "melhora" em alguns de seus problemas, foi namorar e se abrir com o mai.

gus e tong foram um dos pontos positivos desse lakorn, possuindo um desenvolvimento decente para a quantidade de episódios, cativando o espectador sem ultrapassar o tempo de tela e profundidade do casal principal.

uea e king, por já terem tido seu desenvolvimento em "bed friend", cumpriram o papel de mentorear jade e mai em diversas questões sobre relacionamento. vale ressaltar que a maturidade de uea me impressionou, em meio a tanta dor de cabeça que eu estava passando devido ao jade.

? atuação: conheci o yim (jade) e o tutor (mai) por cutie pie, e desde então eu venho vendo um enorme potencial neles, o que não me decepcionou nessa série. a atuação de ambos foi ótima, e creio que eles se sairiam perfeitamente protagonizando um BL com a proposta mais séria. sobre o james (uea) e o net (king) eu não tenho nadica a reclamar, adoro o trabalho deles. e por último, fiquei feliz em conhecer o trabalho dos atores que fizeram os papéis do gus e tong (tai e leo), espero vê-los atuando juntos novamente!

Read More

Sweet & Lovely Drama

This drama was so beautiful and sweet, like balm to the soul. It's is such a sweet, precious story that unfolds slowly without much angst.

Beautifully written and acted with a fascinating story, breathtaking scenery, elegant costumes, and gorgeous music. I'm in tears because it's over and I miss the characters already. I wish I had a friend group like this.

The pacing was slow and gentle, but if you have patience it pays off in a satisfying way later on.

This is my first time watching any of these actors or actresses, but I'm definitely looking them up and will gladly watch their other dramas. They are incredibly talented and fun to watch.

It's been a long time since a drama left this big of an impact on me.

Read More

Fire!!!

If a drama manages to evoke a range of emotions within me, it automatically earns a perfect score of 10 in my book. My admiration for actor Song Kang dates back to his performance in Navillera, and in this latest drama, his beauty truly captivates. The on-screen chemistry with actress Kim Yoo Jung adds an extra layer to the narrative.

The fantasy elements, the musical score, and the meticulously designed sets, especially his character's house, contribute to an overall amazing viewing experience. The ability of the drama to make me laugh, cry, and even feel moments of anger is precisely what I appreciate in this genre.

The climax of the story was exceptionally well-executed, leaving me eagerly anticipating a potential part 2. It feels like there's more to unfold, and I genuinely hope the creators consider expanding on this narrative.

Read More

Trust me guys , this drama is so underrated. This is one of the best romcom drama i’ve watched so far. Each scene is full of fun and romance. Moreover, ML, FL and the whole crews are so professional in acting. Their acting is priceless and so natural. The whole story caught your full attention without trying. Check this drama out, I believe it will make your day just like mine ?………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

Read More

One of the best storylines

The complex and layered storylines made it so much more interesting. Inn completely portrayed his role as tofu on the next level. No cringy acting was present and every moment was worth it. At the end where tofu sacrificed himself got me so heartbroken, I had to pause that episode so many times to take a deep breath but still ended up sobbing like a three year old. The unrequited love tofu had for nut is precious and valuable. It also showed the evolution of tofu learning how to care and love. Many of yall might hate the ending but that’s what made the show even more special. However I would not rematch this most likely because I don’t want to endure it again

First time writing a review and doing this cause the show was amazing.

Read More

Mixed feelings but overall good watch.

I'm kind of torn how to rate this series because it was really good in some parts and then others, I found myself fast forwarding because it was either repetitive or unnecessary.

Starting out with the cons, I really couldn't stand about half the characters. I pretty much only liked Ace, Sky, Jam, Kim and Jake. Sky's parents were sweet and I loved how supportive they were but they sure didn't intervene when they should have a lot of the time. I mean, I can understand that Sky is not a child and he needs to make his own mistakes and all but he really could have used some tough love in some areas. I liked how his brother was supportive as well but his entire purpose was to sell the products of the sponsors so it got annoying pretty quick and I skipped almost every scene of his. He had one sweet moment with Sky and then everything else was all about product placement. Same with Miss Becky. She was a good support for Ace but honestly, there were way too many montages of her twirling around the mansion that added absolutely nothing to the plot or series in general.

Moira was an over the top baddie that was somewhat well written but, in my opinion, if you're going to make them THAT bad, they need to get their just rewards. And unfortunately, everyone hugged it out in the end and forgave her horribleness. Now, granted, I know nothing about law in the Philippines but she must have committed at least 3 crimes with her shenanigans. She did a full on B&E, kidnapped (dognapped) ChukChuk, planted a hidden camera without consent then released the video illegally.. oh and almost committed murder by putting peanuts in his food to purposefully trigger an allergic reaction. So then she comes to their house and sobs that she loved him and wanted to be with him while she was the one who broke it off in the first place. And we're supposed to feel bad for her? Honestly, they should have been hauling her ass to jail instead of hugging and apologizing to her.

There was a lot of time spent on her and other "time wasters" that really could have been skipped over (which I did). It would have easily cut down the series to maybe 9 or 10 episodes but it also would have gotten a higher rating from me...

.. because the pros of the series were actually really good. The story for the main couple was believable for the most part (crazy ex aside) and they had really good chemistry together. I actually liked that there were no side couples because Ace and Sky deserved all the focus on the romantic front. Their progression felt natural even if the acting was a bit over the top at times. It also felt like they bounced off each other well. In some parts, it seemed like there was no real script and they were just told to act a certain way and they ran with it.

I like how Kim was a good friend to Ace throughout and didn't turn into an ex like Moira. Granted Ace and Kim were never technically an item, but when she finally realized Ace would never feel the same way toward her, she didn't turn into the crazy, vindictive ex that Moira was. She supported Ace and his feelings.

While Ace's father was horrible and also pretty over the top, he did present a more realistic hurdle to their relationship which was worth watching. And even at the end, when he said he would work on himself, it was also good to see the more realistic portrayal of a parent not quite doing a full 180 turn overnight (because that kind of thing wouldn't happen in a "eureka" kind of moment in real life either) but we see the effort and the regret he has had for his previous way of thinking and realizing that it will cost him his relationship with Ace if he didn't change.

I think this is also the first series I'd ever seen where there was a reverse - or maybe it could be a double? - coming out conversation where Ace's mother explains her past with Ace's father and why she left.

While there was a lit of filler, I feel like the core conversations were really important in this series (like when Ace's father has his self reflective moment near the end.) There were a lot of poignant moments full of truths that I wish more people would grasp.

While I'm not certain if I would watch this often, I could see rewatching this again, especially as part of the trilogy with other people. It was enjoyable and I would recommend it as a lighter series with a few serious dramatic moments that will certainly hit all the feels.

Read More