Reviews

The "IT" drama of 2023!

OKAYYYY. So, It's been heck of a long journey for me, waiting for each episode like a sad maniac . BUT, am finally here to write a review, and I'll keep it short!

THE PLOT:
Its set in the terrifying world of gangland sectional, and it made my anxiety go?? THROUGHOUT the series istg.
We see the first couple, suuuuper cute and all, BUT the second couple (LOML), the trope is basically the guy liking the other guy who doesn't love him back. OFC! who DOESN'T love this?(uhm, only in dramas but yeahhhh-)
The VISUALS are GREAT, I mean REALLY FRIKKIN' GREAT in the series.

We have a bit of BL clichés roaming around each episode here and there, but I loved 'em.

EFFECTS WITH MEANING:

There was something which I noticed that, the use of colors and light in Kiseki DTM, is quite fascinating. ZY's life is simple and plain, yet it's well-lit and uncomplicated. ZR's life has different shades, but mainly includes basic and muted colors. When they meet, there's a dreamy, almost magical glow around them!(butterfliessss) This is very different from AiDi, who is full of vibrant and lively colors and designs. ChenYi's style is dark and strict, but when they come together, a moody maroon or purplish hue fills the space. It's really interesting!

CHARACTER APPRECIATION:

<3 My first and foremost appreciation of the characters would go to my pocket sized baby emo boy who's a true agent of
chaos, his escapades, AND the sacred choker of his's. AiDi! he Definitelyyyyy needs his own show, one where he
just gets to wear his collar the whole time and be his pretty little psycho self whilst his boyfriend looks in approval, ready
to jump in if he needs his help (LMAO, i love u too ChenYi mwah).


NEGATIVE POINTS:

Negative points for this show:
~OK uhm, I loved each and every episode, BUT I hated the whole week wait for it!
~The angst and slowburn was KILLING me from the insides
~I'm absolutely jealous of y'all who's binge watching it AFTER it ended :c

REWATCH VALUE:

10/10. I finished it, and I am just going to go rn to watch it all again with no interruptions whatsoever.
Y'all freshers watch it aswell!

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Why is the Chinese drama Only For Love the most sensual romance journey of the year?

I don’t know what everyone else is watching, but it is not Only for Love, considering their scoring. Dylan Wang and Bai Lu are giving masterpiece performances in this intelligently written cat and mouse game of love.

He works 24/7 growing his business, and has become quite successful, as he distances himself from the old money of his father. She is a financial and business reporter, only after the true story of his financial wisdom. The way she hooks him is a masterclass of what women do best.

Out of nowhere during her interview with him for her magazine, she begins to flirt with him. He is totally caught off guard, but recovers very quickly. The last thing he needs is to be diverted mentally from his business, away from his quest to make money. He is super intelligent, with great business acumen. He sees it coming and he knows how to avoid this flirtatious trap. What is working in her favor is that she is really knocked off her feet by him, but in the front of her mind, he is just a romance challenge to conquer. She is equally as intelligent, graduating from University with a double degree. It is just a game, she tells herself.

Only for Love is so sensual. The viewer anticipates each move of the other in this game of avoidance and entrapment, and the teasing games between the two is what draws you right in like foreplay.

Only For Love needs set-up time to allow this drama to smolder. Please don’t be impatient with this cat and mouse game.

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I hope that this feeling might catch up with you

The plot was a very standard best friends to lovers kind of story. We follow two high school boys that have been friends since they were little, and how their relationship changes as one starts to struggle with his feelings. There are certain things that felt unrealistic and unnecessary. I am aware that the series was not really released internationally, and the subtitles are fan made, so that is not something that will affect my ratings regarding the series. It is a shame that this was not an international release though.

I am not a fan of cinematography. Many scenes were too bright to the point of slightly blurring out the details and the faces. Some cuts between the scenes were also a bit confusing. There was also an overwhelming amount of slow-motion scenes. It just felt a bit excessive.

Ohara Yamato & Ashiya Kakeru: They have this black cat and golden retriever dynamics. Yamato is the calmer one, the more reserved and not so friendly one. Kakeru is the more outgoing one, the more approachable and more hyperactive one. They are quite different from one another, but they make it work. Yamato falls first, he has loved Kakeru for years, but has never dared to confess. He didn’t want to risk losing what the two had. But as Kakeru starts to show interest in dating, Yamato starts to struggle. I don’t think Kakeru is indifferent to Yamato either, I just think he wasn’t really considering that possibility until it hit him in the face. He was always convinced the two can be just friends, so even if there were any deeper feelings, he never admitted those to himself. The two actors had good enough chemistry, but I don’t think it was as sizzling in some other dramas I have seen.

