Reviews

Straightforward Romance no dull moment just good vibes!

I would say the only disappointing thing about this series is that they did not make this a mainstream series. The series is short, and straightforward, with no BS side characters that take the limelight from the main leads, and no long discussions/scripting. This should have been a noona genre because the main leads have 10 years age gap in real life but the plot was of a dominant rich FL who falls for a poor warm-hearted guy. It also has this sleeping beauty vibe that was incorporated into the story as fantasy, but yes it made the plot cute. What is amazing about this series is that even though this is a fantasy romance the scripting, the pacing, and the acting were all so realistic. It will make you smile because there are scenes that happen in real life. Scenes that are: when the FL and her friend were talking about how she could initiate sex with the ML and made those hand signs that she did it the following morning. How the FL and ML were watching 50 shades of gray to initiate intimacy. How the FL and his brother have a love-hate relationship, having a narcissistic brother that you fight with but at the end of the day protects his sister. How every moment the FL and ML share time together cooking, and lying on the sofa, is as simple as just the eye connection. The actors have amazing chemistry, again they have 10 years age gap but how they acted in their roles was so real and had no awkwardness. How the FL took the ML's face to kiss intimately several times when both of them were lying in bed and how they both looked at each other's eyes. The FL has her charm in acting and the ML has this genuine freshness in him. Hope all C-Dramas can adapt to this, with no BS side characters, and no awkwardness when kissing and doing bed scenes for actors who have an age gap. In most noona themes there are no bed scenes or even intimate kissing but this series was so straightforward with the plot and acting. Also, even the supporting characters and plot were so good that it all just provided good vibes throughout.

I hoped there would be season 2 and the actors here would be given mainstream roles in the future.

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Intriguing yet frustrating, worth the watch

To start off I had a really hard time starting this drama. I watched the first two episodes when they aired. I’ve only now completed it as a posting this. The first two episodes are pretty good, I had a hard time understanding what was going on to the point where I had to rewatch episode 1 twice. Even on my second viewing, I was still kind of confused, which is why I stopped watching on the second ep. That being said, if you’re anything like me, and it takes a while to gain your attention. Please give this drama until episode 3 to fully bring you in.

For the plot of this drama I think it’s really solid. There are some things that could have been adjusted, but I think that’s all due to how the characters acted and their motives. I don’t have much to say on the story most of my worries and problems with the story are from the characters. I will say though, the ending being opened for a season two made me annoyed, but also curious on how a season two would play out. as well as whether they will fully develop the characters that needed improvement.

I think the cast are super awesome. They all did a great job at acting and you can see that by how annoyed and frustrated I got with their characters. But my biggest complaint is how the adults in the story seemed more childish than the characters that were supposed to be the children. Almost every adult character acted in ways that I would think that the teenage characters would act. I know the situations that they are being put in were very strenuous and emotional, but for the two main teenage characters to have more composure then the adults that were police was very jarring to me. I think that this was very prevalent in any scene that had action, all the adults seem to be very hesitant an not in a safety or percautious way. The way they acted almost seemed like they didn’t know what they were doing and they didn’t have a protocol to follow. The perfect example of this is during the Hospital scene that situation was very difficult to figure out a solution, but in that moment, all the adults seem to not know how they should go about things. Although the teenage characters weren’t very prominent in that scene, they still seem to have more composure, emotionally, and with their ways of going about things. You can say that the two teenage characters have so much composure, because of trauma and having to grow up early and I can agree 100% with that. The things that they had to go through and witness, they are most definitely going to be very mature for their age. But for the adults that have had the same experiences and more, while being in position of power, acting more childish was very frustrating to watch.

Besides how the adult characters acted, I don’t have any more complaints. It was a really solid drama with a good plot and frustrating characters. But with the content of the drama, you almost expect to be frustrated, which is what made everything that happened in the last two episodes very impactful.

✧If you’re contemplating watching the drama or not, I would say go for it 100%. It’s 12 episodes super short in drama world and it has a really intriguing and emotional story that pulls you in and makes you want to know more.

