Reviews

Boring at its finest!

Have watched several Cdramas and I could say this is so far the most boring one I have watched. I tried this due to high ratings and the cast were all good and famous. But I agree with the unpopular reviews here..this is boring and storyline about gaming and then switched over to aeronautics does not add up to any romantic feelings to smile about on this drama. Its more of a scifi drama instead of romcom. The plot should have been a famous actress falling in love with a regular guy..but this was not emphasized. There are other cdramas to watch if the plot is about a famous actress and a regular guy..this series is definitely not it. Dilraba and Yangyang may have been paid a huge amount on this drama for them to play this..or prolly because it has something to do with being nationalistic since the drama is about chinese satellite.

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama '' Cool Doji Danshi '' is a comedy about four boys who try to act cool when they find themselves in awkward situations.

The drama is light and it has indeed some funny moments, others were a bit cheesy though. There were also hints of some boy love notions, but they are kept on low key and pretty much only focused on teasing the viewer and showing only true friendship, which wasn't that bad to watch either.

The performances were great as well, by everyone in the cast, and, especially, the main boys, who had smooth chemistry between them which aided the drama a lot.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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Hauntingly Tragic

Let me start by saying that the production and visuals in this show were some the best that I’ve seen in CDramas. The beautiful colors, lighting and massive landscapes made the show more real and raw. The OST was also great. Love the song about the Fox as it had such a haunting meaning behind it since foxes are known as tricksters. It summed up this story very well.

This drama takes the cake as one of the top tragic stories in CDrama that I’ve seen to date. I can appreciate the consistency with the story and the fact that it wasn’t turned into an enemies to lovers plot, which would have made no sense given the nature. The bulk of the story was well written along with the superb acting throughout but where it almost lost me was in the meat of the story.

I would say the story took a while to progress around the middle and had too much filler details within. This show could have been cut down to about 30-38 or so episodes and focus on less of the main ML’s revenge plan. They could have cut a lot of those details out and focused more on the story between ML and FL.

This story isn’t for everyone since a lot of people prefer happy endings but I’d recommend a watch if you don’t mind that.

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I only recommend the first 6 episodes

A con-artist Joon Jae meets a Shim Chung and he tries to steal her beautiful jade bracelet. However, they ended up crossing paths from then on and had to face a lurking danger. Can Shim Chung survive the human world while keeping Joon Jae safe?

I enjoy the beginning the most for the many memorable and laugh-out-loud funny moments. Thanks to Jun Ji Hyun for portraying her characters as a literal fish-out-of-water meeting a con-artist and learning everything about human world. Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun is a great match together when they're bickering but not as lover. From the beginning I see them as strangers to friends and can never see them as lovers.

When the plot thickens, they showed mysterious and repetitive flashbacks that I found very predictable but drags for many episodes, that by the time it is revealed, there is no surprise anymore. I remember being more interested in the supporting cast scenes more than the leads because the main plot is just not emotional and feels so underwhelming.

After I paused watching it for many months right after the reveal, I ended up finishing it just for the closure. The ending is decent but fail to bring back the excitement I had in the beginning. I only recommend the first 6 episodes, the part where most of the comedies are landing perfectly. They really could benefit had they wrap up everything quicker.

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Great, except for the end!

I liked watching this. There are quite some moments to laugh your a** off, and also a lot of warm, touching moments. Good acting, many scenes to get to know the characters and even think about life and society in general.

But the ending is like "WHAT THE HECK!?" and is ruining a lot of what was watched up to this point. I really don't get the end at all, or at least it was poorly explained. I really don't get this out-of-nowhere forced, pushy attitude of both lead characters. I really, really just don't understand why the writers decided to go with that ending.

[SPOILER]
I would get if they wouldn't get together in the end, just beacuse of what's up in their lives. But this just leaves me covered in question marks! Where's all the learning, build-up trust, understanding each other...!?
[/SPOILER]

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Cutness with no coherent plot

Kimmon and Copter are kings of cute and fluffy, but even they can't save a show that lacks a coherent plot.

I was speed-watching through episodes 1-5, I could not get behind how Jing was demaning that his boyfriend, WHO SAVES LIVES FOR A LIVING, should ignore his calling to help people just to go on a date with him. There is no way, in any univerese, I would feel sympathy to a character that wants his loved one to go against his personality AND profession just to go out for dinner...