As the title suggests, the main conflict of the story does resolve around miscommunication. The two boys are not able to express their real feelings due to fear and other factors. However, this does not mean that the characters don’t communicate well. I really enjoyed that Yamato, no matter how much he hated that, was always honest with people who confessed to him. He never led anyone on. And even when things started going south between Yamato and Kakeru and the two were forced to be honest, they were both able to express themselves.

I liked the side characters too. Especially Yamato’s sister and Hisaka Yui, their classmate. Both of them were very open-minded and accepting of the two. It also helped Yamato and Kakeru feel more comfortable and not like what they are feeling for each other is wrong and unacceptable. There will always be people who might not be very open minded, but there will also always be people who will accept you no matter who you love.

And bonus points for not making any potential female love interests into villains! That’s a plot twist I am happy we avoided.

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Mystery, Mischief and Mayhem: The Intriguing World of Inspector Koo

As i was looking forward to Lee Young Ae's upcoming show maestra, so i decided to watch one of her previous dramas. I chose Inspector Koo and to my surprise, i ended up binge watching the entire series. It turned out to be much more interesting than i had initially anticipated, i can even say that i absolutely loved it.
The show revolves around a retired, eccentric Inspector Koo and a 20 something psychopathic serial killer. Despite their differences, they share a certain resemblance.

Inspector Koo, now retired spends her days playing online games, neglecting personal hygiene and eating habits. On the other hand, the young serial killer leads a stylish, charming and luxurious life. Interestingly their names are mirror images of each other, with Inspector Koo named Kyung Yi and the serial killer named Yi Kyung. However, their common trait is their intelligence and the entire series plays out like a thrilling game of cat and mouse.

Yi Kyung the college going killer, targets people who have committed wrongs & her killing methods are truly unique. She doesnt resort to direct violence. instead, she sets elaborate traps for her targets making her plans even more captivating. Another intriguing aspect of her character is that she only targets individuals who had done bad deeds in a past.
What sets her apart is her unusual method of punishing wrongdoers, she draws inspiration from various French books translating their ideas into her killing plans. Each book represents one murder.

Inspector Koo's character on the other hand, is far from the typical justice seeking detective. She takes on new cases from her junior solely because she offers her a new computer. Her motivation isnt rooted in a desire for justice but rather in the thrill and enjoyment of solving cases.

The drama also features one more strong villain, portrayed by the Kim Hae Sook, whose performance here rivals her best acting in Revenant and UTQU.
Both of these female villains Yi Kyung & Kim Hae Sook's character has very comeplx yet interesting relation which makes show even more exciting. At times they collaborate, assist one another and then turn against each other while Inspector Koo cleverly takes advantage of their enmity.

My most fav character in the series is Santa, played by Baek Sung Chul, a mute character introduced as Koo's assistant picked from an online game. Their bond isnt romantic but more like a parent and child, where he plays role like parent to Inspector Koo, they often shows him taking care of her in show. There is one interesting plot twist involving his character.

The show includes a few more interesting characters including Yi Kyung's accomplice, who happens to be gay, which i didnt expect in this type of series. What sets the serial killer characters apart is their multifaceted nature. They can appear as psycho killers in one moment and as normal individuals in the next.

Inspector Koo distinguishes itself from OCN's countryside thrillers by being a highly urban thriller set in Tongyeong, an unexplored location in Kdramas. The setting combined with the cinematography provides a fresh and beautiful backdrop for the series.

The top notch cinematography and the stylish OSTs/BGMs elevate the series to another level, enhancing the thrill of key moments. Without these elements, I might have rated the show lower.

The episodes end on suspenseful notes, leaving viewers eager for the next ones and despite some minor plot holes, i thoroughly enjoyed the series. In fact i found it more appealing than highly rated crime thriller dramas with MDL scores ranging from 8.6 to 8.8.

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Loved the series

This was a pleasant find. I wasn't aware of this series until I stumbled on it. The only thing I found wrong with the series was basic lack of research by the person who wrote th script. The story was fantastic, but the blood type that can only recieve the same blood type is O-. Gun shined in this role and Boat was the perfect matchup for him in this story. The other characters were well casted as well. Tenon and Sugus were great in their roles as well with a great side story and lots of chemistry. Like I said, I loved everything about it other than the lack of research.... golden blood is O-. It is the universal giver but not reciever. AB- can recieve all negative blood types.