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Literally sobbing at the HEA

I was so surprised that it actually ended happily bc I wouldn't put it past the writers to give us a "realistic" ending. Anyways, I loved the fact that you could tell that the MML had definite golden retriever energy while the female lead was colder, yet still super nice. I'll admit, the break-up past portion could've been done differently IMO but it wasn't too bad. It was understandable why they broke up in the past and when all else fails, you can always use the excuse that they were too young to know any better. Either way, both characters made mistakes and deserved to be with each other in the end.

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A crazy short film that has an absolutely incredible rating on IMDb, I didn't find it that interesting at first, but after "maturing" it turned out to be a very solid piece and I certainly do not regret the time spent watching it, with an exaggeration and with the actors who are now the stars of the series Not Me and they are a couple in real life too.


Ztřeštěná blbinka, která má na IMDb naprosto neuvěřitelné hodnocení, mi zezačátku nepřišla až tak zajímavá, se nakonec po "uzrání" vyloupla ve velmi solidní kousek a určitě nelituji času stráveného sledováním, bráno s nadsázkou a s herci, kteří jsou teď hvězdami seriálu Not Me a jsou párem i ve skutečném životě.

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It was marvelous journey of love, friendship and life...

It felt like i lived with them. From start to finish, there was no boring moment or even a second, also i didn't skip or fast-forward even one scene!! I love everything about this drama!! Character.. god everyone is so good! I loved every interaction between the boys, them teasing NYZ, YSS flirting with ruyi, QZ pulling NYZ 's leg all the time, everyone taking care of Yuan Lu, I hated it since the starting how Sun Lang didn't have enough screentime!!! If we talk about chemistry, NYZ & YSS chemistry>>>> NYZ & Ruyi chemistry!!! I am convinced, YSS is NYZ 's first wife! The bromance between Ning & Shisan threw me off the loop. I never expected to see such a wholesome, beautiful display of friendship, comradeship, and brotherhood.! Even with one scene Yuan lu stole the show (that rooftop scene, which in my phone wallpaper rn??). And THE FIGHTS!!! Were majestic!!! It's so beautiful!!! The cinematography!!! French kiss! I hated LTG but felt bad for him at the same time! Yang Ying, i forgot she's princess, she lived as prince!!! Chu yue, wished she and YSS had more screentime!! QZ deserves more recognition! He's loyal and funny, that's rare!!!

The drama went from Political comedy to political tragedy.. still it's fine! I loved it so much!! It was a marvelous journey!!! Of LIFE and DEATH!! Of laughter and tears!

It's my first ever review in mdl, even for my most obsessed dramas i didn't write a review but this drama is something special! I started with no exception. I know no cast here ( I know singer LYN but idk he's an actor) I don't rate 10 unless there's atleast one favourite actor of mine acted in that drama. I had no idea who is who which made me enjoy this even more.. I'm gonna petition for LYN & AF bromance/bl/action drama.

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The Taiwanese adaptation of the manga Orenchi no Furo Jijou was very successful. She was witty, funny and the imperious merman played by actor Bruce He was played absolutely brilliantly and with gusto. Cute moments, sometimes more serious, but mostly those that lighten our mood and there is no need to look for connections or dig into whether it is possible or not. The two main actors played an excellent relationship, and sometimes I was rather sorry that it was conceived only as a bromance, because they had far more, but the original blueprint had to be followed. Pleasant fool.

Taiwanská adaptace mangy Orenchi no Furo Jijou se moc povedla. Byla vtipná, zábavná a panovačný mořský muž v podání herce Bruce He byl zahrán naprosto skvěle a s chutí. Roztomilé momenty, někdy vážnější, ale většinou takové, které rozjasní naši náladu a netřeba hledat souvislosti nebo se hrabat v tom, zda to tak je možné či nikoliv. Oba hlavní herci zahráli výborný vztah a někdy mě spíše bylo líto, že byl pojat jen jako bromance, protože měli daleko navíc, ale původní předloha se zřejmě musela dodržet. Příjemná blbinka.

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I really liked director Anucha's last work - the series Not Me, so I tried this film, her first film from 2004, originally as a university graduation film, and here you can feel something different, nice. I fully agree with the depositor of this film r4472c that it is above all a charming picture, sometimes a work of art, and this time the Thai sticky, torturous, sometimes sad music sat like a pot. It's just a shame that the experience was spoiled by a bad copy of the movie.