It would have been a different thing if Jing realised that even though he loves his boyfriend, he doesn't feel seen or heard in the relationship and decides to call it quits in a respectful way, I would cheer him on. Sometimes, even when there is love, the timing can be difficult and would have made more sense then him running around like a sulking child, demanding things left right and center without caring about the feelings of someone he supposedly loves.

I felt really bad for Guy, in my eyes he did nothing wrong (except maybe communicate poorly or timely) and yet he spends all his time working his freaking ass off saving people and then having to work his ass off to get his childish boyfriend to stop being pouty... The dude deserves an award!

At the start of episode 6, when they did the whole wish-thing, I started thinking: This would have been great if this was the beginning premise of the show! Instead of 5 episodes of the antics of a whining toddler, why not have the timetravel/reversal-of-fate plot instead where the two leads explore life without eachother and see if/how they would get together anyway. Would have, in my mind, been so much better!

And then it all just crashed with the reveal that the whole series was a movie that was based on "some true events"...

The series is cute, the actors give cutness in overload, but without an actual plot it kinda falls flat as as a whole. Which is a shame since I've seen most of these actors in other works where they are able to deliver great characters and emotions.

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Romance in Sports and Sports in Romance

I watched this drama because of the FL. She's gorgeous. I have watched several of her dramas. She is also a good actress who is versatile.

What I Enjoyed:
- The FL shone in this drama.
- I liked the plot. There were sporting events going on and whenever there were competitions, it was fun to watch.
- I liked the FL and the supporting cast, in general. FL's male companion, Wu Ze, was a nice guy. Li Ge turned out to be very funny and even endearing. I really liked how clueless Coach Yang was and his reactions when he realised that FL and ML were dating. Watching him pace up and down, at a total loss for words, was hilarious. Da Xia was endearing. Mao Mao Qi turned out to be quite cute too.
- I liked that things moved at a fairly good pace and that it was not draggy.
- Happy ending.
- OST matched the different parts of the story.

What I Didn't Enjoy So Much:
- The ML was kind of cute but he was too immature and too clingy and too whiny and too jealous. Yes, I understood that he was the young hot-blooded lover but he was really quite immature.

Overall, I enjoyed this drama and I'd recommend it to others. It is a light watch that's entertaining. :)

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Strong Girl Nam Soon; One of The Worst Dramas of 2023?

While it is wrong to entirely compare the prequel and sequel as they do focus on respectfully different characters, due to the heavy similarities and world building between them, I will be using the original to compare the quality in writing and decisions taken by the screenwriter. ( Be warned this is going to be a long review.)

Strong Girl Nam focuses on a pretty much carbon copy setup to its predecessor, give or take with some new storyline and characters to make it “ different”. The main heroine is Kang Nam Soon ( Lee You Mi), a girl with super strength who grew up in Mongolia. Desperate to find her birth parents, she journeys to South Korea where she encounters billionaire and her biological mother Hwang Geum Joo ( Kim Jung Eun) and grandmother Gil Joong Gan ( Kim Hae Sook). Both women possesses superstrength as traditional with the matriarchal line of the family.

Despite a complicated reunion, Nam Soon’s happy ending is far from complete when she becomes involved in a drugs case and helps out Detective Kang Hee Sik ( Ong Seong Wu) who is gradually developing feelings for Nam Soon after his encounter with her early on. As Nam Soon becomes more involved in this mysterious case, she also encounters the elusively mysterious entrepreneur Ryu Shi Oh ( Byeon Woo Seok). Will Nam Soon be able to live happily with her family or she is in too deep with the investigation?

To give the shown one thing it could have been a pretty interesting premise.The first few episodes were interesting in setting up the rough concept of the series and did introduce our characters as potentially intriguing . In particular; the notion that there could be more representation of women across different generations was really fun also. The series’ major problem early on though came from not really knowing what it wanted to be. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon had fun balancing out mystery whodunnit, comic relief and romance in a way which worked well and gave the characters some room for development. Strong Girl Nam Soon tries doing the same but,unlike its predecessor, really struggles in balancing it out.

It would be understandable if the show was leaning more towards lighthearted fun, but the irony of the matter was that for the most part, the mystery element of the series was arguably just as dark in concept as the original. The series did attempt to offer some more “ dramatic tension” in scenes relating to the drug case setup, but a mixture of overreacting and being overshadowed by the comic relief sadly didn’t give the storyline that much of a punch.