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What a trash

what kind of romance drama is this, isn't it trash? from the start I thought it would be exciting to change my life for the better but it's still the same, I know FL was bullied and never felt love but why are you so stupid like you don't know the cruelty of the world even though you already felt the cruelty of the world before FL had the operation plastic. FL was too naive and didn't dare to refuse an invitation like at the beginning of episode 1 and felt sad when the guy who approached her rejected her. Aren't Korean dramas really bad lately? I don't know why Chinese dramas are more weighty and exciting than Korean stories like this. and fl's father was also too stupid when his child had plastic surgery he didn't accept it even though these stupid parents didn't know their child was suffering. stupid parents were just selfish. this show ruin my mood give it 1.

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Just watch it!!

It was nothing like what I had expected it to be. I thought it was a normal boring story about office workers but NOO!!! It is too good to be true.

The story is top notch and I promise you, you won't ever regret watching it. In a few scenes, I felt I was present in the drama due to their immersive acting. This drama made me feel single in many ways but I loved it!!!!! I really enjoyed watching this drama, it will make you laugh, cry and enjoy in every way possible,

This drama you never knew you needed in your life but this would be surely on my list of drama recommendations for new watchers.

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Fired the Weatherman

It's been a minute since I've seen a drama so completely lackluster and pointless. My expectations weren't high, frankly I wasn't sure what to expect, but I certainly thought it was going to be better than it was. I truly don't understand the relatively high rating this drama has. The relationship is toxic, which is fine, not every relationship is sunshine and daisies and it can be interesting when those kinds of toxic relationships are explored. But there is no exploration here, no sense of why these people are together, and no character development to bring clarity. It's just eight episodes of nothingness that left me wondering what the heck I'd just watched.

Plots are apparently boring as there is barely one present. I kept waiting for something to happen, for some kind of progress, but nothing ever happened. It's basically two men going around in circles and nothing ever gets accomplished. It was incredibly frustrating to watch and I kept wondering, how on earth are they going to give this a satisfying ending? The answer quite simply is that they didn't. The pacing is mediocre, just good enough to keep me watching to the end. That's the best I can say for it.

The characters are frustrating and weak. They're supposed to be in love, but neither one is good at expressing that love or even admitting to it. They can't even communicate to any real degree. Their conversations are by and large short and stilted. There are several instances of miscommunication because they are both incapable of opening their mouths. Segasaki is a meteorologist who's charming on tv, but at home is less than agreeable. He treats Yoh as more of a servant than someone he cares about and that never really goes away. Rather than developing positively as the series progresses, he grows ever more possessive of Yoh to the point that he literally ties him up to prevent him from leaving. Yoh, for his part, is a very passive person who fails to speak up for himself or really do anything for himself period. He takes Segasaki's treatment and while he contemplates leaving him, never actually does anything to facilitate that idea. He's just such an ineffectual character. The ending is very similar to the beginning, except they're supposedly happy. Yoh has apparently come to the conclusion that he likes Segasaki's abuse and Segasaki is ever so slightly more attentive, though still very possessive. They both just lack any kind of real depth of character and there's nothing present to make me care about either of them. It's a huge disconnect between them and the audience. And despite the fact that their initial history with how they met and connected is shown, the in between of that time period and the present is left a mystery. The character development is basically nil which is disappointing because there could have been a lot more to it.

Both actors are fairly generically cute and that was the biggest thing they had going for them since their acting skills left something to be desired. Even if characters lack in vocal communication, a lot can be conveyed in other ways. Unfortunately that didn't happen here. Their overall performance was as lackluster as the story. Funnily enough, their chemistry during the intimate scenes was actually quite good. It's just a pity that didn't translate to the more mundane scenes.

The production value was good as is to be expected with a Japanese production. The opening and ending credits were very aesthetically pleasing with music that meshed well.

Ultimately I found this drama to be disappointing and incredibly mediocre. It's aesthetics are about all it has going for it and that's simply not enough. With a stronger story and characters, it could have been compelling and unique but unfortunately, it is neither of those. If you want a drama that leaves you feeling unsatisfied, this is the one for you.

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Drama that talks about Mental Illness

Mental illness is not a plaguing problem just in South Korea this concerns all of us no matter where we are from. Daily dose of sunshine poignantly explores the world of psychiatric care. Directed like a procedural, each episode spotlights a unique mental illness drawing inspiration from real life cases. Drama is educational, a conversation starter that is a genuine attempt at trying to remove the stigma of mental illness. Dialogues are carefully crafted with the intention to inform not lecture the audience. Narrative does not offer easy solutions because there is no permanent cure, if you want to live you manage your symptoms and adapt to the new you.

