Reviews

Probably My Love & Hate Chinese Fantasy Drama

Honestly, i watched this because it just wouldn't leave my netflix front page, it would always show up. So bet, watched it and i did not expect how good this show was going to be.

First off, I'm very much that guy who's really eagle eyed when it comes to CGI and cinematography as well since i studied animation for a year. Immediately, i noticed the CGI Effects, i really like the vision that the people behind this wanna show to us viewers, it's fire and that's the thing that will always draw me in in these types of shows, is the VISION, but i can't really help but judge the effects since sometimes it's very jank and it doesn't blend in sometimes. You see, i just watched 'The Longest Promise' before this and that drama had the cleanest cgi that i've ever seen from a Chinese Fantasy drama, it's not perfect it had some flaws, but it's not jarring for the most part, but mind you that dramas doesn't have a grand vision unlike this one. And it's very EPIC as well, like the opening episode of this drama, so epic, again it's the OVERALL VISION URGGHHH!!!

The story honestly, what sold me in this like around episode 3 is the Romance Aspect and the Dynamic of ML and FL as well. The Romance aspect is so so good. In the beginning, the romance is non-existent cuz i thought this was something like a revenge drama, i mean it is, but i actually did not expect it to turn out the way it did, though it's kinda very obvious as well that there's a chance that it might happen, but what really carried it in the early parts of the show is the dynamic of the Main Couple plus the off the charts chemistry from their actors, that's what i kept clicking the next episode for and the way it developed later on, is soo good! Literally every turning moment in the later parts i kept saying "ugh! i can see why it's till the end of the moon, shit! literally till the end of the moon!". I hate it in dramas where the characters are playing tug of war with each other's feelings like the break up-make up cycle, i find that really toxic, especially in real life, but here, i don't know how the writers did it, but it's done really well, it's not annoying at all. I haven't mentioned the other plot of this show, which is the fighting/magic aspect, that's because i find it just okay, again mostly because of the jarring effects, but i like the vision that they're trying to portray, i don't think i have much to say about it, i mean it's there, it's okay, but i think if you set that all aside and look at only the Romance aspect this is more than just a 10/10 because they really nailed the part, but in my heart, i know it's a 10. Also, that dream arc, really surprised for how well written that arc was, they actually invested a lot of time and effort for that arc, but i just couldn't really get invested in that arc, because this is just a dream, why else would i care about it? and it was such a long arc as well, i almost got checked out in this series by the end of that arc, i know it had a contribution to the overall story, but i think they could've made it shorter.

The Characters, i think all of them got overshadowed for how good the Main Couple were and their actors as well, ugh!! Like this is my first time with these actors/actresses and My gawd... ML and FL didn't have to go this hard, you can really feel that they are being pushed to the limit. Like the director on the set was probably like "Come on! I know you can do more!" they are so goated actors that i don't know why i feel bad because there's a lot of blood spitting scenes here, especially with ML. And FL, was trying to stop myself from liking her as an actress because i still have a lot of drama from other actresses that i want to watch. I don't want to add more on my plate, i don't wanna get invested, but oh my god! she's just such a good actress you know? and i really like her playful/bubbly acting, she's really really cute when she does it. The writing of their characters itself is also good, i really like how it started and how it developed along the way, though there are some few ass pulling plot convenience, but that's just a minor complaint of mine. And i say overshadowed by ML and FL, i joke, there are other side characters that i really like as well. For example Ye Qing Yu, i love him as a brother character, he is done really well, especially in the later parts when he's standing before ML not as his General, but as a brother of FL, the scripting is so so good and I love her dynamic with Pianran, their side plot romance is really cute and really tragic as the same time. I also like Nian baiyu as well, he's such a goated side character because he has a big contribution to ML's characterization. Xiao Lin, i think he's a decent character, he was ok written, and when he's on screen he's hitting all the points to make his character standout. During the dream arc as Sang You, he was mostly passive, and as Gongye Jiwu he's also great, but i wish they spend a little bit more on him questioning his own existence you know, that was really good and at the end as well though he kinda became annoying a little. I really don't like Ye bingchang, she was written to be that weak minded character and i don't get how she didn't even develop that much at all, all of her incarnations are annoying as well, though her devil incarnation was really good because its the culmination of all her incarnations combined into one. The rest of the side characters, most of them are okay, there are a lot of them and most of them we didn't even have the time to explore so it ended up most of them getting wasted

The music, oh my god! it's so good, i love all of the OST here, they know how to do it and when to put it in which moments, combine that with the top tier acting and well written scenes, it's soo good. The music really did a good job at elevating this drama, though i would minus a point for it since sometimes it's loud, like louder than the dialogue of the character.

Other than that, i don't think i have any more critiques or complaints for this drama, it is really good, though i hate to rate it higher, but i just can't deny how good it is. Go watch it if you like these kinds of drama and the chemistry of Main Couple Actors here is so good too.