Speaking of comic relief, the series is definitely indecisive . There are certainly a few jokes which occasionally land quite well ( one of my favourites being when Gil Joong Gan schools the cops and encounters Park Bo Young’s cameo), but for the most part, the series seemed to struggle with a mixture of gradually tiresome gags ( particularly directed towards male characters for no other reason other than trying to poorly imitate the situational irony from the original.)


Acting-wise was a pretty mixed bag with a mixture of overreacting and pretty wooden dialogue and characterisation . Byeon Woo Seok probably shone through the most in the series with his performance ( without spoilers) as a more ambiguous character, though was not given full justice either by reduced screen time either . Lee You Mi and Ong Seong Wu are both good actors, but the writing really didn’t give them a lot of justice.

Characters are another major post which has to be discussed. Kang Nam Soon was arguably one of the most underdeveloped character in the series and that is saying something for someone whose name is involved in the titles. Fundamentally, Nam Soon embodies the “ girl with a kind heart” trope. She is somewhat naive to the world but is ultimately out to do the right thing.

The problem is that Nam Soon doesn’t have a lot of focus or personality as a character. This is really ironic considering how much potential surrounds her. After all, there was so much possibility to talk about her experiences growing up in Mongolia more and her adopted family ( a notion Nam Soon quite happily seemed to forget in favour of the plot setup), possible complicated feelings surrounding her family abandoning her ( as well as evident insecurities surrounding her mother in particular) and of course trying to control her strength or experiences in the past. For the most part, Nam Soon pretty much breezes past with the idea of super strength or just happily moving on from a separate life and another culture (which hardly seems bothered by ) into another.

She always seems to win fights and rarely struggles with any major difficulties aside from a few “ tense” moments ( especially later in the series) which are rarely delivered afterwards. To give its prequel it’s due, one major development for the heroine was learning to control her strength and insecurities around it . While both characters have grown up in different circumstances, the lack of flaws or awareness Nam Soon actually possesses of her own situation or character , made her pretty one-dimensional in a way which shouldn’t have been the case. ( Her ending was particularly a bit of a last minute conclusion which just didn’t make sense considering her personal experiences and background.)

The next major character to talk about is Nam Soon’s mother, Hwang Geum Joo, who arguably had the most screen time for some inexplicable reason. ( More than the actual heroine.)There are some mixed feelings with this character. On one hand, her storyline was so heavily drawn upon it was had not to focus on her in the show. However, Geum Joo rarely struggles to be as likeable as the show wants her to be.

This seems to a major problem with some characters. The show wants us to like them, but in reality, it’s hard to really digress what it is about them which meant to be so intriguing when it was forced on viewers.It is a shame as Geum Joo had a potentially very interesting story; a woman who has made it in the world, living a separate life from her husband and son , struggling with the loss of a daughter and running a business could have all been excellent writing points to give her flaws.


It seems as though the series was heading in the direction at one point, but the writing had other ideas, by presenting Geum Joo somehow prevailing through it all as a “ cool vigilante” or rarely being questioned for her actions. For example, Geum Joo is meant to be a “ motherly” figure but is rarely involved in the lives of her children . It’s never really explained exactly why Geum Joo has a somewhat estranged relationship with her son, something which could have been developed a lot more, especially when Kang Nam In ( Han Sang Jo) pretty much hit the nail on the head in saying Geum Joo spends a lot more time with Nam Soon than him. While the show wanted us to feel pity for her, I couldn’t help but agree with Nam In’s point more . (Although not when we rarely see Geum Joo interact with the daughter she’s seemingly been searching for desperately beyond the first few episodes really.) More importantly, what was going on between mother and son to hardly be involved with one another to that extent ? Is this a bond which has just fallen apart naturally or has something caused it? Simple coverage on these matters could have been used well for her development, but were instead neglected and gave her little development onscreen.


Gil Joong Gan is more of a minor character in the plot but as the matriarch of the family, she does have a sideline plot involving a potential love interest. She has a good heart fundamentally; but her constant role in interfering and interesting or being used in the romantic setup does begin growing a bit grating. Her romantic setup did seem quite sweet initially especially as we seen an “ opposites attract” scenario, but Joong Gan’s lack of empathy at times, non consensual decisions and near-obsession over him did start becoming a little tiresome.