Poslední dílo režisérky Anuchy - seriál Not Me, se mi moc líbil, tak jsem zkoukl tento film, její prvotinu z roku 2004, původně jako vysokoškolský absolventský film a už zde je cítit něco jiného, pěkného. Plně souhlasím s vkladatelem tohoto filmu r4472c, že se jedná především o okouzlující obraz, kolikrát přímo výtvarné dílo, a tentokráte mi i thajská tklivá, mučivá, někdy smutná hudba, sedla jako prdel na hrnec. Škoda jen, že prožitek kazila nedobrá kopie filmu.

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Its one of the best kdramas yet

Loved this , i remember watches this in one go and i wanted to rewatch it all again . The feeling it gave me was beyond and not many kdramas do that to me , im quite picky and need to get dragged into the story and for this one , it definitely made my belly crack. I recommended this kdrama to bunch of people too , it would have been amazing during its time of release that they filmed a season 2 , many kdramas sadly stop after 1 season . I would have love the tthrill of excited to watch another part but its all good bc im definitely wanting to rewatch this at some point . believe my words you will be dying with laughter with this one .

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Not Wabi Sabi’s best, fell off completely

I waited an entire year for this show, having heard about it and its promising premise. The first episode was also promising but as the series progressed, it got more confusing and draggy. The story and plot showed a lot of promise and this series had the potential to be great. On the positive side, I appreciated the production quality and cinematography of this series as a whole. The OSTs as usual were on point, even though they were rather overused. I appreciated the small detail of naming each episode. Expanding on the negatives of this series, I have more to say than what I liked about this show. In complete honesty, I started the show to see Mix Wanut. And I expected more screen time for him, or rather the emphasis on the younger version of him in general. “Absolute Zero”, the title itself is Suansoon’s name yet Suansoon’s backstory and character profile was just not explored enough. Rather they decided to explore older Suansoon. There was also the DVD shop uncle who was brought in as a character but essentially contributed nothing to the storyline. Not just the DVD shop owner but also most of the characters. Aside from Ongsa’s parents who welcomingly accepted Suansoon as their second son, I just could not see the point in involving the other characters aside from making the story less empty. The overused flashback scenes, older Soon’s unsolicited romance with younger Ongsa were also things that deterred me from this series. I expected a lot from this series but all that I appreciate of it in the end was the effort that was put into production. All in all, this series was a 7.2/10 at most.

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Drink the finest wines, look at lovely girls, make the best friends, and fight glorious battles.

Spymaster Ning Yuanzhou and his elite Liudao Tang spies are tasked to escort a Wu diplomatic delegation to An to pay a king's ransom for their captured ruler. He encounters the stunning and deadly Ren Ruyi, a vengeance driven assassin nonpareil who defected from An. They have overlapping goals and form a wary alliance. Predictably, these aging-out, disillusioned operatives from opposite sides fall in love and indulge in a mid-life crisis amidst a suicide mission to rescue the foolish Wudi. This is an unexpectedly funny drama and the humor works well but masks the monumental task ahead of the delegation. Its best achievement is it makes us fall in love with a motley crew of unforgettable, flawed characters to the point we root for them against all odds and beyond reason.

This is a rare drama where I am more invested in the supporting cast than the main leads. Written by a feminist writer, Ren Ruyi is literally superwoman; independent, ruthless and indomitable; an indestructible one woman killing machine with fantasy level combat abilities. Ning Yuanzhou also walks on water; a master spy whose machinations decide who sits on the thrones of both states. Together they are so formidable that it seems more efficient to skip the mission or war as they can easily topple any ruler in their way. These over the top character designs with exaggerated abilities and superficial flaws rarely resonate with me. But I did derive petty enjoyment from their bitch slapping, scolding and kicking ass through the two kingdoms.

The casting of Liu Yuning and Liu Shishi in the leading roles is brilliant. While there are better actors, these roles play to their individual strengths and they both executed well. Liu Yuning plays a character that hides in plain sight. A too pretty actor would not work in this role. And Ren Ruyi the stone cold killer is perfectly reflected in Liu Shishi's stoic expressionless face and bright hard eyes. Even as she becomes less guarded and warms up to the delegation, there is bare of relaxation of her taut features; every frown and smile is controlled. Her head is at an exhausting elevated angle that made me wonder if she has frozen shoulder. Even her grief is so beautiful in a restrained way that I was unaffected, even mildly irritated at her cry scenes. Such an aloof portrayal made their chemistry seem decent but did not light up the screen . So it didn't matter to me if they made it out at the other end. As fully realized characters that live and die by the sword, they know the score. Their romance peaks too early, had few true obstacles and repetitive fan service sweet nothings moments . The heavy handed messaging about women's biological clocks annoyed me.

