Reviews

Looking camp right in the eye

This was a short drama with around 20 min playtime for 9 episodes, but that doesn't stop it from feeling like both everything and nothing happened. With the source material being a heavily smut-based josei manga about a young college student and a Yakuza boss, there isn't alot that implies this wouldn't be dramatic almost fanfic-esque. The story is cliché so if you are watching it better get ready for the "obsessive love"-trope with a hint of "We will never know when it's our last day together"-trope.

Apart from the shows storyline, the campy feeling derives alot from the cinematography and the lighting/cuts in the scenes. The director has made some creative liberties to try to emphasise emotions like the main leads strong passion/love for each other, chock and other emotions. The fact that they get emotionally "transported" to a entirerly different setting decorated with neon lighting in blue and pinks with flowers everywhere everytime they make love was fun and definitely serves to aid in the campy-ness. There was also a filtering blurring effect and bright BRIGHT lights adding an almost washy effect over the whole thing.

I had a hard time liking the acting of the main leads.
The male lead felt like a bootleg version of what the hot Yakuza leader Oya was in the manga. It might be because I had read the series beforehand, but he was just not it for me. Got to give the production an applause for the very good shoulders and back tattoo that was similar to the 2d version of Oya.
The female lead delivered a more toned down version of Yuri as a character comparing to the manga. In the manga, Yuri is alot more bubbly in personality and that is something that sets apart and highlights how differently Oya interact when he is Yuri. Since she no longer has that clear personality, the whole chemistry between them changes (even if the actors stay true to their lines).

Lastly, I gotta touch upon the fashion/styling. With the low-budget production, it is not per se atrocious but it was by no means good. Over the top patterned furniture and clothing choices for characters that felt odd, some of the time, the clothes really felt like costumes more than something that people would actually put on. It felt like it was fashion from like 2015 instead of being 2022.

Storywise, there definitely felt like they ended the show on a happy ending with opportunity to continue alternatively get the watchers to read the manga.

In conclusion: If you are in search of something campy, with a short lenght and over the top romance, this might just be it!

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I'm confused

I am on ep 4 and I am lost. I am so confused. I think I missed something. there are so many names and back and forth. I can't stop watching though. though I have no idea what is going on. I almost feel like I need to watch from the beginning again. I get the point of, 'you should be confused and things will make sense later,' but I don't understand the two different worlds individually.

Is In-gyu yeon-jun? should I start the series over? ugh Now both guys are fighting over her?! How can the show be so good but yet I don't understand why or what is happening.

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Keep in mind that this is a commentary and not an interview. For me, it was fun watching these two react to the first two episodes.

It's nice to get a little background information about how something was recorded.

I like to watch commentaries in general to get to know what the actors think about specific scenes, to get some background knowledge and here: simple to see them again infront of a camera. They have a really nice chemistry!

There's not much to say about this. You shouldn't expect a lot of new information, but it's a nice work on top if you finished the show and want to see some more of them together - just like I did.

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Ambitious but with an identity crisis

** Please be warned that this review contains lots of spoilers **

Watching this series from the vantage point of 2023 was an interesting experience. I can readily see how it must have excited the BL fans of 2016, and can imagine the anticipation for each new episode as the series progressed. Unfortunately, I can also imagine their disappointment over how it eventually ended.

Because, alas, the production ultimately lost its nerve, and it turns out that the conflicted feelings that Jatjang has for his neighbors Earth and Ice are simply overblown.

Well, strike that. The feelings that are overblown are the ones that Jatjang has for Earth in particular.

Because, while Jatjang declares several times over the course of the series that his heart “flutters” for Earth, in the final episode he reveals that he has never thought of Earth romantically or ever wanted to touch him sexually, and he even recoils when Earth unexpectedly kisses him on the lips to help him test how he feels. At the same time, we learn that the one Jatjang has wanted to be with romantically all along is Earth’s sister, Ice.

Jatjang, it seems, has just been a confused straight guy the whole time.

What, then, was all the fuss about? As a viewer I wouldn’t want to endure ten months of suspense only to be let down by such a whopper of a cop-out in the final episode.