Kang Hee Sik has risen a lot of debate by watchers in being more of a background character than a male lead as he’s pretty forgettable. Hee Sik is made to embody the “ good detective” trope. He is kind-hearted and brave and committed to his job. Evidently his encounter with Nam Soon makes him develop feelings and that’s all there is really is to say about him. Hee Sik could have been a really interesting character considering his involvement in the case and going into more depth about his personal drive for becoming a detective. Instead, he’s pretty much really there for a potential romance with Nam Soon and a bit of dramatic incitement .

Romance in the show js a bit of a hard one to go over. The main leads do have some chemistry in more comical moments , but there wasn’t really enough buildup due to lacking character development overall. The ending conclusion was expected though felt a little old-fashioned in deliverance.

Speaking of main characters, there’s of course Ryu Si-O, an antagonist in the series and a major mystery. Ryu Si-O was arguably one character the series did get right in maintaining mystery and ironically had better chemistry than the male lead with Nam Soon. Sadly the writing didn’t give him full justice.

The series struggled a lot with having too many side characters and not enough time. For example we have Secretary Jung Na-Young’s ( Oh Jung Yeon) potential romance going on, Ri Hwa-Ja / Lee Myung-Hee ( Choi Hee -Jin) criminal backstory, vagrants Ji Hyun-Soo ( Joo Woo-Jae) and No ( Kyungri), and then HSC Finance Triple’s storyline and then the Drug Gang on top. There was too much going on in the background.Rather than trying to focus on just a few, the plot attempted to cram in multiple subplots without a lot of development or further conclusions.


Pacing wise the series takes a bit of an odd turn. The first few episodes were fairly brisk, but the halfway point really tried rushing through the rest of the series without a lot of thought over execution. The plot reveal on the “ big bad” was meant to be a big surprise but felt more like a last minute throw in due to feeling rushed and somewhat out of place .

Cinematography and settings were a strong point for the series though. Music was a little out of place, particularly the ending credits.

Overall, Strong Girl Nam Soon really struggles with coming of its predecessor’s shadow. It had so much potential to be a well-written series about lost family and coming together to uncover a case, but a mixture of poor writing decisions, characterisation and plain characters and poor pacing made the series feel like it could be arguably be one of the worst shows of 2023. While the series may appeal to some in its own way, it’s fair to say most kdrama fans are going to probably stick with its original over this. Overall, a poorly-written drama with few redeeming features.

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Strong beginning, abysmal plot until the end. Or: A whole lot of " WHAT!?"...

Wow, I really liked the premise with three women having super powers and all. But around episode 2 or 3 it all just went down the drain. Nam-Soon is behaving and looking like a child - and without any kind of expertise becoming a cop. WHAT!? The sub-plot with the two homeless people was just for nothing at all, and except for Nam-Soons father all the male family members are whiny, pathetic and straight out anoying every time they're on-screen.

The main plot is as flat as a piece of paper. The super power are almost never used and I basically nothing substantial happens. And the ending made me REALLY salty because the final two episodes are a big fat "giving the finger" right into the audiences faces, saying it doesn't value the audiences time. No cool end boss fight, no climax, no nothing. Not even a cool quotable line...

[SPOILER]
Nam-Soon is confronting the villain, he tells her, her mongolian mother is having a bomb with her. But Nam-Soon can rescue her by taking the drug and not drinking any water within one hour. AND SHE TAKES THE DRUG! WHAT!? Why didn't she just knock out the villain (darn, she has super powers!) and then calls her mom and the police to deal with the bomb situation?

But, well, she is lying there, deeply in pain, gasping for air. And her korean mother and her grand mother are also suffering with her. WHAT!? Why do all of these three women are having super powers to beginn with? I do get that they're somehow connected to each other (and I like that idea!), and one could argue that it makes the ending more intense and that those women do have a weakness bla bla bla... But their powers are never utilised, except for pretty minor things. So why do they have those powers and why is it necessary to take those powers away from them?

And then there is this one moment, where Nam-Soon is out of her being in pain misery, getting up, noticing a door with a bomb on it. She grabs that door and throws it into the outer space (or reeeeeeally faaaaar away, at least) - so she is really strong. A moment later the villain comes, beats her up like it's nothing and explains to her she lost her super powers because of the drug. WHAT!?
[/SPOILER]

OK, I admit, there are a few nice moments during the whole show here and there. But all in all: Most of the characters are flat-out anoying or impossible to be taken seriously and many scenes are just fillers. Many of said scenes do not hold up to their premise of generating action, suspense or even interest! There's dealing with love-affairs, eating too much food and wanting to lose weight, whining about mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. But it all leads to nothing and is dealt with on a superficial level! The plot is full of gigantic (plot) holes and all over the place!