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With horror, I gradually found out how bizarre and disgusting, according to my perception of erotica, this film, which was created at a time of great changes in Central and Eastern Europe, is. I watched with more or less disgust. And instead of condemning the film outright for the worst rating, and had peace and time, I started to search on the net to better understand this work and WHY the creator made it like that, surely he had a reason for it, and I penetrated more into the work of the Japanese director Sató, courage to present the eroticism of men who like men in film more than three decades ago. You can read more on various servers, content on IMDb or MDL. I will definitely not lower the rating just because it is an analog copy, so max. third in the order.

S hrůzou jsem postupně zjišťoval, co za bizár a nechutnost dle mého vnímání erotiky tento film, který vznikl v době velkých změn ve střední a východní Evropě, je. Dodíval jsem se víceméně s odporem. A než abych film šmahem odsoudil za nejhorší hodnocení, a měl klid a čas, začal jsem hledat na netu, abych toto dílo lépe pochopil a PROČ to tak tvůrce natočil, jistě k tomu měl důvod a pronikl jsem více do tvorby japonského režiséra Sató, odvahy prezentovat erotiku mužů, co mají rádi muže ve filmu před více jak třemi dekádami. Více se dočtete na různých serverech, obsah na IMDb nebo MDL. Rozhodně nebudu snižovat hodnocení už jen proto, že se jedná o analogovou kopii tak max. třetí v pořadí.

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This movie is definitely 18+
Another film by director Sató, this time from 1987, was not as "suffering" for me as his later film Kurutta Butokai. And so I go against the flow and rate slightly better. Whether it's his sister or his stepmother (English subtitles are missing here and there at the beginning), in any case her partner raped the protagonist. Erotic scenes are very "hot" for their time, the story continues to develop, there are masks, boiling wax, pistols instead of dildos, etc., the detective is already in action. I did not know about this director and his prolific work of that time at all.

Další film režiséra Sató, tentokráte z roku 1987, nebyl pro mě až tak "útrpným" jako jeho pozdější film Kurutta Butokai. A tak jdu proti proudu a hodnotím mírně lépe. Ať je to jeho sestra a nebo nevlastní matka (na začátku sem tam chybí angl. titiulky), každpoádně její partner hlavního hrdinu znásilňoval. Erotické scény jsou velmi "žhavé" na svou dobu, příběh se dále vyvíjí, dochází na masky, vařící vosk, pistole místo dilda atd., to už je v akci i detektiv. Vůbec jsem o tomto režisérovi a jeho plodné tvorbě tehdejší doby nevěděl.

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Third time is the charm.

If the first Soundtrack story was a beautiful love story about two friends falling in love, then Soundtrack #2 it's a bittersweet melody about two people who can't seem to get it right. Not matter how much you care for someone, sometimes love isn't enough and you have to let time and space give you perspective to understand why things didn't work out with that person.

Some couples have to try hard at their relationship. It may be because of different upbringings, POV on life or individual issues. No relationship it's perfect, timing can be tricky and life make things difficult. The characters own personal issues also stand in their way but the important thing to take from this love song it's that when you find the person who makes you happy, you try to make it work until the very end. Even if it takes two or three times. Even if it means letting them go more than once.

The Soundtrack Anthology remains one of the best productions coming from South Korea and I hope that we get many more stories from this world.

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Laughable Attempt At Both Realism Or Fantasy.

General Spoilers about the first 33min only.
Not much substance, the dialogue is corny, and the acting is wooden. The club setting is dark and grimy so I was, appropriately, expecting more gritty physical transactions rather than romance. Even so, I got to the first sex scene and... burst out laughing! That's just... so unrealistic it was awkward to watch; it's not how anal sex goes at all, especially for someone's first time receiving (stradle and down immediately with no prep and no lube).

And the cringey "love confession" in the middle that's based on nothing, especially since there is basically no foreplay, was weird (even for the lust-at-first-sight angle they were going for).

Also, no condom with the guy who says he's had sex with 2-3,000 guys? Yes, thousands. I shudder in horror at the thought.

The film already felt like it was probably a waste of time but that sex scene clinched it and I dropped it at 33 minutes. It didn't leave a mental scar though, so 1.5/10.

Perhaps the movie gets better because the average MDL rating is a 5.4, but the first 33min didn't make me interested to find out.

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stellar comedy, need a season 2

Overall: this crack comedy made me laugh but it also made me empathize with Aoyagi. 3 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/3919/i-became-the-main-role-of-a-bl-drama-2023-e01

What I Liked
- laughed many times, it has an exaggerated style of humor which I can struggle with, but they made it work
- the two managers (I need more info on their background)
- how they differentiated between the acting scenes and other scenes
- characters weren't unrealistically stupid, they figure things out
- sweet moments

Room For Improvement
- who falls asleep like that and then doesn't wake up in ep 1???
- needed 5 more seconds at the very end of episode 3

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The leads make this show

More Zombie content, except now it's… also weirdly a love story. Contrary to other Korean Zombie stuff there isn't much action.