Along the way, the series does tackle several contemporary issues faced by teens, and most of the time it handles them well. This includes a nod toward accepting people who are gay, which is laudable, but it must be said that the only two examples of same-sex attracted characters are Jatjang’s flamboyant ladyboy cousin and a closeted art teacher who has molested one of his male students.

Furthermore, once Jatjang’s father learns of his son’s possible bisexual tendencies he’s not happy about it at all. After he discovers that Jatjang has been keeping an online journal, he hacks into his son’s computer so he can read the entries from week to week, and soon pretends to be a concerned stranger in order to exchange messages with him. He repeatedly urges Jatjang not to give in to his feelings for other guys or even believe that they’re necessarily real. Then, once the dad finds out that the boy his son is attracted to is Earth (a friend he's around constantly) just the sight of the two boys alone together drives Jatjang’s dad into panic. This is usually played for laughs but after a while becomes offensive.

By the last episode, Earth and his sister have moved away and Jatjang is back to square one for his romantic pursuits. At the end of that episode (and of the series) someone comes to the house to pick up Jatjang to go to school, and after Jatjang’s sister announces that Jatjang’s “new lover” is outside, the family makes a fuss as though there’s a question of whether this new lover is male or female. We, the viewers, never find out for sure, but based on everything that happened earlier, wouldn’t it have to be a girl? By this point there has been repeated reminders that the only boy that Jatjang’s heart has ever fluttered for is Earth, and of course that was a false alarm—other boys have never appealed to him. The series can’t have it both ways. Once you establish that Jatjang is just a confused straight boy you can’t expect to get away with becoming coy on the subject again.

What cannot be faulted here are the performances of the main leads, Tongtong (Jatjang) and Nonkul (Earth). Tongtong has the most difficult role and completely owns it. His emotional range is amazing. Regarding Nonkul, by the time he was in this series he was already an experienced actor and had previously been in a pioneering BL film, 2014's “Love’s Coming”. (In that film, as here, his character is straight.) His performance perfectly balances the tough and tender aspects of Earth’s personality.

In the role of Jatjang’s dad, Jatjen, Saksit Tangthong is also very good, despite the flaws in his character’s approach to his son. As for the mom character, Pang, I must admit that she really annoyed me. In one satisfying scene she gets called out by the kids for always being a scold, and that’s exactly what she is. By the end of the series her voice grated on me and I couldn’t wait for her scenes to be over. I probably shouldn’t blame actress Aom Piyada for what I didn’t like about the mom. I’m sure it was the performance that they wanted from her.

The series is filmed like a traditional sitcom, mostly on a soundstage with occasional outdoor locations, but not with a live audience. Instead, canned laughter is inserted constantly. The fake laughs seem to become less intrusive as the series progresses, but I can’t say if that’s simply because I got used to them.

One last comment. For the files I used to watch this series, the subs were done by a team that called themselves EarthBangJang Subbers. That name was displayed at the upper right corner of the screen for each episode, serving as a constant reminder of how everyone back in 2016 must have been counting on the series becoming a bonafide BL. How disappointed they must have been when it ended without Earth banging Jang.

So, this is not a BL. I'd even say that there's not a "Bisexual Character" as the MDL tag suggests. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, unless you want to spend 55 episodes to get disappointed for yourself.

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Quite disappointing. A sweet story to pass the time but nothing more.

This will be the shortest review I've ever written. I won't even write positive or negative points like I usually do. Maybe I had high expectations but I was quite disappointed by this drama especially as I loved the other two similar mini-dramas "A Familiar Stranger" and "Provoke". The drama starts with a banging first episode. Intense and eye-catching fight scenes, suspense and beautiful romantic feel of the main leads. But it's all a lie as the majority of the episodes are about watching the daily lives of the main leads - sleeping, eating, cooking, going to the market etc.

I really enjoyed the first half of the drama as we got to see how the main leads fell in love. However the second half of the drama felt very underwhelming as virtually nothing big happened. I was really struggling not to fall asleep. The plot didn't intrigue me even one bit and the fact that the biggest conflict in the whole drama was resolved in the final episodes in two seconds by a random side character.