Even the acting is so-so. Some actors are really good, most are okayish to bad. The korean mom is all about looking cool and hot, the grandmother is a mixture of tough-as-nails and wholesome, and the female lead, Nam-Soom, is a mid-twenty something child in every way possible: smiling, talking, behaving, the whole package! Even her way of using her James Bond watch to film the villains office (while the villain is with her!) is screaming "Hey you, you don't mind me filming all of this, don't you!?". But of course the villain doesn't mind, because he doesn't notice it in the first place!

What a waste of time. Bad! Really bad! Really, really bad!

Well, at least the music is okay, and the policeman is actually quite believable.

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Let them stay bad and cunning - for that I am grateful.

To sum it up: great pacing, interesting and likable characters, solid chemistry, thrilling schemes, problematic gege throwing hands at both his enemies and his lady (which in this drama was perfection, don’t call me out). On the other hand, I was not crazy about how all the romances developed and in some areas, the acting could have been better.

Still, top level of solid entertainment. Thank god I was watching it as it aired - otherwise I would not be able to stop and binge watching all of the episodes would simply kill me - I’m too old for it.

It truly surprised me how much I enjoyed the pity palace drama. Usually I’m barely stopping myself from skipping this type of scene, but here they were some of the best aspects. I appreciated glorious slaps, calling out stupidity even on your own team, backstabbing for survival - it all sounds so dramatic, but in the drama itself, it’s presented in an engaging, but palatable manner.

What’s more to love are all the women in the drama. Variety of the characters, personalities, strength and weaknesses - exactly what I want to see. You don’t just get your typical - smart and cunning, and dumb, but loyal. They nicely mix it up. We get the asshole who overestimates her abilities, we have a smart and loyal friend. We saw women who push their limits and ones that prefer to not push them. We have bad, good and morally gray.

On the other hand the drama lacks quality men. Those that are fun are not developed enough, those that are developed more are annoying. Xie Wei being the only true saving grace. Yes, Zhang Zhe is cute and righteous, but that’s all he is. Yan Lin might be fun and good at fighting, but he is the definition of the “supporting from background while having little to no individuality”. I enjoyed them as I was watching, but by the end of the show I had little to no thoughts about them.

I’m glad plot wise the overall arc was well explained. I understood the motivation of all the characters, why they made the choices they made and what was their goal. Some strived for power, some for survival and some for redemption. I do wish the drama was longer. While they wrapped up everything quite skillfully, I still wanted to see more. Especially in terms of romance.

And that’s my biggest regret. Not even a flaw, since the final execution was done well, it just made me crave for more. All the romance driven plot lines were quite sidelined, so by the end, they tried to put 20 episodes worth of development into maybe 8. I enjoyed every second of it, but I wanted more.

Acting was good. Bai Lue did what she does best. In no universe she could fail delivering a character like that - it’s made for her and her only. Zhang Ling He was great in some scenes, not so great in others. Wang Xing Yue and Zhou Jun Wei both did not really have a space to show any skills - how the characters were written did not really allow that. I’m glad that the whole cast had a great chemistry though - be it platonic, romantic or rivalry. And them kissing scenes… we do not get kissing scenes like that often.

I know many people complained about the make up, personally I liked it. The over the top magical red eyeliner that showed up when Xie Wei turned into his toxic hot gege persona. Yes, the eyebrows for the female characters were… a choice, but after a few episodes I just stopped paying attention to them.

Overall, high level of entertainment. Story of Kunning Palace has such a high binge watchability, it’s actually scary and could be a health risk if you are not careful. It’s both exciting, but approachable - balances well between how dramatic, but also easy to digest it wants to be.

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Why is everyone giving this a bad review?

I really don't understand why people are saying they don't like it. It is a fun watch tbh funny characters and a cute concept. The story did not go the way I thought it would go. Some stuff was dragged on which could have been used to introduce the already had characters better which would not have left so much confusion at the end of the series.


Unanswered Questions
- Why was Bread song real self contained till literally the last 5 minutes of the drama, was he really laundering money, is he the new mafia boss?
- who was the guy giving Geum Joo all the intel?
- the detective asked about the phone and its tracking but nothing happened.
- In ep 16 who was the woman geum joo visited and does her son have super strength too? is there gonna be another one but for guys?

too many unanswered questions and I don't think there will be a part 2.

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