The more interesting characters are the young ones, Yang Ying and Li Tongguang, both on heroes journeys. He Landou delivers a inspiring portrayal of an uncertain young princess completely in over her head, overcoming fear, heartbreak and every obstacle to emerge as a purposeful person with the the courage of her convictions. At surface Li Tongguang appears to be a fascinating character; strong, smart, ambitious and charming. Unfortunately he has a dark side, an odd and creepy Oedipus complex for his shifu. Part of the problem is this narrative doesn't invest in villains; most antagonists are killed off so quickly they leave no impression. Thus Li Tongguang becomes the default fall guy; whenever something bad has to happen to create angst or move the plot along, it is pinned on him. Nonetheless the role is well played enough that I had a soft spot for the character throughout.

Saving the best for last, Fang Yilun's Yu Shisan stole the show as far as I am concerned. I love flawed, humorously self-aware, very mortal characters like this with no special powers or death defying abilities. Hopefully Fang Yilun's amazing comedic expression and timing gets noticed. His shock and aghast at the idea he was falling in love made me shake with laughter and moved me unaccountably at the same time. When he prosaically warns his love not to fall for a rogue like him, I knew she was as much a lost cause as I was. Shisan is the unsung hero of this story. He picks up the slack so that Yuanzhou can rescue Ruyi and was there for Qian Zhou, Sun Lang and Yuan Lu through the last legs of their mission. He remained true to his life's mantra to live fully with no regrets: drink the finest wine, look at lovely girls, make the best friends, and fight glorious battles. / 这辈子就要喝最烈的酒, 看最美的姑娘, 交最好的朋友, 打最漂亮的仗. It is too bad he did not dare to or did not believe he had the right to love and thus denies his heart to finish the job. If I could have changed just one thing, I would have had Shisan leap on to that horse along with his love. The other flawed character I enjoyed immensely is Wudi. After Shisan, he made me laugh hardest, especially during the great escape. He also moved me with his profound regret and intent do better.

This drama has a linear plot that is not well paced; it either advances at a high speed that glosses over logic holes or stalls out to dwell on repetitive romantic or delusional tropes. The harder you look at the plot, the less it makes sense. As it is more of a character story, I am willing to be forgiving as long as important characters are not destroyed along the way. In that aspect, the drama starts out exceptionally well with a fantastic core of well conceived, multi-layered and compelling characters. Unfortunately, the character designs start to break down quite early on, with Li Tongguang. The ending was rushed, had some sloppy edits and packs in an unnecessary Wu arc. Too many characters are destroyed into the finale including Ruyi and Yuanhou. Ruyi prioritizes her personal agenda, bites off more than she can chew (again) and had to be rescued (again); forcing Yuanzhou to choose his love over his mission. Consequently they were not there when Liudao Tang needed them most. Finally, Ruyi makes a decision that is not true to herself or to her beliefs about living well. After investing so much on Li Tongguang, this character has no development and mucks everything up in the finale. The ending was was bloodier than I expected and unnecessarily cruel. I didn't have a huge issue with the outcome in and of itself, just the figurative character assassinations.

As for the ending scene, upon re-watch, I realized it is not confusing, it simply pays homage to the meaning of the drama's title Yī Niàn Guān Shān / 一念关山 or A Thought of Guanshan and closes the drama on a note of finality. It is a line from an ancient poem 却东西门行/But the East West Gate written by Shen Yue during the Northern and Southern dynasties. It is a sad poem reflecting on life, the passage of time and destiny. Guanshan/ 关山 refers to memories spanning the mountains and rivers (meaning the far reaches of the empire); of past events joyful and sorrowful. It is an Auld Lang Syne moment where someone who lived on longs for the bygone years and lost friends. It is unnecessarily cruel to close the story with a character that was meant to move on with their life. The bigger point is everyone they are thinking of did not make it out at the other end. The ending to me is not ambiguous.