Overall I still may recommend this drama as everyone has different tastes and what I didn't like someone else might enjoy. But personally for me this was a huge disappointment plot wise which is a shame since the cinematography and cast were great.

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Ending sucked

It was totally unnecessary the way they ended it. I was so disappointed when two of my favorite actors were in this drama and the writers had to end it the worst way. They should have made it better to where people want to keep watching it. I have no desire to watch it anymore. I thought that this was going to be one of the best dramas I’ve ever watched to date but boy was I disappointed. They need a second season to see how they rekindle, and if he gets his memory back because that was a bunch of crap, and totally unnecessary for them to go to Africa, which made no sense. It was stupid. I’m really disappointed in the actors and directors. I will never watch another one from the Writer again. I am just baffled by what they did. And the extra ending made no sense. They need to have a second season to see how it rekindles and what happens. at least do a mini series of 10 or 12 something to give the viewers a happy ending that they should’ve had to begin with. I regret watching this when I was watching the first 30 episodes I loved it and then from episodes 31 through 38. Totally disappointed me that I regretted ever watching this. That Writer needs to redo the ending and do another season. That is my opinion in my review I would not recommend this to nobody do not watch it.
DO NOT WATCH IT WORDT ENDING EVER ON A DRAMA!

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Emotional & romantic love story that could have been great

The drama tells the love story of the dragon male lead who falls in love with the mortal female girl and spends four lifetimes protecting her silently with the hope that one day he will be together with her. The story starts beautifully, like a fairytale. The first 10 episodes focus on the main couple falling in love, and if you are a hopeless romantic you will definitely love this part. Then we have a separation as the mortal girl is reincarnated which is fine at first. Until she reincarnates again, and again. What could have been a sweet and romantic love story turns into a repetitive plot with zero development between the main leads after episode 10.

THE SECOND COUPLE IS WORTH TO SEE:
The love story of the second couple was perfect. "I-love-you-for-a-thousand-years" vibe. They have the perfect organic development and steal the spotlight especially in the second half of the drama. We see them bickering, we see them becoming friendly, we see them falling in love. We see them as the perfect star-crossed lovers. They had the sweetness, the angst, the fire chemistry, the grumpy/sunshine trope, cold man with bubbly woman.

HOW I RECOMMEND TO WATCH THIS:
I'd recommend watching episodes 1-10, then only watch the second couple while skipping the rest, and then finish the story with episodes 29-36. You won't miss anything plot wise because nothing happens in the 2nd and 3rd life. Honestly, if this drama was only 24 episodes with only the 1st and 4th life it would have been perfect for sure. Not that the 2nd and 3rd life are bad, if you watch them as 4 mini dramas they are interesting but the fact that for 17 episodes there is zero relationship development for the 1st couple is just horrible writing.

MUSIC:
I have to specifically mention that I loved the OST and I played the ending song on repeat non-stop. If you drop the drama, at least listen to the ending song as it's perfect.

THE FOUR LIVES:

1st life: ep 1-10 (10 eps)
- FL is an orphan, working as a maid. She is soft hearted and helps animals. This is where the main leads fall in love and it's done really well.

2nd life: ep 11-17 (7 eps)
- FL is hard-working, independent and head-strong. She is bullied by the village’s annoying girl. Honestly nothing much happens and you can totally skip this life (but watch the second couple scenes).

3rd life: ep 18-28 (10 eps)
- FL is a general and the strongest in the army, she is giving Mulan vibes.
- The best villain of the drama is here.
- Great war and fight scenes.
- Feels super draggy with boring side characters. The plot doesn't move forward. Zero development for the main leads. You can totally skip this (but watch the second couple scenes as they are amazing here).

4th life: ep 29-36 (7 eps)
- FL is born into a wuxia sect that fights demons. Everything is revealed here and we have a great final battle (it's low budget but still done well).