And it's just strange. These stories don't usually go like this. Basically, it's a kdrama with a Zombie backdrop. There, let's go with that.

I'm not surprised in the slightest that this was lovely. It was directed by Ahn Gil-ho who was also behind the camera for The Glory, another favorite of mine.

It's a show that keeps you guessing for most of its runtime, lots of twists and unpredictable turns, and although there are a few plot contrivances, and annoying characters, they were never too much for me. I enjoyed how varied and chaotic the characters were, and well, I really liked the leads, who make the show.

Han Hyo-joo in a military uniform… damn girl! What a looker. She's so on point in this. Great leads, in fact. They form a sort of power couple (with Park Hyung-sik playing the other half) and us following their story as they deal with all the bullshit happening around them in the middle of a virus apocalypse is why this show works.

Gonna have to watch Moving now because I need more Han Hyo-joo in my life. She's like a stoic but equally as intense variant of Jun Ji-hyun.

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A 1998 song played in 2023 to most of our liking.

Having watched this completely , i have to say that this has impressed me and enjoyed it.
Episode 11 had me confused a while , i just had to convince myself that i understood that somehow.

Female Lead whom i did not like it in Vincenzo and dropped that drama near the end.
But this one she completely outshined with her acting range. OMG , the way she switched her acting to portray two different characters are amazing , i am actually convinced that i am literally watching two different person with same face performed those roles. That how good her acting was.

Its a great casting all around, A unique time travel theme , it really demanded the brain to be working too much to comprehend what's was going on with the timelines and loops at certain times.

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Starts off promising, but a complete letdown in the end

The initial setup and premise is interesting. But towards the second half of the show, it becomes a complete letdown. I am not someone who only looks for happy endings. But this show has the worst ending for the worst reasons. The editing is also ridiculously bad. It almost seems that the showrunners decided to skip some of the most important parts of the story in favor of shock content. For instance, the killing of the first prince of An and setup of the second prince took place in the space of ~2-3 mins of screen time. Anyway, the second half is so bad that this show has little redeeming value.

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A weird but at times endearing mix of comedy and the most blood boiling rage inflicted by bullies

To be fair after the first episode I almost dropped this show, but boy am I glad I carried on.

Boyhood made me genuinely laugh out loud at times with its silliness which is the reason I felt extremely blindsided when the violence unexpectedly got very much out of hand in the middle of the show.

I had a great time with episodes 2-5 and then partly due to my expectations and/or predictions of the story not being met I fell into despair.
The last two episodes pull together and the show manages to finish the narrative it was writing itself around - to have power it is not enough to physically dominate everyone, real respect must be earned by honest emotions. Still our main character achieves this by beating up a bunch of people.

Byung-Tae was a delightful and most times heart wrenching character, Im Shiwan was the perfect man to do this if we ignore the fact that he looks very much like the 30 yo man he is... a characteristic most characters share I think due to the subject matter and trying not to be too traumatising.
Unfortunately the other characters fell short as I learned very little information about them and some of their "storylines" just get dropped and never examined. That leaves us with a supporting (and sometimes main) cast whose motivations we barely understand. Main and most frustrating of these characters being Gyungtae, whose backstory was never explored and he just comes off as a cartoonish villain cackling In front of himself just to disappear into the?? what actually happened to him I don't understand, and Sunhwa (girl really was just an accessory ..) and to be honest even Jinyoung has little journey in our story (don't be mistaken I love this girl and I wish her the best).

All in all Boyhood was one of the most 'funny' dramas for me this year, it just feels weird saying it about a show where around 8 people get hospitalised because of school bullying.

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My cheeks are hurting from the very 1st episode to the last !!!

I have only been smiling as wide as I can , only blushing, screaming, loving every bit to bit , every sec of this drama ..
This drama is all about True love , passionate about their career, food , incredible chemistry, goosebumps when listening to their voice dubbing drama scenes .
I love both the leads to the fullest especially the handsome ml. Everything about him is incredible. I love shipping them so much I want them to be a real couple in reality ? .
There is love , friendship, family, voice dubbing industry, great chemistry, butterflies, loveliest so simple n pleasant, warmest , most sweetest , makes your heart flutter all the time. Every sec of this drama is worth our time as well as their acting.I would rate it like 100/10.

This is my second time writing a review on MDL , 1st review was of Falling into your smile. I have lost count of how many times I re-watched it ... like literally 'n'number of times .. every now n then I watch it n no matter what I never get bored at all ... So this will also be one of the other dramas where I will be re-watching it 'n'number of times from now on..

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