The patients are not just mere symptoms and the doctors and nurses are not just plain scrubs. Audience can easily empathize with each character as each condition is carefully presented with the appropriate backstory grounded in sincere performances. Patient’s struggles dissect with the nurse’s lives, who have their own personal battles. Nurse Jung Da Eun is our POV character played with endless kindness by Park Bo Young. She has all the qualities of a great nurse, her character growth is about finding the balance between kind-heartedness and being effective at her job, and in between she must take care of her own mental health.

Highlight of the series is when it is pointed out what society is afraid or ashamed to admit. If you fall prey to the breakdown of your mind, the most generous of us, even a psychiatric nurse capable of infinite empathy, and care to others inflicted with mental illness will struggle with perceiving the alignment as being a stain on one’s character.

Drama also addresses various concerns within the health care institution such as the hierarchical power structure, psychiatry being looked down upon, overworked staff and tension between nurses and doctors. We get a splash of delightful romance, and what is a kdrama if we did not have the rich man falling in love with the poor girl. However, the romance does not exist in a void it is there to support the main subject of mental health and self-love.

Verdict

The drama earnestly tries to balance the reality of living with mental illness and optimism of living a full life. It will bring tears to your eyes, but there are moments of levity, joy, hope that when society bands together with compassion and understanding we can uplift each other to reach our potentials. If there are faults it is negligent in comparison to what we gain. A drama with no fast forward moments.

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When just cuteness isn't enough

Excessively childish story, there is no kiss from any of the couples, there is no chemistry between any of them either.

The main character's wig is simply ridiculous and unnecessary.

The story has no foot or head.

Both the relationship between the main pair and the relationship between the two women is only hinted at as being about something other than friendship, while the other relationship between the two boys conveys zero emotions as one of them, due to an illness, is unable to smile or facially express emotions. .

If you're hoping to watch an overly cute children's story without any kisses, go ahead

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Irritating start, great rest of story

Just wanna say that I am probably more emotionless than most people who’ve watched (or plan to watch) this but I’ll just say that if you’ve watched other tragedy drama from the time (ex. Koukou Kyoushi 1993) then you probably won’t find it all that sad like what currently every other commend and review is hyping it up to be, still depressing don’t get me wrong, but it’s not crying gut wrenching sad, or to me at least, probably because of things I will discuss but I digress.
This was a very good watch, definitely in the current top 5 most tragic dramas I’ve watched (currently I haven’t seen many but if I include anime then still in the top 10 at least). Pretty much every single episode had some tragic happening whether that be as small as someone failing at regaining their footing in life or as big as someone dying, this drama had it all, but the way it originally set things up for the main couple (Maria and Shiro) was kinda forced in my opinion, like what person on earth would purposely take the unnecessarily hard route to leaving his old life behind instead of the simple option? I guess Shiro would. But after that arc (which was the first two episodes if memory serves me right) the happenings regarding their relationship more or less feel believable including the more irrational decisions taken by the two (don’t want to spoil it so I used a very vague word). The story had me rather invested the entire time, something that I certainly wasn’t expecting to happen in the first two episodes plus the fact that it’s very dramatic (a theme I ironically don’t enjoy much). The reason why this gets only an 8.0 though is partially related to the first two episode problem and partially related to that last point: It at times felt dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. Every last character in the story managed to at one point or another get the short end of the stick, and literally only two characters after 12 episodes managed to seem happy (Jun and Nana, will speak more later) this was a trope I identified pretty much in the first episode, so it did kinda take the joy out of watching some of the scenes because I just expected that to happen, I knew it wouldn’t turn out well.
Between the two main relationships in the show, Maria-Shido and Nana-Jun, the latter of the two I found a lot more enjoyable to watch; Nana being blind and Jun having his own legal and mental troubles somehow made their side relationship a lot more engaging than Maria-Shido’s but knowing me. This almost certainly stems from the fact that I could sense a happier ending with them but it is also probably because Nana was a lot brighter of a character (because of her disability) who never really dwelled on issues of the past and Jun just wanted happiness for her, so you could see it would be either a satisfying or happy ending. Not saying Maria-Shido’s was bad no, just it was obviously made out to be more depressing and also used more plot devices to achieve that goal (the last episode).
Technical things in the show were at the standard of 90s J-Drama: terrible lighting, decent cinematography, great music (the main theme song is up there with “Bokutachi no Shippai”), good acting and effects, etc. Only complaint isn’t related to the official production but the subs; they’re from a group that I’ve seen before, they are very lazy when it comes to timing lines and tend to drop words that they should have kept, but it didn’t really take away from the story.
Overall a good watch, I recommend this to any J-Drama enjoyer

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Had me in the first half, ngl

Only slight spoilers ahead.