OVERALL:
I did enjoy watching this but I'm disappointed because the plot had great potential for the main leads but didn't deliver. I still recommend people to watch this but skip the parts I mentioned above. In terms of acting, I was very pleasantly surprised by the FL. She was phenomenal in playing 4 different characters. ML was a bit stiff but somehow it fitted his character. The second couple were perfect in every way.

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Nothing new

Drama was same like any other drama which was based on Boss and his secretary or Boss and his employee. In starting of such dramas the boss gets irritate with his secretary's work or by her behaviour and slowly slowly starting care her . Here little change in the story she was neither his employee not secretary in starting , circumstances made her work for him . She has her advertisement company so she had tie up with male lead's company . In starting their views never matched but he had a past story with her so sometimes he had soft corner towards her and then gradually he fell in love. Then some problem had been created in their life so there was turn in their love story but he gradually solve the issues and there after happy ending.
Though I enjoy watching love stories but this drama bored me a lot .

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There were good and not so great elements of the show.

This was a drama where I was very excited for the cast, Kim So Hyun has some hit or miss dramas, but she always acts well beyond her years and I still can’t believe she’s only 24. Hwang Min Hyun was pretty good in Alchemy of Souls and let’s face it, he has a very nice face to look at.

The premise of the story is interesting, the FL, can hear lies and she happens to meet someone who basically doesn’t lie (even though the title is called My Lovely Liar, but when you watch the drama, I guess that is kind of explained).

I like the cast and the secondary cast was pretty good. Very entertaining and everyone has their quirks. I like that I mostly didn’t recognize anyone else and so it was nice to see fresh faces (to me that is).

The drama basically has low angst which could be considered good or bad. I found some parts a little slow and boring, but I rather have that then silly angst.

The villains of the show were really annoying. You know that villain who is just “crazy” and never seems to listen to anyone even when everyone is saying he or she is wrong, but they will not simply listen. Yeah, that was fairly frustrating to watch. To have the bad guy pursue the ML for so long and for one solid reason was very annoying to watch.

The FL’s mom was very annoying too. I loved her in Dr. Romantic but I will not want to watch her in a “bad” role anymore. I couldn’t take the mom character at all. I truly wanted to fast forward her scenes because they made her so over the top and kind of ridiculous

As much as I love the leads, there is ZERO chemistry between the two. I truly felt like I was watching two pretty actors recite lines to each other and maybe that has to do something with post production. There are a lot of moments of dialogue without background music and I found that really odd.

The drama is fairly predictable and I figured out everything by the 4th episode, that doesn’t really hinder my experience because to me that wasn’t really the main part of the show for me. I was just interested in the leads getting to know each other, so suffice it to say, I enjoy the first half better.

The show could have easily been cut down to 12 episodes, but I didn’t fast forward anything so it’s an easy show to watch, or to have something on the background. I started to read webcomics as I was watching the show towards the second half and I was completely fine in following the storyline (I don’t know Korean, just FYI).

Overall, watch it for the leads, but the storyline / over plot is fairly lackluster.

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Real Family Drama

Last episode was an emotional roller coaster. "If you don't tell someone you love them, they won't know" even if it's your own family. So TALK, COMMUNICATE & OPEN YOUR HEARTS.


THIS IS A WHOLESOME DRAMA THAT feels like being in one's own home. The story unfolds like everyday happenings in a real family and you're being part of them.

50+ episode long, 2014 drama about a chaotic family's daily struggles, generation gap, class difference. Lots of wholesome moments & comic relief. Many relatable, few loud characters.

It's the #Baghban of #Kdramas

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People continue living knowing they'll die

"People continue living...knowing that we're all going to die" - #MyLovelySamSoon (2005)

This is so melancholic yet endearing. Reminds me of John Elia's poetry.

کتنی دلکش ہو تم کتنا دل جُو ہوں میں
کیا ستم ہے کہ ہم لوگ مر جائیں گے

.

If you're into Kdramas & under cultural shock, watch MyLovelySamSoon (2005) to see how it debunks everything we find problematic like Cinderella syndrome, body shaming, age gap, class difference etc that too 18 yrs ago.

#HyunBin #KimSunHa #JungReyoWon ?