I enjoyed many parts of this drama which started out as an 8.5 for me but there were draggy parts, key characters got destroyed, all the holes become obvious with re-watch and the ending is just not good. It is still a wonderful watch with lovable characters, fabulous fight scenes and divine comedy. I am just petty and I won't forgive them for Yu Shisan. My final rating is 8/10.









ENDING SPOILER COMMENTS

The final scene is actually very clear.:

Ten years later, the countries are at peace. He County which was the frontier battleground is prosperous and thriving; children are well schooled but the naughty ones sneak out to play. Chu Yue visits the battleground which with a decade of peace is covered with grass. She takes a moment to think of the past, of everyone that sacrificed and imagines either what could have been or that they are in another place. Her fantasy doesn't have to make complete sense because it is just her imagination. The child she sees on the horse is not the same younger child that sneaks out of school. Ning Shisan on the horse is older, with loose hair in a pure white outfit. Chu Yue should not be in this scene. Shisan denied his heart to set her free. He saved her and meant for her to go on, to love and live life with no regrets. It enraged me that they did this to poor Chu Yue and it would have broke Shisan to see her like this.

Ruyi should have been in that end scene, possibly with a son and a daughter. She could have escaped and remained true to her promise to Yuanzhou to go on without him, that a woman can live well without love. The drama foreshadowed many times that she would be last woman standing and yet they both literally and figuratively killed her character when she chose to blow herself up after assassinating the Beipan king and prince. Ruyi had a choice and the one she made sends all kinds of wrong messages to women everywhere. The only woman who remained true to herself was Yang Ying. She moved on, made the best of her situation and lived well regardless. If Ruyi had to die, the end scene should have closed with Yang Ying instead of Chu Yue.

I also think they should not have killed off Wudi. The team put themselves in harms way to bring him back; he learned some hard lessons and would have been a much a better ruler for it. They killed him off so that Yuanzhou could play kingmaker. It was a rushed, completely dumb, ridiculous and gratuitous Wu subplot that negates poor Qian Zhou and Chai Ming's sacrifice. I could go on but these are some of the main reasons I am so let down by the ending.

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A ride worth taking

This is a masterful spin on the Sliding Doors/Butterfly Effect idea that seemingly tiny events can have life altering ripple effects. All the actors excelled in their dual roles and seeing different versions of each character in the parallel worlds gave me a lot to chew on. This show admirably wrestles with deep questions. What makes us who we are? How much control do we have over our own fates? How do we derive meaning in life? The mystery was perfectly structured: intricate enough to keep me hooked but never too convoluted. The villains had fascinating motivations and goals and were appropriately depraved. It's not a traditional romance but the love the leads had for each other was beautifully conveyed. Just a stellar production in every way.

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AN ENTERTAINING WATCH

Just finished this and Iam not sure how I feel about the ending to be honest I love the whole idea but it could have been executed a little better otherwise it felt a little lazy and open.

Any ways the story was intriguing and captivating, it has a way of keeping you on your toes as you watched and those little cliff hangers at the end of the episodes always got be excited to watch more...the acting was good from every one but I mainly want to show appreciation to Ahn Jiho ( Da bum) Choi yebin ( Jung Woo) and Choi woomin( Kyung Jun) (They weren't even the first main characters of the show but they did steal the spotlight with their immerse acting, it was crazy yet really impactful...

I just feel like the main roles could have been written a little better the male lead and female leads characters felt a bit bland and boring and to be honest the characters played by the bullies and the so called villains of the show had more complexity and layers and their characters just felt really entertaining to the point that they carried most of the episodes for me.

I also feel like they would have made it a bit longer for proper execution and also to allow us get connected to the characters otherwise some times it felt fast and most characters didn't really leave an impact....or room to connect with the viewers.

Overall if you want something short thrilling and scary( not so much) with nice twists and amazing acting then try this out and decide if the ending is what you wanted or not....

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The premise of this story is really nice and the and the relationship between Zuo You (the grass fairy) and Lu Qing Ming (a powerful immortal possessed by a demonic force) develops nicely and in a realistic way, but they don’t have good romantic chemistry. The leading couple carries the majority of the plot in this very short drama but the sequence of events is jolty been the main reason that the plot has too many things going on and very little time to create cohesion within the story. Overall, this miniseries fails to provide enough time to the cast to make it a better story.

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