I've been watching this while it was airing and now that it's over, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Let me start off by saying the cast nailed its job - everyone brought their characters alive, made them believable, and the chemistry (not only between the main leads) was great. That's not where my problem with the show lies.

The story starts very strongly. We have Sailom, a boy whose family is poor and who has to work alongside going to school, yet he never complains and we even see him be very grateful and happy with what he already has. Then we have Kang, who is a spoilt rich brat and who takes out his own personal issues on others by bullying them. Their paths cross and I love, LOVE how Sailom never gives in to Kang, how he stands strong, his chin up, even making Kang seem like a fool and giving him a taste of his own medicine. Then, after a certain incident, these two are forced to work together - aka Sailom tutoring Kang as a sort of punishment from his grandmother.

The first half of the show is really nice. We see the boys growing closer, one falling sooner than the other, and before they realize it they're fighting the world together. We learn how it really is with Kang and why he is the way he is, we see him work on his past mistakes and growing into a better person. Stuff happens, misunderstandings happen, love triangle happens - all of those things I was still thrilled to watch. (I saw people complaining about how fast Sailom fell for Kang considering all the nasty sht he's done to him, and to be honest, I kinda agree, but I think this was largely messed up by the pacing of the show and time jumps.)

Then, towards the end, things start to escalate and somehow I'm starting to question what happened to the original plot? We're fighting mafia now? Like I know it's called "Dangerous Romance" but I guess I misunderstood where the danger part lies on the equation. And on top of that, characters now start to act differently than where their development was leading up to - Kang switches emotions and opinions left and right, Saifah throws all his love for his brother out of the window, like where did this come from?

I like that pretty much every issue that occurred in the series was solved very quickly and it didn't drag. However, some things seemed a little rushed. Sometimes it felt like there must've been some scenes cut from the broadcast or the time jumped without notice, making me question "Okay but didn't you have a different opinion on this 10 minutes ago?". It became messy and inconsistent in some parts, which was a shame.

Another two issues I had were flashbacks and the use of music. About the first one... Did we really need any of them? Serious question. Like ok.. if you give me a flashback in ep 10 about something that happened in ep 2, I'm perfectly ok with that. But is it necessary to show me something I saw in the last episode or even a few minutes ago? Come on. Perth and Chimon are both skillful enough to convey needed emotions without the editors making 100% sure we remember that Kang had given Sailom his beloved blue umbrella three times in one hour. And about the latter, I actually want to clarify that I'm a huge fan of the OST for this show, it's just the way they used it that bothers me. The main song, "Wind" (sang by Chimon), stole my heart before I even started watching the show, but they definitely overused it. Sad scene, funny scene, romantic scene, you name it, they played it there. Idk, it just took away the magic and purpose of it for me. Sometimes there was a character sad and we got a rather cheerful music over it - now what is that, why don't you fuel my sorrow and make me bawl my eyes out more? Somebody in the production team messed this up and I need them fired.

I would say.. sometimes the scenes just didn't hit the way they were supposed to. I'm not sure what was the main reason, whether the pacing, the music, or whatever.

Now that the rant is over, let's get back to positives.
I wasn't part of the "will Perth and Chimon work well on camera as a couple?" train cs tbh, I had no idea they were gonna play together until DR was announced, but as soon as I saw them I had no doubt they would nail this. I love them both as individuals and as actors, and I had no doubt about their chemistry. (And if you didn't enjoy their kissing scenes cs they weren't hot enough according to your standards, I guess ask yourself what you watch each show for and if it's able to provide it to you.)
Guy and Nawa, oh dear, they were awesome. I enjoyed their story so much, from enemies to friends (in question) to love interests, I ate their scenes and felt hungry whenever they ended. I'm thrilled to see these two work together in the future.
Pimfah, although she's been done dirty later on, she was awesome. Actual good human being, luckily not just a love interest to stirr things up but a good friend to both Kang and Sailom. She was great, along with the real powerhouse of the series, the GRANDMA.
Saifah, although they butchered his character towards the end as well, I loved his moments at Kang's house where he showed how deeply he cared for his brother. It must've been hard for him as well, taking care of both himself and Sailom, from relatively early age.
All school friends of both main leads were great and I loved how we saw them - with kind of pressure, haha - hang out together even when KangSailom weren't present. Even through they started off as enemies, they were able to maturely leave past in the past and move on.

It started off as a 10 for me but ended up falling down to 6-7. I still enjoyed it but I wish it was written better. It shouldn't have been called Dangerous Romance... If they cut the "dangerous" part and focused more on Kang's character development from bully to Sailom's bf and their relationship overall, I think it would be much better. Although it has its flaws, It's still a show worth watching.

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