Imdb 8.1
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Went downhill after the first episodes

I really enjoyed the first 3-4 episodes and I was expecting Dangerous Romance to become one of my favorites. I usually enjoy enemy-to-lovers-tropes a lot, even if they are a bit basic, however I'm really disappointed with how this storyline is progressing.
First of all, the plot feels really rushed. The guys became friends in almost no time, even after some (almost) unforgivable actions from Kanghan. What bothers me the most though, is the unnecessary drama between Ploy, Kanghan and Silom. Ploy confessed her feelings for Silom out of nowhere and Kanghan's feelings for Ploy felt really forced. The entire love triangle is just too messy.
Episode 6 was super boring and the kiss felt rushed.
I was really looking forward to a cute romance between Ploy and the teacher but making Ploy like Silom kind of ruined that for me as well and I don't want to keep watching at this point.

All in all: It's hard to enjoy Dangerous Romance because it doesn't give you enough time to explore the depths of each character and feels very superficial.

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Watch this one for the main-leads!

Chen Fang Tong & Dai Gao Zheng totally fired up the screen in "Maid`s Revenge" so i have been unable to forget these two for a long while. I was so excited when i got to know they would star in a new drama together. "Forever Love" is a contemporary romance with business intrigues and politics. We have investigations going on, combat scenes and betrayals. But the fiery chemistry between the main-leads totally made this worth the watch, i binge watched it in one day. Dai Gao Zheng is absolutely gorgeous as the bodyguard Qin Mo Yao and i loved how absolutely besotted he is with Tong. Their love-scenes made me absolutely warm all over. Ahhhh how i hope for more dramas with both of them steaming up the screen again!!

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Uniquely satisfying Fantasy Chinese drama with a huge twist (a twist which I won’t reveal)

Costume & Period, Romance, Time Travel Fusion, Gaming Drama

Unique Lady is about a young lady whose life amounts to only playing video games and studying. She is distraught over her pathetic love life, and gets trapped in a video game about “finding your person” in the Sheng-Yuan Dynasty. She has to cosplay play this video game all the way through, before she can exist. She is surrounded by gorgeous men all over the place, falling in love with her. So I thought that this would be a perfect brainless down-time Chinese Drama, with the emphasis on brainless. However, surprise! Unique Lady actual has an extremely engaging and intelligent storyline, which is well written and acted. I should have known that this drama was not run-of-the-mill when I saw the Chinese actors’ firepower lined up for this drama. To add to this viewing pleasure, Unique Lady also has a Season 2. In the 24 episodes for seasons one and two, there is a fan viewing commitment time of less than 18 hours. The same goes for season 2. Therefore, the Chinese Drama Unique Lady is Korean Drama Fan Friendly.

This Drama is taken from Lascivious Lady by Orange Light Game: Adapted from the novel Haose Qianjin by Qing Lanlan

You will get massive Dual Lead Syndrome with these main suitors. I could not choose.


Actors’ Corner


The heroine of Unique Lady is Lin Lou Jing (Played by Zheng Qiu Hong or Jade from Fairyland Lovers). She has four suitors in this dating video game, all four with totally different personalities. There is a digital System Conductor, which helps guide her through her game choices. Lin Lou Jing has only five attempts at finding Mr. Right and she must find someone whom she loves and who loves her, before she can exist the game.

The main suitors for Lin Lou Jing are Zhong Wu Mei (Played by Gong Jun or Simon from Begin Again) and Liu Xiu Wen/[Prince of Qiyu] (Played by Fang Yilun or Alen, who is dead ringer for Hyun Bin and appeared in The Long Ballard).

Gong Jun has an interesting backstory. His first day at University, his teachers took one look at him and told him he should be in Chinese dramas, because of his look. He was able to change majors and was sent to acting school. And the rest is history.

You can include in the mix of people with whom to fall in love, the Third and Fourth Leads.

Jiang Xuan Yu (Played by Yu Kai Ning from Cute Programer) and Hua Ying Chi (Played by Li Hao from Douluo Continent)

Have fun.

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